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It’s all about Jesus

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Next week I start the extended series on the book of Revelation and by then many people will have had the opportunity of registering for email notifications and so will be able to follow the series from the very start. If you haven’t yet, please click on the little green plus button at the top to sign up for the series.

The book of Revelation (in the NIV) begins with the words ‘The revelation of Jesus Christ …’. The word ‘revelation’ is a translation of the Greek Apokalipsis, which means a disclosure, an unveiling of Jesus Christ, from Jesus, and about Jesus. If taken as a subjective genitive or genitive of source (excuse the technical jargon) it means ‘given by or from Jesus’; if read as an objective genitive it means ‘about Jesus’. So, verse 1 of chapter 1 can be expanded to read ‘The revelation of, from and about Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place.’

This first verse reveals much about what is to follow:

It identifies the book as a form of prophecy; it is God speaking to His people. It is conveyed from The Father, to Jesus the Son, who transmitted it via an angel to the apostle John, who then wrote it and sent it to the church.

It centres the book on Jesus – The Lord Jesus presented then, over time, now, and at the end of all things as we know them. This is a vitally important ‘revelation’ – it’s all about Jesus. If we fail to see this then we will misinterpret much of what follows in this complex and often mysterious last book of the Bible.

It alerts us to the fact that the action and events depicted will ‘soon’ take place in that the events prophesied will start to occur in John’s own time. Some Bible teachers have taken the ‘soon’ to mean that everything revealed must happen in a very short space of time and therefore at the very end of the age, but by teaching this, they effectively push almost all of the contents of the book into the 21st century or beyond. If this were indeed so then most of Revelation would be of little value to believers from John’s day right through to our time. This cannot be so if we accept that the Bible is the inspired written Word of God for all of the church age.

The mention of an angel also alerts us to how the book is formulated and it soon becomes obvious that angels are consistently featured as the narrators, or at least conveyers, of the revelation. In fact, as you will see later, they are the only characters in the book not depicted by symbols and stylised pictures – instead, they are the ones who deliver and help interpret the mysterious pictorial language of revelation.

Verse two defines the content of the book as ‘the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ’. This seems to indicate two separate but joined sources, but it is better to understand the phrases as parallel to one another: In other words the Word of God is the testimony of Jesus Christ. This is confirmed near the end of the book where it states that ‘the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy’ (Rev 19:10 NIV). The Amplified Bible makes matters even clearer when it translates this verse as; ‘for the substance of the truth revealed by Jesus is the spirit of all prophecy’.

Now, prophecy is God communicating with us and so we can be encouraged that God is saying something important to us in and through the book of Revelation. It is not a sealed up mystery awaiting some future interpreter, it is for us, just as it was for all believers who came before us. So, if it is prophecy, and it is all about Jesus, then it is both important and relevant, and you and I need to comprehend it. This excites me and I am looking forward to experiencing more of the Lord Jesus as we discover Him together through this series of posts.

Remember Rev 1:3; ‘Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy…’. I recommend that you read through the book of Revelation before and while we embark on this journey together.

To encourage you further I include here a testimonial from someone who attended the recent series that I presented at the Lonehill Village Church.

“It was an immense privilege attending Dr Christopher Peppler’s six-week course on the book of Revelations. Dr Peppler’s wisdom, insight and in depth study of provided me with an eye-opening experience. I used to be a little fearful of the end of days; now, I realise Revelations and the Bible are indeed the ‘Greatest Love Story’ ever penned. I am filled with hope, faith and excitement at what the future holds.

Dr Peppler has the most wonderful manner – his words are reassuring; his wisdom is astounding and his ability to share knowledge is unsurpassed. Thanks to Dr Peppler’s gift of teaching, my love for Jesus has grown. Thanks to this incredible short course, my relationship with God Almighty has been enriched.
All I can say is that if people have the opportunity of joining a course given by Dr Peppler, they are to quite literally jump at it!” SAM

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Revelation Revisited

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Although I grew up in a Christian home, I only met Jesus in a personal and radical way when I was thirty. Many things changed progressively from that day, but one thing that was immediately different was the love for the scriptures which suddenly gripped my heart. I couldn’t read the Bible fast enough, and it didn’t take me long to get around to studying its last book, Revelation. I remember with great clarity the day when I sat down at my desk at home with paper, pen, the Bible, and a book on Revelation by one of the several popular and sensationalistic authors. As I was about to read the opening verses, and then see what my chosen author had to say about them, a strange thought entered my consciousness. “Have you asked the Lord if he wants you to study this book at this time?” What a strange question to ask! Surely God would be delighted for me to be studying any part of his Word, at any time? But the thought persisted, and so I closed my eyes and dutifully asked the question. There was nobody in the room with me, at least nobody I could see, but I am sure I heard a voice. A strong voice of absolute authority reverberated in my mind and seemed to fill the space of the room in which I sat. One word… “No!” It was an awesome experience, in the proper sense of the word, and it galvanized me into action. I snapped the book shut, and, in one swift action, swept it, together with my notepad and pen, into my desk drawer. Then I sat there trembling and trying to make sense of the experience.

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I studied most of the other books of the Bible with great joy and a sense of divine approval, and I also completed a two-year programme of training as a preacher. Then the time came again when I felt I was ready to study the book of Revelation. Surely now I would be allowed to tackle it? It seems strange, even to me, but I experienced an almost exact replay of the event of years before, and again I received a one-word answer … “No!”

