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Chapter-a-Day

Prayer, Providence, & Planning

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The king [Artaxerxes] said to me, “What is it you want?”
Then I prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered the king, “If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my ancestors are buried so that I can rebuild it.”
Nehemiah 2:4-5 (NIV)

In the past few weeks I’ve mentioned that I’m currently writing a book. I’ve been getting up at 5:00 a.m. every morning to write for at least an hour when my heart and mind are fresh. The process consumes a lot of my time and thought right now, so forgive me if it bleeds into my daily quiet time, meditations, and blogposts/podcasts.

The idea for this book struck me about 15 years ago. In fact it was ten or twelve years ago that I sat down and outlined the guts of the book in my journal while I was enjoying a pint at the local pub. There in my journal it sat for over a decade. I thought about it often. I prayed that I might have an opportunity to make it a reality. I even reached out to a few publishers over the years. Nothing flowed.

Earlier this year there was a major shift and transition in our business. Many things got realigned. During that period of time I had a random networking contact who happened to be a publisher. I can’t even describe how everything in life aligned. This was the moment. It’s finally happening. God’s timing is perfect.

In today’s chapter, it’s been months since Nehemiah got word about the dire situation in Jerusalem. He’s been grieving and praying. There’s not much that Nehemiah can do about Jerusalem. He’s the right-hand advisor to the Persian emperor. The job doesn’t come with vacation time or PTO. In fact, just having a bad hair day was not allowed in that role and in that culture. When King Artaxerxes notices that Nehemiah is downcast, it could have been a life-threatening moment. Instead, it was a moment of divine providence.

Nehemiah throws up a quick popcorn prayer and shoots straight with Artaxerxes about why his face is downcast. Artaxerxes could have had Nehemiah killed for presuming to lay his burdens on the emperor. The whole matter could have been simply dismissed and Nehemiah could have been instructed to change his attitude, or else. Instead, Artaxerxes asks Nehemiah what might be done about his ancestral home of Jerusalem.

Nehemiah makes an audacious request for time-off, letters of safe passage, and building materials required to rebuild the walls and gates of Jerusalem. Artaxerxes agrees.

Along my life journey, I’ve learned that there is a certain flow to the story God is authoring in me. There is also a certain tension in trusting that story. If I’m passive and don’t prayerfully pay attention, then I totally miss out on what God’s doing. If I strive to try and make things happen, then I get in the way and muck up the works. When I pray, wait, and pay attention, trusting for God’s providence and timing, then at the right time everything flows.

Nehemiah is a great example of the same paradigm. He spent months praying about Jerusalem and what he might be able to do to help. He obviously had even been planning what he ideally might need and how he might go about the project if he was given the chance. Then, he waited. He trusted. God’s providence finally flowed and the planning kicked into gear.

In the quiet this morning, I’m reminded that on this journey I should never stop praying, never stop planning, and never stop paying attention. The hardest part is often waiting for God’s providence. But when it flows, and all the praying and planning fall into place, there’s no doubt that God is at work and I am in the midst of it.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

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These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
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Chapter-a-Day

Oaths and Pipe-Dreams

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“When a man makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said.”
Numbers 30:2 (NIV)

I sat in a meeting. It was a big team and there was a definite buzz in the room. As the meeting began the team leader began to speak about his vision for the team and our task. That’s when it got weird. The team leader’s stated vision wasn’t just a BHAG (big, hairy, audacious, goal), it was more of a pipe-dream on steroids. And it wasn’t delivered as something to reach for as a team but more of a divinely authoritative statement about what was definitely going to happen. It was a form of oath of what the team leader was going to do, what the outcome would be, and our participation in his Powerball prognostication.

It was rash. It was silly. It was foolish. It didn’t take long for the team to implode. The team leader’s pipe-dream remained just that.

I commonly hear people use the phrase, “I swear to God.” It’s casually thrown out in our culture, but the concept of a divine oath is as old as humanity itself and throughout history oaths have carried very serious cultural and societal weight in ways we can’t imagine today. To make an oath was spiritually binding and carried with it the threat of divine retribution. In medieval times, a noble made an oath on the bones of St. Cuthbert and then broke his oath. Writers took great pleasure in sharing the terrible things that befell the noble as a result. In ancient Assyria, a treaty between parties was ritually sealed with the saying “May your seed be like this sheep’s entrails if you betray this oath.” And yes, a sheep was slaughtered as part of the ritual for visual impact of the seriousness of keeping one’s word.

