Isn’t it a wonderful satisfaction to get to the end of a book and find out that it ended just as you had hoped. All loose ends were tied up. The bad guy loses and the good guy wins.
I finished the RTBT18 (Read The Bible Through) plan this morning a little ahead of schedule. Guess what? It ends just as you hoped it would! All loose ends are tied and Good One wins.
I have read the Bible through several times and hope to do it again and again because I learn more each time I go through it. As I looked at our reading plan I was slightly disappointed that the December readings would be in Revelation. I have always been a little confused by the symbolic nature of this wonderful book but I was so blessed by this year’s reading. In fact it made perfect sense to read Revelation while we prepare to celebrate Jesus’ birth.
Revelation is also about preparing for His coming except in Revelation His coming will not be in a quiet manger scene. His Glory was contained in those swaddling clothes yet Revelation 1 gives us the true description of Jesus-eyes like fiery flames, feet like bronze, voice like the sound of many waters. I used to be scared when I read that passage. I liked the sweet, gentle Jesus that was in my Sunday School pictures. But as I read through Revelation this time I felt such joy and peace. I treasure this Revelation image of Jesus. Powerful. Awe inspiring. Humbling. Mighty. He was willing to give up that glory to come to earth as a baby for all of us.
I always feel a sense of accomplishment when I check the box or cross off my list to show completion but I hesitated to check my final box on the reading plan. I wasn’t ready for it to be over. Yet it had to be over - all God promised is completed as you read the end of Revelation. Whatever your view of this book may be, the bottom line is God keeps His Word and Paradise is restored. God’s dwelling is with humanity (Rev. 21) and the tree of life will no longer be a curse (Rev. 22).
If you are still reading but got behind, don’t give up. Keep reading even if it takes another year or two. Get a good commentary to help with the difficult passages with any of the books of the Bible. Even the smartest scholars can’t explain or expound on some passages. In a song by Steven Curtis Chapman he says “God is God and I am not. I can only see a part of the picture He’s painting; God is God and I am man so I’ll never understand it all for only God is God.” I guess I’m encouraging any one who struggles to read the Bible or who says it’s too hard to understand to read it anyway. My mind floods with analogies of treasures found in endurance and struggle. The Bible is just such a treasure.
I could go on and on about the lessons and truths I learned in my 2018 readings through the Bible and I might just do that at another time but I felt compelled today to share this encouragement. One truth that has become such a blessing to me was knowing the name Almighty (used almost exclusive in Revelation in the NT anyway) in Greek is ‘Pantokrater’ which means ‘the One who has His Hand on everything’! How awesome is that! The Almighty laying in a manger, dying on a cross, overcoming death-He has His Hand on everything! Nothing surprises Him. He was in the beginning and He has the end in His Hand. “Amen! Come Lord Jesus!”
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1
“The grace of the Lord Jesus be with everyone. Amen.” Revelation 22:21
