The Motives of God [part two] ...

The questions regarding the character of God must be answered; not for the universe who witnessed their fulfillment at Calvary, but for us who continue to ask “why”.  In our previous study John began his final revelation of Jesus Christ.  While it was not steeped in fantastic imagery and prophetic symbolism, it was in simple and plain speech.  It was meant for us to understand.  It was a simple answer to the complex question we ask of “why”.  We resume our study in the final 22^nd chapter of Revelations, it is here at the end of what would become the compilation of scripture we know as the Bible, that the last prophet of scripture would again reveal the motives of God clearly.

John writes in verse 12 ... “And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. [verse 13] I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.”  Here again is the promise of God, that He is coming back to retrieve us, to reconcile us to Himself.  This world is not our home.  A perfected character within us is His reward.  An eternal life of service and love to others is His reward.  He is the beginning of our salvation from ourselves, He is the Alpha.  He is the ending of our salvation from ourselves, He will see it completed in us, He is Omega.  He loved us First.  He will love us Last.  He is the reason we seek to see ourselves changed into His image.  It is His love that draws us.  It is the power of His love that will change us, and make us into the creations He intended us to be.  His “reward” is not punitive.  This is not another veiled threat for the disobedient.  It is a promise of close proximity for those who have permitted Him to save them, and claim them as His own.  There is no higher calling the in the gospel than that of redemption.

John continues in verse 14 … “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”  Blessed are they.  We could easily define blessed as “relieved”.  We could define it as “fortunate”.  We could define it as “lucky” or “gifted”.  Blessed is not about the attainment of wealth.  Blessed is about a recognition that in having been transformed from the former things we used to want, we are now FREE to live another way.  We are free from the chains that bound us to pain and death, and able to live for loving others, in the perfect freedom to serve others.  In this context, the commandments are automatic.  In the context of perfect love for others, the commandments are not nearly enough of a definition for loving God, and loving others.  Our “right” to the tree of life and entry into the holy city our home is intended to be, is not founded upon our own will, or actions, but upon our complete transformation wrought by Him within us.  We are permitted entry, and given the fruit of the tree of life, because we no longer want sin in any part of our hearts, minds, or lives.  We are free from sin.  We are made free from it by Christ.  We automatically keep the commandments now, because loving others is “who” HE made us to be.  There is no part of the definition of love contained in His commandments that is foreign to us, or a problem or us.  They are inherent in our thoughts and desires, for our desires have been transformed by Christ.  We are safe to admit into the perfection of our heavenly home, because our desires have been perfected within us by our Savior Jesus Christ.

We LONG to spend a special day with our God, where He takes the time off to be with us.  We would not consider taking His name in vein.  We love Him above all else.  He is first to us.  There is no other.  For our fellow man, we would not consider taking or coveting anything they own.  Instead we long to give them anything that might make them the least bit happier.  We do not lust, or consider adultery, or in any way wish to break the special bond of intimacy that is shared with our own spouse, but instead we prize and treasure this bond of unity above all others.  We love our parents and think only how we might serve them better.  We never want to see death again, nor pain of any kind.  We would gladly give everything we own to God, or anyone in need, 10% is 90% too little.  We do not wish our appetites to cause any of Gods creations to suffer or die; instead we would gladly eat anything he provides to us in whatever form it comes.  We are no longer governed by the chains of self-love, but have the perfect freedom to love others alone, and God most of all.

This is HOW we were made to live.  This is how life was meant to be.  This is what we will one day come to embrace as natural to us, instead of a struggle for us.  But to become natural, Christ must make it natural within us.  What is carnal within us must be killed, it must be eliminated.  What is created by Christ within us in its stead, is what makes us Blessed.  The law becomes a part of who we are, of how we think.  Love for others alone motivates us.  It becomes the “why” we do what we do.  Credit for our actions is no longer wanted.  The gift of what we do for others, is itself, our only reward.  To make others happy is all we seek.  This is what He frees us to experience.  This is the reason we are safe to admit into heaven.  This is the reason it is safe for us to live forever eating from the tree of life; for we will no longer live eternally in pain, or in sin, but in perfect freedom and happiness and love for God and others.

John continues in verse 15 … “For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.”  Here is partial list of the opposite of Blessed.  In this instance “dogs” is not a literal designation, but a representation of those who would eat anything, attempt to have sex with anything, and bite or destroy anything that pleases them.  Sorcerers are those who would embrace the quest for power at any price, even of that of their own souls.  Sorcerers know it is not God who offers them supernatural power, for they are know that God is not about control but about choice.  So knowing full well that evil alone powers them, they embrace the demon that would offer power and lose themselves in it.  Whoremongers are men and women who want sex at any cost, from any one, any time.  They are the self-indulged, they prize orgasm above morality, and treat it as biology alone.  Murderers kill any as it suits them, or feeds their greed, or makes them feel powerful.  Idolaters need not bow before wood, or stone anymore, they need only bow to the image in the mirror before them every day. 

