Today, I'll take time not only to review my readings for today but also go back and get Rev. 1:3, remind myself of the BLESSING that comes along with merely the reading and heeding of this book. I'd forgotten!
"Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is at hand."
It's not just a book with some scary things in it, as some people think the book of Revelation is. It tells me a lot of things about what Jesus Christ is like, what God wants us to be like, and what He will do for us...and what I'm looking forward to most, the thing I can hold onto most--how do you say it--the "bottom line," the "When you get right down to it," kind of like Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon (Song of Solomon? How'd that get there? Oh--Solomon--because he was the wise one who wrote Ecclesiastes), but actually showing how it all ends up: the "final episode," so to speak.
"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter; God will bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil" is the OT forecast. In Revelation, we see God actually judging every single individual who will find he has no place to hide.
But that "judgment" perspective is only for those who have a judge--plaintiff relationship with God. It shows if you're more interest in how smart and successful you are--Solomon wrote those books, after all. But for those who are children of the King, Revelation should be very different--but too bad it's not. Most Christians think that Revelation's frightening "book reviews of the unregenerate" is for them too. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
Throughout the Bible, the Potentate of the Universe has been bending Himself down to express His infinite Father-love to His Own through the most Precious Way Possible: the Gift of His Lifeblood in Jesus Christ.
This is His Ultimate Revelation of Himself to His own Children. It is His Seal of Faithful Love, not a Horror Film, as the Unsaved think it is! Well, it probably would be, for them! Do we notice the little alerts God gives to us...for example, Ecclesiastes may've been written by Solomon, but GOD CHOSE JOHN, known as the disciple of love, to pen the book of Revelation. It seems to me He wanted to communicate a special message of endearment, to speak through this last book of the Bible.
Father, today, OPEN THE HEART-EYES OF YOUR CHILDREN more fully to what YOU would have us see, to have us want to see more and be more blessed! O Lord, I know this is in line with what You desire as well...in Jesus' blessed Name, Amen!
* * * * * * *
Something came back to me from DECADES ago. It's a snatch from a dream, only a few seconds long, if even that long. Daddy was alive then, and I was still single.
I was running away from something, and I saw Daddy up front. I ran in behind him, and he didn't know what was chasing me, just knew I was being threatened by something. He stepped fully facing whatever it was, almost announcing, "Nothing is going to hurt my daughter." and I felt utterly safe. I woke up then.
* * * * * * *
That, I think, is a little what Revelation should do to us. It should let us hear a voice booming from Heaven, "NOTHING TOUCHES MY CREATION ANYMORE!" And any of us who are His and have groaned in a broken world until now can know He will make all things right.
