I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Revelation 20-22.

    John describes the Final Judgment that will happen when history truly does come to an end. When that happens all people will stand before God and be judged. On that day each and every one of us will be judged on what we have done (and have not done). Those whose names are not written in the Book of Life will be thrown into the Lake of Fire. Now the interesting thing here is that the Book of Life is a separate book from the rest of the books which record our actions. When that day comes, all that we have ever done will be laid out for everyone to see. On that day, none of us will be able to say, “I was good enough to get into Heaven.” However, we will be judged on what we have done. It may be that our faith in Christ will allow us into Heaven, but if we have not done the works which God called us to do we will be subject to judgment for that failure. We are given a list of those who will not be allowed into Heaven. If we choose to continue in those behaviors after we have been washed clean by Jesus’ blood, we will not inherit God’s Kingdom.

    But for those who do remain faithful to the end, there is a promise. When that day comes, God will personally comfort each and every one of us. He will wipe away our tears and in that place there will be no more death, or sorrow, or crying, or pain. All of that will pass away along with this world and we will be in the presence of God forever. When I think of this scene I think of those times when we have been at an event where everybody (or almost everybody) there was there to spend time with the same person. They all (or most of them, any way) felt that that person was the one who made this particular event fun. The problem is always that that person is there to have fun and, even if they want to make sure that everyone has a good time, they only have so much time and cannot be with everyone there. Heaven is like that, except that God does have the time and ability to be with everyone there and make sure that they have a good time. And the wonderful thing about it is that if you desire to be with God he invites you to join Him, no matter what you have done in the past, no matter how you have been hurt in the past. God has one word for those who have suffered (and we have all suffered to one degree or another), that word is “Come.” Then when we have come to Him, He sends us back out into the world to tell those who are still suffering that He is inviting them. He sends us out to say to others what He said to us, “Come.” Let us do our best to show them what Heaven will be like by wiping the tears from their eyes and comforting them in the same way that God comforts us.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Revelation 17-19.

    Today’s passage contains a description of a woman sitting upon a beast. The beast is described similarly to the first of the two beasts, but I think it is actually a different beast (or perhaps a better way to say it is that in this vision the symbolism of the beast is different than in the previous one). The woman represents a powerful and wealthy city-state/nation which has power over much of the world. The scarlet beast represents another nation or confederacy of nations which is dominated by the woman. If this vision applied to the world today, the woman would be the United States and the scarlet beast would be the European Union (there are many reasons to make those connections, but there are ways in which those connections do not quite fit). The scarlet beast hates the woman and wants to see her overthrown. However, when the fall of the nation represented by the woman happens, those who worked for its fall will discover that the world is a much worse place because of that fall. Nevertheless that fall will come because those of the nation represented by the woman were willing to benefit from the suffering of others. We as followers of Christ must separate ourselves from the worldly pursuit of wealth and pleasure that the woman represents. We must be wary when our nation begins to believe that it has power that can never be threatened. We must not fall into the worship of self, or of the nation state, which presages the fall described in today’s passage.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Revelation 13-16.

    When I read the description of the beast which rises out of the sea I always think that it should be possible to identify to who or what it is referring. Or, at least, be able to see what to watch for to know when the beast has arisen. Yet later in today’s scripture it says that the Day of Judgment will arrive unexpectedly. The juxtaposition of the careful detailed descriptions of the two beasts and the declaration that the Day of Judgment will arrive unexpectedly leads me to conclude that people, nations, and other organizations which, at least partially, fit the descriptions of the beasts will arise repeatedly throughout history. Looking at history, it seems to me that the day of God’s judgment has come time and again. Each time it is a presage of the ultimate Day of Judgment with which God will end this universe.

    Since we are not going to know when God’s ultimate Day of Judgment will arrive, instead of looking for signs that will tell us that this coming day of judgment is that Day of Judgment, let us look for how we can remain prepared for when the Lord will return. So, what are the characteristics of the two beasts? First, they will do improbable things which will lead people to worship them, and through them “the dragon” (which I interpret to be Satan). The beasts will persecute those who faithfully serve God. The second beast will perform miracles which will lead many people to turn to it for things which only God can provide. Further, no one will be allowed to conduct any economic activity without a number provided by the beast (sound familiar?). When we see the government take the place of the Church in many people’s lives we know that a day of judgment is coming and perhaps this time it will be The Day of Judgment. We have been warned, are we prepared?

