Lent Day 11: I Lied, I'm Sorry, Let us move on to Revelation

Let's get this out of the way real quick. I have to apologize to you, my constant readers. Last week I wrote a, in my opinion, very funny blog about parental abuse by toddlers. At the end of the blog, in a postscript, I said that it was my intention to start the week off with a funny blog each week. I did set out to do such a thing, but it turns out that I am no where near as funny on command as I would like. I even had a concept in mind for today's blog that would in fact be funny, but alas I sat down and what nothing of note came out. So, I apologize for raising your hopes that today you would once again come to my blog and find the funny.

IN OTHER NEWS

Last week I started a sermon series on the Book of Revelation. I did so at the urging of one of the members of my church board and after not a small amount of time thinking about whether or not I should. As you may know there has been a lot spoken about Revelation, and the question I had to answer for myself was, "If I preach on it is there anything I can add to the discussion?" I'm still not sure if I am adding anything to the discussion, but I did come to the conclusion that if I could at the very least wipe away some of the clutter about the book it might be worth it in the end.

My first sermon was broken into two parts. The first part was a few notes of housekeeping in regards to Revelation and the second part was the meat of my sermon.

The first note of housekeeping was courtesy of my New Testament and Revelation teacher Dr. Timothy Dwyer. There is no 'S.' So often people say the Book of Revelations, and that is wrong. There is only one revelation of John and it is found in the Book of Revelation.

The second note of housekeeping is that Revelation is not a road-map to the end of the world. There has, unfortunately, been a multitude of voices that have been broadcast over the radio, TV, and the internet as well as a plethora of books that have suggested/implied/outright stated that Revelation is in fact a road-map. To name just a few of those people: Pat Robertson, Jack Van Impe, Tim Lahaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. While the author of Revelation, John [but probably not the same John who wrote the gospel], uses imagery that is often foreign to us, but that does not mean it was foreign to his original readers. 

The third, and final, not of housekeeping had to do with Revelation's audience. Revelation, like the whole of the scripture, is written to the audience that originally read it. But throughout every book of the Bible there are truths that resonate through the ages. Each individual book speaks to us today and will speak to people thousands of years from now, as long as our blue orb continues to turn that long. And, while Revelation was written to a 1st Century church that was in the midst of persecution and general turmoil there is much that can speak to us today.

And thus I moved into the second part of my sermon.

Read chapter 1 of Revelation and see if you can get the sense that John may be trying to tell us something. I'll give you a bit of space if you actually want to.

What did you come up with? Well here is what I did.

In verse 4 we find, "who was and who is and who is to come". In verse 8, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, who is and was and is to come." And in verse 17, "I am the first and the last...I am alive for ever and ever."

John desperately wants us to understand that our God is eternal.

Who was: John wants us to understand that this is the Jesus who walked the Earth, the Jesus who saved souls, and hearts, and minds, and lives. This is the Jesus who raised the dead. The Jesus who hung out with the unworthy. The Jesus who questioned the religious elite. The Jesus who attempted to make us look at life with different eyes.

Who is: John also wants us to understand the resurrection. He wants us to understand that the Jesus who lived is the Jesus who is living right now. Jesus is still moving in our midst, doing the same work in the world today that he was doing 2000 years ago.

Who is to come: Finally John wants us to understand that the Jesus who lived and who is living is coming back. What does this mean? As we'll see throughout Revelation, it means that no matter what we are going through Jesus never leaves, never forsakes, never forgets us. As one of my favorite author/pastor Rob Bell states, LOVE WINS. There is coming a day when all of our pain will be wiped away. A day when all our tears will be wiped away. A day when all of our struggles will disappear. A day when death will be no more. And in that we can rejoice.

Peace and Love,

Pastor K