The Motives of God [part one] ...

Since before our genesis, a question was raised regarding the character of God.  Why create choice if evil could be an outcome, doesn’t that make God responsible for evil.  Why must death be the only alternative to what God says?  If God could prevent tragedy and does not, is He not responsible for the tragedy that evil brings?  All of these types of questions were raised by Lucifer who became Satan.  Satan has consistently blamed God trying to assign the responsibility to God, for the decisions he alone made with his own free will.  The gift of choice to Lucifer was mis-used.  It was Lucifer’s choice to embrace the love of self, over the love of others.  It was Lucifer’s choice to disregard trusting the wisdom of God, and embrace relying upon his own wisdom and common sense.  Thus the choices of Lucifer led to his downfall, which he immediately blamed upon God.  Satan proscribed his own flaws upon his maker.  He cast dispersions on the character of God, and called the universe to wonder if there was “any” truth in the arguments Satan raised.

For the universe who remained faithful to God, doubt was not completely eliminated until Calvary.  When our God demonstrated that He would rather die Himself, than to see His children suffer that fate; He proved once and for all what love means.  The questions regarding the character of God were forever answered at Calvary for the unseen worlds who witnessed just how far love would go to save, and just how far evil would sink if it were allowed.  Love would die for another who did not deserve it.  Evil would kill God to satisfy a quest for power that could never be made whole.  But for mankind the questions remained open.  Even those who physically witnessed Calvary and His resurrection and ascension, did not fully understand what they were seeing.  We who have the benefit of scripture in a compiled text we are free to read due to the mercy of God, still do not fully understand what it is we read.  For mankind, doubt lingers.  We remain unconvinced.  When confronted with personal tragedy, even Christians begin to demand of God: the answers, the “why”. 

Consider that the Apostle John may have had the similar reactions to those we display every day.  Consider that despite his proximity to Christ, he had to wonder why he was being dipped in boiling oil.  And wonder again when it had no effect.  Failing to kill him, he was none the less sent into exile on the penal colony island of Patmos.  It was no luxury spa on the Med.  It was likely a dark dank cave in minimal lighting, scarce and bad food, with a rock for a pillow and a hostile guard for companionship.  This was no reward for a servant of the most high.  It was a torturous existence designed to drill the hope out of John, designed to break his sanity and his spirit.  He was sent there by the intent of evil.  To a place he would have no hope of escaping from.  It was likely in this place that the Revelations of Jesus Christ were offered to him.  In a place designed for him to question his sanity, he is offered insights into a universe beyond his human comprehension.

He sees 4 beasts who stand before the most high.  He sees the Father.  He sees the Lamb of God in power and glory as He was meant to be, not veiled behind the picture of humanity He existed within this world.  He sees angels of great might who speak to him openly.  He sees 24 human elders who minister before the throne of God and who regularly prostrate themselves before the Most High in worship and adoration.  John sees the horror of evil revealed through the ages.  He sees the fury of anger poured out in plagues upon those who refuse to repent.  None of the Revelations were common place.  None of these events lend credibility to sanity, if anything, they seem like a complete abandonment of sanity.  Imagine the doubt that must have been presented to him in that dark dank cave-like structure.  Perhaps you are mad.  Perhaps these are the illusions of one who has lost all contact with reality.  Perhaps these are nothing more than the dreams of a mad man.  Perhaps …

But at the end of all of the Revelations of Jesus Christ that were to be presented to John, comes the explanation for why they were given.  Now is to be revealed to John the answer man has yet to embrace.  The answer to the character of God, to His motives, is to be revealed in the most stunning of revelations.  Though since the words that follow had no symbolism in them, and were not cast in the light of prophecy, we the readers tend to skim over them.  We negate the importance of what follows the magnificent Revelations of sights beyond our eyes, because we are pre-occupied with these fantastic images.  But the plain speech, the plain revelation of the very motives of God, causes us no special attention.  We take no special notice.  But John does.  The man who has battled to cling to his sanity, now finds immense comfort in the revelations of His motives, for it explains the “why” we so often ask.

John begins in chapter 22 of Revelations in verse 6 saying … “And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.”  To begin with John, what you have seen is the Truth.  Like every prophet before you who must have also had doubts as to their sanity, what was fulfilled before, will be also fulfilled again.  You have seen Jesus (the Truth) revealed in every Revelation you were given.  You have seen the beauty of Truth as it offers messages of counsel and warning to the churches throughout time.  The things which are to come to pass are not in question, they are a surety and founded in Him, the Truth.  If your humanity doubts the magnitude of God’s reality, it is your humanity that is in error, not God.

John continues in verse 7 writing … “Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.”  The events about to transpire are to happen quickly.  The message to the first church was already relevant and needed.  The fall of the Roman empire was already in motion.  The decay of the church who calls itself by the name of Christ has already begun.  The war to keep scripture suppressed is already being formed in the hearts of those who would prefer to exert control over the believers, rather than encourage independent study and learning.  The angel does not lie to John.  He expresses the urgency of the sayings of these Revelations for they were already in motion.  While there would be many years after the death of John before the physical coming of Christ, the urgency of His return, and our need of redemption has never dissipated. We NEED Christ.  We NEED Him now, and fully, to remove the evil that lives within us.  We NEED to want something else, to make us into something different than the choices that we have made in our lives.  We NEED to be saved from ourselves.  This need is immediate and does not wait for His second coming to spring into action.  It is here.  It is now.  It is within our grasp, if we but allow it, and embrace it, and accept it from Him.

