Category Archives: Revelation

Eating Words

Posted on February 7, 2011 | 3 Comments

I just finished up my 2010 Bible Reading Plan. It took me 13 months, but I finished reading the entire Bible front to back. Over the past five years, I have read a new translation of the Bible (ESV, NRSV, NIV, NASB, NLT) and usually switch formatting as well (for instance I read the Archeological Bible, NIV study Bible, cross-reference Bibles, Mosaic Bible, and in 2011 the John Wesley Study Bible). All this is an attempt to eat the scroll …

Reading the Bible daily, weekly, monthly, annually is a spiritual discipline that takes the Word made text and puts it back into flesh. I have lived by the promises of Psalm 119:9&11, “How can young people keep their way pure? By guarding it according to your Word… I treasure your word in my heart, so that I may not sin against you.”  Ezekiel was told to eat the scroll, “Feed your stomach and fill your body with this scroll which I am giving you.” In Revelation we are told again to take the scroll from the angel and eat it, “It will be bitter to your stomach, but sweet as honey in your mouth.”

So how do we do it? Here are some pointers that I can offer to those of you wanting to “Eat the scroll.”

  • Commit to a Bible Reading Plan.
    - I have used a yearly Bible Reading Plan from the Navigators. I attached a copy here.
    - A friend of mine (Chad Brooks – outsideisbetter) uses the website, www.youversion.com and uses their 90 day study.
  • Set aside a time of the day or week where/when you will read the Bible.
    - You may also want to do it in community with your family, friends, or staff.
  • Pray and give yourself grace when you fall behind.
    - The purpose of a Bible Reading Plan isn’t to check the boxes and feed some genre of false spiritual identity. The purpose is to eat the scroll, to feast on the Word, to abide in its truth, to be transformed and shaped by it.
  • A fun practice that I also do on an annual basis is switch up my translation and format of the Bible (I mentioned this above). I know some people (Dr. Bob Tuttle) who then give away their previously read Bibles to other people.

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Posted in Bible, Ezekiel, Psalms, Revelation, Spiritual Formation

The Beauty of Epiphany

Posted on February 6, 2011 | Leave a comment

“Since love grows within you, so beauty grows.
For love is the beauty of the soul.”
Augustine of Hippo

Beautiful theology (theology = theos + logos in the greek) is a Word about God that has an inherent sing-ability to it. This is why the ‘worship leader’ is such a vital role in a church. As I have heard JD Walt say many times, “the worship leader is the practical theologian of the Church.” Revelation 14:3 reminds us that before the eschatological throne of heaven we won’t just be quoting the right things, but singing a beautiful new song,

“And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders; and no one could learn the song except the one hundred and forty-four thousand who had been purchased from the earth.”

I was blessed to have taken Sacramental Theology with the notorious preacher and scholar, Bob Stamps. Dr. Stamps once said something that has stuck with me through the years, “Our theology needs to be as beautiful as it is correct.” Does this mean that systematic theology needs to be written in prose? Or that a Church’s statement of faith converted to a hymn? While I would enjoy hearing systematics put to prose and singing a church’s confession, what I am suggesting is that our theology should be more like a painting or symphony than a lawsuit or military campaign.

When you read the Gospels during this season of Epiphany do you see how Christ is revealed as God but miss the beauty of that revelation? Do you marvel at the symphony of events that God orchestrated for this unveiling? Do you gaze at the scenes as a priceless masterpiece? Do you marvel at the beauty of the Gospels as you abide in their truth?

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Posted in Augustine, Beauty, Church Calendar, Epiphany, Revelation, Theology

Story as Song : Prose as Participation in the Book of Judges

Posted on May 3, 2010 | Leave a comment

I’ve been reading through the book of Judges this past week and I came across the third Judge, Deborah in chapters four and five. Looking back on the entire book of Judges and how many times the Lord rescued his people, it seems only Deborah is the only one who is recorded as expressing  praise and gratitude for the intervention of the Lord. Ballentine picks up on this trend when he writes, “Only with Hannah (see1 Sam 2) and Deborah is there any praise in the canonical presentation of Israel’s history between settlement and kingship.”

