Posts by Fayetteville Church of Christ (Page 2)

At the front door of the church building, Valerie ran to hug my neck and greeted me with this astonishing revelation: “You’re Jesus!” (Valerie was four years old). As I tried to explain that my name is Dave, she insisted that I was “Jesus.” She finally showed me the picture she had colored in bible class that morning, that depicted Jesus with some of His disciples. Pointing to “Jesus,” she emphatically declared, “That’s YOU!” (I think her misunderstanding lay in…

(Editor’s note: This article by a long-time friend and gospel preacher seems appropriate to our current emphasis on outreach and evangelism. Please read it carefully and consider the points made!) Over the last few years, numerous books and articles have been written about why churches grow (or don’t grow). They have offered all kinds of solutions to the problems of declining church growth. Some of their ideas are: Bigger buildings / Better location / Good publicity / Plenty of parking…

In Revelation 12-17 John saw Satan (the “dragon”) and his allies (the “beasts” and then the “great harlot”) presented as emblems of the evil one’s power and overwhelming determination to conquer the faithful through persecution, trial and seduction. From chapter 17:16 onward he saw these same forces being overcome – in reverse order – by the power of God (first the harlot, 18:2, then the “beasts,” 19:19-21, and finally in chapter 20, the “dragon” himself, Satan). Just as Satan’s servants…

In chapters 17-19 John presents Heaven’s explanation of the vision of angels pouring out the “vials”/bowls of God’s wrath. The angel introduced in 17:1 establishes that what John now sees is a depiction of judgement that bears out the “beginning of the end” theme that began with emptying of those bowls in chapters 15-16. Chapter 17 paints a picture that most biblical scholars with pagan Imperial Rome – the judgement of the “Great Harlot.” This chapter falls naturally into two…

Taken together, Revelation 15-16 form “the beginning of the end” of the visions John sees of God’s judgement against the world. The seven plagues these chapters depict represent God’s “perfect” (complete, full) wrath. The praises in 15:2-4 come from those who have emerged victorious over the “beast;” now, they are seen standing on God’s side of the sea. The “song of Moses…and the Lamb” unites the faithful of both old and new testaments in one whole – “the saved” –…

The image of seven angels blowing trumpets in Revelation 8-11 echoes the basic message of the opening of the seals seen in chapters 4-7 – God’s judgement against all unrighteousness. Like the brief pause between the opening of the sixth and seventh seals when John saw those who are saved being “marked” to protect them against the coming judgement, the “break” between the sixth and seventh trumpets heightens the readers’ anticipation – “What will happen next?” During this break, John…

The image of seven angels blowing trumpets in Revelation 8-11 echoes the basic message of the opening of the seals seen in chapters 4-7 – God’s judgement against all unrighteousness. Like the brief pause between the opening of the sixth and seventh seals when John saw those who are saved being “marked” to protect them against the coming judgement, the “break” between the sixth and seventh trumpets heightens the readers’ anticipation – “What will happen next?” During this break, John…

The eighth chapter of the revelation brings us to the conclusion of John’s vision of the book (scroll) with seven seals. After the opening of the first six seals in chapters 4-6 and the “pause” seen in chapter 7, the final seal of the book is now opened. The opening of the seventh seal, which had concealed the contents of the book, might seem to suggest that “the end is near.” The appearance of the Lamb (ch. 6) had begun…

Chapter 4 begins the “hard” part of the revelation – the symbolic section of the vision John saw, that many readers find so challenging and difficult to understand. As noted previously, one of the reasons modern readers struggle to understand the revelation is because this style of literature is virtually unknown in modern western culture. Chapters 4-22 can be divided into a series of visions that share many common themes, even though the particulars of the visions themselves might seem…

“Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this.” (Revelation 1:19) The instruction at the end of chapter 1 sets the context of the vision in vv. 10-20 and previews the rest of the Lord’s message to the churches in chapters 2 and 3 – “…things which you have seen, …which are, and…after this.” By the time John writes what he is told, the vision of chapter 1…

The first three verses of the Revelation provide its readers both the “title” of this book and explain its Source (i.e., “where it came from, and how it was transmitted to them”): “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants– things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, 2 who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ,…

The basic purpose of the Revelation is to provide comfort and consolation to Christians facing or experiencing persecution because of their faith. To the modern (western-culture) reader, this may not seem obvious because the symbols and figures the Holy Spirit employs seem so “strange” to us – we don’t typically relate to images or recognize parallels as readily as we grasp plain, straightforward statements. (People in “eastern” cultures, however, often do not struggle in this way since they are often…