Comments for St. Peter's Lutheran Church Arlington, WI http://stpetersarlington.org In Our Second Century of the Gospel with Jesus Christ Sun, 28 Aug 2011 21:36:54 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 Comment on Revelation: “The Vision Begins” by StPeters http://stpetersarlington.org/2011/06/27/revelation-the-vision-begins/#comment-627 StPeters Sun, 28 Aug 2011 21:36:54 +0000 http://stpetersarlington.org/?p=628#comment-627 Sheri, I apologize deeply for taking so long to post a reply, especially since you pose some excellent questions. Have you been following our sermon series online this summer? If you have you will notice that these sermons have followed two Lutheran themes: First, where is Jesus in this text? And, second, how do the visions in Revelation relate to St. John's other writings, that is, the Gospel that bears his name as well as the three epistles of John in the New Testament. As the saying goes, it keeps the main thing the main thing. Part of the challenge for the reader when it comes to the Book of Revelation is that it is a book of apocalyptic literature. In this it bears resemblance with the Old Tetstament books of Daniel, Ezekiel, and several of the Minor Prophets. Visions filled with fantastic creatures and events are common in apocalyptic literature in the Bible. While the visions have a meaning, the meaning is not found in a literalistic interpretation of the details in the visions; trying to make a one-to-one correlation between the visions and life. This is often the short-coming so many interpretations of the Book of Revelation. Rather, the better approach is to use the fantastic elements of the visions to ask the question, what is the book telling us about the Gospel? In the words of G.K. Chesterton, “Fairy Tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.” So the Book of Revelation tells us that The Dragon is already beaten because of Christ. So I invite you to listen to the sermons in this series, or read them on this website. And feel free to post another comment. I'll try to do better in replying! Peace in Christ, Pastor Marion Hendrickson Sheri,

I apologize deeply for taking so long to post a reply, especially since you pose some excellent questions.
Have you been following our sermon series online this summer? If you have you will notice that these sermons have followed two Lutheran themes: First, where is Jesus in this text? And, second, how do the visions in Revelation relate to St. John’s other writings, that is, the Gospel that bears his name as well as the three epistles of John in the New Testament. As the saying goes, it keeps the main thing the main thing.
Part of the challenge for the reader when it comes to the Book of Revelation is that it is a book of apocalyptic literature. In this it bears resemblance with the Old Tetstament books of Daniel, Ezekiel, and several of the Minor Prophets. Visions filled with fantastic creatures and events are common in apocalyptic literature in the Bible. While the visions have a meaning, the meaning is not found in a literalistic interpretation of the details in the visions; trying to make a one-to-one correlation between the visions and life. This is often the short-coming so many interpretations of the Book of Revelation. Rather, the better approach is to use the fantastic elements of the visions to ask the question, what is the book telling us about the Gospel?
In the words of G.K. Chesterton, “Fairy Tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.” So the Book of Revelation tells us that The Dragon is already beaten because of Christ.
So I invite you to listen to the sermons in this series, or read them on this website. And feel free to post another comment. I’ll try to do better in replying!
Peace in Christ, Pastor Marion Hendrickson

]]> Comment on Revelation: “The Vision Begins” by Sheri http://stpetersarlington.org/2011/06/27/revelation-the-vision-begins/#comment-595 Sheri Sat, 20 Aug 2011 22:51:57 +0000 http://stpetersarlington.org/?p=628#comment-595 I want to know more. Do you have further online study of the Book of Revelation? All I can ever find online through any LCMS site tells of how other people view Revelation. I already know what the different views are and they're not mine. I know this Book is about Christ and how those who belong to Him will have Him with them, no matter what. What I want to learn are the details of what each verse means in Revelation. There is much to this particular book that is not easily understood. Everything written in it MUST be written for us to read and understand but not many of us do when it comes to all the different things it talks about. Is it possible to know what each part is saying? The meaning of each individual part? The whole Bible is about Christ to come, Christ on earth, His teachings, His death, His resurrection, His sitting at the Right Hand of God The Father, His preparing a place for us and His return. His indwelling of all believers, His sending of The Holy Spirit, etc. Yet while we know all of this, we still study and read the O.T. to find out all that happened in those days and the prophesies that lead to the destruction of earthly Israel, the rebuilding of earthly Israel, God saving the Jews from the Pharaoh, things David did, Solomon did, Abraham did, Moses did, Noah did, etc. We learn as we read these stories. We also learn about Jesus as Man and God in the N.T. We learn how the church was first set up in Acts. We learn many things in all the Books of the Bible. We don't say, 'We know the whole Bible is about Jesus giving His life for our sins', and then leave it lay on the table. We read, we learn. But in Revelation, we're always told it's about what the whole rest of the Bible is about, Christ Jesus, yet we struggle to learn what each part means, what it's saying and that's why so many either avoid reading it or obsess over it. I wish so much I could learn more about this particular Book that I believe God had written so that we could learn from it and come to understand what each part means. Thank you for your time. God Bless! I want to know more. Do you have further online study of the Book of Revelation? All I can ever find online through any LCMS site tells of how other people view Revelation. I already know what the different views are and they’re not mine. I know this Book is about Christ and how those who belong to Him will have Him with them, no matter what.
What I want to learn are the details of what each verse means in Revelation. There is much to this particular book that is not easily understood. Everything written in it MUST be written for us to read and understand but not many of us do when it comes to all the different things it talks about.
Is it possible to know what each part is saying? The meaning of each individual part? The whole Bible is about Christ to come, Christ on earth, His teachings, His death, His resurrection, His sitting at the Right Hand of God The Father, His preparing a place for us and His return. His indwelling of all believers, His sending of The Holy Spirit, etc. Yet while we know all of this, we still study and read the O.T. to find out all that happened in those days and the prophesies that lead to the destruction of earthly Israel, the rebuilding of earthly Israel, God saving the Jews from the Pharaoh, things David did, Solomon did, Abraham did, Moses did, Noah did, etc. We learn as we read these stories. We also learn about Jesus as Man and God in the N.T. We learn how the church was first set up in Acts. We learn many things in all the Books of the Bible. We don’t say, ‘We know the whole Bible is about Jesus giving His life for our sins’, and then leave it lay on the table. We read, we learn. But in Revelation, we’re always told it’s about what the whole rest of the Bible is about, Christ Jesus, yet we struggle to learn what each part means, what it’s saying and that’s why so many either avoid reading it or obsess over it. I wish so much I could learn more about this particular Book that I believe God had written so that we could learn from it and come to understand what each part means. Thank you for your time. God Bless!

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