Those who “love” and make a “lie” – how broad a categorization of those who “claim” to love others, but in truth only “love” themselves.  Every person engaged in adultery has always thought themselves “in love” with their cohort in crime.  Every person engaged in pre-marital sex justifies their actions based on a declaration of “love” for their partner, yet no commitment that would make it binding, just an intention perhaps to one day see about taking the next step.  Every person who claims to love another, but does so only when it is convenient, only when they can afford it, only because they feel it is a 50-50 relationship, understands little about the truth of love for others, and is self-deceived in that they only truly love themselves.  The love of self, is not love at all.  It is a perversion.  It is an abomination.  It is the cause of every sin, every pain, and the reason for the existence of death.  These people who embrace the chains of self-love are those who are not permitted entry into heaven, and do not live life, but rather live in a state of tortured existence.  It is not a kindness to see them eat from the tree of life and remain forever in a state without the hope of decay or death to end it.  Having rejected redemption, death is now their only hope for an end to it.  It is a kindness to see the existence in self-inflicted torture ended, either through redemption and rebirth, or through death and non-existence.  Anything is better than living forever in the self-embraced tortured state of sin’s pain and misery.

John continues in verse 16 … “I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. [verse 17] And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”  Herein is the motive of God revealed.  Herein is answer to the question of “why”.  It is Christ that bridges the gap that ties together from before our genesis as the bright and morning star, to the genealogies of Israel and house of David, to the Spirit and the bride who say “come”.  First and last, Alpha and Omega, beginning and the ending, for all of time and eternity it is the love of God that invites us to “come” and be with Him.  Everything He has done to redeem us, is about bringing us home with Him, to be where He is, and to live with Him forever.  This is the answer to “why” – it is because He loved us before we even existed, and intends to be with us forever.  Nothing that happens to us is meant to distract us from that ultimate goal.  No evil that befalls us is outside of His notice or concern. 

For love to be a choice, it MUST be a choice, it cannot be forced or it is not love.  So what He offers us, is the invitation to His love, He bids us “come”.  It turns out our God is not a God of justice, more than He is of forgiveness.  Forgiveness was more important to God than justice.  Love was more important and more powerful than evil.  Good triumphs over evil because God is good, it was known, before there was ever an alternative idea to good.  Love is the over-riding motive of our God in every CHOICE He has made, despite the ones we have.  His Love was a choice He made for us.  No one forced God to love us, He chose to.  No one forced God to forgive us, or free us, or reclaim and re-create us, He chose to.  It was His free-will choice to love us, and that love stands behind everything He has ever done for us.  Our choices have brought evil and pain upon us, and despite what we have done, His choice remains to love us.  He longs to heal us as we let Him.  And here at the end of all things, His choice bears fruit in surrendered souls who can now taste the perfection of life He intended them to exist within.  His motive always was, and always will be, love for others.

Let whosoever will; anyone who wants to can drink of the water of life freely.  Anyone who wishes to experience Christ for themselves is welcome to do so.  There are NO restrictions.  There is NO ONE who is excluded from doing so, no matter how evil they think themselves to be, or how righteous.  ALL can come to Christ, and drink freely.  All can experience salvation, to be made free from the chains of self-love, to instead love others alone and God most of all.  Those who thirst, those who perceive the need for something more, are bidden to come and drink freely.  Those who have heard the gospel of Christ, are bidden to join and echo the invitation bidding ALL to “come” and drink freely.  Notice there is not one hint of condemnation in these precious words of hope.  Nowhere is there a prerequisite to be holy before we come, but instead allow the waters of life to make us holy after we come.  Nowhere in this text of redemption is a hint of judgment and condemnation over how we live our lives.  He already knows we are bound in the chains of sin, it is the reason He wants us to “come” so that we can be made free from them through submission to Him and His love.  He does not point us to focus on our pain, but instead maintains our focus on Him, the cure for our pain.  Our lives will change, but this is His promise to us, not His edict.  We will live differently because His love changes us as we surrender.  Not because we “try” harder to be “good”.  A different way of thinking, of loving, and of living is the gift He brings to us.  He creates it within us.  He makes us over again.

The message of the Christian should be to “come”.  It should be an invitation to the world, no matter what condition we find the world in.  The goal is not to keep the world outside of the church, but to get the entire world into the church in order to free it to love others.  The waters of life that flow from Christ cannot be polluted by the sin sick souls who come to drink.  Rather they purify those who drink and begin to change them from the inside out.  There is no risk that Christ will be tempted by the sins of the world, He instead longs to free us from the sins of the world.  It is NOT the job of the Christian to maintain the “standards” of the church by eliminating or ostracizing those who are caught in the pain of sin.  It is the job of the Christian to love them, and bid them “come”.  We are to JOIN with the Spirit and bride and bid them “come”.  We are not to declare war on the Spirit and the bride, and begin a campaign of exclusion, under the self-righteous pretense of standards and holiness.  We are to love the ones in need, and bid them come.

John echoes a warning in verse 18 writing … “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: [verse 19] And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.”  So often we attribute this warning to maintaining the content of the Bible in its current form, with the proscribed number and order of books in both Old and New testaments.  Or we focus on insuring that the book of Revelation is not altered in any way.  But what if the meaning is bigger than that?  What if it applies to the invitation that immediately precedes it.  What if we are supposed to ONLY offer the invitation in love to “come” and drink the waters of life freely.  What if the intention of this warning was for the Christian church to keep it simple, to offer the love of Christ freely and bid “whosoever will” and “anyone who thirsts” to come and find the love of Christ reflected in us and directly from Him?

