A CAVEAT CONTRAINDICATING EXORBITANT ESCHATALOGICAL HERMANEUTICAL INTELLECTUALISM:
[Translation: Warning against too much end times interpreting]
Being too much in the brain all the time, to the exclusion of listening to God with the heart …
is …
dumb.
(*_*)
UNDERSTANDING THE BOOK OF REVELATION
The book of Revelation is the last book in the New Testament. Its actual title is not “Revelation” or “Revelations” but “The Revelation of Jesus Christ” – it is best translated from the greek as, “The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ”. In our modern English parlance, it gives the idea of a terrible catastrophe, usually related to the end of the world or human civilization (as we have some Hollywood movies). An “apocalypse” was a particular type of literature in the earliest centuries.
The word “apocalypse” literally mean an “unveiling” – it doesn’t mean to hide something in a mysterious way, neither does it have anything to do with the end of the world. With that in mind, the “Apocalypse of Jesus Christ” simply means “an unveiling of the prophecy of Jesus Christ explained with the use of prophetic symbols and motifs.
What was the “prophecy” of Jesus Christ? John’s gospel is the one that excludes the famous Olivet discourse – the prophetic speech which Jesus gave to his disciples (Matthew 23-25). It was the only extended “prophecy” which Jesus gave. Very much the same that Jesus had the extensive “the Sermon of Jesus Christ” in (Matthew 5-7)
The “prophecy of Jesus Christ” we are obviously talking about the only extended prophecy that he delivered that was actually consistent with what some prophets of Old like Daniel and Malachi had recorded in their writings.
Since prophecy must have fulfillment to be valid, we must note THAT the prophecy was about what would happen within “one generation” (not OUR generation) (Matthew 24:34) when a time of trouble and tribulation would come to Judea (not to the whole word) that would begin when Jerusalem was surrounded by armies bearing the Eagle banner and would end with the Temple being destroyed so completely that “not one stone will be left upon another”. THAT was what Jesus predicted and prophesied.
THAT was the “End of the Age” and THAT would happen within forty years. If THAT was Jesus prophecy, and if Revelation is an unveiling of Jesus prophecy in the language of symbols – then THAT is what Revelation is about too. Clearly it was the closing curtain on the Old covenant and its institution for the new to be established.
The book of Revelation amplifies Jesus prophecy by giving it greater and more vivid details, and explains it more fully. It was written during the reign of the Emperor Nero when there were only a few years left until those age-changing events would occur. The prophecy was at its heels of fulfillment. Consider these statements:
“what must soon [shortly] take place” (Rev. 1:1; 22:6 [KJV]).
“Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy . . . who hear it and take to heart [obey] what is written in it” (Rev. 1:3; 22:7 [KJV])
“the time is near [at hand]” (Rev. 1:3; 22:10 [KJV]).
These full-content-bracketing, time statements establish the immediate historical context for the fulfillment of the whole of the prophecy. These passages tell us that a very significant event was to occur within a very short time and certainly within the lifetime of the book’s original and primary recipients.
The beginning of Revelation – The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:. (1:1)
The word “signified” (Greek word, semaino) most literally and graphically means “sign – ified”—i.e., making known or communicating with signs and symbols. Hence, if we take the Revelation precisely for what it is, visual parables of spiritual/physical reality, any believer can better understand it.
But the physical/material mindset denies or ignores the dimension of the spirit and blinds people to the spirit-world realities the book unveils. Once, however, we accept that God spoke in spirit-realm/physical-realm terms using signs and symbols, the Revelation begins to open up its treasures to us.
The end of Revelation – “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.” (22:10)
~Simeon Edigbe
The very problem that you hate is the greatest opportunity ever – for you to get really, really close to God by -r-e-a-l-i-z-i-n-g- that He (the Holy Spirit) lives on the inside of you. These are NOT JUST PRETTY WORDS !!! . He’s right there, ready to talk to you.
Physical and psychological therapy cannot hold a candle to Turning Unreservedly And Entirely To Jesus.
