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Learning and living the Way of Jesus!

The Bible - Jesus’ Story Part 5

9/6/2020

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HOPE CHAPEL Sunday Service Notes

Teaching Series: “The Bible - Jesus’ Story”
Today’s Topic: “Week 5: Jesus in Revelation”

“Bible Project” Videos - for further study
Overview of Revelation 1-11 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nvVVcYD-0w
Overview of Revelation 12-22 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpnIrbq2bKo
Article: “The Symbolic Nature of the Portrayal of Jesus in Revelation” - Duncan W. McKenzie https://sites.google.com/site/antichristandthesecondcoming/the-symbolic-portrayl-of-jesus-in-revelation

Through this series, I have been attempting to demonstrate how the consistent character of the Scriptures is Jesus!
  • As God, He participated in the Creation.
  • After humanity’s disobedience, Satan’s downfall at the hands of Jesus is promised.
  • The Old Testament is full of Christophanies and prophecies about the coming Messiah; Jesus often spoke of His fulfillment of specific prophecies in the Tanak / Old Testament
  • In the Gospels we see the earthly life of Jesus lived out–and hear His voice, “If you have seen me you have seen the Father.”
  • The book of Acts talks of how Jesus convinces His disciples that His mission is to be continued through the work of the Church; the epistles give us instructions on how to live in the new covenant, much the same way that the Pentateuch explained to the Israelites how they were to live under the old covenant.
  • The final book that we will examine today finishes with Jesus as the conquering king over a new creation that will never be exposed to chaos because God has come to live with His people once and for all!
The Bible presents us with a circular narrative:
  • God brings order out of chaos–Creation is born and it is very good! Sin introduces a new form of chaos–over which Jesus brings order through His redemptive work.
  • The book of Revelation tells the culmination of this circular story–of the reclamation of the ‘very good’ that was God’s original intent for the world.

Watch video:
Understanding Apocalyptic Literature - 
​https://bibleproject.com/videos/apocalyptic-literature/

Overview
  • The apocalyptic writing style found in the Book of Revelation was developed in the post-Exhilic Jewish culture and was popular among early Christians.  It is written in a poetic style and uses symbols and imagery to represent ideas.  It is therefore not a text that should be read literally on the whole; to truly understand its message, effort must be spent searching the meaning contained in its symbolism.
  • Though Revelation is in part prophetic it should be understood generally as a revelation that uncovers or reveals the divine perspective and should not be understood as an exact map of future events.  The letter was intended to encourage the readers of the first century as well and so must also be understood as historically significant.
 
  • Quote from the video - “In Genesis 1, God overcame darkness and chaos with His life and light.  And so too in the Revelation.  The death of Jesus and the death of the world as we know it, is the pathway into the renewed creation that began with the resurrection of Jesus.  While the Revelation feels like the end of the world, it’s actually about the beginning of the renewed world where heaven and earth are reunited and God’s human images rule all creation in the love and power of God.”

If apocalyptic literature is to provide us with a heavenly perspective, how does Revelation describe Jesus–what is the heavenly perspective of the Messiah we serve?  There are actually many symbolic representations of Jesus including ‘one like the Son of Man’ (Rev.1,14); ‘a slain lamb’ (Rev.5 +);‘a first born male child’ (Rev.12); ‘the Word of God riding a white horse’ (Rev.19); and ‘the one on a great white throne’ (Rev.20).

We will examine two of these images of Jesus–Jesus as the Lamb and Jesus as the King.

  1) The Slain Lamb - Revelation 5:1-9
“Then I saw a scroll in the right hand of the one who was sitting on the throne. There was writing on the inside and the outside of the scroll, and it was sealed with seven seals.  And I saw a strong angel, who shouted with a loud voice: “Who is worthy to break the seals on this scroll and open it?”  But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll and read it.  
Then I began to weep bitterly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll and read it.  But one of the twenty-four elders said to me, “Stop weeping! Look, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the heir to David’s throne, has won the victory. He is worthy to open the scroll and its seven seals.”
Then I saw a Lamb that looked as if it had been slaughtered, but it was now standing between the throne and the four living beings and among the twenty-four elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which represent the sevenfold Spirit of God that is sent out into every part of the earth.  He stepped forward and took the scroll from the right hand of the one sitting on the throne.  And when he took the scroll, the four living beings and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they held gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of God’s people.  And they sang a new song with these words:  “You are worthy to take the scroll and break its seals and open it.  For you were slaughtered, and your blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.”

