Poem - I praise you

Lord,

I praise you for all Creation,
I praise you for the sunshine,
I praise you for the butterflies,
I praise you for the starfish,
I praise you for the octopus,
I praise you for the ocean surf,
I praise you for the salmon swimming upstream,
I praise you for the mother bear and her cubs that leave
I praise you for the jaguar in the tree,
I praise you for the lemongrass tea,
I praise you for the coconut palm on a beach,
I praise you for the stars at night,
I praise you for the bars of light,
I praise you for the rainbows so bright,
I praise you for the milk so white,
I praise you for the cry of a newborn,
I praise you for the smile of a toddler,
I praise you for the laughs of a child,
I praise you for joy and laughter
I praise you for the warmth of summer,
I praise you for the snow of winter,
I praise you for the leaves of autumn,
I praise you for the flowers of spring,
I praise you for the first light at dawn,
I praise you for the first step of a fawn.

I praise your heavenly hall
I praise you, Lord, most of all.

James 1

Who was James?  I believe it was James, half-brother of Jesus.  Another James, son of Zebedee, was the first Apostle to be martyred.  (Acts 12:1-2)

James writes to the entire church.  He does not seem to write in response to a particular problem.  Rather, he has general advice and wisdom for the church.

His advice in chapter one:

Rejoice in trials, for this leads to perseverance and maturity.

When we ask God in prayer, pray without doubt.

Blessing comes from following the word, I.e. walking the Christian walk.

"True religion" is action oriented - helping the widows and orphans and not being polluted by the world.

The final chapter of the Bible (Revelations 22)

The Bible concludes by first discussing a river of life in the New Jerusalem.  This water flows out of the throne of God.  On each side of its banks are the tree of life, which ties it to the beginning of the Bible in the Garden of Eden.  So, in at least one way, the Garden of Eden is reestablished.  

Verses 7-21 give urgency for people to hold on to the faith that Jesus is returning "soon".  What is "soon"?  We do not know.  Certainly soon to us is not exactly the same thing as soon to God.

Likewise, the people who hear the message are urged to wash their robes.  Revelations explained that this metaphor means to wash oneself in the blood of Christ.

Looking back at Revelations, it began with 7 messages to 7 different churches.  I wonder what their reaction would have been to the rest of the Revelations.

New Jerusalem (Revelations 21)

John sees a new heaven and a new earth.  A New Jerusalem also descends from the sky.  

To John, it appear as a brilliant beautiful city where the gates are made of single pearls.

The description of it reminds me of Ezekiel's vision of the temple.

1,000 years, resurrections, and the lake of fire (Revelations 20)

This chapter is strange.

Satan is bound in the Abyss for 1,000 years.  Then, he is freed and gathers an army.  Fire from the sky falls and consumes them all.  They then are thrown in the same lake that the beast and false prophet went into.

A central question is what to make of these 1,000 years.  Is that before or after the return of Christ?  Christ "returns" several times throughout Revelations, making a chronological sequence based on the order we find in the Revelations itself impossible.  

I think there are generally two accepted, but vastly different ideas of the Millennium.  

Literal (pre-Millennialist)  - the return of Christ will usher in a Millennium of peace accompanied by these various resurrections and judgments of people.  However, the text seems to suggest that the return of Christ will be after the Millennium.

Metaphorical - the Millennium stands as a metaphor, like much of the rest of what Revelations discusses.  One possible extrapolation is that the Millennium is the reign of the church in between Christ's victory on the cross and the ultimate return.  The binding of Satan in the abyss could also be a gradual process as the church and Kingdom of God expand across the earth until the ultimate return of Christ.

Finally, the chapter does speak of resurrections of the dead, when people receive whole bodies before final judgment.  

It distinguishes them into two groups, the first resurrection and the second.  (20:4-5).  One is before the start of the thousand years, the second after.

Christ's victory (Revelations 19)

Expounding the victory of Christ actually begins in Chapter 18 with the fall of Babylon.

The first part of Chapter 19 continues this theme with praise for the destruction of Babylon.