Perhaps the goal of this warning was not simply to keep the scribes who would transcribe the texts of scripture faithful in their efforts for the last 4 thousand years.  Perhaps it was to prompt Christians to remember that Christ bid them a great commission to love others and in so doing let the world identify them as His servants.  We need not embellish the words of Christ, nor should we feel free to take away any words He uttered.  Christ is sufficient to save us.  We can instead speak the words of His promises with absolute confidence that He has never failed, nor will He ever.  We can instead point to His warnings and use them as a guide to reflect how we “feel” about them as an indication of where we are in the transformation of our own desires.  The scriptures we have been gifted with, are sufficient to point us to Christ, and allow Him to lead us to His Truth, in His time, and in His way.  He knows what needs to be done to save us, and He is able to complete that work within us.  We may not always understand His methods, but we can have absolute certainty in His motives, and faith in Him to complete this work within us.

John concludes his book of Revelations in verse 20 writing … “He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. [verse 21] The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.”  John had no idea that these words would be placed numerically as the last text written in what we call the Bible.  He did not know, nor could he know, that other manuscripts from Paul, or Phillip, or Peter might someday be discovered, collected, and compiled into a larger volume we would come to know as the Bible.  But God knew.  It is no accident that the last verses penned in our Bible are a longing for the return of Jesus Christ to our world.  It is no accident that the “grace” of our Lord Jesus Christ was offered as a blessing to all.  It is by His grace that we are saved.  Saved from our sin, saved from ourselves, saved from the evil of self-inflicted pain.  We are saved by His grace.  We do not deserve our salvation, but are offered it anyway. 

John concludes with a longing for His return.  John concludes with a blessing in the pronouncement of prayer that His grace with remain with us all.  In this his final revelation of Jesus Christ, John offers us the motives of our God – to be with us, to see us saved.  No matter what happens to us, these remain the motives of our God – to be with us, to see us saved.  It is the answer to “why”.  It is the reason for revelation.  It is the Truth behind every scripture.  It is the message of the gospel.  It is the only doctrine that matters in the Christian faith, for it is the only one that can see us – with our God, and saved.  All the rest of scripture can give us insight into our God, and context for what has occurred.  But the answers penned here are really all that count – to be with us, to see us saved.  This was in the heart of our God before we even came into existence.  This was the plan of our God, who in spite of His knowledge of the poor choice we would make, created us anyway.  For His love was greater than our choice.  His love was able to redeem us in spite of our choice.  And His love has never faltered from the goal of wanting – to be with us, to see us saved.

If there is any better final thought to be penned in scripture, I cannot imagine what it might be.  To be with us, to see us saved.  Let that always be how we choose to remember the Revelations of Jesus Christ, and entirety of the book we call the Bible …

 

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 …

 

Worship Re-Imagined ...

In our last study, John revealed to us that the city of heaven, the bride of Christ in which we will live in a level of intimacy with our God that is today akin to marriage – is 1500 miles wide, long, and tall.  That is a city bigger than any that has ever occupied our planet.  It is larger than most countries.  No matter if from a distance it resembles a cube with buildings of equal height, or a pyramid with the throne of God at its center, and every other structure descending in height until you reach the walls around the city, the population this city is capable of holding is well beyond our comprehension.  At a minimum, we will reside there forever.  But heaven may be bigger than just a “human” home, as two thirds of the angels may well reside there with us.  Where else would they live?  In addition to our angelic neighbors, heaven may well be filled with animals, birds, even bugs perhaps, as all living creations long to be near their creator.  Heaven may well be filled with plant life.  The city may look less like a “concrete jungle” than we might at first imagine.  Just because it has streets of nearly translucent gold, does not also mean that beside them is grass of softest texture and hue. 

But in addition to what is reasonably possible for us to imagine heaven will be like, there may also be other residents there that were sentient creations of our God before we came to life.  The 4 “beasts” John saw before the throne of God may well represent other sentient life forms that pre-date our creation and may also occupy residence in the city which has been prepared by Christ for our new home.  But no matter what kind of “life” does live there, no matter whether we occupy homes that are 1500 miles above ground, or perhaps in a basement who knows how many floors below it, the entirety of the city is filled with the light of God, with His presence.  The goal of having a city like this is literally for us to live with our God, to be with Him.  God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit reside here.  This was their home before it will be ours.  This was where they were located, before there was an Eden created in our world.  Perhaps Eden will now reside there like heaven’s version of Central Park in NYC (minus the crime and decay).

Companionship is the central theme.  We are not alone.  Nor will we ever be alone.  Even in a crowd of people numbering in the billions, each and every one of us will directly and uniquely experience the nearness with our God.  Loneliness of any kind will become extinct.  All of mankind is related to each other as in some way as we all trace our roots back to Adam and Eve.  I wonder if this is the scale God thinks about when He proclaimed be fruitful and multiply.  It is in the context of this level of scale, we are forced to re-examine how we think about “worship”.  John offers us a simple text in his book of Revelations about Jesus Christ in chapter 21 and verse 22 saying … “And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.”

