TODAY’S SCRIPTURE Revelation 22:1-5, 16
The inspired Word of God is designed to make a person “wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15). In fact, Jesus is that great hero we meet in the Word. But God’s Word also has a trajectory. It is headed in a certain direction.
On many smartphones there is an application simply called Waze (pronounced “ways”). Waze is a free tool that helps you when you travel. It provides turn-by-turn directions, travel times, estimated time of arrival, and route details. Waze is helpful because when you travel it is important to know where you are going and how to get there.
The Bible is headed in a direction. It is moving us toward Christ-likeness.
There is a popular phrase, “You can’t see the forest for the trees.” Knowing that the great forest of the Bible is about our personal transformation helps us to see why individual trees may be in there.
God wants us to know where the Bible begins and where the Bible is going to end. The Bible begins in a garden with a fall and ends in a great heavenly city (read Revelation 22:1-5). Best of all, “the throne of God and of the Lamb will be” in that final city, and we “will see His face.”
Every text is there to lead us from the garden to that Great City. When we read a text we must ask, “How is this moving me toward this heavenly destination? How is it shaping me toward that Great City? How is it transforming me so that I will be fit and ready for that new dwelling place?”
That is a perspective that keeps the forest in view as we examine the trees. Sometimes we can get so narrowly focused on one tree that it is no longer about our personal transformation. When that happens, we have lost contact with the purpose for which God inspired His Word. We need to know where we are going and how to get there.
Today, I will…read the final two chapters of Revelation and meditate on how the rest of the Bible should lead me to that Great City.