Dec 1. Revelation 1. Karissa Dickerman
Worshiping A God We Cannot Fully Understand
As Christians we often work so hard to be close to God and understand Him that we lose touch with His otherness. Revelation can be a reminder just how out of touch we are. No matter how intimate our relationship is with Jesus Christ, we will never know what it will truly be like for Him to return, or when He will.
Most of us can't even fathom what it would be like to be John and be in the presence of an angel. God is the one "who is, and who was, and who is to come" (v.4), "the Alpha and the Omega" (v.8), we hear this language all throughout the Bible, often enough that we may miss out on the gravity of it. As humans, our brains literally cannot comprehend the idea of eternity.
Often I have tried to think about what eternity would feel like, and my brain cannot fathom something so far out of the scope of my reality. God is eternity incarnate. God has always been, and always will be. Sitting and thinking about just that one concept is enough to make you realize just how far away from God we really are, and yet He loves us. He sends his angels to relay messages to prophets so that we may prepare for His eventual return. A return that "must soon take place" (v.1) "because the time is near" (v.3). Another reminder of how far away we are from Christ.
I can imagine that every generation of society has felt that theirs must be the end. Even in the last century there were two world wars, and a depression. Yet still, God has not come. In our microscopic scope of reality, this promise feels oxymoronic. But God is outside the constraints of our understanding.
Today I am grateful that I worship a God that I do not understand, and cannot understand. I am grateful to be intimately cared for by a being that exists eternally. Today I want to be blessed by hearing and taking to heart what is written in Revelation because the time is near (v.3). How can we worship the Lord better by remembering how incomprehensible His greatness and magnitude are? How will we live our lives differently by remembering that the time is near for God to return and his disciples to take our places in His Kingdom?