Friday, May 19, 2006

Good Morning    

 

Hope to see everyone this Sunday. 

 

Brad and Ray are leaving today for Beijing, China.  Note the current weather.

 

Current  Temp:  (at 7P local time)   66 degrees and fair  

Tonight:   Partly cloudy this evening, then cloudy after midnight.  Low around 65F.  Winds ENE  at 10 to 15 mph.   

The 10-day forecast at: http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/tenday/CHXX0008?from=_topnav_business 

Today's Reading:    Revelation 12: 7-9  -- Barclay 90-93 

-- long section today, all about Satan.  In the today's scripture, Satan is hurled to the earth after making war in heaven with Michael and his angels.  It is interesting to think that Satan had angels on his side, who were also thrown out of heaven and to earth.

-- a point that was made in something else I had read is that Satan is not in Hell -- at least not yet.  He is on earth, which is where he roams.  Later, he gets tossed to the abyss, but for now, he and his angels roam the earth.

-- the question is, in the scene that John is writing, how did the dragon get to heaven to begin with?  There is the sense, that Barlcay gives, that the dragon pursued the Messiah, even up to heaven.

-- I guess the thing that still unsettles me or is unusual to me is the idea of "there was war in heaven."  You think of Heaven as a joyful, happy place, immune to any strife, and yet you have this story.  Now, it might be a better place now with Satan as a part of it, but still, this story gives us a different perspective -- in a way, it makes Heaven seem more like a real place. This also gives us an idea of how powerful, how difficult, the struggle between good and evil is -- God is control and will be victorious, but Satan took the struggle right to God's doorstep.  We need to respect what kind of power that represents.

Today's Scripture   

Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

 

1 Peter 1:8-9

Today's prayer requests:     Our travelers Ron and Brad. 

 On their way to China today, we need to pray for Ron and Brad that they have a have a safe journey to Beijing. 

Today's class member prayer:

 Joey Harbarger     

Jay 

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Good Morning   

 

Brad and Ray are leaving tomorrow for Beijing, China.  Note the current weather.

 

Current  Temp:  (at 7P local time)   79 degrees and smoke (I'm not making it up)  

Tonight:    Mostly clear . Low around 67F   .  Winds ENE  at 5 to 10 mph.   

The 10-day forecast at: http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/tenday/CHXX0008?from=_topnav_business 

One of the web sites I go to regularly is www.slate.com.  They are currently have a running blog that just started, by a Jewish writer who is reading the Bible each day and writing his impressions.  He began the project since we was not a particularly faithful Jew, and he didn't really have a good knowledge of the Bible.  He is now reading the Bible each day, and writing a blog about his impressions as he really reads it for the first time. I'm not sure yet how to take his commentary -- it is light, but it is also questioning in a way that is offputting at times.  The link to his blog is http://www.slate.com/id/2141712/entry/2141714/

Today's Reading:    Revelation 12:6 -- Barclay 89-90

-- a short passage here about the woman fleeing to the desert for protection from the dragon.  The short question is what does this mean?

-- well, as from earlier this week, we remember that we are working with the idea that the woman is symbolic, and that she represents the community of God here on earth.   Not specifically the Jews, but the Jews are necessarily a part of this vision, since the child -- Christ -- came from this community of God.

-- so, after the birth of Christ, keeping with the symbolism laid out by Barclay, the community of God was protected by God from the dragon for a period of time -- recorded by John as 1,260 days, but that is probably a symbolic time period as well, a way of saying that during the hard times on earth, the persecution of God's people by Satan, God protected his people.

-- for me, for this chapter to really make any sense at all at this point, it has to be that John is not looking at the future right now -- he is looking at some sort of heavenly reenactment of the history of struggle between God and evil, to give us the background of what direction the future is to take.  Once we get to the end of this chapter, we can look back and see how all the pieces come together -- I hope.

Today's Scripture   

 

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?  You are not your own, you were bought at a price.  Therefore honor God with your body. 

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 

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:

 Jerri Wesson     

Jay 

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Good Morning   

 

In honor of Brad and Ron's trip to China this coming Friday, I thought we would keep up with the weather in Beijing each day.

 

Current  Temp:  (at 7P local time)  72 degrees and sunny.  

Tonight:   Mainly clear . Low around 63F  .  Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.   

The 10-day forecast at: http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/tenday/CHXX0008?from=_topnav_business

Today's Reading:    Revelation 12:5  -- Barclay 88-89 

 

-- one verse today, a short reading in Barclay.

 

-- two thing I noticed today.  One addresses one of the questions that I had earlier in the week after reading this chapter.  John says, when discussing the woman and the dragon, that these were great signs in the sky -- he doesn't say that this is some literal event that is observing. It is almost like John is watching some massive symbolic pagent in the sky; some reenactment of the story of man and God.  That's just me talking, but I'm interested to see if that thought holds up as we read more.

 

-- the second thing I noticed is something that Barclay points out.  On first reading, the idea of the dragon of waiting for the child to be born so that he could devour it made me think about Herod, and his order to kill all the male children in an effort to have the baby Jesus killed.  That may be part of that idea, but I didn't notice the part that says that the child was snatched up to heaven to God's throne.  At first, in sounds like that child being snatched up was about protecting the child from the dragon, but if you read carefully, it doesn't really say that or imply that.

