Today
I found an amazing connection between Revelation 1:4 and Psalm 46. Revelation
1:4 says, “Grace to you and peace from
him who is and who was and who is to come…” The grace and peace of God are
like a garland placed around our necks as we begin our journey through the book.
What we must consider now is the significance of the particular description of
God in relation to the gift of grace and peace. Let’s break this down and see
how each set of words chosen by God help our faith in the grace and peace he is
giving us in Christ.
“from
him who is”
As
believers go through the trials and troubles described in the book of
Revelation, we have a Father who is the “I AM”,[1] the always existing one who always exists in what we think of as
the “present”. He is outside of time, space and matter, and so is not governed
by the things that happen by matter doing things in space over seasons of time.
He “is”. Every time we see any of the things the book of Revelation describes,
God IS. He is not just was and will be; but he is, and always is. He is
present. He is with us. We are to see him as watching over us right in line
with all that he has planned to unfold.
Notice
how this is expressed in Psalm 46:
1 God is our refuge and strength, a
very present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear though
the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, 3
though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its
swelling. (Psalm 46)
Apply
this to all the troubles God warns us about in Revelation. He gives grace and
peace as the God who is our refuge and strength, the God who is our very
present help in trouble. We are not to see our trials as overcoming God and his
people. We are to see that God is giving us grace to go through those things[2], even to rejoice in them[3], and he is present to give us that grace and peace.
The
writer of Hebrews adds a New Testament affirmation of this picture: “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we
may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”[4]
We can go to the throne of grace with confidence at any time because God is
very present to help us, and when we confidently go to this throne of grace, we
will get his present expression of grace and mercy, or grace and peace, to help
us through our troubles.
Jesus
referred to the Father’s watch-care over his people on the night he was
arrested. In his prayer he prayed: “I do not ask that you take them
out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.”[5] Revelation makes it clear that the church will not be taken out of
the world in order to be spared persecution and troubles of all kinds. Instead,
God himself will keep his people from the evil one since he is very present to
do so.
The
next part of Psalm 46 continues to affirm the picture of the very present God
helping his people through whatever we presently face.
4 There is a river whose streams
make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. 5 God
is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning
dawns.
6 The nations rage, the kingdoms
totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. 7 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. (Psalm 46)
All
of this emphasizes how we are to see God as very present with his people to
help us in our time of need. just as Revelation declares.
“from
him who was”
The
garland of grace and peace are from the God who has already existed and ruled
over all the history we have ever heard of. I find it fascinating that Psalm 46
tells us what to expect of God in the present, and bases this on what we have
already seen in the past. Because God is the God who was, in everything we are
going to face we can recall what God has already done. The people of faith got
through their trials because God was already faithful to them. The great cloud
of witnesses of Hebrews 11 tells us about the God who was, and how he worked in
the past. Psalm 46 does the same:
8 Come, behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth. 9 He makes
wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he
burns the chariots with fire. (Psalm 46)
We
are to remember the things God has already done so we will trust him with the
things we are facing at the moment. We are to behold the works of the LORD that
are already evident. He “has” brought desolations on the earth already. He has
judged nations already. He has delivered his people already. He has brought his
people out of Egypt and led them into the promised land. That is what he will
do again. He has brought Jesus’ disciples out of the Egypt of sin and into the
promised land of salvation. He will one day take us out of the Egypt of this
world and bring us into the promised land of our heavenly home. What he did in
the past tells us what he will do about all the future things the church will
face, even as we face them in one present experience after another.
“from
him who is to come”
Again,
Psalm 46 is amazing:
10 “Be still, and know that I am
God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” 11
The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. (Psalm 46)
We
can be still in the present, and we can know in the present moment that Jesus
Christ is God, because no matter how far time stretches into the future, and no
matter what we see the nations do to suppress and destroy the word of God, the
God of the Bible, the Lord Jesus Christ, WILL be exalted among the nations. He WILL
be exalted in the earth.
This
is the message of the book of Revelation. Memorize the pictures in the book and
watch out for anything that looks the way the pictures portray. No matter in
what ways you see the beasts of man-centeredness rise up against the Church,
Jesus Christ will be exalted over those people. No matter how you see the
Babylon of the world rise up to destroy the Church, Jesus Christ will be
exalted over the world. No matter how we see the church turn into a prostitute
with the world, the true Church will rise up and follow Jesus Christ who will
be exalted over all false religions, over every idol, over even the strongest
and most militant religions, and over the false Christianity that is growing
throughout the world.
The
point is that we can be still now because God will be exalted then. We can rest
now because God will be victorious. We can even rest from our attempts to turn
the book of Revelation into manmade theories that go beyond what is written[6] because our faith is not in our understanding of world events, or
our ability to pinpoint the timeframe of Christ’s coming. Our hope is in the
fact that God is with us, and he is the one who will be exalted over every
nation, over every enemy of the church, and even over the red dragon himself[7].
The
testimony that grace and peace come to God’s children from their Father who is,
who was, and who is to come, resonates with the music of Psalm 46 which gladly sings
that God is our refuge and strength, our very present help in every trouble the
book of Revelation speaks about. Those who refuse Christ have no such hope; but
the disciples of Jesus Christ have the certain confidence that God is present
to help us now as he prepares the time for Christ to come and take us out of
this sin-cursed world and into the delights of his eternal presence.[8]
© 2012 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517,
Merritt, BC, Canada, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
[1]
Exodus 3:14
[2]
Revelation 1:1
[3]
James 1:3
[4]
Hebrews 4:16
[5]
John 17:15
[6]
I Corinthians 4:6
[7]
Revelation 12 shows the red dragon; the rest of revelation shows God’s victory
over him
[8]
Psalm 16:11
No comments:
Post a Comment