Revelation Series #15: Goshen In The Storm

"Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads." - Revelation 7:3

After the terror of Revelation 6, one question remains in the air.

Who can stand?

Revelation 7 answers that question with mercy.

Before the winds are released, the servants of God are sealed.

Before the full storm breaks, heaven marks its own.

That is one of the tenderest truths in the book.

God does not lose His people in the chaos of history.

He knows them.

He marks them.

He keeps them as His own.

Revelation 7 is not a break from reality.

It is a deeper unveiling of reality.

Judgment is not the whole story.

Preservation is part of the story too.

Belonging is part of the story too.

Revelation Series #14: Purpose Even In Pain

"Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals." - Revelation 6:1

Revelation 6 is not meant to teach that history has slipped out of Christ's hands.

It teaches the opposite.

The judgments of the seals do not begin with chaos.

They begin with the Lamb.

That is the first sentence we must not lose.

The Lamb opened the seals.

War, famine, death, trembling, and terror unfold under divine authority.

That does not make them light.

It does make them meaningful.

There is purpose even in pain.

That is one of the great burdens of this portion of the book.

The world is not shaking because Christ has lost control.

The world is shaking under the opening of the seals by the Lamb.

If we forget that, we will read Revelation 6 only with fear.

If we remember it, we will read it with trembling and trust.

Revelation Series #13: The Lamb Who Holds The Scroll

"Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed." - Revelation 5:5

Revelation 5 begins with tears.

John sees a scroll in the right hand of the One on the throne.

It is sealed.

A search is made for someone worthy to open it.

No one in heaven or on earth is found worthy.

And John weeps much.

That is not theatrical emotion.

It is the grief of realizing that creation cannot save itself.

If no one can open the scroll, history remains unresolved.

If no one can open the scroll, justice remains unanswered.

If no one can open the scroll, the human race is left to itself.

John's tears are the tears of all created insufficiency.

They are the tears of discovering that no mere creature is enough.

But heaven does not leave him there.