The Word This Week
Revelation 1:1...
There is unfinished business.
The Apostle John may have thought his life was over. He was the last living apostle. All the others had been dead for 30 years or more, put to martyrs’ deaths in various brutal ways. They had each stood strong for Christ to their end.
John, according to historical sources, had been sentenced to death by emperor Domitian. He had been lowered into a cauldron of boiling oil, but he was unharmed – protected supernaturally by the Lord – as He had protected Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego so many years before.
Because there was unfinished business. As children of God, we are indestructible as long as there is unfinished business for us here on earth.
But rather than death, John now faced exile to a rocky island in the Aegean Sea known of as Patmos. It was a brutal place. Very cold, constantly exposed to winds and weather. Nary a tree on the entire island. It was a work camp Rome sent its enemies to laborious toil and death.
As a frail, elderly man in his 90’s, John would have never expected to survive the heavy labor and brutal conditions to which he had been sentenced.
Isn’t it amazing God so often speaks to us in the midst of the greatest trials of our lives? This was true for John. When he least expected any sort of usefulness to God, and that his ministry life was completely over, John was given the end of the story. The very end the Bible had been pointing to and yet was incomplete without.
God chose to use the eyes and ears and spirit of this aged, weathered, apostle to bring His story of how time would end to the knowledge of all mankind. All John had to do was watch as all of future earth history was unveiled and unfolded before his eyes, and then write it down as he was commanded.
That we have this book is completely miraculous. As such, God promises a blessing to all who study it.
Pastor Bill
There is unfinished business.
The Apostle John may have thought his life was over. He was the last living apostle. All the others had been dead for 30 years or more, put to martyrs’ deaths in various brutal ways. They had each stood strong for Christ to their end.
John, according to historical sources, had been sentenced to death by emperor Domitian. He had been lowered into a cauldron of boiling oil, but he was unharmed – protected supernaturally by the Lord – as He had protected Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego so many years before.
Because there was unfinished business. As children of God, we are indestructible as long as there is unfinished business for us here on earth.
But rather than death, John now faced exile to a rocky island in the Aegean Sea known of as Patmos. It was a brutal place. Very cold, constantly exposed to winds and weather. Nary a tree on the entire island. It was a work camp Rome sent its enemies to laborious toil and death.
As a frail, elderly man in his 90’s, John would have never expected to survive the heavy labor and brutal conditions to which he had been sentenced.
Isn’t it amazing God so often speaks to us in the midst of the greatest trials of our lives? This was true for John. When he least expected any sort of usefulness to God, and that his ministry life was completely over, John was given the end of the story. The very end the Bible had been pointing to and yet was incomplete without.
God chose to use the eyes and ears and spirit of this aged, weathered, apostle to bring His story of how time would end to the knowledge of all mankind. All John had to do was watch as all of future earth history was unveiled and unfolded before his eyes, and then write it down as he was commanded.
That we have this book is completely miraculous. As such, God promises a blessing to all who study it.
Pastor Bill