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I know when Jesus is returning. 
So do you. 
Well, maybe. 
If the start to this week's Dearly Beloved sounds eerily similar to last week, you're not wrong. 
Before Laura and I decided to try to start having children we backpacked around Europe together. It was a thrilling adventure. After having visited a castle in the South of Germany for an afternoon, we put on our heavy backpacks and set off to find our hostel for the night. Not being able to read German aside, we figured we could make enough sense of the three signs we met when the little road we started on soon split into three directions. With just enough confidence we set off down the road we were sure led to our village destination. An hour later we were deep into farmland with no village in sight. Perhaps we had taken the wrong road after all? There was no cutting across farmer's fields in the direction we thought the road we should be on should be. We couldn't trust our judgment anymore. We had to go the full hour back to the starting point and then restart our journey down -what thankfully proved to be- the right road. After a reasonably normal marital dispute over who was at fault for the detour, we settled in for a night's rest. 
Starting right matters. 
Starting in the right direction matters. 
This past Sunday we took our first steps of our journey into The Revelation. If you missed it, I recommend you catch up here. 
To be sure we all have some of the same directions, let me get a few things jotted down "on paper" here for you for future reference. 

  • If we want to know what a part of the Bible means to us today, we must give time to learning what it meant to the first people its messages and letters were written to. 
  • The Christians of the late first century AD were facing rapidly growing outbreaks of persecution for refusing to deny that Jesus was their only Lord and Saviour. Some were very afraid, some were considering compromise, some were becoming complacent. 
  • Revelation 1.1-8 reveals that this book is a:
    • Letter (1.4 & onward) - It is from a real pastor to real people in 7 real churches. 
    • Prophecy (1.3) - Biblical prophecy is always about what God is declaring and sometimes includes prediction. 
    • Apocalypse (1.1) 
      • The word 'apocalypse' does not mean 'disaster' or 'end-times' like it means to many today. It means "unveiling."
      • The ancient genre of Apocalyptic Literature commonly uses exaggerated and embellished symbolism. Its vivid nature made its message memorable. 
  • The Revelation is telling us that things are not as they seem. There is a greater reality that is behind the scenes that it wishes to reveal.
  • The Revelation was written so that followers of Jesus who were facing the pressures of culture and the gods of their age could see what is actually going on behind the scenes so that they could behold who the Lord and Saviour of the whole world really is and settle once and for all who their allegiance, trust and worship belongs to.
  • Essentially, the message of The Revelation is: Behold Jesus. Our twofold response is: Worship & Witness. 
(you might want to copy/paste some of the above into a file or make notes in a journal for you to refer to in times when you read Revelation) 


With these in mind, we'll be able to avoid getting dreadfully off track as we trek through The Revelation. We need the guidance of the Holy Spirit for our journey! Are you eager to behold Jesus? 
Let's read Revelation 1.9-20 as we prepare for our time together this coming Sunday. 
Pastor Mike