Category: Devotions

The Church is not a community of people who share a burden for the poor; or carry the same concerns over injustice; or seek to make a difference in their locality from foodbanks to youth clubs. All of these things are important of course but it doesn’t define what Church is. John brings that definition loud and clear. Church is not Church because they believe in God and come together once or twice a week. This is not Church for John.

But he is not casting stones on those who don’t agree with him. He writes as he does to ‘make our joy complete’. He is not complete unless this is resolved. There is a tinge of sadness. For John he imagines a world where the Church is defined in exactly the same way as he describes.

“We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.” (1 John 1:3-4)

Church is a group of people who come together over a shared experience and encounter of Jesus Christ. This is the central message of the word Koinonia/Fellowship. At Pentecost this bond was for the sharing of possessions and the Philippians did ‘partner’ in the gospel (Phil 1:5) but for John this Koinonia is definitely centred on the shared experience of Jesus Christ.

Even in John’s generation there were people in the Church who had not the privilege of personally hearing, seeing and touching Jesus, never mind the fact that here we are none of us have in 2023! He seems to counter that in this letter when he writes later in 3:24 “The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us” and 4:13 “This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.”

When the Church comes together in either small group or celebration style building it testifies of their encounters and experiences of Jesus and it longs for more. The authenticity of Church is directly linked to the person of Jesus Christ and that means the Incarnation, the Virgin Birth, fully human fully divine Jesus, Death, Resurrection, Ascension and the Soon Return and whilst we wait He lives in us by His Spirit and moves through us to a lost and broken world with healing and power. Anything less than that is not Church.

That is the true fellowship John says ‘you’ have with us who have heard, seen, looked and touched Jesus. But this fellowship goes further than with John’s community for it stretches to the’ Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ’. There is more. The Church can encounter and experience more as they Koinonia/Fellowship together they do so with the Father and the Son.

Can you imagine all the Churches in your locality with this shared experience and encounter of Jesus Christ? Can you imagine how you would feel? Your joy would indeed be complete.

Having spent months reading/writing through his gospel and then the same with the Revelation I must stay with this same author John! I am assuming that he is the author of the letters of John. I choose to believe the traditional view that after Emperor Domitian’s reign came to an end in AD 96 that John was released from the island of Patmos under the short reign of Emperor Nerva (AD96-98). John went to live in Ephesus (AD 96-99) and before he died he wrote these letters and also arranged the New Testament as we know it today.

(Note as always: there is much written from very learned people on these letters and these early morning devotions are only meant to serve as an encouragement and not a theological understanding. They are my own personal daily journey through the Bible.)

Before we begin to read look at these 2 verses first.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1)

Influenced by the opening of that one verse John had already commenced his gospel in this way, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1)

Now let’s read:-

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. ² The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.” (1 John 1: 1-2)

See how John goes further than his gospel. His gospel stated that Jesus was the Word at the beginning. The Word, not only had creative powers but the Torah (the Hebrew of Word) is Jesus Christ and John had seen Him! And now John opens his letters with the following: we have encountered Jesus Christ, the Word, the meaning of life; we have heard, we have seen, we have looked and our hands have touched Him.

The foundation of our faith sits on the evidence of the physical encounter by many people of the human Jesus Christ, people like John.

It seems this is a big deal for John. In the next chapter he writes opposing the anti-Christs in his generation. A skim over this first letter reveals how John seems to be combatting their thought that Jesus was not fully human and fully divine. That the Spirit of Christ came upon a human Jesus and lived in him until shortly before he was crucified. This Spirit of Christ now lives in us and speaks to us and therefore Jesus’ words do not have a higher authority to our words today. Clearly wrong! But it was believed and it was taught and the churches were being deceived.

The importance of having been with Jesus was crucially important to the early Church, perhaps more than we realise. The replacement of Judas was chosen through the criteria of having witnessed the resurrected Jesus (Acts 1:22). It was everything.
The central message was from the beginning “Christ is alive! I have seen Him!”
When they were asked, “Were you there?” They had to be able to say “Yes”.
They couldn’t say “No but I was told Jesus had risen”.
It had to be personally experienced.

So I sit this morning and thank God that He came. That He was fully incarnated into human form. That Jesus Christ was fully human as well as fully divine. I wonder what he sounded like; what he looked like; what he smelt like; what he felt like; though He was more than me, He was like me. When I talk to Him it is to someone who understands me and knows what I am going through.

In 2023 I desire to encounter Christ and to see the Church encounter Him. But this encounter must lead to our lives sounding, looking and feeling more like Jesus. This encounter is not to make me the best version of myself. That cannot be the goal. It is that the world around me sees the best version of Jesus in me.

