To the angel of the church in Ephesus write, these are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lamp stands.

I know your deeds, your hard work, and your perseverance.

I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not and have found them false.

You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name

and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you. You have forsaken the love you had at first.

Consider how far you have fallen. Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent,

I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.

But you have this in your favor. You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

Whoever has ears, let them hear what the spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious,

I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks for God.

Golden bowls of incense, lakes of fire, and a woman pregnant with the dragon.

Revelation is one wild end to the biblical story, is it not?

And Revelation, the longest of the New Testament letters, is also the most misunderstood and

confusing to the everyday Jesus follower.

Daryl Johnson, theologian, tells the story of a seminary custodian who works out in exchange

with the group of the students.

He says, look, I'll open the gym for you and let you play basketball after hours if

you'll loan me your Bible to read

while you play and after this carries on for a number of weeks one day one of the students

asked the custodian so what book of the Bible have you been reading and he says oh revelation

...