Monday, December 19: Revelation 1-3 by Pamela

oops I missed my day by a whole week! (Thank goodness for back posting ;)

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Revelation 1-3

The first thing that stood out for me was verse 3:

3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.

For the time is near. It's been about 2000 years ago that Jesus came and yet we are STILL waiting. How can John say the time is near and yet it has been so long? I think it's kind of like what happens when we are looking forward to something....we wait and we wait and we wait and then when it finally happens the wait for it seems to just fade away. Conrad and I were engaged for a year and a half at the time it seemed like FOREVER as we waited to be married. Now that I look back it doesn't seem like that long. I was in university for 5 years (+ the two right after high school) and it seemed to take FOREVER to finish my schooling to become a teacher and now here I am in my 8th year of teaching. Our kids seemed like they would be helpless and dependent FOREVER and now our oldest is a few weeks from turning 20, she's lived abroad, bought a car, and is making plans for what she wants to do next. I am certain that when Christ returns and we look back then it won't seem long at all.

It's hard to wrap your head around this:

8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

He always was, He is now, and He is to come. When we live in a disposable world, it's hard to imagine something that lasts indefinitely. What a comfort it is to know that God was there, He is near, and He already knows the future.

The warnings and advice to the 7 churches can be just as applicable now as they were then:

To Ephesus:

 4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first...."

Don't just start off strong, but finish strong.

To Smyrna:

10 Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life."

You will face suffering. You will be confined in difficult places. Don't give up; the reward is worth it.

To Pergamum:

16 Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth.

Turn from sin and be redeemed.

To Thyatira:

20 But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. 

Beware of false teachers who will lead you away from Biblical teaching.

To Sardis:

2 Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. 3 Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.

We don't know when Christ will return so we need to be ready and faultless through forgiveness.


To Philadelphia:

1 I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.

He is returning soon and will reward the faithful.


To Loadicea:

15 “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth....  

20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

There is a black and white and it is not grey. There is an absolute truth.

Salvation is an offered gift that still needs to be accepted.

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage: Revelation 4-6