Friday, June 30, 2006

Good Morning  

 

I've got one more week to be out, but will be back next Sunday. 

 

Don't forget this Sunday, July 2 at 6:30P is the annual church July 4th cookout and fireworks. 

 

Today's Reading:    Revelation 17(all), Barclay 152-156   

 

-- Along the way, Barclay has said that this chapter or that chapter was "one of the most difficult in Revelation".  Well, this time he says it and I believe him.  Chapter 17 is a bear of a chapter, and it is primarily because it seems to be symbolism and a riddle all wrapped together.

 

-- One of the things that my Bible commentary mentions that Barclay's doesn't, but that helps understand the flow of this, is that Chapter 17 describes in greater detail the destruction of Bablyon that is mentioned in Chapter 16:17-21.

 

-- Also interesting is that Barclay doesn't mention, at least in today's reading, what John says -- that an angel "carried him away in the Spirit", which is interesting, in that John was already seeing a vision, and then an angel shows him another vision will in the midst of his current one.  I think he primarily does it to let us know that he had changed locations -- that he was in heaven observing things, and now he went somewhere else. 

 

-- Barclay breaks down this chapter by character, and the first one he breaks down is the woman.  Both Barclay and my Bible commentary see the woman as the Roman empire.  The descriptions by John of her dress, the cup she holds, the fact that she is drunk with the blood of Christian matyrs, all point to Rome -- the excesses of Rome, its persecution of Christians. One of the clearest clues that Rome symbolic of the woman is that Rome has traditionally been described as a city sitting on seven hills, and later in the chapter -- verse 9 -- notes the seven hills upon which the woman sits.

 

-- The only thing that gives me pause to buying into this description/interpretation of "the women = Rome" is that Chapter 17 is supposed to be providing more detail from Chapter 16 account of the final 7 judgments, and I don't think the final judgments have happened.  To me, that means that the woman, etc. has to be someone else -- either some symbolic decendent of Rome, or the Roman empire, or some other similarly corrupting influence on the world.  I think that some Catholic Church haters have portrayed this woman as the Catholic Church (since it headquartered in Rome, and some people have problems with the doctrine of that church).  Some have cast America in the role of the harlot -- a great power whose culture has corrupted the world.  There are problems with each of those lines of thoughts, obviously, but the main thing to remember about the woman is that all the commentaries see her, not as an individual, but much larger organization -- a country, a multinational church or corporation, etc. 

 

-- Again, the main reason I don't buy Barclay's thought she is the Roman Empire is that we are in a part of the Revelation that I don't believe has happened yet, and unless this is referring to some new and improved modern Roman Empire, then I think that the woman has to be someone or somebody else, that is either here or is yet to come.

 

Today's Scripture 

 

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

 

Hebrews 4:7

 

Today's prayer requests:    From Michelle:

 

Melanie Tubbs a friend of mine from Tuscaloosa mother to two boys under 5 was scheduled to have her leg amputated above the knee Monday.  the surgery was suddenly canceled when her epidural wore off as she entered the operating room.  This has been a trying week for her and she hopefully will be going home tomorrow to rest up and try to begin this process again with a different surgeon next Wednesday.  Please pray for her strength -physically, emotionally, and spiritually both for her and her family.

Today's class member prayer: 

Elizabeth Barrett     

 

Jay 

RE: Thursday, June 29, 2006

I noticed that we had no prayer request today and would like to add one.  Melanie Tubbs a friend of mine from Tuscaloosa mother to two boys under 5 was scheduled to have her leg amputated above the knee Monday.  the surgery was suddenly canceled when her epidural wore off as she entered the operating room.  This has been a trying week for her and she hopefully will be going home tomorrow to rest up and try to begin this process again with a different surgeon next Wednesday.  Please pray for her strength -physically, emotionally, and spiritually both for her and her family.

---

Thursday, June 29, 2006

Good Morning  

 

Don't forget this Sunday, July 2 at 6:30P is the annual church July 4th cookout and fireworks. 

