Bethnal Green Mission Church

Revelation chapter 13 is a depiction of some the book's most graphic and grotesque images. The Dragon, God's antagonist, forms an unholy alliance with the two Beasts, a counterfeit trinity that seeks to tyrannise and seduce. How will the church of Asia Minor be faithful amidst the political, economic and military power of the Roman Empire?

What is Jesus' response to rich people that he encounters? Is there judgement, warning or acceptance? How do these encounters shape our understanding of money and wealth?

In the second half of Revelation we see evil personified and unmasked. Clear battle lines are drawn in the cosmic war between the suffering, sovereign God and the Accuser, the Satan. Revelation Chapter 12 combines draculesque imagery, an ancient story and a view from Heaven in a bid to get the first century church to remain vigilant and to endure.

Chapter 11 is jam-packed with a diversity of images and themes. How do we reconcile the so-called judgements of God against evil with the suffering of the church? How long does it take this to come and what does it look like? How can the church be a witness while we wait for peace? The images here take us by surprise and even frustrate our idea of what we think God should do. Is it even possible t...

How will God restore and reconcile creation? Understandably, some get from Revelation that it will come through death and destruction in what is called Redemptive Violence. But is there another way, the way of the Lamb that was slain? Chapter 10 is an brief interlude to the grizzly visions and a chance to unpack the many paradoxes and mysteries of Revelation and see how they inform our Christian l...

Revelation seems to be a first century version of Picasso's painting, Guernica; a grotesque, violent and terrifying vision of the calamities that come to earth. What is John's purpose in all this? Can these graphic and arresting visions lead the church now and then to repentance, and greater awareness of the evil and what rule they live under? If the visions are not to be taken literally, perhaps...

Chapters 6 and 7 are the start of Revelation's visions of judgement, unveiled by the opening of the scroll. They crank up the volume of John's message. Who will bring this judgement, God? The famous 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse? John is constantly posing the church of Asia Minor (and us) questions; Who will stand? Who will persevere? Who will be faithful? The 144,000? How can William Blake help us...

Revelation Chapters 4 and 5 signal a dramatic shift away from the letter narrative to a fully fledged, dazzling, two-panel vision of heaven's throne room. The heavenly throne room scene becomes the vantage point from which John wants his readers to asses the world and their circumstances. Who really is all-powerful, who is to be exalted? God or Caesar, God's Kingdom or the Roman Empire? The drama...

The impregnable city of Sardis is the historical backdrop to the meaning of John's letter to the church there. He provides a stark wake-up call to address their slumber and challenge their reputation. Similarly, Laodicea's geographical and economic context provides the basis for John's call to the church there to be fit for purpose. How can what the Spirit was saying to these churches be relevant...

The Christians in Pergamum and Thyatira lived under a seductive and dominating culture of idol worship. Being loyal to Jesus when your livelihood was dependent on being part of the idolatrous system was very challenging. John's language is deliberately provocative to evoke a response of wisdom and faithfulness in the church where assimilation and and acceptance is a temptation. What are the lesson...

The Christians of Ephesus lived in a vibrant ancient city of culture, booming and successful. John had a lot to commend the church but they had failed to love others as they should have. By contrast, the church in Smyrna was powerless and suffering in a city built for champions. John's words to both churches helps us discern the meaning of the upside-down Kingdom of God.

No other book in the bible has confused, terrified and intrigued people in equal measure as much as Revelation. No other book has been ignored, rejected, misused and abused as Revelation. So this is a journey to Rescue Revelation; from ignorance, from misunderstanding, from being weaponised, from being made irrelevant. The vision may feel like we have landed in a foreign and alien land, but by lea...