Diced & Defined or Read & Received – Revelation

I admit it.  those charts about Revelation leave me cold.  Those, “what exactly is this?’ and “how do these fit together on a time line?” questions are unanswerable.  If this was that John meant to tell us, he did not do a good job.  Just pick up 3 commetators at random and read from any part of Revelation and see that they will not agree.

Is there something wrong with the Dice & Define approach.  That is, where we dice up the book into its various parts and then set out to define (Is that Nero, Domitian or the Devil?) each part.

The Blessing is for Reading and Receiving this book (1:3).  There is only one possible place where there is some kind of puzzle – after speaking of “666″ it says, “let the reader understand.” (Rev. 13:18).  Again, lots of luck with finding 3 commentators that agree on the meaning of that.  I am quite sure that having a license plate with 666 or finding it in your address will not be the issue.

Better to read Revelation as a whole and receive the charge it contains: persevere, be on watch for the deception of evil, embrace the future victory, more is going on that what we see, Christ is Lord, make sure you are in “the Lambs book of life.”  Evil has a repetitive quality, the bad guy might be a little of Nero and a lot of Anti Christ, but they share the same outline and methods.

Read it out loud. Repeat as necessary.

Read Freshly or Read Dogmatically?

The book of Revelation is the perfect example of why I titled this blog “Fresh Read”.  It is a book of strange images, it has a long history of highly disputed interpretations.  So we have a choice.

We can come to the book having decided what we think about “the end times” and try to fit the bits and pieces of Revelation into our dogmatic framework.  To be fair, it is a fair principle of scripture, to compare scripture to scripture.  So we place the saying of Jesus about “hating” our mothers and fathers next to the 5th Commandment to Honor our Fathers and Mothers.  This keeps us from falling overboard into some cult like interpretation.

However, when we attempt to fit the scriptures into our dogmatic framework, we are trying to fit the text into our pre-determined filing system.  This places our dogma, or filing system, above the scriptures.

At the start of books on Revelation, one can get lost in a sea of history and controversy.  The whole thing makes me feel like one of the survivors in the painting by Géricault.

Another approach is to focus more on a reading of the text, comparing English translations, or to the Greek if you can, and noticing the internal structure and flow of the work.  Keep observing, and them observe some more before you start to try to formulate a structure or a framework.  Become familiar with the text before you consult other observers (these are the commentaries and expositors).  Only then will you be anywhere near able to learn from and dispute with these literary friends.

For example, in reading Revelation 4, the scene of the adoration of the Almighty in Heaven, i found that the verse :

Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!   (4:8)

introduces three concepts of God that are each repeated three times – Holiness (this one is obvious), Might (“almighty” and in following verses “seated on the throne”, and Eternity (was, is, is to come; lives forever and ever (2 times)).  There are other “3s”: God is  worthy of “glory, honor and power”  because he “created…they existed…were created..”  (all from Revelation 4:8-11

I don’t know what that means, but it had me singing  they hymn “Holy, Holy, Holy” in my back yard patio where I was reading under the bright and warm sun.

Reading through dogma can lead to confusion, reading, just reading, leads, occasionally, to worship.

Reading – according to Chrysostom

John 5:39-40   English Standard Version (ESV)

³⁹  You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, ⁴⁰ yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

“…and so, it was with good reason that he said ‘you think,’ because they did not actually listen to what the Scripture had to say, but merely prided themselves in the bare reading.” –       Homilies on the Gospel of John 41:1

Been Busy

Do you remember the idea of bio-rhythms?  Yes, it was at the same time as the first appearance of Mood Rings and Earth Shoes.  It suggested that several bodily cycles work at the same time and sometimes they all converge at high or low spots.  Pastors have ministry-rhythm.  Mine has hit the point where all are at “very busy”.  Hence, the blog awaits a better part of the cycle.

15,000 and counting

15,006 – Thanks to the 15,000 readers, or is it the 15 of you who have come to this site 1000 times each?  At any rate our count passed this milestone.

We need a Fresh Read! Ephesians 1:4,5

Ephesians 1:4,5 has been the grist of theological debate for centuries.  It is such that we can not read these verses without girding our loins for battle over election, predestination and all the related cascade of issues.  It is almost that for a pastor who wants to preach Ephesians, you can hear the cry “Don’t open that closet McGee!”

Ephesians 1:4-5  ESV
    even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love  [5] he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,

   The concept of Fresh Read is to let the text talk, not the history of the discussion of the text.  What we see in these two verses are the words “chose” and “predestined.” 

  but notice that the emphasis on this passage is not so much on the abstract theology, as the purpose of God. 

