Mystery
Years ago I was going through a religious education class and had lots of questions. When asked a question he didn’t know or didn’t want to address, the instructor would hold his hands in the air and say, “it’s a mystery.” Not only was that frustrating, but it is also inaccurate. It implies that not only is God bigger than what our mind can comprehend, but also that we should just go along on blind faith.
I don’t believe that is what the word mystery in the case of the Mysteries of God, is supposed to mean. If God was simply going to be a mystery, why would we have the bible? Why would God reveal so much of Himself to us through His word, through His creation and through the Holy Spirit? Why would Jesus have spent so much time teaching in the temple if this was all just supposed to be some incomprehensible puzzle or equation to which we cannot find an answer.
Instead, I think the Mystery of God is like a present. Parts of our ultimate relationship with the Lord, part of the ultimate spiritual connection that we will someday enjoy, has been wrapped up like a present. We don’t have it now, but it is a gift that God wants us to have, has purchased for us and is prepared to give to us. The revelation of the Mystery is a time when we unwrap the gift and enter a time of living in even more perfect joy with our Lord and Creator.
When John is told to not write down the words of the 7 Thunders, it isn’t so that we can’t know them, like God wants to keep something from us. It is so that, at the appropriate time, we can hear them for ourselves, in all their splendor and majesty and triumph and revel in the joy those harmonic voices will bring.
My Answers:
3.
a.
a mighty angel coming down from heaven, robed in a cloud, rainbow above his head, his face was like the sun, legs like fiery pillars, holding a little scroll lay open in his hand, planted right foot on the sea and left foot on the land and gave a loud shout like the roar of a line. When he shouted, the voices of the 7 thunders spoke – John was going to write down what they said, but told to seal it up and do not write it down.
b.
by him who lives for ever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and sea and all that is in them
4.
a.
Rule/domination of both land and sea. Also, reference back to Daniel 10 and angel he saw at river
b.
The voice of God, the 7 spirits of God
c.
The word of the Lord is sweet, but as the word is digested we feel the calling of the work to do in spreading the message to others and the hardship and pain that brings about in this very broken world – John was to continue to prophecy
5.
God’s desire for a personal relationship with each part of His creation. His unwavering love. How the hardening of hearts can be a blessing to those people and to others
The Notes are Good 