Revelation 22

Well gang…welcome to the very last of 1096 consecutive blog posts on 1189 chapters of the Bible!  We did it!  You did it!  Amazing!  What a ride it has been!  For some, you’ve watched your baby grow up during this past three years of reading God’s Word!  Some of you have lost loved ones along the way and there have been seasons of grief.  Together, we’ve travelled 2,820,000,000 km together riding this earth around the sun over these three years!  Personally, I got up to read God’s Word and ponder what God was saying to me in Winnipeg, Israel, Jordan, eSwatini, Vancouver, Ashern, Clear Lake, Kenora, Phoenix, some place in Colorado and Mexico (back when we used to do this thing called ‘travel’ :).  I’ve written when I was moany-groany sick, on the days of two daughter’s weddings, on three Christmas Days, three Easters and while on vacation.  All said, the Chapter-a-Day blog posts total 482,281 words (fun fact: in comparison, J.R.R. Tolkien’s three volume The Lord of the Rings comes in at 455,125 words!). Our journey has stretched the entire length of the pandemic and more…and yet, here we are, on our final chapter and our final day!

Thanks again for being part of this bold and purposeful venture!  I celebrate your commitment to God’s Word today!

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I wonder if the same phrase caught your attention that caught mine?  Revelation 22:10 – “Then he instructed me, “Do not seal up the prophetic words in this book, for the time is near.” 

This, of course, isn’t the only place we hear such a sentiment and promise!  

Hebrews 10:25 – “not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”

Revelation 22:6 – “And he said to me, “These words are faithful and true”; and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show to His bond-servants the things which must soon take place.”

Revelation 1:3 “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.”

1 Peter 4:7 – “The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer.”

James 5:8 – “You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.”

Matthew 24:33 – “so, you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door.”

Luke 21:28 – “But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

Hang on!  It’s been over 2000 years since ‘the end is near’ was declared!  2000 years doesn’t seem very near.  So, what happened?  Did God forget about us?  Did the apostles and prophets have it wrong?  Was this just wishful thinking?  And how are we to read and understand these words today?

There is, of course, a simple explanation!   2 Peter 3:8-9.  “But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. 9 The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, He is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.”

I don’t want to get us sidetracked (or start a big argument in the comments) but I know there has been a lot of wrestling around the nature of salvation, hell and judgement.  I am clearly not an ‘everyone goes to heaven’, ‘love wins’, ‘universalist’ in my theology and understanding.  To me, I would need to commit Biblical-treason in order to teach such a dangerous and misleading theology.  And this is one of those verses that just couldn’t make it any clearer:  “No, He is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.”  Repentance.  Yielding to Christ.  Choosing to follow Christ.  Surrendering to Christ.  Trusting Christ and believing in who Christ is.  ‘Believing and receiving’ (Romans 4:16) the free gift of salvation…matters.  Now, I know there are many who would disagree with this, and I love them none the less and I don’t feel the need to argue about it…but this is where I pound a stake in the ground:  God doesn’t want any to be destroyed…but wants everyone to repent! 

So…the whole ‘day is like a thousand years’ thing could certainly be an answer to the ‘time is near’ dilemma.   Maybe, from God’s vantage point in 90AD, the year 2098 or 3225 appears ‘near’.   There is certainly nothing in the Bible that says the reference point for ‘near’ is my life right here and now!

However, I try not to get sucked into guessing the time and date.  Again, I see no benefit in that.  (What?  Am I going to go living a selfish, sinful life and then right before the day of His return is scheduled, clean up my life.  I don’t think so!)

The impact of this chapter and this little phrase, ‘the time is near’, does something in my heart:  it makes me want to be ready!  Everyday!

I want to be ready by resisting the agenda of the world and those opposed to God!

I want to be ready by embracing the agenda of God and living it out each day!

I want to be ready telling those who live without God what life with God is like!

Besides, when I really stop to think about it, ‘the time might be near’ (and is certainly ‘nearer’ everyday)…for me personally!   None of us knows when ‘our time is up’ on this earth!  Even if I think of life stretching out until I’m 85 or 92…that’s not all that far away.  So, for me, ‘the time is near’ is a great soul-stirrer that just makes me want to be ready…whenever that time comes!

