Repent

Posted on by korgrocker

“But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love Me or each other as you did at first! Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to Me and do the works you did at first. If you don’t repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches.”
‭‭Revelation‬ ‭2:4-5‬ ‭NLT‬‬

How disappointed the Ephesians must have been to hear Jesus’ next words, just after the encouragement they had just received. To be accused of not loving Him as they should must have hit their hearts like an arrow. A frantic rush of soul-searching must have tumbled through their minds and emotions. And the criticism extended to include their lack of love for each other. Jesus said to them, “Look how far you have fallen!”. Oh dear. As I have said before, mankind generally has a tendency to lapse into a state of comfort, where reduced effort and complacency rule the days. It takes effort, considerable at times, to keep loving God and loving each other, sad though that is. And it looks as though this is what happened to the Ephesians. Jesus went on to remind them of the consequences of continuing as they had been doing; their “lampstand” would be removed from the list of churches. But with Jesus there is always a way back. He encouraged these early Christians to repent. He told them to “Turn back to Me and do the works you did at first”. That is what repentance is all about – it is a turning back from the wrong and sinful ways of life and returning to those that are God-ordained. We don’t know the outcome of Jesus’ impassioned appeal because Ephesus as it was in those days doesn’t exist anymore. It just consists of a number of ruins, including a cathedral that was active up until at least the 5th Century. But perhaps the message from Jesus produced the fruit of repentance and led onto greater things, but of which we have no record.

This message to the Ephesians is a timely warning to us pilgrims. It reminds us, as do the messages to the other churches, of the importance of staying close to Jesus, as we did when we first encountered him. At the point when we were saved. It reminds us to repent when we stray. Because stray we will unless we work hard to keep the faith.

Near where I live there are some “lampstands” being removed. A number of churches in the Church of Scotland denomination are having to close because their congregations have dwindled to the point that it is no longer viable to keep them open. And in some cases, the upkeep of old buildings, monuments to our rich Christian heritage, is no longer affordable. So sad. But Jesus said He would build His church, and He was very graphic in His teaching to His disciples in John 15. We read, ““Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned.” Jesus’s church will not be based on dwindling congregations in dusty old mausoleums, but instead will be a growing, vibrant, fruit-bearing, and dynamic group of His followers. Grafted into the Vine. Loving God and their fellow Christians. Doing the works of His service. Are we pilgrims such fruit-bearers? Or are we useless branches? Hmmm…

Dear Lord. We thank You for this timely message. We repent of the barren times when we have erred away from You and we ask for Your forgiveness. Please help us, Lord , we pray. Amen.

Jesus Sees

Posted on by korgrocker

“I know all the things you do. I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance. I know you don’t tolerate evil people. You have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not. You have discovered they are liars. You have patiently suffered for Me without quitting.”
‭‭Revelation‬ ‭2:2-3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

In His opening few lines, Jesus commends the Ephesian church. He has noticed that they have been actively involved in doing good works in their church, and probably their community. And they have diligently gone about it without giving up. Also, Jesus commends them for their discernment. They have been able to sniff out “evil people“, and “apostles [who] are not”, having the confidence to label them “liars”. And they have been suffering for Him; we don’t know in what way, but it in other places in the New Testament, we find that the early Christians experienced ostracisation in their communities and problems in running businesses. Probably low level anti-social behaviour was focused on them. They may have even been imprisoned for their faith. But whatever the suffering was, they didn’t give up being Christians. Jesus was saying to them, “Well done”, and you can perhaps feel their pride in the accolade.

As pilgrims today, do we relate to these tributes from Jesus? Should they even be applied to us? What I mean is, do we work hard for our faith? Are we also discerning and weeding out evil people, those who would try and lead us away from the purity of the Gospel and Biblical teaching? Are we suffering for our beliefs? 

