“And the one seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new’, and he said, ‘Write, for these words are faithful and true’” (Rev 21.5). On 12 occasions in Revelation John is instructed to “write” (‘grapson’ in Greek), and this is the last of them. This reminds us of the third vital ingredient in the process of revelation (and, of course, of Revelation). Seeing God and hearing his words are revelation enough for those who are privileged to see and hear; but for those of us (most of us) who are not, God needs someone to obey this command to write, as it is through his written word, both inspired and illuminated by the Holy Spirit, that God chooses to reveal himself to us. This final vision of John, then, might be seen as bringing perfect closure to the written record of God’s word. The first chapter of Genesis began with the beginning: “God created the heaven and the earth”; here, John witnesses the creation of “a new heaven and a new earth”. Genesis 2 presents Adam with a wife, Eve, and gives us God’s prescription for the ideal marriage: “A man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh” (Gen 2.24). John’s vision leaves us at the point when God’s ideal is about to be consummated in the eternal union of Christ and his church. And Genesis 3 reveals to us a God who wants to be with the people he has created (just as Jesus chose his 12 disciples primarily “to be with him”- Mark 3.14), and so is “walking in the garden in the cool of the day” to meet them (Gen 3.8). And here, in the penultimate chapter of the bible, despite all that has gone between, God still wants to be with his people, a people he has both created and redeemed; so much does he want this that he is prepared to ‘come down’ from heaven and ‘pitch his tent’ among men, just as Jesus did – a ‘forerunner’ indeed ! But Jesus “emptied himself” of his divine glory, and “dwelt among us” in the tent of a mortal human body; God will dwell among men in the full splendour of his divine glory, the Almighty Father, we might say, become the loving Father-in-law, and men and women will bask in the sunlight of his presence: indeed, “his name shall be called ‘Emmanuel’, ‘God with us’.
Saturday, 10 December 2011
SKENE 31: from Genesis to Revalation
“And the one seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new’, and he said, ‘Write, for these words are faithful and true’” (Rev 21.5). On 12 occasions in Revelation John is instructed to “write” (‘grapson’ in Greek), and this is the last of them. This reminds us of the third vital ingredient in the process of revelation (and, of course, of Revelation). Seeing God and hearing his words are revelation enough for those who are privileged to see and hear; but for those of us (most of us) who are not, God needs someone to obey this command to write, as it is through his written word, both inspired and illuminated by the Holy Spirit, that God chooses to reveal himself to us. This final vision of John, then, might be seen as bringing perfect closure to the written record of God’s word. The first chapter of Genesis began with the beginning: “God created the heaven and the earth”; here, John witnesses the creation of “a new heaven and a new earth”. Genesis 2 presents Adam with a wife, Eve, and gives us God’s prescription for the ideal marriage: “A man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh” (Gen 2.24). John’s vision leaves us at the point when God’s ideal is about to be consummated in the eternal union of Christ and his church. And Genesis 3 reveals to us a God who wants to be with the people he has created (just as Jesus chose his 12 disciples primarily “to be with him”- Mark 3.14), and so is “walking in the garden in the cool of the day” to meet them (Gen 3.8). And here, in the penultimate chapter of the bible, despite all that has gone between, God still wants to be with his people, a people he has both created and redeemed; so much does he want this that he is prepared to ‘come down’ from heaven and ‘pitch his tent’ among men, just as Jesus did – a ‘forerunner’ indeed ! But Jesus “emptied himself” of his divine glory, and “dwelt among us” in the tent of a mortal human body; God will dwell among men in the full splendour of his divine glory, the Almighty Father, we might say, become the loving Father-in-law, and men and women will bask in the sunlight of his presence: indeed, “his name shall be called ‘Emmanuel’, ‘God with us’.
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