HIT ‘COMMENT’ BELOW to share your reflections!  You don’t have to complete personal fields to participate!  Note that the comments are not monitored and don’t necessarily reflect Riverwood’s teachings.

Revelation 21

(Sorry for the late entry! I signed out and lost my way back in!…but finally figured it out!) 🙂

OK!  So.  If you are into measurements and architecture one element of our chapter probably grabbed your imagination and wouldn’t let it go:  the size of New Jerusalem!

16 When he measured it, he found it was a square, as wide as it was long. In fact, its length and width and height were each 1,400 miles. 17 Then he measured the walls and found them to be 216 feet thick[d] (according to the human standard used by the angel).

That is one HUGE city!  Wow!  However, I would warn against taking a measuring tape out just yet.  I believe this chapter is more ‘trying-to-describe-the-vision’ and full of symbolism rather than surveyor’s statistics!

However the one verse that just seemed to capture, not only this chapter, but the entire Revelation is verse 5…

5 And the One sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!”

BOOM!  There it is!  That’s the point of the entire Book!

The Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End…will make all things right again!  Broken hearts will be mended.  Crippled bodies will be straightened.  Dark memories will be overwhelmed with light and washed clean.  Poor choices will be made right.   Climate change, COVID, military aggression, ICU wards, gangs and anti-gang squads, child poverty, inequality, freak accidents and drunk drivers, racism, extremism, narcissism, hedonism and cancer…will all be wiped out in God’s brilliant wave of ‘something new’!   And this will have God’s finger prints all over it!  This is what God does!  This is what God promise to do!

This morning I’m laying down my Bible pumped on where this life and existence is going!

HIT ‘COMMENT’ BELOW to share your reflections!  You don’t have to complete personal fields to participate!  Note that the comments are not monitored and don’t necessarily reflect Riverwood’s teachings.

Revelation 19-20

So, I need to begin this, our third last blog entry, with a huge ‘Thank You!’  Today I watched your 19 video celebrations that were submitted!…and I was overwhelmed!  In all honesty, I’ve never known how many people are actually tracking with us…chapter by chapter!  If someone asked me to guess the number of people who were hard-core committed to reading their chapter and had been at it for the whole three years, I think I would have guessed 3 or 4.  However, watching your videos blew me away!  So many more people than I thought were on the Chapter-a-Day adventure, and today I’m pretty sure those of you who sent in videos were only a sampling of the many who have given themselves to reading God’s Word!  

I was also overwhelmed with your love for scripture and the effort you put into reading it!  

Anyway, I loved seeing your faces and hearing your voices…and together you have created a very fitting, inspiring and meaningful celebration of our journey’s end!  Thank you!

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So, did you feel the shift in the wind?

Our chapters today certainly felt different than the previous 5 or 6!  The end is near and the culmination of God’s plan is getting close in John’s Revelation!

People are erupting in praise around the throne!  Battles are being won!  Satan is being locked up!…and the 1000 year reign of Christ is foretold!

So…about that!

It’s interesting, this is the only place in the Bible where we read about the 1000 year reign of Christ, and yet this single passage has generated entire doctrines and denominational positions!

Typically, we refer to the three main theories:  historical premillennialism, dispensational premillennialism, amillennialism and postmillennialism!

When I was in Bible College, it was very important to understand and state your millennial views!  However, as I’m reading The Revelation once again I’m struck with a few thoughts.

First, I’m not sure the numbers in Revelation are intended to be statistical and exact.  It seems to me that the numbers are more symbolic.  So, maybe 1000 years simply means ‘this is a big deal and it’s all under God’s control!’

Second, all this ‘millennial madness’ actually diverts our attention from Christ!

May be my approach has been to simple, but I’ve always said, “I really don’t know in what order future events will take place…and I really don’t care too much!  What good does it do me to believe that Christ returns before the tribulation or after the tribulation, before the 1000 year reign or after?  What I care about is that I’m ready today…for whatever happens!  What I care about is that I have confidence Christ wins…and I’m going to be found on His side!  What I care about is that I’m living my life committed to Christ and found serving Him, regardless of the order of events!”

Not a very theological sounding approach…but it works for me!

For me, its enough to know that Satan loses…Christ has won…and the threat of sin and death will one day be dealt with forever!

