Through seeking the mystery is wonderfully revealed

The book of Revelation for most is a mystery … the book where they try to crack the code. So what do you do with this book. Well, first and foremost, it is a letter with echoes from the beginning to the end. It is a pastoral letter to encourage God’s people in a time of persecution and suffering. But what about its relevance for today? It is both for now and it is also a book of prophecy.

Apocalyptic images contained in the book are not to be taken literally. It is not a puzzle book to be solved but a picture book to give encouragement. It is a blessing … but only if we take what it offers to us. In Chapter 1 we find that Jesus is the ruler over all God’s creation echoing what he said … ‘I am the Alpha and Omega.’ He is also the one who has freed his people from their sins by his blood. What was once applied to Israel is now applied to the church.

 

Freedom is not about the absence of control but the source of it.

 

In the early part of this passage Jesus said that He is the light of the world. The wrong things that people think and say and do are like darkness. This is what is called ‘sin’. Jesus came to change that. Later in the chapter He said that He could make people free. This was a surprise to the Jews. They thought that they were already free because they were part of Abraham’s family from long ago. The freedom Jesus was speaking about was different to what they thought. Jesus was speaking about being free from the control of sin and having God as their friend. How can people get this freedom which Jesus gives?

The wrong way to get this freedom is to trust in the things which we already have. It might be thinking we are God’s friends because we are part of a family. It might be because we think we have done a lot of good things like going to church. It might be because we think we are already a ‘good’ person. All these are the wrong way to be free from the control of sin.

The right way to be set free from the control of sin in our lives is by trusting in Jesus and not anything or anyone else. What Jesus did on the cross, when He died a terrible death, was as a payment for people’s sins. When we trust in Jesus and what He has done for us our sin is taken away. God doesn’t hold it against us anymore … ever.  Because of this, sin cannot control us any longer and we become God’s friends. We can then live to please Him by doing, saying and thinking things that are right.

 

 

 The well-known confrontation of David with Goliath has a wider meaning

The well-known story of David and Goliath, which we read about here, is a reminder of the ancient battle between good and evil. Whether we know it or not we are all part of this battle. David connects Israel’s honour with God’s. Sitting back and doing nothing was not an option for David. To him it was not a question of who would win the battle but how God would be honoured.

Just as it is a question of God’s honour, so too, in the battle between good and evil, it is important to keep in mind that this is His battle. If we try to make it our own, eventually we will no longer be able to fight. The way to fight the battle against sin is to remember that, in Jesus, we have already been rescued.

The battle between David and Goliath was seemingly so unequal that no-one could say it wasn’t God’s victory. When challenged by Goliath, David said ‘and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.’ It is the same with His people today …… united to Jesus in His victory over sin and death accomplished at the cross … received by faith alone.

 

 

Those who should have recognized Him were looking in the wrong direction

In the movie ‘Guess who’s coming to dinner’ the guest who arrives was quite different to what they had expected. In these passages we see that it was like that with Jesus. The Jews were expecting someone who would be a mighty military ruler to conquer the occupying Romans. Instead, Jesus came as a suffering servant who would deliver them from the bondage of their sins.

The Jewish Scriptures had told them that anyone hung on a tree would be cursed. They didn’t understand that Jesus would be on the tree for us … he bore our curse on the cross so that we could be set free. The prophet Isaiah saw a long time before it happened that ‘He was pierced through for our transgressions’ and also ‘by His scourging we are healed’. This healing comes to us as a free gift though faith.

One well known Hymn puts it like this … ‘his robes for mine O wonderful exchange’. The apostle Paul, in writing to the church in Corinth writes: ‘He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.’ (2Corinthinans 5:21)

 

 

 

Receiving something which is undeserved transforms peoples’ lives

 

God’s grace changes everyone and everything. The message in this passage can be looked at in two related ways. Grace changes our relationship with God and, therefore, grace also changes the meaning and purpose of our lives.

Through receiving something which was undeserved, forgiveness, people are changed. Once not physically dead but dead to God …. not wanting a relationship with God …. they come from this darkness into the light of life in Christ.

In Christ ….. united to Him by faith ….. people find that their lives have new meaning and purpose. They have been ‘purchased’ by the death of Christ as a substitute and are now willingly dependent on Him. There is no room for boasting or thinking of being better than others. Grace leads to humility.

 

 

 Hope in this world is a dream

Our hopes in things like ‘a better New Year’ are always dashed. The last Chapters of Revelation, however, give us a more accurate picture of the future. One which is not based on hope or luck but where God will be with His people forever and will wipe away every tear from their eyes , because it is based on a person, Jesus Christ.

