As I read (and reread) Revelation 20-22, there were some things that caught my attention, lingering in my mind. It occurred to me that one of Satan’s strongest weapons against us is deception. In ch. 20, vs. 3, he is prevented from deceiving the nations until “the thousand years were finished” (I’m not sure when that will happen; scholars who have studied more than me disagree. I am focusing on the deception of the nations.). He is then given power to deceive the nations again.
As I read this, I try to ask, “what does this have to do with me?” I then began thinking, how can I prevent deception? The obvious answer is by being truthful. It’s one thing to determine I will be truthful in the far distant future (Who do you worship?” “I worship the one true God.”), another to be completely truthful today (“Are you on the way home?” “Sure” -when the reality is maybe 20 minutes longer).
Then the Book of Life was opened, and each were judged according to their works. Those small gifts, kindnesses done, encouraging words, in addition to the gift not given, the complaining spirit—all are being recorded, and we will see what is said in I Corinthians 15:58: nothing done for the Lord is useless. Our reward is coming! And we are given the promise God himself will wipe away very tear from our eyes—no death, no crying, no sorrow, no pain. This is very special to me as I navigate processing the (earthly) loss of my dad. Think of it – if your name is written in the Book of Life, you will be reunited with those who went before you, without sorrow. What a beautiful promise to hang on to.
Then we read who will be thrown into the lake of fire. And who is leading the list? Cowards! There were others on the list that didn’t apply to me, but cowards? That seems a bit unfair to me. I pondered why cowards would be mentioned and thought of the Old Testament Israelites who didn’t make it into the Promised Land. Why? Because they were cowards! They believed the lie (were deceived) into thinking their enemy was bigger than God, that God couldn’t/wouldn’t enable them to have victory over the enemy. So they caved. They did not walk in the truth of their identity.
But then – read the description of the New Jerusalem: pure gold streets, foundations of precious stones, gates of one pearl. One! No need for the sun and moon because the glory of God provided light. But only those whose name is in the Book of Life will be able to be there. And those there will have God’s name on their foreheads.
When will this take place? We don’t know, but are told three times the time is quickly approaching, Jesus is coming soon. If you have time, listen to “Hymn of Heaven” by Phil Wickham, a beautiful picture of what is to come for believers.
The next book we are examining is Mark, the shortest Gospel. We begin seeing John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus, encouraging people to repent and be baptized as a sign of repentance. Jesus, God the Son, also was baptized. Why? Matthew 3:15 tells us Jesus was baptized to fulfill all righteousness. Jesus was identifying with all mankind and their need to be forgiven.
Mark tells us immediately after that he was in the wilderness being tempted by Satan for 40 days. He then began his earthly ministry. He began gathering disciples, performing miracles, healing, casting out demons, preaching, forgiving, traveling to new places to spread the news that their sins could be forgiven. He was giving a new perspective on life, impacting their life that day but also for eternity. As word got around, people began following him. He then appointed the twelve apostles, giving them authority over illnesses, demonic oppression, and they were to preach. He was so committed to this role that when his mother and brothers came to him he continued teaching to the crowd—we are not told if he went out to see them.
As I read this, I sense an urgency in Mark’s writings. I feel that in writing this, he wanted as many people as possible to know who and what Jesus was. Like the book of Revelation, they were being shown things they didn’t understand, and the time was short. Then, and now, everyone needs to make a decision. Who will you follow?
We will read more next week about the life of Jesus and his impact on those he was with. Until then,
“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.” – Revelation 22:21 God prepares the way for deeper conversations and communications about Him.
