I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. (Rev. 6:1)
How do you learn? When preparing for plays in high school, I would listen to the script repeatedly. Perhaps you learn by working with your hands. Much human knowledge comes through what is called observational learning. We see people acting in certain ways or scenarios playing out with certain patterns, and we learn. The child observes his mom playing an instrument and soon stumbles over to try it out himself. The new employee sees her coworker praised for hard work or critiqued for being late and adjusts her performance accordingly. We watch and learn.
But John’s watching and learning was different. John was not watching something he could do, but something he couldn’t! John wept when he saw the scroll perfectly bound with seven seals because its message and meaning were hidden (see Rev. 5:4). As he continued to watch, he learned. Jesus, the Lamb of God, did something no one else could ever do—he broke the scroll’s seals. He was able to make sense of what was otherwise inscrutable.
What are you watching in life’s realities that seems to make no sense? What are you watching but not understanding? Outside the work of God, reality can feel “sealed up.” But keep watching! Christ has done what no one else could do! The events of our lives might be impossible for us to discern, but not for Christ.
To change what you’re learning, change who you’re watching.
Aaron Perry is married to Heather, and they have four children. He teaches at Wesley Seminary in Marion and is active in his local church's children’s ministry.
© 2022 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
