Thursday, December 25, 2008

Behold, I am coming soon! And my reward is with me, to Pay Back Everyone According To His Work. Rev.22:12.

Today's text has two parts. We tend to seize on the former and ignore the latter. The crucial message is not the nearness of the end, but the fact that our behavior today affects our reward then. God gave prophecies such as those in the book of Revelation not to satisfy our curiosity about the future, but to teach us how to live today.

Some Christians invest a great deal of energy in determining the timing and nature of end-time events. Not only does this miss the point of Bible prophecy, it can have unfortunate consequences, as illustrated in the following story.

Michael tells the story of a religious camp meeting. After an open-air worship service and a potluck lunch, the young marrieds went on walks, the older marrieds went for their traditional "rest," and the teenagers either wandered toward the river or hung out by the lunch tables.

Will and Bobby were in the group by the tables. An 8-year-old girl with red hair and freckles sauntered up to their table and asked, "what's up?" Will said, "Nothing much," but Bobby quickly added, "Except a tornado is headed this way. Hail the size of golf balls are close behind, and we are directly in its path! It should be hitting us in about 30 to 45 minutes!"

The redhead's eyes opened wide, and she dashed off to warn everyone else of the impending danger. Within minutes most of those present were turning in to all the local radio stations. Many began packing up and getting out of there. Of the hundreds of families camping there, about a third had evacuated within the space of 20 minutes, even though the sky did not have a single cloud and the tents were strifling hot because of the lack of a breeze.

Michael's first thought on hearing the report was I should have brought a radio. His second thought was I wonder what Will and Bobby have to do with this? So he went looking for the teenagers. Sure enough, Will and Bobby laughingly admitted to having told a readheaded girl of the  impending disaster.

Searching for the child, Michael found her running to another part of the campgrounds. He stopped her, much to her agitation, and told her it was all a joke. She bacame really upset and argued that he was lying to her, that a tornado was really headed their way, and that he had better get out while he had the chance! And off she went on her mission to warn everyone. The weather that weekend was perfect. If a tornado ever does hit that campground, who will believe the warning?

Lord, keep my study of prophecy focused on You more than on the events around me.

Christ looks upon His people in their purity and perfection as the reward of all His sufferings, His humiliation, and His love, and the supplement of His glory--Christ, the great Center, from whom radiates all glory(TFMB 89).