Christianity today has somehow acquired a reputation for being tired and irrelevant in the Western societies in which we live; at least, that is what the media would try and have us believe. And the religious scandals of recent decades have provided further evidence to support their negative and misleading articles and reports. Furthermore, liberal theology has crept into some denominations, diluting the purity of Jesus’ teaching. A recent media article from a retiring Church of England Vicar lamented the fact that his liberal views on morality were not accepted by many churches in his denomination. And he went on to say the only churches growing in numbers and income are those which are “conservative, punchy and fundamentalist”. Perhaps those churches were the ones that adhered to Jesus’ teaching, rejecting the worldliness that comes with theological liberalism. Note that Jesus appealed to the Ephesian church to repent of its apostasy before their “lampstand” was removed. Perhaps His message is echoing down the corridors of time into our day as well.

We pilgrims live our lives the Jesus way. Conscious that He is with us in every step we take. Conscious of His love and encouragement. We are always working hard for our faith. Enduring the negatives we encounter for daring to be counter-cultural, Bible-believing Christians. And keeping our eyes firmly fixed on the goal ahead; our own accolades are waiting. 

Dear Lord. We thank You for caring for us, for loving us, for encouraging us, for being with us, day by day. Amen.

Testing Ourselves

Posted on by korgrocker

“Write this letter to the angel of the church in Ephesus. This is the message from the One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven gold lampstands:”
Revelation‬ ‭2:1‬ ‭NLT‬‬

John continues with a message from Jesus, “the One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven gold lampstands”. Perhaps we could ask the question why John didn’t just say “Jesus”. But there’s something significant about the authority behind the message when the One giving it is described in the way John did. To me, it’s almost as though John is saying that although he once knew Jesus in a friendly, human way, as they walked and talked together in Israel, he now knew Him as the Son of God, with all the authority that that entailed, and He was central to this part of his vision.

The message from Jesus was addressed to the church in Ephesus. We remember our recent pilgrimage through the Book of Ephesians (and my latest book, “The Ephesian Pilgrimage”). Paul’s Epistle to his Ephesian friends was a treasure trove of loving instructions, designed to keep them free from error, that was so prevalent in his day. But over the years, it looks as though some issues have arisen, and Jesus cared so much about this group of His followers that He had a direct message for them. It is a human trait that we lapse into a state of comfort. To live in accordance with God’s will and wishes requires energy and commitment. The Ephesian church got some things right and missed the mark on others. 

So, as pilgrims, what is there in life that we have done well, and what is there with the dreaded report-card remarks, “could try harder” or “could have done better”? Come to that, who is filling in our report cards anyway? A dangerous prayer to pray is the one David prayed and recorded, in Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life“. And then 2 Corinthians 13:5, “Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you; if not, you have failed the test of genuine faith”. If we let Him, God will sign our report cards, and of course in a gentle and loving way.

Dear God, we echo David’s prayer today, asking You to search our hearts and help us maintain our lives in accordance with Your will and purposes. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Meaning of the Mystery

Posted on by korgrocker

“Write down what you have seen—both the things that are now happening and the things that will happen. This is the meaning of the mystery of the seven stars you saw in My right hand and the seven gold lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.“
Revelation 1:19-20 NLT

Following his encounter with Jesus amongst the lampstands, John received his commission. He was told to start writing. And he was told specifically what to write about – events as they happened, and also those that will happen at some time in the future. In other words, all the events as they unfolded in the vision he received. I’m sure John was only too eager and willing to do what he was asked; after all, I’m sure he would have realised that he was in a special place. And Jesus started by explaining what the seven stars he had in His right hand represented and what the significance was of the seven gold lampstands. 

There was obviously a special interaction, not just between John and Jesus, but also between John and the Holy Spirit. The vision that unfolded before John either took place over quite a long period, enabling him, and giving him time, to go through what would have been a laborious process of writing everything down longhand, or it happened quite quickly, as in a dream, and the Holy Spirit then helped him recall everything he needed to record. Either way, it was some vision. It was so vivid that John must have had difficulty separating his incarceration in exile on Patmos with the events that were unfolding before him. And what a contrast!