 

Today's Reading:    Revelation 16:17-21 , Barclay 151-152

 

-- short section today before tomorrow's long section to begin Chapter 17.

 

-- These verses cover the pouring out of the final bowl, and their is massive destruction from an earthquake -- cities over the world are destroyed and the great city -- Rome? Bablylon? New York? -- is leveled and broken into three pieces, island disappeared and mountains were leveled. And that doesn't include the 100 pound hailstones falling from the sky.

 

-- Thinking about this earthquake, I thought about the great earthquake from a couple of years ago in Indonesia -- think how much destruction that caused, and yet it didn't effect the entire world, mostly Southeast Asia.  In comparison, that earthquake was small compared to what is to come.

 

-- Couple of things I noticed in this section -- first, is the pronouncement from the throne "It is done" when the seventh bowl is poured out -- it reminds me of Jesus's last words on the cross -- "It is finished" (John 19:30).  While I might be reading too much into it, there is, to me, a sense of relief in both of those words -- Christ says them after struggling and suffering on the cross, and God says them at the end of seven terrible plagues released upon the earth --upon his creation.

 

-- The other thing to notice is that after the earthquake, the people who survive still curse God from bringing these hardships/plagues upon them, instead of repenting and submitting to God's authority. As Barclay points out in an earlier section, it isn't as if they don't know who is causing these plagues -- the people of the earth know exactly who is the cause, and their response is to curse and attack the name of God.  Sort of clueless, in my mind.

 

Today's Scripture 

 

 Wealth is worthlesss in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death. 

 

 Proverbs 11:4 

 

Today's prayer requests:     

 

Today's class member prayer: 

Kelley Thaxton      

 

Jay 

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Good Morning 

 

Today's Reading:    Revelation 16:12-16, Barclay 145-151

 

-- Barclay fleshes out some details in these sections from the reading yesterday.

 

-- "Kings from the east" are to be feared, as they are going to move on Jersusalem.  Barclay doesn't mention a specific thought about who that might be, just that in John's time, the Parthians were feared warriors from the East.  Note that the Euphrates flows through Iraq, so two countries that are to the East of the Euphrates are Iran, and well to the East, China, both of whom have been identified by end-times writers as their pick to be the "Kings from the East".  I think it is also interesting, though not mentioned by Barclay, that the King from the East reminds me of the Three Kings of the Nativity, who also came from the East.

 

-- On the frogs, Barclay's take is that it is simply word play, and that it symbolizes the evil thoughts and wordsand propaganda of the beast, etc.

 

-- The false prophet is first mentioned here, but in Barclay's interpretation of the symbolism, the false prophet is the same as the second beast who came from the land to help the first beast (from Chapter 13), and continuing in Barclay's line of thought, that would be governmental infrastructure that supported Rome and the worship of Caesar.  However, here is where, to me, Barclay's whole line of thought about this falls short.  With the seven bowls, in my mind, we are talking about events that haven't happened yet -- yet here is the Roman Empire and its infrastructure still around and part of the picture.  I just don't see how the beast, etc. can be equated to the Roman Empire and emperors, since this part of John's vision clearly hasn't happened.  I've read some commentary that says that this represents a modern return of the Roman Empire (that is, that one day, someone will come and rebuild the Roman Empire, declare themselves Emperor of that rebuilt empire, and thus restore the Roman Empire. Some commentators in the 1970s thought that the European Union represented just such a rebuilding).

 

-- Armageddon finally shows up in our reading -- it is interesting that this is one of the most well-known parts of Revelation to the average person, and it just now shows up, and only in passing.  Barclay talks about a number of possible locations for Armageddon, but the main thing to note is that the forces of the world are gathered by the beast and the false prophet to do battle at this place.  The one thing that I would be certain about is that it is in Middle East, and close to Israel -- otherwise I don't think that there would have been a Hebrew word for it.  The main thing to note here is that Armageddon is a place.