What is missing from the city of heaven is any sort of temple or church.  There are ZERO buildings dedicated to the assembly of people intent on “worshipping” our God.  Think about that statement as this is not by accident, and is a condition that will be permanently the case in our future home – there are ZERO buildings set aside for the purpose of “worshipping” our God.  In our world today, Catholic Cathedrals are some of the most beautiful structures that have survived the decay of the ages.  They are artistic and ornate and inspire mankind to elevate his thinking towards the divine.  But none exist in heaven.  Neither are there Mormon Temples, or simple white-steeple Protestant churches, or Asian shrines of any kind.  There are no place where candles are burned, incense is offered, or alters or pulpits constructed.  This does NOT mean worship is no longer a part of heaven.  How could we avoid worshipping the God who has done so much for us?  NOR does it mean, we no longer assemble ourselves together, as the whole point of having a city home, is to be in close proximity with each other and with God.

And this is more than a practical acknowledgement that to build a single building designed for worship might take a construction equal to the size of heaven itself in order to fit us all in it.  This is not about practical architectural constructs.  This is not about limitations.  This is not about accommodating the laws of physics.  This declaration is by intent.  John offers the reason for the noticeably absent structures in the same verse … “for the Lord God Almighty, and the Lamb are the temple of it.”  Worship has NEVER been about buildings, it has been about WHO we worship.  How we love matters.  Who we love matters.  It is our love for God that underpins our desire to worship Him at all.  Our gratitude must find expression.  But real worship is more than simply saying “thank you”.  I venture a guess, that if Bill Gates gave you 10 billion dollars, you might not limit your expression of gratitude to a single one time verbal offering of just “thank you”.  Likely you would feel the need, the desire, to “do something” nice to show him your gratitude.  How much more it is for our God, who has given us everything.  To say “thank you” will never be enough.  We will be compelled of our own desire to “do something”.  We will want MORE than words, more than music, more than sitting around listening to someone else teach scripture.  We will want to LIVE our praise, LIVE our worship, LIVE our gratitude.

The beauty of heaven is that no matter where we are, God is right there with us, visibly.  His light illuminates our city such that there is no dark corner in it.  Our planetary sun will reflect light from God, originating here on our earth, instead of the other way around.  So to worship God, there will be no need of a temple, as He will be ever present.  This does not mean that all the residents of heaven will never get together all at once, at one location.  However it does mean, we need no building dedicated as a temple to do it in.  Every building offers us that same level of ability.  We can worship God in every structure from the library, to the central park, to the farthest outpost in the most seemingly unlikely place.  Buildings do NOT define, or constrain our worship.  They never have.  They never should.  Buildings are only a practical construct that allows us to assemble for a specific purpose.  WORSHIP is something that can and should happen everywhere regardless of the building around us at the time; just like it will be in heaven.

One of the chief “false measurements” of our faith here on earth is whether or not we … “go to church”.  This implies that faith is found and enriched by a building dedicated to that purpose.  But it is not.  “We” who choose to follow Christ, are His church, no matter where we are.  When we gather together, when we bring other parts of the body, with different perspectives of our Lord, into the same location, we are effectively creating a temple.  When we get beyond the need to say a simple “thank you” and find ourselves driven to “do something” – sitting in a building dressed in fineries will just not get it done.  Listening to a sermon, while awesome, is simply not enough.  We will want more.  We will need more.  We will desire to “do” more.  Our faith cannot be content in only a listening posture, it needs exercise.  Let’s take church (which is us) outside of our temples and cathedrals, and to others who need our love … you know … like how it is done in heaven.

Our biggest problem with how we worship, is that we continue to keep it self-centric.  “Worship” music has become a phenomenon in Christian churches.  It makes us “feel’ closer to God when we sing it.  It gives us the warm fuzzy of “being” with God.  But touching hearts CANNOT be constrained to only the lyrics and melodies we recite ad nauseam in our sanctuaries.  It MUST be experienced in the street to be real.  Our families need our love in a practical sense.  Our co-workers need our love in a very real sense.  Our communities need our compassion in a real sense.  There are real needs everywhere around us, and we would only offer God our songs, but not our hearts.  We would offer God our time once a week for 3 hours, in a particular building where we have a particular role (most often sedate, and in listening posture).  But upon “going home from church”, our “worship” ends.  That is not worship, it is ritual.  For most of us, the lyrics in the song’s we sing to honor God, bare a testimony we have never had in our hearts, for ourselves, but this need not be the case.

