John’s descriptions of the seven visions he received are over the top and you get the sense he can’t quite find the words either. As the Christians in Ephesus listened to Revelation read aloud in the worship service, they got a sense of another dimension of reality. Their eyes were opened to see the world differently.
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Tags: Really Real, Plato's Cave, Ultimate Concern, Revelation 4, Rescuing Revelation

Revelation 5 offers one of the best “You’ve Got Mail” stories ever. The people were discouraged and in dire need of a good word. Whether faced with open hostility, subtle pressure to conform, or a poverty of faith, life made less sense all the time under the Empire. Like all oppressed people, they were crying out for an interpretive word when the meaning of their lives felt hidden to them. God saw what was going on and sent them a word of hope.

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Tags: Rightly-Ordered Creation, Letters, Lamp Power, Revelation 5, Rescuing Revelation

The Bible can be pretty messy. When reading its pages, it doesn’t take long to be baffled, especially by the tense and violent parts. As author Peter Enns asks, what do we do when the Bible doesn’t behave the way we think a holy book should? It can be hard to take it seriously.
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Tags: Scrooge, A Christmas Carol, Martin Luther King Jr., Rescuing Revelation