beginning the end

Good evening brothers and sisters,

Today we start our journey into the Book of Revelation, also know as the Revelation of John since the Apostle John is its author. While the book is unique in the Bible for it's scope of detail for the end of the world, it is part of a wider literature called apocalyptic literature. Apocalyptic literature, including Revelation, is very symbolic and visual. Often symbols are used that seem very hard for us to figure out now, but spoke very clearly to their audience about specific contemporary people or events. 

As symbolic as it is Revelation will not give us a time table for how the end will be. After all, Jesus clearly tells his disciples in the Gospels that no one, not even Jesus knows when the end will come, so there's no point trying to read between the lines for a date. The important message of Revelation is that God's love and justice will win in the end, no matter how strong the forces of evil and empire seem at the moment. There are some challenges in Revelation for sure, but it is also a beautiful and pastoral vision of God finally putting an end to evil and securing permanent, just peace.

God bless,
Sam

Revelation 1:1-2, 9-18

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place; he made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, ²who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw…

⁹I, John, your brother who share with you in Jesus the persecution and the kingdom and the patient endurance, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. ¹⁰I was in the spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet ¹¹saying, “Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamum, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”

¹²Then I turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, ¹³and in the midst of the lampstands I saw one like the Son of Man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash across his chest. ¹⁴His head and his hair were white as white wool, white as snow; his eyes were like a flame of fire, ¹⁵his feet were like burnished bronze, refined as in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters. ¹⁶In his right hand he held seven stars, and from his mouth came a sharp, two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining with full force. ¹⁷When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he placed his right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, ¹⁸and the living one. I was dead, and see, I am alive forever and ever; and I have the keys of Death and of Hades.

Nebuchadnezzar's dream interpretted

Good morning brothers and sisters,
On this morning we remember the horror of 11 years ago and we pray for all those affected by the events of September 11th here and around the world. Our reading for today is also a story about nations and empires. It's a very different story than the tragedy of 9/11, but it offers a caution our nation needs, a caution to every nation that feels a calling to world power. The Bible's clear word to every empire is that human power never lasts. During the course of the biblical story we see empires grow and shrink, rise and fall. We see Israel move from freedom, to prosperity and to defeat. We see the Assyrian Empire decline and the Babylonian Empire rise. As Daniel interprets King Nebuchadnezzar's dream we see that Babylon will give way to other empires, but that none of them will last. Take your time with this passage because it's an introduction to apocalyptic literature, which is a formative kind of writing for scripture.

God bless,
Sam

Daniel 2:31-45

³¹“You were looking, O king, and lo! there was a great statue. This statue was huge, its brilliance extraordinary; it was standing before you, and its appearance was frightening. ³²The head of that statue was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, ³³its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.

³⁴As you looked on, a stone was cut out, not by human hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and broke them in pieces. ³⁵Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, were all broken in pieces and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. 

³⁶“This was the dream; now we will tell the king its interpretation. ³⁷You, O king, the king of kings—to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the might, and the glory, ³⁸into whose hand he has given human beings, wherever they live, the wild animals of the field, and the birds of the air, and whom he has established as ruler over them all—you are the head of gold. ³⁹After you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours, and yet a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over the whole earth. ⁴⁰And there shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron; just as iron crushes and smashes everything, it shall crush and shatter all these. 

⁴¹As you saw the feet and toes partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom; but some of the strength of iron shall be in it, as you saw the iron mixed with the clay. ⁴²As the toes of the feet were part iron and part clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle. ⁴³As you saw the iron mixed with clay, so will they mix with one another in marriage, but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay. 

⁴⁴And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall this kingdom be left to another people. It shall crush all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever; ⁴⁵just as you saw that a stone was cut from the mountain not by hands, and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. The great God has informed the king what shall be hereafter. The dream is certain, and its interpretation trustworthy.”

a baby and a dragon

Good morning sisters and brothers,
Today's reading is a little off the beaten path for many of us as it comes from Revelation. Revelation is a strange book, but it's strange in some logical ways. Revelation is an example of apocalyptic literature: literature that speaks about God's power and love in dramatic ways, especially in revealing how that power will overcome seemingly impossible odds. Apocalyptic literature is usually written when God's people are in situations so challenging that it's hard to imagine God's will working through the everyday world.

In the case of Revelation the overwhelming challenge to God's people was the power of the Roman Empire, which demanded not only political allegiance, but often sought to claim people's worship as well. Apocalyptic literature is highly symbolic so the group for which it is written can understand while the threatening outside power is left in the dark. Today's passage is an apocalyptic retelling of the birth of Jesus. The dragon stands for Satan, but is also closely related to Rome. For Christians Jesus' birth is a defining moment in the constant struggle between God and the powers of hatred and evil. I like this passage because it reminds us that Jesus' birth is powerful by stripping away the familiarity that sometimes threatens to domesticate God's amazing story.

God bless,
Sam

Revelation 12:1-6

A great portent appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. ²She was pregnant and was crying out in birthpangs, in the agony of giving birth. ³Then another portent appeared in heaven: a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. ⁴His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth.

Then the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bear a child, so that he might devour her child as soon as it was born. ⁵And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. But her child was snatched away and taken to God and to his throne; ⁶and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, so that there she can be nourished for one thousand two hundred sixty days.

Mark's apocalypse

Good morning friends,
I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. As we begin the season of Advent we prepare our hearts to receive Christ as a baby in Bethlehem and as our king at the end of time. Today's reading is from Mark chapter 13, which scholars call the "Markan apocalypse" because it is a fairly long section in Mark on the end of time. Apocalypse means revelation and it refers to a whole genre of literature and thinking focused on how God will act decisively to bring history to the right conclusion. This was an important kind of literature in Judaism at this time as the Roman Empire's control made it hard to imagine anything but a radical act of God bringing freedom to Israel. We see this kind of literature in the Old Testament book of Daniel and the book of Revelation. Jesus predicts trouble for the faithful before God's final victory. We too can expect hardship in our walk of faith, but God is always faithful, and in the end his love will triumph.

God bless,
Sam

Mark 13:9-13

⁹“As for yourselves, beware; for they will hand you over to councils; and you will be beaten in synagogues; and you will stand before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them. ¹⁰And the good news must first be proclaimed to all nations. ¹¹When they bring you to trial and hand you over, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say; but say whatever is given you at that time, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. ¹²Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; ¹³and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.