Worship happens at home.  Worship happens at work.  Worship happens at entertainment venues.  Worship happens when we choose to love others and in so doing offer back to God a “do something” expression of our gratitude instead of a “talk about it” offering.  In heaven worship is something that can occur 24x7 in every building there.  So it should be here on earth.  Seventh Day Adventists like to make a huge distinction by only choosing to “worship God” on the day He created for it.  But ONLY on that day.  And most often, ONLY for 3 hours in the local church.  THEN we go home, we go back to our lives, and we do not think much about worship until the next Sabbath arrives.  Instead of the Sabbath being the pinnacle of our worship, instead of it being the height of our worship, it is the only 3 hours we spend in worship.  The rest of the week is “ours”.  Heaven forbid we find ourselves in a cathedral on Sundays, or in any other structure dedicated to “worshipping” God on Sunday, or a Mosque on Fridays.  For an Adventist, this is a sin.  The symbolism of false worship is a problem.  But is that symbolism really constrained to being in the “wrong” place on the “wrong” day … or is it because we are holding the “wrong” ideas in our hearts even when done in the “right” place on the “right” day?

“Worshipping” God only on Sunday, is as limited and short sighted as only doing it on Friday, or only on Saturday.  Our God is not a weekend-warrior nor should we His servants be.  Worship should be happening constantly.  Not the proscribed formats that have become our weekend rituals, but the free flow expression of love for others that can actually change the world around us for the better.  A real “do something” form of worship that makes a tangible difference in the life of someone other than you.  Do that, and then sing about it.  Do that, and then share about it.  Do, and find, that in doing, there is real worship.  So long have we decried our youth for not “attending” church anymore.  Perhaps we should go to our youth and have them join us in church, right where they are.  Let us show them the beauty of “doing something”.  Our churches, and our Sabbaths, should be the pinnacle of our assembly and desire to share our experiences of worship that have occurred every other day of the week (yes including Sunday).  God is not dishonored by our worship and expression of love to others on any day … He is most often dishonored because of our refusal to do so, unless and until it is convenient for us.

True worship is not about making us feel better, or warm and fuzzy.  It is about a desire to give back to God the offering of gratitude that simply cannot be constrained.  When we “do something” about how we love our God, we get dirty.  Sometimes loving others means taking action that makes us sweat, in heated environments that are not air conditioned.  Sometimes working tirelessly for someone else is not too glamorous.  In fact, it is often quite humiliating.  It requires patience.  It requires long suffering.  It requires dedication.  It is rarely appreciated.  But it is NOT work … it is reward … it is gratitude expressed … it is worship, the real kind.  Whether we help change a tire for a stranded motorist we have never met, or cut the lawn for a neighbor who we know lacks the strength to do so; when we perform random acts of kindness for others, we most often find it is hard to do so wearing our best clothing.  Simple clothing designed to serve is more appropriate for random acts of kindness.  A suit is too constraining for a worshipper bent on “doing something” about how they feel towards God.

I am not advocating the abandonment of “church”.  Instead I want to redefine it.  Instead I want to expand what it means to worship.  I want to break the self-imposed limitations of our rituals we call church, and replace them with something more, something real.  You do not need a pastor and a support system of like-minded believers to reimagine worship between you and God.  You can begin worshipping God right where we you are, and right where you work.  In so doing, you will be worshipping in the model heaven intends for all time.  Take up your random acts of kindness and love and recall the results in the place you call church.  Do not limit your worship to 3 hours on a particular day, but instead let that 3 hours become the pinnacle of worship you have accumulated on every other hour of the week ahead.  Most of all, break the cycle of associating a building for a specific purpose as being “church”.  “You” are His church.  “You” represent Him to the world around you.  “You” are a part of His body, not the whole of it.  You will need the perspective of other body parts so that you do not come to believe you know everything there is to know.  Gather as many parts of the body as you can find, and join together in your efforts to make a real difference in the world around you.  In so doing, you provide better service to others.  You can lean on each other’s strengths, cover each other’s weaknesses, and learn about Him in humble service with each other - meant for others.

The Revelation of heaven given to John causes us to rethink what worship is, and how we do it, where we do it, and when we do it.  Having a special day of God’s creation upon which to enjoy special time with Him, was not meant to replace all other times as being for “ourselves”.  A special time, is exactly that, a special time – not the ONLY time.  In heaven God will be with us all the time.  The one day in seven when that is something special is like the icing on the cake, not a replacement for the cake.  One day in seven things will be even more extreme, more beautiful, closer still if that is possible.  It does not mean that a 3 hour window in sedate posture accomplishes the goal keeping a day holy.  It means we will long for the next full 24 hour window when that level of “special” arrives.  It is the difference between “talk about it” religion and “do something about it” religion.  Most of us eat two or three times a day, but we ALL still appreciate a “special meal”.  Our worship should emulate the same thinking.  We can express our love to God by serving others all the time, and find a special blessing on the day He intended to free us from all our other concerns.

If there is no need for a temple in heaven for all of eternity … why have we created a need for them here upon our earth?  If our buildings serve as headquarters for an action oriented approach to worship, if they serve as places to coordinate and organize our service for others, then they are well suited for the purpose of worship.  If however, our buildings serve only our “need” for ease and opulence, and as a place in which we can demonstrate our wealth in cars, clothes, jewelry, and accessories to the neighbors who sit next to us in the pews, and for whom we care barely muster a care … our buildings have lulled us into a false worship that no holy day can ever correct.  Buildings should be tools in His service.  They should serve a function that makes a difference in the lives of others.  They should not be thought of as the ONLY places where worship, or church can occur.  Heaven finds no such limitations in it.  Why should we impose such limitations on ourselves in this world?