HIT ‘COMMENT’ BELOW to share your reflections!  You don’t have to complete personal fields to participate!  Note that the comments are not monitored and don’t necessarily reflect Riverwood’s teachings.

Revelation 17-18

Once again, the imagery is almost overwhelming and we can’t help but ask: Who is the woman?  What or who is Babylon?  What is the beast?  When will all this happen? and What was Jesus saying?

Interpretations abound!  Some say ‘Babylon the Great’ (also referred to as the ‘Whore of Babylon’) is Rome.  Others say, “No!  It’s Jerusalem!”

Some believe it is Roman Catholicism.  Others say, “Don’t stop there!  It is both Roman Catholicism and Protestantism’!

In 1925, the KluKluxKlan depicted her wearing a papal tiara while the American flag flew straight and true!

Some see in the woman and the beast ‘the empire of false religions’.  Others believe this is America and its rampant capitalism!  While others interpret some futuristic entity that will ‘eat Christians for breakfast’ and rise up to rule the world.

However, I believe trying to dissect every little detail of the picture and then finding it’s literal equal is not only difficult but perhaps missing the point.

As I personally read our chapters today, I was left with a question I read a commentator ask:  “Towards which city is your city oriented…toward the ‘great city’ or toward the ‘holy city’…oriented toward the harlot or the bride?”

This commentator pointed out that since the Tower of Babel, that great rebellion against God, a number of specific cities and nations have been identified as ‘Babylon’!  Nineveh, Tyre, the city of Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome.   It would seem that The Revelation points quite specifically to ‘Rome’ (with the 7 hills), but Rome here is just the current and temporal embodiment of ‘Babylon-ness’.  

Darrell Johnson, in his commentary, goes on to list The Revelation’s characteristics of Babylon:

  1. Leaving God out of the equation
  2. Sensuality
  3. Injustice
  4. Worship of Product
  5. Violence
  6. Deception and counterfeit 
  7. Idolatry

This is what makes being a Christ follower so difficult:  we are constantly under the pressure, influence and stolen-authority of Babylon-ness!  However, The Revelation clearly calls us to keep our eyes on the Holy City, persevere and remain faithful to Christ!

HIT ‘COMMENT’ BELOW to share your reflections!  You don’t have to complete personal fields to participate!  Note that the comments are not monitored and don’t necessarily reflect Riverwood’s teachings.

Revelation 15-16

‘Come on, what do you say…friend?’  Time is running out!  Are you in?  Just grab your phone and record a 15-45 second video of yourself talking about your experience with Chapter-a-Day!  This is a chance to brag to other people about how awesome God’s Word is!  But today is the day!

HERE’S HOW IT WORKS:

  • Capture a 15-45 second video
  • SHOOT IT ‘landscape’ (wide), NOT ‘portrait’ (up and down)
  • Try for good lighting and good audio
  • Introduce yourself
  • No need to have read 1100 days straight!  Just share your journey, your experience and what it has meant to you!  Celebrate that, we as a church, did this!
  • Send video to Kirsten, our videographer for editing:  kbrenner@riverwood.cc by Wednesday MIDNIGHT, Jan. 26. (earlier is even better!)
  • DON’T BE SHY!  YOUR CHURCH NEEDS TO HEAR YOUR VOICE!  THIS IS A CHANCE TO CELEBRATE GOD’S WORD & IT’S IMPACT!  LET’S DO THIS TOGETHER!
  • We will edit the videos together and reserve the right to take segments or portions of each video to create a single video

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For most people, it is not too difficult to imagine God as an angry God…

From The Creation of the Heavenly Bodies fresco on the Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo (1508-1512)

…and our chapters today only seem to reinforce the image!

Depending on the translation you were reading, you probably came across the word ‘wrath’ at least four times in today’s reading!

Jesus’ ‘revealing of the hidden’ (Revelation), His ‘this-is-whats-going-on-that-you-can-see-with-the-naked-human-eye’, paints an awful picture of destruction and punishment fueled by God’s wrath!

So, how are we to understand God’s wrath and what are we to take from this graphic and downright frightening picture?

First, ‘wrath’ is not restricted to selective moments and places in the Bible!  The word ‘wrath’ is used about 200 times throughout the Bible.  It’s a fairly common theme and message.

