Andrew Meredith’s Reviews > Reading Revelation Responsibly: Uncivil Worship and Witness: Followingthe Lamb into the New Creation > Status Update

For instance, in Revelation 1, Jesus (the Son of Man) is walking among the seven lampstands. What does this tell us? Why is this image being used? First, the lampstands should immediately call to mind the seven-headed, olive tree-like lampstand in the Holy Place where only the priests could enter and tend to it.

Jesus, therefore, is the High Priest, Holy to Yahweh, tending His lamps in the heavenly places of which the Tabernacle/Temple were but an earthly shadow. After a long period of tightly restricted access in the Old Covenant, the Second Adam has permanently returned to the Garden to tend and to guard it once more, and the churches are in the Holy Place (not made with hands) with Him. Using this paradigm, Christ's following instructions to His churches are Him acting as Priest tending to His lamps/Last Adam tending to His Garden.

This highlights what the churches have in their union with Christ, and what they stand to lose if they are unfaithful (their lampstand is removed).

Another note: Gorman makes a big deal about how Dispensationalists like to start their interpretation at verse 1:19 and should start reading from the beginning of Revelation instead, but then he fails to do the exact same thing! He skips over the first three verses, missing the key "soon" (1:1) and "the time is near" (1:3).

One more unrelated note: If the Church's enemies are "Balaam" and "Jezebel," what does that make the Church? Israel.

Chapter 5 Questions:

"1. In your view, does the dispensational approach to Revelation 2–3 have any merit? Why or why not?"

No. None. Isn't it strange how they want to be so woodenly literal with the rest of the book (especially the 1000 years), but they treat the seven letters as figurative and symbolical? There is no in text reason to interpret these letters in this fashion.

2. In your experience, what are the most prominent forms of cultural accommodation in the Christian churches today?

- Feminism/Egalitarianism/Soft Complementarianism would be up there. We seem to have every reason to deny/ignore what Scripture obviously says because our culture doesn't like it.

- Supernatural/natural, spiritual/material, and/or religious/secular distinction. It has led us to cease from advancing the crown rights of Christ into the political sphere and to develop a mystical, pietistic, gnostic understanding of our faith.

- We have placed comfort, winsomeness, and cultural contextualization on such a level that we have allowed them to dictate how we conduct our service on The Lord's Day.

3. With which of the seven churches do you, or might your Christian community, most identify? What might be the concrete message of the risen Christ to your community?

I would say Ephesus. Our churches have lost their obedience to King Jesus, that is, their love for Him.