Thundering Voices

Read Revelations 19-22

Revelations 19:5 says, "And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great."  When we see injustice and pain in the world, we wonder why God doesn’t do something about it.  When our lives are in crisis, we plead with the Lord to deliver us and can’t understand what takes Him so long to answer our pleas.

If God is so powerful, why don’t we see more of that power?  If God is the ruler of the universe, why is there so much chaos?

It’s because of God’s grace and mercy that He doesn’t cut loose.  If He showed all of Himself to us, like John saw in Revelations, we’d be scared to death.  You’d better believe we’d be obedient and righteous in the face of all that terror.  But God doesn’t want to scare us into relationship with Him—He wants us to love Him.

The Lamb Shall Overcome

Read Revelations 16-18

 

Revelations 17:14 says, "These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful."  We wish we could see what the future holds for us.  We want to know what we’ll be doing in 10 years, 5 years, even this time next year.  We especially want to look into the future when we have to make a life-altering decision, because we’d like to be able to see what impact might be made by each of our choices, to make sure we choose the best outcome.

When we’re in the middle of a crises, we’d especially like to look ahead and find out how long we have to endure until we come out of it.  And we’d like to make sure all is going to be well.

Prophecy tells us that a battle is ahead.  It foreshadows how terrible things are going to get.  But God promises He is going to win in the end.  No matter what comes we can be assured: the Lord is going to be victorious.

Tomorrow’s reading: Revelations 19-22

Taking It With You

Read Revelations 13-15

Revelations 14:13 says, "And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them."  Money is useful and convenient, but it’s not eternal.  Not only can we “not take it with us” when we die, we can hardly hold on to it on earth.  Even the rich can have financial difficulties bad enough to lose everything.

When we want to be remembered after we’re gone, we have to find another way.  We try to build things that will last or try to accomplish something remarkable that will get us a mention in history books.  No matter how hard we try, we can’t guarantee we will be remembered.

But when we pour our lives into others’ and when we do what is right and what the Lord commands us to do, those works follow us.  Even when we’re gone the people who love us will remember what we did for them.  Those remembrances are the only things we can take with us.

Tomorrow’s reading: Revelations 16-18

He Shall Reign

Read Revelations 10-12

Revelations 11:15 says, "And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever."  I love all the renditions of the Hallelujah Chorus from the Silent Monk edition to the Flash Mob Mall edition.  One can’t help but sing along, even if only in the mind.

The song sweeps us up in the joy and excitement of the words and music.  Without a director to tell us that we can’t, we find ourselves singing all the parts—soprano, alto, tenor, bass.  If somebody is singing, we’re singing, too.

The words are prophetic—taken from this verse.  All of the kingdoms of this world—whether countries or fortunes—will be taken over by God at the end.  All problems will be fixed, all issues resolved, when the Lord reigns at last.

Tomorrow’s reading: Revelations 13-15

Every Need Met

Read Revelations 7-9

Revelations 7:17 says, "For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes."  What if we didn’t have to stop what we were doing to eat?  What if we didn’t have to worry about staying hydrated because we never got thirsty?  What if we were never disappointed or hurt and no one else was either, so we were never moved to tears?

That’s what Heaven is—a place where there are no needs and no fears.  It’s a place where everything you might ever want is already there.

As we suffer here, we can know that God has planned a place where there is no suffering.  As we struggle, we can know that God has prepared a place where there is rest and peace and we will be free from struggles.

Tomorrow’s reading: Revelations 10-12

Awesome Lamb

Read Revelations 4-6

Revelations 5:13 says, "And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever."  We think about what heaven will be like and look like when we get there—the pearly gates, the streets of gold.  We think about all the people we know who are already there and how wonderful it will be to see them again.

We think about all the people we never met and don’t know but can’t wait to meet, like Moses and David, and how exciting it will be to hear their stories firsthand from them.  We think about the crowns and mansions that await us.

But when we finally see God face to face, we probably won’t even think about anything else.  We will be so mesmerized by His glory and majesty that we can’t even imagine, we won’t have eyes for anyone or anything else but Him.  Seeing Him will be our ultimate reward.

Tomorrow’s reading: Revelations 7-9

Knocking

Read Revelations 1-3

Revelations 3:20 says, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."  When someone says let’s get together, we don’t know if they really want to get together, or whether that’s their way of ending the conversation on a friendly note.  So when we try to set a real future meeting, we find out how sincere they were.

If they can’t make our first suggestion, we offer a second.  We can keep proposing date after date after date, but most of us recognize that after the third no we should quit.  We give up.  But when we’re the ones saying no and we really mean to connect, we know they’re going to give up after the third try, so we participate in the choosing, letting the others know we mean business.

Jesus doesn’t give up on us.  He waits and knocks on the door of our hearts and lives, waiting patiently for us to let Him in.  Once we do, He offers us complete and intimate relationship with Him, no matter how long we made Him wait.

Tomorrow’s reading: Revelations 4-6