Revelation: Jesus the Conquering Lamb

By Terry Briley

In this study, you will learn that the book of Revelation is neither a riddle about the date of Christ's return nor a message only for Christians facing violent persecution. Rather, it speaks to all Christians in all ages who face the challenge of being faithful witnesses between Christ's resurrection and his triumphant return.Using the method of study established in previous Meditative Commentaries, readers will gain a deeper insight into the meaning of this last book of the Bible. And they will see that Jesus is more than a mere man. He is God's Son ... the Conquering Lamb.Do you want a deeper, more fulfilling way of Bible study? Do you want to know God through Scripture—not just to know the teachings, but to have a relationship with the Teacher? Perhaps you want to begin daily Bible reading, but need guidance. Or you need a guide for family Bible study. Or your small group Bible study needs revitalizing.This meditative commentary is for you. There are many commentaries on the books of the Bible and workbooks for Bible study, but this series is different. It employs the classic Christian method of "holy reading" to help you hear the voice of God.Holy reading involves slowly engaging a short passage of Scripture, listening closely, reading repeatedly, praying the words, and perhaps sharing with fellow believers. God will bless us, our families, and our churches if we take the time to be still, listen, and do his word.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Leafwood Publishers
• Release date: Jul 29, 2013
• ISBN: 9780891129325

Terry Briley

Terry Briley is Dean of the College of Bible and Ministry at Lipscomb University, Nashville, Tennessee. He holds degrees from Lipscomb University and Hebrew Union College.

Book preview

REVELATION: JESUS THE CONQUERING LAMB

A MEDITATIVE COMMENTARY ON THE NEW TESTAMENT

REVELATION: JESUS THE CONQUERING LAMB

A MEDITATIVE COMMENTARY ON THE NEW TESTAMENT

Terry Briley

REVELATION

Jesus the Conquering Lamb

Copyright 2009 by Terry Briley

ISBN 978-0-89112-561-7

Printed in the United States of America

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise—without prior written consent.

Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from The Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright 1984, International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishers.

Cover design by Greg Jackson, Thinkpen Design, LLC

For information contact:

Leafwood Publishers, Abilene, Texas

1-877-816-4455 toll free

www.leafwoodpublishers.com

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To my great friend and former student TW, who, like the book of Revelation, regularly encourages me and helps me see more clearly.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I want to thank my valued Lipscomb colleagues, Gary Holloway and Earl Lavender, as well as Leonard Allen, for their fine work on this series and for graciously allowing me to be a part of it. Earl’s passion for helping Christians understand their place in God’s mission, and Gary’s similar zeal for the path of spiritual formation and for Christian unity, are making a great impact for the kingdom of God.

My gratitude also goes out to the members of the Natchez Trace Church of Christ, who have patiently journeyed with me in exploring the relevance of Revelation for everyday Christian spirituality. I especially appreciate the support of my fellow elder, John McCarley, and my in-laws, Art and Lonnie Peddle.

THE SPIRITUALITY OF REVELATION

Unfortunately, many Christians do not consider the book of Revelation a significant resource for spiritual formation. This misconception stems in part from the tendency to view Revelation primarily as a great puzzle to be solved in order to calculate the time and circumstances of Christ’s return. Such an understanding of the nature of the book tends to lead people either to obsess over the details of Revelation’s clues or to ignore it altogether.

The approach underlying this study takes its cue from the opening chapter of Revelation. God clearly entrusts his revelation to John as a message of encouragement and discernment for Christians and churches in a world in which the reality of the kingdom of God can be difficult to see. Just as Jesus’ original band of disciples struggled to reconcile the Messiah’s suffering and death with the coming of the kingdom, subsequent generations question their own hardships even though Jesus predicted both his cross and ours. The issue extends beyond martyrdom; it also includes more subtle pressures that can compromise God’s calling for the church.

Revelation does address the future, but not with the goal of constructing timetables. It aims instead, through the use of symbolic language, to help Christians and churches see the true nature of the present reality, their calling, and the way their struggles relate to God’s ultimate goal for his creation. The word revelation (1:1; Greek apokal-upsis) refers to an uncovering or unveiling. The fantastic imagery of the book exposes the fearsome yet doomed nature of opposition of God, as well as the surprising ways God’s triumphant reign manifests itself among his people.

Viewed in this light, Revelation offers a great deal for reflection and spiritual growth. It is essential to peel back the superficial veneer of the reality we perceive with our physical senses in order to see clearly the truth about our world. Only then can we proceed wisely and confidently and find our place in God’s mission.