A heart that has been transformed by the love of God, who reflects that love and passion for others, is simply not content to sit for 3 hours a week, and be done.  A transformed heart craves more.  It is insatiable.  It has a hunger to do more, to experience more.  It cannot be bound or constrained by a building.  For those who have a transformed heart, there is too much opportunity to sit still.  There is too much love that is needed, to hold any back.  There is too much pain around us to focus only on our own needs, failures, pains, and desires.  The transformed heart yearns to provide relief to others, not to itself.  The transformed heart will never be content to remain still while a single need goes unfulfilled in the life of someone within their reach.  The love of God is such.  The life of Christ on the earth was as such.  It remains so even today.  As we are transformed by the power of the love of Christ, we begin to reflect that love, and that passion, and it causes us to reimagine what worship is, and how, and when we do it.

And the insight into heaven was not over yet …

 

All Things New ...

Ever wonder what happens after the ending … “and they all lived happily ever after”?  Scripture could have ended at the second coming of Christ.  From that moment on, everything we need to know, could have been told to us directly by Jesus.  Every event that is going to happen from then on, will happen, as it is supposed to.  Our trust in God will be complete.  His work of perfection in us complete.  So why keep revealing even more of our future then, to us now?  Our previous study shows that even after our redemption is completed, scripture goes on to reveal there is an end, a final end, to evil.  Evil is gone away now forever at this point.  Death itself, and hell, have been consumed in the lake of fire.  The flames have gone out.  Our freedom of choice has been preserved, and love has finally conquered evil forever, as only love could do.  So why not end scriptures then?  Why are there yet 2 more chapters in the book of John’s recorded Revelations?  These remain Revelations of Jesus Christ.  And while we are not there yet, nor perfected yet, there is still something more we need to know about what will happen then, that is relevant to us today.  Somehow the knowledge of the aftermath of evil is needed for us today, in order to help us know our Lord better, and make a better choice to let Him redeem us completely.

So John begins in chapter 21 and verse 1 writing … “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.”  In one verse, everything we know today is wiped away.  Every monument built by men, every glittering city, from ancient Babylon bathed in gold, to modern New York City towering into the sky, there is nothing of any of them left.  Everything we spend our lives building in this world today, every project at work, every effort to better our lives in ever increasing ease or splendor, is wiped away.  From country estates, to third world hovels, there is nothing left of any of them.  Nature too, is to be reset.  The Grand Canyon, Sahara Desert, Rain Forests of the Amazon, Siberian winters, and Sequoia trees of the Pacific Northwest are all wiped away in a moment.  The magnitude of the Pacific ocean, Atlantic ocean, and polar regions are all to be reset as well, with John stating there is no more sea.  The Mediterranean sea was the only one John had ever known, it is considerably smaller than the oceans we are familiar with, and still there is no sea to be left.

Is it possible, this simple verse is offered to us now, so that our priorities can be properly set?  No matter what we value or work to build in this earth, it is NOT going to last forever.  No amount of work we do in this world, no job we undertake, is anything more than temporary.  Everything we know is to be wiped away and made new, made perfect.  The only thing that endures from this world to the next, is you - having submitted yourself to the power of Jesus Christ’s redeeming love.  When once your salvation from your slavery to self has begun, you begin to notice there is yet further treasure that could endure past the complete destruction and renovation of this world … it is those you choose to love.  As His love grows more and more within you, you come to realize there is no such thing as an enemy.  An enemy is only a closest friend, who simply does not know it yet.  The love of Christ is great enough to embrace ALL of us, not just some, not just those of like mind, or like faith.  To see His love reach those we love brings to us an infinite treasure whose worth will never be fully appreciated.  To see His love reach those who used to call themselves our enemy, is of no less worth.

John continues in verse 2 … “And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”  Jerusalem of old was the city where the Ark of the Covenant was brought.  It was the place where the presence of God could be felt by His people.  It is no accident that past the end of all things we know, the city of New Jerusalem (or heaven) is to once again be the city where the presence of God is to be felt by His people.  You will notice John does not call the city of heaven the new “Rome”.  Nor does he refer to it as the new “Washington D.C.”, or new “Babylon”.  These 3 cities were built by men as well.  They all purported to serve the living God at one point or another.  Yet none of them are so honored.  Even Jerusalem is actually the city where Christ was rejected.  Its only connection to the presence of God was from the Temple Services of the original covenant.  Yet God chooses to honor His original covenant with Israel and redeems the name of this city, associating it with heaven itself, and preserving its association with Himself, and His presence.

John continues in verse 3 … “And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.”  Do these words sound familiar, they should.  It is the renewal of His covenant with Israel and with us.  Before the Ten Commandments were ever spoken by God to Israel, one question was asked of them … did they want to be His people?  Before Abram became Abraham, only one distinction was ever made … Abram had chosen to follow God.  Noah found grace.  Adam was His creation.  You will be saved by only one choice, to accept Jesus Christ as the source of your salvation.  Your choice to submit who you are to the love of Christ, to allow Him to remake you and alter what you love and how you love, causes you to engage in the same covenant that Israel once embraced.  You follow God and then you are saved.  Here past the end of all things, is a renewal of the covenant that has never been abandoned by God.  We may have abandoned our end of the deal, but God has not.  And in the light of perfection God renews it yet again.

