Month: October 2011

This is the cover image from last week’s Economist magazine. The cover article offers some frightening insights about the global economy. But even though this is genuinely disturbing news, we in the Church can take great comfort in Christ’s words in Revelation 1:17-18: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.”  This, in fact, is the central message of Revelation, the hermeneutical key for the entire text:  “do not be afraid.”  This is why it’s particularly a shame that so may radio and television preachers distort the message of this text.  It’s not about predicting the future of the “end times,” the “rapture,” and so-on.  It’s about patience, endurance, perseverance, and not being afraid when the world around us seems chaotic.  It’s about not being afraid because not even death and Hades can overcome the victory of God in Christ.