Brit Hume: Tiger Woods Should Choose Christianity

Brit Hume said Sunday that Tiger Woods should embrace Christianity because Buddhism does not offer the chance for forgiveness and redemption that Christianity does.

Fight or Pray? Nice or Right?

A.W. Tozer: “The kingdom of God, has suffered a great deal of harm from fighters—men who would rather fight than pray; but the kingdom of God has also been done great harm by men who would rather be nice than right.”

quoted by Kevin DeYoung, Defining Discourse Down

Theology Proper in the Book of Revelation

Theology proper is displayed in Revelation mostly with regard to God’s sovereignty. God’s sovereignty is displayed most significantly in three ways:

1. The use of the word “throne,” which appears 34 times in the Revelation

2. The use of the divine passive edothe (“it was given”) which is used eighteen times, mostly in the four horsemen passage (ch. 6) and the beast passage (ch. 13)

3. The title “the Almighty” is also used often of God which emphasizes his sovereign control over all.

Some Thoughts on the Genre of Revelation

"Genre" has to do with what type of literature describes a work or writing. There are four options for the Book of Revelation: Prophecy, epistolary literature (that is, a letter), apocalyptic (in which heavenly truths are revealed through symbolism), or, a combination of the previous three (the view I espouse).

Classical and Revised Dispensationalists tended to see Revelation as prophecy rather than apocalyptic or as epistolary literature and therefore interpreted it almost wholly in a futurist manner. This was driven mainly by the dispensationalist program which sees two plans of God, one for Israel and another for the (largely Gentile) church. Since the program for Israel is unfulfilled, the future is seen as the time when the prophecies of the OT will be completed. The seventieth week of Daniel is seen as yet unfulfilled and elements of the Revelation are connected with the events of the seventieth week and then the bulk of these events are placed largely after the secret rapture of the church. The purpose is so that God can finish his unfulfilled program for Israel.

This interpretive scheme (and I do not use the word "scheme" in any negative sense) was backed up with facts that may or may not be relevant, such as that the word “church” is not used after chapter 3, and by ignoring or failing to see the significance of similar facts that may be relevant, such as that the word “Israel” is only used twice after chapter 2 and one of those is in the New Heavens New Earth section (21:12).

Holding to this view of Revelation’s genre exclusively fails to take into account evidences in the text regarding other genres such as epistolary literature (since the visions occur in the context of letters to seven churches) and apocalyptic literature (evidenced through the use of heavenly messengers and symbolic visions to communicate messages regarding the spirit world’s interaction with this realm). While there is, no doubt, prophecy in the Revelation, this is not the exclusive view one should take with this writing.

Soteriology (the doctrine of salvation) in the Book of Revelation

The emphasis on soteriology in Revelation has mainly to do with perseverance. Christ is introduced (ch. 1) as the one who died and was raised again. Christ is also the Lamb slain (ch. 5) who calls the thirsty to drink of the water of life (ch. 22).

Those who claim Christ as Savior must evidence this salvation by their loyalty to him. The letters to the seven churches in chs. 2-3 are predicated upon knowledge of the allegiance the church owes to Christ. These letters promise curses to those who are not faithful to Christ and promise blessing even to those who have turned aside from him provided they repent and follow Christ once again, even to the point of death. The martyrs who are under the throne (ch. 6) are those who were faithful to death. In the rest of the book, it is assumed that believers will remain loyal to the Lord until death and these will be received into the new heavens and new earth to enjoy God’s presence for eternity as reward for their faithfulness.

Those who are faithful to Christ are “conquerors” and these conquerors maintain their witness and through it have overcome the world by the “blood of the lamb” and by “the word of their testimony” (5:5-6; 12:11). So this is not a works-salvation but a faithfulness worked out by God through Christ’s saving power.

Christology in Revelation

Christ is the center of the Book of Revelation. Christ is the one who communicates with John (taking the initiative to do so) in the opening chapters, commissioning John to write what he sees. Christ is the one who charges the seven churches, accusing them of sin and holding out hope for blessing (for most of them) if they repent. That Christ is central in the rest of the book is evidenced in that the themes and images of the first three chapters are opened up repeatedly in the rest of the book.

Christ is pictured as the one who rules. Christ holds the keys of hell and death in the opening chapter and is identified as the “First and the Last.” He shares the throne of God in chapters 4-5 and is the one who is deemed worthy to open the seals of the book and thus unfold God’s plan in order to bring it to consummation. He is also the judge that determines the destinies of all people, even heavenly beings.

Christ is also the Lamb. This word is used thirty times in the NT and 29 of these occurrences are in the Revelation. Christ is the Lamb slain whose death is the decisive victory over the enemies of God’s people.

Christ, then, is the ruler who rules with God’s authority by virtue of his having been killed and yet having triumphed over death and the Evil One. Because of this, he has the authority to bring God’s plan to completion including determining the destinies of all beings.

The Holy Spirit in the Book of Revelation

The Holy Spirit is not referenced by many of the names used elsewhere in the NT. The expression “the seven spirits of God” used in the opening chapters (1:4; 3:1; 4:5; 5:6) may refer to Zechariah’s prophecy (4:2, 10) and refers to God’s seeing in all the earth (4:5) and to Christ’s ruling in his church (3:1). Elsewhere, the Holy Spirit is referred to simply as “the Spirit” and it is in the Spirit that John receives his visions. The Spirit, with Christ, also calls the readers of the book to drink of the water of life (22:17) and encourages the church and the prophets to speak the testimony of God (19:10).

This evidence demonstrates that in Revelation, the Holy Spirit is sent by the Father and the Son to see all things in the earth and to inspire revelation and proclamation by God’s servants.