Throughout history, if you said, “I swear to God” it would have been taken as a very serious statement for which you would be culturally held accountable by society. If you broke that oath, there would be the expectation that God would curse you and perhaps the community would take care of punishing you themselves in order to avoid the divine retribution having a ripple effect on them.

In today’s chapter, God reminds the Hebrew people through Moses that oaths were serious and binding. However, God also goes on to create a system of annulment for rash words and oaths. A modern reader might have difficulty getting past the ancient historical context of the annulment’s gender power dynamics, but for the Hebrews in Moses’ day God’s addendum to the law as a radical act of mercy for families and households. It provided a gracious “out” for rash words spoken in anger or foolish pipe dreams spoken out of hubris.

This seriousness about oaths and the ancient cultural preoccupation with the system by which oaths were made, kept, policed, and punished was Jesus’ motivation for saying,

“Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath,but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all:either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’;anything beyond this comes from the evil one.”

In the quiet this morning, I find my mind wandering back into that room with the team and our team leader’s Powerball prognostication of pipe-dream glory. I learned an important lesson about leadership that day. There is a difference between an achievable stretch goal and a pipe-dream. There’s a difference between a BHAG and wishful thinking. As a leader, I want to provide an inspiring vision that motivates a team to rise to the occasion. Providing a flight of fantasy, like a rashly made oath, is only setting myself and the team up for a tragic fall.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

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These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
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Chapter-a-Day

Shalom

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Shalom! (CaD Ezk 47) – Wayfarer

Then he led me back to the bank of the river.  When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. He said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Dead Sea. When it empties into the sea, the salty water there becomes fresh.
Ezekiel 47:6b-8 (NIV)

When most people hear the Hebrew word “Shalom” it is understood as a greeting like “Hello” or “Bonjour.” And that’s because “Shalom” is used as both a greeting and a departing salutation, more like “Aloha.” But what many people don’t know is that Shalom which is literally translated into English as “peace” has a meaning that cannot be simply contained by one comparable English word.

Shalom is a word that embodies a larger sense of wholeness, well-being, good health, rest and tranquility. It is both a greeting but also a blessing to the person to whom you say it. Shalom is derived from the root word “Shalam” which is used repeatedly in Exodus 21 and 22 regarding instructions for “making things right” between people when there has been material loss or injury. God was instructing his people to “make it right” (Shalam) which becomes the foundation for the wholeness, well-being, peace, rest, and tranquility of Shalom.

This is important in understanding what is being described in this vision Ezekiel is having of the restoration of his defeated and destroyed nation in these final chapters. On a macro level, everything Zeke is describing is the “making things right” on multiple levels. His vision is of ultimate Shalom.

In today’s chapter, there are three amazing concepts being communicated.

First, Zeke sees a river that flows out of the temple he’s just described. The temple is the source of a river of life that flows out of the temple into the Dead Sea and turns the Dead Sea into a living, flourishing source of life and provision for all. This foreshadows two things. First, it foreshadows Jesus, who says Himself that He is Living Water springing up to transform any who are dead in their sins to eternal life (or, you might say, ultimate Shalom!). It also foreshadows the vision John is given of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21-22. In fact, I encourage you to read and compare the first part of today’s chapter with those last two chapters of the Great Story.

Second, in Zeke’s vision he’s given the general boundaries for the restored Promised Land that God had always promised to His people where they would find Shalom. Throughout the history of humanity, land means life. From the land we find security, shelter, provision, and prosperity.

Finally, and this is huge, God tells Zeke that “foreigners living among you” are to be considered “native-born Israelites.” In other words, there is no longer any distinction between Jews and the Gentile outsiders. God’s shalom is for everyone. Everyone becomes a child of Abraham. Everyone is given an inheritance of God. Everyone is an heir of the Divine. Everyone is given an allotment of God’s ultimate shalom.

In the quiet this morning, I am overwhelmed with God’s goodness and the desire He has expressed from the beginning for humanity to experience shalom. I’m reminded what Jesus told His followers just moments before His arrest and just hours before His execution. He told them that they can expect trouble and suffering in this world, but He also told them “Peace (Shalom) I leave with you; my peace (shalom) I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

Yesterday morning, Wendy shared a song with me that I had never heard before (I’m really awful at keeping up with current culture!) by Jelly Roll called “I’m Not Okay“. I haven’t been able to get it out of my head. It gets to the heart of what Jesus was saying to His followers, to us, to me. Even when things are not okay, everything is going to be alright.

