December 06, 2010
Book Cliffs
There’s a series of cliffs in western Colorado that are called Book Cliffs. What comes to my mind when I look at these flat-top mountains is a table draped with a tablecloth which forms a scalloped skirt on the bottom. All these years I never could see the books, however the other day I thought that maybe they were stacked horizontally, so that the cliffs resemble various layers of pages. I finally went to the internet and learned that the cliffs are similar to a shelf where books are placed vertically. I’m reminded of Jesus speaking in parables about Spiritual dullness, “This is why I speak to them in parables: ‘Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.” (Matt 13:13 NIV) I’m thinking I might have had my eyes opened sooner if these cliffs had been named something like Vertical Book Cliffs.
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Gail;
-----God could have shown every point He desired to communicate to man very clearly. If He desired, He could have taken each person into the depths of Hell and then into the glory of Heaven. I would presume a person’s decision to follow Him might then be easy.
-----But presumptions are not worth much. The history of mankind has been an experience of war and trouble. Man has not only been an enemy to himself, but has had to fight the ravages of nature as if it were an enemy as well. Famine, illness, floods, and earthquakes continuously whittle away at his survival and challenge his peacefulness. All he has seen in his affairs is anguish, and he does not turn to the Lord in mass. Then for a thousand years Christ will reign on Earth amongst us teaching peace and love. He will bring nature under control. The lion will lay down with the lamb. And the elements will no longer work against mankind. Yet, at the end of this glorious time, once again the masses will follow Satan into rebellion against Him. What good will the glory of His peaceful reign have done them?
-----There was something special about Paul. In the face of beatings and stoning he traveled the Roman world teaching Jesus and laying the foundation of the church. But it was not only his missionary efforts that were special. The epistles he wrote to those he taught laid the foundations of Christian doctrine. He took the words of Jesus and the Hebrew Scriptures and saw connections in them that no one else could imagine. He was a highly educated man, being a devout Pharisee. But he also added to them insights which truly seemed new, as did John in writing Revelation. What did they have that the other apostles did not?
-----Yesterday, I threw away a book titled “Paul”. It discussed a lot of good history about Paul, but of one historical point, maybe the important historical point, it made not a mention. Of himself Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven...and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter.” (II Cor 12:2-4) I can not imagine these things he heard were trivial chit-chat. We don’t know how much time he spent there, but the insights he added to our knowledge of the Lord and His plans seem to indicate what kind of things he may have heard. And John simply wrote for us what he heard and saw while there. To these two men, the Book Cliffs were called the Vertical Book Cliffs. But their hearts were already sorted out for the Lord before they were given such clear experiences.
-----To the rest of us, I think the perceptions of our lives are somewhat a sorting process. Jesus could not be too clear in presenting the points of His parables lest, upon the wrong basis, even one heart that should belong in the trash bin would get sorted into the clean-up and keep bin.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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