Dan Kent invites us to see the story of the Bible, summarizing five grand themes that begin in Genesis and are completed in Revelation. In this way, the book of Revelation calls us back to where we belong, even in the midst of a broken world that tries to pull us away.
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Back Where We Belong
• Dan Kent
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In this sermon, Dan Kent demonstrates how the book of Revelation brings the entire Bible to a grand conclusion. He takes us back to the beginning of the Bible, outlining how God began things with five relationships: with God, with self, with life, with nature and with others. In the beginning, these relationships operated according to the way that God wanted reality to play out. However, there is an alternative way set before us, which Adam and Eve chose instead when they ate of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. This resulted in a reality that was not the way that God wants. Because we choose what is not God’s way, life is full of corruption, sin, disunity and shame. The five relationships are broken.
This brokenness ends in death. This is the norm of the world, a norm that has become so prevalent that no one even questions it. At the same time, beneath the surface there remains a pull to a way that fits the design of God’s universe. We are stuck in the pull between the longing for life as God wants it and the reality of death.
Into this space, Jesus comes. God, embodied as the Word, became flesh (John 1:4). Jesus came to restore these five relationships and defeated sin and death by the cross. He reversed the curse that comes with choosing the way that is not God’s way, setting all things right.
This leads to Revelation, where the final story ends as it began. The beginning that was broken will be put back together. The five relationships are restored and the wholeness of all creation is fully realized. We now live in a time between the cross and the fulfillment of Revelation. It’s an already/not yet space. Revelation outlines the completion of all things toward which time is moving and our hearts long to see. We are homesick for the experience of this completion. It’s a pull to go back to where we belong.
Dan concludes the sermon by drawing our attention to an acronym that we have used in the past: GAPS.
G-Get all of our life from Christ.
A-Agree with God that everyone is worth Christ dying for.
P-Pray for our enemies.
S-Steward the earth and the animal kingdom.
The beginning of all things was founded upon five relationships grounded in love, and Revelation shows us that this is where all things are returning. GAPS helps us join in what God is doing to bring this about.
Hide Extended SummaryTopics: Covenant, End Times, Relationships
Sermon Series: The Unveiling, The End Is the Beginning
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Focus Scripture:
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Revelation 22:1-5
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
