We love reveals.

We love the final scenes of each Fixer Upper episode when Chip and Joanna roll aside the ridiculously large canvases to unveil their finished masterpiece.

We love the “first look” on the wedding day.

We love the latest and most outrageous gender reveals on social media.

Some of us even love watching videos of sidewalks being power-washed to reveal a sparkling, like-new surface. We’re always captivated (and deeply satisfied) by the transformation.

The Christ follower knows that we love reveals because we were created to.

We love them because we were made in the image of a God who loves reveals.

Someday, we may ask the Lord about what wasn’t recorded in Genesis 2:15. We are told that, “The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” What did those moments hold? (Oh to be a fly on the wall!) What was Adam’s reaction to the paradise he was placed in the middle of? Did God watch the wonder spread across his face? Did it bring God joy to see His definitively “good” creation being met with delight?

Reveals span the pages of Scripture. Most significant are those where God reveals His own glory to individuals. Just to name a few:

• Jacob’s vision of God enthroned in Heaven (Genesis 28:12-17)

• Moses hidden in the cleft of the rock (Exodus 33:18-23)

• Daniel’s vision of the Ancient of Days (Daniel 7:9-10)

• Isaiah’s vision of the throne room (Isaiah 6:1-5)

• Jesus’ mountain transfiguration before Peter, James, & John (Matthew 17:1-8)

• John’s vision of God enthroned in Heaven (Revelation 4)

JESUS’ REVEAL

In what has been referenced as the “Farewell Discourse” (John 13-17), Jesus speaks of His own coming reveal. In chapter 14, He describes the dwelling place He is about to go and prepare for His followers:

John 14:2-3

“In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”

Later on, in chapter 17, Jesus speaks again about our joining Him in glory, but this time, it isn’t our dwelling place being revealed:

John 17:24

“Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”

Jesus prays a prayer of desperate desire to reveal His glory to us in Heaven.

There is a treasure store of meaning in this request of Jesus. Charles Spurgeon expands on it here:

“I feel confident that the meeting of departed friends, the society of apostles, prophets priests, and martyrs, will amplify the joy of the redeemed. But still the sun that will give them the greatest light to their joy, will be the fact that they are with Jesus Christ and behold His face. And now there may be other employments in heaven, but that mentioned in the text is the chief one, ‘That they may behold my glory.’”

Charles Spurgeon, April 18th, 1858, The Redeemer’s Prayer

We think and read and speak often about our excitement to enjoy the glories of heaven. We dream about our experience and our perspective of the coming “reveal.” But have we considered God’s perspective on it? Have we considered our Savior’s longing to be the grand revealer? To finally unveil to us His glory in its fullness?

We loved this insight that Gino Desimone shared with our congregation last Sunday:

This thought is so worthy of our meditation. That our Savior longs to show us not only the vastness of what He’s building for us, but also the fulness of His glory, is an undiscovered facet of His heart we are invited to treasure.

Again, listen to Charles Spurgeon relish this desire of Christ:

“Notice the occupation of those who are with Jesus: ‘That they may behold my glory.’ I do not wonder that Jesus wants His dear ones to be with Him for this purpose, since love always pines for a partner in its joys. When I have been abroad, and have been specially charmed with glorious scenery, I have a hundred times felt myself saying, almost involuntarily, ‘How I wish that my dear wife could be here! I should enjoy this a hundred times as much if she could but see it!’ It is an instinct of affection to seek fellowship in joy. The Lord Jesus is truly human, and He feels this unselfish desire of every loving human heart, and therefore says, ‘Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory.’ Our Lord graciously permits His disciples to have fellowship with Him in His sufferings, and hence He is all the more desirous that they should participate in His glory. He knows that nothing will be a greater joy to them than to see Him exalted; therefore He would give them this highest form of delight…It is joy to Jesus to let us behold His joy, and it will be glory to us to behold His glory.”

Charles Spurgeon, March 21st, 1886, Why They Leave Us

Sometimes, we forget that Jesus made Himself like us. He clothed Himself in humanity. He knows what it is to get excited about surprising someone. He knows the sweet anticipation of giving an intentional gift. He knows the satisfaction of designing something and celebrating the accomplishment with others as they enjoy a product of hard work and thoughtful intent. He knows the instinctual longing to share in the realization of something profoundly good.