I desire that the Church speaks less about themselves and more of who Jesus is.

I desire that Church divisions end because it is hard to encounter Jesus without love for others.

I desire that disciples within the Church are seen as Disciples of Jesus for if they are not they will be disciples of something or someone else.

Let us encounter Jesus and be known as people who have.

Here is the last of 142 devotions on Revelation. I feel sad to reach the end and I feel an urge to go back and do this all over again. As I have read this Revelation I have become convinced it is one of the best end-time discipleship tools in the Bible. So let’s read the last verse.

“The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.” (Revelation 22 v 21)

How comforting that it ends with a message of grace!

There are times when the revelation reduces us to the sinful human being that we are. When we read of His name which is above all names throughout the prophecy we acknowledge that no matter how successful we become our name cannot be compared to His.

We live in a world starved of true love, oppressed by many Caesars, tempted by Babylon, deceived by the dragon and there are times when we become stained by all of that.

Grace.

We have seen the blood-soaked lamb and we have heard the word ‘Grace’.

There is hope. There is love. Grace is here.

This is not just an Apocalypse. This is not just a prophecy. This is not just a warning.

This is a personal letter from God. It is a letter of grace.

How do we survive the Revelation? How do we get past the ‘holiness’ lists when we recognise ourselves within them?

Grace.

Grace is challenged continually across the world by preachers who are concerned about a sinful Church. The fact is the Grace of God is the answer to a sinful Church.

To live by grace means you are not denying or trying to forget the sin in your life, but by allowing grace to expose it you find who you really are. Grace calls you to keep coming back to Jesus. Let Jesus bind up the wounds.

Let grace be with you and with you in the midst of others. Let the community of God’s people be marked by grace words, grace reactions and grace decisions.

Until He comes let grace live!

This is the end of the Revelation. But grace will enable us to live it out.

Can this be the prayer for 2023? Apart from the Lord’s Prayer it is one of the oldest prayers of the Christian Church for the Apostle Paul uses it in 1 Cor 16:22, “Come, Lord!”

“He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.” (Revelation 22 v 20)

It was the prayer for John on the island of Patmos.

Is it okay to ask Jesus to come quickly? Is He dragging His feet?

We all need the emergency services and if we have never used them we accept life is better for having them there. If we ever used them we would be expected to use words of “come quickly”, if we said “whenever you’re ready, no need to rush” then everyone would know we are not in that place of great need.

But today wherever we look we have to say the world is in great need and the urgent prayer is: Come Lord Jesus. In carrying this prayer the Church recognises that the need of the world cannot be met by the programmes and the efforts of the believers though they must exist. We must be the witness to our world but we cannot save the world. This prayer keeps us focused on the reliance of the person Jesus Christ. The world needs Jesus. This prayer spurs the Church on to reach the lost people of the world. The prayer launches the gospel into the places where Jesus is not known. “Come Lord Jesus!”

At the start of a new year let us be reminded that the Message of the Bible is God’s Word. It isn’t our word it is His.

Moses had commanded that no one should add or subtract from the law God had given (Deuteronomy 4:2) and to do so would bring every curse within it down upon their heads (Deuteronomy 4:20). Why? Simply because it is the inspired Word from God. So when we read the following verses at the end of the Revelation we are not surprised.

^“I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.” (Revelation 22 v 18-19)

This is not the end of the prophetic or God speaking through dreams and visions. The canon is closed but not the Spirit. But why would anyone add or subtract from this Revelation (or the whole of the Bible actually)?

I guess the answer is if we don’t think the Revelation/Bible says enough or says too much. Our pre-conceived position and our convenience can sometimes be the guide of our life and not the Bible.

Let’s return for a moment to the seven churches it was originally given for:

Ephesus: Though they were hard working they had let go of the 2 greatest commandments of loving God and loving each other; Smyrna: Though there was no reprimand they were in danger of letting go of their faith under persecution and are encouraged to hold on; Pergamum: Though they held onto Christ they tolerated idolatry and heresy; Thyatira: Though they were in many ways a growing church they were tolerating false teaching; Sardis: Though a small number were still alive the rest had fallen asleep spiritually; Laodicea: Though they had evidence of Jesus in their life they had lost their eagerness for Him.

But I switched the list around so we purposely end with this last church.

Philadelphia: Though they were weakened by circumstance they have ‘kept my word’!

Let this year be the year when we keep to the Word of God and let the Bible direct our paths and inspire our decisions.