But what does Deborah’s song in Judges 5  teach today’s church about worship?

First, Deborah’s song  tells the story. It tells the story of Israel’s history and Yahweh’s intervention on their behalf as a mighty warrior. Christian worship should tell our story: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. Christian worship does not require music, but should always tell the story, whether in song, prose, or action. Think of the story in the new song we will be singing with the four living creatures, the twenty-four elders before the Lamb. It  is saturated in the story:

“Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.” Revelation 5:9-10

*The song we sing should tell the story we live.

Secondly, the telling of the story invites us to participate. The prose of Deborah in Judges 5 doesn’t just tell the story as past and distant, but present and near. Look at how the prose in verse 10 invites those who hear the song to participate, “Consider this, you who _____.” This song could be song during the time of Gideon or of Jephthah or Tola, or any of the Judges and it would invite its hearers to the same action: to remember the Lord their God, to repent of worshiping the images of Baal and Ashtoreth, to return to Yahweh’s mission in the land. True Christian worship is when orthodoxy (right teaching) kisses orthopraxis (right practice).

*The story we live should  tell the song we sing.

… Song (remember) … Story (repent) … Participation (return) … Song (remember) … Story (repent) … Participation  (return) … Song (remember)…

*The song we sing should tell the story we live. *The story we live should  tell the song we sing.*

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Posted in Judges, Revelation, Worship

Ephiphany, Week 5 – Beauty Reflections (Part II)

Posted on February 10, 2010 | 2 Comments

“Since love grows within you, so beauty grows. For love is the beauty of the soul.”Augustine of Hippo (Algeria/354-430).

Beautiful Theology

This is my second reflective post on beauty during the fifth week of Epiphany. In my last reflection on beauty, I focused on the beauty of a united Christian community. Today’s reflection on beauty focuses on theology. The goal is not to share a deep theological treatise on what is beautiful, but a reflection on the beauty OF theology.

I was blessed recently in a Sacramental theology class taught by a visiting professor, Dr. Bob Stamps. Dr. Stamps once said something that stuck with me, “Our theology needs to be as beautiful as it is correct.” This summer during my chaplain candidate tour, I engaged in a lot of theological discussions with chaplains of different denominations. Somewhere during the theological dialogues with these friends our theologies and our souls became more beautiful. Now, theologically I am Wesleyan and they are Reformed, but the dialogue sharpened us and made us more like Christ. Once we moved beyond the differing ‘theology’ and got focused on the ‘theos’ (gk. for God), we found our desire to be more like Christ greater than our desire to be more like a John Wesley or a John Piper. A beautiful theology should bring life (and not death) to a Christian friendship. I am not suggesting a relative understanding of truth, but a desire to know the embodiment of the truth (and the way and the life), Jesus Christ.

When you leave the place where you worship on Sundays, do find yourself humming to the theological message of the Pastor’s sermon? Or maybe when you are walking around at your school or work, do you find yourself quoting TULIP, systematic theology, or the ontological argument? No. You usually find yourself chanting a creed, singing the great hymns of the church, or perhaps belting that line from a contemporary worship song that touched your heart in a meaningful way.

Beautiful theology is theology that is sung. This is why the ‘worship leader’ is such a vital role in a church. As John David (JD) Walt, Asbury Theological Seminary, dean of the Chapel, said many times, “the worship leader is the practical theologian of the church.” Revelation 14:3 reminds us that before the eschatological throne of heaven we won’t be saying the right things, but singing a beautiful new song, “And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders; and no one could learn the song except the one hundred and forty-four thousand who had been purchased from the earth.”

Being able to sing your theology gives it wings more beautiful than angels.

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Posted in Devotional, Revelation, Theology

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The Seven Spirits of Revelation

Posted on December 1, 2009 | Leave a comment

Click on the link below to view this blog due to usage of Greek fonts:

NT 666 – Seven Spirits of Revelation Project

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Posted in Christology, Exegesis, Pneumatology, Revelation, Theology

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