God Is: Revelation 1 (TEN YEARS!)

First published on Monday, March 15, 2010

"God is."

I have worked with school-aged kids before, tutoring them on language arts skills. To say that the phrase "God is," is a complete sentence, would be tough for many of them to grasp. In fact, a lot of adults would argue the point. They would say "God is . . . what?"

But you have it right there. A subject: "God"; and a predicate "is." No object is needed for the verb "is." The sentence really just states "God exists." But the simple verb "is," while smaller and of a more basic apparent meaning, seems to say a whole lot more than that God simply exists.

"God is," is a complete sentence. It is also a very simple, basic, and small sentence. Yet it is packed with more meaning than we imagine. In fact, it is perhaps the most meaningful and relevant sentence possible, in the English language.

It is what God really was saying to John:

I am Alpha and Omega, says the Lord God, the Is, the Was, and the Will Be, the ruler of all.

We have written about the power of, and importance of Now, as a concept. Now is really all that matters. If we say that God is, and that Now is more important than "before" or "after", then we come to realize that God is fully present, fully here, fully relevant - and although we cannot see Him, He is more real than we are.

If we can imagine a place of eternal Now, (which is really what eternity would have to be, after all), then we are in a sense proving that there is an Eternity. To suggest that no beings are already in that place, a place that we can only imagine, is the peak of human arrogance.

When we contemplate the reality of Eternity, then we also have considered that there is a God Who resides there already (and Eternity, we should note, is by definition a realm of which we are only a subset. We may be there already - we just have not been transformed into creatures that can access it).

Our understanding of what is to come, in Revelation, must be tempered by the knowledge that only Now counts, really. God prefaces a prophecy of what is to come, by declaring that our focus must be kept on Him, the One Who, simply, is.

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Gordo's commentary, March 31, 2020 - - - It is the Covid Era. A lot has changed since my last post, less than a month ago. My ten year re-postings will take a break until December, as in 2010, for whatever reason, I stopped blogging between April and November. But this year will be different. Most of 2020 will be fresh, timely reflections based on the most world-altering year in a century. By the way . . . this original post received 51 views, which places it in the top ten of all blog posts I have ever made. Perhaps it will get a lot of hits, once again, the second time around. Thank you, readers - for showing up, coming back, and letting me share my crazy ideas with you. 

A Greeting From Christ: Revelation 1 (TEN YEARS!)

Originally published on Tuesday, March 9, 2010

In Revelation, we have words from right off the Apostle John's pen. They are his words, but they have been inspired. He was commissioned an agent to record these prophecies that wrap up God's plan and get us all the way to the end of the Age. So that, the Bible takes us all the way from the very beginning, eons before any of us were born, all the way to the Last Day. It's all there, and what comes between the two covers, are the most important details of history.

John, speaking for the Father, and the Spirits around God's throne (are "the seven spirits" some reference to the Holy Spirit?), and Jesus Anointed brings us some great, some good . . . some wonderful news. We have a greeting from Jesus himself!

Grace to you and peace from . . . Jesus Anointed.

If you read the book of Revelation, you are automatically taken into the presence of Christ. The reader is greeted by Christ himself. Jesus wishes peace to you! He prays that you find grace!

Jesus says "hello", or "hi", or maybe even "hey!", when you begin to read Revelation.

The bearer of witness, the trusted one, first of the dead to be born again and ruler of the kings of the earth . . . has written a letter to you.

And he wishes the very best for you. Read on.

Against

  ... if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you ...

  - from Matthew  5

Of all the essential tenets of scripture,  that people ignore, this merits a position at the top of the list. 

You're supposed to go resolve things with others, not when you've got a beef with them. 

But rather, when they've got a beef with you! 

This is something else that I've noticed on social media. Everybody's all about listening, as long as it's someone else that does the listening. 

Everybody's against offending others,  as long as everybody else has to watch their tongues. 

This is getting it backwards! 

If the other person's upset with you, YOU change! YOU compromise! YOU go the extra yard!

