4 ”…Grace to you and peace…” (Revelation
1)
Occasionally
my head ends up thinking of this journey through Revelation as an exploration of
a Museum that puts God’s plans for the future on display. The first three
verses are like the big main sign on the building that says, “The Revelation”, and, on the corner of
the sign is a signature, “of Jesus Christ”.
Then there is an explanatory sign lower on the wall that explains how this
Revelation came from God, to Jesus, to his angel, to John, and now to Jesus’
servants. At the bottom of this sign is the promise of blessing on those who
read, hear and do what is revealed throughout the Museum.
As
we open the door to enter the Museum we are greeted by our tour guide, a fellow
servant named John. The first thing he does is place a garland of grace and
peace around the necks of each of the servants of Jesus Christ who enter the
building. At the same time, he explains to us that this is a gift of grace and
peace from God the Father, God the Holy Spirit, and God the Son.
In
the Revelation Museum we will see displays of all kinds of terrible things that
will happen in the world. Beasts and dragons will seek to destroy the servants
of God. There will be times that God’s servants would lose all hope except for
this one thing: we keep looking at the garland of grace and peace and realize
that God is always helping us through all the bad things we face in life. One
day his grace and peace will bring us into the new home that Jesus has prepared
for us, and we will never regret depending on his grace and peace no matter how
long the journey.
The
point is that grace and peace are given to the Museum travelers. It does not
say “grace and peace FOR you,” but “grace and peace TO you”. We will not
need to look for secret stashes of grace and peace as we go through the
difficult scenes of the journey. The first thing that Jesus wants us to know as
we enter his Museum is that he lovingly adorns us with his grace and peace for all
we will face.
What
this means is that we will travel through the Revelation Museum, and through
the life that is previewed in the book of revelation, wearing a constant supply
of the undeserved favor of God guiding us along every step of our way. We will
not be victorious over beasts and dragons because we deserve to be victorious.
We will not win victories because we are mighty warriors. We will win because
of the abundant grace that God gives us at the very beginning of our journey.
The
peace on our garland gives off the fragrance of Jesus’ words: “I have said these things to you, that in me
you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I
have overcome the world.”[1] We could say that, because the Revelation is “of Jesus Christ”, that he is continuing to say things to his
servants so that we may have his peace. Revelation shows what Jesus meant by
telling us that we would live in a world of tribulation. However, he has
overcome the world in his death, burial and resurrection, and the Revelation
Museum shows how he will overcome the world in the working out of God’s plans
and purposes.
Now
that I see God’s servants as standing inside the door of the Revelation Museum in
eagerness to get the journey started, the garland around our necks wafting up
the fragrance of God’s grace and peace must be seen in every section of the
journey, no matter how dark and scary it may sometimes appear.
All
Jesus’ servants have been saved by grace through faith.[2] That has brought us into a life described like this: “Therefore, since we have been justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into
this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”[3] If we have peace with God in this way, we certainly can stand in
his grace. Our hope will not be disappointed.
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