Jesus explained the mystery that was appearing in the vision, that the seven stars were the angels appointed to the seven churches, represented by the gold lampstands. Angels. Created but immortal beings residing in heaven with God and on hand to always do His bidding. And here we have seven of them overseeing churches. Does that imply that all of our churches have a spiritual covering from an angel? They may well do, but I’m sure there will be those who disagree. Some might even question the existence of angels, but in John’s vision there were many of them. But in the next chapter of Revelation, we see Jesus delivering messages to the angels of the seven churches. Were these the angels from Heaven? Or was the message being delivered figuratively to the leader or leaders of the churches? Or was the message being delivered corporately to the entire church? Personally, I discount the idea that the angels were getting a bit of a telling off. So I lean more towards the leadership and the church as a whole. Some commentators have worked out that the Greek word for “angel” could also mean “messenger”, who could be a human being. But in the end, the important thing is to listen to the message, however it is delivered, and act accordingly.

As pilgrims, we all need a bit of correction from time to time. Isn’t it strange that humans have a tendency to rationalise their thinking to a place of comfort, and even error. It’s important that we read God’s Word because it is from God Himself. We read in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip His people to do every good work“. Notice that Jesus delivered a message to the churches, not to individuals, so it is also important that we pilgrims get plugged into a Spirit-filled church somewhere. There are other pilgrims on the same journey as us and together we keep to the right paths through the minefields of life.

Dear Lord. We thank You for Your Word, the Bible. And I pray that as we continue to journey through the Book of Revelation, You lead us and guide us in Your ways. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Keys

Posted on by korgrocker

“When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as if I were dead. But He laid His right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last. I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave.”
Revelation‬ ‭1:17-18‬ ‭NLT‬‬

If we ourselves suddenly came face to face with Jesus, in the way John did, would we too fall at His feet as though dead? You see, with the limitations of our human minds and imaginations we would be totally unable to grasp and discern an other-worldly vision of the Son of God. John lived with Jesus for a few years and that was enough for him to know who the Person amongst the lampstands was. But we have never known a physical Jesus, as He was all those years ago in His mission to His people, the Jews. I think in reality, we would know Him, because we know Him through our prayers and encounters in times of worship. We would know Him through the love He has for us. So I’m sure I would fall at His feet. What else could I do, coming into such an encounter with my God? There would be that moment of total vulnerability. Perhaps a feeling within me that everything was suddenly exposed under His gaze. And fear would be a dominant emotion within me somewhere I’m sure.

John was prostrated before Jesus, as though dead. But the first words Jesus said to him were “Don’t be afraid”. There’s something about an encounter with God that induces fear. Remember the occasion when Jesus was walking on water? The disciples in the boat were not shrinking violets, scared of their own shadows. They were mainly fishermen, afraid of little in their lives, but when they saw Jesus the first thing He said to them was “Don’t be afraid”. There were other times recorded in the Gospels, when Jesus had to tell those around Him to not be afraid. And it wasn’t just Jesus’ presence that could make people afraid. The Roman soldiers sent to guard the tomb became as dead men, when the angel turned up, rolled away the stone and then sat on it.  Human beings are reasonably secure and unafraid in their own time-space world, but when something unexplained happens, a natural emotional reaction is to feel afraid. So John would have connected with Jesus telling him not to be afraid – he would have remembered the times when Jesus had said that before – and he would have been reassured.

We also read in the verse that Jesus laid His right hand on John. Oh, what a great place to be, to feel the physical touch of our Saviour. The hand that was so compassionate, even to the point of touching someone with the dreaded disease, leprosy. How John would have been enthralled by that touch. It was also interesting that John recorded that Jesus touched him with his right hand. There are several Scriptures that record the significance of God’s right hand. For example, we read in Psalm 44:3, “They did not conquer the land with their swords; it was not their own strong arm that gave them victory. It was your right hand and strong arm and the blinding light from your face that helped them, for you loved them“. In the Bible, when we see a reference to God’s right hand, we immediately know that the Scripture is telling us how great and strong God is. 

