We know God
by inspiration, by proclamation, by demonstration, (and by meditation and
perspiration.)
Soon and
very soon, we will also know God by revelation.
This is the ‘apocalypse’
we are so familiar with, but mostly by the blatant and constant misuse of the
word.
This word
which means ‘unveiling’ - or truly - ‘revelation,’ has been used in the modern
age to mean some sort of cataclysmic event. A huge explosion, or massive
battle, or some such thing. A super-colossal tragic event of some sort is said
to be “apocalyptic.”
The ‘apocalypse,’
(which has no doubt been borrowed for use by the world,) is the revelation of
Jesus Christ to the whole world at one future point in time. This is the moment
when all will see and know that Jesus truly IS
the Christ, and when all will acknowledge His Lordship over their lives. For
many this demonstration of His Lordship will come by His destruction of their
attempts to oppose it.
In the
second half of Luke 17, Jesus
answers the Pharisees’ sarcastically spiteful question about when the kingdom
of God will come with a clarity few may have expected. One question we may ask
about Jesus’ lengthy answer: How does Jesus know all this?
If you know
the answer to that question, than you know Who it is Who is answering, which
means His answer is the Way, the Life, and the Truth. To deny His answer can
only lead to your destruction.
On the first
point - which is major for us - Jesus reveals the present location of the
kingdom of God. To those who were looking for a political figure to come and
overthrow the Roman government, or any other thing which may be dominating
their lives, Jesus informs us the kingdom of God is within us. It is not
presently a physical kingdom, it is a kingdom of permissive Lordship over the
heart of man. It is a spiritual kingdom present only within those who allow it
to be so. To date, this kingdom is invisible.
But soon and
very soon this will change, which should be of primary importance to every
life. Jesus IS coming back, and to
every eye and every heart He WILL BE revealed.
-Pastor Bill
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