Yesterday we looked at the Wise Men coming to Jerusalem and asking "Where is He who is born King of the Jews?" We saw the prophecy of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey and then with in the week, He was crucified; and did not reign over a Kingdom on this earth. What happened to the Great King prophesied through out the Old Testament? He was resurrected and taken up into heaven. Where is He now?
The book of the Revelation is the Revelation of the resurrected Christ! It is written by the Apostle John who had a vision of the risen Lord. John was close to Jesus during His life on this earth. He was one of His three closest friends and traveled everywhere with Him. As a young man he saw Jesus with his own eyes, heard His actual voice speak and touched Him with his own hands (I John 1). He wrote the gospel story of what he experienced with Jesus so that we might believe in Him and have life in His Name. (John 20:31)
Now he is an old man imprisoned on an Island and all of the other disciples that were with Jesus have died, most were martyred for their faith. He was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day and received a Revelation of the Risen Lord. In verses 9-20 he "sees" the Eternal Christ. Even though he was so familiar with Jesus when He walked on earth with John, he was awestruck and
"fell at His feet as though dead!"
In our comfort as the children of God, seeing Him as our Father, perhaps we forget the awe and reverence we should feel for the living God and risen Christ. The eternal realm, though all around us is veiled, so we can not see into it. But on rare occasions, an eternal being opens the curtain and a mere human gazes into the glory the Kingdom Realm. We read this in the visions Zacharias, Mary and the shepherds had. The first response was fear. Yet each time, they were told "Do not be afraid". I love the way the Risen Lord "laid His right hand on" John and said to him "Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last".
At this point in my walk of faith, I am trying to understand the place of the fear of God in the life of His people and in my own life. This journey in reading the Nativity this month has kept me in awe of His tender mercy and amazing plan for us. As Mary said in her Song in Luke "His mercy is on those who fear Him." It is my hope you will be in awe of the Nativity Story and in the coming days ahead.
"Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy,
and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near...
Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come...
and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first born from the dead,
and the ruler over the kings of the earth.
Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come...
and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first born from the dead,
and the ruler over the kings of the earth.
To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins with His own blood,
and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father,
to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen"
vs 1:3-6
3 comments:
A much needed meditation on the power and might of God, who is our Eternal Judge!
History reveals the Church's continual struggle to balance the mercy and patient love of God with the fear of the Lord and God's judgment. People tend to swing from one extreme to another.
In America, we have moved from preaching hell and damnation, to embracing a warm fuzzy social justice gospel where there is no judgment and no threat of hell and all roads lead to heaven.
We have trampled the word of God under political correctness to silence our conscience as we seek to slake our unquenchable thirst for self-indulgence. High-paying office jobs have removed us from daily dependence upon the Lord for provision.
And so... our economy has collapsed with little warning. The unsinkable Titanic is going down.
A choice lies before us -- to further harden our hearts and curse God and His people, or to repent and return to the Lord's ways where we will find once again His umbrella of protection and blessing.
Amen to the comments!
We are to fear God because there will be a Judgement Seat of Christ for the true children of God. His standards are His standards and are to be our goal in this life. If we willingly fail to meet His standards of holiness and disobey His Word and commandments, we will definitively face judgement... as children of God not as the non-Christians will face Judgement, of course. God is to be revered and feared.
And yes, Marjie, we do need to find the perfect biblical balance between fearing God and His mercy towards us. We humans tend to be quite extremist when it comes to one or the other of these subjects... we can't seem to understand too clearly. May the Lord enlighten our intelligence so we may understand!
Hi Marjie and Elisheva, I was just reading your comments from two years ago on this post. So important that we are to fear God, to give Him all the reverence that is due to Him... after all, He is God in heaven, the maker of all creation and we are here on earth, for only a sliver of time. We need to approach him with respect and draw near to hear... Allow His shining light in our hearts that we may see and confess any sins, and walk in the grace of His Holy Spirit. Grace does not end with forgiveness, it only begins as we walk in newness of life in His Spirit.
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