Prior Book | Prior Chapter | Prior Verse | Next Verse | | Viewing NASB and Amplified 2015 | |
NASB | Revelation 22:19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Revelation 22:19 and if anyone takes away from or distorts the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away [from that one] his share from the tree of life and from the holy city (new Jerusalem), which are written in this book. |
Subject: Conjecture or opening scripture? |
Bible Note: I agree. and certainly Rev 22:18ff provides a stark reminder to teh responsibilities of teaching and preaching. But i am not teaching on the book of revelation, nor am i trying to reinterpret it for my own cause. I am trying to provide sensible and proper application. What is the purpose of scripture unless it is to correct, teach and so on. the scripture itself will do this. It will be read to our congregation first - within the context of an Anglican service. After this the 'preaching' is considered to be a space for allowing God to prompt his people into making a heart response. This can be done in a number of ways - after all God is well able to work through mine and everyone else's weakness. Having heard my colleagues preach the previous 6 letters my congregation and listening to the cngregation i have heard several mutter about the relevance of this to them. Suggesting Revelation is merely a dream or an abstract idea has provided these people with an intersting church history lesson interspersed with some intersting sociological, geographical and cultural insights as the the time when John wrote this letter. This is an attempt to ask the congregation (and myself as a member of the congregation) whether this letter speaks directly to us or not. I say 'or not' because this is also a possiblity - inasmuch as perhaps as a church we aren't 'nether hot nor cold', and perhaps as a church we have opened the door when we have heard Jesus knock. But hey, let's all reflect on that for a while! I take your point about the use of voice. I am an experienced preacher and am fairly well versed in how delivery makes (or breaks) a sermon (good or otherwise). And remember no sermon or preacher is ever perfect. The Holy Spirit takes those words and rests them onto a persons ears and hearts and shaes them. many a time have i heard what i consider to be a poor preach and people have been touched and overwhelmed and changed by the word they have heard. Thank God for that. So here I build upon - I do not add or take away from - the scripture. Semantics - possibly. But in good faith, bearing in mind my repsonsility, the risk or God's judegment as clearly pointed out to me. Never do i assert my authority over the scripture. it is clear that this sermon is designed to provide questions for each of us to answer - i am not teaching the Greek facts/the cultural context of the time/the whys and wherefores and what migh John actually mean etc. Good grief - Revelaton is one of the most misunderstood of all books in the bible. So finally (!) considering this even more I am confident that this sermon will assert the scripture, will neither add or take away, will preach nothing but the truth, and with God's grace will enable each person present on Sunday morning to take the word, chew it over in their own minds and hearts, weigh it up for themselves and then make a choice for how they will respond to it. Surely this is fine.....! L |