October 15

It’s Tuesday

Yesterday was one of those days I couldn’t seem to finish anything. Do you ever have those? Aren’t you glad that wasn’t the case for Jesus. He was able to finish what He started. And then, when John was exiled to Patmos, he took it one step further to reveal what was to come to John. Never was it more clear “I am the God who is, who was and is to come” than through the Revelation shown to the Apostle. 


“I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus....which said: “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.”

...and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters...When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.” Revelation‬ ‭1:9, 11, 13-15, 17-18‬ ‭NIV‬‬


When I stood on Patmos, where today about 3,000 people make their homes, these words of Revelation pounded through my brain. Everywhere I looked, every rock and every building I kept hearing “I saw feet like brass, eyes like fire..” “who are these in white robes...these are those who have come out of the great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb...” I though about the Apostle being here and seeing such sights—Writing, sleeping, eating, and then seeing more! What must that have been like? 


Revelation may not be a book we study as often as we would John, or Corinthians, or Ephesians or gain Bible stories like from Genesis or Kings, but...it is so rich with hope and inspiration and the call to look forward. A lot of it we may not fully understand, but the parts we do cause our soul to sing. 


Lord of Heaven and earth, thank you for giving the visions of the Revelation to John and for his determination to write it all exactly as you told him. Help us as we read through these ancient words to understand and to remember their revealing that happened with such amazing clarity and splendor. Thank you for their richness and how they inspire us. We pray that we can inspire someone today as they see you in us. Teach us to love like you. Praise you for you are the Alpha and Omega and the God who is! Amen and amen. 


Love you dear friend,

Pam. 

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