144,000

Who are the 144,000 in Revelation 7 and what is their role during the Tribulation? That’s this week (12/7) at SixSixteen.

A Good Time To Jump In

If you’ve been thinking about coming to SixSixteen’s Sunday morning Bible study on Revelation, this would be a good week. We’ll be starting chapter 5. This chapter (along with chapter 4) begin a new section of the book and launch us off into the main section of Revelation– chapters 6-19.

There is no commitment required– come whenever it fits your schedule. So really any week is a good week to jump in, but this week is extra good because it is the beginning of a new section.

The Throne

Tomorrow (11/9), we get a picture of what heaven is like as we study Revelation 4. Thirteen times the word “throne” is mentioned. That is enough to make it a theme.

But what’s the purpose of this chapter? It feels abrupt coming off the end of two chapters worth of Jesus’ messages to churches. Chapter 6 begins the events of the Tribulation. In between you have chapters 4 and 5– events located in heaven.  What is going on with this?  How are these chapters related?  What’s the flow?

We’ll try to begin unraveling that tomorrow morning and next week as we study those chapters.

Revelation Wordles

Here are the wordles that I showed during our study on November 2nd.  They are graphical representations of the most frequently repeated words.  They are useful for spotting trends and themes.

• Revelation 2-3 wordled; and
• all of Revelation wordled.

Tou can find out about wordles and make your own at wordle.net.

What is Jesus Doing for the Church?

One of the central messages of Revelation 1-3 is that Jesus loves his church.  Last week we studied Rev. 1:9-20 and saw Jesus in his exalted glory. I closed by showing how the attributes of Jesus in Rev. 1:12-16 demonstrate his love the church.  I’ve reproduced my notes from that section below:

So, what is Jesus doing for the church?

Jesus, the son of man
He rules the world and everything in our lives. Nothing happens to us without the permission of Jesus.

Jesus, the priest in his robe and sash
He is the one who brings us to the Father and does what no other priest has ever done—bear our sin penalty for us.

Jesus, with hair as white as wool, shimmering like the snow.
He is older than days and wiser than the wisest. He knows what’s best for us.

Jesus, with eyes like a flame of fire.
His eyes never grow weary. All evil done to us is seen by him and imbalances in justice will one day be righted—all will give an account. And all done in his name is written down in a book—and you will receive your reward.

Jesus, whose feet are like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace.
He allows our faith to be tested so that the unbelief is burned away in our fiery trials.

Jesus, whose voice is like the roar of many waters.
By his voice he commands storms on the Sea of Galilee, he commands hurricanes and hepititus, he slays the nations with his voice and births the universe with his voice.

Jesus, who wields a sword
He will not let his church be sieged by Satan and his allies.

Jesus, whose face is like the shining sun.
His beauty is matchless and his glory shines in his church.

Kickoff

We kickoff our study of Revelation with Revelation 1:1-3 and learn that Revelation is not primarily about the end times anymore than the Gospels are primarily about 1st century Jewish life.

What, then, is Revelation primarily about? Come and find out out Sunday morning at 9 in Room 114 of the downtown campus.

The King Returns

The title of our study of the book of Revelation will be “The King Returns”. Our first class begins September 7th at 9:00 in Room 114 of the downtown campus. More details to come soon.

Look for our new posters at the downtown campus.