Shalom, my friend.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

(Never) Abandoned

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(Never) Abandoned (CaD Ezk 10) – Wayfarer

Then the glory of the Lord departed from over the threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherubim. While I watched, the cherubim spread their wings and rose from the ground, and as they went, the wheels went with them. They stopped at the entrance of the east gate of the Lord’s house, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them.
Ezekiel 10:18-19 (NIV)

When I was a young child, I went through an intense period of time when I never wanted to be separated from my mother. I have very specific memories of freaking out, especially in situations that were strange to me. In one instance, my mom was attending some kind of meeting at place I’d never been before. She dropped me off in the room for child care. Once again, the room was unfamiliar, the people were unfamiliar, and my mother was no where to be seen. I felt abandoned. I had such an intense emotional meltdown that they found my mother to take me home. I’m glad to say that this period eventually ended. I grew into an independent and self-assured child.

Feelings of loneliness, isolation, and abandonment are very real sources of human fear and anxiety.

In today’s chapter, Ezekiel’s vision in Solomon’s Temple continues. First he saw all of the idolatry that was taking place inside the Temple. Next he saw a man placing a mark on the forehead of those faithful to God, while six others destroyed anyone who didn’t have the mark. Now, Zeke watches as the “glory” (e.g. radiance, presence) of God rises and leaves the temple.

It’s important to note that in the ancient Near East, there this was a common theme across pagan religions, as well. There is a genre of lamentation literature around gods who abandon their temples, which then explains why enemies were able to conquer, plunder, and destroy the structures. Ezekiel’s audience would have heard/read today’s vision of God’s glory leaving the temple and they knew exactly what it meant. Without God’s presence, the temple will be plundered and destroyed.

As I meditated on this in the quiet this morning, I couldn’t help but think of a message I gave earlier this summer. One of the things that I’ve observed along my spiritual journey is how often I hear people praying for God to be present and asking for God to come and show up. I have come to believe that these prayers channel the same human fear of abandonment and I felt as a child and that Ezekiel’s vision is tapping into. When bad things happen, we feel that God must have abandoned us. When we feel anxiety or loneliness was assume it’s because God isn’t present.

If I really believe what I say I believe, then this is the most illogical and unreasonable assumption to make and prayer to pray. In my message I talked about three types of God’s presence.

In Colossians 1:17 Jesus is described as both the agent of creation but also that “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” If Jesus is the force holding all things together (i.e. I’m thinking of what Physics refers to as Dark Matter), then David is correct in the lyrics of Psalm 139 when he declares there isn’t a place in the universe where you can flee from His presence.

Second, Jesus told His followers on the night of His arrest that He would be leaving, but would never abandon His followers. His Holy Spirit would indwell us and make us part of the circle dance of oneness between Father, Son, and Spirit. As a disciple of Jesus, the Spirit of God lives in me. My body is a temple. He said He’ll never leave me or forsake me. Praying for God to be present makes no sense in this context.

I have come to believe that what many people mean when they ask God to come and be present is that they want to experience and outpouring or a filling of God’s Spirit. There are many examples of this in both the Great Story and even in current events. It happened just a year ago on a college campus in Kentucky. I have personally found it an important distinction to remember that an outpouring of God’s Spirit doesn’t mean He wasn’t there before and suddenly arrived. I refer back to the previous two points. There are, however, times when His omnipresence is infused with momentary power and intensity.

In a time when anxiety and fear are wreaking havoc on the mental health of people in our culture, I find Jesus’ assurances of living in me, never leaving me, and being present wherever I find myself in the universe to be a source of comfort, confidence, and peace. I simply have to have the faith to believe it and the discipline to acknowledge it in each and every moment.

For anyone interested in the extended version, here it is:

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Unexpected

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Unexpected (CaD Ezk 1) – Wayfarer

In my thirtieth year, in the fourth month on the fifth day, while I was among the exiles by the Kebar River, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God.
Ezekiel 1:1 (NIV)

Life wasn’t going as planned for Ezekiel. Born into a priestly family, his road in life was as straight and flat as an Interstate 80 in western Nebraska. He would spend his life studying in preparation for his 30th birthday when he would enter the priesthood and begin his priestly duties in the Temple in Jerusalem.

