A Search For Certainty

As I read through the book of Revelation once again for the umpteenth time, I’m left with a familiar sense of uncertainty about what John wrote. To fail to admit such a feeling is a mistake that will lead us to a false sense of certainty, which will derail us from understanding the deeper elements of our faith.

I admit this after preaching Revelation many times, verse-by-verse, each time projecting a certainty about what I was teaching. After each teaching, I had to adjust some parts of my understanding to remain true to God’s expanding Revelation. My sense of certainty about the future had to change over time so that I would not think my current understanding was a presentation of the complete truth.

We all want to have a sense of certainty about our beliefs. But the only understanding that is safe, secure, and unchanging is about Jesus. All the rest is open to personal interpretation. As the old hymn declared, “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.”

What I love, and what is healthy, is that if Jesus is our only hope, we can have a variety of interpretations about the future, but still love and accept other believers who share a different view about prophetic Scripture. I have such friends who I honor and hold in high regard because, like me, at the end of the day, it’s all about Jesus and nothing more.

In the closing verses of Revelation, Jesus said, “I am coming soon!” to which John replied, “May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s holy people” (Revelation 22:20-21).

If our faith is secure in Jesus as the only Way, Truth, and Life, we can have different interpretations about the future and still experience profound levels of fellowship. Our faith will be gracious enough to keep us in fellowship with each other because our eyes are fixed on the Lord, who promised to come back and take us all into our heavenly home, where we will never again have to try to figure everything out. In that moment, our faith will be complete and certain.

Purchase Garris’s book Prayers from the Throne of God here.

This is an updated edition of a post originally published on Garris Elkins

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About the Author

Garris Elkins is a Kingdom Winds Contributor. He and his wife, Jan, serve the global Church through writing, speaking, and mentoring. They live in southern Oregon, tucked away in the foothills of the Rogue Valley. Their shared desire is to have each person learn how to hear the heart of God and become a transforming voice in their culture.

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