ARE YOU UPSET
About anything –
Anything at all?
Let’s get you un-upset
Would that be alright?
Okay, now don’t tell me
About what’s eating you.
That’s your big distraction.
Make an about-face
Turn 180° away
From the issue(s)
And look directly into the face
Of Jesus.
See Him smiling, beckoning
You to come to Him.
Without losing your focus, think
Isn’t He infinitely more important?
Don’t … don’t … don’t go back
You don’t need to tell Him anything.
How could He possibly not know
All that is real?
Now listen to Him.
No, use your Spiritual ears
And hear Him tell you
What’s really true
Right in the place of
All your questions.
HAVE YOU EVER
Done everything exactly right … ?
You know it was right because
God had told you what to do,
How to do it,
Why and when to do it
And He told you
“Go ahead, do it afraid,
Just do it
Now!”
So you stepped out
And, as God’s representative,
You said what needed to be said.
And, BOOM !!
You got blasted for it,
Raked over the coals,
Insulted for your vocabulary,
Insulted for your audacity,
Insulted for your conviction,
Insulted for your obedience,
On and on, ad nauseum!
You had been out there supporting
But took the brunt of the punishment.
My question for you is this:
How long did it take you then
To wake up and realize
You had just stood up
For God?
How long did it take you
To hear
“Well done good and faithful servant!”
And smile?
We like to talk about Jesus-centeredness, don’t we? You hear about it at every turn in Christian culture.
Jesus-centered Christianity, a Jesus-centered gospel, Jesus-centered music, Jesus-centered churches, etc.
Now, I’m for Jesus-centeredness, but what I think we often mean when we say “Jesus-centered” is that humankind cannot also be at the center, since that’s a place Jesus jealously guards. That I’m not for. What I don’t think we understand, though, is that to place Jesus at the center of everything is to also place humanity at the center of everything. Jesus is not some disembodied specter, but a flesh and blood human, who also happens to be God. All other approaches to the divine must choose between who occupies center stage, God or humans, but in the Gospel we see that to place God at the center is to place humanity at the center, and to place humanity at the center is to place God at the center.
When you meet the needs of humans, you meet the needs of God. And when you seek to meet the needs of God, you will always find yourself being redirected back to the needs of your fellow humans. God does not desire to be at the center, for when that is the case, we find excuses for trampling on one another in order to get to the divine. And so he has rigged the system in such a way that one is not “getting to the divine” if they are not also caring for their fellow humans.
A Jesus-centered Gospel is a human-centered Gospel, and a human-centered Gospel is a Jesus-centered Gospel.
Jeff Turner
WHAT ARE YOU THINKING, O HUMAN
When you say this illness cannot be
Because I am the very image
And likeness of God
To which you add without pause
I have had it a long time
My mother had it
And so did my grandfather.
And this sickness is devastating
Debilitating, incurable?
God will heal me
But I need more faith
He is all-powerful
But my case is different.
WHY DON’T YOU BELIEVE YOUR OWN DENUNCIATIONS?
WHAT PRAYERS ARE DEAL-BREAKERS?
………..(by Dr. Robin Starbuck)
● I will never hang my head in abject humility again and pray as I did in my early years, “Father, if it be Thy will, could you …” because that’s a deal-breaker! . It puts our prayer into neutral. We have every reason to know that it IS God’s will – anytime, anyplace, anywhere – to answer our prayers.
1 John 5:14-15 KJV
And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:
[15] And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.
● People say Jesus prayed such a tentative prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, but that’s not true. He said that he didn’t want to be made sin/evil and die but that he would obey his Father’s will. That’s very different from saying, “I have no idea what Your will is, so I’ll just wait and see!
Mark 11:24 KJV
Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
● So, we need to pray according to His will and we need to believe. “According to His will” is met when we maintain a close, personal relationship with God; and, “believing” is met when we let all of our own stuff go and put Jesus before everything. But, you see, He’s already there. He was never not there.
● “Oh, Lord, if it be Thy will …” is a faith-killer, ergo, a deal-breaker as it saps an otherwise effective prayer of its vitality and credibility.
