Revelation 22:3-4, “…the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in [the city], and His servants will worship Him. They will see His face…”
The face of God will be eternally (and increasingly) beheld in the Lamb who was slain and yet lives forevermore; the cross of Christ blazes at the heart of the Beatific Vision.
Since today’s picture does not come from this morning’s reading, there is no journal entry and thus no “long thoughts.” However, I will say that I think this passage is crucial for our understanding of the eternally enduring significance of the cross.
Christ’s title of “the Lamb” (used some 20+ times in Revelation) is multifaceted to be sure, but at the very heart of its meaning is the fact that He is the one who was slain and by His blood ransomed people for God (Rev.5:6-10). Therefore, when John says that—even in the eternal state—the Lamb is seated on the throne (22:1,3), he is telling us that the slaying of God the Son on the cross will forever remain the centerpiece of God’s manifest glory. The Son will eternally be the “face” of God the Father to His people, and that “face” will forever bear the glorified wounds of Calvary……far from wanting His people to forget or ignore or move past the crucifixion, the Triune God sets it blazing at the very heart of the Beatific Vision….
Why? Because at the cross, the fullness of God is manifest to His people in the “I Love You,” spoken over them in the flesh and blood and outpoured life of the incarnate Son (Eph.3:19). “Heaven,” then, is our eternally increasing apprehension of all that God is to us in that moment (Eph.2:7)….as I’ve said before, the risen crucified Lord Is the “Narnian Wardrobe,” in whom alone the endless worlds of God’s fullness are to be received, explored, and enjoyed.
