Category: Devotions

“I hadn’t seen him for 60 years. The last time was on a hill just outside Jerusalem. I followed him all this time. I resigned myself to only seeing him again in eternity. But I heard this call and …”

“I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 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. In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.” (Revelation 1: 12-16)

“ … as you can see I am finding it difficult to word what I saw. He was more like what I saw on the Mount of Transfiguration. “Someone like … it was like … were like … were like … was like … was like …” I can’t fully describe what I saw but I saw Him!

John kept looking and behind the seven golden lampstands stood Jesus but like he had never seen Him before. Steeped in his Scriptural culture he uses a title all too familiar in the story of God. “One like the Son of Man”. God called Ezekiel that name but then when Daniel used it there was a shift from it being used for a human being to the One who would come from heaven to earth. An exalted figure, an earthly being but a heavenly one at the same time, human cloaking the divine.

Behind the Church is the reason for our existence. Empowered by a new kingdom, a divine power that enables the passion for the lost and the least, the mystery of the miraculous coming from another world led by Jesus who is not meek and mild, a spiritual leader, a guru, but a man who walked this earth and who carries titles that no one on earth can carry, the Son of Man. The Church needs to keep rediscovering who He is in order to be a true disciple in this world.

Six hundred years before He walked this earth as a man, Babylon is rising as a super power and begins expanding its empire. The city of Jerusalem is taken and that’s how the book of Daniel opens: “In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.”

This is devastation. This is humiliation. That the people of God should be overtaken and overruled by the people of the world.

In 7:13-14 Daniel (a student of Jeremiah taken into exile) has a vision:

“In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man,coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshipped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.”

Daniel saw what Jesus carried in his heart and mind. When Jesus used the title Son of Man he was thinking of Daniel. In Luke 22: 69 as he was going through his trials and facing his death, “But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God” he is quoting this vision Daniel had.

Before all things created, eternal, before all time. He is for all and beyond all. He is forever and ever. When things die He is still alive. There is an end and the last person standing is the Son of Man, standing with the saints of God, with us!

“As I looked, ‘thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze. A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him. Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened.” Daniel 7:9-10

Daniel so often seen isolated, standing for God in the midst of a wicked society sees an army. Thousands upon thousands ministering to THE Son of Man. Ten thousand times ten thousand standing before The Son of Man.

Old man John is looking and he is seeing what Daniel saw generations ago. He realises again that Patmos is not the end for him. He belongs to another world.

The purpose of our life is not here, our understanding of what has happened to us and others is not gained from this life, we don’t fear this life, we belong to another world and as we rediscover the Son of Man, this other-world seeps through our lives, through our humanity to a world who needs Jesus.

This is the answer to the Church. The answer to our decline. The answer for our discipleship. The answer for the world we live in is the rediscovery of the Son of Man. The world needs to see our humanity so that the divinity can impact their lives.

God hasn’t finished with you yet!

He is calling. Even the toughest situation could well be the place where God has you in order to speak to you and use you.

“On the Lord’s day the Spirit took control of me, and behind me I heard a loud voice that sounded like a trumpet. The voice said, “Write in a book what you see. Then send it to the seven churches in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”” Revelation 1:10-11

Oh that the Holy Spirit will take control of God’s people today.

You may be in an exile place, not exactly where you want to be, but the Spirit can take control of you.

You may be suffering for the gospel but the Spirit can take control of you.

You may be an old person now, time is running out, but the Spirit can take control of you.

Come Holy Spirit and overwhelm the spirit of the world, the spirit of fear and intimidation, the spirit of competition and greed, the spirit of apathy and discouragement. Take control of the followers of Jesus in the pulpits and the pews!

It is only when we are controlled by the Spirit will we hear the trumpet-like voice of Jesus.

The voice of battle: in ancient times the trumpet would sound to rouse the troops.

The voice of a new beginning: the Feast of Trumpets was the commencement of the new civil year (akin to our new year).

The voice of instruction to bow down and prostrate oneself in worshipful surrender.

Can you hear the trumpet call?!

This old man could hear that call. John, under the presence of the Holy Spirit hears this trumpet-like voice. He knows this is a rallying cry, this is a new season and a time to give total surrender to whatever God wants.

He probably thought his writing days were over. What do you think is over for you? Your witness? Here comes the instruction: “John, write ….”

