12/30/2015
Revelation 15.4 Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify
your name?
For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship
you,
for your righteous acts
have been revealed.” – Those who had conquered the beast, its image and the
number of its name…
In 1970, then then cutting edge vocal duo, Simon and
Garfunkel crooned: Still, a man hears
what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.* I think it’s true today,
and I think it’s been true since Adam. Men are often just prisoners of their
own reasoning, seeing what they want to see, and hearing what they want to hear…lie-la-lie…
Today, as I read Revelation 15 through 19, the verse in
chapter fifteen caught my attention like Simon and Garfunkel did in the
seventies with their rendition of The Boxer: “…for your righteous act have been
revealed.” It’s not that they’re invisible now, it’s just that God’s righteous
deeds are only visible to those who believe for them. One day, God’s righteous
acts will be visible to those who never looked for them or who couldn’t believe
God did anything for them. What a sad day that will be. Lie-la-lie.
God has never ceased being involved in the lives of people
and the lives of His people. God isn’t a salesman, but He sure seems to go to a
lot of effort to convince people that they ought to link up and sync up with
Him in all that He is doing in the wills and ways of mankind: His greatest
work, and most cherished possession.
When we think about the comings and goings of man today,
we see things like terrorism, brutality, fear, unrest, and a host of other
uncomfortable things. It seems we humans have lost our ability to reason, to
cooperate, to get along. Why? Because a
man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest. Most people don’t
want to deal with the things that make them uncomfortable. And so, in the
bubble we live.
Most of us are not salesmen either, but we sure seem to
go to a lot of effort to get others to see our point of view. It’s like sales: we
want others to accept, and approve of what we think and how we think. And why don’t
they? Well, it’s because they are doing the same thing and when what we think
doesn’t mesh with what they think, well, a man hears what he wants to hear and
disregards the rest.
God is involved in the lives of everyone but not all
believe that, largely because they can’t see
that. Or accept that. One day, according to the Song of Moses and of the
Lamb (Revelation 15), the righteous acts of God will be revealed and those who’d
wanted and willed for it not to be true will suddenly be in a place of, now
what!? They’ll be faced with the truth with nowhere else to turn. Then what?
Lie-la-lie?
When the trumpet of
the Lord shall sound, and time shall be no more, and the morning breaks,
eternal, bright and fair;
When the saved of
earth shall gather over on the other shore, and the roll is called up yonder, [who'll
be there?]
Certainly not those who’ve made a living by denying the present
presence and power of God. He is here, and He’s at work. Will we look? Or do we
have to wait until He reveals it to us? By then it’ll be too late.
Lord, give us eyes to see and ears to hear. Amen
No comments:
Post a Comment