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Introduction to Revelation
Here are a few paragraphs which Eugene Peterson includes in THE MESSAGE as the introduction to the book of REVELATION. The Bible ends with a flourish: vision and song, doom and deliverance, terror and triumph. The rush of color and sound, image and energy, leaves us reeling. But if we persist through the initial confusion and read on, we begin to pick up the rhythms, realize the connections, and find ourselves enlisted as participants in the multidimensional act of Christian worship. John of Patmos, a pastor of the late first century, has worship on his mind, is preeminently concerned with worship. The vision which is THE REVELATION, comes to him while he is at worship on a certain Sunday on the Mediterranean island of Patmos. He is responsible for a certain circuit of churches on the mainland whose primary task is worship. Worship shapes the human community in response to the living God. If worship is neglected or perverted, our communities fall into chaos or under tyranny. Our times are not propitious for worship. The times never are. The world is hostile to worship. The Devil hates worship. As THE REVELATION makes clear, worship must be carried out under conditions decidedly uncongenial to it. Some Christians even get killed because they worship. John's REVELATION is not easy reading. Besides being a pastor, John is a poet, fond of metaphor and symbol, image and allusion, passionate in his desire to bring us into the presence of Jesus believing and adoring. But the demands he makes on our intelligence and imagination are well rewarded, for in keeping company with John, our worship of God will almost certainly deepen in urgency and joy. --- Eugene Peterson, Introduction to REVELATION, in THE MESSAGE: THE NEW TESTAMENT IN CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH, NavPress, 1993. Have a great week, Chip Stam |