Next Sunday, July 25, at 9:30 I will begin a six-week Sunday School Class on The Meaning of Revelation for Today. The last time I taught a course on Revelation was as 1999 drew to a close and many expected 2K to usher in the end of the world. Remember all that?
Revelation is a wonderful book. Much of it is straight forward. For ex., there are seven letters to seven churches in Chapters 2&3. Nothing strange about these at all. But because Revelation was written ca. 96a.d., when Emperor Domitian was persecuting Christians, much of the material is of a symbolic nature, symbols that could be understood by Christians, but not by the Romans should they come across a copy. What John, who wrote Revelation, is doing is giving the churches of Asia Minor hope. Emperor Domitian was making Christians state publicly that he was “Lord and God,” not Jesus. If a Christian would not say this in public, he/she could be executed or denied a work permit, which eventually would lead to death. Thus, the message of John is that Jesus rules the world, not the Emperor. Hang in there; God will get you through this. Help is on the way.
An example. Rev. 1: 13-15: “I saw one like the Son of Man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash across his chest. His head and his hair were white as white wool, white as snow; his eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined as in a furnace.” What this says is that Jesus, the Son of Man, is king of the world, not Emperor Domitian.
The long robe with a golden sash across the chest is the garb of a king. The white hair symbolizes the wisdom of the elderly, in this case, that of God, the wisdom that will guide the church through this persecution. “Eyes like a flame of fire” means Jesus has a penetrating gaze: he gets to the heart of the matter. Domitian cannot outfox him. “Feet like burnished bronze” means that Jesus stands firm; cannot be moved, as opposed to an idol with clay feet in the book of Daniel. The Emperor will not prevail, cannot steamroll the church.
There is much more going on in vss. 10-20, but hopefully this gives you a taste of how rich Revelation is and how much hope it gives us even today.-DJ
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