REVELATION 1–3
Nearly 40 years after Jesus was killed, Jerusalem was destroyed, again. There was a dispute among some of the aristocracy over some taxes. Some overzealous revolutionaries got wind of it and seized control of the city. Roman forces were dispatched to crush them. In the spring of 70 A.D., just as a sea of faithful Jewish people descended upon Jerusalem for the Passover (which was, ironically, a celebration of their liberation from slavery), the siege began.
For months, the city languished in starvation, disease, random acts of violence and internal strife. By August, the entire city — including the Temple — was demolished. Hundreds of thousands of Jewish people were dead.
Thirty-seven years, Passover to Passover, from the execution of Jesus, the city of Jerusalem was wiped off the map.
The immediate reaction of Christians everywhere was horror. But while they were genuinely horrified, they couldn’t help but think that perhaps those in Jerusalem had brought this on themselves by rejecting the Messiah. Jesus had predicted this would happen.
But Jesus had predicted a lot of things.
He said His kingdom would overcome the kingdoms of this world. He said all power and authority had been given to Him. He gave His followers the distinct impression that He would be back soon. It had been more than a generation now. His followers had lived and died, suffering persecution and humiliation, and He still had not returned.
The 12 disciples Jesus had hand-picked were all gone now except for John — and he was stuck on an island in exile. There was a rumour circulating that he might never die, but there was another rumour that his health was poor. Who knew what the truth was anymore?
Persecution was no longer occasional or in a few places; it was everywhere all the time. The new emperor was demanding that people worship him as lord. Failure to do so could result not only in the loss of home or job, but one’s very life!
Heretics (whether Gnostics or Judaisers) kept churches in turmoil. Immoral practices leaked into Christian worship from pagan temples. In a few places, cultural acceptance of Christianity and financial respectability caused some to water down the teachings of the apostles.
John, the one human alive who had the authority to quell these rumblings, was living in a cave on 60 square miles of rock, far from the people he loved — the people who desperately needed his wisdom.
Thankfully, the Lord had John sit down and record what he was about to see.
Prayer
Lord, when I read the epistles of the New Testament, I am struck by the content of these letters that dealt with serious problems in the Early Church. The errors of legalism, early Gnosticism, immorality and divisiveness were rampant, and each of these posed a serious threat to the purity and propagation of the gospel. And the social, cultural and moral conditions in the Roman Empire also opposed the spread of Christianity. Your Church was challenged by internal and external turmoil, and from a human perspective, should never have survived. And yet it has, and Your gospel has now spread to every nation on earth. And I know that in spite of the internal and external challenges Your people face today, the gates of Hades will not overpower Your Church. I thank You for Your sovereign grace in the past, present and future.
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