So much for that.

At the age of 26, the Babylonians laid siege to Jerusalem and young Ezekiel was among those forced to make the long 900-mile march to Babylon where he lives in exile with thousands of his people. His momentous 30th birthday arrives, but everything he’s planned for his entire life is gone. There will be no priestly duties in the Temple, which is almost a thousand miles away. Ezekiel finds himself sitting aimlessly by the Kebar River in Babylon. What’s a priest to do living in a foreign land with no Temple in which to perform his duties?

Then, unexpectedly, God shows up.

Today’s inaugural chapter of Ezekiel records the young priest’s first God-given vision, and boy is it a doozy. As I read it in the quiet this morning, I was reminded of a friend in college who described to me what it was like to drop acid. Ezekiel sees some pretty funky-looking creatures. But when you start thinking about the metaphorical meaning and looking at it in the context of the Great Story, it begins to make a lot of sense.

Ezekiel is not alone in receiving visions of God’s throne room. Isaiah had one. The entirety of John’s Revelation is one long vision in God’s throne room. There are many similarities. The number four represents completeness, so four angelic beings (aka Cherubim) with four sides/faces represent the ability to attend to things from all sides. The animals represented are about God’s glory and strength. The intersecting wheels allow for movement in all four directions and the eyes around the rims allow for seeing everything, from every direction. Together, they represent complete attendance to and service of God. Then there’s the Light, the incomparable power and brightness of the light. The “vault” between the cherubim and the throne is the same Hebrew word used in Genesis to describe God separating the waters above from the waters below. In other words, the throne is elevated above and beyond the creatures. It is holy.

Ezekiel may be a thousand miles from the Temple, but he is given a front-row seat in God’s Throne Room. Like Ezekiel, I have discovered along my own life journey that my plans are not always God’s plan.

Ezekiel’s life and prophecies are built upon the foundational theme of exile. It has been argued that exile is the predominant theme of the Great Story. Humanity is exiled from the Garden at the beginning of Genesis and restored into fellowship with God at the end of Revelation. Jesus left heaven to live, teach, suffer, and die in exile on Earth. Joseph was exiled to Egypt, then the Hebrews were exiled to Egypt, and even Jesus was exiled to Egypt. The Jesus movement spread throughout the Roman world in part because persecution drove the early believers into exile. Exile is everywhere in the Great Story.

And, I find that to be a great theme for my own earthly journey. There are seasons of my life that felt like exile because I, like the Prodigal Son, made choices that put me there. In other cases, there were seasons of life when I found myself in places I never expected to be because of circumstances that were largely out of my control. Just like Ezekiel.

The message of Ezekiel is, however, a hopeful one. Ezekiel may be in exile, but God is right there with him. He may not be a priest in the Temple, but God’s got a job for Zeke as His prophet in exile. I also noted as I meditated on this in the quiet this morning that Zeke is not alone. Right up the Babylonian road is a guy named Daniel along with his friends Shadrach, Meshac, and Abednego. They’re living in the same exile, and God has some big plans for using them, too. Despite his feelings of displacement, confusion, and isolation, Zeke is not alone, and he’s right where God has purposed for him to be to accomplish His will.

When I find myself in unexpected places, God shows up in unexpected ways.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Golf Dream

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Golf Dream (CaD Dan 7) – Wayfarer

In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream, and visions passed through his mind as he was lying in bed. He wrote down the substance of his dream.
Daniel 7:1 (NIV)

The other day I had an unusual experience. All night long I had strange and vivid dreams. Most of them were the typical mish-mash of things both silly, non-sensical, and strange. I woke up, however, remembering one vivid dream about me and an old friend going golfing. This is funny because I’m not a golfer, though I remember playing a few holes with him once. That was over thirty years ago.

I remember from my dream that we were standing in line in the clubhouse waiting for our tee time. It was a busy course. There were others in our group, but I didn’t know them. The tee box for the first hole was literally right outside the clubhouse door in a sort of vestibule with the exterior walls of the clubhouse on either side of the tee box extending and creating a kind of alleyway. The fairway went about ten yards in front of the tee and then did a severe ninety-degree dog leg around the corner of the clubhouse.

What was funny about this is that if I try to hit a golf ball straight, it would probably shank at just that 90-degree angle (which is why I’m not a golfer) but I could never in a million years do that on purpose, and in my dream, I knew this. I was perplexed about how to proceed and considered using my putter off the tee to get the ball past the clubhouse wall and effectively lay up for my second shot. I can remember thinking in my dream what a terrible golfer I must be to have to use my putter off the tee.

