There are few books in the Bible that simultaneously cause confusion, fascination, and angst. The book of The Revelation is, however, one that does seem to bring on this mix of emotions. Many people simply avoid it, deeming it better left to scholars and end-timers. I was one of those until I spent two years studying it with my small group.
Although I do not claim to be a Bible scholar, nor do I claim to understand everything in The Revelation, I do feel that I have a much better grasp on the book after having lived in it for so many months. Because I am a Bible teacher at heart, and because my heart desires to help others understand and apply Scripture, the Holy Spirit has placed on my heart a desire to walk through the book of The Revelation here on my blog.
That journey is what we will take on Mondays, and a few Fridays, here at LeahAdams.org. My goal will be a post on the book of The Revelation every Monday, but in view of my One Word 2016, I’m going to be willing to give myself some grace and not feel badly if I miss a Monday here and there, or if Monday becomes Tuesday.
Over the past few months, I have prayed about how we will take this journey…whether it would be a topical study or a simply walk through the book. As much as I enjoy topical studies, I’m feeling pretty certain that the Holy Spirit is telling me to do a simple exegesis, chapter by chapter.
I want to stop and give you some disclaimers that I feel are important to the success of this study:
No one on this earth understands everything about The Revelation
I am not a biblical scholar. I do not have all the answers that will be posed in this journey. I am willing to be taught
The Scriptures will be my primary text for this study, however, I will refer to commentaries and lexicons in my posts
I will offer my opinions on the texts based on my own personal study. I encourage you to do the same
I WILL NOT tolerate snarky, condescending, or ugly comments. They will be deleted. There are many interpretations of The Revelation and we can agree to disagree on certain points
At the end of each month I hope to offer a downloadable printable that gives an overview of the material we studied that month. I am also hoping to offer a downloadable, printable timeline for the events of The Revelation.
I am also going to create a private Facebook group for everyone who would like to extend the conversation on this study. I will link to each week’s post on the FB group page. The same rules will apply there that apply here, but it will give us the opportunity for real-time dialogue. If you would like to be added to that group, please leave a comment here or message me on Facebook.
Our study will begin this Friday. I am deviating from the Monday schedule this week in order to get us through the background material and on to the actual book a bit quicker. So, check back with me on Friday for the first post in this series. Don’t forget that we are seeking to Engage in 2016 and I will be giving a freebie away at the end of the month to one person who comments during that month. See here for more on that!
The book of The Revelation should cause us to wonder and worship!
ENGAGE: What questions do you have about The Revelation that you hope I will answer in this series?