Going deeper in Revelation
We all need to turn up the volume of the word of God in our lives, because we all need a bigger revelation of Jesus. The more we know and experience of Jesus the more we'll experience the abundant life he promises us, and the more we'll reflect Jesus to our broken and hurting world.
Perhaps no book in the Bible presents a bigger or more unique view of Jesus than the book of Revelation, the last book in the Bible. I'm therefore really excited that we've started a new series looking at the first three chapters of Revelation.
I want to encourage all of us to use the next few weeks to go deeper in this book. In order to do that I'm recommending a couple of books which will help us.
The first is Tom Wright's commentary on Revelation. Tom Wright (or NT Wright as he seems to call himself in his more academic books) is one of the world's foremost theologians. He has that rare combination of a deep understanding of his subject and an ability to express that knowledge in a way that ordinary people like you and me can understand! He's written commentaries on all the books of the New Testament. Each of them follows a similar format in that he gives his own translation of a section of scripture, then unpacks it in a very accessible and engaging way. For a couple of years now I've been using them for my personal devotions. I encourage everyone to get a copy of this book and to start working your way through it - you won't regret it.
The second book is by a friend of mine, Phil Moore. Phil leads a vibrant, growing church in London called Everyday Church. He's not only an inspiring church leader but is also a gifted theologian. He's written books on a number of books in the Bible. They're not commentaries in that they don't cover the whole of the text, but instead take short sections of scripture and gives highly engaging and insightful thoughts on those verses, including lots of very useful background information.
Both books are available from all the usual places. Please take a look and get hold of one of them in order to turn up that volume!
Simon.