Gods love just keeps coming at us and it will keep coming at us right up until the very last day. Yes, that either means the very last day of the world as we know it, or the very last day of our lives.
The bible tells us that God wants everyone to be saved.
1 Timothy 2:4-6
4 God wants everyone to be saved and to fully understand the truth.5 There is only one God, and there is only one way that people can reach God. That way is through Christ Jesus, who as a man 6 gave himself to pay for everyone to be free.
I have been promising to post a story on Revelations for quite some time, but first I needed to lay down the bedrock.
The truth on which the Revelation lies. The truth that God loves us!
Everything he has done, everything he is doing and everything he still will do in the future, is because of His great love for us.
Usually just the mention of Revelation changes the atmosphere in the room to one of doom and gloom.
But this couldn’t be further from the truth.
Revelations is really a book of Love and Hope.
It’s a book that puts everything back into perspective for us.
It reiterates the true meaning of life.
The ‘revelation’ was given to the apostle John, who was the disciple that shared the closest relationship with Jesus. In fact he is referred to as ‘the one that Jesus loved’. He was 92 years old at the time that he was given this ultimate revelation of God’s love.
Only someone who has truly tasted God’s perfect love, could ‘see’ it and aptly write about it.
The Revelation unequivocally declares that God is sovereign. There is no greater power in all the universe. He cannot be compared with any leader, government or religion.
But, we are also made strongly aware that there is an enemy on the rampage. Sometimes it seems as if Satan’s power is increasing, but this is only temporary. We must be careful though, not to fall prey to his wily ways. He is after all, the king of deception.
There is however a BUT. Along with Revelations wonderful message of hope, there is a warning for those who have grown apathetic. The bible calls it lukewarm – neither hot nor cold. God doesn’t want us to be sitting on the fence. He wants our hearts to be for him. He wants our allegiance to be with him. He wants us to love him, because in loving him we will come to understand the true depth of his love for us and we will be able to love those around us with this love that comes from him.
In our world today, it feels as if people are further from God than they have ever been. (And I am just referring to my short lifetime, specifically just the last 25 years.)
In our world today, for the first time ever, man has denied that God is the Creator.
In our world today, people are supremely materialistic and have learned to rely on ‘things’
In our world today, people are arrogantly sceptical of everything that they cannot explain themselves
In our world today, people have been led into Atheism, Agnosticism, Humanism and Evolutionism.
In our world today, people actually deny that God exists.
In our world today, it no longer matters what you believe. It’s irrelevant to man because we are ‘free’ to believe what we want to believe, or nothing at all.
Throughout all the ages, man has never been so arrogant and so intentionally independent of God.
But, for those who keep their hearts open to God and faithfully endure the struggles in this world – they will taste a most beautiful victory.
Revelations reassures us that good will triumph over evil.
It gives us hope as we face difficult times.
And it gives us guidance when we are wavering in our faith.
For some though, there are many questions about whether it is written figuratively or literally.
(This actually goes for the whole bible.)
For me, I believe that the bible is the living word of God and that it is very literal. When Jesus took some mud, spat on it and rubbed it on a blind mans eye – he was literally healed. Not figuratively healed.
Just the other night, I sat at a dinner table listening to a bunch of very solid Christian men all giving their opinion on the bible. Not one of them agreed with the other. Not one of them saw it from the same perspective.
But this is the beauty of our relationship with the Lord. Not one of us will ever actually know, until we meet the Lord face to face. And in the meantime, we need to read the word, pray and trust that the Lord will reveal His truth to us.
Revelation is probably the hardest book to grasp because of its mystical and extremely vivid depictions.
Originally I thought that I would include a short summery of chapters 2 and 3 in my actual blog post because I found these chapters to be the most illuminating. But as I began writing, I realized that there is just too much detail and too much information to include. The best solution that I could come up with, is to do the teaching as a separate post so that those who want to take it deeper can read the book and then begin to study it on their own. I highly recommend this – it will be the most insightful and fulfilling study that you will ever do and it comes with a blessing too!
Revelation 1:3 tell us that “God blesses the one who reads the words of this prophecy to the church and he blesses all who listen to its message and obey what it says, for the time is near.
It is however important to know that there are different interpretations of this book. I have used the interpretation that really seemed to unlock its truths for me, but this one has really come alive for me but hold onto it lightly, because the interpretation should not change your faith in God – it should help grow your faith in Him. It should help you grasp a bigger picture and solidify your understanding of His ongoing interaction with humanity and His long term plan for all humanity to know him and enjoy a relationship with him.
I beg that you to read the book for yourself. Do a little study on it to help open up its pages and make it come alive. And pray about it and see what God is saying to you personally.
I can assure you.
Your eyes will be opened.
Your faith will be enlarged.
And you will be blessed.