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 

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Good Morning 

 

Just an early heads up -- we should be finishing this study by the end of the month or so.  Where do we go from here?  Any ideas -- either a suggestion of a specific book or study, or just a general recommendation of a particular kind or type of study would be appreciated. 

 

Note, if you want to see a web site of someone who is desperately trying to predict and understand the future, go to redhat.bravehost.com.  He has got a host of his own predictions, along with a mix of prophesies from Revelation and Nostradamus, all swirling together. 

 

Today's Reading:    Revelation 19:11-21, Barclay 199-207

 

-- finishing up Chapter 19

 

-- the back half of Chapter 19 is about the coming of Christ to battle the beast and his forces to achieve the final victory.  Note that this battle isn't necessarily associated with Armageddon -- it is only mentioned in chapter 16, and it speaks of only an assembling of forces.  The traditional vision of Armageddon really comes from several different verses in different places in Revelation.  There is the mention in Chapter 16 of the place and the assembling of armies; their is another verse that speaks of the Euphrates being dried up so that the kings from the East can come, and there is the verse about the blood being as high as the horses bridles for 180 miles.  Over the years, I've read about Armageddon, and have heard these different points made as if they were all in one place in Revelation -- but they aren't, we are the ones who have filled Armageddon with that meaning.

 

-- that said, there is a final battle between Christ and his heavenly army and the armies of the beast, and Christ's army utterly destroys the beast's army.  In what is a really a brutal image, an angel calls all the birds of the air to come to the site of this great battle, so that they can feast on the remains of the beast's army, and at the end of the passage, it notes that the birds did gorge themselves on the flesh of the slain soldiers.

 

-- this is yet another image that gave pause to the early church about whether to include Revelation at all in the Bible -- this is a Christ that many were not comfortable with -- a warrior Christ, riding into battle, utterly destroying his enemies and giving their bodies to the vultures.  Barclay makes the point that this is the picture of the Messiah that the Jews have always looked for, at least at this time -- a warrior Messiah, come to lead the people to victory.  That is one of the reasons why the Jews rejected Christ -- because he didn't fit their mold of the conquering Messiah.

 

-- As Barclay mentions, the end of Revelation is about God settling accounts.  In chapters 17 and 18, Babylon/Rome, is destroyed and it's destruction is celebrated.  In chapter 19, Christ returns to earth, and he dispatches the beast and the false prophet, sending them to the lake of fire, and destroying all those allied with the beast.  In Chapter 20, we see what Christ has in store for Satan -- the dragon.

 

 

Today's Scripture 

 

 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power.  Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil

Ephesians 6:10-11

Today's prayer requests:    Update from Megan 

 

Kayla's biospy went well, she's just a little sore.  They told her that no matter what the results, she needs to have her thyroid removed.  If it's cancerous, they will operate soon because it's best to have surgery during the 2nd trimester when possible.  The doctor indicated that test results would probably come back inconclusive and they would schedule surgery from there. 

 

Also, we need to remember Monica, Joey and the youth who are away on their mission trip in Florida.

Today's class member prayer:   

 

Matt Rocksvold

  

Jay 

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Good Morning 

 

Back from the ATL.

 

Just an early heads up -- we should be finishing this study by the end of the month or so.  Where do we go from here?  Any ideas -- either a suggestion of a specific book or study, or just a general recommendation of a particular kind or type of study would be appreciated.

 

Today's Reading:    Revelation 19:1-10b, Barclay 189-199

 

-- moving on to chapter 19.  

 

-- just to recap Barclay's summary of what happens in chapter 19  -- the first section (today's reading) is rejoicing about the destruction of Babylon/Rome.  Then there is the description of white horse and it's rider, who is Faithful and True.  After that, there is great assembling of the hostile powers against Christ, the final battle, the beast and the false prophet is tossed into the lake of fire, and the slaughter (Barclay's word) of all the rest.

 

-- The first 10 verses of this chapter offer a description of the rejoicing in Heaven over the destruction of Babylon, the victory of God over the sin leadership of Rome. Barclay points out a couple of interesting things about this passage.

 

-- One is that the word hallelujah surprisingly appears only four times in the entire Bible, and all four of those are in this chapter of Revelation, in this section of celebration of God and his power and works.

 

-- Second is the idea that the concept of God he Almighty appears only 10 times in the Bible, and nine of those are in Revelation, including this chapter.

 

-- In a sense, the use of the words hallelujah and almighty for the first time in Revelation do represent, to me, the idea of final victory -- that the events and outcomes that John describes are so unique, and so final, so complete, so monumental, that he needed to use language that had not been used before to describe the events and God's power.

 

-- As we move towards the final resolution of Revelation, we begin to hear of the idea of the marriage between Christ and his Church, which is a way of expressing the closeness and faithfulness of Christ and the his church to each other.  More about this is to come in later chapters.

