Starting 4th February 2020
Come join us for this 15 Sessions covering on the the book of Revelation.
John, the Evangelist, brother of James the Martyr (Acts 12), was
deported to Patmos island for the sake of faith. From there he sent us this “Revelation.” Skies opened, angels and tragedies,
corruption of the well-to-do and the blood of martyrs: God’s judgment goes down
the centuries. God’s glory has come near and only a curtain divides us. Everything is brought to an end in the
heavenly city.
Why does Revelation have the reputation of being a mysterious book,
hard to understand and why, for many people, does it have a terrifying
meaning? Can it be because there, many
seek secret figures and messages which might be adapted to current events as if
John had announced them in detail?
If we want to avoid misunderstanding the images and the style of the
Revelation of John we should first know that “revelations,” or “apocalypses”
were a popular form of literature at the time of Jesus. There was an Apocalypse of Isaiah, one of Moses,
and many others. It was a way of
interpreting contemporary events wrapped up in formidable images, with visions
and angels. The author of the book
attributed it to a known prophet of the past, but only related events that were
already known, trying to draw conclusions and showing what God wanted to
achieve.
The style and the images of Revelation (Apocalypse) bewilder many
people to the extent that today the term is mostly used to refer to worldwide
tragedies. We are going to give the
needed explanations, but from the beginning, we have to understand that John
was answering the questions that his Christian contemporaries were asking, and
questions that we are still asking ourselves today. Why didn’t the Savior bring justice and peace
to the word and why do we see so much evil and suffering?
REVELATION
John answers that if centuries follow after Christ’s coming, this is
not so that we may enjoy heaven on earth but rather, because this world is at
stake in the conflict between good and evil.
John probably wrote at the time of Emperor Domitian, namely, the start
of the great Church persecutions in the Roman Empire. John is going to say, again and again, that
being Christian means being faithful and if need be being a martyr.
Understanding the importance of this conflict in today’s history is
much more useful than searching the Book of Revelation for secret messages that
would surely enable us to expect extraordinary events and perhaps, to have the
chance to survive. We will better
understand this Revelation if we interpret the visions numbers and symbols
according to the rules of apocalyptic literature. Then we shall see that the Revelation of
Jesus Christ is neither difficult nor terrifying but full of joy and hope.
The risen Christ is the center of history; the world is the place of
the struggle between the church, headed by Christ, and Satan’s forces;
Christians are called to give their witness with courage.
In this book we can see seven series, each with seven elements, in
four major parts:
-
the seven messages to the
churches, chapters 1-3
-
the fulfillment of the Old
Testament, chapters 4-11
-
the Church faces the Roman
Empire, chapters 12-19
-
the last days and the heavenly
Jerusalem, chapters 20-22
We have attributed the Book of Revelation to John the
Evangelist. In fact, there were many
doubts on this point during the first two centuries. The western Church, differently from that in
the East, did not see it as the work of John the Evangelist and while today’s
criticism does not raise major difficulties, it does raise many doubts. It is interesting to notice that the image of
the sacrificed lamb, a central theme of the book, is found throughout the
entire book. This theme, along with the
same quotation from the prophet Zechariah (Rev 1:7), bears the personal mark of
John in his Gospel (Jn 19:31-37).
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