behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. so it is to be. amen. revelation 1:7
so, funny kid story: a couple years back bill had been talking to asher about when Jesus is coming back. he had told him some of the signs leading up to His return, and asher, being my deep thinking child, had pondered these things in his heart. one morning he looked out the window, while sitting on the couch with bill, and said, "well, i guess Jesus isn't coming back today." when bill asked him how he knew that today wasn't the day, asher responded, "there are no clouds." oh, the gems of revelation out of the mouth of a three year old!
as cute as this story is, it is also one of great hope and encouragement to me. children have such simple faith and sometimes i get into a thinking that you have to be super educated or deep to understand what the bible says, especially about the second coming of Christ. yet, a great bible teacher from great britain named david pawson reminds us that the bible and even the book of revelation was written for common people to understand. basically, what it says is to be taken literally unless it says it is to be interpreted as a symbol. sure there is cultural context to be taken into account at times that will enhance the understanding of a passage or entire book, but how amazingly comforting to me to know that God intended for me to understand His word.
i am also so encouraged this morning as i meditate on this verse because i realize once again that i will not miss Him. i went through a period of time when i was younger, probably partially due to the movie a thief in the night back in the seventies, where i was quite fearful that somehow i would miss the second coming of Jesus and be "left behind." however, John the writer of the book of revelation encourages His readers at the beginning of his book that every eye will see Him. that includes me! thank you Lord for this assurance and great hope that we have of your return! it will not be symbolic, it will not be for a just few, but Jesus is coming back for real. we will know the day of His coming if we watch for the signs even He Himself told us to be on watch for.
be encouraged! our deliverer is coming, He will rule and reign on the earth, and His kingdom will know no end.
charis
4 comments:
What a wonderful wonderful blog! Kid's are such innocent creatures and it is so funny what their minds think when it comes to the bible. And yes, we are all so very lucky to be awaiting his miraculous arrival!~ Blessings... -Megan
thanks for your comment megan! yes, kids' thoughts are so interesting to me and i love their simple faith. no wonder Jesus told us we had to cone like a child to receive the kingdom of heaven. bless you!
Good to know there's a little more assurance now than what we felt after watching the "left behind" movie. Wow, I still remember watching that as a kid. I think there was a part when there was an electric shaver running in the sink because the guy was caught up while shaving. Anyway, I love all of the Asherisms. I remember coming home from work one day when he was over and he said, "Daniel, the Son of Man is coming soon to shake the world!"...classic
I was just writing a friend of mine about that movie two days ago and how it freaked me out as a kid. I told her it was so wonderful to read Revelation without a fear paradigm. As a kid, I'd stand in my parent's window quite often and look up at the sky wondering if Jesus was coming back. This blog is so encouraging, and your perspective is so refreshing. I love how kids help us see the world afresh.
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