What Might You Find In A Cave?

What Might You Find In A Cave?

Good Morning Friends,

Back in 1978 I visited the Holy Land with my mother and father and brother. It was a trip organized by the Christian Businessmen in our area. Back then I was reading from the RSV Bible. It was a wonderful trip. I began thinking about that trip as my wife, son, daughter and I were telling stories about trips we have taken together, and as we mentally prepare for a Handbell trip we will be taking in a few day. The conversation was helping us to remember all the places we have been together. Somehow the conversation got onto the caves we have seen in the United States, such as Wind Cave, Carlsbad Caverns, and Mammoth Cave to name a few. We have been on cave tours in boats and seen places were indigenousness people have lived in the harsh winters. We have seen the wonders of bats flying out of Carlsbad Caverns and more. As I was thinking about caves I remembered the surprising number of caves we saw or were referenced by our guides in my Mediterranean vacation years ago. There were the ones at Qumran, where the dead seas scrolls were discovered, caves thought to be the place of Jesus’ birth and burial, and we heard stories about the cave of Elijah, the cave of Adullam used by David and the cave where Abraham, Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Leah are buried, and the cave in which Lot lived with his two daughters, and the cleft in the rock where Moses was given the Stone Tables of the Law, and the cave where Lazarus was raised from the dead. Caves are often found in the Bible places and Bible history.  But of all the caves, it is interesting that the one I am drawn to this moment is the Cave of the Apocalypse where my mom lost her hat in the grotto to a great wind. We spoke about it before she died. It was the cave where John saw Jesus and wrote the Book of Revelation. And it makes me wonder. What Might You Find In A Cave?

Scripture: “Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the generals and the rich and the strong, and every one, slave and free, hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand before it?”

Revelation 6:15-17 (RSV)

“And men shall enter the caves of the rocks and the holes of the ground, from before the terror of The Lord, and from the glory of His majesty, when He rises to terrify the earth. In that day men will cast forth their idols of silver and their idols of gold, which they made for themselves to worship, to the moles and to the bats, to enter the caverns of the rocks and the clefts of the cliffs, from before the terror of The Lord, and from the glory of His majesty, when He rises to terrify the earth.”

Isaiah 2:19-21 (RSV)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

John 1:1-5 (NRSV)

Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb; it was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?”

John 11:38-40 (RSV)

Message: Sometimes caves can produce a strong wind at their mouth but I think that in the case of my mother’s lost hat, and she loved hats, it was a summer storm that was blowing through Patmos. Regardless, it is interesting and not a coincident that she was touch by this place spiritually and it has become for me a revelation of the many stories involving caves in the Bible, not just of John at Patmos. From this I have come to appreciate that caves have a place in many of the world’s religions, philosophies and cultures. There is Plato’s Cave. Then, The Companions in the Cave is a story from the Quran. The Buddhists have many cave temples including the Caves of a Thousand Buddhas. The Hindus have the Batu Caves in Kuala Lumpur. Even Luke Skywalker from Star Wars has his cave too. There are times when we too find ourselves in one of life’s cave experiences.  We think all of our help and strength is gone.  We feel alone, discouraged and deserted.  And yet we press on in hopes of a better place. Think for a moment about the drama in the story of those Chilean miners who were trapped. It is interesting with this backdrop to contemplate that a book like Revelation, a summation of most of the Bible, should be written in a cave. It is interesting that this place at Patmos, this rock cracked in three places would be a place my mother would remember in her last days. Maybe we are witnesses to a process that is meant to scare not the living daylights, but the false shadows out of us. Maybe the stone needs to be rolled away from our cave so we might seek the real truth and light….so we might walk away from our stink and believe we too will see the glory of the Lord. Maybe we are prisoners held in the shadows as Plato suggested. Maybe we need to be set free. What is clear is that caves are places of separation.  And that sometimes God will bring us to the place where we are alone with Him and shut off from the rest of the world.  We fear those times, but they often precede the times of God’s greatest blessings in our lives!  David was alone in the cave; Jacob alone in his tent; Elijah alone by the brook; Job alone surrounded by his friends; Moses alone on the backside of that mountain; Jesus alone in the agony of Gethsemane and Calvary.  Each of these experienced their greatest triumph after that time of being shut up and shut off by the Lord.  You see, there are lessons that are learned in the dark that cannot be learned in the light.  There are truths that can only be understood by those who have experienced a dark night of the soul. After that one can appreciate the power of one match lit in a deep dark cave. Friends we have all been there figuratively if not physically in the darkness of the cave tunnel with no light in sight. We all have hidden in our caves in fear of the light…the truth. Friends, we need Jesus to come to our cave to set the captives free. We need Christ to call us out of our caves of depression and caves of comfort. Friends, know that it is Christ that calls us because He loves us too much to let us stay where we are.

Pray God reveals to us what we need to see.
Pray we survive through the realities of sorrow, suffering and separation. Pray we realize that those who live in total darkness for just a few months will have a very hard time ever seeing. Pray we have a revelation of a call, and a strengthening of character and commitment. Pray our cave experience refreshes our relationships with family, and friends and gives us a