(Excerpt from Beyond Pretend: A Sheep’s Guide to the Universe! © 2010 by David Lee Scott. All rights reserved.)
Who is behind the curtain?
In the Wizard of Oz, a seemingly thunderous display of power had Dorothy, Tin Man, the Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion trembling in their boots until Toto ran over and pulled back the curtain and the great and powerful Wizard of Oz was seen to be merely an old man from Kansas, very mortal, very ordinary.
So who controls your world?
To help you answer this question, we will examine – Who is behind the curtain? Who is my storyteller? Who edits the film? Who do I worship? So who is behind the curtain in your life? If we were able to pull back this imaginary curtain, what would we see? Maybe it would be a harmless old man from Kansas. Possibly even as an adult, you have yet to discover that your father, grandfather, or dear Grandma, have more sway in your life than God does.
But it is also possible that nary a family member would be found behind the folds. What would a quick peak expose? Co-workers, classmates, a favorite professor, your church family, or even your pastor. Who is it in your life who knows which lever to pull or button to push? The possibilities seem endless so let’s find some perspective.
A real scene in heaven …
A door opens in heaven revealing the throne of God …
- Then I looked, and, oh! – a door open into Heaven. The trumpet-voice, the first voice in my vision, called out, “Ascend and enter. I’ll show you what happens next.” I was caught up at once in deep worship and, oh! – a Throne set in Heaven with One Seated on the Throne, suffused in gem hues of amber and flame with a nimbus of emerald (Revelation 4:1-3 MSG).
I don’t know who the control person is in your life, but somewhere along the path each of us needs to cede control of our world to God. In the text above we see the ultimate peek behind the curtain, a scene in heaven picturing God on his throne. This is not once upon a time, this is then, this is now, this is forever. Take a minute to absorb the imagery. Lightning flashes, thunder crashing, animals prowling …
- Lightning flash and thunder crash pulsed from the Throne. Seven fire-blazing torches fronted the Throne (these are the Sevenfold Spirit of God). Before the Throne it was like a clear crystal sea. Prowling around the Throne were Four Animals, all eyes. Eyes to look ahead, eyes to look behind. The first Animal like a lion, the second like an ox, the third with a human face, the fourth like an eagle in flight (Revelation 4:5-7 MSG).
The throne should give us perspective …
No, we don’t understand all of this, but John gave it his best shot, describing things as well as he could, using finite words of humans to describe an infinite God seated on his eternal throne. We should come away from this remarkable scene in heaven with at least two thoughts. One, this is real, there is a throne, someone reigns over our world. He is there and he is God. Two, we can know him. We are not left out in the dark to wonder. We can know more. In fact, we can know the Person on the throne and become part of his kingdom. The King came to earth and invited us to join him.
Our intimate connection with the Person on the throne of God …
We have been given his words to live by on this earth, words of salvation and direction that not only are better than gold for our time on the planet but words that hold true and powerful as we step into eternity, even true before this very throne of God. When God instructs us, he sees our lives in the context of everything. When we are tempted to dismiss God’s words, we must realize that his words fit his eternal purpose. Play with the words, play with the purpose of God.
When he tells you to love your enemies, he doesn’t only have in mind your daily struggle with an obnoxious neighbor or a demanding, ungrateful boss. He has the “forever you” in mind as he shapes and forms your life. You are the focus of his instruction, and he speaks to you in the context of forever. Loving your enemy is trusting God in the moment and is shaping your life in the context of eternity. Much bigger picture than we see.
- But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you (Matthew 5:44 NKJV).
God speaks to his children in the context of eternity. Can you see how excellent this is? If we have received God’s gift of life, we will one day be before this Majesty, we will be in this picture John describes, an intimate part of what is happening because we will be home. The blood of Christ has bought for us intimacy with the one who sits on this heavenly throne. Too cool! Way too cool!
Please, please, please do not allow these real very images of heaven to lie in obscurity in the back portions of your mind. We need this heavenly video to be a part of our lives as we decide how we will indeed live. No doubt about it that as we persevere in living out the reality of God’s words in the “pre-heaven” part of our lives that things become very complicated. Worlds collide, what is real, what seems real, and all the stuff in between. We deal with this world, this reality, this curtain, time and space, our finite nature, our fallenness, our humanness, and if we have received God’s gift of eternal life through Christ, then we have a foot inside the door of eternity … God’s world, ultimate reality, God’s curtain, his veil of holiness.
We live with this constant tension, between two worlds, and God understands, and based upon his thirty plus years on the planet, and the fact that he is God, Jesus perfectly identifies with us. How do we live before the reality of a throne in heaven while still on Earth? Learn today’s lessons. The more we trust God in the moment, the more we live in view of forever. Trust God in your “small world” and you will trust him with the whole world.
