Wednesday 27th December - Revelation 20

Today’s chapter is Revelation 20

Tom writes:

People have defined their faith by what they think about the 1000 years. I still don’t know where I land on it. Revelation is so replete with symbolism that the “millenium” could just be another example of communicating truth using numbers. But, even if the 1000 years are an actual stage in history, we should remember that it is only a stage, not the final destination. The primary point of the passage is what happens next; Satan is utterly, eternally defeated and every person stands before God’s judgement. This is how we need to view judgement; it is God eradicating from creation every potential source of the devil’s return. Judgement is not God subjecting us to an arbitrary exam. Judgement is not a public video of every bad thing you’ve ever done just to see how much you squirm. Instead, judgement is God’s way of ensuring none of his future co-regents will do what Adam and Eve did. God is looking to establish a permanently pristine, eternally expanding, encyclopaedia of ecstasy for resurrected humanity. And he wants to entrust the stewardship of this new creation into the hands of his children. And so he picks his way through our lives, seeking out evidence that this is what we want as well.

He is like an extremely generous, insanely optimistic conductor, holding auditions for a mighty orchestra to play with him in a symphony of symphonies. As long as you can hold the trombone and will commit to watching his instructions then you are in. If you’ve shown you’d refuse to follow his score, that you have no interest at all in trying to use your violin like he tells you to, then the evidence is clear that you would wreck God’s new creation. Tragically for many, even this incredibly optimistic form of judgement will still find them out. With shock and horror that moment will prove they prefer their own agenda to Gods, that they prefer the dirge of Mog and Magog to God’s symphony of extreme delight. We pray for those people and seek to lovingly witness to those people in this time. There will be a day when it will all be too late. But the thrust of this passage - as with the whole of Revelation - is to bring genuine hope and real motivation to those whose names are written in the book of life. All we need to do is keep trying to follow Jesus. We don’t need to become a prodigy; we just need to show willing to follow Jesus’ lead. And that means faithful endurance. Rather than waiting for a possible future Millenium, we see every moment as an opportunity to apprentice ourselves to becoming co-rulers with our God.

Question for reflection

How today could you steward things in your life just like Jesus would?