Mosaic Press, 2014
“Today’s reading is from the Book of Revelation…” you can feel the apprehension… and no wonder. Like the evolution of our language from Oxford Dictionary standard to smart phone condensed, we have lost the understanding of the many codes used in the Bible, particularly those used within the pages of Revelation.
Promises and Blessings is a short (100 pages), easy to read book, which uses pen portraits of the ten martyrs who adorn the west front of Westminster Abbey as intermissions. Their relevance to the main context of the book are as examples of sacrificial, Christlike faith.
Best read alongside the Book of Revelation, its objective is to demystify much of the ancient text which was written in code to protect early Christians from punishment if they were caught reading it. It identifies the secret code as threefold: a number code, a colour code and an animal code.
Dr Rowston uses three headings: Context, Content, and Connections as a way to guide us through the complexities of what is essentially a book of encouragement and hope for those who are seeking to be followers of Jesus the Redeemer and believers of God the Creator.
The book is not definitive, but it is enlightening.
Moira Mathie