What does this mean for us?

We have an opportunity to take something that is so central to our human experience and tie spiritual significance to it. We know what it is to be filled with anticipation - what it is to “pull off a reveal”.

The invitation for us is to allow our everyday anticipations to become small preludes - reflections - likenesses, of a Savior who eagerly awaits a glorious reveal of His own.

As you prepare your guest room for a family member from out of town,
As you surprise your spouse with breakfast in bed,
As you renovate a room in your home,
As you serve a meal that requires hours of preparation and set the table,
As you land on the perfect birthday gift for a cherished friend,
As you perform a musical piece after weeks of rigorous practice,
As you spontaneously drop off coffee to a coworker or neighbor,
As you complete a presentation and share your vision with your team,
As you give someone a tour of your new home,
As you put the finishing touches on a car you’re detailing,
or,
As you drop something in the mail for someone who’s not expecting it,

You share a piece of Christ’s heart.
You share something in common with His experience.

Let your small anticipations lead your mind and heart to your Savior today.
He can’t wait to show you what He’s working on.
He can’t wait to show you His glory - fully revealed.

“And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all His glory.”
Colossians 3:4, NLT

Luke 2:25-32 (ESV)

“Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,

‘Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.’”

Luke didn’t tell us if Simeon’s hands were recognizably worn, contoured by the evidence of a long-practiced skill or trade. We don’t know if his ascent into the temple was a little slow and labored. We don’t know if he understood the significance of his trip that day. We just know that he carried with him a promise that God made to him personally: he would see the Messiah in his lifetime.

Did he marvel with each passing day, month, year – that his eyes would see God’s salvation? His eyes. His parents lived in anticipation, as had their parents, and their parents. Each passing generation added another layer of longing for the promise foretold by prophets and more recently revealed…to him.

Did the wonder in his eyes match the astonishment in Mary and Joseph’s as he cradled their son? Did these new parents shed joyful tears as they watched Simeon bless God the Father for sending Him? And did some of those tears spring from the relief of yet another confirmation that the angels’ messages were true?

God was validating His plan as it unfolded before the eyes of a waiting world.

It’s easy to rush past this small interaction in the Christmas narrative, but slowly savored, it offers a breathtaking image of the Trinity. God the Spirit reveals to Simeon that he would see the Messiah before he dies. Jesus is born – the Word made flesh. God the Spirit leads Simeon in a divine appointment to the new family of three. Simeon cradles God the Son in his hands and then engages God the Father, blessing Him for keeping His promise and sending the long-awaited “consolation of Israel” in human form, now nestled in his arms. God the Spirit, the Son, and the Father, in perfect union, orchestrate a single moment in the temple to introduce salvation to a darkened and pain-laden world.

God is still validating His plan as it unfolds before our eyes. We find ourselves in another “waiting” season of redemptive history, as we collectively anticipate the return of Jesus, not as a baby, but as a bridegroom. And as we wait, the Holy Spirit keeps confirming that, amidst a world crippled by confusion and crisis, God’s plan is actually unfolding just like He promised it would. He’s whispering reminders of the promise. He’s validating the Messiah, in a thousand ways.

Every time a heart is stirred and softened to the presence of Christ…
Every time a relationship is reconciled by the peace of Christ…
Every instance where the church is built on the foundation of Christ…
Every time the gospel is presented with the love of Christ…
Every time a sickness is reversed by the healing power of Christ…
Every time depression and despair are overpowered by the goodness of Christ…
Every time a prayer is answered in the name of Christ…
Every time eyes are opened in true understanding of the mercy of Christ…
Every time a believer is baptized to declare the joy of new life in Christ…

…the Holy Spirit reaffirms the promised unfolding work of the risen Messiah until He comes again.

Jesus is building His church today. He is reconciling men, women, and children to Himself, today. He is spreading the joy of the knowledge of God everywhere, today. And He’s doing it through those who are led by His Spirit. It’s unthinkably amazing that God chooses to use people like Simeon, and like us, to carry out His redemptive plan.

The invitation for us is to marvel at our God, Three In One, who never stops working, even in our waiting. May it be said of us, as it was said of Mary:

Luke 1:45
“And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”