We Don't Always Get the Inside Story
So many Christians are fascinated with the Book of Revelation. Some always have been. It is a pretty cool book...the very idea of a look forward, even if it is a story told with a rich use of symbolic language, is very cool. Who doesn't want to know what may come tomorrow?
We want to know because we can then make plans. We like to know because we feel like we have a bit more control. We like to know because, let's face it, it makes us feel better informed or even smarter than other people who are less aware.
There are about a zillion theories and timelines proposed by various scholars. A few denominations make a lot of noise about the reliability of their favorite theory. Our denomination has a few statements of its own, which I am not trotting out today, though I agree with them.
Instead, I want to go to Revelation 10:1-4. It says, "I saw still another mighty angel coming down from heaven, clothed with a cloud. And a rainbow was on his head, his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire. He had a little book open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, and cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roars. When he cried out, seven thunders uttered their voices. Now when the seven thunders uttered their voices, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, “Seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered, and do not write them.”
Why THIS passage? It is dramatic enough, I suppose. But it LITERALLY doesn't tell us much. All we know is that an angel cries out...something...and seven "thunders" said...something...back. John heard what was said, and was getting ready to write it down so that his audience could know...and then he was told NOT to write down what he heard.
Weird text. In the end, we DON'T know. I think it is interesting that, in the middle (almost perfectly) of a book which tells us what lies ahead, the human author CANNOT tell us something, and so we do NOT know it. How strange is that?
But it is NOT strange, really. Though God knows EVERYTHING, how often does He report to you? How often do you know ALL the details? Not very often, right? He does not OWE us the knowledge. We cannot always HANDLE the knowledge. We can seldom ever DO ANYTHING about it. And sometimes, the trial of NOT knowing is the most important part of the growing experience.
If you knew WHEN Jesus was coming back, do you think you could REALLY convince everyone else that you knew and that they should pay attention? Good luck with that! If you knew who the AntiChrist was, could you stop him? Could you reconfigure the final plan of God for Earth and its inhabitants? I don't think you could.
So, often, we just DON'T KNOW. God knows. We are left without access to the schedule, or the controls. But we can still read the book, not JUST Revelation, but ALL of it, and KNOW that HE knows what has to be known. He is in control. It will work out as He determines.
What we CAN do is to trust the One Who KNOWS.
We want to know because we can then make plans. We like to know because we feel like we have a bit more control. We like to know because, let's face it, it makes us feel better informed or even smarter than other people who are less aware.
There are about a zillion theories and timelines proposed by various scholars. A few denominations make a lot of noise about the reliability of their favorite theory. Our denomination has a few statements of its own, which I am not trotting out today, though I agree with them.
Instead, I want to go to Revelation 10:1-4. It says, "I saw still another mighty angel coming down from heaven, clothed with a cloud. And a rainbow was on his head, his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire. He had a little book open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, and cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roars. When he cried out, seven thunders uttered their voices. Now when the seven thunders uttered their voices, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, “Seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered, and do not write them.”
Why THIS passage? It is dramatic enough, I suppose. But it LITERALLY doesn't tell us much. All we know is that an angel cries out...something...and seven "thunders" said...something...back. John heard what was said, and was getting ready to write it down so that his audience could know...and then he was told NOT to write down what he heard.
Weird text. In the end, we DON'T know. I think it is interesting that, in the middle (almost perfectly) of a book which tells us what lies ahead, the human author CANNOT tell us something, and so we do NOT know it. How strange is that?
But it is NOT strange, really. Though God knows EVERYTHING, how often does He report to you? How often do you know ALL the details? Not very often, right? He does not OWE us the knowledge. We cannot always HANDLE the knowledge. We can seldom ever DO ANYTHING about it. And sometimes, the trial of NOT knowing is the most important part of the growing experience.
If you knew WHEN Jesus was coming back, do you think you could REALLY convince everyone else that you knew and that they should pay attention? Good luck with that! If you knew who the AntiChrist was, could you stop him? Could you reconfigure the final plan of God for Earth and its inhabitants? I don't think you could.
So, often, we just DON'T KNOW. God knows. We are left without access to the schedule, or the controls. But we can still read the book, not JUST Revelation, but ALL of it, and KNOW that HE knows what has to be known. He is in control. It will work out as He determines.
What we CAN do is to trust the One Who KNOWS.
Recent
Archive
Categories
no categories
No Comments