Write again John. You’ve written a gospel and letters but even here in exile I’ve not finished with you. Write again.

Can you see this is for you?

Rise up friends. Rise up together for God will show us new things to see. He is here and He is ready. Are we?!

This is a letter for those who find themselves today in a set of circumstances that they wish they never had. Those whose dreams were not meant to turn out the way they have. Those who think they have been forgotten, the past is better than their future and the present offers no hope. Here is the message: Jesus knows where you are and there is no situation that you find yourself in that He will not come to you. So lift up your head.

“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. On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet.” (Revelation 1 v 9-10)

John tells the suffering Christians that he too is also in the same situation. Patmos was his exile, a place of punishment for the gospel. He wasn’t there by choice. But just like Ezekiel had a vision in his Babylon exile, John has a vision in the exile of Patmos.

Worship during pain brings revelation.

It’s Sunday and John is not with his people. He isn’t preaching in the churches. He is on the island of Patmos.

Patmos is the place of suffering.

Patmos is the place that is forgotten. Everyone has heard of Patmos now but not then not in John’s day, he even has to describe it, the island of Patmos.

Patmos is the place where all that is in front of you is your ultimate death.

Patmos is the pace of containment. You are not escaping this. It is your portion for the rest of your life.

You may know a Patmos experience like this.

BUT!

Patmos can be a place where you move from a painful reality to a supernatural divinity. John will move from Patmos to heaven and eventually move with the new heaven to a new earth.

Patmos can be the best place that you have ever been to.

How? John got into the Spirit and we will see how he began to worship.

We have got to get into the Spirit. Despite the tough circumstance we must get into the place where the Holy Spirit overwhelms us as we worship God. Jesus will meet us there and an adventure begins!

He will find you no matter where you end up.

This letter is for those who have been hurt. It speaks to those who know what it is to be pierced by the death of a loved one; or the suffering of illness or some closed door experience. Those who struggle to be a Jesus follower in their world and for those who pay the consequences for doing so, this is for you.

“Look, he is coming with the clouds,” and “every eye will see him, even those who pierced him”; and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.” So shall it be! Amen. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” (Revelation 1 v 7-8)

The one who is hurting today needs reassurance in 2 ways:

1. The eternal plan is still active – Jesus is returning!

John was the only one still alive who had heard these words by Jesus: “… And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:3). The contemporaries of John had died believing these words. John is hurting (we will soon see why) and he needs the reassurance.

Jesus reminds John of the prophecies of old:

He is coming with the clouds, he will be seen. “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven.” (Daniel 7:13)

Those who hurt Him and His followers will see Him. “They will look on me, the one they have pierced.” (Zechariah 12:10).

• Sovereignty still exists – Jesus is Almighty!

At the time Caesar was the powerful force opposing every Jesus follower. John was hurting because of Caesar. Today who is Caesar for you? What/who is hurting you? It seems unmovable doesn’t it? It appears at times that you just had to adjust and get on with it. This will never end. But it will and it does because Jesus says so! The first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, Alpha and Omega, encapsulating every single word possible, are here at the beginning of the letter and at the end of it (22:13). For those who need a verse to show that Jesus is God, here it is. This who is, who was, who is to come, spoken of by God the Father in verse 4 is repeated here in verse 8 by Jesus, the Lord God. Jesus and the Father are one and Jesus and the Father are Almighty God! The Caesar of your life and every hurt, pain, question mark, confusion and doubt sits in between the Almighty Alpha and Omega!

So be reassured today: Jesus is coming back to set the records straight and absolutely everything of your life is held in the hands of the Almighty, He has you.

This isn’t a letter intended to cause the Church to spend thousands of years debating their theological interpretations of the numbers 666 and when the rapture will be amongst many other arguments. It is about Jesus Christ.

Can you imagine opening such a letter as this?

“John, to the seven churches in the province of Asia:

Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spiritsbefore his throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.” (Revelation 1: 4-6)

Written to the prominent and strategic 7 city churches of what we now know as Western Turkey. This letter would no doubt have been passed around the many other cities and churches and what was said to the 7 city churches would apply to the whole.

It is about Jesus Christ. But can you see the Trinity? God the Father, the seven spirits are not angels or eyes but God the Spirit (perfect seven) and God the Son, Jesus Christ.