Second, the word ‘wrath’ isn’t an indication of God flying off the handle in a vengeful rage, out to make people suffer!  This ‘wrath’ is not God ‘losing it’ and becoming emotionally unhinged with irrational, resentful and vindictive fury!  This is not a ‘wrath’ that looks like our human anger as we are driven to near madness by our burning emotions!

Third, the original Greek word helps us to begin to understand God’s wrath:  θυμός –  thoo-mos’ – passion, angry, heat, anger forthwith boiling up and soon subsiding again; glow, ardour.

In his book, ‘The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross’, Leon Morris describes God’s wrath this way: “it is a strong and settled opposition to all that is evil…God’s wrath is a burning zeal for the right coupled with a perfect hatred for everything that is evil.”

Even the angels in the scene itself declare God’s ‘right-ness’ in exercising His burning zeal:

5 And I heard the angel who had authority over all water saying,

“You are just, O Holy One, who is and who always was,
    because you have sent these judgments.
6 Since they shed the blood
    of your holy people and your prophets,
you have given them blood to drink.
    It is their just reward.”

7 And I heard a voice from the altar, saying,

“Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty,
    your judgments are true and just.”

Finally, God’s wrath is a deep concept that can’t simply be slapped-on like a careless coat of paint on an old shed.  It requires time to sit with it.  To ponder it.  To consider both where it is coming from and where it is going.  

To this end, I want to leave you with some thoughts on God’s wrath from the English Anglican philosopher, theologian and Bible scholar, Austin Farrer (1904-1968).  These are found in his little book entitled, ‘Lord, I Believe: Suggestions for Turning the Creed into Prayer’…

(warning: these words were not meant to be rushed through, but pondered at a slower pace)

God has no sort of use for hateful things, and therefore it is that his hatred of them is absolute. He loves what is lovely in us and above all else, our love. Our refusals of love he hates, and everything that leads to such refusals: our pleasure in unworthy objects, the corruptions, divisions and enfeeblement of our love. His hatred of such things is exactly proportional to his love for us. He who loves me loves my health, he who loves my health hates my sickness; if his love for me is infinite, his detestation of my evil is immeasurable.

Delight is naturally kindled by delight and God, who loves his children’s love, delights in their delighting. How, then, is he disposed towards the causes of unwholesome sadness? The flame of happiness would run and spread, but for the obstacles my words and acts and attitudes oppose to it. How then is God disposed towards these acts and attitudes of mine? Does not he detest them? And what is the fate of things which earn the detestation of almighty love? Is it not that they should be abolished? God’s hatred or wrath is, indeed, nothing but this, a simple desire for the abolition of its object: it is not, like mine, a passion. Surely, then, God’s will is set to whither the tentacles of my unkindness, when they are twisted round my neighbour’s throat.

And again, a little later:

God’s will is set to wither the tentacles of my sin, whether they strangle my own virtue or my neighbour’s happiness. But how will he wither them? If he kills me they will wither, but equally they will wither if he makes me alive: if he gives another direction to my desire and turns my lifeblood back into its true channel, these monstrous growths will shrivel and drop away. His detestation will have taken full effect through the victory of his love, his wrath will have found its best instrument in mercy, if he destroys my evil by fostering my good.

God’s love arms his anger, for it moves him to hate the enemy of what he befriends; but then his anger lends arms to his love, for it moves him so to befriend his enemies that he starves their enmity. The death of Christ has been called the reconciliation of God’s wrath and love; but they need no reconciliation, they are one in God, and the perfect unity between them is expressed in Christ’s death. How he hates sin, for he dies to destroy it; and how he loves sinners, for he dies to rid them of it.

HIT ‘COMMENT’ BELOW to share your reflections!  You don’t have to complete personal fields to participate!  Note that the comments are not monitored and don’t necessarily reflect Riverwood’s teachings.

Revelation 13 & 14

Hey!  Have some fun with it!   Just grab your phone and record a 15-45 second video of yourself talking about your experience with Chapter-a-Day!  This is a chance to brag to other people about how awesome God’s Word is!  In a world that is becoming increasingly Biblically-illiterate, we get to inspire people to not only read it…but live it!  You got this!…but you only have 2 days left to get the video in!

