And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” (Revelation 19: 11-16)
History records a reality of Jesus Christ envisioned as “a man of sorrows” by the prophet Isaiah hundreds of years before his birth. Never before or since has a king worn a crown of thorns to proclaim his sovereignty. The Lord literally dressed himself royally in pain out of love for his creation: “So Pilate then took Jesus and had Him flogged. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and placed it on His head, and put a purple cloak on Him; and they repeatedly came up to Him and said, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and slapped Him in the face again and again.” (John 19:1-3)
However, history also records another reality of Jesus Christ. This second perception is by the apostle John, living in exile, who sees a vision hundreds of years before his second coming. Never before or since has a king worn so many diadems – jewelled crowns – to proclaim his sovereignty. The Resurrected Lord, wearing clothes dipped in blood, has beaten pain and death. He is all-powerful as King of kings and returning for his redeemed creation. It’s a wonderful picture of Jesus appearing in an opening of heaven, with the armies of heaven pouring through the gap in the cloud, following him to the last battle.
We live between the two paradigms of the man of sorrows wearing a crown of thorns 2,000 years ago and the future Jesus wearing many jewelled crowns or diadems. As we exist between the thorns and the diadems, how do we find meaning and purpose in our everyday lives? How do we hold the tension of being partly known but not yet fully known?
As I write this, I just looked out of the window at the bland, seemingly indifferent grey sky. It looks drab with winter weather and a stark contrast to the animated voices of my family near me as they gather in excitement to make Christmas cookies. Sometimes it feels as though these prophetic truths of the Bible are distant from the rolling of our everyday lives. Yet nothing could be further from the truth.
We are commanded to love God and love others, within the knowledge that God loves us. That’s it. That is our purpose. Making every effort to show kindness in the darkness, and serving each other with compassion before our lives end and we travel to God’s country.
We walk forward in the stream of living water – Jesus himself – and submit to our calling, and follow the route of the vibrant rapid as it enlarges through the deep basins of valleys and high crests of mountains in the landscape before us. The gushing stream opens out into a clear river ahead, and then it widens towards a shore, ebbing and flowing in a determined line as it thrusts into the blue sea, and joins currents into an ocean of neverending life. This series of metaphors mirror the journey of knowing the Lord of Lords, the “Water of Life.” He wore that sharp-needled crown and bled for us. Death could not control him and then he freed us. It’s immense. Truly immense.
So to answer that question of where we “are” in the paradigms: we are on a voyage of joy, transformed by this grace of God. We hear in the silence a drumbeat as the army of heaven prepares to follow the Anointed One, returning to Earth to claim his children as his own. “No one knows the hour” when it will happen, Jesus once said. The natural man, laughing, presumes these are purported fairytales but then again, he understands not the things of the Spirit. They are only spiritually discerned.
The “word” for today is simply thank Jesus. Thank Him. God is coming for his children.
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