The Chapter then transitions to the man on the White Horse.  Verses 11-16 identify this individual as Christ, who has now become a composite of two images we saw before.  Earlier, we saw a White Horseman who was only described as a Conqueror, in contrast to three other Horsemen who caused death of people.  (6:1-2).  We also saw Christ ablaze with a sword in his mouth.  (1:16).  Here in 19:11,15, we have a composite of the two images as White Horseman has a sword coming from his mouth.

Using Revelations to interpret itself, this is why I think the earlier White Horseman from the first seal opening represents Christ.

What does this White Horseman do in Chapter 19?  His sword kills everyone who is aligned with the beast and the false prophet.  However, the beast and false prophet are captured and thrown into a fiery lake.  The text does not precisely specify who does this action since it is in the passive tense.  We can contextually infer that is the White Horseman that does this.

Finally, birds gorge on the flesh of everyone who has died.

Yikes.  I am not entirely sure what to make of the bird imagery. 

Babylon is destroyed (Revelations 17-18)

An angel comes and celebrates that Babylon is destroyed.  Another voice calls from heaven for the people to come out of Babylon.

This is a strange analogy.  I am not entirely sure what is going on here.

Taken literally, the destruction of Babylon happened centuries before the life of Christ.  Likewise, the return from the exile of Babylon happened centuries.

However, Revelations 17:5 links Babylon with the great beast emerging from the sea.  So, we can contextually infer that the angel is celebrating the destruction of the beast of chapter 17 and the sea beast took on a role analogous to that of Babylon.

Beyond that, I think it is hard to say what is going on without adding our own thoughts into the text.  From my own speculation, since I think the sea beast represents human governments at war with Christianity, chapter 18 celebrates a time when that will no longer happen.

Seven angels with seven plagues (Revelations 15-16)

One of the 4 angel creatures by God's throne gives to 7 angels God's wrath in 7 bowls of plagues.

These angels pour it out on the earth.  The effect of these things targets the same areas that were affected by the trumpets.

Plague 1 targets the land, just like the first trumpet. (contrast 8:7 and 16:2)

Plague 2 targets the sea, just like the second trumpet did. (contrast 8:8-9 and 16:3)

Plague 3 targets the rivers, just like the third trumpet did.  (contrast 8:10-11 and 16:4)

Plague 4 targets the sun, which was affected by fourth trumpet.  (contrast 8:12 and 16:5-6)

Plague 5 throws the beast into darkness.  This is a little different from trumpet 5, which effectively opened the Abyss and all the demons came out of it.  But maybe, the beast is being thrown back into the Abyss.  (Contrast 9:1-11 and 16:10-11)

Plague 6 targets the river Euphrates.  Trumpet 6 effectively released spirits bound at the river Euphrates.  (contrast 9:13-11 and 16:12-14)

Plague 7 is the final one and is preceded by "I come like a thief" and the effect results in a voice from heaven saying "it is done".  Trumpet 7 heralded the return of Christ.  (contrast 11:15-19 and 16:17-21)

My overall sense is these "plagues" are not directed to men so much, but the fallen angels.  These wraths by God seem to target the things that were affected by demons.  Men are dragged into the conflict and some men will not like what God is doing. 

Yeah, I don't understand (Revelations 14)

I don't understand this chapter at all.

John sees the 144,000 with the Lamb.

Meanwhile, three angels come and harvest people like grapes to be made into wine.  It sounds negative though as it uses words like "trampled".  

If anything, it reminds me of a parable by Jesus in which angels are used to separate good crops from bad ones.

The people that are harvested are those that worship the beast and those marked by the beast.  So, being marked by the beast is indeed a bad thing.  But it is associated with worship of the beast.

The two beasts (Revelation 13)

My cliff notes summary of my interpretation:  various governments of the world will wage war against Christianity.  That is it.

I am very tempted to leave it at.  But let's expound for the sake of argument.

John sees two beasts.  The first is a seven-headed leopard creature with 10 horns, 10 crowns, and emerges from the sea.  It is also made up of parts of various animals.  

The second beast has a number, 666.  This beast is working in tandem with the first beast mad has the authority to make everyone with this number.  The effect of marking this number is that people cannot buy and sell without the authority of the beast.

Taken together, this just sounds like the Roman empire.  The various parts of the body with 10 horns and 10 crowns coming together to form one body sound like an empire.  This thing comes of the ocean.  The closest ocean to John would be the Mediterranean Sea, but that might add details to the vision that are not specified in the Bible.  But anyway, the Roman Empire straddled the Mediterranean Sea.