John goes on in verse 8 … “And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things. [verse 9] Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.”  Here John comes to the self-realization that what he has seen and heard is REAL.  He is NOT insane.  These are NOT the ravings of a mad man denied a lifestyle of any form of humanity.  It is not the brink of starvation, or disruption of sleep, that has caused him to see what he has seen.  It is the Spirit of the living God.  It is the messengers sent from the throne of God to reveal the Truth to him.  He is overwhelmed by it all.  It is so much for him to absorb.  He falls down to show his extreme gratitude to the messenger in front of him.  But the messenger is a “fellow” servant and will not accept the gratitude of John.  Notice the messenger is not in the least tempted to take credit for the words he was meant to convey to John.  Instead he instantly points John back to the source of the Truth, to Jesus Christ alone.  Gratitude should be reserved for God alone.

How often do those of us who are privileged to participate in service to God, in the ministry of the redemption of souls, eager to take credit for what “we” do in His service.  “We” give excellent speeches.  “We” write excellent words.  “We” perform acts of love and benevolence to others.  And when the recipients of our ministry come to us like John to the angel, when they acknowledge and praise what we have done for them.  Unlike the angel, we accept their praise.  We offer the words “no problem”, or “you’re welcome”, or “its ok”.  We accept their praise on the pretense of being polite, but the reality is more self-centric than that.  We crave the recognition.  We enjoy the accolades.  We like the “reputation” we build, and how we are “known” in the public eye.  So few consistently refuse thanks, and redirect it only to Christ.  So few understand the complete lack of ego the true servant of God lives by.  So few realize that no good deed exists outside of the love and transformation God creates in the human heart.  Gratitude should be pointed to God alone, for He alone is worthy.

John continues in verse 10 … “And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.”  Unlike Daniel of old, whose prophecies would extend for thousands of years and would not be fully understood in his own day; the prophecies of John already have relevance.  There is already an immediacy to the writings of John.  The prophecies revealed to him act in concert with those of Daniel and the prophets who preceded John.  They together weave a tapestry and point to our redemption and to His ultimate return to take us home to be with Him in His kingdom remade to include us forever and ever.  The Revelations given to John would be a source of study for us, but they were not meant to be a mystery we cannot decipher.  They were meant to be a road map to eliminate our fear and remind us of “how” we are to be saved.

John continues in verse 11 by penning the most terrifying text in scripture, or the most hopeful depending completely upon your own perspective and relationship with God … “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.”  So long have these words been quoted as an “edict” from the angel to John.  So long have we used this text to judge others, to attempt to use fear to motivate, to threaten the finality of our decisions before God.  But in so doing, we deny the truth of ourselves.  For none of us are yet able to stand before God and present ourselves as righteous, or holy.  We are ALL as yet unjust, and filthy.  The problem is in our use of this text.  It is not an edict.  It is a promise.  We, through the transforming power of the love of Christ and our submission to it, are to be MADE righteous, and holy.  It is His gift of salvation that transforms WHO we are, that saves us from HOW we think, and therefore WHAT we do, that will finally reach its fulfillment within us and make us righteous and holy.  The process of salvation is what Christ does FOR us, sometimes in spite of us.

To have faith that the Author of our faith, will also be its Finisher, is our role in the process of salvation.  We are to permit Him to transform us.  We are to submit everything about us on His altar.  We are to lay down our desires, the process of how we think, the decisions we think we make, all of it, offered up to Him.  In so doing, we literally die to self, and become reborn to serve others, to love others, to reflect who He is within our lives.  There is a finality to this text, but it is not meant to be a threat, but a promise.  Our present condition of evil within us, does not and will not always remain so.  Like Enoch who preceded us, it is possible to reach a state of perfection wrought within us by allowing Christ to remake us.  Enoch lived in times of the worst of human kind.  He was surrounded by people who made God sorry for His own creation.  Yet with Enoch, his surroundings did not serve as an excuse to avoid transformation, they only served as a reminder of his own need to be transformed.  So it can be with us.  We need not live with the pain in our lives of self-inflicted evil.  We need not be like those around us who indulge in more pain and sin every minute of every day.  Christ can be a relief to us, and transform us to STOP wanting to sin.

To remain righteous still, we must ALREADY be righteous.  To remain holy still, we must already be holy.  This is not a threat to become righteous or holy, it is a proclamation that the work of transformation within you will be completed.  The risk of continuing to sin for someone who does NOT want to sin is very small.  The risk of continuing to sin for someone who sees sin for the pain and death that it causes becomes non-existent.  Sin continues only for those who continue to desire it, to be self-deceived that it is still fun and exciting.  We must indulge the lie of sin, to remain held by its chains.  We must reject His transformation of what we want, in order to continue to want what is worst for us.  It is only as we lie to ourselves, and reject what Christ would save us from, that sin is permitted to remain.  The text of John promises us this need not be so.  The promise of John in this revelation is that it WILL not be so forever.  The destination is the same.  But how we arrive is the critical matter.

But the motives of God had only been partially revealed there was still more to come …