HERE’S HOW IT WORKS:

  • Capture a 15-45 second video
  • SHOOT IT ‘landscape’ (wide), NOT ‘portrait’ (up and down)
  • Try for good lighting and good audio
  • Introduce yourself
  • No need to have read 1100 days straight!  Just share your journey, your experience and what it has meant to you!  Celebrate that, we as a church, did this!
  • Send video to Kirsten, our videographer for editing:  kbrenner@riverwood.cc by Wednesday MIDNIGHT, Jan. 26. (earlier is even better!)
  • DON’T BE SHY!  YOUR CHURCH NEEDS TO HEAR YOUR VOICE!  THIS IS A CHANCE TO CELEBRATE GOD’S WORD & IT’S IMPACT!  LET’S DO THIS TOGETHER!
  • We will edit the videos together and reserve the right to take segments or portions of each video to create a single video

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For many years, images of Uncle Sam and a Big Brown Bear have been informing us about super-powers and world dynamics!

Now, if you were to walk outside or were able to search the U.S. white house you would certainly find neither an Uncle Sam or a Big Brown Bear and yet, they very much exist!

Even today, the Big Bear is threatening the country of Ukraine!

In our reading today, we were introduced to a beast from the sea and beast from the earth.  If you were to go in search of these beasts today, I don’t think you will find them…at least not looking as Jesus draws them for John.  However, they are very real!  They are very real forces and influences at play in our world!

It has been noted that the first beast has political and authoritative sway in its opposition to Jesus.  The second beast has religious influence in its opposition to Jesus.  However, what struck me personally this morning in my own quite time was the ‘moral of the story’ or the ‘clear instructions’ given in these two chapters:

Chapter 13:10 –  “This means that God’s holy people must endure persecution patiently and remain faithful.”

Chapter 14:12 – “This means that God’s holy people must endure persecution patiently, obeying his commands and maintaining their faith in Jesus.”

 It makes no difference if a person interprets the Revelation as a literal futuristic-roadmap or a ‘Chronicles of Narnia’ style allegory…the message or the take-away is the same:  God’s people must endure persecution patiently and remain faithful, obeying God’s commands and maintaining their faith in Jesus.  Period.

HIT ‘COMMENT’ BELOW to share your reflections!  You don’t have to complete personal fields to participate!  Note that the comments are not monitored and don’t necessarily reflect Riverwood’s teachings.

Revelation 11 & 12

Our chapters this morning are packed with subtle (and not so subtle) imagery, numerology and meaning!  I’m not going to take time this morning to study and outline all the various interpretation options or possibilities, however, I will tell you what impacted me personally from these two chapters!

The telling of the nativity story!

Granted, this is not the nativity story most of us were told when we were growing up or that we just celebrated this past December!

This is perhaps, ‘the real nativity story’!

It’s not so much about ‘a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes’ as it is, as C.S. Lewis put it, ‘the story of The Great Invasion’!

It’s a war in heaven that is waged and won on Earth!

Darrel Johnson, in Discipleship on the Edge, says that the 42 months, the 3.5 years, the 1,260 days is symbolic of the time it took Israel to travel from the bondage of Egypt to the Promised Land.  Here, in these chapters, it refers to the time for Christ’s church to travel from the bondage of Egypt (prior to the Passover Lamb being sacrificed) to the resurrection and ascension (the coming of Christ again)!   The point?  That Christ’s church is caught up in this war!   The war is not over…and we are called to be those witnesses of God’s grace and salvation…though the enemy will try to kill the message!

HIT ‘COMMENT’ BELOW to share your reflections!  You don’t have to complete personal fields to participate!  Note that the comments are not monitored and don’t necessarily reflect Riverwood’s teachings.

Revelation 10

Hey!  Don’t overthink it!  You don’t need to worry about your hair…or have a fancy set up!  Just grab your phone and record a 15-45 second video of yourself talking about your experience with Chapter-a-Day!  This is a chance to brag to other people about how awesome God’s Word is!  In a world that is becoming increasingly Biblically-illiterate, we get to inspire people to not only read it…but live it!  You got this! 

