Last Days

The book of Revelation is one part of Scripture where I don’t spend a lot of time. Having been raised in a denomination that got its start with the huge blunder of predicting the date of the Second Coming, I generally avoid books and discussions on Revelation. I usually want to say, “Can’t we just agree it’s a mystery?!” However, I decided to make an exception and read Shane Wood’s recent book, Thinning the Veil: Encountering Jesus Christ in the Book of Revelation, after I heard him on a podcast. I’ll admit there was quite a bit of the book that I skimmed fairly quickly, but I did appreciate his approach, which is best summarized in the Introduction:

“Assumptions influence vision and guide our questions. If Revelation is a chronological road map of the future, then our questions demand the text to answer: ‘When will the world end? How will we know it’s drawing near? What signs signal the coming rapture? Is [fill in the name of a political enemy] the antichrist?’ These questions and endless others are understandable if we assume Revelation intends to predict. But what if Revelation doesn’t want to answer these questions? … Revelation’s target is bigger than mere prediction or fortunetelling cartography. Each time the ‘end of the world’ is invoked, it is in service of a greater aim: thinning the veil. Revealing Jesus Christ. Transforming those with ears to hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

As with much of the Christian life, we can easily get sidetracked into lesser issues and grey areas. We look for rules, maps, and calendars when God is more interested in drawing us into relationship with Himself. From the creation of mankind in the image of God, He has continually pursued us with the desire to extend the fellowship that exists within the Trinity to include us. Revelation ends with the promise, “Surely I am coming soon!” That is the conclusion that matters the most. Wood notes in his last chapter,

“As Christians, are we worshiping a person or a place? Do we yearn for heaven or for intimacy with God? … In the end, the Revelation of Jesus Christ doesn’t settle for a place or mere prediction. Its target is far more grand. Far more elaborate. Its target is you. Is me. The transformation of the reader through intimacy with the God who calls you by name. Even by a new name.”

While I was reading this book, I decided to pull out a collection of articles on Revelation that my great grandfather wrote and my grandmother compiled. I’ve started typing them in order to make them available to the rest of my family. However, I quickly got bogged down in his interpretive details and long sentences. I have no doubt he studied long and hard to write these articles, but I’m beginning to think he missed the point. (Perhaps I’ll change my mind by the time I get to the end.)

It’s easy to miss the forest for the trees in a book like Revelation. I dare say the same may be true of many areas of study. We can get so consumed with figuring out how cells function, how molecules interact, and how stars come into being that we lose sight of the Creator and Sustainer of all things. Claiming to be wise, we become fools when we exchange the glory of the immortal God for our own perspectives, interpretations, and ideas (see Rom. 1:22-23).

“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God” (Rev. 21:3).

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

© 2026 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Redefined

In Star Trek: Picard, the comment is made, “A point comes in a man’s life when he looks to the past to define himself. Not just his future” (3:1). That started me thinking about the many things that define us. Most of us probably start with our family of origin, current family, and career. While those things are important, they are not ultimate. Christians can look at the past, present, and future to reveal who we are.

Our past started before the beginning of time.

• “[God] chose us in [Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him” (Eph. 1:4).
• “For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers” (Rom. 8:29).
• “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in Your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them” (Ps. 139:16).

Our stories started long before we were even conceived or imagined by our parents. Our origins point to the Creator of the universe, who chose us to belong to Him.

In the present, our roles are defined by the One we call Lord and has gifted us to serve Him.

• “Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord” (Rom. 12:11).
• “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace” (1 Pet. 4:10).
• “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it” (1 Cor. 12:27).

Our calling is to follow God’s commission to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:19-20a).

For the future, we look ahead to the day when Christ returns and makes everything new and perfect, when He will judge all peoples.

• “Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God... According to His promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Pet. 3:11-13).
• “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak” (Matt. 12:36).
• “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes the judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him” (Heb. 9:27-28).

If our future is to dwell with God, that should impact the decisions we make here and now.

In short, by looking at the past, present, and future I define myself as a child of God, a servant of God, and an heir of His eternal kingdom. Since that is true, I choose to live in obedience to Him, by His grace and to the best of my ability, as I look forward to that final day when we meet face to face.

“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation… training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:11-12).

© 2024 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.