John continues in verse 4 … “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”  There it is.  Upon having witnesses those who we loved meet their final end, our hearts still break at their rejection of the perfect freedom we have found.  There is no joy in witnessing death for those who love Christ.  There is no spirit of retribution, or even of justice, only of sorrow, only of a longing for a different set of choices and outcomes.  No one who has had the love of Christ perfected in them looks upon the misery of others, even of those who deserve the pain they are in, with joy, or glee, or a sense of accomplishment.  There is no such thing as vengeance in His kingdom.  Redemption abounds, vengeance is nowhere to be seen.  Those who while on this earth longed to have crimes against them avenged and punish the criminal for his act, have not yet had the redemptive love of Christ perfected in them as yet.  Redemption forgives.  It forgives even when there is no logical reason to forgive.  It is not that the perpetrator deserves forgiveness, they do not.  They have in fact caused pain.  But evil and pain are not diminished by punishment, they are only abated and transformed by love.  There will be one final sadness in heaven, and then it will be wiped away by our Lord.

This revelation is given to John, in order for us to still do something about it while we can.  Imagine how hard it will be to see the loss of your child, or your parent, or your sibling or spouse – knowing you missed the opportunity to love them while here on this earth.  You might have offered forgiveness to them when they did not deserve it, and in so doing, demonstrate to them the love of Christ in the here and now.  Perhaps your forgiveness of real pain they have caused you, might allow them to see Christ’s love in a different way.  Perhaps the love you show to others NOW, is the love that allows them to see Christ and be saved standing with you on that great day of sadness, instead of consumed before your eyes upon it.  Imagine the enemy who today wants nothing but to cause you pain.  Imagine that enemy forgiven by you, now standing beside you closer to you than a brother, a person who loves you so much he would willingly lay down his life for you.  Imagine a bond that will never be broken between you and a former enemy despite all the deeds of the past.  This is what Christ does for us then and now.  Can we not do it for each other here through our submission of our will to His powerful love?

In His mercy, Christ must wipe away our tears one more time.  He must bring us off of our faces prostrate upon the ground, knowing the deeds we have done, but also experiencing His forgiveness for all of them.  We must at last offer the hardest forgiveness there is to offer, our forgiveness to ourselves.  But in the words of Christ unto John there is also hope.  There is to be no more pain.  It is not just Death that has been done away with, it is also pain.  An eternally burning hell where the wicked are punished through flaming torture for what they have done for all time and eternity would certainly qualify as “pain”.  And yet here John is stating in simple language and facts, there will be NO MORE PAIN. 

What begins here is not a lack of feeling, but an amplification of it.  Our sensory organs are not diminished but enhanced.  What changes to eliminate pain, is WHO we love, and HOW we love.  We will lack all self-love, and live to love only others.  In so doing we put the happiness of everyone else ahead of our own, and find we have never been happier doing it.  Our attention to detail will have increased, as will our knowledge.  There will be no accidents in heaven.  We will move with perfect coordination, and perfect trust in God to protect and educate us.  There will be no thorns nor any reminder of the curse of this world upon the rose, or the earth remade.  Should we leap, we will experience only joy.  Should we dive, exhilaration.  Should we fly, the thrill of flying.  John’s simple language promises us that death and pain and all the former things will have passed away.

John continues in verse 5 … “And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.”  Here again Christ re-affirms that He alone is the CREATOR.  Evolution may be a process Christ puts in place for His creations, but it is not the genesis of what He creates.  We come to exist by the power of His will.  In this sentence Christ announces he will be re-creating ALL THINGS NEW.  Should we have ever doubted that our Lord has the power to create our world in six days and rest upon the seventh, that doubt should exist no longer.  For at the end of all things, the Lord resumes His creative powers to once again make it all new.  He further states to John to “write” for these words are true and faithful.  This is not a conditional promise.  It does not rely upon us in any way to see it fulfilled, it is something that Christ is going to do … period.  Creation will resume as evil is ended.  New things will be coming into existence by the imagination and power of Jesus Christ.

John does as he is asked and continues writing in verse 6 … “And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.”  The promises of Christ are true.  The revelation is intended for us in THIS time.  We would not need these words then, we need them now.  This is yet another affirmative promise of what Christ promised the first time He was here.  We are to drink of the waters of life freely (His gift to us).  We are to live forever.  Our salvation is complete.  Our salvation is DONE.  Jesus Christ is the Alpha and Omega, He is the beginning and ending of our faith, and of our redemption.  It is not just His death upon the cross that sees this hope fulfilled.  It is our choice to let Him re-create who we are, what we want, and how we love.  It is Jesus Christ alone that sees us saved.