If this is to indeed be understood literally John is painting a very strange picture–a conquering lion pictured as a slain lamb with seven horns and seven eyes.  However, as we read it John makes it clear that he is using symbolism liberally
  • ‘eyes’ = the Spirit of God
  • ‘bowls filled with incense’ = prayers of God’s people

We can also know the meaning of other symbols that John doesn’t explain from studies of apocalyptic literature
  • ‘lion of the tribe of Judah’ = powerful, majestic and kingly in nature• ‘seven’ = represented a number of completeness, stemming from the seven days of Creation
  • ‘seven eyes’ = Holy Spirit (not seven spirits of God)
  • ‘horns’ = power
  • ‘seven horns’ = symbolic of Jesus’ possession of God’s omnipotence
  • ‘harps’ = praise for the lamb
  • ‘sacrificial lamb’ = symbolism equating Jesus’ work on the cross to that of the Passover lamb
  • ‘a lamb that looks as if it has been slaughtered, but is now standing’ = the resurrected Christ, dead yet now alive

When we understand the symbolism in John’s description of Jesus as a slain lamb we are permitted a view of the splendour of the Christ who is Ruler of all.  “Clearly, Jesus is not a literal lamb, let alone one with seven horns or seven eyes. Taking the picture of a slain lamb literally would mean there is an actual lamb on God’s throne in heaven. Taking the slain Lamb symbolically speaks of Jesus as God’s perfect sacrifice for man’s sin; the seven eyes and seven horns speak of him possessing the Spirit of God as well as God’s knowledge and power. Again, the symbolic interpretation of how Jesus is portrayed is much more powerful than the literal interpretation.” (Douglas McKenzie)

  2) The One on the Great White Throne - Revelation 20:11;  21:5-7, 22; 22:3-5
20:11 - “And I saw a great white throne and the one sitting on it. The earth and sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide.”
21:5-7 - And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.”  And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life.  All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.”
21:22 - “I saw no temple in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.”
22:3-5 - “No longer will there be a curse upon anything. For the throne of God and of the Lamb will be there, and his servants will worship him.  And they will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads.  And there will be no night there—no need for lamps or sun—for the Lord God will shine on them. And they will reign forever and ever.”

What does the symbolism tell us?
  • Does God literally sit on a throne?  ...the throne is symbolic of the rule of God and the Lamb
  • Earth and sky fled but found no place to hide...no place in existence that is not God's domain
  • God and the Lamb are the Temple ...represents God's eternal presence, not a building
  • Name written on foreheads...not a tattoo, but the invisible seal of the Holy Spirit
  • God will glow like the sun...darkness will no longer exist as there is no more curse

Summary:
Jesus is both the ‘lamb that was slain’ and the ‘one who sits on the great white throne.’  He is able to ‘open the seal’ and He is the One who ‘makes all things new.’  His Bride is the Church and He will reign as King from the great white throne with God.  There will be no Temple, because God and the Lamb, whose presence once presided in the Temple, now lives eternally among His people.

To understand the Book of Revelation and its portrayals of Jesus, one must possess a sound understanding of all that comes before John’s vision on the Island of Patmos.  We really cannot understand Revelation fully when we isolate our study of it from the rest of The Bible - Jesus’ complete Story.

Next week: “Be Different” - Lessons from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church
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    Pastor Jane 

    First licensed for pastoral ministry in 1994, Pastor Jane Peck has served in camp and church ministries in three denominations, five provinces and in a variety of roles.  Her most recent position is that of Pastor at Hope Chapel which she began in 2020.  She is excited to see what God can and will do in the days to come!

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