revelation

The Best Is Yet to Come

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“That’s plain enough, isn’t it? You’re no longer wandering exiles. This kingdom of faith is now your home country. You’re no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. God is building a home. He’s using us all—irrespective of how we got here—in what he is building. He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now he’s using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day—a holy temple built by God, all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home” (Ephesians 2:19-22, The Message).

Just you forgot where your real Kingdom is, here’s a reminder. It’s easy to make this world feel like our forever home, but it’s not. As my pastor used to say, at best life on this side of heaven is like a very clean bus station (or airport terminal). You can enjoy the stay, but you wouldn’t want to live at a Greyhound or at the nearest international airport.

When you understand where your real citizenship lies, it makes elections way less stressful. You know that this world is passing away along with all the messed up brokenness and injustice. The world that’s coming is so much better not because of pearly gates or streets of gold or even all those people you love being there, but because Jesus is there.

By the way, the Kingdom of God isn’t only an after we die thing. It’s a here and now thing. Every time anyone is born again, that person goes from being a captive to this world’s Godless way of doing things to the freedom of being a child of God and a fellow heir with Christ.

So don’t let the doom and gloom get to you. Remember that the best is still yet to come.

The Revelation

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The Book of Revelation is weird. It can be intimidating. A lot of people don’t like it because it gives them anxiety. Usually, that’s because they were taught to focus on the wrong things. Like what does this symbol mean? Are there tanks and atom bombs in this book? Are Russia and the United States in there somewhere, and when does World War III start?

But the book is not primarily about warfare. It’s about worship. It all centers around the throne room in heaven where all the saints and angels are gathered around the Ancient of Days. So much of the dialogue is familiar to a lot of people, especially if they’ve ever listened to Handel’s Messiah.

Once you understand that the main theme is Jesus ruling and reigning in victory, the rest makes a little more sense. At least I’m not nearly as concerned about what this dragon means or that woman giving birth. All of it points to how evil is finally getting its comeuppance. All the injustice in the world is finally vindicated. There is a battle, but it’s over before it even begins. Spoiler alert: Jesus wins.

I saw a quote a while back that sums it up perfectly: Revelation wasn’t written so that we’d build bigger bomb shelters in the back yard but so we’d build bigger tables and invite our friends over for meals and tell them about Jesus. John Piper says that missions exists because there are places in the world where worship of the one true God doesn’t exist yet. Missions leads to worship when everyone on earth has heard the good news.

Revelation is a celebration of the victory that is now and not yet. It’s about a Kingdom and a rule that is now and not yet. We see it in part and in certain places, but one day everyone will see it and every eye will see Jesus whom they pierced with the nails to put Him on the cross. Every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, whether in worship or under duress when they realize it’s too late to choose.

The enemy is a defeated foe, but he’s lashing out in his death throes, trying to take as many with him in his downfall as possible. But his time is short. All pain and suffering has an expiration date, and that date is getting closer and closer. And one day it will end. Death will end. And then real eternal life will truly start.

Come, Lord Jesus. Come quickly.

Back to Revelation

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All nine campuses of Brentwood Baptist Church recently started a sermon series on the book of Revelation. That’s a book of the Bible that gets a bad rap sometimes because so many of us grew up hearing about how it was all about the United States and the Soviet Union and World War III. There were helicopters and nuclear bombs and microchip implants, even though the book was written nearly 2000 years ago to a group of believers who were centuries away from that kind of technology.

Yes, there is a lot of symbolism and strange imagery in the book of Revelation, but mostly it’s about Jesus. I heard it described as a book of worship centered around the reign and rule of Jesus. Basically, if you wanted to summarize Revelation, it would be Jesus wins and everything’s going to be okay in the end.

It helps to remember that the book was written to a group of churches in the first century who were undergoing horrific persecution under Roman emperors. The believers needed a lifeline because the odds were good that many of them would lose their lives for confessing Jesus rather than Caesar as Lord.

There’s also been some problematic teaching about this book. I remember when Revelation was used as a kind of scare tactic to make sure people were ready to meet Jesus. As a result, many grew up fearing the return of Jesus instead of welcoming it and more have avoided the book of Revelation like the plague (pun intended) ever since.

But if a cliff notes version of Revelation existed, it basically would state that Jesus is in control. Though right now, chaos seems to be in charge, the reality is that Christ is ruling even now and one day we will see a new heaven and earth and all of creation restored.

