Devotion for April 12, 2016

Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals (Revelation 5:1).

            The sealed scroll is the first sign of trouble in Revelation vision of God in His heavenly throne room. (Read it here.)

            A sealed scroll figures in Isaiah 29, in which a sealed scroll is useless because, well, it’s sealed. Unless the reader has the authority to open it, the information is inaccessible. (Think of it as the taboo against reading someone else’s mail. One could physically open that envelope, but technically that’s stealing.)

            A sealed scroll also figures in Daniel 12, in which Daniel has a vision of the future, but the Lord tells him to seal it ‘until the time of the end.’

            What does this sealed scroll in Revelation mean? I think it’s a symbol of man’s precluded future, the future he cannot have because sin and death dominate the world. Think of it in terms of being stuck. Human history is an endless cycle of wars and oppression; as Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes, “There’s nothing new under the sun.” Humanity is stuck in patterns of behavior that we can’t seem to break out of. And human lives are the same way: how often do you find yourself during the confession at church thinking, “I’m confessing the same kinds of sins I was confessing 5, 10, 25 years ago”? We’re stuck in personal habits and sins that we can’t break out of, too. No wonder, then, that John weeps and weeps to see the sealed scroll!

            The good news comes tomorrow, when Jesus is declared worthy to open the scroll.

Devotional Thought for April 5, 2016

Tuesday: “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 spirits before 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... “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:4-5, 8).

            If Revelation is so unflinching in its portrayal of the fallenness of the world, how in the world can it be a book full of hope? Well, it does that in multiple ways. Consider, for example, the verses above. Notice how twice in these three verses the Lord God is described as him who was and is and is to come. Our God was there before our trials; He is there in the midst of our trials; and He can see through to the time beyond our suffering.

            Suffering can be so all-consuming. I noticed this when my dad died and I’ve observed it in others in their grief. For the mourner, time has stopped and there is no life beyond their particular grief. I came to value conversations that were ‘normal,’ about life beyond my suffering. It was good to be reminded that life went on.

            That’s the consolation of a God who was, is, and will be. He is the ultimate perfecter of perspective. In 2 Corinthians 4, Paul talks about our light and momentary troubles. Our troubles are only ‘momentary’ if someone is providing a longer and broader perspective. Since our God writes our story into the story of creation and Adam’s fall and Jesus’ death and resurrection and His glorious return, He alone gives the perspective that we need.

Devotion for April 4, 2016

Monday: “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” (Revelation 1:9; NIV).

            Revelation is a relatively straightforward book. I know that sounds weird but it’s true. In many ways the terrifying images of the book are just ways to describe what we all experience—that life is not perfect, that we have spiritual enemies, that the world is fallen.

            John notes this from the very outset when he describes himself as a companion in suffering and notes that he was on the island of Patmos. John writes around the year AD 95 and persecution is becoming more and more common. Around that same time other historical sources are telling us that Christians are being imprisoned and occasionally executed simply for being Christians. (Why the Romans thought Christians were worth punishment is an interesting study for another time.) John himself is on Patmos because he has been exiled from his home in Ephesus.

            Revelation will never candy coat the struggles of life in a sin-fallen. You don’t overcome trial by denying that you’re under pressure. It’s important to confront the brutal realities of a fallen world. And that kind of realism will equip you to endure and live in hope