Monthly Archives: February 2014

The Three – The Beast part 1

25 Tuesday Feb 2014

Posted by in Inspiration, Spirituality

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In the last letter of the Bible, the Revelation of Jesus Christ, God sends a last message of warning to a dying planet – Revelation 14:6-12. This message is given by three angels to “those who dwell on the earth,” people who hate God and hate those who love God. It’s a serious message – the consequences are life and death – and it’s a message given in great love because God is willing to go to the uttermost to reach even his most aggressive enemies.

Revelation 14:9-11 proclaims: “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”

Revelation is all about worship. The book begins with the worship of Jesus and then it’s revealed in Revelation 12-13 that there is a counterfeit trinity that also wants to be worshipped. What is worship?

It’s the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for someone or something. What does that mean? Words that help us understand worship: veneration, glorification, glory, exaltation, admiration, adulation, idolization.

Worship is powerful and affects us to the core of who we are – we become or reflect what we worship. The last part of this warning message reveals the terrible consequences that come from worshipping the beast. The repeating of the warning stresses how important it is to hear it.

Wouldn’t it make sense to take time to understand who the beast is?

The Driver

20 Thursday Feb 2014

Posted by in Observations

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Our daughter has a two year old and a new baby. Yesterday, I picked up my older grandson so we could hang out, go on some errands, and give mom a break.  It’s a treat to spend time with him as he’s learning constantly.

10 minutes down the street and he’s fast asleep. So much for our errands and plans. I just became the driver.

It reminded me of when our children were very young. They would want to go out, my wife would want to go out. I would ask, “Where do you want to go?” The reply was almost aways the same, “It doesn’t matter; you decide.” Into the car, out onto the freeway, and within 10 minutes everybody was asleep.  I would figure out some place to go and just drive.

Honestly, it used to bug me quite a bit. But yesterday, as I drove around the city so my grandson could have a good sleep, it occurred to me that perhaps my role is to create these safe spaces and times. An environment where people feel so relaxed and safe that they can drift off to sleep knowing that wherever we are going we’ll end up there and it will be good.

After all these years, I am now content being the driver.

The Three – A Slight Tangent

18 Tuesday Feb 2014

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As I continue to share thoughts on the message in Revelation given by the three angels in chapter 14 I’ve been reflecting on some of the thoughts regarding God’s behaviour and the way we see the end of the wicked playing out. This isn’t a good/bad, better/worse suggestion but just a thought on why we might see things differently.

Do you think it’s possible that depending on how far one leans into the more intimate relationship pictures of God (brother, Abba, husband) the more likely they are to struggle with the destroying God picture? On the other hand, the more one leans into the more legal King/Judge pictures, the less struggle they have with the destroying God picture?

For example, if a king/judge pronounces sentences and demands execution that’s a fairly reasonable course of action to maintain order. However, if we take that same kind of behaviour into an intimate marriage relationship, a husband and wife or potential wife, we might think the sentence/execution action is kind of freaky. Like when the guy says, I want you to be my wife and the woman says no thanks and so he kills her cat, throws acid in her face, and then burns her house down.

God gives us several models of who he is. They’re all valuable and they speak to all of us more or less. Now this might be a value judgment: are the models all equal and they sit together on a shelf – at this point he’s king then back on the shelf and now he’s husband? Could it be there is a progression (revelation?) that God wishes to take us on (as in you are not longer slaves but sons and so on) from a formal, legal arrangement to the most intimate relationship of all?

The Three – Poisonous Wine

11 Tuesday Feb 2014

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I’ve been sharing some thoughts concerning the last message of warning given to a dying planet – Revelation 14:6-12. This message is for “those who dwell on the earth,” people who hate God and hate those who love God. It’s a message based in God’s great love because he desires to woo all people to his heart; the source of love and life.

This is one message but it’s given in three parts by three angels. Symbolically speaking, angels or messengers can be human beings who are obeying God’s calling to take this message around the world. However, there is still a supernatural element. Even if people sat on their hands and said nothing, God would ensure this message gets out.

In the second part of the message, God wants people to know that Babylon’s wine is a deadly poison. Why? To see this, you have to understand that God’s covenant is about an intimate, marriage-like, relationship with people. The basis of the covenant is not our behaviour or works but God’s love and grace.

Wine is often used to illustrate God’s covenant. A powerful example can be seen in the second chapter of John’s Good News letter. The event is Jesus turning water into wine. There is all sorts of powerful images in his actions: it takes place at a wedding; the water is in ceremonial washing pots, symbolic of salvation by works; the water of works can only be changed into the best wine ever – covenantal wine – by a divine act of grace. You can tell that this is about way more than a beverage because of John’s statement that this event is a “sign” aka a revelation of God. These images are powerful but there’s another piece of the puzzle you can’t miss.

Before Jesus turns the water into wine he says his hour or time has not yet come. Then John says this event revealed Jesus’ glory. These are references to the cross! Now we see the wine is pointing us to the greatest revelation and confirmation of God’s covenant – the death of Jesus. In Matthew 26:27-28, the record states, “Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.””

The wine of Babylon is so deadly because it’s a counterfeit of God’s covenantal wine and relationship. It’s based on works (fornication) and an abusive, life destroying relationship – Babylon is fallen, is fallen.