After telling John not to be afraid, Jesus then went on to assure him of His status. He said that He had been around for ever, and that he was alive, even though He had once died, and would be with us, alive for all eternity. Jesus finally told John, in this verse, that He held the keys of death and the grave (other translations say Hades). In other words, Jesus was saying He had the power to control when death would happen, and when it could be reversed. Jesus had the power over His own life and death, as we read His words in John 10:17-18, “The Father loves me because I sacrifice my life so I may take it back again. No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded“. And He also has the power to release us from death as well. We saw Him doing just that when He called Lazarus out of the tomb (John 11:43). 

There’s a lot in these verses today. And we can only marvel about this wonderful God we serve. The God who created the universe and all in it, but also cares intimately about you and me. 

Dear Lord Jesus. Thank You for this glimpse in Your word, of the meeting that John had with You all those years ago. We thank You that You are alive and waiting to set us free from death when the time comes. We praise and worship You today. Amen.

The Son of Man (2)

Posted on by korgrocker

“And standing in the middle of the lampstands was someone like the Son of Man. He was wearing a long robe with a gold sash across His chest. His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow. And His eyes were like flames of fire. His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and His voice thundered like mighty ocean waves. He held seven stars in His right hand, and a sharp two-edged sword came from His mouth. And His face was like the sun in all its brilliance.”
Revelation‬ ‭1:13-16‬ ‭NLT‬‬

John describes the Person in his vision as “someone like the Son of Man”. Of course, John knew Jesus personally. He walked around Palestine with Jesus for over three years, living with Him, eating with Him, observing the miracles, hearing the teaching. He was part of the disciples’ inner circle, along with Peter and James. He would definitely recognise Jesus again. So perhaps this encounter in his vision provided enough clues for John to recognise Jesus, and he described Him with the label Jesus Himself used, the “Son of Man“.

But it wasn’t Jesus’ earthly qualities, the clothes He wore, or the way He carried Himself, that grabbed John’s attention. In fact, I think he encountered a problem. The vision was real and dramatic, of that there are no doubts. But John’s ability to translate what he saw into language his readers could understand was difficult. If only he had a smartphone or camera! Ready and waiting to take a picture. But John didn’t do bad with his description of the risen Jesus. His eyes took in a vision of a Person central in a place containing lampstands, the seven churches to which He would later address some instructions. I won’t repeat what John wrote in his vision – the verses above are clear and graphic, but I believe it was a vision displaying both physical and spiritual qualities, somehow bound together in a visible way. Jesus came to this earth as a human being, and that was how He returned to Heaven. But He was also the Son of God, with all the divine qualities that that would include. John perhaps saw Jesus as He was, and is, in Heaven. 

As pilgrims, have we had a vision of the risen Jesus? How do we mentally picture Him? John would have had no doubts – the vision he received “on the Lord’s Day” all those years ago would have remained with him for the rest of his life, short though it was. But I’m challenged today about what picture I hold in my mind of Jesus. Is it flavoured by an actor’s portrayal of Jesus in one of the films that have been made about Him? Or is it something else, perhaps equally dramatic and real, put there by my years of relationship with Him? I suppose my “vision” of Jesus is very much that He is a very real and significant “presence” in my life. I’m conscious of His love. I’m aware that He is always with me. I know He listens to my prayers and provides answers when required. But the vision I have of Jesus is not one of a middle Eastern man with a beard and wearing a robe. Is that a problem for me? Not at all. One day I know that I will meet Him and, like John, I’m sure I will fall at His feet in worship, because I will somehow inexplicably know Him.

Dear Lord Jesus. We worship You today, in gratitude for who You are and for all You have done. Thank You that You came to this world to save us by Your grace, love and mercy. We worship You today. Amen.

