Yay! A bit of fiddling with settings got MapMyRide running. A perfect morning with lots of sunshine and no wind. I rode along Culgoora Road. #cycling #Narrabri #Biketooter

John’s three times seven judgements express something new, but their newness flows from something old. Many of the judgements call to mind the plagues of Moses and the warnings of Israel’s prophets. The old becomes new, and in that newness, there is often something surprisingly new. Scot McKnight and Cody Matchett

All these and others remind the oppressed people of God that it may not look good today, but tomorrow brings new Jerusalem. Scot McKnight and Cody Matchett

These judgements do not simply elicit celebration, but instead they usher the listener into an embittered joy, a painful truth that the world must experience for it to be redeemed. These judgements are a necessary but bitter reality. They are a bitter sweetness. Scot McKnight and Cody Matchett

These judgements do not simply elicit celebration, but instead they usher the listener into an embittered joy, a painful truth that the world must experience for it to be redeemed. These judgements are a necessary but bitter reality. They are a bitter sweetness. Scot McKnight and Cody Matchett

The interludes pull back the curtain, unveiling God’s world, and because of this they are the most significant feature of the book of Revelation for those hearing this message in the seven churches. These glorious interludes mediate the victory of the Lamb for those who remain allegiant to him. Scot McKnight and Cody Matchett

These interruptions are called interludes and they perform one key function: they lift the listeners in the seven churches out of the horrors of the dragon and the wild things and Babylon into the heavenly throne room to experience God as the real story behind the story of everything. Scot McKnight and Cody Matchett

big mistake often made by those who read the book literally is thinking that each of the texts captured by John from Israel’s story is to be read as a prophecy and fulfillment of the vision. No, John soaks his visions in the prophets’ words and puts them into a new song, one that plays an octave higher and stronger. Scot McKnight and Cody Matchett