For some reason, this dream stuck with me that day and it came to mind as I was getting ready for bed. I hadn’t talked to my friend in a long time, so I texted him out of the blue that evening. I didn’t expect him to reply immediately:

Okay, that was wild. Was there anything spiritual about it, or was it just a coincidence? Here’s where my thoughts on the prophetic provide me with guidance. I won’t dismiss it outright, and I won’t obsess about it. I do believe that everything is connected. I will hold on loosely and enjoy the wonder that my spirit, and/or Holy Spirit, seemed to somehow connect that a dear friend was celebrating a big waypoint on life’s road that day (and that I should have been with him at Pebble Beach that day!!! 😂😂😂).

Today’s chapter represents a huge shift in the book of Daniel. So far, it’s been a string of really incredible stories. From here on out, it becomes largely a record of prophetic dreams and visions. The dream in today’s chapter describes four strange beasts that are metaphors for the successive empires that will rule the Near East in the coming centuries: Neo-Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Greek, and Roman. Daniel’s dream ends with a vision of “the son of man” (a title Jesus used of Himself) who will establish a kingdom of “all nations and peoples” with dominion that will be eternal.

It is not unusual for the prophetic to be “layered” with meaning. While it certainly points to the coming of the Messiah, the second half of today’s chapter is also regularly connected by scholars to the visions of the end times in the book of Revelation.

As I contemplated the prophetic and the dreams in today’s chapter, my thoughts led me to consider that God was particularly active in delivering miracles, dreams, and visions during this period of the Babylonian exile. That’s one of the themes across the Great Story. There are seasons and periods of time in which the miraculous and the prophetic are plentiful. Then there are seasons and periods of time in which they are rare. I find it fascinating that the seasons of plenty tend to coincide with periods of struggle. The time of Moses came in enslavement and wilderness wanderings. This period of the stories of Daniel and Esther happens during captivity and exile. Jesus’ arrival on the scene and the subsequent Jesus Movement happen as Daniel’s dream predicts, amidst Roman occupation and then persecution.

So I have found it to be in my own spiritual journey. It is in times of struggle, tragedy, wilderness, and exile that the work of God’s Spirit becomes more active and acute. Perhaps it’s because I’m spiritually more needy, focused, and open during these seasons. Perhaps it’s because God knows that I need more encouragement and a reminder of His provision and presence as I traverse the dark valleys on life’s road. Perhaps it’s a combination of both. Either way, there’s wisdom in embracing the reality that I will experience both types of seasons in my story, just as both types of seasons are present across the Great Story.

And, happy birthday to my friend, Matt. I hope Pebble Beach was a blast. It’s probably good I wasn’t there. Me putting off the tee would have only been an embarrassment.

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If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

My Choice

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My Choice (CaD Rev 13) – Wayfarer

“The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies…”
Revelation 13:5a (NIV)

Antithesis (noun) \ an-ˈti-thə-səs\ : 1. The direct opposite

From the very beginning, evil has been the antithesis of good. The evil one has opposed God. Evil is good’s opposite. Jesus’ ministry began by being tempted by the Evil One with the same basic three temptations the Serpent tempted Adam and Eve. Jesus’ earthly ministry ended by declaring that the “prince of this world” stands condemned (John 16:11). At the very heart of the Great Story lies the struggle between opposing forces: God, and the evil one who opposes God.

Along my journey, I have often found it helpful to reduce life’s complexities to the root binaries such as good or evil, death or life, and/or positive or negative before I choose my way.

Today’s chapter is the source material for some of the most commonly known elements of Revelation from which many heavy metal rock bands have gotten the dark themes they use to tap into the imaginations of rebellious teenagers motivated to extol the antithesis of anything their parents believe or desire of them. In this chapter, we meet the “beast” or “antichrist” who declares that no one can buy or sell anything without taking “the mark of the beast” on his/her hand or forehead. John goes on to say that anyone who has insight can calculate the “number of the beast,” the infamous “666.”

This chapter is filled with so much prophetic imagery that it’s easy to fall down the rabbit hole of its puzzling metaphors. Yet, as I read and meditated on imagery, I found it important to reduce what is being presented to its roots: God and Anti-god.

