Diving in

My delay is posting today is not just due to our internet being down most of the day.  I have to admit there has been some procrastination on my part to dive into Revelation with you.  I have studied this book several times in my life.  In high school, my Sunday school teacher was infatuated with the events in Revelation and we spent an entire year working our way through it. The culmination was a movie depicting end time events primarily from the perspective of a pastor who was left behind because he never really believed what he'd been preaching for years. So, unfortunately, my first exposure and reaction to Revelation was fear and doubt:  How will I know my belief is real? Am I saved enough to make it through the rapture?  While God works good through everything and used those questions to began my journey in making sure my relationship with Christ was mine to own, my first real dance with Revelations left me a little wobbly.

Since Darin and I have been married we have studied this book of the Bible with our jr. high Sunday school class, in an adult Bible fellowship class, and on our own in personal study.  We've studied, debated, questioned, but foremost in all of the studies, we sought God.  Sometimes I walked a way with a clearer understanding and sometimes more questions about the symbolisms of a particular chapter, but always searching for a deeper understanding of God and what this book means to my Walk.

As I began to read and get a little nervous as to what I would write about the first chapter from John, I prayed that prayer again.  The dictionary definition of "revelation" is:
"a.The act of revealing or disclosing. b. Something revealed, especially a 

dramatic disclosure of something not previously known or realized"

As we embark on this message revealed to John through the Spirit, let us keep our focus on Christ and what is revealed to us in these words.  God is allowing us to get a glimpse of His power, majesty & might.  I love the descriptions John gives us of Christ coming in on the clouds and the how descriptive he is of the the "one" sent to give him this vision.   I don't know that I will ever be of great help in figuring out the meanings of every picture, every verse, but I walk away today with a reminder of how Glorious our God is.  To grow deeper in our faith, we must always be searching out who God "was", recognizing who He "is" to us today, and looking forward with urgency and anticipation for the God "who is to come."