What is God Revealing?

For the past several months I have been leading an online Bible study on The Revelation (or as many Christians call it - Revelations). During that time I have, as the book promises, been blessed (Revelation 22:7), and I have discovered that when we truly study God's Word in earnest, He will reveal things to us. In fact, it has been my experience throughout this study to find that God has been enabling His people to understand The Revelation more clearly, and the golden nuggets that I have found within its pages have at times astonished me for a couple of reasons. First, I've read the book of The Revelation countless times throughout my life, but it is only now during these last days that I find its pages to be much clearer. I am also finding things that I've missed before. It is as if God has opened a window and is making His Revelation known so that we will be ready for what is to come in the years ahead.

Indeed, I have found that God has been revealing things to Christians from His Word in a much more unique and straightforward way lately. As if our eyes have suddenly been opened to something we have read time and time again. Is it possible that God allows us to take in only a bit at a time during our Christian walk, rather than dump it all on us at once? Yes! I believe that now more than ever. I also believe that those who are earnestly seeking Him through His Word, are having the same things revealed to them at the same time. I believe this because I find so many of my Christian friends experiencing the same insights, (or revelations if you don't mind the pun) at or around the same time as I am. Coincidence? I think not.

Of the many nuggets of truth I have recently found within my Revelation study, the one I discovered yesterday was quite frankly "mind-blowing".

In Revelation 20:12 it says:

And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.

One of the ways the Lord has been revealing things to me has been through simple words or phrases that I never thought too much about before. For example, the verse above says "books were opened". We know there is the Book of Life but we do not know about the other books and how many there were. But here is the interesting part. The word used for books in the original Greek is biblion and while it does mean a book or scroll it also translates as “a bill of divorcement”. This is incredible when you think about it because those who are saved are referred to as “the bride of Christ” and here at the judgment those who have rejected God are officially receiving their bill of divorcement from God.

Jeremiah 3:8 talks about God divorcing Israel:

Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also.

So the books (divorce papers) are opened and the dead are judged according to their works and found to be unworthy because, “Anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15).

God hates divorce and I'm sure these papers will be like a blow to His heart. Divorcing himself from those who have rejected Him and finally pronouncing judgment on them will probably be one of the most painful things He has to do. It is so final. But He will do it. And all those who have said over the years that they don't believe in God or need Him will finally meet with God's judgment, which is the lake of fire.

But it's not too late to reconcile with Him. Those who have become estranged from God will (like the lost sheep) be lovingly welcomed back into the fold. But don't wait until God hands you a certificate of divorce. By then it will be too late.