We had to climb through the night to reach the top of Mount Warning, Australia’s furthest point east where the sun first touches the continent. Here I am with my sons Levi and Jon.

Scripture
Look, I am coming soon! Blessed are those who obey the words of prophecy written in this book. Revelation 22:7

Observation
Christians should read Revelation more and more. But most are afraid of what they consider a doomsday book. Revelation has become to some a boogeyman to supposedly spook them about the end of the world.

But Revelation is nothing of the sort. This is not a book about the future; rather it is a book about Jesus. In Revelation, and in this book alone, do we see Jesus as he really is. In fact the picture in this book is far clearer than any of the Gospels. The only description we are given of Jesus physical appearance comes from this text. In the these last pages of the Bible we see Jesus glorified as he is for all eternity.

That sense of Christ’s position, authority, power and honor irons out our thinking so wadded by our confused age. We know that no matter how dark days may appear not only will Jesus win but he is winning now. We also see through the money, position, power, threats, corruption, debauchery that fill every TV screen and every human relationship and see that evil must and will come to an end.

Life is not forever and one day with our without human permission Christ will return and upset everyone’s schedule. That day is closer now than yesterday. That alone is reason to read this book. But the events of the news should send us there. Israel is reborn. Europe is united. Iran is emerging as a world power. The United States now occupies Babylonia. Gog and Magog are flexing their muscles. Revelation seems very current to me.

But we should not read Revelation just to satisfy our curiosity. In some way the book confuses us as much as it helps us understand the future. Instead we should read the book for one reason: to be blessed with a better understanding of just who Jesus is. As diamonds are best viewed against the black velvet of the jeweler’s box so too Jesus is seem best when we contrast his current glory with every power of evil that opposes him.

Application
The principles of Revelation must become my life principles. It launches with urgent messages to the churches. Let me speak those. It calls us to worship in difficult times. Help me to do that. It separates us from everything that attracts us. Let me come apart. It calls me to unmask the powers of the Antichrist already at work. Help me to discern that. And best of all, it calls me to love Jesus more because I have seen him more clearly.

Prayer
Father, though I have not seen him, I love him and my heart is filled with inexpressible joy today as I receive the goal of my faith, the salvation of my soul. Even though there are so many good things to hold onto in this life, still I’m excited to say, “Come Lord Jesus.”

The white sands of the fresh water Lake MacKenzie on Australia’s Fraser Island are one of my favorite places on planet earth. I could lay in the sun here all day long. This is from a camping trip with my son in 2005.

Scripture
I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. The sea gave up its dead, and death and the grave gave up their dead. And all were judged according to their deeds. Revelation 20:12-13

Observation
I’m a History Channel addict. The series, Cities of the Underworld pulled me in through the labyrinth of tunnels under the worlds great cities. Paris surprised me most of all. The Romans found something underneath the city akin to Home Depot. Limestone bedrock could be mined out of tunnels and used to build the imposing edifices of the Champs-Élysées. Paris sits on top of a limestone quarry and is honeycombed with tunnels beneath its streets. Just after the time of Napoleon, Paris ran out off burial space because the city was surrounded by walls that choked expansion. City fathers decided to take the skeletal remains of Parisians from centuries past and rebury them in tidy stacks under the city. The documentary camera careened through nearly a kilometer of neatly organized human bones. They suggested that 6 million people were under the streets of Paris.

Seeing so many human remains at once gave me a profound sense of how short my life is, and how I am but one of billions who have lived on this planet. Today I walk on top of city streets. Tomorrow others will walk over me.

What is the greatest thing to fear? Death? Hardly. Death would be the greatest fear if it were really the end. But the Bible tells us death is a doorway not a deadbolt. Death introduces us into what we should fear.

Hell? No, not hell. What is more disturbing than hell is standing alone with the Great White Throne.

The throne means there is a king and judge sitting up on it.

Greatness suggests that the throne is the Supreme Court from which there is no appeal.

Whiteness implies that our lives will be compared with a standard higher than we can imagine.

Have you ever shopped for white paint? How many variety of whites can there be? Many! One color swatch that looks snowy white looks dingy compared to another. Without comparison against other samples our eyes can trick us to imagine that we are seeing true white.

And so it is in life. What looks white may in fact be grey. The other day I was chatting with an Ebay businessman. He’s the kind that makes a very decent living off of online classifieds. He said, “I don’t do gray market work.” He explained the nuances between black market and gray market. I was amazed at the cleverness of business minds in schemes that can be devised for money making that are just a little shady.

One day every action we have ever taken in life will be held up against the true color guide of heaven. What looks white on earth will look sooty in heaven. Gray is not good enough. That is something to fear. The road to hell is not paved in black but in shades of gray.

Application
Can we clean ourselves in preparation? Just read the Cat In the Hat by Dr. Seuss and the answer is obviously no. Dirty hands can never make a garment clean. This is our only prayer:

Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Psalm 51:7

My hope today is that I don’t have to stand alone at the Great White Throne. Jesus will be with me.

Prayer
Father today let me be ready to stand before your throne, not because of what I have done but because of what you have done for me. And may I ready many, many more to stand before you with the color match of righteousness. Amen.

Leslie and I pose for a shot in one of the world’s great cities…Sydney, Australia.

Scripture

Babylon is fallen—that great city is fallen!

She will be completely consumed by fire, for the Lord God who judges her is mighty. And the kings of the world who committed adultery with her and enjoyed her great luxury will mourn for her as they see the smoke rising from her charred remains.

