1 The revelation of Jesus Christ,
which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take
place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, (Revelation 1)
I
knew when we started this journey that the book of Revelation would be a grand
crescendo of all the rest of Scripture. It is not only the final book, the
vision of things that would soon take place, but it plays like the concluding
stanza of the divine symphony, combining the themes of all the preceding movements.
In
this case, I was drawn to consider that classic song of salvation from a previous
document of Scripture penned by John. You know the song: God so loved the world
that he gave us his only-begotten Son so
that whoever believes in Jesus Christ will not perish but have eternal life[1]. Now to picture God giving his Son the revelation to let his
servants know what would soon take place resonates with the “for God so loved” the earlier song had
already expressed.
As
I pondered the way that Jesus made the revelation known by sending his angel to
“his servant John," I was drawn
to consider how Jesus prepared for his own coming into the world by sending his
angel to his servant Mary. She would participate in the Word becoming flesh[2] in a way that was unique to her, even as John had a singular
assignment in bringing the breathed-out revelation into the world. Here is the
way Mary responded to the angel’s instructions: “And Mary said, ‘Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me
according to your word.’”[3]
Mary’s
words are a beautiful example of how to see ourselves in relation to the book
of Revelation. It is a book sent to God’s servants through his servants. Instead
of trying to make it say more than Jesus said, we must humbly respond to the
revelation with the simple acknowledgement of, “let it be to me according to your word." We do not need to
wait until we understand times and seasons to tell God that we want his will to
be done on earth as it is done in heaven[4]. We can say to God: “whatever you mean by this vision; however this
will play out in history; however this has already been fulfilled, or is yet to
be fulfilled; whatever you mean for this in your mind, let it be done to me
according to your word.”
One
other picture helps me keep perspective on the place of God’s servants. Jesus
said, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager,
whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food
at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will
find so doing when he comes.”[5]
When we desire to have God’s word fulfilled
in our lives, even when we cannot understand all that this word means, we will
not focus on things that are God’s responsibility to know and handle. Instead, we
will concentrate on caring for the body of Christ[6], using our spiritual gifts to build up the body of Christ[7], and serving one another in love[8], so that, whenever our Master does return, he will find us doing his
will. If Jesus said that this is the way to be blessed, may it be done to each
of us according to his word.
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