Facing Fear (Revelation 1:17-20)
With Christ’s command, John sets out to write the things he has seen, what is, and what is to come, and basically writes the closest thing to a horror genre in Scripture. Apocalypses (named after this writing) are a strange, even bizarre, and scary genre. And it might at first seem strange that the Bible would include horror. But not once you consider the purpose. Horror exists to help us deal with things that are hard to handle. They show us things we are often incapable of seeing directly. But they also help us face things that we could not face without preparation.
On the surface, people watch horror movies because it is fun to be scared. We see that in little children and their gruesome fairy tales. But the scares also help us to face life more prepared for what may come. We learn through scares. And contrary to what you might think, scary stories help us face life with less fear. We have faced the monster in fiction, and it prepares us to face real monster in life.
As believers and followers of Christ, we are not to be motivated by fear. Perfect love drives out all fear. And that is precisely why we have a book like Revelation. God knows, and Jesus promised, that life with Him would be difficult. We will face persecution, even death for our faith. And the best way to prepare His people for what is to come is to face it head on. Just as in horror fiction and fairy tales, we see all of the scary monsters in our path. We see the unsettling future. But we also see the end. We see that the monsters are overcome. And, even though life may be terrifying at times, we’ve seen the worst and we’ve seen that it can’t win.
So pop some corn and turn down the lights. Let’s check out the scariest the world has to offer, knowing that it can’t ultimately touch us.
On the surface, people watch horror movies because it is fun to be scared. We see that in little children and their gruesome fairy tales. But the scares also help us to face life more prepared for what may come. We learn through scares. And contrary to what you might think, scary stories help us face life with less fear. We have faced the monster in fiction, and it prepares us to face real monster in life.
As believers and followers of Christ, we are not to be motivated by fear. Perfect love drives out all fear. And that is precisely why we have a book like Revelation. God knows, and Jesus promised, that life with Him would be difficult. We will face persecution, even death for our faith. And the best way to prepare His people for what is to come is to face it head on. Just as in horror fiction and fairy tales, we see all of the scary monsters in our path. We see the unsettling future. But we also see the end. We see that the monsters are overcome. And, even though life may be terrifying at times, we’ve seen the worst and we’ve seen that it can’t win.
So pop some corn and turn down the lights. Let’s check out the scariest the world has to offer, knowing that it can’t ultimately touch us.
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