The Son of Man (1)

Posted on by korgrocker

It said, “Write in a book everything you see, and send it to the seven churches in the cities of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.” When I turned to see who was speaking to me, I saw seven gold lampstands. And standing in the middle of the lampstands was someone like the Son of Man…”
Revelation 1:11-13a NLT

In the previous verse we remember that John hears a voice “like a trumpet blast”. But who’s voice was it? As we read on, we find out that the Speaker was none other than Jesus Himself, the Son of Man. And He was standing in the middle of seven golden lampstands. What was their significance, I wonder? As usual, with the Book of Revelation, several possibilities have emerged. But in verse 20 of this chapter, Jesus explains that the seven lampstands are the seven churches, as he previously listed in verse 11. Why seven though? The number “seven” in the Bible denotes completeness and perfection. God’s promise that He would never flood the earth again was sealed by a rainbow, consisting of seven colours. God rested from His creation work on the seventh day, and there are other examples of “sevens”. So, coming back to our churches located in what is now Western Turkey, perhaps Jesus’s message extended beyond them to all churches everywhere. 

Jesus, the Son of Man, personally gave this message to John. In other places in Revelation John had a dialogue with an angel, but this message was so important that it was Jesus Himself who delivered it to John. Perhaps another reason that we cannot assume the messages Jesus gave were just for the seven churches.

As Christian pilgrims, we enjoy a personal relation with God and the other parties to the Trinity, the Holy Spirit and Jesus. But how do we hear God speaking to us? Jesus’s voice was dramatically heard by John. We read it was loud and like a trumpet blast. Not like the still small voice heard by Elijah at the mouth of the cave (1 Kings 19).  But how do we hear Him? If asked, Christians will say they hear God through Scripture, or through other Christians, perhaps through a prophecy. Occasionally, but rarely, they might hear the “still small voice” of God. Personally, I have heard God audibly. On one occasion it was when I was driving and the voice was so real that I turned in my seat to see who was sitting in the back seat. On another occasion, God engineered a physical event, accompanied by a whisper in my mind, that gave an immediate answer to an anguished prayer. I also hear and see God through His creation. Seeing the explosion of growth in the Spring in the woods near where I live, animals and plants busily doing what they are designed to do, I sometimes catch a glimpse of God and hear His voice . The bird song, the wind rustling the tree tops, the stream trickling even onwards. The consequent thoughts as I rest in His presence.

John turned to see who was speaking to him. He was willing to open his ears to a message about to be delivered. And that is perhaps an encouragement to us all. There will be many things said in this life that we don’t want to hear, but we must always be ready and waiting to recognise the voice of God speaking. What a tragedy if we filter out His voice, as we do the other voices, thereby missing out on an important and personal message, tailor made just for us. Ananias heard the voice of God and as a result he found Paul in Damascus and prayed for him. What an important message that was. And how disappointing it would have been for him (and for Paul) if he had ignored it. So who knows – God might be about to deliver a message for us, you and me, that might change the course of history.

Dear Father, we thank You for those times when You have lovingly spoken to us and encouraged us on our journey. Please let us never miss out on hearing Your voice. For Jesus’ sake, Amen.

The Lord’s Day

Posted on by korgrocker

“It was the Lord’s Day, and I was worshipping in the Spirit. Suddenly, I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet blast.  It said, “Write in a book everything you see, and send it to the seven churches in the cities of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.””
Revelation 1:10-11 NLT

Just a few verses ago, we read about the “seven churches”. Well, here they are all listed. But before we get to them, we read that John “was worshipping in the Spirit“. For him it was a wonderful place to be, but what does that look like to a Christian pilgrim today? The other day I was watching a TV programme where a congregation in a church somewhere were singing that old hymn, “Praise, my soul, the King of Heaven”. They were belting it out, filling the nave with their singing, a wonderful sound drowning out the organ accompanying them. In the first verse they reached that wonderful line, “Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven”, that so eloquently, but succinctly, describes what God has done for us, but my spiritual elation was dampened somewhat by a sense of sadness that their faces and body language failed to share my enthusiasm. “Worshipping in the Spirit” involves a connection with God that shuts out all worldly influences and elevates us into Heavenly places where we tap into God’s heart, offering Him our worship for all he has done for us. That’s what “worshipping in the Spirit” looks like for us pilgrims. In the God-worship-zone He connects with us. He gives us visions and a glimpse of His thoughts. In that wonderful place, “the things of earth grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace“. And people will recognise that here is a pilgrim who has been in God’s presence.