The Challenge of Spiritual Perception

Throughout Scripture God calls his people to live by faith. Living by faith is unnecessary if God’s presence, power, and course of action are ever transparent. How will God provide an heir for aged Abraham and Sarah? Why does he allow Israel to become enslaved in Egypt? Why must the Messiah suffer and die? God manifests his power in the child he miraculously provides for Abraham and Sarah, in the exodus from Egypt, and in the resurrection of Jesus. In the larger sense, however, those who seek to serve God only experience his larger purpose for their lives by faith (see Hebrews 11:13, 39-40).

When Elisha and his servant were surrounded by a hostile army, Elisha prayed that God would open his servant’s eyes to see that their resources were greater than their enemy’s (2 Kings 6:15-17). The ability to see or hear this kind of reality is hindered by sin (see Romans 1:18; 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12) and by focusing on external circumstances rather than God’s promises (cf. Numbers 13-14; Matthew 14:28-31). Revelation’s original recipients were daily surrounded by evidences of Rome’s power, a power that at times was directed against them. John’s visions seek to open their eyes (and ours) to ultimate realities rather than temporary, superficial ones. In Jesus’ messages to the seven churches, he repeats the challenge he often attached to his parables: these words are available to those with ears to hear.

Revelation portrays our adversary and his earthly allies as a dragon and ferocious beasts that ultimately fall through a combination of their own corruption and the triumph of the sacrificial Lamb. These opposing forces at present are ugly and murderous, on the one hand, but alluring and seductive, on the other. In a world where everything is not as it appears to be, Christians need Revelation to help them separate the reality from the illusion.

The Call to Be Faithful Witnesses

As with John’s Gospel, Revelation heavily emphasizes witness/testimony to Jesus. In the opening chapter of Revelation, both John and Jesus are described as faithful witnesses, and both pay a high price for their testimony. This same pattern extends to Antipas (2:13), the souls under the altar (6:9), the two witnesses (11:7), and those who experience the dragon’s wrath (12:11, 17).

Revelation helps Christians understand both the importance of faithful testimony and the reason it evokes such hostility. Christians are to perpetuate Jesus’ testimony to the truth of the gospel as God graciously allows unbelievers the opportunity to repent. Because some people are hardened beyond repentance, however, they react with anger against those whose lives shine light upon the darkness in theirs.

The Centrality of Worship

In one sense, worship is much broader than what happens when Christians gather together on the first day of the week or other occasions. We indicate the object of our worship by the way we conduct our lives daily. That which receives our ultimate loyalty and controls our lives becomes our God. Revelation reflects this reality by portraying God’s opponents as those who seek the worship that belongs to God alone. Twice John himself receives a rebuke for bowing before an angelic messenger and is told to worship God alone. In this sense worship is at the heart of Revelation.

Worship in the narrower, more formal sense is also vital to Revelation. Many Christian songs have been based on words and images from John’s visions. After Jesus’ messages to the churches expose the challenges these churches face, John is taken into heaven to witness scenes in which all creation surrounds the throne of God to offer him the worship he rightly deserves. Climactic moments throughout Revelation prompt expressions of praise.

Some Christians question the practical value of worship. Churches and their leaders may be tempted to make assembly times so multi-functional that the praise of God no longer stands as the central focus. In the larger picture, nothing does more for our individual and community life than proclaiming the wondrous nature of God.

A BRIEF ORIENTATION TO REVELATION

Since Revelation is the most unusual and unfamiliar book of the New Testament for most people, this section attempts to address a few key issues that will make it more accessible. The volumes in this series seek to provide resources for a devotional reading of the text rather than a full-fledged commentary. It is difficult, however, to reflect on a passage without some sense of how to read it in the first place.

The questions and meditations in the present volume assume that Revelation’s message applies to every generation of Christians, not only to those who live in times of violent persecution or at the time just before Jesus’ return. The aim of Revelation is to help Christians remain faithful to their calling to be faithful witnesses while evil forces are allowed to tempt and oppose, but not to overcome. Christians need to see by faith the progress of God’s kingdom, and also to see through the deceptiveness of sin.

THE SHAPE OF REVELATION

The outer frame of Revelation (1:1-8; 22:6-21) presents it as a circular letter to seven churches. This fact is important, for it makes the book’s message as urgent and immediately relevant to its initial recipients as Paul’s letters to the Romans and the Corinthians. The visions at the center of the book are dominated by several series of sevens, most notably the delivery of Jesus’ messages to the seven churches, the opening of seven seals, the sounding of seven trumpets, and the outpouring of seven bowls of wrath. The number seven calls attention to the completeness of God and his work, as in the seven days of the creation account.

A key moment in Revelation occurs in chapters 12-13. These chapters vividly introduce Satan and his agents as the instigating force behind the world’s opposition to God and his mission. From this point on the book focuses on the defeat and judgment of Satan, as well as the people and institutions that ally themselves with him.