What is the Blessing behind the Veil that is being Lifted in Revelation 1:1-3?

How is the book of Revelation to be interpreted? Is it to be interpreted in a order of chronology? A book of Worship? Is it a book of eschatology? One thing that we do know with absolute certainty is that the book of Revelation is about the Unveiling of Jesus Christ. If we get out our rapture charts and are Eschatological grids, then we have missed the point of the book of Revelation, thus making our Hermeneutical-motivation wrong. The point I'm trying to make is that if we come to the book of Revelation trying to prove our Eschatological Interpretaion then we have been duped into a wrong understanding of Revelation. My prayer is that we do Luke 24:44-45, "Then He said to them, 'These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled." Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.' My fear is that many of you will say, I agree with you. Then, you go back to Revelation and still try to fill out your brackets like you do during March Madness.

My prayers is for us all to have our minds opened up to understand that the Bible is all about unveiling the Person and Work of Jesus Christ. Let's remember that He is the focal point of the Scriptures. Since the point of the Bible is to unveil Jesus Christ in every part. Then, Revelation (Whatever else it is) is the culmination of unveiling Jesus Christ, and that is why we are blessed when we read it. The difficulty of understand the book as the Apostle John says is not rooted in figuring out our eschatology brackets and charts. The blessing (1:3) is not based on getting your chart filled out, but your heart opened as Jesus removes the veil of All that He is. Paul elucidates this point in his first letter to the Church at Corinth when he says, "For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away... For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known" (I Corinthians 13:9-10, 12). The blessing that John is telling us is that Jesus will be 100% unveiled and He will be fully known. We will see Him face to face. At that time we will get it. We will know fully what John was trying to tell us in Revelation. We will see His nail pierced hands as a constant reminder that all of our sins have been atoned for. That is the blessing in Revelation. Really it is the blessing of the entire narrative in the Bible. Jesus is the culmination of Genesis 1:1 and here is the blessing, "Surely I am coming soon. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen." WOW!

Five Reasons Why I Believe The English Standard Version Is The Best Translation!

1. The ESV is an "essentially literal" translation that seeks as far as possible to capture the precise wording of the original text and the personal style of each Bible writer. As such, it s emphasis is on "word-for-word" correspondence, at the same time taking into account differences of grammar, syntax, and idiom between current literary English and the original language

2. It retains theological words- such as grace, faith, justification, sanctification, redemption, regeneration, reconciliation and propitiation. This is so important, because these biblical terms are profoundly important to the "Gospel".

3. The ESV is similar to the New American Standard Bible (NASB) in that it seeks to translate a word for word rendering from the original. The key difference is that the ESV is not as choppy as the NASB. It uses sentence structures that we use, whereas the NASB keeps the sentence structures of the original language. We just don't talk that way and the ESV puts sentence structures that are easier to follow in our modern vernacular.

4. The ESV is the best solution to the New International Version (NIV). My concern with the NIV, the translation that I grew up on, is principle on which it is translated. The NIV translation is based on a "dynamic equivalence" which translates a "thought for thought" correspondence. The issue is that God promised to bless His "Words" and the significance is that God never inspired thoughts. Words have their place. Have you ever been in an argument and your words were misconstrued and how it aggravated you? The same is with the Word of God. Translations need to focus on the Words that God used. The Bible is verbally inspired. That means that God did not just pick concepts, but that He chose specific words to get across His heart. For over 2,000 years people translated the Bible into different languages with one primary agenda: accuracy. Proverbs 30:5 states, "Every word of God proves true." The main concern with a "dynamic equivalence" is that its highest priority in translation is not accuracy.

5. The ESV has an incredible literary value! What is literary value? Literary value focuses on precision such as parable, proverb, vision, song, gospel, apocalypse, showing that the biblical writers wrote being cognisant of literary dynamics. The biblical authors had to be literary craftsmen. They needed to engage you with the narrative (story-line). They had to draw you into the plot and paint a crystal clear picture of the characters in the Bible. The poets had to clearly understand the elements of using metaphor and simile. High literary quality communicates the multi-faceted power of the Holy Spirit to engage the biblical authors to recreate the beauty of the narrative in the Bible. Just a footnote: the usage of a good literary value draws the believer into the major Protagonist of the Bible-Jesus Christ. He is the happy ending to all the literary values, so that the different literary style are used cohesively to draw an array of different types of readers to the Person and Work of Jesus Christ!

* All Scripture in my blog is from the English Standard Version (ESV) unless otherwise indicated.

**I am not against the NIV, and I grew up with it. However, the ESV is a much more crisp, accurate, theological and literary translation.

JESUS CHRIST, The Protagonist of Scripture

Is the point of Genesis the beginning or is it Christ? The central focus of the Scriptures is the Person of Jesus Christ. I believe that Jesus Christ is the most dynamic person in the entire Bible. The Book of Genesis does not take long to get to Jesus Christ. The word genesis means beginnings or origins. The author of Genesis is Moses and he wrote the first five books of the bible. So one would conclude that the point of the book of Genesis is about the origins. Which is correct, however it is about the origins of the Supremacy of Jesus Christ. Genesis 1:1 states, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." The Hebrew name for God is Elohim, that name in the Hebrew is plural. Genesis 1:2 states, "The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters." The question is Who is the Spirit of God? The New Testament is the commentary that answers this question. The Apostle Paul writes, "For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-all things were created through Him and for Him" (Colossians 1:16). The Apostle John is just as clear as he says, "All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men" (John 1:3-4). The New Testament is straight forward that Jesus is the One who created all things. So what is the point? I believe that Moses is trying to get to us to Jesus Christ by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (John 16:12-15). Jesus Christ is the message of the whole meta-narrative. He is the Protagonist of Scripture

Exegetical Pains

I have loved exegesis for such a long time. I love the text. I love unraveling the Word of Jesus Christ. My gift is teaching and preaching. However, I have learned that effectiveness goes beyond just exegesis. I am learning more and more. That preaching outside the realm of being marinated in suffering is weak. For example, I can exegete the doctrine of Hell, and do it well. However, if Hell has not touched my life, in that tears are the fuel that cause me to preach on Hell. Then, I have missed it. If I preach on the doctrine of sin, and not have it hit me between my eyes. Then, again I have missed it. When was the last time I have preached on sin, and not wept over my own sin, the sin of my family and the sin of my church family. I have not reached exegetical pains.

In the sovereign plan of Jesus Christ, He has caused me to have exegetical pains in my life. He has done the "Oh" in Psalm 34:8. The Hebrew expression of that word is "OOOOOOOOHHHHHHH" and my prayer is for the man of the Word of God to live in that "Oh" so that the man of God will reach those exegetical pains. Amen?

Deadly Sins Within The Church~~~~~Gossip~~~~~

Gossip is one of the most dangerous sins in the church. It is overlooked too often, and yet it kills the church of Jesus Christ. Why is it profoundly hard to tell someone the truth, and yet we can twist the truth and tell everyone else.

Especially in the context of our pastors. We think nothing of gossiping about our pastors. Please pray for him. He is far from perfect, and so are you! Please Church of the, "Blood-Bought-Redeemed" Stop Gossiping, Period!