The final chapters of Revelation depict a glorious vision of heaven. In our final talk on the series we look specifically at what the people of heaven are like. There’s a lot of them; they are you and me and everyone else who responds to Jesus; they are not just future, they are present; and most importantly they take a like God’s emissaries, his vice-regents, his high-priests. This means we, as heavenly people, have purpose and calling - to witness to and extend God’s heaven here on earth. It is what makes sense of life and brings us fulfillment. The vision we have at bread is that all of us play our unique part, with our unique gifts, and so get to enjoy all the glory of heaven, and bring it to a world in need.
Revelation: Restoration of All Things
What is likely to come to mind when we think of Revelation is the question, “what will the end of the world look like”. It is what most of cultural interest tends to be around the book. But it’s not quite what the book aims to answer. Instead, Revelation is about Jesus and what He is doing. The book unveils Jesus’ restoration of the earth by bringing heaven and thus transforming everything about our world. It also shows how God will be permanently present with his people - no temples, no sacred locations - God face-to-face with us all the time. It isn’t just for the future, it also is for today, in-part that is. So we can experience intimacy with Jesus and glimpses of his kingdom restoring relationships, bodies, and more. Looking ahead at what God is doing means we can have joy today.
Revelation: Empire State of Everything
Alright so we know it’s not a roadmap of end times by now, but what on earth WAS John of Patmos saying when he wrote this epic and crazy story? We’ve got to the scene with the dragon and beasts now (yep - coming at you with 666 chat this morning) and as a side-note it still blows our MIND how many people were raised with terrifying, entirely wrong teaching on this stuff. This story is about same thing the rest of the bible is about: God is good, evil is real and coming for you, but Jesus is on the throne. The beast was the Roman Empire - no serious scholars disagree on that. Empire, and all it’s lying, deceiving, masquerading about who we should worship and how we should live. Conquer, dominate, and tell ourselves God is on OUR side. Those of us whose politics demand we’re already 100% anti-empire should make no mistake: the imperial cult is still whispering to us all.
Revelation: Overcoming Evil
Part of what Jesus says to the church throughout the book of Revelation is this: "Evil is real. It is both inside and outside of God’s church. But let us overcome it together.” In fact Jesus has already defeated all the forces of evil once and for all. And he calls his people to join in his victory. This talk is both about us taking seriously the ways in which we collude with evil in our own lives, and how we are able to overcome it - specifically through joining in the worship of heaven and putting out faith in the victory of the lamb.
Revelation: The End of Fear
One of the most misunderstood and misapplied books in the Bible, Revelation has tended to either scared people off or unhealthily preoccupied them. In this introduction to the series we explore what this curious book actually is, and importantly what it isn’t. Ultimately this is a book a much about our present as it is our future - and it’s one which expands our vision to the extremes of how big and awe-inspiring Jesus is. His first words spoken in the book are ‘do not be afraid’ - he is good, he loves us, and he has been and will continue to be victorious over all evil.