Thursday, August 20, 2009

The Book of Revelation -- Part 1 -- The First Line May Tell All.

"The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to Him to show His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; ..."

There is something about the actual written title of a book that usually tells something about its contents. There is something too this in this book called Revelation

1. This book is ultimately, first and foremost, designed to reveal Jesus Christ. The future is a secondary and simply the place in which Jesus will reveal himself, but it is the revelation of Christ itself that the book says is central to its contents.

2. This book was given to anyone who calls himself a bond-servant of Christ. This makes it have a universal application to anyone who wants Christ revealed to them in the now.

3. Jesus promises to reveal himself in the future and it is in this revelation that Christ will show more of himself.

What is not stated here is that the contents of the book are a revealing of seven year time period called by evangelicals the Tribulation or the Millennium that follows. What it does say is about what 'things which must soon take place'. 'Soon' is a very relative word. 'Soon' to who? The book already looks at time in a relative way right out the gate. What's to make us think the whole time frame of the book is not also relative. Some thing taking place quickly and then huge gaps of time between other events. It also opens up the possibility that some of the contents may be very symbolic with nothing to do with time at all. They may just reveal a greater understanding about Jesus Christ.

Next: The Blessing of Understanding

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