Arrrgh…. The backups didn’t work

A couple of years ago I got sick of loosing files when my computer crashed. So I created database and stored it on the Internet. I put all my preparation and files into the database. Then I rather cleverly configured the server to e.mail a daily backup of the file to a google mail account. “now”, I thought, “I will never loose any thing due to a computer crash”.

I moved my Internet service account. and intended to restore the database in due course. Due course came today when I needed something and I discovered that the backup only kept information about the table not the actual data.

Hours and hours of work have been lost because I didn’t check the backups were working properly. I am gutted!

Revelation starts here!

I (perhaps foolishly) give the evening service the choice of the topic that we look at together. They suggested and chose Revelation. I have to admit I was not keen. However we made a start last night. I’m not posting the sermon here, mainly because the relational spoken word is not the same on paper. I will post my notes, which are incomplete and a bit vague in places. Feel free to post questions comments and disagreements in the comments…

Notes:

Revelation Chapter 1

What kind of book is Revelation?

Understanding what kind of literature and a little about the audience it was intended for can help you understand it.

³Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of the prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it; for the time is near.

He was one of a circle of Prophets in the province of Asia (now part of Turkey) (22:6). This was quite normal for early Christian Prophesy. There were some disagreements between prophets and it appears that John opposed someone in Thyatira (2:20).

There were two types of prophesy given in the local church. An Oracle would have been spoken spontaneously (1 Cor. 14:30) and a Vision may have been reported later (Such as Peters vision in Acts 10.)

The book of Revelation is an astonishingly careful piece of literature. It does not have the hallmarks of an Oracle which is spoken then written. It has a far more careful structure than that.

Johns use of Old Testament imagery an allusion suggests that he sees himself standing in the tradition of the Old Testament Prophet. He is certainly well versed in the Hebrew Scriptures, suggesting a Jewish origin.

Title: The Revelation (Gk. Apocalypse) to John

An Apocalypse is:

• A supernatural vision
• Given in spiritual way
• Revealing how past present and future intersect.

There was a Jewish tradition of Apocalyptic literature some of which is contained in the Apocrypha. John’s vision is similar because:

• It shows a heavenly or spiritual vision of things that are not normally seen.
• It addresses a concrete historical situation (Christianity in the Roman area of Asia towards the end of the first century).

“The apocalyptists sought to maintain the faith of God’s people in the one, all powerful and righteous God, in the face of the harsh realities of evil in the world, especially in the face of the harsh realities of evil in the world, especially the political evil of oppression of God’s faithful people by great pagan empires. The answer to this problem was always, essentially, that despite appearances, it is God who rules his creation and the time is coming when he will overthrow the evil empires and establish his kingdom.” (Baukham 8-9)

It is important to note that Revelation is rooted in history because:

⁴John to the seven churches that are in Asia:… … ¹¹‘Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamum, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.’

Letters to a specific church are common to the New Testament.

We should observe:

• They are always addressed to a specific context.
• Understanding that context can help us.
• Many misunderstandings of the book of Revelation assume that the first century readers could not understand it.

The differences between this letter and the others are: that John is original in approach addressing seven specific situations and the churches generally.

They are in that order because it is quite probable that it is the order they would be visited by the messenger.

Why seven, when there may have been other churches in the areas. This question introduces us to the first nature of symbolism in Revelation. Seven is the perfect number, and symbolises completeness. In addressing seven churches John addresses seven situations that could apply to any number of churches at any one time.

It would be a mistake to assume (as some have done) that the seven letters refer to seven stages of the churches life through the ages.

How will we study Revelation?

• Ask what could it mean to the first hearers of the letter.
• Ask what people have suggested it might mean throughout different generations.
• Ask what it might mean for us today.