Youtor
Revelation 1
YOUR LINK HERE:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=cgD-7tkB9fY
Beginning the series from Cairns Road Baptist Church on Revelation. Part of the RESTORE project. https://www.cairnsroad.org/restore-2022/ • INTRODUCTION • We come now to the book of Revelation. This is a book that has amazed, horrified and inspired Christians and non-Christians alike down the centuries since it was written. It is filled with the most incredible imagery and is simultaneously enthralling and baffling. Readers are left wondering, what does it all mean? Are these predictions? If so, are they literal or symbolic? And will they come in this order? Indeed, have they already begun some time ago, and so we must try and figure out where we are in the sequence, to know what is coming next..? • Or perhaps everything is completely symbolic, and these things weren't about the future per se, but about every time and place, for all Christians. These are the sorts of things which are going to happen regardless, like persecution. • Or maybe it is a mix: after all, Revelation was sent to seven real churches in Asia Minor. It must have made some sense to them. They must have been able to decode the symbols, look around at the culture and politics and wars which worried them, and take the warnings and encouragements to heart. • If this is the case, that Revelation is purely for those to whom it was addressed, is there any enduring element for us? It can't be purely about the past, because so much is focused on the end of all things, the judgement and the new heavens and new earth. The future seems to be the bulk of the thing. John calls it a prophecy. • I think the only thing we can do as a church reading this book together is pick a path and follow it. Although generally it is good to consider different possible interpretations, with a book like Revelation, that could take forever. It will be good first of all to get a grip of the whole book, and then in future rereadings, perhaps we can look at other interpretations. • As for historical background, church tradition from the second century identified the author as the apostle John, writing during the reign of the emperor Domitian, 81-96 AD. The situation for Christians was mixed. There were sporadic persecutions, but they were not all living under the fear of the sword. Revelation does tell us, however, that authentic Christian witness inevitably brings us into conflict with the world, not just in a general sense, but in an escalating sense, so that the situation for Christians will intensify towards the end. This means not only pressure from the threat of violence, but also the lure of worldly temptations, whether it is pleasures and compromises, or deception. • The first word is 'apocalypse' in Greek, which is why older translations title this book the Apocalypse of John. It means 'revelation', and so this is a revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants about what is soon to take place. 'Apocalypse' now has the meaning of 'end of the world', which it derives from the content of this book. But literature of this sort, which call 'apocalyptic', is not so much about the end of the world, though that is frequently a part of it, but about the revelation of the heavenly secrets behind the things we see in the world. The seer or the prophet who is given the revelation is allowed to glimpse behind the veil of reality into hidden realms, the divine throne room, the secret places and operations of the earth, and so on. He is shown symbols and mysteries, and an angelic guide is often there to interpret them. • Revelation will have much to say about deception, truth and witness, and endurance. It is crucial that the dazzling deceptions which Satan will use are unmasked for believers. They know these things are false, and they also know his destiny, and their own. Revelation warns and encourages and gives the heavenly perspective, but it is specific about the kinds of things which will exert pressure on believers, tempting them compromise or apostatise. So it is not mere encouragement, but makes its readers wise.
#############################