 

 

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:    Update from Kelley Thaxton:

 

Just a quick update for you guys:

Don had his hip surgery yesterday, which went perfect.  He was moved to a step-down room today, room 9312.  However, the girls still cannot see him.  Only visitors 12 and up can go in.  We can go in any time between 9am and 9pm, but Sierra and McKinley still haven’t seen their daddy. 

Thank you for keeping us in your prayers.

Kelley

Today's class member prayer: 

April Walker      

 

Jay 

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Good Morning 

 

Quick note this morning from Atlanta. 

 

Today's Reading:    Revelation 18:11-24, Barclay 180-189

 

-- this finishes off the reading about chapter 18.

 

-- the remainder of chapter 18 is the remainder of the doom song about Babylon (Rome), and it is an exhaustive list, meant to show how utterly and completely Babylon will be destroyed.  In the section for today's reading, the merchants and sea captains and traders all lament the loss of Babylon, upon which their livilihoods were based.

 

-- John, I think, is accomplishing a couple of things with this section -- one is that he identifying every little detail that will be obliliterated with the destruction of Babylon, but is also outlining all of the excesses that doomed Babylon from the start -- the emphasis on luxury and wealth and the focus on personal pleasure that had them turn away from God.

 

-- the imagery at the end of the chapter, of the angel throwing the stone into the sea and saying that Babylon would disappear just as the stone disappeared into the water was an interesting image.

 

-- there is the portion of the chapter about the people of heaven rejoicing at the destruction of Babylon, which is another of those sections that give some pause about Revelation.  However, the fact of the matter is that the enemies of God will lose out in the end, and that God will judge those who are against him, and that passages such as these in Revelation are as much a celebration of God's power as they are celebration of the destruction of God's enemies.

 

-- at the end of the doom song, John reminds us again of why Babylon was destroyed -- because all the nations were led astray by Babylon, and because of all the persecution of believers that Babylon was responsible for.

 

Today's Scripture 

 

Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. 

 

Galatians 6:10

 

Today's prayer requests:       Couple for today  

 

We need to remember Don Thaxton, Kelley's husband, who is recovering from his auto accident.

 

We also need to remember Megan's friend Kayla, who is pregnant and is having a biopsy done today on a mass doctor's found on her throat.  

 

Today's class member prayer: 

Brigette Severance     

 

Jay 

Re: Monday, July 10, 2006

Kayla's appointment was moved to Tuesday....I'll keep everyone updated.

Monday, July 10, 2006

Good Morning 

 

Good to see everyone on Sunday.  Hope everyone has a great week. 

 

Today's Reading:    Revelation 18: 6-16 , Barclay 172-180

 

-- doing a little bit bigger slice of reading today, as we work towards wrapping up this month.

 

-- this section continues the commentary about the "doom song" for Rome, aka Babylon in John's writing.  There are laments from kings who were allied with Rome, and very interestingly, from the merchants whose livelihood was derived from selling to Rome all of the products that really defined her excesses.

 

-- two takes on this section.  One is that Rome was, in comparison to the rest of the world at the time, was an amazingly affluent place, a center of power unlikely to be ever seen again.  And to the point that Rome could be the Babylon that John was writing about, the truth of the matter is that it did come true -- Rome, as an empire, ceased to be.  The doom song was correct, and to me, that would have been a radical thought back in John's day -- that Rome would not exist, would not survive, would be no more.  It would be as radical as saying today that America would exist no more, that it would no longer be the financial and cultural and political leader of the world.   As unimaginable as that sounds to us today, it was probably more unimaginable to the people of John's day in regards to Rome.

 

-- the second regards the idea of pride, and how that "goeth before the fall".  As Barclay notes, Rome's primary sin was pride, not necessarily greed or any of other sins for which Rome is known.  Rome felt itself above all things, including God.  From that teaching, many Americans draw the inspiration to talk about the implications of Rome's fall on America, and leading the charge for America not to repeat the sins of Rome.   Part of that, interestingly, is the willingness of Americans to see themselves as the new Romans, and to see America with the combination of world political and military power coupled with exorbitant wealth that charaterized Rome.  I will say that America embraces and celebrates Christianity in a way that Rome never did.

 

-- So, the question for discussion is -- you've read about Rome, both here and elsewhere -- does Rome remind you of America?  What are the differences and similarities between Rome of John's day and America of our day?

 

Today's Scripture 

 

Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.

Hebrews 12:14

 

Today's prayer requests:       Couple for today  

 

We need to remember Monica, Joey and all the youth who left on their mission trip to Daytona on Sunday morning. 

 

We also need to remember Megan's friend Kayla, who is pregnant and is having a biopsy done today on a mass doctor's found on her throat.  

 

Today's class member prayer: 

Christie Peebles     

 

Jay