Many Christians and Bible scholars believe we are living in the ‘end times’; that is, the count-down for the return of Yeshua HaMashiach/Jesus the Christ is on. If that is the case, should we not pay close attention to the book of Revelation? I think so. If you haven’t done it lately, it’s time to read Revelation carefully again, with study aids in hand, especially those that cross-reference to bring understanding from other scriptures.

I have been doing that lately, stopping at every verse for which I know a melody, to sing the scripture. Remember this one, from Rev 1:18? “I am He that liveth and was dead. And behold I am alive forever more. Amen. And I have the keys of death and of hell. I am He that liveth and was dead.” And so on. But that’s just me. I have to sneak some singing into everything 🙂

Then comes a sobering question: where are we now, in the timeline of those seven churches addressed in Chapters 2 to 3? So many of the descriptors sound familiar from our own 21st century experience, that I wonder if it’s really correct to take a strictly linear view of those seven churches. For example, are we not still, like the saints in the church of Ephesus, “testing those who say they are apostles and are not”? Do we not (at least some of us- myself included) periodically have to repent of leaving our first love, remember from where we have fallen and re-commit to “doing the first works”? Rev. 2:4-5.

As in the experience of the Smyrna church, aren’t some Christians still being thrown into prison by agents of the devil, and having to “be faithful unto death”? There are 21st century martyrs being killed in places where by all appearances “Satan dwells”, as happened to the Pergamos church, whose members had to live and keep professing their faith in the same place where Satan had established his throne. And are we not, in such circumstances, still at risk of compromising as Balaam and Balak contrived to have the Israelites do?

Probably exceeding the experience of Pergamos and Thyatrya though, the 21st century sexual immorality and eating of things sacrificed to idols seem to have reached an all time high. (Ever check out the idolatrous figures presiding over the service in some increasingly popular restaurants?) And knowing “the depths of Satan” has gained popularity in recent years- as we can see from the demonic theme of many movies, TV series and You-tube postings.

“I know your works … You have a name that you are alive, but you are dead… I have not found your works perfect before God.” Sound familiar, or was that just for Sardis? The Life-giving Spirit was being excluded by some in Sardis just as He is today in some religious organizations that do their notable works under the banner of Christianity.

Then comes the church at Philadelphia. The key of David and that door which only God opens and shuts. And again we are faced with the “synagogue of Satan” metaphor for the controversy over Jewish/Gentile identity, which had faced the church of Smyrna. This is where I need to stop for now and dig deeper. Although we see some of the former descriptors in our 21st century church, and although we can also identify with the lethal luke-warmness and blinding opulence in the subsequent description of the Laodicean church, we need to ‘stick a pin’ and examine this “synagogue of Satan” issue some more, because I suspect it may help to pin-point just how close to the end of the end times we are.

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Many years ago the Holy Spirit asked me, “Whom do you worship?” A strange question, I thought; but it made me examine what I believed about the identity of the God I claim to worship. It was obviously similar to the “Who do you say that I am” question recorded in Matthew 16. There Yeshua (Jesus) had directed it to his disciples, and Simon Peter was the one who piped up with an answer. He was not yet the apostolic pace-setter who’d eventually write some New Testament scripture, but still the rough-cut diamond of a fisherman who’d need direct revelation in order to rightly answer this question. Yet we read in verses 16-17:

“Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.’                Yeshua said to him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven!’ ”

That was revealed over 2,000 years ago, and recorded to ADD TO the revelation of Himself that the God of the Bible had been sharing with mankind since creation. Yeshua was standing in a human body right there before Peter’s eyes, so His question was about Himself in flesh, about ‘Immanuel’ (God with us); but even in approving Peter’s answer, Yeshua referred to the God whose form the disciples still could not see, His Father in heaven.

When the Spirit of God posed the similar question to me, I could neither see Yeshua nor could I see the Father in heaven. I could only hear the voice of the Holy Spirit (‘God in Spirit’). And I knew He was asking me a broader question than could be fully answered with Peter’s words, or with ancient writings that predated the Incarnation, or even with later words that offered a ‘new’ revelation without reference to how God had Self-identified in ages past.

So I was at a loss for a glib answer. Only a carefully worded answer would do to explain to anyone or to demonstrate to God (who was asking) that I was absolutely conscious of Whom I was worshiping. And those words could raise more questions than answers, regardless of how they were phrased. But that is not a bad thing, because each Christian needs to do what I had to do- to search for God’s revelation of Himself in the scriptures and find the answer to that question for himself/herself.

