He Is Coming With The Clouds .
Revelation 1:7 (NIV)

Look, he is coming with the clouds,and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen.

I received this verse in my daily email subscription. Any time I read anything from Revelation, I go to one resource or another to try to comprehend the meaning. Well, 20 minutes later, I'm back at the computer! I was tempted to switch to another verse that might be considered more uplifting, but decided against it as this is obviously the verse I am intended to study today.

My Bible Readers Companion spends a couple of pages talking about the various interpretations of Revelation. Throughout history scholars have considered it prophecy about the end times, but disagreed about whether or not it was literal or figurative. Well, if you know anything about me, I could spend days-even weeks-studying just that argument!

Ultimately I decided that mankind spends a great deal of time debating scripture! We dissect it and analyze it and put it all in historical perspective and beat it to death until it resembles what we think it says--or want it to say.

As our Sunday school class has spent the last several months studying the parables of Jesus, we have discovered that those parables are timeless. With only the slightest explanation of the context--eliminating the context as a distraction--we can very clearly understand the message of Jesus today.

This verse is pretty clear to my mind: WE are the ones who pierced Him. Not only those who placed Jesus on the Cross, but all of mankind, throughout past and future history! Every time we sin against God, we become-again and again and again--one of those who added to Christ's burden.

He became God's offering to us and yet we are the ones who should be offering ourselves up to Him. The mourning in this verse speaks very loudly and clearly to me: I will mourn a thousand years at the end of time before I can even work up the courage to look God in the eye. I will grieve so deeply, my sorrow and distress at my own sinful nature will pour over me like a waterfall or an avalanche.

When we get to heaven we still won't be able to grasp the beauty and power of God. Even in His presence--or should I say especially in His presence--we will be overwhelmed. Yes, we will mourn because of Him--that we caused the need for His sacrifice; that we forget His sacrifice; that we defy His sacrifice.

Jesus gave up divinity to walk among us. I don't think we'll fully grasp the enormity of His sacrifice until we glimpse it for ourselves in heaven.

My prayer today is that you remember God's gift to each of us. And that you offer grace to everyone you meet.

Mary

Labels: grace, Jesus, mary moss, Revelation, worship for the weekday

  ¶ 6:39 AM