I guess it’s hard to live in this generation and not talk about end times. The subject seems to come up quite often and recently I have heard many people speaking about it. In fact I see that New Spring Church is going to be covering it in their current series during next week’s message. Perry mentioned it in his blog, and with Perry I know it will be good.
Our youth ministry is currently in the middle of our 3rd; 9 in 90 challenge. The 9 in 90 challenge is to read 9 books of the new testament in 90 days. We supply a special bookmark to anyone who takes the challenge which gives them a reading schedule for the 90 days. Since there are 27 books in the new testament, we are now coming to the end of the new testament. Which of course means that we are reading out of the book of revelation.
It’s pretty difficult to discuss end times without talking about this book. But, I think for many of us this book can be pretty difficult to follow. As I was reading the other day I uncovered something that I think is helpful.
Revelation 1:19
Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this.
We got red text here so we know that Jesus is doing the talking. I believe that he is sharing with the apostle John a key to understanding this revelation that John receives. The “things which you have seen”, refers to the past. The “things which are” refers to the present. In other words the things that are true right then as John was receiving the revelation. The “things which will take place after this”, refers to the future. These are events that will take place after John receives the revelation.
I believe this is really key to helping us read and understand this book. The book revelation is not simply a chronological listing of end time events. We need to see that it makes reference to the past, the present, and the future. As you read through the book of Revelation next time, I encourage to think about this as you read.
One last note on End Times before I leave you for today. And this one is really simple to remember…God IS GOOD!
