foreWORD Revelation 12 The Forbidden Chapter

Life Truths family,
Thanks to Jeff for a great discussion of the trumpets.  Boy, this stuff is thick and complex.  You might be like me, spending more time in commentaries than in the scripture. I'll send out a fore WORD in a day or two to help us break out of that in preparation for this coming and next Sundays.  This Sunday the core passage is Rev 12, but we will survey much more of the book and focus on the truth hidden in plain sight, and the surprising inability to see it plainly due to our current, personal, educational, historical, literal, and cultural taints and biases.  May not give you the answers you want, but I hope it will give you the skills you need to pursue the character of God as revealed to the seven churches in this letter.  Next Sunday we'll focus on Rev 19-21 and survey the whole book yet again and discuss the profound aspects of worship replete in its pages.

So if you can read as much of Revelation this week, even more than once, and try not to dive into the imagery but just read it at face value and stay focused in the book, that will help tremendously as we train to study together.

In the meantime, yesterday it came up about the Jews, the 144,000 being sealed, and the emblem of the nation of Israel.  Well, speaking on the context of culture and what you've been taught, did you know that long ago the Rabbis decided to stop teaching a certain chapter of the Bible?  And this systematic elimination of this one chapter, which we know and love in our Christian culture, is a hinge pin in the very fabric of understanding the Messiah.  In the Old Testament, prophets saw primarily the coming of the Messiah as a single event, and even the disciples seemed to not be able to get past it, either, at least not until the resurrection.  But we know that it is two appearances, first the cross, then the conquering.  When Jesus read the scriptures and said "this has come true this day in your hearing" He only read the first half of the verse that spoke of the first coming and not the conquering.

Please take 9 minutes this week and sit and watch this video about the "forbidden chapter of the Bible" and see the profound impact it has on everyday Jews as this young man reads with them from the Hebrew scriptures...and watch them see the Messiah in truth for the first time in their lives.  You can almost feel their hearts burning within like the disciples on the road to Emmaus as he reveals what the scriptures say about the coming of the King.

https://www.facebook.com/MedabrimEnglish/videos/828796167189961/

Love y'all.  Praying for you now.