Friday, July 14, 2006

Good Morning 

 

Hope everyone has had a good week.  I'll see everyone on Sunday.  

 

Today's Reading:    Revelation 20, Barclay 208-215  

 

-- today Barclay has an overview of Chapter 20.

 

-- this is an interesting passage and commentary.  The arc of the story in chapter 20 is pretty plain -- after Christ comes back and defeats his enemies (the beast and the dragon), Satan is bound and placed in the abyss, and Christ rules on earth for 1,000 years, along with some - but not all -- Christians that gone before (it is limited specifically to the group of Christians particularly afflicted by the beast during his reign).  After the 1,000 years, Satan is released for a little while, Christ's enemies gather one last time against him and his people, and they are utterly destroyed (yet another final battle that is thought of as Armageddon), Satan is tossed into the lake of fire and brimstone, and final judgements are held.

 

-- now then, much of Barclay's commentary is centered on discounting all of this chapter, and in particular the various Christian groups had have sprung up over the years that make this chapter a cornerstone of their belief system.  Barclay traces the roots of this chapter back to any number of Jewish sources, and notes that this concept (1,000 year reign of Christ on earth) is only taught in this chapter of Revelation.  In short, while Barclay doesn't come out and say it explicitly, he pretty much dismisses the whole chapter in a sense, when he says of the concept of "Millenarianism" as being something that has "long been left behind by the mainstream of Christian thought."

 

-- Barclay seems very keen on dismissing this particular belief, and I'm not exactly sure why he is so dismissive of it. Based on the text that is in the Bible, I don't see anything wrong or misleading about it.  Now a number of the books and references that Barclay quotes which are not in the Bible have some interesting interpretations about what this period would be like, but those are not Biblical books, so I don't know how non-bibilcal books can change your mind or call into doubt something in a bibilcal book, but apparently that is what Barclay is doing.

 

-- for us, reading Revelation continues to be a story about belief -- what do you believe about what is in the book?  Will Christ return and reign for 1,000 years on earth?  Will Satan be bound for 1,000 years?  That's what John wrote.

 

Today's Scripture 

 

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Romans 12:21

Today's prayer requests:    Don Thaxton

 

We need remember Kelley's husband Don, who is recovering from surgery related to his very serious auto accident prior to the Fourth.

Today's class member prayer:   

 

 Nicole McKinney 

  

Jay