Weep No More, For the Scroll Will be Opened!
In Revelation 5, the apostle John is the last standing apostle. All of the others – his closest friends -have been martyred. John himself was imprisoned in the maximum-security island prison of Patmos (the Alcatraz of the Roman world). It is here that he is ushered into a vision of heaven – the very throne room of God. But it’s not necessarily a celebrative time.
But Even If He Does Not...
Between roughly 600 – 540 BC, Babylon was terrorizing, conquering, and leading the Mediterranean world. Among the many nations that Babylon subdued was Israel. Many of the Jews were taken to Babylon as captives. Daniel three contains the incredible story of Babylon’s pagan king, Nebuchadnezzar, worship requirements. He had made a massive golden statute of himself (90 feet tall by 9 feet wide) and required that when the call of worship was heralded, all of his subjects were to bow before the statue. Those who didn’t bow were to bethrown into the fiery furnace.
Created to be Forgotten?
One hundred years from now, nobody will even know that you existed. This is perhaps the greatest “ouch” of human misery. The desire to leave a legacy is a natural thing. There is just something that resides in the inner depth of every person that can’t handle the idea of dying and being forgotten. We were not created to be forgotten. And we know that. And our depravity saddles that horse and rides it into crazy places.