Draw Near – 365 Guides to Greater Intimacy with GodSample

COMPLETED CIRCLE The Bible forms a complete circle. Genesis opens with man in a perfect state of union with his Creator. However, through his own will, man fell. Throughout the rest of the Bible, we see the bitter suffering sin causes and God's effort to bring man back home. Then the Bible closes with the eternal paradise restored to all who come to God through Christ. In Jesus, man is eternally redeemed, never again to repeat the demeaning circle of his folly. Nowhere else are we given such glimpses of the glory God has prepared for us as in Revelation. Some consider Revelation a puzzle. The very title indicates God wants us to know His eternal plan revealed through Christ. In this "apocalypse" or "revealing," there are four important lessons to remember: (1) there is an ever-existing struggle between good and evil, but right will eventually triumph in Christ; (2) seven messages are included for specific churches and can be applied to the entire church age and to our own personal lives; (3) the heavenly visions give support and comfort to all who face severe testing and trials; and (4) this is God's last written Word to us. Revelation is the crowning work of all Scripture. Without this book, the Bible would be incomplete like a novel without a last chapter. Also, this is the only Bible book that pronounces a blessing upon all who read it: Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near (1:3). The wise believer reads and rereads this great revelation of Jesus Christ written by John the beloved.