Renewal in Revelation

Paul Mallard is the Director of Training and Development of the Midlands Gospel Partnership and former pastor of Woodgreen Evangelical Church in Worcester.

Paul served as President of the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC) from 2004 to 2007. He is married to Edrie; they have four children and two grandchildren. He has a great affection for Birmingham, where he was born and brought up, and is a keen West Bromwich Albion supporter. He believes that training a new generation of Christian leaders is very important.

AH: You are preaching on Christ-centred renewal at Keswick Convention this year (2010). Why do you think this is such a vital issue at this time?

PM: The Christian and the church are constantly in need of spiritual renewal. When I was a kid, growing up in Birmingham, me and my mates used to play a game. We went into Rackham’s — one of the poshest shops in town — and tried running up its eight flights of escalators the wrong way! It was a great game but you soon learned something very important — you have to keep going! The moment you stop you are finished! The downward momentum of the escalator will always win.

That’s what the Christian life is like. We have the upward momentum of the Holy Spirit. At the same time we constantly struggle against the alien momentum of sin. Our souls are like gardens which need constant care or the weeds take over.

It’s the same in the church. I hope to examine the letters to the seven churches in Revelation 2-3. Here we have second and third generation churches. What happens? They face severe external problems like persecution and the lure of the world. But it’s the internal problems that are killing them. So Ephesus has deserted its first love and Sardis is running on past glories and Laodicea just makes the Lord sick. Jesus passionately loves his church — he died for her. He is also passionate about her purity and is therefore committed to her renewal.

These letters are addressed to real-life churches, their leaders and individual Christians (‘… let him who has ears hear …’). Their heartbeat is to call for a clearer and more passionate vision of Christ and a readiness to submit to what he, as Lord of the church, says to her through his Word and his Spirit.

AH: How do you prepare for such an event, and how long does it take you?

PM: I like to begin to prepare for conferences and conventions in plenty of time. I began work on the research material back in January. It’s a matter of making yourself familiar with the passages and allowing them to percolate in your mind. After that I began to do some serious study using as many exegetical tools I could lay my hands on.

One of the things that struck me quite early on is that we must not isolate Revelation 1-3 from the rest of the book of Revelation. The book of Revelation has many purposes, one of which was to address the problems that Christ identifies in those seven churches. The book is apocalyptic, a special form of writing, but it is also written in the form of a letter to the seven churches. Like all New Testament letters, its message is very specific to a particular church situation. At the same time it is relevant to all churches at all times.

We are frightened of apocalyptic, but we need to remember that it was never designed to be some kind of fiendish spiritual Sudoku, which only the elite of the elect can understand. It is actually God’s picture book, written to warn and encourage struggling Christians. Its purpose is to draw back the curtain so that we can focus on God’s big picture. So we see the reality of evil in the world — red in tooth and claw. But we also see that God’s throne is supreme. There will be a final showdown and God will clean house. There will be a new heaven and a new earth — a totally renewed cosmos.

So, in preparation, I found myself recognising the need to do some work on the whole of Revelation in order to understand what the Lord says in Revelation 2-3. It’s a good job I gave myself six months.

AH: What is on your heart particularly to say to the evangelical church at the moment?

PM: I think we are living in challenging times, so it is vital that we emphasise what is of primary importance to the church. Many of the themes found in these seven letters are in tune with what I think the church needs to hear today. Let me specify a few.

First, I think the church needs to have a fresh vision of the majesty of the triune God. The book of Revelation begins with a magnificent statement of this doctrine (Revelation 1.4-5) and then John has his opening vision of the awesomeness of Christ (Revelation 1.9-20). All of the letters refer back to this vision and the rest of the book lifts our eyes and hearts above our troubled world and shows us the throne which is above every throne and the King who is above every king. This is a necessary antidote to the scandalously small views of God which sometimes dominates the evangelical scene.

Secondly, I want to reaffirm the importance of preaching. These churches were renewed by the presence of Christ who comes by his Word and his Spirit to speak into their situation. We should pray that our preaching is marked not only by accurate exegesis, but also by a desire to meet God in his Word and to be transformed by him.

Thirdly, we need to be passionate about the gospel. These churches are called to remember what they first believed and to focus on Christ who is both the Lion of Judah and the Lamb of Calvary. The promises made to them are gospel promises. We need to be deeply committed to this gospel — the substitutory death of Christ, justification by faith and the glorious implications of grace. We need to have confidence that this gospel can challenge and change our society and save sinners.

Finally, commitment to Christ and to the gospel will always lead to a commitment to the church. These seven churches were far from perfect and yet Jesus is passionately committed to them. We must never write off the church. She is the Bride of Christ and he died for her. We need to work harder at demonstrating our unity and partnership with other gospel churches. Remember that in the end God’s promise to bless all nations in the seed of Abraham (Genesis 12.1-3) will be fulfilled and there will be one people of God from every nation, tribe, people and language (Revelation 7.9).

So I am excited about the privilege of explaining some of these themes at Keswick.

Alison Hull

© Evangelicals Now - July 2010
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