These texts once again blow away the false doctrines of Satan who tells us all, that WE need to be responsible for our own salvation.  Islamists are wrong in their belief that man is essentially good, and can choose to do evil no more.  Buddhists are wrong.  Pagans are wrong.  Atheists are wrong.  And sadly, all too many Christians and Adventists are wrong.  We are not saved through our own power, but solely through the power of Jesus Christ.  We are not saved through the power and intellectual understanding of our doctrines and beliefs but solely as we follow and submit to Jesus Christ.  We are not saved because we worship on the seventh day, or keep the commandments of our Lord, for though we have done these things from our youth, yet still there can be something missing.  That something is Jesus Christ.  He alone can save us from who we are, from what we are.  There are not many pathways to God, there is only one.  The path of Jesus Christ is sure.  ALL others lead nowhere.  These are the Revelations of Jesus Christ, not some nebulous namby-pamby god who has no real power to save anything but the feeling of a “good time”.  Jesus Christ alone is real.  It will be He who makes all things new.  It will be He who has saved us from who we were.

John continues in verse 7 … “He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. [verse 8] But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”  Here the words of Christ are clearly intended for us in our day.  He that overcometh.  What is it we are to overcome?  Not sin, for we have surely proven we are powerless against a good temptation.  Not others, for our gospel is not about domination of others, but of loving others.  We must overcome self, by submitting self to Christ.  We must trust in Christ to see His victory in us.  We must trust in Christ to see Him fulfill His promises to save us, while we do nothing but allow Him to do so.  Our natural inclination is to take control, not to give it over to Christ.  Our natural inclination is to try to save ourselves, and choose to stop our sins, not to give our every desire over to Christ.  To trust Christ with who we love, how we love.  To trust Christ with our children, our parents, our spouse, our very existence.  To overcome we must submit to Christ.

The promise of our Lord is to be our God, but He will see us not just as His creations but as close as His own child.  He will be our God.  But we will be “His son”.  Jesus sees us as His family, as His children.  He is more than our best friend, more than our God, but our Father as well.  He is more to us than any earthly parent has ever been, for He is both perfect, and God.  But in this statement, He joins humanity to Himself in a way like no other.  We have yet to fully understand what this means to us.  But what we can see clearly, is His so great love for us.  We are more to Him than a casual acquaintance.  We are more to Him than just “people”.  We are His family.  We are equal in that designation.  There is no hierarchy in what He describes.  No rulers over others, but equal before God.  Each of us so valued, each of us so loved. 

Notice too, the alternative to being redeemed of God, the first characteristic listed is “fearful”.  In nearly every greeting between God and mankind, the first words uttered, are … do not be afraid.  It is our fear that keeps us from seeing ourselves redeemed.  Our natural instinct for self-preservation trumps our willingness to let God have full control of our lives.  We fear losing what we love to God.  We fear losing some sin we think brings us joy.  So we hold it back from His transforming power.  We tell Him to leave that one alone.  And like a cancer that cherished sin, leads us to reject transformation of others parts of who we are, until we choose to remain exactly as we find ourselves, locked into the chains of self-love.  What we hold back from God will be the source of our undoing.  To be freed from sin, we must give it all to Him. 

Next on the list of alternative ideas, is listed unbelieving.  Our fear precludes us from letting go.  It is then supported by our lack of trust, lack of confidence, lack of faith in what we cannot see or do for ourselves.  Our unbelief fosters our fear, it adds fuel to it.  Our unbelief prevents us from letting God do for us what He so longs to do for us.  It keeps us in a state of darkness.  It keeps us from fully experiencing His love.  His gifts to us are disregarded or explained away as mere chance or coincidence because we do not believe they come from Him.  We are quick to give Him the blame, but rarely ever the credit.  We do not believe that He will save us if we submit, so we keep trying to save ourselves through our own power and will.  We fear that should we let go, we will only deepen in sin, not see it removed.  If we choose to stop exercising our last remaining bits of self-restraint, we will fall so deep into sin we will never escape its grasp.  But what we fail to see and believe; is that we are already there.  Our sin already has us in chains.  We are already slave to its pull and desires.  To be freed from them, we must offer them ALL to Christ, and believe in what He has promised.  This is putting faith into action.

What follows fear and unbelief is the natural state of mankind bound in the slavery of self-love.  What remains then is abominable, murderers, whoremongers, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars.  This list is not exclusive of what remains when one is bound to the slavery of sin.  But it sure hits the highlights.  Those who hate and kill.  Those who love sex more than they love people.  Those who would seek power from Satan in order to gain it over others.  Those who would worship anything other than Christ, most often the god in the mirror.  And those who tell little white lies, and think them benign.  The degree of sin is a misnomer.  All sin is a variation, a spot on the degenerative spiral downwards, that has no end to its depravity.  Lucifer did not start out a murderer of God, but he became Satan, and did in fact see Christ killed on a cross.  This process did not take place in a day, but it did take place.  The original sin of choosing to love self just a little bit, degenerated into killing Christ. 

Again this remains a Revelation of Jesus Christ.  All things are to be made new.  But this revelation is given to us now, so that we can affirm our salvation in the only one who can see it done in us.  Jesus truly is the Alpha and Omega of our salvation.  It is His call we respond to initially, and His work in us that sees us finally perfected in His transformative love.  All things are to be made new.  This includes you and I.  This includes the world in which we live.  This includes our priorities.  This can only be done fully when evil is a thing of the past, when pain and death are to be seen no more.

And the revelations and story were not over yet …