Revelation

I'm preaching at the end of the month at a local church.They are going through a series and I have to follow along. The series they are doing are the 7 churches found at the beginning of the book of Revelation. I have to do two of the churches.

Good gig.

I've been reading Richard Baukhams book on Revelation. Revelation is confusing - you need to read this book to help you figure it out.

Revelation is a poem, filled with amazing artistic imagery. It also contains a lot of literary skill. You could study it your whole life, and still discover new things.

It is an assault on empire. It's like a punk rock song, raging against all that is unjust.

But, the anger against injustice flows out of worship of the One who will bring all things to rights. I read through the whole book this afternoon at Starbucks. It is fantastic.

"Those who bear witness to the one true God, the only true absolute to whom all political power is subject, expose Rome's idolatrous self-deification for what it is. The power of resistance to Rome comes from Christian faith in the one true God." (Baukham)

There is a lot of talk in Revelation about the beast. The beast is power expressed through empire. It has taken on different forms throughout history. When Revelation was written, it was Rome. Rome was a system of violent oppression, founded by conquest.

Christians living in Rome were trapped in an empire that was anti-Christian. They needed to envision a new way of living. Revelation offers a dynamic and powerful prophetic imagination that replaces familiar imagery with new imagery.

More to come as I continue to study this amazing book.