Bible Tuesday - Revelation 1

A revealing of Jesus, the Messiah. God gave it to make plain to his servants what is about to happen. He published and delivered it by Angel to his servant John. And John told everything he saw: God’s Word— the witness of Jesus Christ!
How blessed the reader! How blessed the hearers and keepers of these oracle words, all the words written in this book!

Time is just about up.
Revelation 1:1-3
 
Just reading through the first verses makes me feel good.  I'm blessed to be reading this book! Woo hoo!  And then you get to the next verse...Time is just about up.  Uh oh.

You know, as a Christian, this should make me happy.  I long for Jesus to remodel this world.  But something about just being a human makes that phrase Time is just about up scare the patoodlies outta me.  And I think a big part of that fear stems from our reluctance to really accept grace.  When Jesus returns, He is going to find me blameless.  Not because I am sister super Christian.  But because I have placed my faith in him.  That's it.  Possibly the simplest and most complex idea in the history of history.   But part of me thinks there must be some catch to the whole deal.  Some fine print I missed.  And that's why the idea of Jesus returning causes that apprehension. 

Now, if you aren't a Christian, that phrase should scare you to pieces.  "Cause Jesus is about to come down and bust hell wide open and things are gonna get ugly.  If you are one of these people who only believe in the granola eating, Kumbaya kinda Jesus, you need to keep reading.  Jesus is both love and righteous judgement.  Judgement is not punishment. This book is not about God getting even with those who refused to worship him.  This is not about revenge.  Don't lose sight of that as we go.  Revelation is going to show you exactly what that real justice looks like.