In our final series of advent songs, we continue to look at Bible passages that are Christ-centric. Revelations 5 is written by the apostle John. It’s a great chorus of praise sung for Vere Dignus, the truly worthy—Jesus Christ.
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Revelation
This is the last study in our Doctrine of Scripture series. We started our series with a speaking God, and we went through some of the attributes of Scripture — sufficient, clear, authoritative and necessary. Then we studied about the Canon of the Bible, how we have the set of books in our bibles today. Last week, we spoke about how Scripture cannot be broken. And we come to this week, where we want to trace the storyline of the Bible, because we know that what God says will come to pass!
This final letter was addressed to Laodicea, which was a city similar to Singapore. It was a bustling, prosperous city engaged in trade. It had no water supply and had to pipe in water from the surrounding region. Laodicea was also a medical hub and had a well-known school of ophthalmology. Things seemed to be good in this city, but what did Jesus had to say to them? What can we learn from this letter?
This penultimate letter maintains the same structure that we've seen in the previous 5 letters to the churches, but in this letter, we'll also see how Jesus uses 3 house related metaphors in His writing to this church in Philadelphia.
The idea of "fake it till you make it" is not foreign to us, especially not to those of us in the workplace or at school. But do we have this same attitude in our walks with God? Today's passage shows us Sardis, the "worst" of the seven churches, and how they had a reputation for being alive but were actually dead - a message just as relevant to us today.
Do you find yourself awkward in today’s world or do you fit in perfectly with the world’s culture today? Do you find yourself increasingly distant from the world’s desires? Today’s passage challenges the church in Thyatira and us today to leave the world’s culture to obey and worship God alone.
To the church at Pergamum, Jesus speaks about the importance of right theology. But, who needs theology? Doesn't doctrine divide? Hasn't doctrine been the cause of great divisions in the church throughout the centuries? Clearly Jesus thought teaching and theology matters, and it will do us well to listen and obey His words in Revelation.
The second of the letters is addressed to Smyrna. What did Jesus have to say to this church and what can we learn from His words?
Today we begin looking at the letters to the 7 churches. What does Jesus have to say to the church at Ephesus, the subject of Paul's letter in the book we know as the book of Ephesians?
We continue our study in Revelation and today's passage is interesting with lots of symbolism etc. But before we get bogged down with the details (or confused), let Rev 1:3 be an encouragement to us, remembering that there is blessing in the reading and study of His Word.
What is Revelation about? For many of us, the book of Revelation is shrouded in a cloud of mystery and sometimes, we read it as if it's a book of signs that predict the future. Many people get excited at this thought. We begin our new series in Revelation with the first 8 verses of this book. These verses give a broad summary of the entire book and the themes of the book of Revelation and right at the start, we'd like to state that the book of Revelation is not about the "end times". What then is it about? Read on!
As we work through the Letters of Jesus in Rev 1 to 3, it'll also be helpful for us to know and remember the themes in the entire book.
How would you summarise the Christmas story in 10 words or less? What should go in to make it a Christmas story? This study completes the Advent series by taking a look at a passage in Revelation. This is the Christmas mother we have not really heard of!
Rev 1-3 forms a series of letters to churches. Today, we'll look at Rev 3, which is part of seven letters to seven churches. Before we look at the text proper, we need to realise that Jesus has a view on your life, and how you use the Bible. If Jesus could comment on your use of the Bible, what would He say?
The New Testament cannot be properly understood without the unfolding story of the Old Testament. St. Augustine once wisely said that "The New is in the Old contained, the Old is in the New explained." The key to understanding the NT is to understand the themes set up in the OT, and that's what we did in the previous session. This is also the context that we need to understand.