 

-- the other thing, that we need to remember for the next section, I believe, is that all of this is taking place in heaven as John is viewing it.

 

Today's Scripture   

 

Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.  Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

1 Peter 3:8-9

Today's prayer requests:      Christie Peebles

 

Still pregnant, still working to hold on to her due date.  Just needs our prayers during her last few weeks of pregnancy.

 

Today's class member prayer:

Jay Waters    

Jay 

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Good Morning   

 

In honor of Brad and Ron's trip to China this coming Friday, I thought we would keep up with the weather in Beijing each day.

 

Current  Temp:  (at  3 P local time)   90 degrees and sunny.  

Today:  Lots of sunshine.  Warm, high 90F.  Winds S at 10 to 15 mph 

Tonight:  Some passing clouds . Low around 65 F.  Winds NNW at 10 to 15 mph.   

The 10-day forecast at: http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/tenday/CHXX0008?from=_topnav_business

Today's Reading:    Revelation 12 3-4 -- Barclay  87-88 

 

-- quick read today, with the focus on the dragon and his description.  Generally speaking, the dragon has long been the symbol of evil and the forces of evil -- the one that John describes is no different.  It is interesting to me that the symbol of evil is something that only exists in the imagination -- dragons don't exist, or every have existed, as far as I can tell.  But the dragon is something that we all can envision -- we all have a mental picture of what it might look like.  That is rather interesting, that many cultures and times have used the same mythical symbol to describe the idea of devouring evil, which, in a strange way, makes it seem more real.  How did we all get to using the same symbol?

 

-- when it comes to the dragon, we have to assume that John is talking symbolically, or that what he was looking at and describing was symbolic or dreamlike. 

 

-- (for Brad and Ray) I think that it is just coincidence that China is associated with the symbol of the dragon, particularly a red dragon.  Barclay doesn't make that connection.  So, no (real) need to worry.

 

Today's Scripture   

 

But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living.  But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.

Joshua 24:15

Today's prayer requests:     Ellen Barrett and the kids.

 

She's solo this week while Jake is on the road out of town, and she'd just like us to remember her as she does the single mom thing while he is away.

 

Today's class member prayer:

 Andrew Peebles    

Jay 

Monday, May 15, 2006

Good Morning   

 

In honor of Brad and Ron's trip to China this coming Friday, I thought we would keep up with the weather in Beijing each day.

 

Current  Temp:  (at 7P local time) 84 degrees and fair.

Today: Plentiful sunshine. Warm. High 86F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.

Tonight: Generally clear. Low 64F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. 

The 10-day forecast at: http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/tenday/CHXX0008?from=_topnav_business

Today's Reading:    Revelation 12 -- Barclay 83-87

 

-- As we start chapter 12, Barclay has us read the entire chapter before beginning his commentary.

 

-- Let me just say -- we just thought that the earlier chapters were full of confusing symbolism -- chapter 12 takes this to a whole other level.

 

-- Let's start with the woman and the child, working backwards from the child that is born.  According to Barclay and my bible commentaries, the child that is born is Christ.  The description ties back to the some Old Testament verses about the Messiah (rod of iron, for instance).  Then the question becomes who is the woman?

 

-- Barclay discounts the obvious choice --- Mary - because this image is in his mind too much of a superhuman, too symbolic.  The Church doesn't work, since the church began after Christ's birth and death, so it doesn't follow that the thing that Christ created should be shown symbolically as his mother.  Barclay settles on the idea that the woman represents the community of God's believers, specifically the Old Testament idea of the nation of Israel, or the Jews.  Christ came from Jewish people, and there is enough symbolism in the Old Testament to support the symbolism of the woman as representing God's chosen people.  You can expand that idea somewhat, by saying that the woman doesn't symbolize the Jews specifically as much as she symbolizes the community of God on earth, which would include the Jews, his chosen people, plus the church of believers that has grown since the birth of Christ.

 

-- Now, if we do that, we can understand or imply some other things -- the persecution of the woman by the dragon can be understood as the persecution of the Jews over the ages, or if you expand it to include Christians, the persecution of both Christians and Jews over the years.  The interesting and important thing to note is that the woman is always taken care of by God -- provision is always made for her, to protect her from the dragon.

 

-- On the other hand, while the symbolic view of the woman in this passage can be developed, there are some specific dates and times and actions connected with the woman that makes it seem more specific than that.  For instance, in chapter 11, we read about the witnesses and their time of 1,260 days, and we accepted and discussed that as a literal period of time.  In chapter 12, John gives us exactly the same time frame connected to the woman, and we are to take that (according to Barclay) as a symbolic measure of time.  I have a bit of problem with that, because it seems to me that John, in the space of a single chapter, would use the same language to represent the same concepts.  I also have a bit of problem with the time line -- for the explanation for the vision that John's sees to be true, what John is seeing is not a vision of the future, or just of the future, but a vision of a bigger slice of history, going back to the birth of Christ.  Some things we need to figure out as we go forward.

 

Today's Scripture   

 

Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.  But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.

John 3:20-21

Today's prayer requests:      John Fillebaum's friend

 

John has a friend who has had to be admitted to the psyche ward at the hospital.  She needs our prayers as she gets treatment and works at gettng better.  

Today's class member prayer:

Susanne Russell   

Jay