HERE’S HOW IT WORKS:

  • Capture a 15-45 second video
  • SHOOT IT ‘landscape’ (wide), NOT ‘portrait’ (up and down)
  • Try for good lighting and good audio
  • Introduce yourself
  • No need to have read 1100 days straight!  Just share your journey, your experience and what it has meant to you!  Celebrate that, we as a church, did this!
  • Send video to Kirsten, our videographer for editing:  kbrenner@riverwood.cc by Wednesday MIDNIGHT, Jan. 26. (earlier is even better!)
  • DON’T BE SHY!  YOUR CHURCH NEEDS TO HEAR YOUR VOICE!  THIS IS A CHANCE TO CELEBRATE GOD’S WORD & IT’S IMPACT!  LET’S DO THIS TOGETHER!
  • We will edit the videos together and reserve the right to take segments or portions of each video to create a single video

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Sometimes I need to read and then re-read a chapter to get a sense of what it means or of what God is saying to me personally.  Not this morning.  It seemed to leap off the page for me!

‘If you think you have God figured out…you obviously don’t and you’re dead wrong!’

The first wave of God’s mystery struck me in verse 4…

4 When the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write. But I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Keep secret what the seven thunders said, and do not write it down.”

Not everything is revealed.

There is more than what we know.

The Revelation might be remarkably picturesque and very extensive, but it’s not exhaustive!  It, and the Bible, doesn’t reveal everything there is to know about God!

Suddenly, I felt very small and ‘out-of-the-loop’, which is exactly how one ought to feel when they come before the Living God!

The second wave of God’s mystery struck me in verse 7…

7 When the seventh angel blows his trumpet, God’s mysterious plan will be fulfilled. It will happen just as he announced it to his servants the prophets.”

It’s not a mystery that God has ‘mysterious plans’!  The plans, by their very nature, are above our pay grade.  The plans, by their very nature, are incomprehensible and exist outside the realm of our understanding.

This was actually a bit of a shocking reminder.  In a world of exponentially-increasing knowledge, its easy to think that we know all there is to know…or, at least, we are close to knowing all there is.  However, this chapter serves as a great ‘reality calibrator’!  It reminds us that what we are glimpsing in the Revelation is only the tip of the iceberg.  It is only the light, originating on the other side of an opaque glass, brilliantly bouncing and dancing off the hallways of heaven.  We know there is something mind-blowingly wonderful and magnificent happening on the other side of the glass, but we can’t see it ourselves.  It is a mystery…just as it was intended to be.

We do well to remember this.

HIT ‘COMMENT’ BELOW to share your reflections!  You don’t have to complete personal fields to participate!  Note that the comments are not monitored and don’t necessarily reflect Riverwood’s teachings.

Revelation 9

Here’s a great tip for when you shoot your selfie-video in celebration of Chapter-a-Day:  Hold your phone a bit higher than your face and make sure the lighting is good!  Have fun with it!  Your voice and experience is powerful and people need to hear it!

HERE’S HOW IT WORKS:

  • Capture a 15-45 second video
  • SHOOT IT ‘landscape’ (wide), NOT ‘portrait’ (up and down)
  • Try for good lighting and good audio
  • Introduce yourself
  • No need to have read 1100 days straight!  Just share your journey, your experience and what it has meant to you!  Celebrate that, we as a church, did this!
  • Send video to Kirsten, our videographer for editing:  kbrenner@riverwood.cc by Wednesday MIDNIGHT, Jan. 26. (earlier is even better!)
  • DON’T BE SHY!  YOUR CHURCH NEEDS TO HEAR YOUR VOICE!  THIS IS A CHANCE TO CELEBRATE GOD’S WORD & IT’S IMPACT!  LET’S DO THIS TOGETHER!
  • We will edit the videos together and reserve the right to take segments or portions of each video to create a single video

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“You want destruction?  I’ll open the pit to destruction!  You want to do life your way?  I’ll show you what it looks like when I step back and let you run things!  You think death is the worst thing that can happen to a person?  Hardly!”

This is my paraphrase of our chapter today.  Obviously, it is a very loose paraphrase, but I think it is what lies as the essence of this chapter.   Jesus is giving John a further glimpse into a world spinning out of control!

It’s like history has been one long rant by humanity, complaining about God and pushing against Him!  So, this is a vision of God giving humanity over to what they want!   I hear these trumpets as the blasts of consequences for rejecting God and humanity setting itself up as its own god!

