25.12 | The Coming Conclusion
Revelation 19
‘Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God.’
Revelation 19:11-13
The Great Story is coming to its conclusion. The promises of the ages are being shown. And we are invited, in these final chapters of the Bible, to fill our minds and hearts with the realities that are coming to be, that what will be then may inform and shape and lead how we live and pray and think and do right now.
What do we see?
We see, after all that has happened in the chapters in between, the twenty-four elders and four living creatures of chapter four, falling down in worship of God. We realise that in all the turbulence and change and plagues and warfare of this season of history, the throne room of God has been sustained in continuity and adoration and peace. They were worshiping when this age began, and they still worship now. We see that the exclusive place of stability is the place of God.
We hear the voice of a great multitude, roaring like many waters, in a battle cry of praise that thunders across the cosmos with the praises of the reigning God. We catch a glimpse of the gathered song of God’s innumerable people, whose gathered song through history is mighty beyond any war cry of any army.
We see that this very multitude, of which we are truly a part, are dressed in white linen—clothing of priests, an emblem of purity granted to us by the Lamb who died for that purity, and the acts of love and justice and kindness and truth that we play out in our lives. For purity is not merely internal, but overflows and abounds outwardly in every choice of love and beauty that we ever make.
We see that the purpose of all creation—from the first marriage of Genesis 1-2—has been towards the covenanted relationship between God and His people, in this imagery of His Church as a bride—adorned and beautiful. We are reminded that the deepest purpose and longing of our lives, as individuals and as a community, is to bound in loving faithfulness and joy to our King.
And we see Jesus, not here as a Lamb, but as the conquering rider on a white horse. His robes are dipped in blood, speaking of the sacrifice by which He won the Great Victory that unleashed all the promises of God and defeated all the powers of evil. We see Him mighty and resplendent, victorious not in violence but in sacrifice, not in weapons of warfare, but in the great weapon of truth. We see in Him a glimpse of the Warrior Messiah King that we follow, leading us from victories to the Victory in His beautiful ways of sacrifice, truth, and love.
And we see the great conquest of evil, thrown with utter permanence into the lake of destructive fire. A ghastly image? A grotesque picture? Not a bit of it. This is the defeat of every enemy—of every sickness and pain and depravity and injustice and degrading lie and corruption of the beauty that was intended for every human being.
Feast your soul, my friends, for herein is the hope for which our lives are and have always been pointed. For the Story in which we walk is the Story of history, which gallops towards a conclusion of such magnificent victory and restoration that no metaphor, no poem, no song, and no imagery can paint in its truest colours upon the canvas of our hearts.
The Great Story is coming to a conclusion. And such beauty is there to filter into our moments now, for truly this is the direction of our very eternity.
Reflect:
Which element of today’s reading speaks most into my situation right now? Soak your heart upon this, asking the Spirit to make these truths alive to you, in living hope.
Pray:
God my Father,
The End of this Story
Is You,
For from You it all came,
And to You it all goes,
Stewarded and brought about
By Your Son
To Who all my devotion is given.
And yet, Father,
Such realities—
In their wonder and magnificence
Can feel far from me,
At times.
And so I ask You this:
Take these truths,
And animate them in my soul,
That my every breath
And every heartbeat
And every moment
And every thought,
Be touched and coloured
By the beauty
Of the Age that surely comes.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen
Old Testament:
Zechariah 5-8 | Psalm 148