I read a book once about Revelation called Unveiled Hope. I think that pretty much sums up the theme of the book quite nicely. And as Billy Graham once said, I’ve read the last page of the Bible, and everything’s going to be alright in the end.

Awestruck Wonder

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“Filled with wonder
Awestruck wonder
At the mention of Your name
Jesus, Your name is power
Breath and living water
Such a marvelous mystery” (Jennie Lee Riddle).

I listened to Revelation Song this morning and was struck again by the power and beauty of these words taken almost directly from Revelation 4 and Ezekiel 1. I can almost picture in my head the saints and angels gathered around the throne of God in perpetual worship and praise.

Two words jumped out at me this time: awestruck wonder. It reminds me of a phrase that I learned from my old church. When you have a WOW moment, you’re left WithOut Words. It’s like all the best moments of your life combined and then multiplied by thousands and millions.

Heaven will be one continuous state of awestruck wonder. It will never get old for us or become something that we eventually take for granted. It won’t ever be something we get tired of hearing or singing. It will be like starting a new book where every chapter gets better and better and it never ends, as C. S. Lewis puts it in The Last Battle, the last of the Chronicles of Narnia series.

When life gets difficult and the days seem longer than we can bear down here, it helps to remember that awestruck wonder is coming. We will go from anxiety and suffering to nonstop uncontainable joy. Everything that could possibly cause us to worry or fret or that brings us pain will no longer exist.

I eagerly await that day. Even now, I catch glimpses of the glory that’s coming. I have moments of joy and short seasons of peace and rest that remind me that the toil and heartache won’t last forever but will one day end. There will be no more night or cancer or AIDS or dementia or anything else evil and bad. We will be fully healed and restored and will know fully just as we have been fully known and loved by this God and Jesus that will be in our midst for eternity.

You Overcame

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Anyone else in here ever get a song stuck in your head? Or are you like me and have a virtual running jukebox in your head with music playing all the time. I mean All. The. Time.

The latest song that’s been playing in my brain is an oldie but a goodie by Jeremy Camp. I remember singing it in church back in the early 2000s. I wish it could make a comeback or that somebody could do a cover. Maybe somewhere some church could have a 2000s worship night.

The lyrics are straight out of the book of Revelation. This song is basically singing scripture, and to my mind, there’s almost nothing better when it comes to worship music than singing the word back to God. Here are the words:

“Seated above, enthroned in the Father’s love
Destined to die, poured out for all mankind
God’s only Son, perfect and spotless one
He never sinned but suffered as if He did

All authority
Every victory is Yours
All authority
Every victory is Yours

Savior
Savior, worthy of honor and glory
Worthy of all our praise, You overcame
Jesus, awesome in power forever
Awesome and great is Your name, You overcame

Power in hand speaking the Father’s plan
You’re sending us out, light in this broken land

All authority
Every victory is Yours

Savior, worthy of honor and glory
Worthy of all our praise, You overcame, You overcame
Jesus, awesome in power forever
Awesome and great is Your name, You overcame, yeah

We will overcome by the blood of the Lamb
And the word of our testimony, everyone overcome

We will overcome by the blood of the Lamb
And the word of our testimony, everyone overcome

We will overcome by the blood of the Lamb
And the word of our testimony, everyone overcome

We will overcome by the blood of the Lamb
And the word of our testimony, everyone overcome

Savior, worthy of honor and glory
Worthy of all our praise, You overcame, You overcame Jesus
Jesus, awesome in power forever
Awesome and great is Your name, You overcame

You overcame (You overcame)
Jesus (You overcame)
You overcame (You overcame)
You overcame

Savior, worthy of honor and glory
Worthy of all our praise, You overcame, You overcame
Jesus, awesome in power forever
Awesome and great is Your name (Your name), You overcame
You overcame
Jesus
You overcame” (Jon Egan)

Learning Something New Every Day

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I’ve been listening to The Bible Podcast by Tara-Leigh Cobble on Audible lately. It’s really supposed to supplement a daily reading Bible plan, but since I’ve been reading the Bible on a different plan, I’m basically listening to the segments straight through. It’s been like getting a crash course on the entire Bible in five-minute segments.

One thing I learned blew my mind a bit. It was after Jesus rose from the grave and met the disciples while they were fishing unsuccessfully. He told them to cast the net on the other side, and when they did they caught 153 fish, nearly breaking their net.