If you are struggling with your today and you wonder if you are going to get through it then this is the letter for you. For it comes from:-

• The faithful witness: He represents God the Father to the world and as we have seen already as the witness he knows what it is to suffer. He is the perfect model for martyrdom. No matter how dark or difficult your road you are walking in His steps who has gone before you.
• The firstborn from the dead: He is the guarantee for our resurrection. Death could not hold him and it cannot hold you either. There is nothing to fear.
• The ruler of the kings: Whoever is your Caesar that is oppressing you they are not the ruler of your life, Jesus is.

That is encouraging! But there is more:-

• He loves us: He is the lover of your soul. He adores you. That is seen in His death.
• He has freed you: Our sins no longer separate us from God. We are not alone.
• He has made us to be: We have a destiny now, a future, it is a delegated authority under God – so we are kings! But we are also priests serving through worship, prayer and sacrifice.

Heaven’s perspective gives us earthly focus and determination to carry on.

When the end is near and some may feel that today they cannot cope anymore then this letter is for us. It is not only for the end of the world it is for the end of our today. Lift up your eyes, turn your attention from your today and look through heavens filter and you will face today and your tomorrow because of Jesus Christ.

The Greek name is the Apocalypse. But it is a word that we use for terror, fear and disturbing events that have happened or will happen. That’s probably why we stay away from this letter.

“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, who testifies to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. 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.” (Revelation 1: 1-3)

But in the first century, the word Apocalypse was much more a word used for Revelation. It meant surprising, revealing and exciting. This is the letter we are reading.

This is not a letter to scare us, nor is it a timeline of end-time apocalyptic events that have taken place or won’t take place whilst we are alive, depending on your theological interpretation.

But it is a letter to bring comfort to us now. It is a letter to show us how to live today.

It is a letter from Jesus to you. He has something to say about your life and what you are facing. He wants to guide you and help you. So let’s go on a journey together and see what He says. But the key thought today is this: there isn’t anything to fear. Before anything takes place He knows it will. Jesus Christ is here in your today and will take you into your tomorrow where He will be also. He is God of your today and God of your tomorrow.

There’s nothing new under the sun, not really. Our world may look entirely different to the first century. The pressure on the church may be different to that of the churches in say Western Turkey, 70 years after Jesus Christ walked the earth, but the temptations to compromise, the challenges of obedience, the rising tide of persecution in post-Christian nations and the simple fact that most of us just find it really hard to be a Jesus-follower in the many situations we live and work in show us that the Bible still helps us today. That is my hope as we read this last book in the canon of the Bible, Revelation. (I don’t intend to align myself with the many great theological books that have been written. I just want to encourage perhaps you today as you live out your faith in Christ.)

“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, who testifies to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. 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.” (Revelation 1: 1-3)

We need to read this letter, we need to hear this letter and we need to keep hold of the contents in our heart because we need a different perspective to the world we live in. This is not a letter from an apostolic figure, like Paul and Peter who at the time of this letter are long dead. Their writings would have been passed around Christendom many times over by the time this letter came about. But this is the revelation from and of Jesus Christ. It is all about Him from start to finish. It actually isn’t about the end-times schedule, it is there, but it is about Him and how to live for Him in the light of His imminent return. It is about today whenever your today is.

There it is, the time is near, at hand. But here we are in 2022 and where is He? So many have told us when Jesus Christ will come back. One poor chap called Edgar Whisenant wrote ’88 reasons for 1988’ predicting the date of the rapture in that year to be between September 11 and 13th. Amazingly 4.5 million copies were sold! He stated, ‘Only if the Bible is in error am I wrong. ‘ Hmm!

Throughout history angels and men have asked ‘how long?’ and ‘when will you come?’ But there is no answer. What we are told is He will come and He will gather.

The last words of this letter “I am coming soon!” this is all we need to know!

The letter was created by God and Jesus Christ and given to John via the angel. John is the apostle closest to Jesus but he only describes himself as a servant amongst God’s servants (v1). His testimony or witness (ESV) points us to the law courts for those words are where they are connected to judgments and sentencing of the verdicts (we will see this theme come through later). It also points to martyrdom (the word carries that sense of being a martyr which also appears later in the letter). Many have been and will be called to suffer because of what they have seen and heard, they are the witnesses of Jesus Christ. They do it because just like the Temple for the Jew was the connection of heaven and earth; Jesus Christ is that person now. Relationship with Him is the perspective we all need to survive this world

So in 2022 what does it mean to be a Christian where you are placed in this world? How are you meant to live as a Jesus-follower today?

