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Friday, April 11, 2014

Do the Commands in the Book of Revelation Matter to Me? (Part 2)

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Last summer, I attended the North American Christian Convention with my family. Each morning, some college/preacher friends and I attended a Bible study led by Dr. Mark Scott. He took us through the imperative verbs of the Book of Revelation.
What are Imperative verbs? They are "bossy" words. They are commanding and
demanding words. They give us orders to live by as we wait for the second coming of Jesus. We could call them our Exit Strategy.
It was during this study we were inspired to do a series together. Our church is one of several from Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, and Kansas studying the Revelation Mandates.
There are about 29 different com-mands in the Book of Revelation. Some are statements like, "Do not be afraid.” “Do not weep." “Do not seal up the words of this prophecy.” Others are one word commands like, “come, keep, worship, and rejoice.”
There is more to Revelation than just looking at it like a manual for end time specu-lation. Paying attention to the commands can help us stay alert and ready for the sec-ond coming. And they can help keep us from shipwrecking our lives in these last days.

A convention speaker a few years ago told of going to a major university to give a speech. Those in charge asked him not to mention or to use the Bible in his lecture. He said it seemed such a strange request, because just the day before he was speaking in a prison, and the warden asked him, "As you speak to the men today, will you please make sure you use the Bible? The men really want to hear what God says."
Now that seems a little backwards, doesn't it? We’re not supposed to teach God's Word to impressionable college students, but once a person has made a mess of their life, well, then it's okay to talk about scripture. That's like building a hospital at the bottom of the cliff instead of installing a fence at the top!

 No question about it, the sometimes “bossy” commands of God are more like a fence than anything. As believers, we should appreciate that God did that for us. However, more and more people, including some Chris-tians, are losing interest for the Bible.
In the 1700’s, the French Philosopher Voltaire made this prediction: “100 years from his death the Bible would no longer be on this earth.” However, just 50 years after he died, the Geneva Bible Society bought the home in which he grew up in and lived, and used the same presses that he used to print his atheist material to start printing copies of the Word of God! They have been doing so ever since.
Jesus also made a prediction, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never disappear."
Which of these two predictions would be truer of your life right now? Maybe, we should get back to a deep study of God’s Word. I invite you to join us on Sunday morn-ings or on our website as we study the Revela-tion Mandates.

[Ron Otto, Lincoln Christian Church]

 

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