Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":
The climax of the book of Revelation is not the reward that the saints will receive for their self-sacrifice in following Jesus, but the reward that Christ will receive for His great sacrifice.
It is a grand paradigm shift in thinking for us to get our minds off praying about our reward (“Lord, please be sure to save me and my loved ones”), and begin to think of Christ and the reward that He deserves.
Isaiah speaks of Him, “He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied” (53:11). It’s like little children finally growing up so they can be mature and think of the “travail” of their mother in bearing them and of their parents in caring for them.
God’s people cannot remain children forever. “Let us go on to full growth, “ to “maturity” (Heb. 6:2), to the possibility, yes, to the blessing of being able to think of Him rather than always thinking of ourselves. This is the interesting turn that the story in Song of Solomon 5:2ff takes when the bride-to-be, warm and snug in bed on this cold rainy night can change her thinking from how much fun it is to snuggle under the covers, and begins to be able to think of her true Lover out there in the rain “knocking” on her door.
The famous “Laodicean message” that we have all memorized by now has its setting in that little story, for Jesus concludes His last days message with a quotation from that story: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock” (Rev. 3:20; taken from the LXX). The original story tells how she finally repents and gets up to let Him in; how long she left Him out there “knocking” it doesn’t say; but when she got to her side of the door, she found him “gone.” (In our case it’s well over a century.)
We cannot always serve as the flower girl at the wedding, “the marriage of the Lamb” (cf. Rev. 19:7, 8). God’s people in a corporate sense must become the “wife” at the wedding.
And that must be the ability to appreciate “the travail” that the Bridegroom has gone through. With no trace of extremism, the remnant will learn to proclaim “nothing ... except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2).
All that the little flower girl at the wedding cares about is the refreshments; the bride has begun to enter into the Bridegroom’s thinking and to feel for him (at least, let’s hope so; else there can not be a happy marriage!). Those who have never learned to appreciate “the travail” of the Savior cannot be happy in His personal presence. Which is the practical truth of shutting oneself out of heaven by one’s unfitness for its companionship. Let’s use our last few moments of time in learning to understand.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
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