John was lost in the Spirit, when His peace was shattered by a verbal trumpet blast. He received his commission, “Write in a book…”. And so John did, faithfully recording all he was told. I immediately thought about another Biblical character’s commission – Isaiah. In Isaiah 6, Isaiah was in a difficult place. His King, Uzziah, had just died, and that had the potential to bring in a period of instability in the society of his day. So Isaiah did what many pilgrims often do in similar circumstances – he went to church, in Isaiah’s case the Temple, to pray. And while he was there he saw a vision of the Lord, “high and lifted up“, and we read from verse 8 to the end of the chapter about his commission. John was told to write to the seven churches. Isaiah’s assignment was to take God’s message to the people of his day and society. As pilgrims, we too are commissioned. No Christian can ever claim that he or she was never given anything to do in God’s service. We read about the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20, “Jesus came and told His disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” We all have a role in the Kingdom of God. We may not hear a trumpet blast, but we will hear the voice of the Holy Spirit whispering in our spiritual ears, sending us out with our messages of hope, to a people with hardened hearts, plugged ears and blinded eyes (Isaiah 6:10). But, like Isaiah, we will be obedient to our commission.

The seven churches. These were church plants in what was Asia Minor, and is now Turkey. There will always be someone who perhaps will assume that as they don’t live there, or go to any of these churches, the message John wrote about doesn’t apply to them. But nothing is further from the truth. We will be reading about the message Jesus had for these churches in the coming weeks, but we must bear in mind that there will be principles here that we need to take note of.

John was worshipping God on the Lord’s Day. It has become fashionable to spend our Sundays doing something other than worshipping at church. Even Christians find themselves staying away from a service on occasion for a variety of reasons. One of the arguments I have heard is the one that says, “I don’t have to go to church to worship God”. That is perfectly true. But I always counter with the thought that there is something special about worshipping with God’s people in a corporate act of worship. Here we find like-minded people, with prepared hearts full of anticipation, bursting into the worship of their Heavenly Father. Both Isaiah and John put themselves into a place where they could worship God, unhindered and undistracted. Perhaps the golf course or a supermarket might not tick that box. Hmmm…

But we leave these verses, worshipping our loving Heavenly Father. To Him be all the glory, for ever and ever.

Dear Father. Thank You for John’s faithfulness in listening to Your message and for writing it down. Please help us to carefully consider Your messages, that we don’t fail in our “Great Commission” and that we continue to worship You forever. Amen.

Suffering

Posted on by korgrocker

“I, John, am your brother and your partner in suffering and in God’s Kingdom and in the patient endurance to which Jesus calls us. I was exiled to the island of Patmos for preaching the word of God and for my testimony about Jesus.”
Revelation‬ ‭1:9‬ ‭NLT‬‬

It must seem a bit harsh, being punished for preaching the Gospel. Why would the recipients of such wonderful “Good News” want to not only reject the message but exile and imprison the messenger? I have this humorous picture of an alien being (think ET) looking on and scratching its head, finding such behaviour so strange and incomprehensible, that it might feel that such an apparently intelligent race of humans was perhaps not quite so intelligent as it first thought. The alien might have been correct with its superficial assessment, but it would have to dissect cultural mindsets to find out what was really going on. It would have to start at the beginning, with the fall of man. Someone would have to tell it about the ejection of satan and a third of the angels from Heaven. The story of the dark and negative influences that have shaped humanity over the years would have to be told. It would have to understand that mankind prefers to live in a dark, sinful place, (well most of them anyway). And after all that, I can imagine that our alien friend might start to realise why Good News would, to many, not be good news at all. 

