The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Revelation 22:1-5,
"Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever. "
A chiastic literary structure is found in a variety of places in the Scriptures. A "chiasm" is a literary device that follows a progression of thought to a mid-point and then reverses and mirrors itself. It is named after the Greek letter "chi" which looks like our letter "X". You notice the left side of X starts at top, goes down and in to the middle and then goes back out to the bottom. It could be represented in the following figure of expression:
A
B
C
B
A
A chiasm can have two, three or even more levels to it. Note Mark 2:27, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." This verse follows a very simple chiasm:
A
B
B
A
As I say, there can be simple to more complex chiasms found in many passages of Scripture. Watch for them, because when the literary device is employed and recognized by the reader, they can be helpful to understand what is being presented. As an example, can you see the chiasm in Isaiah 1:21-26?
What fascinates me this morning is that Revelation 22 completes a chiasm of progression of the whole of God's revelation to us regarding the affairs of mankind relative to himself. It is not a chiasm of verses, but of the totality of mankind's existence itself. It begins in Genesis and ends in the close of the book of Revelation:
Mankind lives in Eden with God
Mankind falls through sin and lives in a cursed existence
God pursues his agenda of redemption of mankind
Mankind is redeemed from sin and the curse is lifted
Mankind lives in restored Eden with God
The structure of mankind's history from creation to eternity follows this simple device found throughout Scripture!
A blog with my ruminations over the years can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
"Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever. "
A chiastic literary structure is found in a variety of places in the Scriptures. A "chiasm" is a literary device that follows a progression of thought to a mid-point and then reverses and mirrors itself. It is named after the Greek letter "chi" which looks like our letter "X". You notice the left side of X starts at top, goes down and in to the middle and then goes back out to the bottom. It could be represented in the following figure of expression:
A
B
C
B
A
A chiasm can have two, three or even more levels to it. Note Mark 2:27, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." This verse follows a very simple chiasm:
A
B
B
A
As I say, there can be simple to more complex chiasms found in many passages of Scripture. Watch for them, because when the literary device is employed and recognized by the reader, they can be helpful to understand what is being presented. As an example, can you see the chiasm in Isaiah 1:21-26?
What fascinates me this morning is that Revelation 22 completes a chiasm of progression of the whole of God's revelation to us regarding the affairs of mankind relative to himself. It is not a chiasm of verses, but of the totality of mankind's existence itself. It begins in Genesis and ends in the close of the book of Revelation:
Mankind lives in Eden with God
Mankind falls through sin and lives in a cursed existence
God pursues his agenda of redemption of mankind
Mankind is redeemed from sin and the curse is lifted
Mankind lives in restored Eden with God
The structure of mankind's history from creation to eternity follows this simple device found throughout Scripture!
A blog with my ruminations over the years can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
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