November 9, 2007

revelation. of revelation.

Yesterday when I was in the waiting room at my harmony teachers house, listening to her play the piano, I was reading Revelation 1. This is what I read. Read it carefully. "See" the majesty and awesomeness of our King, Jesus Christ!

REVELATION CHAPTER ONE

Introduction and Benediction
1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants - things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John,
2 who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw.
3 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 times is near.

Greeting the Seven Churches
4 John, to the seven churches which are in Asia:
Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne,
5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood.
6 and has made us kings and priets to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
7 Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.
8 "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End," says the Lord, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."

Vision of the Son of Man
9 I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet,
11 saying, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last," and, "What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea."
12 Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands,
13 and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band.
14 His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire;
15 His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters;
16 He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength.
17 And when I saw Him, I feel at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, "Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last.
18 "I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and Death.
19 "Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this.
20 "The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven golden lampstands which you saw are the seven churches."

I don't think I'll ever be able to hear the greeting of verses 4b-6 in church again without praising God for those words, and for what they mean.

And then today, my 8 year old brother was practicing his memory work for Sunday School. It was this verse:

" Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name;
Worship the Lord in the beauty (splendor) of holiness."
Psalm 29:2

Yeah, pretty amazing. And just...

Hmm...think about it. The holiness and compassion and love and majesty and splendor of our eternal, glorious God and Father.

6 comments:

Jacinda Vandenberg said...

wow! thanks for that Carol-lee! I love reading Scripture passages through the eyes of someone else. Those "highlights" really help you focus on what you're reading and make it that much more meaningful.

Don't you love how God sometimes presses home to us amazing thoughts like this in very real, tangible ways?!?! Like Aaron's memory verse?

I get that a lot.

God is so awesome! :)

Carol-Lee Joy said...

amen.

nadine j. said...

Question: Do you think that God is METAPHORICALLY our Father or LITERALLY our Father?

Carol-Lee Joy said...

good question! I guess He could be either, depending how you look at it. I would probably say metaphorically though. It's supposed to give you an image of your earthly father. And that is what God is to us. But if you wanted to take it literally, you could say that He created us, so He's our literal father. Or yeah, I'm not sure...

Anonymous said...

I think that God is literally our Father, but not because He created us. The only way that we can call God, our Father, is becuase of His Son's sacrifice for us on the cross. I am thinking of Romans 8.
"For you did not receive the spirit of fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of GOd, and if children then heirs- heirs of God and joint heirs with Chirst...
This passage says that God adopted us as chilren. One of my catechism teachers used to say that Jesus is our "older brother" in his prayers. I always thought that was interesting.

Carol-Lee Joy said...

hmm, that IS interesting.

And a much better explanation than mine:)