I’ve been on the road a good bit lately. Sometimes I can keep up the blog while traveling, sometimes I can’t. I used to worry about it, but I’ve come to accept that the world goes on turning, even when I can’t post.
Spent a few days in Managua, Nicaragua, doing some follow-up for Herald of Truth. Along with discussing the media project we recently did there, Steve Ridgell and I also got to do some teaching on leadership and on marriage.
Last week I was in Stockdale, Texas. It’s always good to be back there, to see what God is doing among the people of that small South Texas town.
I did six lessons on Revelation. Whenever I have to teach a book in a new format, it’s a real learning experience for me. I purchased Eugene Peterson’s Reversed Thunder and gained some insights from that book. I also got study notes from several friends who have taught Revelation in the recent past.
In Bible class on Sunday morning, we did an introduction to the book. When talking about Revelation as poetry, I included a clip from Dead Poet’s Society, where Robin Williams has his students tear out the introduction to their poetry books. I used that to talk about the folly of taking a poetic book like Revelation and trying to pull out a timeline for the future.
During the morning worship, I preached on Revelation 4-5, the fact that the Lion of Judah turned out to be a sacrificed Lamb. In the evening, we did the first 3 chapters in a whirlwind blitz; fortunately I had some copies of Letters From The Lamb for anyone that wanted to go deeper into that material.
The last three lessons were “Scenes of Judgment,” “Scenes of Triumph,” and “New Heaven, New Earth.” It was a quick overview, but people seemed to find it helpful. More than anything, I sought to prepare them to read the book on their own.
Lots of learning for me. Hope it was a blessing to others.
I preached Revelation for our church last year in conjunction with our LTC kids, who were studying Revelation. I literally consulted dozens of books and resources. By far the best resource I found for a conversation partner in preaching Revelation was REVERSED THUNDER by Eugene Peterson.
Thanks for the link back to your post on the Lion of Judah. It was before I started reading your blog, but it has convinced me that I must be totally blind. I have read Revelation over and over, I even taught it a few years back. Your note on the Lion of Judah that turned out to be a lamb revealed a fact that apparently flew right over my head. I first read the verses involved and then went back to check my class notes. I just barrelled right on through and evidently never even noticed that the Lion of Judah was a lamb even though I do know that the Lord is both. All I can do is pray that the Lord will open my eyes to all the other obvious things I’ve missed!
Mark, I like exactly how you phrased that! There are a lot of other resources that have helped me understand the meaning of particular aspects of the Revelation, but nothing like RT has been able to help me work out how to preach it.