Wednesday Bible Study: Revelation finale

 

So we have gone through the battle.  The world is purged for the next thousand years, of sin, and Christ rules on His throne.  And now, you expect I am going to lead you through what Revelation says about that thousand years and thereafter.  I am not.

I am going to put all of that in the same perspective that Paul did...

1Co 2:9  But, as it is written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him"-- 

And that is sufficient.  But what I want to do is look back at what I- and maybe, you- learned over these months.

First thing I learned comes from this odd exchange in Genesis:

Gen 32:24  And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. 

Gen 32:25  When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 

Gen 32:26  Then he said, "Let me go, for the day has broken." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." 

Gen 32:27  And he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." 

Gen 32:28  Then he said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed." 

Gen 32:29  Then Jacob asked him, "Please tell me your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And there he blessed him. Gen 32:30  So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, "For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered." 

Let me explain what happened here in brief, and how it applies.  The "man" was the Pre-Incarnate Jesus; else why would Jacob say, "I have seen God"?  And Jacob wrestled with Him ALL night, even after he suffered an injury that would mark him (with a limp) the rest of his life- until He blessed him.  This is the way I learned to work my way through Revelation- wrestling with each passage, not giving up until I was blessed with the Answer God wanted me to seek.  And that wrestling forever changed me.  It helped me to see God.

And what did I see?  An atheist would probably tell me, "You saw some imaginative ways for a god to inflict suffering on humanity".  But I saw quite the opposite.  I saw a world which, despite every evidence- even to the point of having three angels circle the world telling it- rejected God.  Not simply not hearing, or not caring- these were people that actively, purposefully, to their own harm, rejected God.  Not the atheist who stands there and says, "You have to prove God to me."  Not the Muslim or Hindu who has a mistaken concept of God.  Not even the Jew who has been blinded BY God.  No, these SAW God, as much as sinful man CAN see Him, and still rejected Him.  But remember last week?

Joe 2:11  The LORD utters his voice before his army, for his camp is exceedingly great; he who executes his word is powerful. For the day of the LORD is great and very awesome; who can endure it? 

Joe 2:12  "Yet even now," declares the LORD, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; 

Joe 2:13  and rend your hearts and not your garments." Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. 

Joe 2:14  Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the LORD your God? 

Even at this point of final destruction, He offered them undeserved mercy.  How great a God is this, who, with every right to totally destroy, shows even then mercy?  

So what, say you?  So, how DARE anyone say, "I've done too many bad things; the Lord won't care for me", when He shows this great a mercy?  And how stupid, stubborn, disobedient do we have to be to reject it?  I want to give you another perspective...

Pro 21:11  When a scoffer is punished, the simple becomes wise; when a wise man is instructed, he gains knowledge. 

You might remember way back when I did my deep dive into Proverbs, I explained that that book showed us three kinds of sinners:  The simple, who just have no knowledge of God; the Fool, who says in his heart, there IS no God; and the scoffer, who knows deep inside there is a Holy God, but just doesn't care.  The scoffer is the ONE sinner who cannot be saved, because he doesn't want to be.  He has made himself his OWN god; and as one such recently told me, thinks he is a BETTER god than the One we worship.  The world punished at Armageddon is the world of scoffers; perhaps by learning, rehearsing, repeating what WILL happen to them, some simple coming across this blog some day will become wise.  That is up to God, and that is MY hope.

And the great thing is, nobody HAS to go through this.  Again, as Paul said:

Rom 10:9  because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 

Rom 10:10  For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 

Rom 10:11  For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame." 

And that is the chief end.  Praise be to God!