Mystery and Creation

It appears clear from the first chapters of The Revelation that the letter of the Apostle, John, is written to the Church – to genuine Christians, but is available to anyone.  The reader is formed in reading it, perhaps in at least having information of conflagration that is detailed in writing that closes the biblical canon.  Scripture notes in a number of places that the work of God in nature (world) is a mystery, and in this writing from John the mystery is closed.  A new and promising context is opened that continues human life as God meant for it to be at the initial creation represented in the Garden and the special life from God given to mankind.  The story is to be believed because it comes from God, but also from the logic that a perfect God will not be thwarted in his plans.  He shares future life with his creation and what went wrong for the time warp.  God will not be thwarted.  The initial purpose will be restored and established.  (Revelation 21:1-3)  The creation will be continued in the first formation directed without the negations of life that we know.

God’s nature possesses only affirmations for life.  The conflicts of the affirmations and negations will end. In the words of Moses all living, affirming the image of God in them, will have chosen life.  The repeated accusation of the centuries that Christianity has a message of gloom and doom for the earth is not the essential biblical story for daily life.  The gloom and doom scenario is common for us in warnings of naturalists, some of whom argue that the population is moving to a point of no recovery even within the current century.  The first alert in Scripture reference above is that those reading the letter will openly communicate the prophecy.  Reference is made to readers first, with the implication the message will be circulated so going to those hearing it.  There is an obedience to it which relates to faith in believing, which faith has a personal benefit to the individual.  The final statement here relates to the time of occurrence for the prophecy.  That time reference may include more than we relate to immediacy and time.  The time is always at hand for the acts of God.  He adapts to time, but time is not in his dimensions unless he wills it to be so.  The call of God is always in the terms of eternity, which is always in present tense.  That is another way of saying that eternity is ever present.  Everything is at hand – that is present in the human panorama.  For example, the whole of The Revelation is one revelation.  By nature’s standards there are many revelations (progressions) in The Revelation.  There is only one when the prophecy relates to God’s doing. 

Scripture follows the context from God.  Scripture presses the redemptive message to mankind as something immediate (at hand) even if the person lives another hundred years.  Israel is to go out of Egypt to the Promised Land as God wills the event. At the same time, the residents of the Promised Land have sinned (an unsatisfactory society) and are about to perish.  Israel is delayed for forty years in the wilderness, and the Canaanites are given reprieve for forty years to make adjustment.  If during the forty years there is change related to righteousness, the plan can be delayed, even changed to accommodate the human change.  In either event the matter is at hand in the mind of God.  That is comforting to know, since  we do not know the future.  The future then is at hand.  The father of Abram missed it when he settled down in Ur of Chaldees.  Abram picked up the vision and became Abraham.  Jonah missed it when going to Nineveh.  He felt good about God judging the city as he announced, forgetting that his message included recovery if people followed through on his evangel.  The hero in the piece that brought recovery for the city was the repentant leader who picked up Jonah’s message and became the person God wanted to protect the children and the animals of Nineveh.  The stories in Scripture alone press the point of both immediacy and the power of recovery in revival of righteousness.  There is always a precipice that we can reach and go over to tragedy.  We are the ones that drive too close and slip over, or we know the way we take is safe and offers approved ends.  Both safety and danger are always at hand, and our generation has to make choices that lead to good or ill.  God is in our limits, managing well in grace – lasting only if we surrender to it.