On this last day of 2022 I cannot think of a better title coming from an incredible verse. Tempted that I was to get to the end of the Revelation by the end of the year this one verse kept me back from that.

“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give youthis testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.” (Revelation 22 v 16)

Yesterday I wrote of the Morning Star, Jesus, who enables us to keep going by the work of the Spirit. Today, is the wonderful declaration: I am the Root and the Offspring of David.

Every Jew knows Isaiah 11 v 1 where the promised Messiah is a branch from the Kingly line of David, the offspring. But here, in what is not surprising for the Revelation has continued to speak of the deity of Jesus’ throughout, Jesus declares, He is the Root. “I am more than the offspring, I am before David. I am the foundation of all the Jewish Kingly line, in fact without me there would be no line.” The Messiah is more than you can perceive. There is more than what you can see.

What kind of Messiah do you have and going into a new year what kind do you want? Whatever we can imagine, He is more than that.

This prophecy of the coming Messiah promised great things. Isaiah 61: 2 there would be a day of vengeance of God. In v4-11, there would be rebuilding and restoring places that had been occupied by the Gentiles. In v5-6 the Gentiles around them will be their servants and they will be fed on their wealth. In v7 there is the promise of a double portion. That was the Messiah, there was no doubt of the golden age He would bring. But that was not the Messiah. He was and is more than any generation can perceive. One of those settler towns that the Jews hoped to repossess at the time of Jesus was Nazareth. That in itself is quite amazing when you think the Messiah was raised there. But one day Jesus entered the synagogue in Nazareth and read from this very Scripture in Isaiah 61, the motivating prophecy of the golden age of the Messiah. “The Spirit of the Lord is on me …” But Jesus added a sentence from Isaiah 58 v 6, “to release the oppressed” and then tells 2 stories indicating who the oppressed were, the widow of Zaraphath and that of Naaman of Damascus and the Jewish crowd became furious with Jesus. To “release the oppressed” in 58:6 is used in the context of God not being impressed with empty religious gestures. This was not the Messiah they had in mind. He was their Messiah not the Gentiles.

So we come to the end of this end-time discipleship Revelation and we find a declaration of Jesus that He is the Messiah, the Root and Offspring of David, but that He is more than what the Jews and even we can perceive. As we move into a new year here are perhaps some challenges for us:

1. Do not be so sure about God’s response to situations: Jesus took a text of judgment and turned it into a text of mercy. Mercy offends when you are banking on judgment.
2. Think less of yourself: The Jews thought the messianic age would be all about them. Jesus shifts the text from ‘Here is what you will receive” into “Here is what you are expected to give”.
3. Go with compassion: seek for justice amongst the downtrodden and the outcasts and open life to those who are bound.

You may have gone to bed so weighed down with the darkness of your situation and wondering if you can keep going.

But the day has broken, here you are, you begin again but who heralded that?

Remember how in 2:28 the church in Thyatira were promised the morning star? In these next verses we read who exactly the morning star is and of course, it is Jesus!

“Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give youthis testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.” The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.” (Revelation 22: 14-17)

Venus is known as the morning star as the first to appear after the sun sets or the last to disappear before the sun rises. It heralds of course a new day, hope and a new beginning.

At the moment when the night is at its darkest there is a belief that the morning will break soon and the morning star is that sign. His name is not Venus but Jesus!

Set in the context of washing of robes from the darkness we live in comes this promise.

The Morning Star, Jesus.

Can you still see the Morning Star? How is that possible in such darkness?

The answer is v17, the Spirit. (If you are looking for a chapter which reveals the Trinity then there is no greater one than this last one of the whole Bible).

It is the Spirit that enables us to live ready; to see the Morning Star/Jesus in the midst of the darkness; for the martyrs not to give up; for the intercessors to pray; everywhere in the world in church and chapel, in cathedrals and under trees, calling for Jesus to come. It is the Spirit in our homes; in that favourite place where we go to each morning to pray; in the cry for help; in the place where you cannot cope; when you feel alone; in the exiled island of Patmos; as you feel the whole of creation longing for respite for something to break; Come!

That’s our promise. The Spirit’s presence. Maybe you cannot muster hope today but you can acknowledge your helper. Maybe you’re not interested in enthusiastic plans for the future but you can welcome your helper into your today. Some mornings you simply need help for the morning to begin. And the helper will come and partner with you and together you will pray to Jesus, “Come!”

No doubt 2022 was another year of you trying your best. But it can feel like your best was not good enough. It didn’t produce the results you were looking for. You did good work and there is no doubt about it. However there isn’t much to show for your labour. Worse still there were times when it looked like no one even recognised what you did.