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Many years and much study later, I was finally given release to interpret this wonderful book. Looking back now, I can see why God had previously prevented me.

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Some time ago I did in fact write a book titled ‘Revelation in the Stars – The Sidereal and Written Word’. You can find it by following the hyperlink to the site where you can either order a printed copy, buy an e-version, or even download a free .pdf document.

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In a couple of weeks’ time I am starting an extended series of blog posts called Revelation Revisited. If you have been reticent to tackle Revelation, or if you are disillusioned by what you have previously read, then I urge you to give this series a try. Revelation 1:3 reads, ‘Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy…’ so be blessed and read it.

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If you have friends or family members you believe would also like to follow this series then please send them the following link and suggest that they subscribe… http://feeds.feedburner.com/TruthIsTheWord

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Sermon on False Prophets

Much of the church of our day is plagued by false prophets and apostles. Deception is a spiritual virus let loose in our church environments. I recently preached into this situation and gave insight into how to recognise the false and embrace the real power of the Holy Spirit. The message is an exposition of Acts 8:4-25 and you can find it here on my new website at https://truthistheword.com/my-sermons/ The title is ‘Double Double Toil and Trouble

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Comments on Robb Bell’s ‘Love Wins’

Robb Bell’s latest book has raised a number of issues for me. The first is his way of communicating his views. Instead of stating what he believes, he asks a plethora of questions, many of which are essentially, ‘would a loving God condemn people to eternity in Hell?’ It is good to ask this sort of question, and asking questions is a valid communication and teaching method. However, at some point or other a responsible and influential author and teacher needs to state what he actually believes to be true, and why he believes it to be true. Unfortunately Robb Bell doesn’t really do this and as a result his readers are left to draw their own conclusions as to what he is saying.

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This leads me to a second issue, which is the way many people have responded to ‘Love Wins’. I am surprised that so many critics have had the confidence, or temerity, to state boldly that Robb Bell is a universalist, a heretic, and even a hell-inspired false prophet without even entering into dialog with him and attempting to clarify his contentions. I even read early critiques that started with the words, ‘although I have not read the book I …’ This sort of attitude to a Christian leader is more than regrettable, it is just wrong.

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A third issue for me is the apparent way in which Robb Bell seems to attempt to establish truth. I say ‘apparent’ and ‘seems’ because I, like others, can only deduce his theology from his flood of leading questions. The approach appears to be, God is loving and just; an eternal Hell is neither loving or fair; therefore Hell cannot be of God. The problem is that the second clause of this construct is simply Robb Bell’s personal opinion. Truth, as I see it, has its basis in the Word of God. The written Word of God is the Bible and the living Word of God, the Bible’s author and object, is the Lord Jesus Christ. So, truth is established by interpreting the Bible from a Jesus-centred perspective. And here is the rub; Jesus had quite a bit to say concerning Hell. Any valid contention that Hell does not exist must be responsibly Word-based or it fails to classify as an Evangelical Christian position.

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Perhaps a better question to ask would be, ‘Why would a loving God consign people to eternal Hell?’ We would then attempt to answer this from a Christ-centred interpretation of what the scriptures have to say concerning sin, salvation, heaven, and hell.

 

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The strange case of Harold Camping

Published in SATS ‘Pastor to Pastor’

Harold Camping is the Calvinist radio Bible teacher based in California. He has sprung to notoriety by predicting that the Rapture would occur at 6 pm on 21st May, 2011. The day has come and gone and the Christian world is left puzzling over the question of how he could have got it so wrong.

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Apart from radically reinterpreting Jesus words, that no one knows the day or the hour, as applying only to the disciples of His time, Camping fell on the sword of his faulty interpretive method. He uses and abuses a method commonly referred to as allegorical interpretation, but he is not the only teacher who does this. Several years ago I heard the leader of a major church group preach on how the twelve gates in the walls of ancient Jerusalem each stood for a particular church age. He went around the gates in a clockwise direction and concluded that we were currently in the age signified by the Dung Gate – phew!

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Camping uses an extreme form of allegorization but there are several variants in today’s church, and so it would be useful to examine the issue and come up with a balanced approach to biblical interpretation

Click here for full article

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About Me

My name is Christopher Peppler and I was born in Cape Town, South Africa in 1947. While working in the financial sector I achieved a number of business qualifications from the Institute of Bankers, Damelin Management School, and The University of the Witwatersrand Business School. After over 20 years as a banker, I followed God’s calling and joined the ministry full time. After becoming a pastor of what is now a quite considerable church, I  earned an undergraduate theological qualification from the Baptist Theological College of Southern Africa and post-graduate degrees from two United States institutions. I was also awarded the Doctor of Theology in Systematic Theology from the University of Zululand in 2000.

Four years before that I established the South African Theological Seminary (SATS), which today is represented in over 70 countries and has more than 2 500 active students enrolled with it. I presently play an role supervising Masters and Doctoral students.

I am a passionate champion of the Christocentric or Christ-centred Principle, an approach to biblical interpretation and theological construction that emphasises the centrality of Jesus

I have been happily married to Patricia since the age of 20, have two children, Lance and Karen, a daughter-in-law Tracey, and granddaughters Jessica and Kirsten. I have now retired from both church and seminary leadership and devote my time to writing, discipling, and the classical guitar.

If you would like to read my testimony to Jesus then click HERE.