Today, Monday January 10
God Keeps His Promises Revelation 1:1-3 “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants--things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.”
I would have never dreamed when we begin these pastor chats almost two years ago, as the Covid-19 pandemic was starting to shut things down and change every aspect of our lives, that we would still be dealing with it two years later. I actually was motivated as a pastor to do these chats to keep our church membership connected as we had to shut down our public gatherings to help stop the spread of Covid. And yet two years later so many of us are personally and emotionally still being very much affected as our friends and loved one are sick or have passed away with this dreadful virus. My heart and prayers goes out to you!
For sure the last two books of the Bible focus mainly on the subject of the judgments of God on the ungodly on the earth. Both Jude and Revelation remind us that God has the last word and He will deal justly with those who reject Him and His Son. So as we begin studying through the Revelation and see in detail the “wrath of the Lamb” being poured out on the earth for a seven year period, I also want to remind you that the rest of Bible from Genesis to 3 John (the first 64 books), reveal to us that we do have a God that created us, loves us even when we have sinned (Romans 5:8), cares for us, and has a purpose and plan for our lives. That our God is a God of redemption, reconciliation and restoration through His Son Jesus Christ!
Today, the main thing I feel I want to leave in our hearts and minds, as we begin this chapter by chapter study of Revelation, is that our God is a sovereign God and that He always keeps His promises! The Book of Revelation assures us that God will fulfilled every prophesy and every promise that He has made previously in the Bible!
As bad as it is sometimes, and as bad as it is going to get as God’s judgments are poured out on earth, God still loves us and will never leave us or forsake us, and He has promised us, “as we wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come”(1 Thessalonians 1:10), that we will not be here on earth during that time of judgment!
The very first verses of this last Book of the Bible give us the promise that we will indeed receive a special blessing just by reading and listening to the words of this prophecy and keeping those things which are written it. God clearly opens up the future and reveals to us what we are being saved from, so we should be encouraged and motivated to live holy and godly lives for His glory now!
We need to actually understand and learn by God’s grace, to live with the reality that it will no doubt get worse before it gets better (2 Timothy 3:1-7). But our study of Revelation will remind us of the greatness of our God and that He has the final word on everything that happens on planet earth! And that it really is all about His Glory!
May the Lord give us grace today to live for His glory in every aspect of our lives!
God bless!