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God’s Revelation: Jesus Christ |
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When we open ourselves to the Lord's presence, God reveals His love, His instructions, and His creation inwardly to us. These are God's gift to those who strive to obey our heavenly Father. God continues to reveal His Truth when we are in prayer. Even before God created us in His image, He prepared His Word, our beloved Jesus Christ who ministers to us in enduring love. We need to thank God for sending the everlasting Word into our souls which crave for God's everlasting Light. This Word is the author of our scriptures of Truth. In Genesis 3:15, God proclaimed that the seed of the woman (Christ Jesus) would crush the devil, the essence of evil. Through this scriptural revelation, we have the understanding that if we are faithful, God will overcome evil and the seed of the woman will prevail. Likewise in Isaiah 9:6 God sends His beloved prophet with a message "For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulders. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." This son will serve as our prophet, our King, our priest, and our Savior. Christ came first to minister to the Jewish people and through servants such as Paul and Timothy to Gentiles also. Jesus urges us to love our enemies, to refrain from swearing legal oaths, and above all, to love each other as He loves us. Despite the fact that humanity crucified Jesus, God, in His gift to us, resurrected our beloved Lord and sent Him first among the apostles and then into our hearts where He rules us in gentleness and kindness. The author of the Book of Revelation in hearing the Lord, reveals that the Lord is knocking on the doors of our hearts to sup with us if we are willing to obey. In this everlasting supper, Jesus reveals our potential for tenderness and caring. Only then are we prepared to serve Him and our Friends and Christ will guide us in His love. Through Jesus' calling, we will be given the love and power to resist and overcome Satan. The author of The Book of Revelation, much to our disappointment perhaps, never speaks of what we try to call our “natural goodness, but only emphasizes our ability to obey Jesus with the power we receive from God. With the power of obedience, God reveals that we can, in addition to waiting on the Lord individually, become a community to gather in worship to seek and find God's guidance. We must be willing to abandon our own understanding to live in the Lord's domain. We will, as a result, understand God's message to His people. We will then be prepared to follow Jesus whenever and wherever Jesus leads us. When we cry "Come, Lord Jesus, come," and He comes - and we feel His coming - we will recognize that indeed Jesus is God's revelation.
Arthur Berk |