Similarly, the number 666 comes out to Nero, who was Emperor of Rome.  I do not know the specifics, but in the original Greek, letters and numbers are somehow interchangeable.  If one adds up the number of the letters for Nero, it comes out to 666.

This would also correspond to what the "mark of the beast" is actually doing.  People cannot buy and sell without the beast's authority.  Governments regulate trade and commerce.  That is all the 666 on people is doing.

Taken with the rest of the allegorical message of Revelations, it just means that the governments of the world will wage war with Christianity throughout history.  We can look back and see that pattern beginning with the Roman Empire.  Modern equivalents would include Soviet-Sino communism and many Muslim (Sharia) governments.  

Likewise, governments change.  A few centuries after John wrote Revelations, the Roman Emperor became Christian.

Another thing, the beast might be the New Testament version of the Leviathan from Job.  The Leviathan was multi-headed and lived in the ocean, although it is usually depicted as a serpent.  Here in Revelations, we again see a multi-headed sea creature, but this one is mostly depicted as a chimera of terrestrial mammals.

If we go down that analogy, then the near-fatal wounding of one of the heads of beast in Revelations could be a reference to how God could "hook" the Leviathan by its mouth.

The woman and the dragon (Revelations 12)

This chapter tells two interwoven tales.

A woman with 12 crowns gives birth to a child and a dragon tries to kill them.  The child goes to heaven and the woman in the desert for 1,260 days.  The woman is in the desert to keep out of reach of the devil.  Note, this is the same amount of the time as the two Witnesses have authority.

The other tale of the chapter is that we find out about the dragon.  It is the great devil Satan who swept out 1/3 of the stars as he fell to earth.  We also learn about the great war in the heaven where Michael and his angels fought against the devil and his angels.  Satan lost and was sent to earth.

I think this chapter provides a bit of a roadmap to unlocking some of the prior chapters.  We have an explanation of what all this "1/3" talk meant.  Likewise, since the days the woman in the desert matches the length of time the Witnesses have authority, it suggests that they are linked and associated.  

I think that they in fact are the same thing.  The church will be protected from the devil (be in a desert) and the church will have spiritual power and witness the truth to the earth (the two Witnesses)

Really strange stuff (Revelations 11)

2 witnesses

Two witnesses are given prophetic ability and spiritual authority.  They prophecy to the earth for 1,260 days.

Who are these people?  I lean towards that this is an allegorical representation of the general church itself.  "Two witnesses" in the Old Testament were required for the establishment of truthful testimony.  Here, it seems allegorically used to just mean "truth" is shown.  The people can reject it or not.  

However, it gets strange because then the two witnesses die, but then are brought back to life.  People can try to kill truth, but it cannot die.

Some people interpret these two witnesses as two literal people who will be modern-day Elijahs.  For people who believe that, then everyone wants to be one of the "two witnesses".

The seventh trumpet

The seventh trumpet blows and all is accomplished.  Jesus returns and judges the dead.  The Kingdom of Heaven fully merges into earth.

But yet, we are still only in chapter 11 out of 22.  To me, this indicates that these chapters do not indicate a chronological sequence of events.

The open little scroll (Revelations 10)

An angel descends from heaven with an open "little scroll".  This could refer to the scroll that had been sealed and is now open, but the first scroll was not identified as being "little".  

The angel speaks and seven thunders speak in return.  However, John is told not to write down what the seven thunders say.  

The angel tells John that the seventh trumpet will sound and "the mystery of God will be accomplished".  If the seventh trumpet has not sounded yet, this implies that the first six trumpets may have already sounded and we are living with the crazy angelic beings running that were loosed from the Abyss.

John then eats the scroll and he is to prophesy to all nations.  This could refer to the book of Revelations itself.  Perhaps the book of Revelations is the "little scroll" and this ritual is an angelic blessing on the book before John sends it to the seven churches.

The fifth trumpet (Revelations 9)

We are still within the opening of the 7th seal.

Trumpets 5-7 represent 3 woes on mankind.  

Trumpet 5/ Woe 1

One of the stars that fell (from Trumpet 4) is given a key to a spiritual place called the Abyss.  He opens it and releases more chaotic angelic creatures on the earth.