 

Today's Scripture 

 

Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit

 

Psalms 51:12 

 

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: 

 Brandon Herring        

 

Jay 

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Good Morning 

 

Since we are talking about the destruction of the earth today, and the different ways that it can happen, here is a little cheery story about an asteroid that will be making a close approach next week:

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20060626/sc_space/hugeasteroidtoflypastearthjuly3   

 

Today's Reading:    Revelation 16 (all), Barclay 139-145

 

-- Chapter 16 is clearly the beginning of the end.  God has called forth seven angels to pour out his judgements upon the earth.  These judgments/plagues are similiar in nature to the plagues that Moses called down on Pharoah, and also similar to the plagues that we saw earlier in Revelation when the seven seals were broken and when the seven trumpets sounded.  However, there are three key differences between the trumpets and the bowls:

 

-- The bowls are complete, the trumpets were partial.  In the trumpets, it was 1/3 of this, or 1/4 of that affected.  With the bowls, it is everything.

 

-- Second, the trumpet judgments gave people an opportunity to repent, whereas the bowl judgments don't.

 

-- Third, mankind is directly affected by all seven of the bowls, whereas they were only indirectly affected by some of the trumpet judgments.

 

-- As Barclay notes, John says that the people knew these plagues came from God, because they cursed him as the cause of them.  It is amazing that people can be so stubborn in the light of the awesome power of God, but I guess we see that on a smaller scale everyday.  But I think we all know people who would do exactly as John has written -- who would suffer these great plagues, know that they were from God for their disobedience, and still be angry and curse God and try to fight God rather than submit to him and admit to his power and rule.

 

-- On page 143, Barclay says of these seven plagues that "John seems to have gathered together the horrors from all the stories of the avenging wrath of God and to have hurled them on the unbelieving world".  He writes as if John made all of this up, instead of this being a vision of the end times that John was observing.  My impression is that Barclay is saying that John made all of this up, to make his point.  Yet another example of Barclay's skepticism.

 

-- In our effort to think about the timeline for the events in Revelation, I'm pretty sure that these events have not happened yet.

 

Today's Scripture 

 

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 

 

Romans 8:28

 

Today's prayer requests:    Gracie Barrett

 

From Ellen:

Could you please add Gracie to the prayer list? She fell off a hammock yesterday and fractured her right arm. We are going to see an orthopedist today to get a cast. Our biggest problem right now is that she can't suck her thumb. (won't suck the left one for some reason) Thanks!    

Today's class member prayer: 

 Megan Douglas       

 

Jay 

Prayer Request

From Elizabeth Barrett:

Hi Everyone! Could you please add Gracie to the prayer list? She fell off a hammock yesterday and fractured her right arm. We are going to see an orthopedist today to get a cast. Our biggest problem right now is that she can't suck her thumb. (won't suck the left one for some reason) Thanks!

Monday, June 26, 2006

Good Morning

Hope everyone had a good weekend

Today's Reading: Revelation 15:5-8 , Barclay 137-139

-- As noted, going to try to pick up the pace so that we can finish this study by the end of July. So we are doing a couple of sections today, which finished chapter 15, which is a relatively short chapter.

-- These verses today set the stage for the pouring out of the seven bowls of wrath. In today's verses, the angels come forth to do their work, and are given their bowls by one of the four living creatures (whom we met early on in Revelation). Barclay points out that the dress of the angels reflects their status and their relationship with God --- and it is similar in nature to the robes the priests wore who attended to the Ark of the Covenant.

-- There is the idea in the last verse that the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and that no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues were completed. In a sense, to me, this is like a giant "closed" sign on the temple, which in a way, is true -- no one was going to be able to approach God until these plagues were completed -- in other words, no one was going to be able to come to God and plead for leniency from these judgments.

-- Also, to me there is the interesting idea of smoke being the symbol of the glory of God, but if you think about it, nothing is more pervasive when it is present than smoke. Think about it -- smoke permeates everything that is around, it can fill any space with it's presence, and yet it is ethereal -- you can't really put your hand on it, you can't really stop it or control it. Just an interesting idea

Today's Scripture

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Hebrews 4:12

Today's prayer requests:

Today's class member prayer:

Joey Harbarger

Jay