Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Hello, dear people.

I haven’t even got to any work yet. I’ve just been running around doing all kinds of other stuff. And soon I’ll be looking after two little boys, since Thano is working at Safeway, and Becki will be leading her water aerobics group at the pool tonight.

We really are living at a volatile and exciting point on the time line of human history. Let’s keep our seatbelts buckled. The way I mean that is equivalent to “Let not your heart be troubled”—and “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide in a very secure car seat.” Not sure what version that is.

Blessings

Love, Dad/Ray.

There is more mysterious strangeness being presented to John in this audio-video spectacular. Much of it is too strange for my comprehension at this point in time. But there is a one-word theme that captivates my attention in this short chapter. It’s a theme that surfaces time and time again throughout the pages of Scripture. I’m thinking of the one word in verse 7 that is shouted by the “mighty angel”—the 4-letter word “WILL.” While it’s a little word, it represents a very big truth that I’m banking on. It is part of an emphatic unequivocal non-optional promise that God’s plans and purposes WILL be fulfilled. PERIOD! “But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.” So until His will is fulfilled, it remains in the zone of mystery—the “twilight zone.” And my puny plans, wishes, complaints, comforts, or disbeliefs are absolutely ineffective to alter the fact of His WILL—which WILL be done in earth as it is in heaven! And sincerely praying that way allows us to be aligned with that WILL. Misalignment is about as dangerous as anything I can imagine.

It is implied here that more horrendous stuff is coming—beyond what John was allowed to record. It may be beyond what we can imagine now. I think this little piece of instruction John is given (“Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down.” V.4) gives another angle of support to the idea that GOD’S WORD IS INSPIRED NOT JUST FOR WHAT IT SAYS, BUT FOR WHAT IT DOES NOT SAY.

Allow me to snatch a piece of calming inspiration from my reading today in Proverbs 18, verse 10. “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.” So while the fulfillment of some facets of His will toward this God-rejecting world may indeed be incredibly awful to behold, not to mention, experience, I am safe in Him. PERIOD!