Given that it is a "fallen star", I think it is a demonic creature that is given the key.  He then uses it to unleash more demons on the earth.

These are told to only hurt those who do not have the seal of God on their forehead.  The only people we saw who have such a seal were the 144,000 from chapter 6.  Note, this is a different group than the "great tribulation" group as chapter 6 distinguishes these two groups.  

Later, it is identified that the swarms on the earth have as king the "angel of the Abyss", specified as "Abaddon".  

Trumpet 6/ Woe 2 

Four angels are released near the Euphrates River.  These lead 200 million horse and riders that kill 1/3 of mankind. 

The seventh seal (Revelations 8)

The seventh seal is opened and heaven was silent for half an hour.  I think the silence in heaven was something real to John.  To him, the vision actually went on a hiatus for half hour.  This underscores the power of the seventh seal.

He then sees an angel with the prayer and incense censor.  The contents of the censor is flung back to earth and causes physical anomalies.  I interpret this to mean that our prayers go to up to heaven, they are collected, and then they come back to earth as divine action.  How much do we have to pray for something for the action to occur?  Who knows.  

Beyond that, little of this makes sense to me.  I have a working hypothesis though.

The opening of the seventh seal starts seven angels blowing trumpets.

Trumpets 1-4 have physical affects and devastation

Trumpet 1 - destroys 1/3 of the earth,

Trumpet 2 - destroys 1/3 of the sea

Trumpet 3 - destroys 1/3 of the river waters

Trumpet 4 - 1/3 of the sun, stars, and moon become black

We see a pattern of "1/3" for each of these.  We will see a more concrete use of the "1/3" later on in association with the heavenly war in that the devil took out 1/3 of the angels.  I think this is what is being described here.  Satan's rebellion had the effect of turning the earth, sea, and rivers to muck.  As a consequence, people were dragged into the death.

For trumpe

It gets crazier (Revelations 7)

I will be honest, this chapter makes no sense to me.

In between the opening of the 6th and 7th seals, an angel flies around with another seal to seal in 144,000 people, 12,000 each from each tribe of Israel.  

Afterwards, John sees a "great multitude", which are martyrs from the "great tribulation".  They are wearing white robes which have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus.  

This is the first identification of a "great tribulation".  

The original audience of John probably thought that they were in a "great tribulation" as they faced persecution from the Roman empire.

Opening 6 of the 7 seals (Revelations 6)

Six of the seven seals are opened in this chapter.

I interpret the scroll as the general plan of God, so opening seals that contain it represent things that happen for the plan of God to be fully realized.

I do not think the sequence of these scrolls is chronological, as far as the human concept of time goes.

Seal 1 - a conquering warrior on a white horse.  Note, in contrast to the other horsemen, there is nothing bad about this horseman.  He just is a conqueror.  There is no human death following this horse, unlike the other horseman.  This is important as I think this horseman is identified as Christ later in Revelations.

Seal 2 - a fiery red horseman with power to make men slay each other; many cultures have a "god of war" mythology (ex. Mars, Aries), this is as close as we get to that in the Bible.  We have a horseman of war.

Seal 3 - Black horseman carrying scales.  He pronounces a judgment that basic living food will be too expensive for people to eat, but luxurious items like wine are not too be touched.  To me, this symbolizes poverty and famines resulting simply from economic discrepancies.  Meanwhile, the wealthy who can purchase luxuries will be fine while the poor scrap a living.

Seal 4 - pale horseman.  This one is death itself and can kill a fourth of the earth by war, famine, plague, and beasts of the field.

One fourth of humanity each in the four ways?  It is left unclarified.  But it has a unique power and includes power from the fiery horse (war) and the black horse (famine).

I do not think that these represent onetime unleash of all bad things on earth.  Rather, just a statement of the obvious - all of humanity will die of either war, famine, disease, or some other random death like killed by animals.  But all this must come to pass for God's plan to be fully realized.

Seal 5 - John can see the martyrs of Christ.  They have a special place in the throne of God.

Seal 6 - this creates a cosmological shift.  The star and moon become black and stars fall to earth.  I think this represents a spiritual war in the heavens that created this mess.  Again, I do not think these seals are chronological, but just represent situations that have to happen.  Here, the heaven is at war and stars (angels) fall to earth.  This image is picked up on later in Revelations. 