We enlightened pilgrims have grasped the Gospel message with all our beings. And we hang on to it because “we who are being saved know it is the very power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18). Through the Gospel we are energised. Empowered. Resourced. We therefore cannot stop sharing what we have found. And neither could John. In both cases we face into a world that has largely rejected God. A sceptical world. A world where sinful people, under the influence of the devil, try their utmost to undermine and rubbish God and His children, us pilgrims. The hostility to the Gospel in our age is just as prevalent as it was in John’s day with one exception. We, at least for a time, cannot be imprisoned for sharing the Gospel. But the current direction society is taking may change that. I heard today of a primary school teacher who suggested that her young pupil asked her Sunday School teacher the following question – “If God exists, when is He going to apologise for all the bad things He has done?” So sad that a new generation is being corrupted by the very people who should be introducing them to God. Instead, their young minds are being polluted with wrong ideas and concepts. And doubly sad that the primary school teacher will one day stand before God, called to account for his or her words. Thankfully we have good people able to lovingly right the wrongs being committed to those so young. We need to look out for opportunities to push back the lies of the enemy.

John was exiled to Patmos, and there he was suffering. And he was aware that there were others of his generation who were also suffering. Such distress is still with us today, and we think of our brothers and sisters imprisoned and exiled, abused and suffering, all for the sake of the Gospel. In places like North Korea, China, Afghanistan, Iran, Palestine, India, Pakistan, and so on. John was aware that he was called to endure the suffering he was experiencing, and I’m sure he did so with patience. He was aware of the reward coming his way, in his not-too-distant future. 

We pilgrims may not be suffering for “preaching the Word of God”  but we face ostracism and exclusion in other ways. And we endure it with “patient endurance“, as John did. Because we love God and His ways. Because we cannot hold within us the wonderful Good News entrusted to us by our crucified Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Dear Lord. We thank You that You have entrusted so much to us. We pray that as we continue our journey through the corridors of life, Your Spirit goes with us, and You keep us safe from the evil one. Grant us more opportunities, we pray, to share Your message of hope, Your Gospel, with our fallen world. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Alpha and Omega

Posted on by korgrocker

““I am the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end,” says the Lord God. “I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come—the Almighty One.””
Revelation‬ ‭1:8‬ ‭NLT‬‬

This verse is a direct message from God Himself, recorded by John to establish irrefutably God’s  absolute and eternal status in His created universe. It appears between a verse about Jesus’ second coming and John informing us about his exile on Patmos. But its content is so profound that it can stand alone in any context.

The Alpha and Omega, two letters from the Greek alphabet. One at the beginning and one at the end. They portray a message of completeness, something confirmed with the statement that God has always been around. In our human thinking, bounded by time, the concept of eternity is something that really is mind boggling. We are imprisoned by our clocks. We get up at a certain time. Our daily events are all timed. Seconds tick by, unstoppable. We celebrate our birthdays every year. We record the time and date of our births, marriages and deaths. Young people behave as thought they will live forever, but the oldies amongst us become aware of their mortality, a state compounded by increasing aches and pains and visits to medical facilities. But God lives outside of time. He lives in another universe, Heaven itself. The phrase in our verse today, “I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come”, defines His eternal state.

As humans, we have a tendency to look back, into our “was”. Our lives are shaped by what has gone on before in our lives. Choices and decisions made in years past define who we are now. And what the rest of our lives will be, our “still to come”. But it is not possible to apply the same concepts to our eternal God. Living in an eternal state is totally incomprehensible to us. And it certainly confuses the evolutionists and educationalists in our societies, who try to apply time-based principles to an eternal, timeless universe. A universe created by “the Alpha and the Omega”, the “Almighty One”. 

So where does this verse fit into the pilgrim’s mindset? It once again reminds us of the God we worship. We can only wonder about this Eternal Creator, who cared so much for us, that He sent His only Son, Jesus, to die for us, as a sacrifice for our sins, and restore to us the status He designed into us from the very beginning. What else can we do other than praise Him forever?

Father God. We join together in praise to You. You are the Almighty God and our loving Heavenly Father. We are so grateful. Amen.