3 John 1:2, KJV
Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.
● This is God’s will: His will is His Word. Our being indecisive is what stymies our prayers. “Father, I KNOW it is your will” has many scriptures to back it up. I Peter 2:24 tells us that by His stripes, YOU were healed. Acts 10:38 tells us that Jesus went about everywhere doing good and healing everyone who came to him.
● Matt 8:2,3 tells us of a man who was a leper. He said, “Oh, Lord, if you will … ” But he didn’t have the New Covenant, so he doesn’t count!! Of course, God healed him: He doesn’t pick and choose who He’d like to heal. He healed them all.
Statistics reveal that most people in the world are more afraid of singing in public than of death itself! I believe that such a fear is a great one to overcome. It’s amazing how much gets freed up in one’s psyche (soul) upon facing this bugaboo once and for all – and performing onstage is a lot of fun, to boot!
Some years ago I determined to take the bull by the horns and accept the challenge. I enrolled in a singing workshop in New York City at the Turtle Bay Music School to perform in a live CABARET at its culmination. I was scared spitless! But, having taught at various colleges in NYC, I knew that if I worked out my performance thoroughly in advance I could handle ‘appearing’ in public.
Singing, however is a whole ‘nother thing, especially when it comes to the aspect of smoothly transitioning back and forth between the lower tones (chest voice) and the upper tones (head voice). I had observed other newbies hit a screeching sound, which I recognized as sheer terror at that juncture, and determined that I would not be doing any such transition!
I chose an up-tempo song with a non-challenging range: “Fever” and opted for a key that was in my SPEAKING RANGE – which eliminated most of the triggers for terror. Then I performed it at home several hundred times over the next few months, imagining a full audience in front of me.
On the day of the show I felt like I should be going to the hospital instead of the nightclub!! . But I went! . And I performed “Fever” two nights in a row at the “DON’T. TELL. MAMA” cabaret. I was ecstatic! . I had done it! . Twice!
I’m hoping that anyone reading this – you – may take courage in the face of crippling fear, when you know God is on your side, and step out and “do it afraid!” The sense of being free from this kind of fear is at once awesome and humbling.
—O-V-E-R-C-O-M-I-N-G—
The FULFILLING of the Law
Jen Fishburne
San Antonio, TX ·
Many years ago, I believed that we were fully under the Law of Moses, and lived my life accordingly, as much as possible. I was arguing that we were still under the Law online one day, and a pastor/seminary professor came along and challenged me in a way I had never heard before. He asked me questions that, for the first time, I simply could not answer.
He then asked me if I was willing to do a Bible study with him regarding the Law. For the next 90 days, I studied every passage in Scripture having to do with the Law, 8-12 hours a day, until I finally saw that that Law was never given to us in the first place; it was given only to Israel. That Law had NO authority over me, and I was not under its jurisdiction.
Matt. 5:17-18 was key for me. I realized that the Law was still in FULL effect until ALL the Law and ALL the prophets were fulfilled — in Christ. Once that happened, they were FULFILLED (not abolished).
So that left me with not having a clue where to go from there. At that time, I was wearing long dresses 24/7. I was very afraid that God was going to kill me, literally, if I put on a pair of pants, even weeks after realizing that Scripture never said anything what I should or should not wear. I finally got up the courage to try on a pair of pants, and quickly took them back off again, before God killed me. Yeah, it seems crazy now, but the fear was real.
I finally learned grace through the peeling away of the layers of legalism that I was bound up in. One by one, I studied each one in Scripture, only to find out that the Bible said nothing about all the “rules” we had made for ourselves.
I was so lost at that point, not understanding what grace was, that I put aside my Bible for the next 5 years and didn’t study it or read it, and rarely prayed. I never lost my faith, but I just meditated on life and the things I had learned in life. It was during those 5 years of silence that I learned what grace was.
And then I was free to begin learning the truth of God’s Word for the first time in my life.
(Jennifer Epstein Siegle)