May God's strength and peace be your guide in 2012!
With schools re-opening on Wednesday it is time for the eDevs to start again and I must say that it is with a certain nostalgia that I am writing to you... There are two reasons for this:
Firstly, in December Calvin Cook, one of our denomination's senior ministers passed away. Calvin was a great mentor and encourager to me and I will miss his encouraging and provocative emails very much. This eDev series is dedicated to his memory.
Secondly, this year marks the tenth year of EmmDevs. Can you believe it? Thank You Lord for your faithfulness!
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9 I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 On the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, 11 which said: "Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches. Revelation1:9-10
We start a new series today: "Revelations Reassurances."
We'll be looking at some of the gems in the book of Revelation. This won't be a verse by verse commentary, or even an overview, but rather I'll be trying to use Revelation as I believe John meant it: As an encouragement to believers who face tough circumstances, who find their faith being tested and who experience opposition from the world.
Many people think that Revelation was meant to be a book about "How it will all end." But that does not make sense! How would a book about how the world would end in 2000+ years time be of great comfort to the early Christians in the first century? To limit Revelation to being a "book about the End Times" is to completely underestimate the book!
Jesus spoke about history and the end times and described it as a woman in labour: There is a contraction, then relief, a contraction and then relief, and this cycle continues until the baby comes. History is the same: It is a cycle of contractions and relief and we don't know which contraction will bring the end. (Although many have foolishly tried to guess!)
Revelation was written for the church to read during the contractions of history. It is a dramatic and colourful book that does not shrink back from trouble - it describes trouble in terms of monsters, beasts, thunderclaps, bowls of judgement and other vivid pictures. But it also describes God as our glorious champion and our ultimate victory as a complete certainty.
Eugene Peterson describes Revelation as "Pastoral Poetry."
Nearly two thousand years ago, John wrote to comfort a church experiencing trouble and opposition and today we still draw comfort, inspiration and courage for the year ahead from Revelation's Reassurances.
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
