After this I looked and behold a door was opened in heaven, and the first voice which I heard was as it were a trumpet talking with me, which said, Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter. Revelation 4:1
For many (or even most) students, a university course is not easy. For four years or more, depending on the course, they need to attend classes, read hundreds of books, prepare dozens of reports, complete scores of assignments, and write far too many exams. Along the way, they need to deal with many different types of professors, work with other students, attend classes boring and challenging, and study, study, study. As the students go through all of this, as hope of graduating falls and rises, as day after day gets ticked off their academic calendars, the students have one great goal in mind. It’s called by a variety of names, including graduation, convocation, encaenia, to name a few. But there is one very interesting name for that last day of school that is especially meaningful: commencement. On commencement day, the students know there are no assignments due, no classes to attend, no lectures to endure, no theses to write. One fancy ceremony and it is all over. But the meaning of the word commencement indicates that although one very important phase of the students’ lives is over, another huge phase of their lives is about to begin. Our text today is about a commencement day to end all commencement days.
The first two words of this verse are the most important: ‘after this!’ In the previous two chapters, John is given letters to the seven Assemblies in Asia, letters that describe the conditions in those assemblies and letters that accurately portray the different periods of history through which Christians must pass before the Rapture. But in chapter 4 of Revelation, all of the details of the age of grace are concluded, and the words ‘after this’ tell us of a much different period of time. All the Christians’ struggles and trials and problems are over. All of the Gospel messages have been preached, all of the Gospel tracts handed out, all of the wonderful times of fellowship and Christian endeavour are wrapped up. Just as a university student packs away his text books at commencement, so we will put aside our Bibles, our hymn books, and our study tools, because we won’t need them, at least in that form, anymore. The words ‘after this’ remind us that everything we experience here now will come to an end. And something far greater and more wonderful will commence.
When does ‘after this’ occur? That’s a good question, because the timing is nothing like a student, who enters university as a freshman knowing exactly when commencement is to be. The date is fixed on a calendar and for four years, that specific date is set before him. But we can’t point to a date on the calendar and declare that ‘after this’ will occur then. Only God knows the date of the Rapture, and He has urged us to be ready, because it could occur today. Even if we are to depart by way of death, we cannot know that date either, nor would we want to. But the prospect of ‘after this’ gives us comfort and hope amid our trials here.
Not every university student will graduate. But every child of God, every redeemed sinner, has a glorious ‘after this’ approaching. – Jim MacIntosh