Revelation part 2
People either love or hate the book of Revelation. Either use it as a club or avoid it completely. There doesn't seem to be much of an in between. Which is weird to me. Because I've read the book of Revelation. And it's the Revelation of Jesus. It's an in-depth look at the cross. It doesn't show what is coming. It shows what came. It shows where we are. And I think that is summed up pretty well in (you guessed it) one of my favorite Bible verses. "I heard a voice thunder from the Throne: "Look! Look! God has moved into the neighborhood, making his home with men and women! They're his people, he's their God" (Revelation 21:3 MSG). All throughout the Old Testament the cry of God's heart is for Him to be our God and for us to be His people. And then, in Revelation--again, an in-depth look at the cross--because of the cross, He IS our God and we ARE His people. The reconcilation that was always on God's heart... came to be. But here's the deal: It's too big. It's the biggest thing that ever happened. Back in the garden of Eden man disobeyed God. Believed the lie the serpent hissed in his (her... Adam and Eve together) ear. Thought he needed to do in order to be. Then thought he needed to hide from God. So many misconceptions. So many wrong moves built on false premises. Man believed a lie and everything went bad. "Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another person did it right and got us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble, he got us into life!" (Romans 5:18 MSG). And not just life... but HIS life! The abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of God! HIS life of love. That's what God gave us. That's what revelation is all about. He is revealing His life to us by revealing Himself to us. Showing us how to love by showing us His love. We learn how to love by learning how we are loved. That's why that personal relationship with our Heavenly Father is so vitally important. Letting Him love us so that we can love Him back by loving each other. Letting Him fill us up with His love so that we can fill ourselves up to overflowing with what He's already filled us with. If that makes any sense. And it all comes from Him. Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights. He's the Father of LIGHTS because we are the light of the world and He is our Father. He has a father's love for us. And it is His heart to reveal it to us. To reveal Himself--His love--in us, and through us, and as us. That's what revelation is about--and that's what the BOOK of Revelation is about. It's about God showing us who we are by showing us who He is. It's about God showing us His love so that we can know it with a knowlege that passes knowledge. Not just "Jesus loves me, this I know... for the Bible tells me so." I don't have a problem with that. But it's more than that. It's not head knowledge. It's heart knowledge. It's not book knowledge. It's experiential knowledge. KNOWING what you know because you've experienced it. It has been given to you. Revealed to you. And now you have it. Now you know it. And now you can believe it!