Friday, June 3, 2016

When my children were much younger, they used to enjoy it when my wife or I would read stories to them before bed. We read all kinds of wonderful stories; “The Wind in the Willows”, “Winnie the Pooh”, “The Velveteen Rabbit”, “The Indian in the Cupboard”, “The Legend of King Arthur”, “Sleeping Beauty”, “The Hobbit”, and of course “The Chronicles of Narnia”. As my children began to learn to read, I would ask them to read a sentence or two from each page as we went along. Whenever we would reach the end of the last chapter, my youngest son would always look for those two little words that signify the end of a story – “The End”. I don’t know why, but he always wanted to be the one to read those words. If the book we were reading did not actually have them printed at the end of the last chapter, he would say them anyway. I think it was just his way of stating that the story is over.

When we come to the book of Revelation, in a sense, it is God’s way of telling us the story is over. Yet, in another sense, it is also God’s way of telling us that “The End” is really not an end at all, but a new beginning into a great and glorious story that will go on for all eternity. Revelation tells us how the story of this world and this life will eventually come to an end, and how that ending will open the door to a new beginning of life with Christ. This is why we must read Revelation (The End) through the lens of Genesis (The Beginning). Revelation is the culmination of what God started way back in the Genesis. It is the story of God making good on all of his promises and redeeming all that He created.

Genesis	Revelation
Creation	Recreation
Satan’s Rebellion	Satan’s Defeat & Judgment
Darkness & Night	No more Darkness or Night
The Curse Pronounced	The Curse Removed
Shame & Hiding From God	We Will See Him Face to Face
Death Enters	No more Death or Dying
Marriage of First Adam	Marriage of Last Adam (Christ)
Man’s City – Babylon	God’s City – New Jerusalem
First Judgment	Final Judgment

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.  Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.  By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.  – Genesis 1:1, 31, 2:1-3

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”  - Revelation 21:1-4

We may argue and speculate about the middle of the story, but we can all at least agree that in the beginning, God created it…and in the end, God redeems it! 

Jeff Frazier