Care about how you come across to others, and watch problems melt away,  like magic!

Teach

I shall teach your ways . . . 

 - From Psalm 51

The 51st Psalm is a joyful ode to God's presence in our lives. The Psalmist describes the good that comes out of a heart that God has inhabited.

If we acted like God, how would we act? We might be described as merciful, just, bold, peaceful, charitable, generous, protective, affirming, watchful.

But the Psalmist goes further, in describing something that would be unusual in the 21st Century. He says that he will "teach" God's ways to the wicked. 

In our times, we conflate people that are not on our side, as wrong, or even, evil. We do not associate with them.

On social media, I have tried, over and over again, to get people to admit that we all just need to listen, more, to each other. I would estimate that about half of the population is opposed to listening to other viewpoints. They might say something like "I do not talk to racists (misogynists, xenophobes, etc.)" 

Teaching is an act of love. You have to listen, to teach. You have to understand your student. A teacher is patient and long-suffering. A teacher is more interested in getting a point across, effectively, than in being right, as soon as possible, as often as possible. 

There is not a lot of that, in today's society.

Psalmist wanted to bring along people, over to His side, and His relationship with the Creator. To him, these people were as "evil" as a suspected Nazi in 2020. But he went anyway. And his goal was to teach.

This means, he got together with them, got to know them, empathized with them . . . 

Listened to them. 

It's All About "Now": Revelation (TEN YEARS!)

First Published Tuesday, March 2, 2010

How is it that the words in Revelation describe events that must happen "soon," when the words were written thousands of years ago, and it does not seem to have happened yet?

The quick answer is that, maybe most of it has happened already! Maybe we should be more willing to accept historic, or post-millenial, or amillenial views, all of which measure the words of prophecy against events that have happened already!

Or maybe we should thank God for delaying the fulfillment of these words?

Perhaps the whole point is not to focus so much on the minutiae of this or that prophetic utterance. Instead, we should see everything as God's plan being worked out in every moment of our lives. What if we viewed everything that happened to us as fitting into God's scheme of things? "Be watchful, therefore . . . "

And in the end, there is really one event that counts; the only one that, when fulfilled, will leave no doubts as to whether or not it is prophetic fulfillment: the true, historic and final return of Christ.

The closer you get to eternity, either in years of experience or in executing a faithful walk with Christ, the more you become aware of the reality of now. That is, God exists in neverending present. With God, everything is always right here, right now. He is fully present, fully aware, totally focused on you, and me, and all of us.

I don't believe God spends His time planning things out for the future. He does not dwell on the past. He is here and now.

The closer my grandmother, who died September, 2009, at the age of 97, got to the end of her life, the more contented she seemed to get. The sleep of death, followed by eternity, was at her doorstep. Nothing more to plan for. No need to regret anything. She seemed right there with us, her thoughts not straying, the last few times I met with her. In 2017 . . . exactly three years ago today, my Dad was showing that same attitude in his final weeks. 

So that, when God, or His messengers, say that future events are near, it's more like an exaggeration. I mean to say that, "soon" does not describe the events as near enough, (if that makes sense!)

A Revelation of Jesus Anointed, which was given him by God in order to show his slaves that which must happen very soon.

This is why prophecies are sometimes described as being in the future, while other times they are written in the present tense. And often, they are decidedly past-tense.

To God, when He says something, it is as good as done. He only lives in the present. But, to make a concept clear to us, (dwellers in chronological time), He has to use tense-based language for it to have meaning.

I can't believe I am already in the final book of my decade-long, reflective Bible study. What began in 2000 is now less than a year from completion. Amazing and powerful things happened to me during that time. Lots of change, and many highs and lows. Yet the time has flown. 

In 2020, this seems as though I wrote it those blog post yesterday, and that the launch of it in 2000 was last week. From 2010 to the present, even more amazing things happened. 

I feel now as though I could have written, ten years ago, something about having already completed the ten years of study. At this moment, that's the way it seems.

God's plan, soon to be completed, is like that.