An unholy trinity arises: the dragon (e.g. satan, anti-Father), the beast of the sea (e.g. anti-Christ), and the beast of the earth (e.g. anti-Holy Spirit).

The beast who is the anti-Christ has a mock resurrection in the form of a fatal wound from which he is healed.

As Jesus was the incarnate Word of God (John 1) sent to proclaim the words of Father, from the anti-Father dragon the anti-Christ beast is given a mouth to utter “proud words and blasphemies.”

As Jesus was the “Prince of Peace” sent from the Father who gave His Son that none should perish but all might have eternal life. the anti-Christ beast was given the power to wage war against God’s people and kill them.

As those who follow Jesus have their names written in the “Book of Life,” those who worship the anti-Christ beast do not have their names written there.

As Holy Spirit was sent into the world on behalf of Christ to draw people to Christ and to indwell believers with His presence and His power to perform signs and wonders, the anti-Holy Spirit beast is given “all the authority” of the anti-Christ beast to make the earth’s inhabitants to worship the anti-Christ beast as well as to perform “great signs.”

Just as Holy Spirit was sent to lead people to Jesus, the Truth, the anti-Holy Spirit beast decieves people into worshipping the anti-Christ beast.

As Jesus made the way for any and all who decide open their hearts to Him and choose to follow, the anti-Christ and anti-Holy Spirit beasts “made the earth and inhabitants worship” the anti-Christ, then “ordered” them to set up an image in honor of the anti-Christ. Any who did not obey are killed. They then “force” “all people” to receive a mark on their hands or foreheads in order to participate in the world’s economy.

Much of the imagery in today’s chapter was perceived by those who received it to correlate directly to the Roman Empire and its Emporers. The “Imperial Cult” made Caesar to be god and all Romans were forced to pledge their allegiance to participate in Roman commerce. Christians had been killed en masse by Nero and his successors. Both the Hebrew and Greek languages use alphabets in which letters also serve as numbers and the idea of names having corresponding numbers was popular. “Nero” when spelled a certain way in Hebrew adds up to 666.

So, does this mean that Revelation is only about the contemporary events and poeple of John’s day?

Prophetic literature is never “either-or,” but “both-and.” Many of the Hebrew prophets wrote about contemporary leader and events, but they are also about the coming Messiah. God’s base language is metaphor, and metaphor is always layered with meaning. Additionally, the Roman empire has always inspired subsequent empires and would be emporers from the Mafia to Hitler’s Third Reich, so it’s very easy to believe that it will also inspire an unholy trinity (6-6-6) that is the antithesis of the complete and Holy Trinity (7-7-7) in the end times.

In the quiet this morning, my mind and spirit humbly embrace (once again) the reality that I don’t know exactly how all these things will specifically play out. When I boil things down to the root of things, however, here’s what I do know:

I will choose God over the evil one.
I will choose good over evil.
I will choose Life over death.
I will choose Truth over deception.
I will choose humility over pride.
I will choose love over hatred.
I will choose joy over anger.
I will choose peace over discord.
I will choose patience over impatience.
I will choose kindness over harshness.
I will choose goodness over vengeance.
I will choose faithfulness over abandonment.
I will choose gentleness over forcefulness.
I will choose self-control over indulgence.
I will choose surrender over demand.
I will choose hope over despair.

As a follower of Jesus, this is the only way.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

“Every Nation, Tribe, People, & Language”

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"Every Nation, Tribe, People, & Language" (CaD Rev 7) – Wayfarer

After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.
Revelation 7:9 (NIV)

In yesterday’s chapter, the first six seals of a scroll were opened by Jesus. Today’s chapter is an intermission before the seventh seal is opened. John describes two different things revealed to him. In the first, the four winds are held back from the earth by four angels, while a fifth angel places a “seal” on the foreheads of 144,000 “servants of God,” 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel.

The four winds was a metaphor of God’s wrath and judgment on the earth. The prophet Jeremiah used the same metaphor (Jer 49:36). A “seal” was used in ancient times to both protect documents from being opened and to mark who sent them. Metaphorically, this seems to indicate that these 144,000 “sealed” servants of God will be protected during the impending tribulation being held back by the four angels.

In the second part of the vision, John sees a multitude of individuals from every “nation, tribe, people, and language” who were wearing white robes. John is told that they had come “out of the tribulation.” This connects with the martyrs in yesterday’s chapter (Rev 6:9-11) who were given white robes and told to wait for the others who would join them. John is then told that they will serve the Lamb in his temple and be protected, provided for, cared for, and comforted.