O Babylon, you great city! In a single moment God’s judgment came on you.

Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a huge millstone. He threw it into the ocean and shouted, “Just like this, the great city Babylon will be thrown down with violence and will never be found again.”

Come away from her, my people
Do not take part in her sins,
Or you will be punished with her. Revelation 18 selected verses

Observation

A city obliterated in one day.

A skyline reduced to smoke.

A mushroom cloud like a boulder thrown into the sea.

Are these snippets from a doomsday report on terrorism? No, they are summaries from the Bible. Tucked in the last pages of Revelation is a staggering prophecy about a city called “Babylon” that is destroyed in just one day and left in charred ashes. The merchants and rulers of the world mourn because they can no longer do trade with that great city.

Before 1945 this was unthinkable. Then came the atomic bomb.
Before 2001 it was unconceivable. Then came 9/11.
Today the thought of a nuclear terrorist strike on a US city is bouncing somewhere between probable and likely.

The chairman of the 9/11 Commission has stated he expects to see a nuclear attack on an American city in his lifetime. (60 Minutes, CBS News January 29, 2006).

Al-Qaeda spokesman Suleiman Abu Gheith has stated al-Qaeda’s objective: “to kill 4 million Americans—2 million of them children—and to exile twice as many and wound and cripple hundreds of thousands.” (Graham T. Allison, Council on Foreign Relations, April 20, 2007.)

In the 2004 Presidential debate, George Bush agreed with Al Gore when he said, “I agree with my opponent that the biggest threat facing this country is weapons of mass destruction in the hands of a terrorist network.” (Graham T. Allison, Council on Foreign Relations, April 20, 2007.)

One month after September 11 only a handful of US leaders knew that a 10 kiloton bomb stolen from Russia’s stockpile was in the hands of terrorists in New York City. No one was told lest total panic would ensue. (Time, February 2002).

But before the media started waking up to the potential, a strangely familiar scenario was first recorded in the Bible for believers. Why would God foreshadow the destruction of a major world city in one single day? For one reason: He wants us to consider and to know how we must live long before it happens.

Where is Babylon? Babylon was a city that only archaeologists know today. But the seeds of Babylon are growing in every skyline of any city in the world. The principles learned about establishing urban civilization were first trialed in Babylon and then exported to the world. So Babylon is more than a place it is a system. In the global economy Babylon is everywhere as world cities meld into a multinational sameness.

Why is God so angry with Babylon? Because that city has exported the sludge of immorality to the entire world. It has pursued extravagant luxury by stepping on many people in the process. That could be Hollywood, The Strip, the Boardwalk or Wall Street.

Application

How should Christians live in a world of terrorist threat not just against one person but an entire city? The answer is to live detached. John says,

Come away from her, my people
Do not take part in her sins,
Or you will be punished with her.

As we edge and lurch closer to the second coming Christians should distance themselves further and further from the social attitudes that obscure the glory of God like the lights of Vegas. We should own goods without being owned by them. We should treasure sexuality as a gift and not a right. We should keep tender instead of sporting an urban chic callous.

There is a message of hope in Revelation 18. A world city will not be destroyed until God says so. Such a profound act will not be meaningless it will bear a message from heaven. Should any of us see such terrible thing we will know that it bears a word from God himself. This future destruction is his timing and doing alone.

What lays in our lap today is our attitude about the attractions of Babylon. We should feel ourselves more detached from it as the days go by. Our lives must be simpler, humbler, and more tender to escape.

Prayer

Father, honestly I don’t want to think about this, but in reality it is irresponsible not to. Help me to live detached today so that I may not be tempted to look back. Amen.

Gabe is my grandson who I pray will grow to be desireably different from the world around him just like Daniel was.

 But Daniel was determined not to defile himself (Daniel 1:8)

Suited to serve in the royal palace (Daniel 1:4)

Unusual aptitude (Daniel 1:17)

Special ability (Daniel 1:17)

Ten times more capable (Daniel 1:20)

 It was heady stuff for a budding young adult male to be whisked into the palace of the king for an honors graduate program for exceptional students. Daniel was in the 99^th percentile. But what impressed others did not distract Daniel.

 Daniel was determined. What was his determination? Was it to never forget who he was wherever he went? No it was more than that. Daniel was determined never to forget who God was wherever he went. Daniel was suited to serve in a royal palace because he wasn’t trying to serve the king, he was focused on pleasing the Lord. Because he could honor the Lord he was fit to serve in the greatest house of men.

 Daniel was given remarkable gifts because of his determination. He was given “unusual aptitude” and “special ability” (verse 17).  This depth set him apart from all the other groomed junior executives.Â

 Daniel was “ten times more capable” (verse 20) because of one thing that he had done. Instead of being changed, Daniel changed others. If we are to become fit to serve in the places of leadership in business, in the church or in education we must grip tightly to Daniel’s secret: The environment will not change you if you will make the choice to change the environment. When God sees that resolve he will then change you in ways no study program can ever hone human skill.

 Wherever I serve in life I want to serve as if I were in the king’s palace. This grows out of my first focus to serve the ultimate King of all. Because I serve him, wherever I am at work no matter how humble, I must treat it with royal diligence. I must not let the environment change me, I must change the environment.

 Father I ask for the gifts of unusual aptitude and special ability as a reward for the determination to serve you while working for others. Amen.