followHIM - Why does John use symbolism & imagery? • followHIM Favorites • Dec 4 - Dec 10

Episode Date: November 30, 2023

John uses symbolism and imagery in the Book of Revelation, with a primary focus on the symbol of the Lamb, to convey a message of hope and victory in the face of darkness and persecution.Thanks to the followHIM team:Shannon Sorensen: Cofounder, Executive Producer, SponsorDavid & Verla Sorensen: SponsorsDr. Hank Smith: Co-hostJohn Bytheway: Co-hostDavid Perry: ProducerKyle Nelson: Marketing, SponsorLisa Spice: Client Relations, Editor, Show NotesJamie Neilson: Social Media, Graphic DesignAnnabelle Sorensen: Creative Project ManagerWill Stoughton: Video EditorKrystal Roberts: Translation Team, English & French Transcripts, WebsiteAriel Cuadra: Spanish Transcripts"Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com

Hello, everyone. Welcome to another Follow Him Favorites. My name's Hank Smith. I'm here with the incredible John, by the way. You know the drill, John. We're going to take a single question from this week's lesson. We're starting the book of Revelation this week, John, so our question is pretty simple. What's with all these symbols in the book of Revelation? What am I supposed to do with all these? Symbolism was like an ancient language. We know that others used it in the scriptures too. And please don't get bogged down trying to understand this or that or what everything means, because then you might get too definite, too distinct. Take a 30,000 foot view, look at the whole thing. What are we learning about the end? And there's one symbol that we all know, and I know you want to talk about this, Hank, and that is the lamb. Who is the lamb? We should look for themes in the book. One of the major themes throughout the book, you're right, is the lamb. The lamb is introduced in chapter five. And then all throughout the book, you watch for the lamb, especially towards the

end when the lamb returns. That should be our major highlight, I think, of the book, you watch for the lamb, especially towards the end when the lamb returns. That should be our major highlight, I think, of the book. Just focus on that one symbol of the lamb. I think you'd walk away with at least a grasp of what the message of the book is. The lamb wins. Yeah. And remember that way back in the book of John, when John the Baptist first saw Jesus, he used that phrase, behold, the Lamb of God. And now we know that that's when Christ came and that's what John called him. And now we're coming back to that name and that symbol. The happy news about the book of Revelation, it is really hard, but in the end, everything comes out right and the Lamb of God prevails. And that's the main thing. And then you can get

more detail as you go through too. If you have those major themes in mind, as you're going through, you might go through a couple of verses and not really understand. And that's okay. You can come back to those later. But if you're just watching for the theme of the lamb versus the dragon, what happens to the lamb at the end and what happens to the dragon at the end, you could probably fill in the gaps later. But if you get bogged down in those verses and some of the symbols, you won't ever get to the main message of the book, which is a hopeful message. It's a victorious message.

When Jesus said, come follow me, just think of it as, what are we going to do? We're going to follow the lamb because he is the lamb. And that's what this is all about. What do I do today about this? Well, today you just follow the lamb. The world is getting dark, just like some chapters in Revelation. What does the lamb do and how does he overcome and how does he ask his saints to overcome? Be a Zion people and let's keep repenting. Let's keep following the land, that type of thing. Yeah. This is a book to first century Christians about how to overcome persecution. And you can use it too, to say, this is how I'm going to overcome darkness and persecution.

We hope you'll join us on our full podcast. It's called Follow Him. You can get it wherever you get your podcast. We're with Dr. Nick Frederick as we start this book. He's an expert in the book of Revelation. So come join us. Nick Frederick as we start this book. He's an expert in the book of Revelation. So come join us over there and then come back next week. We'll be back with another Follow Him Favorites.