Posts from November 2023
What Our Story Really Is
As we approach the end of Revelation, Babylon is fallen and the dragon is cast away forever. And now, with no obstacle remaining, “the marriage of the Lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready.” (19:7) Christ the Lamb will be finally and perfectly united to his people. And John sees the new heavens, the new earth, and the new Jerusalem descending from one to the other “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” (21:2) A voice…
Out of Babylon
Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! (Revelation 18:2) All of Revelation has been leading up to this moment – the fall of empire, the fall of every source of brokenness, division, hatred, war, poverty, greed, abuse and oppression. Perhaps you know Babylon all too well, what it’s like to be under the thumb of someone with more money, more greed, more status, more leverage than you. Perhaps you know first hand the horrors of war and poverty. Perhaps “Fallen, fall…
Eating the Word
Revelation has a reputation for being strange and difficult, but it should have an even greater reputation for making us poets, making us people who sing and pray, people who desire above all to worship our God. In chapter 8, the prayers of God’s people are rising to him like incense. That’s what our prayers are to God – a fragrant, pleasant aroma. And in Revelation, this includes prayers like, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,” but also…
Come, Be Quiet with Me
Isaiah 42 shows how God is active in the world through the one called the “servant.” The servant is described as quiet and gentle, which are not only character traits, but are nothing less than the means by which God’s justice makes its way into the world. This “servant” is originally meant to describe the nation of Israel, which is why God goes on to say a few verses later, “I have called you in righteousness… I have given you…