Well, I'm back again with a long-awaited edition of Thursday's Thinker, a short email full of questions about the upcoming text for Sunday's sermon, designed to get you thinking, or priming the pump as they say.
Here's the text for Sunday:
“[4] John to the seven churches that are in Asia:
Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, [5] and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood [6] and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. [7] Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.” [Revelation 1:4-7]
Now, I am just going to be covering vv4-5a this Sunday, but it wouldn't hurt to think about this whole passage.
- First, can you pick out three distinct sections of this text?
- Second, who gets the most “airtime” in these verses? Why do you think that is?
- Third, what does v4 say about the Trinity? About the Father? About the Spirit? About the Son?
- Fourth, what is odd about his words regarding the Father? Look up Exodus 3:14 for some background to this verse.
- Fifth, who is “the seven spirits” and why do you think he refers to him like that? See Isaiah 11:2; Zechariah 4:2-6; Rev 4:5, and more.
- Sixth, why does Jesus come last in this list? And why does he say the three things about him in v5a that he does? You might read Psalm 89 for some background here as well. Also, look up John 18:37, Col. 1:18, 1 Cor. 15:20-23; Acts 26:23; 1 Cor. 15:24-26; Psalm 2:7-9.
- Lastly, what do you think these two little verses want to do to you?
I'm sure there's more we could pick out, but that will do for now. See you on Sunday.
In Christ,
Pastor Brandon