Blessed are...
(Rev. 1:1∼3)
‘God bless you’ means ‘May the heavenly will overflow in you. It implies that our effort focused on Gods revelation enables us to share Gods grace with others as the Chinese character fú(福) is composed of fullness̀(示) and containing(畐). Thus Gods blessing follows the revelation of his will. Let’s see how we can receive it through todays passage.
1. We need to receive the revelation of Jesus Christ.
1) This revelation is the one that God, the Lord of true revelation gave Jesus. No matter how great our ministry was, the only ticket to the Heavenly kingdom is our repentance and faith in Jesus and his redemption for our salvation. This is the revelation of Jesus Christ that God gave to us. Jesus was revealed to us as the womans offspring (Gen 3) and Immanuel(Is 7), and Jesus who will save his people from their sins(Mat 1). Then he glorified God by his crucifixion, revealing all his shame and trials. So it is with us. When we reveal our trials in obedience as we understand Jesus step by step, God enables us to glorify him and gives us his great revelation.
2) The revelation is about what must take place soon. It proclaims that dying without accepting Jesus is itself his judgment and dying with Jesus is the forestage of resurrection, which is the greatest hope and revelation to us. It will take place soon. Jesus, who already came to us, hasnt yet come to us again because of his great love to save more, even just one soul. Gods Kairos is different from our time. Therefore, we should not complain, clinging to the world soon.
3) The revelation was known to angels. The book of Revelation was written in the age of unprecedented persecution by Rome throughout the history of the Scripture. Thats why it had to use lots of pictures and symbols instead of direct description. Thus the gospel needs to be shared gradually and indirectly under tough circumstances. The message is understandable and applicable to Gods selected people while its incomprehensible to the Romans. We need to read the Revelation, keeping in mind that we are facing the toughest time in our life and church history. The biggest trial is a sign of Gods great blessing. We need to catch the Lord in the midst of our trial or it will be all up with us. What then is Gods prescription for us?
2. We should be the witnesses of Jesus revelation. Man is neither omnipotent nor omniscient. God, however, is. What we human beings need to do is just testify to what God has revealed to us and done for us. For this, we need to meditate on the Word by ourselves and what is revealed to us through the word in our community. Through my ministry, I discovered that without sharing our story in community, we can get nowhere. We need to endure the persecution from our spouse or parents in law or our children, whom we cant understand, like a martyr. Thats how we can testify to the Christ we met through the Word. Thus we need to be a witness of Jesus right in our daily life instead of any spiritual training program.
3. Blessed are those who read, listen, and take the Word to heart. The Chinese character of prophesy, Ye‘(豫) means not only in advance but also to entrust. Thus God entrusted us with the gospel, which enables us to foresee. Therefore, we should share the gospel that God entrusted to us with others unsparingly. We should put the Word into practice by applying it in our work place and home. Heres the sharing of a small group leader of our youth department. After spending many years of unhappy childhood, she entered a medical college, met a non-Christian boyfriend, got pregnant, and put her baby up for adoption. When she had to depart from her boyfriend, she was consoled by her sisters message that she felt sorry for not having protected her. Touched by her sisters love for her, she came to our church and saw each member sharing his trials as healing herbs for others. Later, she received a series of spiritual training and became a small group leader. Despite her thyroid gland cancer and herpes zoster, she thanks God for the Word and her community to overcome her disease with, accepting everything as the result of her life. Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the Word. The secret to the blessing is reading, listening, and applying the Word. May Gods blessing be on us, Wooridle community, whose only code of conduct is to read, listen, and apply the Word!
'Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.' (Rev 1:3)
