The Door is Open (Revelation 4)

11 days to go until the Multi Media presentation of Revelation as a book of Hope.

Grace Church, Perth, 6 Sept'09 - 6pm. Afrikaans Service

Rev 4:1 After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this."

John sees an open door in the heavens. A voice from heaven calls him to come up through that door to enter God's realm... heaven.

There are many references to 'doors' in the bible, both symbolic and physical.

In Exodus12:7 the Israelites had to put blood on the door frames of their homes, and only then would the angel of death pass over their homes, thus sparing the family gathered in that house.

Jesus told a parable of ten virgins with lamps, waiting for the bridegroom to come. 5 foolish virgins fell asleep and missed the bridegroom.
Matt 25:10 "The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut."

Jesus referred to himself as the "door" to eternal life. We have to go through Him to the Father.
John 14:6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

The door in Revelations is a symbolic picture of Jesus, the only way by which we can enter the kingdom of God. He is THE door.

John 10:7 Therefore Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep.

Mat 25:11 & 12"Later the others (the foolish virgins) also came. 'Sir! Sir!' they said. 'Open the door for us!'
"But he replied, 'I tell you the truth, I don't know you.'

The door that John saw in heaven was open, so let men seek God while He may be found, for there will come a time when that door will be closed, and those who seek to enter through can no longer do so.

Jesus revealed as Emmanuel in Revelation

In the first Chapter of Revelation, John describes a marvellous vision of Jesus.

On the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet...I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me.
(Rev 1:10-12)

John hears a voice behind him, and he turns around to see that it is Jesus speaking to him.This was not a humble or simple image of Jesus. Rather he sees Jesus displayed in awesome power, glory and majesty.
Jesus is standing between 7 golden lamp stands. These lamp stands are a picture of the different churches, who are 'light bearers' of the Gospel.
Jesus is also pictured as standing in the midst of the 7 lamp stands, personifying that He is among His people. He does not stand to one side, apart from us, but among us. And that is why Jesus is also called 'Emmanuel.'
He is the God who is with us.’

Please pray for our upcoming Afrikaans Service where I will be presenting a MultiMedia overview of the Book of Revelation - Sunday night 6 Spetember'09.

Revelations - the Book of Hope. (Openbaring - Boek van Hoop)

While back in South Africa, I used to do about 3 presentations a week on this marvellous book of the bible - Revelations. And the big theme (that surprised many folk) was that it’s a Book of Hope.Many people associate Revelations with doom and gloom, and this is understandable as some horrific events are described in it. But if you step back from the details, and see the book as a whole, you find a major theme recurring throughout. Jesus is revealed (that’s the revelation!) as the risen Lord, the One who sits on the throne, the only one worthy of opening the scroll in heaven, and the one who judges and conquers God’s enemies.
Hope is also held out to God’s people who through the ages have endured terrible persecution. The final destruction of the godless is shown, and the eternal hope and reward of heaven is revealed. That’s good news for God’s people – bad news for the godless.

Next time you read Revelations, remember that it’s the Revelation of Jesus that’s portrayed as the major theme. The antichrist is not the major theme. He’s mentioned... but he’s not the star played in this final drama of the last days.
Another interesting point to note is that Revelations is a book filled with lost of worship songs. It’s 2’nd after Psalms as the book with the most singing mentioned in it. There’s major themes of angels, living creatures and people both in heaven and earth singing and declaring God’s praises.

One of my greatest inspirations in music is Michael Card (Unveiled Hope). This is a CD by him based on the book of Revelation. Brilliant!

I’ve wrote and recorded a CD in Afrikaans based on it as well: Openbaring – die Boek van Hoop. Copies will be available for sale at our next Afrikaans service. Or contact me if you’d like a copy sooner. joe.vermeulen@bigpond.com

Please join me in praying for that service, that God would speak to us through his word, song and imagery.

Christian words removed from Dictionary

This article was sent to me earlier this week, and it's a timely reminder of the importance of giving our children a balanced biblical foundation by what we teach at home and at church.
We can't rely on the state or even schools to do it anymore.

“Oxford University Press has removed a number of words associated with Christianity from its latest edition of the Oxford Junior Dictionary, including “sin”, “devil”, “psalm” and “saint”.The publisher says the changes have been made to reflect the fact that Britain is a modern, multicultural, multi-faith society.
Oxford University Press selects words for the junior edition with the aid of the Children’s Corpus, a list of words made up of general language, words from children’s books and terms related to the school curriculum.
Lexicographers consider word frequency when making additions and deletions to the dictionary. With fewer children in the UK exposed to Christian teaching than in past years, and references to biblical terms being purged from school textbooks, it’s hardly surprising that these words are dropping from everyday language- and hence from the dictionary.

How much harder will it be for evangelists to tell this generation that Jesus died “for their sins”? (Hebrews 7:27)