Apparently, there are 153 different kinds of fish in the Sea of Galilee, so they caught one of every kind. That harkened back to Jesus telling these disciples that soon they would be fishing for people instead of fish. This was a visual way of telling them that the gospel they preached was to be for everyone.

That means that in heaven there will be people from every single people group, language, skin color, ethnicity, country, and race. When Jesus returns, there will be no more unreached people groups left. Every one will have heard the good news. That means that this mission Jesus gave to us, His church, will not fail.

That should give us greater joy and hope. We can share the good news knowing that it’s never in vain. While not everyone will believe our message every time, we can know that what we preach and teach never returns void. We can labor with the confidence that God is at work mightily through what we do in the strength and power of His Holy Spirit in us.

I love the scene in Revelation when the heavenly throne room is crowded with people from every tongue, tribe, and race. I don’t know if we’ll each be singing in our heart languages and understand each other or if we’ll have a new heavenly vocabulary that we all share. But I do know the song will be the same and the God we sing to will be the same and the eternal praise that comes from joyful lips and hearts will be the same.

“I looked again. I heard a company of Angels around the Throne, the Animals, and the Elders—ten thousand times ten thousand their number, thousand after thousand after thousand in full song:

The slain Lamb is worthy!
Take the power, the wealth, the wisdom, the strength!
Take the honor, the glory, the blessing!

Then I heard every creature in Heaven and earth, in underworld and sea, join in, all voices in all places, singing:

To the One on the Throne! To the Lamb!
The blessing, the honor, the glory, the strength,
For age after age after age.

The Four Animals called out, “Oh, Yes!” The Elders fell to their knees and worshiped” (Revelation 5:11-14, The Message).

A Good Advent Prayer

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“Dear God,
Speak gently in my silence.
When the loud outer noises of my surroundings
and the loud inner noises of my fears
keep pulling me away from you,
help me to trust that you are still there
even when I am unable to hear you.
Give me ears to listen to your small, soft voice saying:
“Come to me, you who are overburdened,
and I will give you rest…
for I am gentle and humble of heart.”
Let that loving voice be my guide.
Amen.” (Henri Nouwen)

Those loud outer noises really crank up around this time. Buy this, buy that. max out your credit card to show your family and friend how much you love them. The more you spend, the better the gift.

The loud inner noises have a way of showing up at this time as well. You’ve got to make this season perfect or you’re not really celebrating the season right. You’re probably already screwing it up and it’s not even Christmas yet.

But that still, soft voice still speaks. If you lean close to the manger, you can hear the voice that arrived in the form of an infant saying, “For you, I came. For those just like you, I gave up a throne for a manger, a crown for a cross, royalty for servanthood. I did it all for you.”

Jesus didn’t come to affirm those who are well. He came for the sick to make them well. He came to seek and to save the lost, leaving the 99 to find the one. That’s you. That’s me.

That’s the same voice that says, “Come to me, all who are weary and overburdened, and I will give you rest.”

That’s the voice that says, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

That’s the voice of Him who will come again in triumph over all those loud voices that try to lead you astray. One day, those voices will all be silenced forever, but the still, small voice will be the voice that says, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades” (Revelation 1:17-18, ESV).

What We Think About God

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“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God. For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like” (A W Tozer).

Most people have the idea that God is like us — only bigger, stronger, faster, smarter, etc. He’s like the advanced, idealized version of us. But He’s not.

A lot of us have probably fallen into the trap of thinking that God would never do or say something because we would never do or say that. That’s a dangerous theology that puts me as the standard by which God must abide instead of the other way around.

God is not me on steroids. God is not like me. God is completely other. Apart from God’s divine initiative in revealing Himself to us, we could never ever in a million lifetimes know Him. But He revealed Himself generally through creation and specifically through Jesus. One famous author and theologian once said that Jesus was God spelling Himself out in a language humanity could understand.

All this talk about how religion is bad and we just need to follow Jesus is true to a degree. It depends on how you define the word religion. If it’s a set of rules that you need to follow to get to God, then it’s bad. But if it’s a way of understanding God, then it’s a good thing.

Believing in God is essential, but what you believe about God is vital. If you sincerely believe wrong things about God that don’t line up with the God of the Bible, then you’re sincerely wrong. You’ve chosen to follow a god of your own devising instead of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Who we are depends a lot on what we believe about God as much as if we believe in God. How we view God says a lot about how we view ourselves and others.

