Reading: Revelation 19:1-10

One of the central themes within all the bible is that God wants to relate to His people the way a husband relates to His wife—that is: via permanent, comprehensive, loving, and vulnerable friendship. So, yes God is King, but He doesn’t want to relate merely as a king relates to his subjects. And yes God is Shepherd, but he doesn’t just want to relate as a shepherd relates to sheep. He wants you to know each other to such a degree that’s impossible anywhere but marriage. Think about that. The kind of relationship (with God) that you were designed for is one of intimacy. Which. If you’re a skeptic, there is no other religion that dares talk about a relationship with God like that. Feel free to look, but I assure you, I already have.

So. Until you understand this aspect of God—that He doesn’t just want to be your God—He doesn’t just want to be your King—no. He wants to be your Covenant Devotion…if you don’t understand that, there are some things you’ll never understand about sin. See. Sin isn’t just all the negative things you see in the world. It’s not just darkness, evil, or debauchery. It is definitely those things. But. What we learn here is: sin is loving anything more than God. Sin is all the good things that catch your eye and cause you to move away from Him.

It’s why John was so captivated by the sight of the great prostitute in chapter 17. Because sin is alluring. It’s attractive, and looks right—but it’s also a trap. It’s why Proverbs records a couple different times, “There’s a way that seems right to man and in the end it leads to death.” Which. It’s hard because sin looks great, sounds great, feels great, and promises your greatness—except that’s also why it’s a fatal attraction. Because you’re not the point.

Nonetheless. The arc of the human story is: God creates human beings out of His good pleasure. He didn’t need to create us. Yet He created us in His image, so that we could experience what He’s always had. Relationship. Unity. And Love. Then He says, “Listen folks, I don’t want you to obey me like a king. I don’t want you to rely on me like I’m a shepherd. I want you to love me supremely as I have supremely loved you.” And when our ancestors failed in that, He demonstrated His love for us by allowing His Son Jesus to make a way for us to be redeemed back into His presence.

Now. Let me push you a little bit on this. Because, imagine you’re married and you find your spouse is spending every evening over at another person’s house. They’re not cheating on you in the “traditional sense” of the word, but they’re talking about life, and sharing their aspirations, and trying to problem solve with each other, and this is an every night—hours and hours type thing. Finally, you confront them, like, “Hey. What’s the deal? You’re gone every night.” And they go, “What are you so upset about? I’m legally married to you. You have what I have. I do my duty. What’s the problem?” You’d say, “The problem is I don’t have your heart. What kind of marriage is it when I don’t have the love of your heart?” That’s the illustration God gives.

God’s like, “I don’t need you to go to church. I don’t need you to be baptized. I don’t need you just to believe. I don’t even need you to pray. Or follow the 10 commandments. I want your love and devotion. I want you to know Me. To fall in love with me (to be clear when you love Him you’ll do those other things).” But. The story of sin is: God has given you everything—quite literally your very existence—however somebody (or something) else has your heart. You trust it, instead of Him. You give hours to it, instead of Him. Oh. Sure, you believe. You’re forgiven. You’re technically “married”, but you’re also never home.

You say, “Ok. How do I know if that’s me?” Well, there’s a couple of tests. First of all, are you living in outright rebellion? That’s pretty easy to diagnose. Are you participating in anything the bible calls wrong? Sexual immorality. Drunkenness. Deceit. Greed (this is Ephesians 5 by the way). But. Since you’re reading this, I’m guessing probably not. Plus, sin is so much more sinister than that. Sin actually likes to be something good in your life…that (again) takes the place of God.

Maybe this will help. There was an Anglican priest named William Temple who said, “If you want to know who your God is, look and see what you do with your solitude.” Like. When you don’t have to think about anything, where does your mind go? When nothing is forcing you to think about something, what do you think about?

Or. Here’s another test: where do you spend your money the most effortlessly? Is it on generosity? And expanding the kingdom? Or is it on enjoying the world? This is why Jesus says, where you treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Finally, pay attention to that word that’s repeated a couple times: ‘Hallelujah’. It means, “praise God” Hallel is to praise, and jah is a shortened version of Yahweh, in Hebrew. Which. Here’s something interesting. This chapter is the only time (in all of the New Testament) that the word Hallelujah is used. Let that sink in. Despite all the miracles, all the healings, all the teaching, nobody ever says, Hallelujah, praise God. It’s only here, at the very end. And what are they praising Him for? Salvation and glory and power. Verse 2. Point being, because He’s the never-failing spouse, He deserves our praise and devotion.

With Gratitude,

pLJ