Monday, May 23, 2022
And the one sitting
on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me,
“Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” And
he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and
the End. To all who are thirsty I will
give freely from the springs of the water of life. All
who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God,
and they will be my children. Revelation
21:5-7
My
brother, Thom, is a month shy of being four years older than I am. That made a huge difference when we were kids. With his size and maturity, every athletic
contest was over before it began. Because
of my stubborn nature, it never kept me from trying to beat the odds. In all the years of human existence it has
been thus…we resist the irresistable, and fight against the unconquerable!
Ultimately
there were some changes with my brother.
I may have won a time or two. He’s
still the better athlete, but with what’s left of two sets of knees (his and
mine), neither of us has the inclination to return to the contests. Old men have their memories, and that’s enough
of a playground.
I see
a parallel on a grander scale in the wrestling match featuring God and
humans. It’s also way over from before the beginning. The Psalmist rehearses the power of the
thundering seas, which was a foreshadow of mysterious dark, menacing forces in
the ancient mind. Then he turns the page
to the heavens, declaring the mightier power of the Creator. The seas may be violently raging, but it is
still the lesser, contained in the greater, the one, true eternal God.
This
is the “Alpha” of Revelation’s vision of “Omega”. God began the beginning for humanity and the globe
of dust we inhabit. He is also the end
point of God’s heart-plan for us; He is our omega, our ending, or, frankly, the
whole point of our existence! He is, as
the Revelator’s pen declares, the one sitting on
the throne. And THAT throne,
which is above every other throne, is what decides the outcome of whatever is
in its view. There is nothing which
escapes its power.
Back
to the playground metaphor with my brother playing the lead part. There came a time when we were more
evenly-matched, and the scores of the games became closer. But that’s where the analogy ends; humans will
never get closer to the power, majesty, and splendor of He who sits on Heaven’s
throne…not with physical power, nor because we wish or will it to be so. None of us can overwhelm, outsmart or out-maneuver
the Almighty. We are, as the raging,
violent seas, still the lesser, contained in the Greater.
For You Today
Knowing that God
has good plans for us, and His might will bring them about for those who acknowledge
His Kingdom, is the “win” of all wins.
Bow before the throne, acknowledging Jesus, the Lord of Lords, and King
of Kings.
You chew on that as
you hit the Rocky Road with Jesus; have a blessed day!
[1] Title image: Pixabay.com Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
