Hessel     8/13/18

Cederville RV Park and Resort, Cedarville, Michigan

And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of His return is drawing near.  Hebrews 10:25

 

We began this morning (after breakfast, of course), by returning to Pastor Mike’s message on Revelation 4:1-11.  We’ve completed the passages on the seven churches, and this time, his focus was on The Throne Room.  I wish I could infuse my recap with his barely contained emotions as he taught this lesson today!

I just want to say up front, that I will never be able to convey this portion of scripture properly.  I don’t have the training, nor do I have the gift.  I’m grateful for men like Pastor Mike who do.  But not only does he have a God-given gift, he has a love for our Triune God and people, that we should all aspire to. His love and excitement for Heaven was evident today.

This chapter is a brief description of Heaven that John was privileged to witness.  But he had difficulty describing it, even with the ultimate tour guide – the angel messenger sent to him from God and Jesus Christ.  When you read the passage, John frequently says things like, ‘It was like…’ , or ‘had the appearance of…’, or ‘resembled…’, or ‘what looked like…’.  Here’s an analogy I once taught in a Bible study – imagine trying to explain something no one (including you) has ever seen before.  For example, imagine living 300-400 years ago and trying to explain how cell phones work (Shoot, I can’t even explain that now!),  or our highway system, or things like tanks and missiles, or cars, or planes, or any host of other crazy things that are common place now.

Think of how difficult it is to try to describe to others what your life’s most fantastic event was like.

 

Now, here’s John, a great apostle for Christ and man of God, yes.  But still just a man.  And he’s trying to describe a portion of Heaven for us.  An impossible task, but he did the best he could, and he did it with the help of the Holy Spirit.

And now it falls to other men and women over the ages to try to explain what John saw.  All I can do is repeat from some of the notes I hurriedly jotted down.  (I was never any good at that – couldn’t even pass shorthand in school.)  But here’s what I have, Mike’s comments and my paraphrasing or adding my own comments:

1. When we read things like this, we excitedly ask “When? When will we get to see this, Lord?”  God’s response is always and only, “Soon”.  Kind of like when you were a child and on a journey with your family, and you say, “Are we there yet?”  and the response is always, “Soon.”  And then, after what seemed like an eternity, you were finally there!
2. Pastor Mike pointed out that many people will arrive in Heaven and say, “If I’d only known what it would be like . . .”. But everyone does know.  You have one shot at life.  There are no do-overs.  No second chances once you leave this world.  And this isn’t just for the unbelievers.  This is for Christians as well.  We were created to bring God glory. To point others to Him.  To reveal Him.  To reflect Him.  To learn things about Him from each other. As such, everything we do, don’t do, say or don’t say, matters.  And we all, of course, fall short.  But that shouldn’t discourage us, instead, it should spur us on to do better.  To try harder.
3. (For those of you with some knowledge of the Old Testament, the gemstones mentioned in verse 2-3 are the first and last stones on the OT priest’s Ephod. I don’t want to get sidetracked with an explanation, but for me, that was an interesting tidbit Mike threw in.)
4. The twenty-four elders? No one knows who they are and if he wasn’t willing to speculate, then I’m certainly not.  However, their garment indicates they’ve already passed judgment and are found pure, their crowns most likely victor’s crowns.
5. The lightning and thunder would indicate a coming storm, and the seven lamps – seven being the number of completion – represent the Holy Spirit.
6. This chapter teaches us what true worship looks like. Worship is to be always and only all about Him.  Worship is to reveal Him.  Pastor Mike believes the four living creatures represent attributes of God:

• The fact that they were covered in eyes – omniscience or all-seeing
• The Lion – known as the king of the animal world, majesty and omnipotence-which means all powerful
• The Ox – known as a gentle work animal – a servant, a God who serves, as Christ did when He died for all
• The face like a Man – an image bearer, we are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27)
• A flying Eagle – deemed by man as the greatest bird, is God’s supreme sovereignty (absolute authority and rule).

7. God withholds nothing from us. He’s given us life and everything else we have.  True worship gives it all back to Him.
8. All of heaven proclaims His Holiness. Whatever your image of God is?  It’s too small.

 

Afterwards, we ventured out to see what was in the neighboring town of Hessel.  These towns are in the area known as the Les Cheneaux Area.  Not knowing how to pronounce it, Blaine asked at a visitor center here in Cedarville, but we promptly forgot.

 

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So we’re in Hessel, and it’s getting closer to lunchtime, and a bar/restaurant put out one of those self-standing signboards that says, “The more you drink, the Les Cheneaux”.  I’ll remember now.  You probably will too. 😊

There wasn’t a lot to see today, but I guess the place was really hopping on Saturday when they hosted an antique boat show.

 

It was BYOC (bring your own chair) today when we managed to find a secluded quiet spot by a body of water to enjoy our lunch.

 

On the way home, we stopped in at a grocery store to grab a couple of things.  They still use paper bags exclusively, and not only are they heavy paper, but they have handles and printing on them!

I’m torn between which option is better – paper or plastic.  Paper uses our natural resources, but plastic destroys them.  So what do you do?  I guess the re-usable ones are the best option.  What do you think?

 

After dinner, we took a walk around the neighborhood, including the front yard of a local museum.  Maybe we’ll visit it sometime this week.

 

A visit to the campground’s dock, and it was time to call it quits for the day.

Well, almost.  We did run out to the dock to try to catch the sunset, but there are too many trees to see it properly.