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Revelation

03 Jul

Dear God, I have a question: Should I care about Revelation? If so, what should I care about? I was listening to a video by N.T. Wright last night, and…well, let me back up really quickly.

Monday night at the Christian Men’s Life Skills Bible study, the ice-breaker question was, “If you could ask God one question, what would it be?” Several people asked about the end times and Revelation. One of the leaders got up and started talking a lot about the end times possibly being now. I remained silent throughout the discussion, but then when I got up and had my turn to talk to start my Bible study on David’s ascent to the throne over all of Israel I found myself telling the men, “I don’t care about Revelation.” The same leader who talked about end times also made a great statement when he was asked for his question of you. He basically said, “I don’t have any questions of God. My job is just to serve him.” I wholeheartedly agree, so I leaned into that. I told them that, for me, I don’t care about the end times because you have given me work to do today. I also try not to care about what’s in it for me because I “consider my life worth nothing to me.” (Acts 20:24) Then I went into your exchange with Job in Job 38-42. I found my voice getting really passionate about it as I said it all. I could feel it happening in real time. I thought I hadn’t been that animated during most of the Samuel/Saul/Jonathan/David stuff, but I apparently had something to say about this. It was interesting.

Fast forward to last night, and I am listening to the N.T. Wright talk. Someone had put up a video comparing his theology on this issue with John MacArthur’s. MacArthur has a much more rapture/tribulation/second coming view of the end. First, isn’t it fascinating to see how we can read the same things and disagree?

One thing Wright said that I’d never heard before in a second video I listened to was that the imagery John used in Revelation was commonly understood by readers of the day and that the whole part about you winning and Jesus on the throne has already happened. All we are waiting for is your second coming, but even that won’t be something where we are taken away from earth. You will return to earth and rule here. We will meet you in the sky because people go out to greet their king, but then we will return with you to earth.

So back to my initial question. And I really mean this. Am I missing something that you want to use to develop me by ignoring Revelation. The thoughts that are coming to me right now is that I am missing the warnings to the churches. Those are important for anyone to heed. It makes me wonder if John were writing Revelation today, what would your words be to the church in the United States? What would it be to the different denominations? What would it be to me?

Father, I think over the next few days I am going to go to the parts of Revelation that are the letters to the churches. I want to see what you said to them and what I need to understand from them. Oh, how I love you. Oh, how I love to sit and do things like this with you. When I sat down this morning, I had zero idea what I would pray about, and then I let your Holy Spirit guide me into this wonderful thought process and discussion with you. Help me to not become so into it that I lose my salt for the earth. And thank you for teaching me new skills for this Christian Men’s Life Skills class. You are stretching me and growing me through it. Thank you for stretching me and growing me in such a gentle and delightful way. And thank you, Father, for the good news for a couple of relatives yesterday. And for good news for other prayers as well. I don’t thank you enough for the answers to prayers. But I am grateful for your movement in my life and in the lives around me. Thank you.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on July 3, 2025 in Miscellaneous, Musings and Stories, Revelation

 

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Luke 12:35-38

19 Oct

“Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning, as though you were waiting for your master to return from the wedding feast. Then you will be ready to open the door and let him in the moment he arrives and knocks. The servants who are ready and waiting for his return will be rewarded. I tell you the truth, he himself will seat them, put on an apron, and serve them as they sit and eat! He may come in the middle of the night or just before dawn. But whenever he comes, he will reward the servants who are ready.
Luke 12:35-38

Dear God, I grew up in a period of the late 20th century when rapture talk was very prevalent. I went to a private school for part of sixth grade, and they showed us the movie A Thief in the Night which was about people who experienced the Tribulation because they missed the Rapture. Now that I think about it, I had a New Testament class in college and I remember the professor spending some time on theology debates between the Rapture being pre-Tribulation or post-Tribulation.

Recently, I heard a podcast that discussed how many children in the 80s and and 90s were scared into faith through Tribulation-Gospel. One woman talked about a friend whose family staged a Rapture to show her what it would feel like if she were “left behind” (which happens to be the name of a fictional Christian book and eventual movie series of the time that focused on all of this). She came in and everyone was gone. Things were left undone (e.g. pile of clothes, water running, etc.). She was terrified. And it worked. It put her over the edge in her decision to submit to you and accept Jesus and his grace. But was it the right thing to do?