This heavenly war also had to happen for God's plan to be fulfilled.

The chapter concludes with a multitude of kings, princes, slaves, rich, freeman, etc...hiding in caves from the wrath of the Lamb.  This could span humanity and angels (ex. Prince of Persia, see Dan. 10).  It could be a literal prediction about the Apocalypse, but also could just be a description of how people's hearts will hide from God.

The scroll and seals (Revelations 5)

God on the throne has a scroll with seven seals on it.

The "seals" are focused on in later chapters, but as of now, I envision them as literal seals on a scroll.  The common way to bind a letter for antiquity and the middle ages was to seal it in wax.  Here's, the scroll is folded over and seven wax seals keep it shut.

No one in heaven is found worthy enough to open the scrolls.  John cries at this news.  John does not explain why.  I speculate that he feels that the scroll represents the full salvation, destiny, or redemption of God for humanity, and no one is found worthy to implement it.

Suddenly, a slain Lamb appears who is worthy to open the scrolls.  This of course is Christ.  The angels praise the Lamb for being worthy of opening the scrolls.  The identified reason for worth is because the Lamb sacrificed his blood to purchase men for God.

One additional note - there is an image of prayers of saints filling golden bowls of incense held by angels.  This is an interesting picture of what a prayer is.  Our prayers go to heaven and are incense held in golden bowls.

The Throne in Heaven (Revelations 4)

After the specific instructions to the individual churches, John is lifted in the Spirit to the throne in heaven.

What he sees is heaven as viewed from a human's eyes.  This area lends itself to diverse interpretation of the literalness or figurativeness of what he sees.  

A throne, on which sits a man

A rainbow like an emerald surrounds the throne

24 elders on 24 thrones surround the throne 

Four creatures each covered in eyes and having six wings move about praising God

The have a heavenly court scene in Job 1, in Genesis 1 (God says "let us make"), and when Stephen was martyred.   This picture in Revelations 4 gives some indication of what the full throne room looked like during those other events.  

Questions for speculation - was Satan one of these "elders", or one of these multi-eyed winged creatures?  Were any fallen angels from an elder throne?  

I, of course, have no idea.

Wooooaaaa, part 3 (Revelations 3)

Three more cities to go.  Again, I think this is advice to every Christian church and every Christian individual at all times.  So, the question to take away from this is to ask "do I (does my church) fit any of these patterns?". 

To Sardis

John's letter rebukes Sardis' hypocrisy.  It is not exactly the Pharisaical hypocrisy, but seems to be more sutler form of stagnation.

He says that their reputation is one of being alive, but they are dead and the advice is to "wake up!".  This seems to imply a stagnation and retrograde, but it could also mean a loss of connection to Christ.  Still, they outwardly present themselves as being connected to Christ and being alive, but in reality, the connection and vibrancy has been lost for while.

To Philadelphia

Philadelphia is the only church that is not rebuked in some way.  So, everyone wants to be part of the Philadelphia church.

Philadelphians are small in number and are enduring.  God wants to encourage them, not rebuke them.  If they are enduring, then the literal context may have been one of persecution of time.  They have what they need theologically, unlike the other six churches.  Rather, they need encouragement to get through this ordeal.

 If we apply the specific teaching to Philadelphia as a metaphor for the Christian church as a whole, few of us escape rebuke.  Likewise, few of us are living in a period of martyrdom.  By "escape rebuke" I don't mean that they have sinless lives, but it is the overall theology of the church that needs rebuking.  That is the pattern here of the messages to the churches.

To Laodicea

Laodicea is rebuked for being lukewarm, neither hot nor cold.  They feel that they have what they need and "don't need a thing".  

Again, this seems to be similar to the stagnation of the church of Sardis.  They seem to have lost a genuine and vibrant connection to Christ.  However, in contrast to Sardis, they are not actually "dead", but they have lost the warmth.  So, they are approaching the conditions of a dead faith akin to Sardis.

Boundless love (poem)

Slight detour from the commentary.  I am doing the Jesuit prayer exercises.  One exercise was to contemplate God's love and write a poem.  I focused on the concept of "boundless love".


