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

Wednesday, May 3, 2006

Good Morning  

 

Since I'll be out of town on Friday, we'll just have today and tomorrow's email.  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.

 

-- let's start with some basics -- the word "antichrist" doesn't appear in Revelation -- it actually only appears five times in the Bible, in the 1 John and 2 John letters in the New Testament.

 

-- because of the word antichrist doesn't appear, then there are a number of different symbolic creatures that do appear in Revelation that people have assigned the name to.

 

-- prior to reading any of this -- Barclay, online, etc -- here's what I think I know about the antichrist -- My understanding has always been that the antichrist would be a single person, a world ruler, who would be impressive in his intellect and charisma and accomplishments and power, but who would be completely and ruthlessly against Christ and Christians. He would have absolutely no conscience, no morals and his goal would be to have people worship him, and he would have enough power that many will actually be persuaded to do that.  Just as an exercise, before you read too much of Barclay's study, you should think about what your current vision/understanding of the antichrist is.

 

-- as promised, here is the Wikipedia link to a discussion about the antichrist  -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antichrist

 

-- both Wikipedia and Barclay are similar in that they propose a lot of different scenarios/meanings for the antichrist -- is it one person, is it Satan, is it a group of people?  an organization?  a movement/spirit?  While we all have a very specific idea probably of what we understand as the antichrist, there is a lot of theological discussion about exactly who or what we are talking about.  So let's read Barclay and the Wiki and see what thoughts we have about this tomorrow.

 

-- also, here are a couple of related news stories about the upcoming 6/6/06 date

 

from the LA Times:  http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-omen24apr24,1,3826622.story?coll=la-headlines-entnews&ctrack=1&cset=true

 

from the Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_3770815 

 

 

Today's Scripture 

You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord's table and the table of demons.

1 Corinthians 10:21

Today's prayer requests:     Our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan

 

This war is going on and on, and another 15 Iraqis were killed by a suicide bomber today, we just need to remember that we still have thousands of Americans in a very dangerous situation everyday there, even though it isn't a front page story here everyday.

 

 Today's class member prayer: 

 

 Krystle Hatton     

Jay

Tuesday, May 2, 2006

Good Morning  

 

Volunteer? 

 

Today's Reading:   Revelation 10:8-11 , read Barclay pages 64-65

 

-- this is one more short passage, the rest of this week will be devoted to Barclay's notes about the Antichrist before we move on the Chapter 11.

 

-- in this short passage, John writes of eating the little roll (scroll) that the angel carried with the message about the end times.  John mirrors the experience of Ezekiel, who does the same in Ezekiel 3:1-3.  As Barclay notes, it is symbolic of taking in the word of God, much like communion is a symbolic taking in of Christ's body.  It is interesting contrast to the idea of "eat your words", which is more modern phrase, to the idea of eating the scroll with the word of God on it. I don't think that these phrases are connected at all, but it is an interesting contrast in images. When you have to eat your words, it is generally a bitter experience, and it usually indicates that you were wrong about something.   But in the Bible, in several places the word of God is sweet -- though John notes that the scroll was bitter in his stomach, which speaks to the idea that much of what he has been chosen to share with the world is not pleasant at all, but terrifying.

-- the interesting thing for me is the fact that at this point, John is told again that he must prophesy to all, what he sees and hears -- he was told that early in the book, but now that we are about halfway through, it seems like he needed to be reminded or encouraged to stick it out to the end, even though it was getting more and more bleak.

 

Today's Scripture 

Keep alert, stand firm in the your faith, be courageous, be strong.  Let all that you do be done in love. 

1 Corinthians 16:13-14 

 

Today's prayer requests:    Saundra Aaron

Valerie's brother's mother-in-law continues to go through treatment for cancer.  Need to remember her and her family in her struggles.

Today's class member prayer: 

 

Michelle Ray    

Jay

Monday, May 1, 2006

Good Morning  

 

Hope everyone had a good weekend.  I was glad that my schedule changed and I was able to make it class yesterday, but I definitely will be gone this coming Sunday.  Need a volunteer to lead the discussion for this coming Sunday.

 

Today's Reading:   Revelation 10: 5-7, read Barclay pages 63-64

 

-- this is a simple passage today, but it marks a transition in the narrative.  In a way, the angel that makes the announcement here that "there is no more time" (in my Bible, it says "there will be no more delay") is letting us know that all that has happened -- not just in Revelation, but in all human history -- was just a prequel to this final moment, when "the mystery of God will be accomplished."   We are left to wait for the sounding of the seventh and final trumpet.

 

-- as we discussed yesterday, so much has happened in Revelation, and yet we still haven't gotten to the Antichrist, the beast or any of the other well-known sections of Revelation.

 

-- in thinking about the idea of timing of these events, (the seven trumpets) I think we all discussed and agreed that we would be able to tell when these events happened (if they happened during our lifetime), and that there would be no doubt that God was involved, for anyone.  But I'm reminded of the story of Moses and Egypt -- God sent some great plagues on Egypt, and yet there was doubt and disbelief in Pharoah's mind that this was the work of God.  Not until the last plague did he believe.  While we find it hard to believe that someone could go through the six trumpets of Revelation and not be convinced that it is the work of God, we do have a somewhat of a precedent in the Bible for that kind of blindness and denial.

 

Today's Scripture 

Surely God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid, for the Lord God is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation

Isaiah 12:2 

Today's prayer requests:    Christie Peebles

 

Just need to continue to remember Christie as she hangs on till her due date.

Today's class member prayer: 

Brad Douglas     

Jay