To become a dissident living against the grain of the Babylons of our world, Christians need to have eyes to detect the presence of anti-God systems and institutions. Scot McKnight and Cody Matchett

The biggest problem facing the seven churches was Babylon. And the biggest problem we still face in our churches today is Babylon. Babylon is past and it is now; it is tomorrow and it is future as well. But it is only the future because Babylon is always. Scot McKnight and Cody Matchett

The speculators, who read Revelation as predictive prophecy, promote reading all this stuff as something future, yet to come, and those who read in this way fail to form a Babylonian hermeneutic for the church today. They miss what John is doing—developing a discipleship for dissidents. Scot McKnight and Cody Matchett

There is nothing in the description of Babylon in Revelation 17–18 to make one think he is referring to some future empire. Babylon for John was very present and very now. He feels it in his feet because where he stands and writes and prays is a location determined by Babylon. Scot McKnight and Cody Matchett

Each century has its Babylons, each country has its Babylons, and each state and city and—yes, church institutions and churches—has the potential to release the powers of Babylon. Scot McKnight and Cody Matchett

Babylon became for Jews and early Christians the most graphic image, metaphor, or trope for a city filled with arrogance, sin, injustice, oppression of God’s people, and idolatry. Scot McKnight and Cody Matchett

And now we begin to see the significance of Babylon for reading Revelation. This prostitute was intoxicated, not with alcohol, but the blood of the faithful witnesses to Jesus. Her idea of a fun night on the town was finding some Jesus followers and draining their blood into a bowl to drink and feed her raging lust for power. Scot McKnight and Cody Matchett

Revelation is a visionary, auditory experience interpreted for the seven churches, the result of an artistic and graphic imagination. Scot McKnight and Cody Matchett

Nice ride this morning along Culgoora Road. #cycling #Narrabri #Biketooter

Revelation is a visionary, auditory experience interpreted for the seven churches, the result of an artistic and graphic imagination. Scot McKnight and Cody Matchett