Today, I am reading and commenting on  Revelation 4-8.

Yesterday I wrote that it is important that we pay attention to the symbolism in the Book of Revelation.  Today, my first thought was, “Why are there 24 elders?”  I tried to do an Internet search to see what others had thought and all I found were people discussing WHO those elders were.  While I can understand some people wondering who they were, I don’t think that who they are is important (if it was, John would have given us more information about that).  So, I then looked up what significance the number twenty-four has elsewhere in the Bible.  I found that David had divided those responsible for music in the Temple into twenty-four divisions and that the priesthood had also been divided into twenty-four divisions.  It also occurred to me that twenty-four is twice twelve.  Twelve being the number of tribes of Israel and the number of Apostles whom Jesus called while He was on earth.  Which leads me to conclude that the twenty-four elders appeared in this vision to remind us of the importance of worshiping God (the twenty-four divisions of musicians and twenty-four divisions of priests led the people of Israel in worship).

Then we have the scroll sealed with seven seals.  Now seven is the number of divine perfection.  Which explains why only the Lamb was worthy to open the scroll, because only the Lamb shared in divine perfection. Seven also carries the idea of completion.  The Children of Israel marched around Jericho for six days, then on the seventh day they marched around Jericho seven times with priests blowing on seven trumpets.  So, when the seventh seal was opened, revealing the completion of God’s plans for this world, seven trumpets were blown.  When the seventh trumpet was blown it indicated the completion of God’s perfect plan (although we do not get to that point in today’s passage).

So, let us worship God as His perfect plan moves to its perfect completion.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Revelation 1-3.

It is important when we read the Book of Revelation to pay attention to the symbolism.  So, I want to note that seven churches in Asia Minor were chosen as the recipients for this letter because seven is the number of divine perfection.  Yet, these churches were not perfect.  I want to spend a little time looking at what was written to these seven churches.  John was given nothing negative to write about two of them, and nothing positive to say about two more.  Let’s look at what he wrote about the two churches about which John wrote only good things.  About one of those churches, the church in Smyrna, he writes that they are poor, but rich.  About the other, the church in Philadelphia, he writes that they are weak, but that God has opened a door for them that no one will be able to close.  In both cases, the message is that if we dedicate ourselves to serving God, we will succeed even though by the standards of this world we do not have the strength or resources to accomplish that for which we strive.  Now, let us look at the two churches about which he has nothing positive to write.  At the first of those, the church in Sardis, he writes that they have a reputation for being alive, but aren’t.  And about the church in Laodicea, he writes that they are neither hot nor cold, they are just indifferent.  Further, he says they are the opposite of the church in Smyrna…they think they are rich, when in fact they are poor.  In both cases the church had lost its first love for God and they were merely going through the motions.  John writes that it would be better to make no profession of faith than the half-hearted one they currently had, it would be better to be one of the three churches about which John writes both good and bad.  The churches about which John had nothing good to write had avoided the failings of the three churches about whom John gave mixed reviews. but they also failed to do any of those things for which he praised those churches.  We will be better off being enthusiastic disciples of Christ who fail in some areas, than lackadaisical ones who do nothing particularly wrong, but also nothing particularly right.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.