Thursday, May 4, 2006

Good Morning  

 

Today is the National Day of Prayer -- the church is open during much of the day today if you'd like to come and pray there.  

 

Since I'll be out of town on Friday, today is the last email of the week.  Note again that I won't be class on Sunday, and that we just need a volunteer (or two) to lead things on Sunday. 

 

Today's Reading:   Barlcay 65-72 ( for today and tomorrow)   

 

-- in this section, Barclay takes a break from the book of Revelation to pull together a number of thoughts about the antichrist, since we are about to cover some passages that concern him.

 

-- I may have mentioned this before, but isn't it something about how much we have studied of Revelation, and we are just now getting to the Antichrist.

 

-- I was also thinking of this -- two of the words/concepts that we commonly associate with Revelation are "rapture" and "antichrist". Truth is, neither appear in Revelation.  Part of what a Bible study is supposed to be about is our own reading of the word, so that we know what is in the scriptures, not what we think we know is in the scriptures based on "common knowledge".  And as clearly as we believe we understand those concepts, there isn't really anything in Revelation that I've seen yet that points clearly to those two concepts and words.  As a matter of fact, more of the explanation of the rapture concept and the antichrist concept have come from readings in other books of the Bible, not Revelation.

 

-- For Barclay, in his commentary, he forms a couple of opinions --- one, is that the idea of an antichrist, one who is the embodiment of evil, is something that was in development all through the writings in the Old Testament and other writings in the new -- almost that is a generic term that could be used to describe anyone who embodies evil in their very being and actions.  Then there is the idea of "the" antichrist -- the only one, the who is present in the end-time events noted in Revelation.  Barclay notes, in his commentary,  several beings in the chapters to come -- the beast from the abyss, the red dragon, the beast with 7 heads and 10 horns, and the beast with two heads -- who could be The Antichrist.  What we haven't gotten as of yet from Barclay a clear picture about what Barclay thinks of these beings -- are they descriptions of the same person, or is one of them The Antichrist will others are symbolic of other actors in this drama.

 

-- Next week, we'll start on chapter 11. 

 

 Today's Scripture 

 

Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart.

 

 Hebrews 4:7

Today's prayer requests:      Our country.

 

On this national day of prayer, we need to pray for our country in two dimensions.  First, we are so very, very blessed to live in such a country, one with the riches and freedoms that we enjoy.  On the other hand, we have some many issues and challenges facing us as a country - economic, political, moral, military -- that we need God's guidance and wisdom to help us through them.

 

 Today's class member prayer: 

 

 Christie Peebles      

Jay