I could confidently answer the question now in the simplest way possible: “I worship the God of the Bible.” However, for clear communication (which is what God was after in posing the question) I would expand on that: “I worship the God of the entire Bible, Whose story of past, present and future interaction with mankind is recorded from Genesis to Revelation; Who revealed His attributes, demonstrated His power and influenced the whole world for good through the Israelites; Who offered redemption to the fallen human race through the life and sacrifice of His Incarnation, the Jew Yeshua HaMasiach (Jesus the Christ/the Messiah); Whose Spirit still indwells Yeshua’s disciples, empowering us to pursue the Divine ministry of reconciliation which Yeshua enabled and His Apostles enacted; and Whose prophetic revelations provide His Body (His indwelt ones) with guidance and necessary vision going forward toward the end of this age.

What do you think of that mouthful?

Romans 8:28 is one of my favorite passages of scripture. The CJB renders it, “Furthermore, we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called in accordance with his purpose.” Other versions say, “all things work together for good” or “in all things God works for the good”, of those who qualify as loving God and being called in accordance with His purpose. The context of this bold statement is set in verses 18-23, where the apostle Paul describes some of the adversity that we all suffer while we await the “redemption” of our bodies; that is, while we live our mortal lives.

This morning I briefly meditated on this verse, and formed a mental picture of God working as a master weaver in the lives of His loving, called-out-ones; weaving together the threads of our experiences- pleasant and unpleasant, into beautiful, colorful, durable tapestries that emerge as both ‘good’ in our eyes and purpose-fulfilling in His. That’s all the meditation I had time for before going to Shabbat service…

And then… you may not believe what was the first verse I noted down from the pastor’s teaching. It was Exodus 35:35: “He has filled them (Bezalel and Aholiab) with skill to do all manner of work of the engraver and the designer, and the tapestry-maker, in blue, purple and scarlet thread, and fine linen, and of the weaver– those who do every work and those who design artistic works.”

Although it will extend this post, I must tell you something about these two craftsmen, Bezalel and Aholiab, that will link this Old Testament verse with the New Testament verse I was meditating on at home. Bezalel’s name meant “in the shadow of God”, Aholiab’s name meant “the Father’s tent”, and these two men had been chosen by God and teamed up together to build His Tabernacle. Their names describe closeness and submission to God (i.e. devotion and love… Jesus/Yeshua said, “If you love me, keep my commandments”). For one to be in God’s shadow one has to be sticking close to God and moving in synch with Him. To be in the Father’s tent one has to be submitted to the Father’s house rules. These qualities signified their suitability to fulfill the purpose of God in their generation- the building of His Tabernacle, the place that would eventually be filled with His glory.

These men were endowed with skills such as that of a weaver, to make tapestries of different colored threads, but they were only operating in the shadow of God. What does that tell you? God was doing a weaving too, making a tapestry too… otherwise His shadow could not have been. So, I am brought back to Romans 8:28, where God is still weaving together the many-colored, many-textured threads of our life experiences into a tapestry of good for us, which fulfills His purposes and reflects the beautiful design of a master weaver. Some threads may be rough when taken on their own, but they add durability to the tapestry. So let’s ensure we are walking in God’s shadow, and positioning ourselves under His tent, loving Him and submitting to His purposes. Then, behold- see the beautiful tapestry He will make of our lives.

See my latest book: T.G.I.F. Thank God It’s Friday

“I am absolutely loving this book! As a Christ-follower who has taken a step back from my spiritual journey, this book is inspiring me to reach out to God again and seek His advice through prayer and His teachings. Thank you so much for sharing your story and testimonies with the world. Thank you for reminding me that He has a greater plan for us. May God bless you and your everyone that this book inspires!”

Patsy Abou-Rjeili, Ottawa, Canada.

Solomon the wise, by divine inspiration said: “For everything there is a season, a right time for every intention under heaven- a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot …” (Ecclesiates 3:1-2, CJB). Those who know this passage will recall that verses 3 to 8 continue to compare and contrast the circumstances that we all experience in a normal lifespan, our time spent “under heaven”. Then verse 11 asserts that God has made everything suited to its time (TLV translation- “beautiful in its time”). In heaven it seems there is no measuring of time. There is just eternity. But Ecclesiastes says that God has already “set eternity” in our hearts (TLV); that is, God has “given human beings an awareness of eternity” (CJB). I was reminded of this passage because an excerpt was read at our service of Thanksgiving for Mummy’s life last Friday. We are still thanking God that she was born when she was born, that she accomplished all that she did in her 93 years under heaven, and that the eternity which was set in her heart has now become her reality.