Corona Chronicles - Crown of Gold

Welcome to what we're calling the corona chronicles, a look at the book of Revelation. This is gonna be a podcast that we're gonna be doing every day. And putting it up because we realize people are at home. It won't be very long. We're hoping that everything will be under 10 minutes for you to get the word of God and an understanding of what's happening in our world.

Yeah. So why Corona Chronicles? What made you pick that name? Well, the corona, the word corona, I think, is linked to the Latin word for crown. And the reason we wanna look at revelation and the coronavirus is because revelation is all about the fact that Jesus has been raised up to the highest place.

He is now the king of kings and the lord of lords. Who sits in the throne room of heaven. And whilst this virus is is running wild and people might be questioning what is God doing or who's in control. Revelation reminds us that even in times of suffering and confusion, Jesus is on the throne. Okay.

Great. Sounds good. But again, someone someone might be saying, yeah, but the book of Revelation is probably the scariest book you could pick out of the bible because they're not something a bit more, you know I think that's the brilliance of it. Because I think what people often look for in times of crisis and, you know, anxiety is actually just really a surface covering. So you put the surface covering over and you feel a little bit less anxious, but the anxiety is still looking there.

If you go right under the water if you like, if you go to the monster in the deep and deal with that and see who is lord of that, right in the depths, then there's much more security and much more much less anxiety because the real demon if you like has been dealt with. Mhmm. And revelation clearly does that. Right. And I think what was the alternative?

I think the reason that this is such a comforting book despite some of the scary imagery is because it tells us again, Jesus is sovereign and he is on the throne. And if that wasn't the case, it would mean that something else was in control, or nothing was in control, or blind chaos was the only thing governing events at the moment. So despite some of the the trembling imagery. It is actually a book to comfort suffering believers. So let's start with the the first 3 verses.

And then, you know, each day we're gonna work away through some of the verses. So it says, the revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel. To his servant John who testifies to everything he saw. That is the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ blessed is the 1 who reads the words of this prophecy and bless to those who hear it and take it to heart and take to heart what is written in it.

Because the time is near. Magnificent start. Great. Yeah. Yeah.

So just look at some of the words there and you'll see why it's worth thinking about revelation and corona. Absolutely. I mean, just verse 3 jumped out at me there. We're actually told right at the beginning of this book, that it is a blessed thing to read it and to hear it and to take it to heart. And so even on that level just as we read the words of prophecy about Jesus Christ, we're gonna experience some kind of blessing -- Mhmm.

-- because we're doing what what we're told to do. Yeah. Yeah. And I suppose I mean, thinking about this book and and who it's written written to originally, you know, that the Christians at first got this letter. They were they were fearing.

They had lots to fear about. They had lots. They had plagued. They had, you know, teams. The emperor.

Right? In this case, emperors. Yeah. Against them. They were being persecuted.

They have loads of plates. Right. And so they might be thinking, that's what what we need to what we need to do is look into that. We need to look into you know, we need to watch out for who's after us and -- Mhmm. -- today we might be thinking, you know, we we need to find out as much about this coronavirus as we can.

Which and and that, you know, to a point that that that might be helpful. But John here is saying, no. The revelation of Jesus Christ. That's who that's who we need to get. And that will bless us.

Yes. And that in the end, we'll just see how we're purified. We'll see that as we go along. It's not just washing hands. Good thing to do.

Yeah. But actually, there's 1 that really washes the soul. And actually, there's 1 that's gonna actually wash the whole of the universe. And and bring something new and more glorious. Yeah.

And he's working in all of this. Yeah. So it it's a blessed thing. It's talking about the very word of God into this situation, and the word of God is revealing who Jesus is, and he is corona king. He's the king of the universe.

Mhmm. Absolutely spectacular. Mhmm. But just very briefly because we are running out of time. But what about, you know, children are getting scared?

I'm hearing the children a sort of mummy, I don't want to wash their hands again or they're washing their hands a bit excessively and there's anxiety amongst you. How how does this help kids? Well, yeah. I mean, I think again going back to what Tom was reading out earlier, blessed is the 1 who reads this reads aloud these words. You know, children are normally happily skipping, you know, going to school, getting on with their lives, and now they do have this big sort of cloud over them.

But I think, you know, 1 way we can help our kids is to is to sit them down and go through the this this wonderful book with them, you know? And it helps him to see Jesus the king. The the word bless is a very very strong word because it sounds like, you know, slightly It sounds very churchy for very sort of question on it. It's it's the word that we're you have everything you need. Yeah.

You don't need to go beyond the shores of this word blessed -- Right. -- to to have everything you need to survive in the world. And that's what revelations tell us. Yes. I think the other thing with children is to think about broadening their their historical perspective.

In other words, I think when virus like this comes along, we can get very caught up just in the slice of time in which we live, can't we? And although they are saying this is the biggest public health crisis of a generation, actually, what we can say is, do you know, Christians all across history in the bible? Only in the world now. Already in the world now -- Yeah. -- have gone through suffering and difficulties and plagues and persecutions.

And so although it's very real and very localized at the moment, actually, this is not an experience that is unfamiliar. Yeah. And we've always been able to trust God in difficult times. Yeah. And I think the reason we are seeing it as a curse corona is it suddenly saying what are you living for and that life is transient.

Mhmm. It's here 1 moment. Yeah. I mean, the time is near. Right?

Yeah. I mean, the truth is -- Yeah. -- I mean, this is true. No more people are going to die. Yeah.

Because everybody dies. Right. So the issue is death. We're gonna see that in in 1 of the next sessions. Yeah.

Brilliant. Anyway, for now. Great.