Back to this passage, I simply can’t live my life with the idea that I’m doing it for the day of the Rapture. That motivator wouldn’t work for more than a week or two. No, I need to see something deeper. For me, it’s about being ready through my relationship with you for anything that might come my way. It’s about attaching my branch to your vine and experiencing your peace in any given moment. It’s about giving the Holy Spirit good soil in my heart to grow the fruit you need me to have for my sake and the sakes of those around me. It’s about putting me in position to hear your still, small voice. It’s about keeping me from sin and clinging to your mercy when I fail. No, it’s not for the Rapture/Second Coming. My readiness is for whatever life might bring me today. Help me to be ready.

I pray all of this through Jesus name,

Amen

 
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Posted by on October 19, 2022 in Luke

 

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Revelation

05 Sep

Dear God, I was speaking to a young man in my office yesterday who is heavily influenced by pastors that focus on the rapture and tribulation. He gave me a website to check out and a DVD to view. I watched a little of the DVD and looked at the cover of the website. I’m thinking about writing the young man today with my thoughts.

My first thought is that any time anyone around Jesus was afraid he told them to fear not. Jesus didn’t sell his message using fear. He offered mercy. If I believe what I say I believe and if I share that with others then the rapture and the tribulation will take care of themselves. My job isn’t to scare anyone into Heaven. That isn’t much of a sales pitch anyway.

While we were in my office, he referenced the fruits of the Spirit and said that the first one is love. I agreed with him, but then we listed through the others and I tried to point out peace to him. I’ve told you this many times before, but peace is the one thing that I can’t fake. I can pretty much put up a facade and fake the other fruits. To other people, I can make myself look loving, joyful, kind, gentle, etc., but I am unable to fake peace. When I am truly in you is when I am at peace, and if I am not following you then I have no peace.

Father, I could go on and on, but I guess the thing I really want to say is that I am grateful that you take away all my fear. Your love drives out all my fear. (1 John 4:18). I don’t have to fear the rapture, the tribulation, a one world government or the anti-Christ because you are my God. You have this. I am in you and you are in me. You gave me a great bridge to reach you through coming to earth through the part of your essence that is your son, Jesus, and showed me not only how much you love me, but also how to love and live. Thank you for all of this. I need you.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 5, 2019 in 1 John, Miscellaneous, Musings and Stories, Revelation

 

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Emails to God – Ignoring the Second Coming (Matthew 24:1-35)

14 Apr

1 Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2 “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”

3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.

9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

15 “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. 18 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.

22 “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. 23 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time.

26 “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.

29 “Immediately after the distress of those days

“‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’

30 “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

32 “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. 34 Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

Dear God, is it bad that I ignore passages like this one? Is it a problem that I have decided that I can’t make decisions about how to live my daily life based on the second coming and still keep my sanity? Nearly 2,000 years have passed since you spoke these words. I suppose a case could be made that we are closer now than ever so I should be aware (maybe it will be on December 21, 2012), but I just can’t live that way.

So how should I live? Is there a part of this message that is imperative for me to adopt. Beyond ignoring the false prophets, I think you are also calling me to not slumber. I need to pursue you. I need to know you and let you direct my path. Perhaps this passage was more about telling the disciples to not be so impressed with the buildings they were seeing at the beginning of the chapter and less about you coming back, riding on the clouds.

Father, I don’t want to miss the lesson of this passage, but I also don’t want to read too much into it. I guess the part that always amazes me, as I sit here at type, is that out of all of the billions of people in the world, you are interested in me. You are interested in these prayers. You are interested in the lessons I will learn from you and the actions I will take. You are interested in me getting to know you and having a relationship with you. You long for me. Basically, if I will take the lesson from the last chapter and love you with all my heart, mind, and strength then I will be okay. That’s what I’ll try to do.

 
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Posted by on April 14, 2012 in Matthew

 

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