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Revelation 9-12.

    In today’s passage John talks about the fifth, sixth, and seventh trumpets. This is where I start to lose track of what order the things in John’s vision happen. I also have trouble deciding if I think these are descriptions of supernatural events, or more mundane occurrences which John has not basis to describe in anything but colorful language (for example, my Dad said that the description of the locusts which came after the Fifth Trumpet resembles how someone might describe modern military helicopters if they had never heard of mechanical flight).

    Shortly after this John writes that he heard the seven thunders speak, but was told not to write down what they said. Every time I read that I get caught up in wondering what the seven thunders said, and how it would help us understand the rest of this vision. Yet, I am convinced that the message John was conveying is contained in the symbolism of the fact that there were seven of them, and that he was told not to write what they said. The problem for me is that I do not understand the symbolism. Throughout the rest of the Book of Revelation I run into this problem of seeing symbolism whose meaning I do not understand. There are two final thoughts I want to write today. I am convinced that starting with the account of the woman and the dragon the order of the events described in this vision do not necessarily happen in the order they appear in John’s writing. The other is that one of the key messages which this letter is designed to convey is that no matter how chaotic and out of control the events of this world appear, everything is happening according to God’s plan.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Revelation 4-8.

    John now moves fully into his vision by describing the throne room of heaven (I want to say here that I do not believe these visions are intended for us to picture what heaven will really look like. I believe that they are word pictures designed to convey a particular message.). In particular, I think it is very telling that the song which the four living beings and the twenty-four elders sing to the Lamb is so similar to the song which they sang to He who sits upon the throne. To me, this is yet another confirmation of the concept of the Trinity. The Lamb and He who sits on the throne are distinct beings…and yet they are the same being.

    When the Lamb started breaking the seals on the scroll, for each of the first four seals a Horseman appeared. I am not sure of the meaning of these Horsemen, but I believe that part of the meaning is that things will get progressively worse. First, there is a Horseman who rides out and builds an empire. However, this does not result in peace on earth. No, it results in the second Horseman, who brings war and violence throughout the earth. Which naturally leads to the third Horseman, who brings shortages and famine. Which brings us the fourth Horseman, Death, after the first three Horsemen people everywhere will be dying from war and violence, famine, and disease. In all of this, there will be injustice and persecution of those who attempt to do God’s will. When the fifth seal is broken, those who suffered and died for doing God’s will call out to God, asking Him to make things right. Then the sixth seal is broken and those who thought that all of these horrors had passed them by, those who thought these things were to their benefit, realize that there is price that they too will need to pay. They seek to hide from God’s judgment, but there is no place to hide. Despite all of this, God will preserve on the earth some of those who serve Him.

    In a way, the events of these first six seals happen again and again throughout history. Each time getting closer and closer to the opening of the Seventh Seal and the blowing of the seven trumpets. When those trumpets blow, the end of this world will finally be here. I remember growing up in the 1970s and thinking that the description of the results of the first four trumpets sounded like the results of a nuclear war between the Soviet Union and the United States. In some ways, it still makes me think of an all out nuclear war. However, my belief is that when God will not allow mankind to destroy this world. He will destroy it before that happens.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Revelation 1-3.

    John begins this letter to the seven Churches with a description of God’s eternal existence which communicates more than just saying that God is eternal does. He writes that God is, always was, and is to come. God has always been, He is now, and He will always be. As part of his description of God, John writes that God is the beginning and the end. Then he goes on to connect Jesus to this description of God as eternal by writing that Jesus is the first and the last. Jesus died and yet He now lives for all eternity. Because of His death, He now holds the key to death and the grave. Through Him we too may have life eternal.

    In John’s message to the seven Churches he has one of two complaints with the various Churches. It is interesting that to this day these two complaints represent the primary failings which Churches fall into. One is a loss of enthusiasm for spreading the Gospel and doing God’s work. The other is a tolerance for teaching that sexual immorality is not a bad thing, perhaps even a good thing, and the idolatry of trying to fit in with the culture around us. Both are equally bad. There is nothing to be gained by holding fast to God’s commands to be sexually upright and separated from the evils of society if you do not love others enough to tell them about why they should change by accepting the Gospel. On the other hand, being enthusiastic about preaching God’s word to people has no value if you do not teach its transformative power.