Life apart from God is not only less-than-idea or disappointing…it is terrifying!

HIT ‘COMMENT’ BELOW to share your reflections!  You don’t have to complete personal fields to participate!  Note that the comments are not monitored and don’t necessarily reflect Riverwood’s teachings.

Revelation 8

I get it!  You’re shy.  You don’t know what you would say.  You’re thinking, “I don’t want to be on a screen.  I have no aspirations of making videos.  Who would want to hear from me!”  (Listen, I think those thoughts every week! 🙂  However, there is something powerful about a bunch of ‘every-day-people’ (ie: NOT pastor-people), talking about reading the Bible!  So, go have some fun and send in your video in celebration of the completion of our Chapter-a-Day adventure together!  We’d love to have 10-15 voices championing the value of scripture reading and the Bible!  But it won’t happen without you!

HERE’S HOW IT WORKS:

  • Capture a 15-45 second video
  • SHOOT IT ‘landscape’ (wide), NOT ‘portrait’ (up and down)
  • Try for good lighting and good audio
  • Introduce yourself
  • No need to have read 1100 days straight!  Just share your journey, your experience and what it has meant to you!  Celebrate that, we as a church, did this!
  • Send video to Kirsten, our videographer for editing:  kbrenner@riverwood.cc by Wednesday MIDNIGHT, Jan. 26. (earlier is even better!)
  • DON’T BE SHY!  YOUR CHURCH NEEDS TO HEAR YOUR VOICE!  THIS IS A CHANCE TO CELEBRATE GOD’S WORD & IT’S IMPACT!  LET’S DO THIS TOGETHER!
  • We will edit the videos together and reserve the right to take segments or portions of each video to create a single video

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OK!  So, fasten your seatbelts!  We’re about to enter a long scene and very intense scene in the Book of Revelation:  The Seven Trumpets, 8:1 – 11:18.

Now, on a smaller and more personal level, I’d have to say the part of our chapter today that leapt off the page for me was the verses about prayer:

3 Then another angel with a gold incense burner came and stood at the altar. And a great amount of incense was given to him to mix with the prayers of God’s people as an offering on the gold altar before the throne. 4 The smoke of the incense, mixed with the prayers of God’s holy people, ascended up to God from the altar where the angel had poured them out.

What a beautiful and picturesque way of describing prayer!  However, the rest of the chapter and idea of 7 trumpets still leaves me scratching my head a bit:  what does all this mean?

The late Eugene Peterson (1932-2018), Bible scholar and translator of The Message version Bible, said this about the Book of Revelation…

“I do not read the Revelation to get additional information about the life of faith in Christ. I have read it all before in the law and prophet, in gospel and epistle. Everything in the Revelation can be found in the previous sixty-five books of the Bible. The Revelation adds nothing of substance to what we already know. The truth of the gospel is already complete, revealed in Christ. There is nothing new to say on the subject. But there is a new way to say it. I read the Revelation not to get more information but to revive my imagination (xii-xii). It is not a question of what does this mean, but rather how does this work in our community of believers? It is not a code to be broken but a book meant to evoke our wonder (xiii).”

Of our chapter today, Darrell Johnson asks, “So what is this scene – the sounding of seven trumpets about?….What truth already revealed in the rest of the Bible is being conveyed through these disturbing and grotesque images?…In a word ‘judgement’.  What is being vividly imagined is judgement against evil and sin.  What is being pictured for us is that judgement is real and it is terrifying!”

Johnson goes on to explain that he believes the reference to ‘one third’ is suggestive of a future and final judgement that is coming.  These judgements, intended to turn people to repentance, are what happens when the world walks out of step with God and refuses to acknowledge Him as Lord!

The pictures is one of a God who is very much in charge, present and cares about how people live their lives!   On the one hand, we have the people who are paying for their faith with their lives, the martyrs hiding under the altar and you have the sweet incense of the prayers of God’s people…and all this is contrasted with what happens to those who refuse to worship God as the originator of life and the Supreme Power over all the universe!

I believe this is one of those chapters that leaves the ‘hearer-of-The-Revelation’ with a question:  Which side of history do you want to be on?

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