  “We” were chosen “to be holy and blameless”.  “We” are predestined “for adoption.”   If we abstract the words chosen and predestined out of this passage, we are quickly going to find ourselves joining Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Wesley, Arminius, and many more in a theological food fight.

  If we read the words “chosen” and “predestined” in context, then we are moved out of theological abstraction to what God has purposed to do with us.  He has purposed to make us “holy and blameless” and for “adoption.”

  The text reaches back to before the creation of the world.  So before Genesis 1:1, whatever that might mean, God has chosen.  Was there time before there was a creation? (Science suggests that time is a dimension, and would say that there would be no time before creation or the big bang.)  The initiative is clearly with God, not with us, because we had not, nor had our ancestors, nor had our world come into existence.

  Did God choose a purpose only?  That is, did God choose to make someone “holy and blameless” and someone ‘for adoption?”  The subjects would be unknown, but the object decided in this view.  It would seem not because of the “us”.   He chose “us” before the foundation of the world.

  Since we read Ephesians 1:3-14 as an extended introduction to the book, we can find in later passages the call to a holy and blameless life (e.g. 5:1-14).  This emphasis is forward looking.  In other words, you or I can ask, “What does God want for me?”  The answer is that we are to become “holy and blameless” and to be adopted.

  Our before-the-world-began calling (hidden in the unsearchable mind of God) is  to live toward the purpose God has intended.

“Thou Shalt Blog” Wisconsin State Journal

Click the link to find a piece on Clergy who blog in the Madison Area. 

We have used one of our 15 alloted minutes of fame -

http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/article_9678a6b8-20e5-11df-be68-001cc4c002e0.html

The Body of Christ – I Cor 12 – part 1

(Friendly Warning: Sermon Excerpt!) 

           Let’s rescue the idea of the Church as the body of Christ from the bean counters.  I have a collection of books and workbooks that help people discover their place in the life of the church.   The point of the Church as the body of Christ is not how we can have the organization of the church run smoothly.  That is only a part of it.  The point is that we are to the world what Jesus was to the world in his incarnation.  

            On his last evening with the Disciples, Jesus said something that we need to think about.

            “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing.  He will do even greater things than these, because I go to the Father.”                                                                                                       John 14:12

       When Peter was explaining the Christian message to Cornelius, he gave this summary of Jesus Ministry:

            “…you know what has happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached – how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him…”                            Acts 10:37-38

             When we follow the life of Jesus we find an interesting pattern:

            He spent time with the Father.  The disciples noticed that Jesus would often pray – it was in asking how to pray that he taught them the Lord’s Prayer as an example of prayer.  Jesus made a practice of getting up early, getting away from distractions and spending time with the Father.  From this he got his sense of purpose and direction.

            He spent time with his disciples.  The twelve followed him everywhere. When Judas was replaced one qualification for an Apostle was the they had been with Jesus.  They ate meals together.  They did ministry together.  He sent them out to teach and heal, and together they reported on what they learned.

            He went out into the world.  As Peter explained it, Jesus under the power of the Holy Spirit that he received at his Baptism, went out into the world doing good.  He welcomed the outcasts.  He healed the sick.  He raised the dead.  He taught the people in a way that drew them.

What about us?

            We spend time with the Father.  All of us have the opportunity to  be with the Father – Jesus taught that we should go to a solitary place when we pray – so we are not tempted to show off for other people.  This spending time can take various forms. 

            We spend time with the disciples.  All of us have the opportunity to get together with other believers.  Here we are in church, as we say so often, mistaking the building for the church.  It is better to say, here we are, the church gathered.  And we spend time under the teaching of the Word of God.  We spend time in prayer and worship together.  We spend time eating together.  This is described as how the very first church spent it’s time together

    And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.                                Acts 2:42

            We are sent into the world.  The New Testament word for Church is “ekklesia”, it literally means “called together.”  This means that we are called by God to be together for set times.  But then we are sent back.  God does not intend that the Church only be those times when we are assembled in one place.  We are also the church when we are disassembled.  When you go to your houses, your places of work, to where you play or volunteer or eat…in all those places you are in the world with a mission.

The mission of God in the world is not accomplished by having individuals receive the gifts of Salvation.  That is the beginning of the work but not the end.  The mission of God in the world is not accomplished by enlarging the numbers and the effectiveness of congregations. That is the middle part of the word but not the end.  The mission of God in the world is accomplished when we go out as the Body of Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit to do the work of Jesus in the world.

Tags and Categories

For the purpose of navigating here at Fresh Read, the column on the right side has several items:

Tag Cloud – click on one of the key words to find articles with this tag.

Pages - articles on beginning points in Bible study

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