Kontakion

Reading Amount: Revelation 8:1-9:21 Central Verse: The rest of humankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands or give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk. And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their fornication or their thefts. Revelation 9:20-21 NRSV Central Truth: The heart of Revelation is Salvation and the desire for the salvation of the world. As the plagues begin we find reason to mourn, people still don't turn to God when things are bad. Food For Thought: The description of the locusts in these chapters are often seen as a parody of the divine. We see they have golden crowns, like God, human faces like the creatures around the throne of God, and their hair has been understood as representing certain frenzy religious practices in the emperor cults. There are also biblical ties to the image of the locust. Locust were understood to ...

Reading Amount: Revelation 7:1-17 Central Verse: After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying, "salvation belongs to our God who is Seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!" Revelation 7:9-10 NRSV Central Truth: Salvation has come to all. No one is excluded from God's plan of salvation. The appropriate response to God's salvation is praise to God and the Lamb (note that they both share the throne). Food For Thought: Great emphasis has been put on the 144,000 in recent church history. Some groups have emphasized this as an exclusionary tactic claiming that they are the 144,000 and no one else. There are two problems with this view, one is that it forgets the nature of symbolic/metaphorical language. John is using the biggest number he can thi...

Reading Amount: Revelation 4:1-6:17 Central Verse: Then one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep. See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Rood of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals," Then I saw between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders a Lamb standing as if it had been slaughtered, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. Revelation 5:5-6 NRSV Central Truth: While there is violence present in Revelation everything comes back to the lamb of God. The act of conquering, while using violent language, comes back to a non-violent image the slaughtered lamb who conquered all evil for us. Food For Thought: The throne of God is a traditional visionary experience that happens in many of the prophetic books in the bible. The vision of the four horsemen has been used in artistic renderings for centuries. There is a lot of discussion about who the first horseman ...

Reading Amount: Revelation 2:1-3:22 Central Verse: And all the churches will know that I am the one who searches minds and hearts, and I will give to each of you as your works deserve. - Rev. 2:23b Central Truth: Christ knows his churches and his people, he deals with each of us differently but expects us to follow him regardless of our surrounding culture or the powers we find ourselves surrounded by. Food For Thought: There are seven churches that are dealt with, and these churches were in a circuit so that when the letter traveled each would see and hear what was spoken to the others. This reminds us of the universality of the message of Revelation but also reminds us that the intent of Revelation is pastoral in nature not future forecasting as many views of Revelation would have us believe. There is a pattern that each mini-letter to the churches holds Similarities of the prophecies to the churches To the angel of the church in a given city, write: Jesus (depicted in glory, ofte...

Reading Amount: Revelation 1:1-20 Central Verse: I saw one like the Son of Man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash across his chest. His head and his hair were white as white wool, white as snow; his eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined as in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters. In 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. - 1:13b-16 NRSV As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lamp stands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lamp stands are the seven churches. - 1:20 Central Truth: Christ is the Lord over all creation but his love is manifest in that he is present with us as individuals and as a community. Food For Thought: In the opening chapter of Revelation we learn that it is a letter written to seven churches in particular. Bec...

Who, When and Where: The question of who wrote the book of Revelation, like most books in the bible, is not an easy question to answer. Fortunately there isn't much discussion about possible redactors or editors of the book. A redactor is similar to a second author who goes over the original manuscript inserting comments for what they deem as clarification. Most scholars seem to agree that that book was written by one individual. Historically and traditionally speaking that leaves us with two individuals as options. First in the traditional category is John the Apostle, or other wise known as "the Disciple whom Jesus loved" a reference to his nickname in the Gospel of John. The historical, and to some traditional, option is John of Ephesus who was a church elder in the city of Ephesus located in modern day Turkey. Some individuals believe that these are the same persons. Their reasoning that this is the same person is that tradition states that John the Apostle took Mary...