The Book of Revelations, part 2

In part 1 I discussed Revelations 1:1 and what it means to approach life/scripture as a bondservant.

Revelation 1:3 reads

Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it…

Have you noticed the primal desire within each of us for blessing? Think about it. I am not talking about a weird “prosperity” sort of blessing. But the desire to know God; the desire to be loved and to love. To be blessed is to be made aware of God’s presence in your life; to know He loves you.

To be blessed is only attained from a faith which is wholistic. It does not separate action from belief or belief from action. Blessed is he who reads…hears… and heeds.

This sort of wholistic faith is advocated throughout Scripture. The plea of Scripture to us is that we would live in such accordance with God, that our entire lives would be transformed. When Jesus sends out the invitation to follow Him it is an invitation to die. For the walk of faith cannot be birthed without the death of the prior life.

This happens at conversion. But it needs to happen everyday. It’s something I think about all the time. Where in my life am I separated from the radical walk of faith? What areas in my life can I more fully give myself to the Gospel? Do I need to read/learn more? Do I need to hear/understand more? Do I need to heed/do more?

The point is, life and faith cannot be divided. They must consume our entire being.

I am not trying to say that any of the blessing we receive from God is deserved, or that we can earn His love and presence in our lives. What I am saying is God has given us an invitation to be made aware of His presence and love. An invitation to be transformed by His love. Yet we must accept this invitation with our whole hearts and our whole lives.

Prayer:

Jesus, help me to more fully devote myself to You. Help my faith in You to transform who I am, what I believe and the way I live. May I live a holy life, wholly dedicated to your will. I don’t want to read the Bible while neglecting the way it is calling me to live. I don’t want to hear another sermon without it informing my actions. May Your word transform my life.

The Book of Revelations, part 1

I am currently reading the Book of Revelations in the Bible and decided to write a series of blogs containing my devotional thoughts about the text. I know… a great way to start blogging again. When people think about Revelations, including myself, people generally think about doom, the apocalypse… and weird stuff to put it frankly. So it’s kind of weird that I would want to do a blog series of devotional thoughts from Revelations. When people read their Bibles in the morning, it is usually text from a Psalm, Proverb, the Gospels… or various other books in the Bible. It’s kind of funny to think of someone doing their morning devotions in the Book of Revelations.

Well… I am. And I have to say, with a right attitude, heart, and mind. Revelations has a lot to offer. It’s not just a bunch of weird prophecies that get misinterpreted, or sometimes just ignored because people don’t want to think about them.

Anyways, here we go… my re-birth into the blogosphere.

Revelations 1:1 reads:

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and he sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John…

The first thing that caught my attention in this verse was the phrase “bond-servants”. Particularly that these are the kinds of people God wished to communicate the message of Revelations to.

The word “bond-servants” is referring to someone who is enslaved or imprisoned. God communicates His message to these kind of people. And He wants the Apostle John to communicate His message. If there is anyone who understood what it meant to be a bond-servant, it was John. In fact, we find out later that John is actually a prisoner while He receives the vision of Revelations and a prisoner while he records the vision. John is enslaved by the Roman Empire on the island of Patmos because he was preaching about Jesus Christ. (Which could be discussed in greater detail…particularly that John refused to say Cesar was Lord; but rather proclaimed that the persecuted, crucified, and resurrected Jesus was Lord.) Anyways, John was literally a bond-servant…he was a prisoner on the island of Patmos.

However, for John (and Paul), the idea of a bond-servant goes much deeper than that. It’s more than just someone who is literally in chains to an oppressive authority. Rather, John’s idea of a bond-servant is someone who has chosen to submit themselves to the authority of God. This is radical. One, because no one in their right mind chooses to be a slave or prisoner. Two, because the God/Jesus presented in the Bible is one of infinite love. Thus, when we become bond-servants of God, we are not enslaved to an oppressive authority. But rather become slaves of Love in it’s purest form.

Revelations 1:1 says that God gave Jesus Christ message of Revelations to “show to his bond-servants” If I do not read the book of Revelations from this lens. If I am not a bond-servant. Then the message is not for me. This is true of the rest of God’s word. God communicates to bond-servants… the least of these.

Prayer

God, may I become a bond-servant. I recognize that if you are not my master, my Lord… then someone or something else is. I pray that I would be enslaved to your will, to a life of love, and imprisoned in a beautiful relationship with you. Help me not to miss the message you are communicating to me. You said your yoke was easy and light… but you still asked for me to put on that yoke. Like Jesus, help me to pick up my cross. I know that I am only able to serve you because of Jesus the Suffering Servant. I love you Lord.