A love that knows no boundaries - boundless
Boundless of time and space,
Boundless of fault or place,
Boundless in grace and mercy,
Boundless of face of person,
Boundless in light,
Boundless in might,
Boundless of reason,
Boundless of season,
Boundless in altitude,
Boundless in magnitude,
Boundless of month or year,
Boundless of my fear
Inescapable,
but is reject-able,

Help me open and receive,
Receive and perceive,
Your love for me.

Wooooaaaa, part 2 (Revelations 2)

John is told by the angel to write specific things to several churches.  After each of these, the text says that "[h]e who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches".  This suggests that even though these letters may be directed to these specific churches, the entire church is supposed to learn from these instructions to these churches.

To Ephesus

Ephesus starts the list.  Ephesus is the only one of these seven cities in which we also have a specific epistle from an Apostle elsewhere in the Bible, Paul's letter to the Ephesians.  Further, we also know some details about the church of Ephesus from the Book of Acts.

Here, John praises the same church for its hard work, perseverance, intolerance of wicked men, and their rejection of the Nicolaitans.

I looked up the Nicolaitans and there is no clear cut consensus as to what they believed.

However, John chastises the Ephesians for forsaking their first love and that they should do what they did in the beginning.  He does not provide specific details about what this means, so anything more is speculation.  The interpretation that stands out to me is that the Ephesians have lost a love for Christ that they had in the beginning.  Perhaps this means that they have become legalistic and rigid in their beliefs, since John praises them for following rules, but chastises their lack of love.

To Smyrna

This is a word of encouragement to a church that is about to receive persecution.  Some will be jailed and some will be killed.  By Jesus tells them that they will have life in the second life.

To Pergamum

This city is praised for its faith during persecution.  However, they are chastised for allowing Nicolaitan believers (we still do not know who they are) and preachers similar to Balak.  The problems with Balak that are specified are eating food offered to idols and sexual immorality.

Eating food offered to idols was a no-no according to the Council of Jerusalem (which John signed off on).  However, Paul did not have a problem with it unless it caused people of faith to fall.  Here, we have Jesus in a back-handed way saying it is bad.  Which is it?  

One possible reconciliation is that it is causing internal friction among the church of Pergamum and the other churches as a whole.  This was something that Paul warned against.

We also know that Pergamum faced persecution and the overall church Pergamum is glorified for faith during persecution.  This is speculation, but perhaps people were eating food offered to idols as a way to hide their Christian identity because of persecution.  

To Thyatira

The church at Thyatira is overall praised for its perseverance and growth.  

However, they are chastised for allowing "that prophetess Jezebel" to lead them to eat food offered to idols and sexual immorality.  This sounds similar to the advice for Pergamum, except for this "Jezebel".  

Given the context, I interpret it literally and think there actually was a false prophet named Jezebel at the church.  However, it could refer to the infamous Jezebel who was the queen of the northern kingdom during the lifetime of Elijah.  We do not exactly know what John is talking about here.

Wooooaaaaa, part 1 of 22 (Revelations 1)

The Apostle John has been exiled to the island of Patmos.  The traditional view is that he wrote Revelations later in the first century AD, after all the other foundational Apostles have died.  He alone is left.  He writes one final book.

Likewise, the Christian faith has exploded in numbers, so much so that it can even be a social scapegoat.  In 64 AD, a fire breaks out in the city of Rome and destroys much of the city.  The origins of the fire are unknown, but Emperor Nero blamed Christians.

Revelations 1 explains what the book is.  John is told to write in a book what he sees and send the book to "the seven" churches - Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.

This book is highly symbolic and probably no two Christians fully agree on everything about it.

From my perspective, the book being sent to "the seven" churches does not mean that the message applies only to those seven churches, but all churches for all time.  The number "seven" is frequently associated with a complete total, so the book being sent to seven churches means that the message of the book applies to all churches at all times.

Why does this matter?  In particular, chapters 2-3 deal with specific problems faced at these particular cities.  I do not think these are "eras" that the church goes through, but rather pitfalls that any church or individual can fall into at any point in time.  

I would take it a few steps further.  I think much of what John has to say is not so much a buildup of events that will take place at the second coming, but rather encouragement of the problems that every generation will face until the second coming.  Thus, the letter being sent to the seven churches (I.e., the entire church) is part of that.