There are a couple of things that stand out to me as I ponder these visions in the quiet this morning. The first is the reality that Jesus was very clear with His followers that following Him may very well be an earthly death sentence. The resurrected Christ told Peter that it would be true for him. Tradition says that this was true for 11 of The Twelve disciples (John is believed to be the only one who may have died of old age). It has been true for multitudes of followers throughout history. It’s still true for followers of Jesus today in places like Nigeria, Egypt, Pakistan, and China. This is both a sobering thought, and it stands in direct opposition to the “name it and claim it” televangelists or those who believe that following Jesus is the way to safety and prosperity on this earth.

The other things that stands out to me is that this is the second time in John’s vision that he describes people of “every nation, tribe, people, and language.” The greek word used for “temple” in today’s chapter specifically denotes the temple structure where God’s presence dwelt. Throughout the history of the Temple in Jerusalem, only Hebrew men could enter. People of other “nations, tribes, peoples, and languages” (along with females) were not allowed. Also, Paul was very clear that after Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection a “Jew” was not someone with Hebrew DNA, but whose heart was surrendered to Christ (Rom 2:28-29). This raises the question as to whether the 144,000 “sealed servants” mentioned in today’s chapter are DNA Jews or Spirit Jews.

One again, I’m left admitting that I know that I don’t know the answers to some of these questions. There are couple of things, however, that I do know. I know that being a follower of Jesus is a path of surrender on this earth, and that very well means that it sometimes leads to suffering. I also know that heaven is a place for people of every nation, tribe, people, and language. Therefore, any thing on this earth that stirs up division, separation, and discrimination against a person or group based on nation, tribe, people, and language is incongruent with Jesus’ teaching.

Therefore, as a follower of Jesus, I enter this day endeavoring to surrender, to serve, and to love indiscriminately.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

The Rabbit Hole & the Three Questions

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The Rabbit Hole and the Three Questions (CaD Rev 1) – Wayfarer

“Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later.”
Revelation 1:19 (NIV)

There are three great questions I always ask myself during times of confusion or decision:

Where am I at?
Where have I been?
Where am I going?

Those are the three questions I ask myself every time I finish a book on this chapter-a-day journey and need to decide where the trek should take me next. So, after finishing the book of Jude yesterday I went to the index of posts by book and realized that there’s only one book of the Great Story, written after Jesus’ death and resurrection that, isn’t currently in the index by book: Revelation. The last time I trekked through was in April of 2014. So, that’s where I’m going.

Known more formally as The Revelation of John, this is the last book in the Great Story. Both tradition and the text state that the visions described in the book were seen and experienced by John on the Isle of Patmos while he was exiled there (90-95 A.D). Revelation is well-known for its description of the end times, the climactic final battle between God and Satan, and its description of the eternal city of God.

To be honest, I have a love-hate relationship with Revelation. I love the mystery and the metaphor. It’s fascinating and I find important spiritual truths within. My hate is rooted in the rabbit hole that it becomes for people who fall in and become endlessly obsessed. Along my spiritual journey, my approach to Revelation eventually paralleled C.S. Lewis’ famous caution regarding the demonic. It’s a mistake to avoid or ignore it, but it’s also a mistake to take it too seriously. So, here we go.

In the opening chapter, John writes that he was worshiping on a Sunday and saw the glorified Christ. Jesus tells John to write “what you’ve seen, what is now, and what will take place later.” It’s Jesus’ riff on the three questions I always ask myself.

There are numerous schools of thought when it comes to interpreting Revelation. Some believe that Revelation points to historic events that have already taken place. Others believe that it’s primarily about what will take place in the future end times. A more modern movement of thought interprets the whole thing as political satire.

“Where have I been?”

Looking back at the life of Jesus and the ancient prophecies about Him, one thing becomes clear to me: Very smart people over a long period of time were completely wrong about how they interpreted the prophecies. So, from where I’m at, I tend to approach the prophetic with a huge dose of humility regarding what it might mean for “Where are we going?” in the future, and a heart that’s simply open to what in means for me “Where am I at?‘ in the context of today.

So, in the quiet this morning, I embark on this chapter-a-day trek through Revelation with humility and an open heart. I think I’ll take Jesus up on reading and meditating on John’s visions with the three questions in mind. I’m also determined not to fall down the rabbit hole.

