1. Revelation A One-Day Seminar Lipscomb University

2. Some Basics

5. Please don’t...  Expect more than we can deliver.  “To ‘interpret’ this book is to misinterpret it, for often the appeal is to the imagination; it’s a book to be experienced, not explained.”  “Just as jokes are seldom funny when they have to be explained, so Revelation may lose some of its power when it has to be interpreted.”  But good biblical scholarship sheds light on this book and protects us from its most serious misuse.

6. Please don’t...  Expect more than we can deliver.  Come at Revelation defensively.  The only book of the NT on which John Calvin did not write a commentary  Martin Luther: “My spirit cannot accommodate itself to this book.”  It has been used for evil purposes!

7. Please don’t...  Expect more than we can deliver.  Come at Revelation defensively.  Ever say “Revelations” again!

8. Living in God’s Story The Redemption Narrative from Creation to New Creation Act I: Let There Be Light! Creation & Eden / Genesis 1-2 Act II: The Darkness Descends The Fall & Its Resulting Chaos / Genesis 3-11 Act III: Light for the Nations Israel / Genesis 12:1 – Malachi (cf. Isaiah 42:6; 49:6) Act IV: The True Light Jesus of Nazareth / The Gospels (cf. John 1:9) Act V: Let Your Light Shine The Church / Acts, Epistles, Revelation 1:1-20:10 (cf. Matt. 5:14-16; 1 Pet. 2:9) Act VI: God’s Glory Is the Light The New Heaven & New Earth / Revelation 20:11-22:21 (cf.22:5)

9. A Missional Reading of the Apocalypse  God’s “mission” is the reclamation of his good creation.  The Bible “renders to us the story of God’s mission through God’s people in their engagement with God’s world for the sake of the whole of God’s creation.”  Revelation is both a witness to God’s mission and an instrument of it.

10. Revelation as... Witness to God’s Mission  Puts Christ’s redemptive work in cosmic context  Presents a slaughtered lamb as controlling metaphor  Shows judgment of evil is an element of divine holiness  The biblical story ends in hope realized and God’s mission triumphant Instrument of God’s Mission  Contrary to appearances, reveals God is sovereign  Challenges God’s people to “Come out!” of Babylon  Calls church to bear faithful witness to Christ  Bids Christians to embody Christ’s presence and God’s future reign now