Celtic Odyssey

This is our third post about the book (letter) of The Revelation. There’s so much in this post but we’ll try not to make it too long. Revelation 11.1-2 (adapted): Then I was given a measuring rod, which was like a pole. And I was told, “Get up and measure God’s temple, the altar, and those who worship there. But don’t measure the court outside the temple. Leave that out, because it has been given to the nations, and they’ll trample the holy city underfoot for forty-two months. We point this passage out because it seems that people either don’t know it’s in there or they twist it to be something else. Note here that John was told to measure “God’s temple, the altar, and those who worship there.” Of course, the question that comes rushing to the fore is, “ Which temple?” Some think this is the temple of God in “heaven,” but that can’t be right. Verse two states that John’s not to measure the outside temple court because it’s been “given to the nations, and they’ll trample ...

John 14.15-21 (CEB): “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. I will ask the Father, and he will send another Companion, who will be with you forever. This Companion is the Spirit of Truth, whom the world can’t receive because it neither sees him nor recognizes him. You know him, because he lives with you and will be with you. “I won’t leave you as orphans. I will come to you. Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Because I live, you will live too. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them loves me. Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.” I can’t help but think of my time with the YWCA when I hear the word advocate. For those of you who don’t know, my wife and I worked there for a few years — me as the Network Administrator and her as the S.A.N.E. Coordinator. S.A.N.E. stands for, “Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner.” She...

We’re continuing our look at the eschatology of the New Testament (we started way back here ). Last time we started The Revelation of John. We’re continuing that letter here. Revelation 6.9-11 (adapted): When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar those who had been slaughtered on account of the word of God and the witness they’d given. They cried out with a loud voice, “Holy and true Master, how long will you wait before you pass judgment? How long before you require justice for our blood, which was shed by those who live on earth?” Each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to rest a little longer, until their fellow servants and brothers and sisters—who were about to be killed as they were—were finished. This passage should strike a chord with us. We’ve seen something about it before. In our second post in the Gospel section of this series, we saw how Jesus blasted the Religious Opposition of his day. He told them, I am sending you prophets and w...

John 14.1-14 (CEB): “Don’t be troubled. Trust in [G‑d]. Trust also in me. My Father’s house has room to spare. If that weren’t the case, would I have told you that I’m going to prepare a place for you? When I go to prepare a place for you, I will return and take you to be with me so that where I am you will be too. You know the way to the place I’m going.” Thomas asked, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you have really known me, you will also know the Father. From now on you know him and have seen him.” Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father; that will be enough for us.” Jesus replied, “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been with you all this time? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I have spoken to you ...

Although we could look at the other books of the New Testament (1 and 2 Peter, Jude, the other Gospels, etc.), we’re going to look at the last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation. This is an incredible book. And a very hard book to discern, especially if one doesn’t have a good grasp of the Hebrew Scriptures. But, we’re aren’t going into a detailed study of the entire book (maybe another series). Instead, we’re going to look at just a few key passages. We’ll begin with the opening verses. Revelation 1.1-3 (adapted): A revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. Christ made it known by sending it through his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the witness of Jesus Christ, including all that John saw. Favored is the one who reads the words of this prophecy out loud, and favored are those who listen to it being read, and keep what’s written in it, for the time is near. John wrote that t...