Answers

In these days, we really have to be careful with how we handle what “catches on” in our culture. Post-reletivism has made it too easy to give uninvestigated affirmation to “memes”..I call it Meme-theology and as long as the picture is good and the words are provocative and wise sounding, who am I to say it’s wrong?
Today’s quote is from Peanuts creator, Charles M. Schultz. So of course, with as much as we just LOVE Charlie Brown and Snoopy, Schultz can’t possibly be wrong, right? Let’s check. Chuck is actually being encouraging in saying that there’s no easy answers in life, you have to live it and learn from it. But what if we chose to look at this differently…

Okay, think back…way back. Remember back in like 3rd grade when math got hard? I do. I remember the problems were much harder and the textbook was much bigger. However, as devastating as that was, it was also the introduction to one of the most magical forms of deliverance we’d experienced up until that time: Actual answers in the back of the book. Remember that? Usually it was just half of the answers - all evens, or all odds but it came with the promise of no matter how bad this gets, you can walk away half right. Yeah, maybe you didn’t enjoy that as much as I obviously did but what can I say?

As remarkable as having half of the answers was, it came with an equally impressive amount of responsibility because even if you chose to simply transcribe the answers from the back, you knew that this choice was self-defeating. You knew that eventually a test was coming that would afford you no such advantage. The idea behind providing the answers was not a safety net to stop you from hitting the floor in utter failure, but a guide to let you know you’re learning in the right direction.

Here’s The Word:

Revelation 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

At the end of The Book ; the first words, of the first chapter of the first verse proclaims “The Revelation of Jesus Christ”. Some Bibles have a title page that says “The Revelation of Saint John the Divine”, I don’t see that as much as I used to but the point is that it’s not Saint John being revealed, just that the revelation of Christ was delivered to John to be written down for our benefit.

Even at a glance, you have to realize that Revelation is not like any other book in the Bible. It’s the grand finale. It’s the culmination of ALL things, and in it we see Christ receive His bride as well as full dominion over all things in existence after a final annihilation of the propagators of disobedience and darkness that began at the fall in Genesis 3. We see the ushering in of the eternal state; paradise and intimate closeness for all who know Christ, called to be His.

And just like that old math book, knowing that the answers are in the back of the book is no substitute for the studying to show ourselves approved. It’s no escape for the enduring that we all must suffer as we strive after Christ, and it’s no respite for giving every effort to growing in righteousness at the beckoning and leading of Our LORD.

Hebrews 2:9 - 11 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,

The answers are not a net, but a guide – if anything in your doctrine doesn’t promote the Lordship of Christ: The sufficiency of His propitiatory sacrifice, His distinctness, yet full co-equal, co-eternal, singleness in essence, nature, power, action, and will with the rest of The Trinity, as well the plan for the redeemed, culminating in The Bride of Christ – then you’ve probably got some defective reasoning going on somewhere producing inconsistent and unbiblical results. A good Systematic Theology book is a wonderful aid to help you check your math.

So Chuck Schultz isn't wrong conceptually about life, but in his case, there really is no book either. However, we DO have a book of life. It's God's Word. His revelation of Himself to us that reveals Christ and leads "many sons to glory" and in that case, there really are answers in the back.


In Him,
Cros