“I want neither a terrorist spirituality that keeps me in a perpetual state of fright about being in right relationship with my heavenly Father nor a sappy spirituality that portrays God as such a benign teddy bear that there is no aberrant behavior or desire of mine that he will not condone. I want a relationship with the Abba of Jesus, who is infinitely compassionate with my brokenness and at the same time an awesome, incomprehensible, and unwieldy Mystery” (Brennan Manning).

Spoiler: God Wins

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“… just slipping a note to those in the thick of it who really need to know right now how this all works out, how today ends, how this week ends, how this whole shebang ends:

SPOILER: GOD WINS” (Ann Voskamp).

“No doubt about it! God is good—
    good to good people, good to the good-hearted.
But I nearly missed it,
    missed seeing his goodness.
I was looking the other way,
    looking up to the people
At the top,
    envying the wicked who have it made,
Who have nothing to worry about,
    not a care in the whole wide world.

Pretentious with arrogance,
    they wear the latest fashions in violence,
Pampered and overfed,
    decked out in silk bows of silliness.
They jeer, using words to kill;
    they bully their way with words.
They’re full of hot air,
    loudmouths disturbing the peace.
People actually listen to them—can you believe it?
    Like thirsty puppies, they lap up their words.

What’s going on here? Is God out to lunch?
    Nobody’s tending the store.
The wicked get by with everything;
    they have it made, piling up riches.
I’ve been stupid to play by the rules;
    what has it gotten me?
A long run of bad luck, that’s what—
    a slap in the face every time I walk out the door.

If I’d have given in and talked like this,
    I would have betrayed your dear children.
Still, when I tried to figure it out,
    all I got was a splitting headache . . .
Until I entered the sanctuary of God.
    Then I saw the whole picture:
The slippery road you’ve put them on,
    with a final crash in a ditch of delusions.
In the blink of an eye, disaster!
    A blind curve in the dark, and—nightmare!
We wake up and rub our eyes. . . . Nothing.
    There’s nothing to them. And there never was” (Psalm 73:1-20, The Message).

It’s easy to lose sight of the end when you’re stuck in the middle. When evil seems to rule the day, it’s hard to believe that God can ever set things right. It’s tempting to fall into a cynical view of “Well, that’s it. We’re done for. There’s no hope left.”

But just as Billy Graham said, I’ve read the last page of the Bible and I know it’s going to be fine in the end. Actually, more than just fine. It will be better than the happiest ending in the best book you’ve ever read. It will be like in the last book in the Narnia series where all that happened before was merely the title page and prologue, but heaven is where the real story starts and where each chapter is better than the one before.

The Bible says for those who are in Christ that whatever the worst that we can face is light and momentary compared to the joy that’s coming. Read that again. The absolute worst we can imagine ever facing is light and momentary compared to the joy that awaits.

Not that what we face isn’t very real and very scary and very awful. But the joy ahead is infinitely greater and longer and lasting. It will be like the joy of a new mother holding her child after the pain of delivery, knowing it was way more than worth it.

It will be way more than worth it when we get there.

Revisiting Revelation

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I’m in the middle of a class on the book of Revelation at Brentwood Baptist Church. Actually, I started in the middle of the class after another one I was in ended.

This book is not for the faint of heart. There’s a lot of imagery. Some of it’s pretty, but some of it is unsettling and disturbing.

There’s also quite a bit of disagreement on what it all means. I’ve come to decide that there are people on all sides that are strong believers with solid theology who have come to different conclusions about this book.

There are a few things that most everybody agrees with when it comes to Revelation:

  1. The hardest part of the story is never the last part. There may be a lot of darkness but there are also much brighter days ahead when Jesus truly comes back for his Bride the Church.
  2. The good guys really do win. That is, Jesus wins. Good overcomes evil and justice prevails over injustice. There’s not a wrong that won’t be made right when Jesus comes in sight.
  3. Worship is still the best witness. I don’t mean just singing hymns or worship choruses. I mean a daily life of sacrifice and surrender, of renewal and transformation. I mean a life that declares the worth and glory of God 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
  4. The end of the story is really only the real beginning. I still love how C. S. Lewis puts it inThe Last Battle where he says that all of history was just the title page and preface while eternity is where the real story begins– a story that gets better and better with each new chapter.

Having said all that, I confess that this particular class still makes my head hurt. I really can’t keep up with all the dragons and beasts and bowls and trumpets and all that other imagery.

It helps to keep in mind that John wrote this book to believers undergoing incredible persecution and torture for their faith. The purpose was (and still is) to show that no matter how bad and hard life gets, God will always have the last word.