There is an actual story that takes place as John writes the book.  The book is more famous for its descriptive imagery, but John actually describes the circumstances of how he wrote it.  

First, he hears a loud voice like a trumpet.  So, he is on Patmos.  He might be doing something completely mundane like thinking of dinner when this voice comes out of however.

He turns around and sees a powerful man surrounded by seven lamps.  The man is Jesus, but it is not the Jesus that John last saw.  Rather, this Jesus has eyes of fire and a sword coming out of his mouth.  John can only fall at his feet as if he were dead.

This is the same man that John lived with for three years.  Here Jesus appears to John in full radiance.  All John can do is fall down.  

Likewise, the lamp and lamp stands surround Jesus.  This is explained to represent the seven churches (again, entire church) and the angels associated with the seven churches.

To err is human; to forgive is divine (Philemon)

Imagine that you were one of the investors who were burned in the Barry Madoff ponzi scheme.  Not only that, you had given Madoff the investments of the church you run.

Now, imagine that Madoff is released from prison early for good behavior.

Barry Madoff comes to you.  He is carrying a letter from the Apostle Paul which states that Madoff is reformed and you should forgive him and accept him as a believer.  It turns out that Madoff met Paul while Paul was in prison and Madoff became a believer.

Ouch!  That is how I imagine a modern day analogy to the context of the Book of Philemon.

Paul's letter refers to a former slave named Onesimus.  The marginalia of the NIV states that the name means "useful".  This would be a good name for a slave.  

The man Philemon seems to be the leader of the church, likely the church of Colosse since the Book of Colossians refers to some of the same names referred to in the Book of Philemon.  

Onesimus brings the letter of introduction to Philemon.  This letter is what we now read as the Book of Philemon.  This opens the possibility that Onesimus also brought Paul's letter to the Colossians with him as well.  But this would be speculation.

We do not find out exactly what Onesimus did to make Philemon angry.  However, it seems like it may have been a financial crime since Paul offers financial restitution to compensate it.  So, putting it all together, I speculate that Onesimus probably stole money from the church that Philemon ran, perhaps to buy his own freedom.

Here, time has passed and Paul sends Onesimus back to Philemon.  Paul refers to Onesimus as now being useful to Philemon, which suggests that the forgiveness that Paul asks of Philemon is more useful to Philemon than all the work that Onesimus did as a slave.

We also find out that this was written at a time when Paul was in prison.  Apparently, Onesimus had contact with Paul while he was in prison.  We do not find out exactly how Onesimus and Paul first meet.

Paul also makes a few other requests.  First, that Philemon send Onesimus back to Paul so that he can assist Paul.  Paul wants to respect the former social situation between Onesimus and Philemon and requests Philemon's participation in that.

Second, Paul requests that Philemon make a guest bedroom for him.  Thus, Paul expects to be released from prison.

2 John and 3 John

The short epistles by the Apostle John provide some insight into him as a person.  Mainly, he does not like writing when talking face to face could work.  In both 2 John 12 and 3 John 13-14, John states that would rather explain everything else in person, rather than write.

Why?  Perhaps because he can.  

By contrast, the Book of Revelations is long and John does not state that he would rather say more in person.  That said, we know in Revelations that he was isolated on the island of Patmos.  Here in 2 John and 3 John, John seems to have ability of travel to go to churches that he is writing to.

So, why do we even have these letters at all when John would rather just discuss things in person?  Perhaps because both deal with quick emergencies about problematic people. 

2 John seems focused on false teachers.  The specified people are those that do not believe that Jesus has come in the flesh.  These are labeled "antichrist" people.  This might give us some indication as to the identity of the "Antichrist" as outlined in John's more famous book - Revelations.

3 John focuses on a person named Diotrophes.  We do not know much about him from this book other than he is causing problems at the church run by Gaius.  Diotrophes seems to be usurping control, gossiping, and excluding people out of the church.  John does not like this and if he comes, he will call Diotrophes out.

Interesting, John does not tell Gaius to kick out Diotrophes.  Paul would probably have done, but John seems to let Gaius make the decision.  However, the implication is clear for Gaius - deal with Diotrophes before John arrives.