The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him, to show to His servants what must soon take place. And He signified it, sending it through His angel to His servant John. Rev. 1:1.
We are living in a time of massive change. It seems almost impossible now, particularly for the younger generation, but 35 years ago we had no personal computers, no VCRs or DVD players, no PDAs, and no Internet. These few items alone have changed our lives as much as all the inventions from the dawn of time until 1980.
The era when the biblical author wrote the book of Revelation also witnessed a significant change in technology. The turn of the Christian century witnessed a transition from scrolls to the codex style of making books. A scroll consisted of a single long sheet of paper (made from animal skins or papyrus reeds) that would be rolled up on a stick, while a codex involved gluing or stitching many pieces together at one end, much like the book you have in your hand at this moment.
Before John's time no one even dreamed of carrying a "Bible" around. Scrolls were so heavy and awkward that nothing larger than one of the New Testament Gospels could fit onto a single one. The codex style allowed books to be smaller in size and more manageable. It also made it possible for them to be much larger in content, somewhat like increasing your hard drive space tenfold. While scrolls the size of Isaiah and the Psalms were unthinkable, it was possible to include many Bible books in a single codex. So the codex style rapidly replaced the scroll as the format of choice. The major exception was the Jewish synagogue, which still continues to use the scroll format for Scripture.
Writers often put book titles on the outside of scrolls, so that the reader could identify the contents without opening them. But with the arrival of the codex, scribes frequently placed the title of a work in the opening line. So "The Revelation of Jesus Christ" is more than just the first line of the book--it is also the title.
Right from the start we learn that the Apocalypse is not the revelation of the Middle East, the Christian church, or the Islamic world. The title of the book is not even "The Revelation of the End-time"--it is the revelation of Jesus Christ. As difficult as the book may be to understand, its primary purpose is to teach us about Jesus. If my interpretation of Revelation doesn’t lead to a clearer picture of Christ, you can be pretty sure I haven't really understood the book.
Lord, thank you so much for the advances in technology that have made Your Word more accessible than ever before. But in all my use of technology or Scripture, help me never to lose sight of Jesus. May this new year bring me a clearer picture of Him than I have ever had, a clearer view of just how He would have lived the life I face.
We are living in a time of massive change. It seems almost impossible now, particularly for the younger generation, but 35 years ago we had no personal computers, no VCRs or DVD players, no PDAs, and no Internet. These few items alone have changed our lives as much as all the inventions from the dawn of time until 1980.
The era when the biblical author wrote the book of Revelation also witnessed a significant change in technology. The turn of the Christian century witnessed a transition from scrolls to the codex style of making books. A scroll consisted of a single long sheet of paper (made from animal skins or papyrus reeds) that would be rolled up on a stick, while a codex involved gluing or stitching many pieces together at one end, much like the book you have in your hand at this moment.
Before John's time no one even dreamed of carrying a "Bible" around. Scrolls were so heavy and awkward that nothing larger than one of the New Testament Gospels could fit onto a single one. The codex style allowed books to be smaller in size and more manageable. It also made it possible for them to be much larger in content, somewhat like increasing your hard drive space tenfold. While scrolls the size of Isaiah and the Psalms were unthinkable, it was possible to include many Bible books in a single codex. So the codex style rapidly replaced the scroll as the format of choice. The major exception was the Jewish synagogue, which still continues to use the scroll format for Scripture.
Writers often put book titles on the outside of scrolls, so that the reader could identify the contents without opening them. But with the arrival of the codex, scribes frequently placed the title of a work in the opening line. So "The Revelation of Jesus Christ" is more than just the first line of the book--it is also the title.
Right from the start we learn that the Apocalypse is not the revelation of the Middle East, the Christian church, or the Islamic world. The title of the book is not even "The Revelation of the End-time"--it is the revelation of Jesus Christ. As difficult as the book may be to understand, its primary purpose is to teach us about Jesus. If my interpretation of Revelation doesn’t lead to a clearer picture of Christ, you can be pretty sure I haven't really understood the book.
Lord, thank you so much for the advances in technology that have made Your Word more accessible than ever before. But in all my use of technology or Scripture, help me never to lose sight of Jesus. May this new year bring me a clearer picture of Him than I have ever had, a clearer view of just how He would have lived the life I face.
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