Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

The Pangea Blog

Home

Home
Progressive Christian
Revelation #1: Anabaptist Apocalyptic Fever, a Fresh Word, and Exile

Revelation #1: Anabaptist Apocalyptic Fever, a Fresh Word, and Exile

Last updated on: September 8, 2014 at 6:00 am by Kurt Willems

Revelation #1: Anabaptist Apocalyptic Fever, a Fresh Word, and Exile 2014-09-07T23:05:34-07:00 Kurt Willems

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Yesterday at Pangea Communities we began the LONG journey preaching through the book of Revelation. I spend some time in this first talk wrestling with apocalyptic fanaticism in my own tradition of Anabaptism. In the 1530’s a group of so-called Anabaptists in Münster decided that the New Jerusalem would be located there. So, by all means possible (even taking up arms!) they sought control of the city as they invited devotees to citizenship. Of course, they failed… and the end of the world never comes… and they are executed.

What this demonstrates, amongst other things, is that even in the so called “peace” tradition of the church, apocalyptic fever can take over and snuff out kingdom values. We easily can be deceived into doing things that are not a “revelation” of Jesus Christ, but rather reveal the worst of human evil.

Those of us who follow Jesus all long for an authentic revelation of Christ. We want to experience him as he is. This is the sort of experience John had. He saw the cosmic curtain pulled back just enough to see the authentic Jesus. A Jesus who was the same Christ revealed in the Gospels, Acts, Paul, Peter, and the rest of the New Testament. What John saw, although cryptic at times, was completely the same Jesus who commanded his followers to “love their enemies.” Any time that we believe God is revealing to us someone other than Jesus we see throughout the rest of the New Testament, we are probably hearing from God wrong–especially if we are reading Revelation!

Rather, in Revelation we have an account of one faithful disciple’s encounter with the resurrected Jesus. In Exile, the space was created for him to experience God, perhaps in a way that wouldn’t have happened in the normality of life.

N.T. Wright says:

“Exile has given him time to pray, to reflect, and now to receive the most explosive vision of God’s power and love.” (N.T. Wright, Revelation for Everyone, 10)

We all need that sort of exile. Maybe not the exile of persecution–but exile nonetheless. We need to pull away from normality to experience the God of Jesus who loves us. Just as Jesus took an intentional step away into the hills to pray, we need spaces of quiet to hear a fresh word from God. Revelation is John experiencing exactly that–a fresh word of encouragement for himself and for the churches under his care in Asia Minor.

Check out the full length sermon on the podcast (iTunes, Feedburner)

(SERIES) Revelation Sermons

Revelation (the book of)

Previous Post

August 28, 2014

Ed Young to Preach a Series on "Drones"

Next Post

September 9, 2014 Undiluted: the book to hand your friends about the kind of Jesus you follow

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category (Series) All Out War-Spiritual Warfare (Series) Church Plant Journal (Series) Dear Reader... (Series) Earthquakes...Signs of the Times? (Series) Entering the... Conversation (Series) Evangelical Culture Myths (Series) Everything is Meaningless [Pete Enns] (Series) Evolving Evangelicalism (Series) Hell Yes. Hell No! Who Cares? (Series) Hidden Worldviews (Series) If Evolution is Right, what about Adam? (Series) in less than 300 words (Series) Jesus and Nationalism (Series) Liberating Women for Ministry? (Series) Life-Changing Books (Series) Markers of Church Plant Movement (Series) Nonviolence 101 (Series) Philemon - Reconciliation (Series) Quote to Ponder (Series) Red Letter Dialogues (Series) Resource of the Week (SERIES) Revelation Sermons (Series) Share Something Sundays (Series) Simplicity in the Burbs: $2 a day (Series) The Binding of God [Open Theism] (Series) The Creed: Anabaptist Reflections (Series) Values for Church Leadership (Series) Video to Ponder Anabaptism Animal Advocacy Books Church Ministry Church Planting Community Culture Eschatology Eucharist Evangelical Reject Evolution Fundamentalism Greek Greg Boyd Guest Contributors Hell Holy Spirit Israel/Palestine Kingdom of God Lent Missional N. T. Wright Nationalism New Creation Nonviolence Open Mic Open Theism Parenting Passover Paul Philemon Podcast Politics Restorative Justice Revelation (the book of) Rob Bell Ron Martoia Sermon Shane Claiborne Social Justice Speaking Engagement Spiritual Warfare Spirituality Temple Theology Tim Geddert Tribulation Uncategorized universalism Video Blog Women in Ministry Worship Music Youth Ministry

Select a Month August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 October 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 December 2016 October 2016 August 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does "Hoshea" mean in Hebrew?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Salvation The Lord is Holy God's Messenger Chosen One

Support this
Column