SCRIPTURE: Revelation 20

OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
When it comes to interpreting the details of this book, I get bogged down and confused by the details (if you are looking for clarity from the Pastor, I will disappoint you). When people talk about the end-times, about the rapture and the millennium and the 144,000 and the beast and the dragon, etc., I find myself hesitant to get into it. Not that I don’t believe the vision, it’s just that I am not sure that the discussion is helpful.

As for the basic points, that God is in control, that Jesus is fulfilling God’s plan and will one day come and totally defeat evil and establish God’s kingdom on earth, that those who follow Jesus will go through increasing hardship before the end, and that all people will stand before Him at the final judgment… these things I hold on to closely.

So when it comes to explaining the vision of the 1000 years, namely when it fits into human history (some say we are in the 1000 year reign, some say it is still coming, some say it is literal, some say it is symbolic), I don’t want to get into it. That Jesus is reigning now, there is no question; that Jesus will reign in the future, no question either. What gets me in this vision is the scene of the final judgment.

Two books are described here: the book of my life (the record of all that I have done), and the Book of Life. I wonder whether the Book of Life is my book, but rewritten by Jesus? Those who surrender to Jesus give their ‘book’ to Him (with all its ugly chapters and its sad ending), and He rewrites it with Him in the middle of it, changing the ending to the happy ending?

Those who dare to present their own books to Jesus on judgment day as if they were good enough without Him, will be shocked. Their whole life will flash before their eyes, and they will see for real the true ugliness and shame that was in us, and came out of us. Better to allow Him to look in the book now (be honest, humble, repent) and allow Him now to rewrite the story of our lives, with Him as the main character.

Which book will I be holding when I finally meet Jesus?

PRAYER:
Lord, help me not to trust in my own goodness or accomplishments, help me to surrender my life (book) to You, that You may write me into the Story of Life.