A place for thoughts, ideas and discoveries

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Escaped???!!!

Reading thru Revelation, WOW!  In Ch. 12 today a phrase caught my eye. "but her child was caught up to God and to his throne."  The context of this verse is the sign that John saw in the heavens of the pregnant woman clothed with the sun and with the moon at her feet, wearing a crown with 12 stars.  

The woman (Israel - Gen. 37:9-11) eventually gives birth to a male Child, who will rule with a rod of Iron ( Christ-Ps. 2:9).  This woman is closely guarded by the red dragon (Satan-Dan. 7:7-8) so that he can devour the Child as soon as he's born.  That's the context.

What caught my attention was the fact that the Bible says that "her Child was caught up to God and to his throne" meaning the Child escapes the vigilant dragon.  Wait a minute!!! but...what about the Cross, the suffering, etc...?  From a human perspective, The Child was "devoured" in death and suffering at least partially, wasn't He?  From the divine perspective, He escaped the dragon and was caught up to God!

Escaped the dragon??!! what about all the suffering, the humiliation, the ignominious death on a Roman cross?   Sure sounds to me like this suffering and dying stuff was all included in the plan, and that the plan was executed perfectly without seemingly any interruption by Satan, who unwittingly,  played his part in it!
 
How about me, then?  In God's view, will I "escape" Satan because my soul is secure with Go in Christ?  How about my suffering, trials, etc..?  Are they pre-planned for the purpose of teaching me obedience and conforming me to the image of Christ?  In the end, in the book of heaven, will it say, "Alba has escaped the minions of the dragon and was caught up to be with her LORD forever"?  

Yes, it will!!!  My sufferings and trials are not inconsequential.  They are essential to my obedience and conformity to Christ on this earth.  However, in the grand scheme of things, they are obscured by the fact that I "escaped" the second death and will live forever in the presence of my LORD and Savior!
"Death is swallowed up in victory."
O death where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?
...But thanks be to God who gives us the victory 
through our Lord Jesus Christ."  I Cor. 15:54-55, 57