Here we go!

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Every Tribe and Tongue

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Every Tribe and Tongue (CaD Ps 129) – Wayfarer

“they have greatly oppressed me from my youth,
    but they have not gained the victory over me.”
Psalm 129:2 (NIV)

Wendy and I watched Godfather: Coda a few weeks ago. For those who aren’t familiar, it is the recent re-edit of the final film in the Godfather trilogy by the film’s director, Francis Ford Coppola. Originally released as The Godfather III back in 1990, the film has always been largely criticized for not living up to the first two films. Coppola claimed that he was at odds with the movie Studio on how the story should be told and was forced to rush the film to market. He was finally allowed, 30 years later, to recut it and tell the story as he and Mario Puzo imagined it.

The trilogy is really the story of Michael Corleone. Raised in a mafia family, he swears early on in the first film that he’ll never be part of the family business. The overarching story is how Michael descends into the underworld with the intent to save his family and then can’t escape, as his family is slowly torn apart.

One of the subtle storylines in the third film is that of Michael Corleone’s son, Anthony. Anthony, like his father, wants nothing to do with the family business. “I’ll never be part of the family business,” Anthony states. He then adds, “I have bad memories.”

“Every family has bad memories,” his father replies.

That line has always resonated in my soul because I find it to be true. Just the other day I wrote about my journey of discovery and uncovering some of my families’ bad memories when I was a young man. But there is also the larger reality that we are the product of the systems into which we were born. We are a product of our people. Michael wanted to escape, yet he chose in and tragically couldn’t find the exit.

Wendy and I are both products of a Dutch American tribe who risked everything to come to America, settled as a tribe on the plains of Iowa, and prospered. That prosperity was fueled by our tribe’s deeply rooted values of faith, frugality, and hard work. Wendy and I often acknowledge that we are products of our people with both the blessings and curses that come with every human system.

For the Hebrew tribes, history and identity as a people is one of constant struggle against other tribes and nations and their subjugation by human empires. That is what the writer of today’s chapter, Psalm 129, is pressing into with his lyrics as he describes being enslaved and beaten:

Plowmen have plowed my back
    and made their furrows long.

Psalm 129 was likely written after the return of exiles from captivity in Babylon. The sting of the experience would have still been fresh in the memories of those singing this song on their pilgrimage. It is the cry of a people that first acknowledges that God has blessed them and they have not been overcome, then asks God to justly deal with their oppressors.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself confessing that there are a host of human experiences that I can’t completely fathom because I haven’t experienced them myself, but that doesn’t mean I can’t seek to understand, to empathize, and to learn lessons from the experience of others. Our Dutch American town holds an annual festival of our Dutch heritage. The motto of the festival is “Everyone’s Dutch for a day!” and visitors are encouraged to learn the history, try on a pair of wooden shoes, learn a Dutch dance, and eat lots of pastries. When invited in to learn and embrace the knowledge of other cultures and people groups, I observe that everyone benefits. When excluded from doing so, I observe that the walls of prejudice are fortified to the detriment of all.

One of the sins of the institutional churches and the abuse of their power in history is the perpetuation of prejudice, injustice, violence, and indifference for the sake of power and empire in the kingdom of this world. The Jesus Movement that was about tearing down walls of prejudice and spreading love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness to every human tribe became a human empire. In the black-and-white binary choices to which the world likes to reduce everything, Christianity has been summarily dismissed by many.

I have found, however, that the heart of the Jesus Movement has always continued in the hearts and lives of individuals who embrace it and seek to carry out the original mission. A mission in which every human being of every people group can experience love, forgiveness, and redemption. When given a vision of eternity, John described the crowd as persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. When U2 described it in their psalm they sang, “I believe in the Kingdom come, when all the colors bleed into one.”

My heart this morning is crying out with the prayer of St. Francis. Perhaps it expresses more succinctly what my heart is trying to say in this post:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me bring love.
Where there is offense, let me bring pardon.
Where there is discord, let me bring union.
Where there is error, let me bring truth.
Where there is doubt, let me bring faith.
Where there is despair, let me bring hope.
Where there is darkness, let me bring your light.
Where there is sadness, let me bring joy.
O Master, let me not seek as much
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love,
for it is in giving that one receives,
it is in self-forgetting that one finds,
it is in pardoning that one is pardoned,
it is in dying that one is raised to eternal life.