| Videotape |
"When I'm at the pearly gates
This'll be on my videotape
My videotape
My videotape
When Mephistophilis is just beneath
And he's reaching up to grab me
This is one for the good days
And I have it all here in
Red blue green
Red blue green
You are my centre when I spin away
Out of control on videotape
On videotape
On videotape
On videotape
This is my way of saying goodbye
Because I can't do it face to face
So I'm talking to you before (it's too late)
No matter what happens now
I shouldn't be afraid
Because I know today has been the most perfect day
I have ever seen."
- Lyrics to "Videotape" by Radiohead
Some of you are perhaps a bit apprehensive to read on; unsure of just where this could possibly be going.
Pearly gates? My videotape? Mephistophilis? Who is Mephistophilis? And who or what is Radiohead, anyway?
Good. But keep reading.
Technology. Practically applying science to commerce or industry. Ever-evolving, ever-improving. Technology in the sixteenth century, when it is believed people were reading about Mephistophilis in anonymous German stories, was much different than technology today, when people are listening to music about this intriguing character. And those advances to which we are privy, particularly the internet, will allow you to read up on both he and Radiohead or any other number of things more quickly than ever before.
But this isn't necessarily about that.
When I was younger I used to imagine that when we die and we are before God who, right now, has at His disposal all of the technological advances we've seen, are seeing, and have yet to see, could pop in a videotape with our name on it and play, before all of the heavens our entire life (in technicolor, of course). And not only that, but that he just may do that.
What would I think? What would I say? What would I do?
"Yes," I would persist, "Yes, He would most definitely do that!"
And I...
Well, I would be left to stand there for what would seem like forever (and this was the beginning of eternity), embarrassed and ashamed of the life I had lived.
What a strange imagination. What a strange view of God.
Where did that come from? What did it mean? Why?
And then, well over a decade later, Radiohead releases an album for download (free) online. (I paid for my copy of the album at a music store)
And on this album is the song cited above...
So strange...
And then today, as I was reading through the book of Isaiah, out of nowhere this song begins playing in my head.
Stranger still...
"Come, everyone who thirsts..."
"Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live..."
"Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know, and a nation that did not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, and of the Holy One of Israel..."
"...let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon..."
"...and it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off."
- Isaiah 55:1, 3, 5, 7, 13 (ESV)
Doesn't really sound like a God who publicly recounts our earthly lives for the sake of embarrassment via video.
"Are you not children of transgression, the offspring of deceit, you who burn with lust..."
"Whom did you dread and fear, so that you lied, and did not remember me..."
"I will declare your righteousness and your deeds, but they will not profit you..."
- Isaiah 57:4, 11, 12
Okay, that sounds more like the whole God, videotape, embarrassment thing.
Fortunately for you and I, God has more to say.
The rest of Isaiah 57 says this:
"And it shall be said, 'Build up, build up, prepare the way, remove every obstruction from my people's way.' For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: 'I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite. For I will not contend forever, nor will I always be angry; for the spirit would grow faint before me, and the breath of life that I made. Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry, I struck him; I hid my face and was angry, but he went on backsliding in the way of his own heart. I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners, creating the fruit of the lips. Peace, peace, to the far and to the near,' says the Lord, ' and I will heal him. But the wicked are like the tossing sea; for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up mire and dirt. There is no peace,' says my God, 'for the wicked.'" (ESV)
What is this about if not hope?
God fights for us, but he will not fight forever. There is a heaven. There is a hell.
God sees our ways and still heals us. But there is a condition - repentance - to recognize who we are, where we are (physically, emotionally, spiritually), when we're wrong, and then to lay that before God, seek forgiveness (which He gladly gives) and return to Him.
God loves to give; to forgive. But He won't if we don't let Him.
"My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways," declares the Lord. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than yours and My thoughts than your thoughts." - Isaiah 55:8, 9 (NKJV)
The way God operates, as far as we're concerned while we're here, is simple - on our own we're hopeless, but we have Jesus, and if we truly believe that Jesus did what we cannot (dying for our imperfection and failure), and humbly seek God and his forgiveness through Jesus, then we have nothing to fear.
Well that's fine in theory, but in practice...?
Because we all have our own Mephistophilis. And he is just beneath. He's just beneath our thoughts (often behind them and intertwined in them). He's just beneath any good thing we might do. He's just beneath our stresses and successes, our addictions and accomplishments, our inescapable depravity and our potential greatness.
And he's reaching up to grab us. Hoping to carry out Satan's work through us. Hoping to go undetected so we keep pursuing the wickedness. And when we do good, hoping we take all the credit; that we would fail to see God in us, and instead see that God IS us.
But God is still God.
"For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes out from My mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it." - Isaiah 55:10, 11 (ESV)
God intended for us to be in community, and when we speak His words into the lives of others, lowly spirits are lifted and broken bodies are healed.
This isn't something that ended with Adam and Eve. It didn't end when Jesus returned to heaven. And it didn't end with the period after Revelation 22:21.
No, this is still true today.
And today has been the most perfect day.
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