• These good things need to continue simply because these things are good. Quick rewards are not always the sign of value.

Maybe 2022 was a year you would rather forget. I know many who have been in a storm this year. Grief over what has been lost; fear over what may be; pain from walking the road of suffering; we know many who have remained the same loving person despite the battle they are going through. They have faced adversity with tears in their eyes and a smile on their face.

• Achievement is not always measured by attainment but by the ability to walk through unknown territory. The best rewards are sometimes for being and not doing.

These two life-lessons are given because of what we will read next.

“Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. (Revelation 22 v 12-13)

In the context of ‘get ready!’ and an amazing ‘I am’ statement of Christ of which John personally knows several more! If you needed a proof-text that Jesus is God then here it is (1:8 and 21:6 the Alpha and Omega was applied to God and here it is Jesus saying it!)

In the context of saying that Jesus is the beginning, the middle and the end of your life. That when someone gives their life to Jesus then He is their story. There is never a moment when Jesus opts out of what is happening to your life, whether as a Pastor or Christian in one of the churches in Western Turkey or imprisoned on an island of Patmos.

In that context Jesus says “My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.”

The word he uses is Misthos and it means reward and recompense.

• Keep doing the good, Jesus is coming and His misthos/reward will be given to you.
• Doing is perfected in the being. Keep being the good even in the place of difficulty for His misthos/recompense will be given to you.

It was the middle of August when I first started reading Revelation for my morning devotions. Since then I have heard and read on social media of many others reading John’s vision and beginning to teach their churches insights that they find and there are many. I have come to believe that this end-time book, relevant for every end-time generation, is where our discipleship should be focused.

¹⁰ Then he told me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this scroll, because the time is near. ¹¹ Let the one who does wrong continue to do wrong; let the vile person continue to be vile; let the one who does right continue to do right; and let the holy person continue to be holy.” (Revelation 22 v 10-11)

From these 2 verses only:-

The reason why this Revelation is so important is that the scroll is not sealed up. This Revelation is understandable, so long as we stop trying to work out what we cannot work out ie timelines and reading our own version of events into the prophecy that makes us look like we know more than we do. Yes there are things which we don’t know but it is okay to simply say that. There is enough in the Revelation to keep us following Jesus on the island of Patmos or wherever we find ourselves for the rest of our lives.

The reason is also because the time is near. Our discipleship and our churches need to live like the time is near. I wonder if there would be less fights if we did. What would be the point of division if Jesus was coming back tomorrow?

Thirdly the reason why this Revelation is important is that it shows how we should live in this world. We don’t become hermits. We engage with a fallen and sinful world who does wrong and who are vile and we do so as we commit to doing what is right and demonstrating holiness.

I love the days after Christmas don’t you? A time to relax, eat, walk and read books. As I come to the end of one of these books I will write a few notes down on what I have learnt as I seek to apply them to my life. Similarly in a few days I will have finished reading Revelation and I will do the same thing. I wonder how John felt though as he wrote down all that he saw and had learnt. He will soon come out of this most amazing vision that any other person has ever had. He will come out of the vision of the new heaven and new earth and he will go back into his situation of being a prisoner on the island of Patmos. His life has changed.

You may already have returned back into the busyness of life. Certainly in a few days our life will be back to normal, the decorations will come down, we will be back to our routines but how we make that return is the question.

⁶ The angel said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God who inspires the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place.” ⁷ “Look, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy written in this scroll.” ⁸ I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me. ⁹ But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your fellow prophets and with all who keep the words of this scroll. Worship God!” (Revelation 22 v 6-9)

We are at the end and yet it is similar to the beginning.

“The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John” (1:1) and here in v6 “The Lord, the God who inspires the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place.”

“Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near” (1:3) and here in v7 “Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy written in this scroll.”

Four times we are told in the Revelation that Jesus is coming soon. This gave the first century believers an expectancy that in their lifetime Jesus was coming back. That these wonderful happenings would indeed take place. Their suffering and oppression would be over. Jesus will be here soon.

Were they wrong?

No.

As we approach the end of a year and we make plans for 2023 we must do far more to live less in the now and more in the future. We must learn to wait.

In the waiting:

• We are understanding the times we live in;
• We are not giving-in to the temptation of Babylon nor the attacks of the dragon;
• We stand strong in the face of adversity;
• We hold on to the Revelation (and the whole Bible) as trustworthy and important to build our lives upon.
• We are not overwhelmed so that we worship other personalities than God.