In this passage, we find an invitation for the ‘thirsty’ to drink from the spring of the ‘water of life’ … the forgiveness which comes without cost through faith in Jesus. All this is to encourage His followers to persevere and not give up. There are also warnings for those who are tempted to turn back. We are further given a picture of the new heaven as a city, the church, which is the ‘bride’ of Christ, reflecting his glory.

God and the Lamb, Jesus Christ, will, in this place, be the temple. In the city we are told there is the tree of life. This is a connection with the tree of life in the garden of Eden and a reminder of the cross, that tree of wood, where Jesus suffered and died as a sacrifice and substitute. Through Jesus Christ, God has reversed the curse of Adam’s failure and brought his people to the place where they will finally fulfill his purposes.

 

 

 

Many people know about the gospel. That the word means ‘good news’ and that it is something which Christians believe and want to tell others about. Very few people, however, really grasp the wonder of the message. This final part of the first section of Paul’s letter to the church in Rome shows more of the ‘how’ of the gospel …… how this free gift was achieved by Jesus ….. how people were saved before He came …. how to respond to this ‘good news’ by trusting,  by not boasting and by living right.

There are many ways in which people try to justify themselves. It can be the things a person accomplished ….. work success, important positions, athletic achievements. It can be possessions or relationships. But the gospel is entirely different. It does not require anyone to try to justify themselves. It ‘justifies the one who has faith in Jesus’. Its all about what HE accomplished at the cross as a substitute. In this way it can be offered to people who are poor or rich, people who are from all nationalities and all ages. It sets a person free and is truly ‘good news’.

 

 

It is a deception which restricts the understanding to only what can be seen with the naked eye.

The book of Revelation is, for most, very hard to read. It is important to remember two things. Firstly, the sequence in the book is not chronological and it sometimes rewinds. Secondly, it is highly symbolic even though it represents real things which are unseen by eye.

In this passage there is a ‘trinity of evil’. The dragon, the first beast coming out of the sea, and the second beast coming out of the earth. These spiritual forces are the enemies of God and his people. They deceive the inhabitants of the earth and persecute those who love and follow Jesus. They do not, however, succeed. God’s people will always be kept safe and the persecution they suffer only serves to purify them.

There has been much confusion over what is called ‘the number of the beast’ which is 666. This number is not something that has to be decoded. It is the number for man and has reference to the beginning of the earth. The number 6 represents failure and is one short of the number 7 which is God’s number for perfection. The ‘trinity of evil’ can never prevail against God because in both the seen and unseen worlds his purposes are always accomplished. We see this in Jesus’ death on the cross and in Jesus’ resurrection to save all who come to him in faith.

 

 

When it comes to wisdom the danger is to be looking in the wrong places.

Where do you turn to for wisdom? There are the academics, other professional people and tools such as on-line search engines. This passage, however, provides a completely different source. It refers us to a message … it is the message of the cross. The apostle Paul calls it the wisdom of God.

What does this mean? It means that everything we really need to know for life and eternity is found in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross and his resurrection. It is regarded as foolishness to most who are looking for wisdom in the wrong places. Sophisticated knowledge which comes from purely intellectual pursuits fails to see our deepest need is for the forgiveness of our sins.

The cross is also referred to as the ‘power’ of God. For those who trust in Jesus, the priorities of their lives have changed dramatically. A new life found in relationship with God fills the believer with worship and renewed energy for living according to a different purpose. This is well put in the Lord’s Prayer … ‘Thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven’.

 

 

 

The ‘what’ of the Christian message is familiar to most people. The ‘why’ and the ‘how’ however are much less well known.

 

In Romans, Paul begins by putting his name to the letter and then briefly telling about  the ‘what’ before he goes on to the ‘why’ and the ‘how’. We find that the gospel (good news) was promised in the Old Testament Scriptures, it is about God’s Son, descended from David (in one sense) and resurrected from the dead.

 

We also catch a glimpse of Paul’s heart, addressing the believers in Rome as ‘beloved’ …… showing his care and concern for them and hope to visit them.

 

This first part of Chapter 1 finishes with Paul giving a glimpse of the ‘why’. He says he is not ashamed of the gospel, the momentous truths about Jesus dying on the cross and rising again from death, because it is God’s way of saving people and we now get a glimpse of the ‘how’ …..  it is by faith. Faith is simply ‘confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see’.

 

Verse 17 is the key …….. it contains a quote from the Old Testament “the righteous man shall live by faith”. Another way of saying this is ‘the one who through faith is righteous shall live’. Its not about what we have accomplished but our participation, by faith, in what has been accomplished for us by Jesus Christ on the cross.