This letter shows us here in the Prologue that:-

1. JESUS CHRIST has to be the central figure in your life.
2. YOU have to live in the light of His return.
3. The WORLD may cause you to suffer for your testimony.

That’s the perspective we must hold to.

We have been reading this letter of ‘Romans’ every day for 7 months and finally we come to the close of the doxology which basically sums up everything the Apostle Paul has written:

1. God has the ability to establish what He has begun: the Church.
2. He will do this through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
3. Jesus Christ once hidden now revealed, found in the Old Testament, who we now preach to all and teach them to walk in obedience by faith.

To “the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.” (Romans 16 v 27) Half-way through the letter Paul had already broken out in praise. ‘Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!’ (11:33) and he does it again to close and how fitting it is after all he has written.

God is always and at all times wise. In fact there is not a moment when He is not all-wise. Wisdom sees everything not only as the whole but every intricate detail of the whole. But it is more than that. For what I have described is knowledge and wisdom is higher than that. For wisdom pulls all the information and works them together for His good and glory so that the best is done with all the bits of detail. God does this all the time with the whole world in every generation and without having a headache!

Through what Jesus Christ has done for us, God is taking every detail of our lives, all the circumstances with their twists and turns and is working them for His glory. This is His wisdom. Whatever the circumstance that you are in right now perhaps hard at times to understand is not too far or too difficult that God is not already working His wisdom, fashioning the you from this situation. More than this! Can you believe that your problem that you cannot fix came about because of God? God permitted or filtered through His wisdom to bring about a result that one day (your faith may need to wait for eternity) will make perfect sense.

Many will push back on that because of the terrible circumstance of their life. How can this be true?

Look at the cross. It is foolish to the world. But it is the wisdom of God.

Look at the gospel. It is foolish to the world. But it is the wisdom to save.

This is why the Apostle breaks out in praise and so we will also. If not today then certainly tomorrow, in our next life when we will join with the eternal people of God, “Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honour and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen! (Revelation 7 v 12)

Hope you enjoyed these devotionals in Romans. I never intend to go deep into the theology of the Bible. You can do this yourself. I just seek to encourage someone today and to show how important the Bible is for our daily living.

In coming to the close of his letter Paul sums up Christianity’s call. It is simple and it is clear. It is possible to make it complicated and our history judges us for getting in the way of what has been revealed: Jesus!

“Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes fromfaith— to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen. (Romans 16 v 25-27)

So here it is in a nutshell:

1. Jesus the mystery now revealed through the prophetic writings. We now see Christ in the Old Testament.
2. Jesus the mystery now revealed through the desire of God that all may be saved. We preach Christ.
3. Jesus the mystery now revealed for the whole world. We go to anyone and everyone.
4. Jesus the mystery now revealed changes lives. We now walk in obedience by faith.

And that is how the Apostle started his letter:-

“Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life^[a] was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power^[b] by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from^[c] faith for his name’s sake.” (Romans 1 v 1-5)

That’s what the Apostle Paul carried and that is our clarion call still today.

The Apostle Paul in closing this letter to the Churches in Rome with his heart set on Jewish/Gentile unity, with his belief that the Gentiles share in the promises of the Jews and that one day ‘all Israel will be saved’ (11 v 25) realises how this will be established. God will do it through the gospel, the message and the mystery of God being Jesus Christ.

“Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past” (Romans 16 v 25)

Jesus is all you need.

This is Paul’s gospel and it is yours too.

Never stop talking of Jesus.

This is your message.

Don’t be tempted by other lifestyles, life-choices or short-cuts, techniques and programmes to see your dream fulfilled. Whatever God has for you and however He is going to bring it about it will always be through Him, Jesus Christ.

This is your good news. You don’t have anything else to compare with this.

It was hidden for many generations past but you now have the key, the truth, the answer to everything: Jesus Christ.

Your gospel is still powerful in 2022 as at any other time.

Your gospel changes lives.

Your gospel says you can believe for what looks impossible.

Jesus is all you need.