Psalm 61, 62; Neh. 12:27-31a,42b-47; Rev. 11:1-19; Matt. 13:44-52
The reaction of the people to the completion of the work was worship. They had done the work themselves, why should this be anything other than a party celebrating their hard labor? They knew that none of this would have been possible without God’s provision and protection. We are unable truly to do anything on our own. Whatever we are is a result of God’s work, His creation of us. All that we are and all that we have is a result of His work. He gave us gifts and talents that allow us to work, He gives us opportunity to use those by providing jobs and other voluntary opportunities to use what He has given us. Our response to our own giftedness and opportunities should be thankfulness and praise that what He has given us is wonderful and that He allows us to employ them for His glory and our own benefit. Worship is the proper response to any accomplishment, in fact it is the proper response to drawing breath of life.
Jesus tells parables of the kingdom of God and He says that the proper response to the kingdom is the overthrow of everything else. When we understand the value of the kingdom of God we truly know that there is nothing that can compare, nothing that should be kept if it hinders us from possessing the kingdom. We would gladly give or sell all that we have if that was required to possess the kingdom of God. In philosophy the idea of the ideal is the summum bonum, the highest good, and philosophers disagree on what should be this thing that should be pursued by all. Jesus says that what the philosophers don’t know is that what seems like an intangible idea is a tangible reality and that all things tangible pale in comparison to it, the eternal kingdom of God, and through the Spirit we can possess it in part now. The true new Jerusalem is not seen with the eyes, it is known through the Spirit that one day we will see this kingdom in all its glory.
John sees a vision of Jerusalem overrun by the nations who defile the outer court. Then we see two witnesses who prophecy and preach about the judgment of God and the truth. They are protected from harm for a season and they have the ability to destroy those who come against them until their appointed time comes. At that point we see them killed and their bodies on public display for three days at which time the Lord will raise them from the dead, causing fear among the people who see it. They are then summoned to heaven in a cloud like Jesus and then a greater earthquake than happened at His death happens and yet still there is unbelief, only fear. John gives us a glimpse of the reaction of the heavenly chorus to these things, praise that the Lord has taken up His power and begun His reign. The kingdom of God is wonderful to behold from inside but for those outside it is indeed a fearsome thing. At the end of this piece of the vision we see the ark and now the judgments of God will begin against sinful humanity. The coming of the kingdom will involve pain and ugliness from an earthly perspective, things will get worse before they get eternally better.
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