The driving question of the book of Revelation is: Why the delay? What purposed is served by leaving time between Jesus’s resurrection and the consummation of the kingdom of God on earth? To an oppressed church – facing what seems to be imminent persecution and martyrdom – it appears that there is little to be gained and...
Tag: lion and the lamb
Understanding the Bible 47: The Beginning of the End – The Seven Seals of the Scroll
To a church facing persecution and fearing abandonment, John describes the vision granted to him of the heavenly throne room. God sits in ultimate glory – suddenly placing Roman imperial power in cosmic perspective – and holds in his right hand the plan for the consummation of the age. The scroll he holds is sealed with...
Understanding the Bible 46: A Vision of the King, the Lamb, and the Plan of Salvation
Interpreting the book of Revelation requires we first understand the genre of “apocalypse” (from Gk. apocalypsis: “to reveal” – as in a secret, or in pulling back the curtain on a stage). Though it feels quite foreign to us, it was a well-known form of literature in the ancient world, particularly within 2nd Temple Judaism. The...