I have put off reading John’s account of the Revelation, because quite frankly, there is just so much that I have never been able to understand. He is writing to show us “what must soon take place”, and with all that is taking place today, I thought it would be good to give it another try. I had hoped this time, I would understand more.
Well, after reading through it twice and now beginning my third time, I have concluded that there is still a lot that I may never understand, and I’ve had to adjust my thinking. Jesus told John to “write what he saw”, so I have decided to do the same – to not worry about what I don’t see – to write about what I do see.
Though John is writing this to the ‘seven churches’, we can read it today as it is to us. I like one of his introductory comments; “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins”. In times past, I would have interpreted the word “freed” as forgiven. It is one thing to believe that we have and will be forgiven for conduct that stems from our sin nature – quite another to understand that he has freed us from the power of that nature.
That is not to say that there will never be a slip now and then . . . but slipping now and then is a far cry from being bound. When Jesus cursed the fig tree . . . was that not a bit of a slip? He was hungry. The tree had no fruit. It wasn’t supposed to have fruit because it wasn’t the time of year for it to have fruit. Nevertheless He got agitated and cursed it.
When you’ve been bound by evil desires as long as I was bound by them, it is not a stretch for me to see that Jesus could have a flicker of anger without losing His sinless status. But that is just me. You may disagree; and that is fine. But like I said earlier, I will write what I see.
I had one other thought from this first chapter. John referred to himself as a “companion” to those to whom he was writing. He was a “companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus”. He was stuck on the island of Patmos. No tropical drinks by the beach there; it was a desolate, rocky place. And yet somehow, while he was suffering in this hard place, we find him “in the spirit”.
As I write this, Israel is in the beginning stages of what could escalate into an all out war. In our own nation, we are wrestling out our differences. Hard places are plentiful these days. It is more important than ever that we make sure that we are “in the spirit” as John was.
In this kingdom that is ours, we shouldn’t have the misconception that we are promised protection from suffering. We are promised the gift of patient endurance in our suffering. There is no promise of protection from the hard places in life; just the promise of peace in them. Lord give us peace in these hard places.
Hunger and Thirst 
“…Well, after reading through it twice and now beginning my third time, I have concluded that there is still a lot that I may never understand, and I’ve had to adjust my thinking…”
Like you, Revelation is a tough book for me to understand, but then again, we are blessed for just reading it (Rev. 1:3). So, thank God, for the bits of revelations we do garner as we trudge through it.
I heard a quote in a sermon on Jeremiah today. I’ve never heard of Abraham Heschel, but I thought you would like what he said. “The prophet is human, yet he employs notes one octave too high for our ears.” The preacher was making the point that what Jeremiah clearly saw, the people could not. I feel that way sometimes.
(That’s pretty much unrelated to my post and your comment . . . just thought you’d like it.)
I love your honesty, Mike, and will keep reading it too, to see what I can each time. And I like what you said about slipping being a far cry from being bound. I know when I slip now, I can repent and turn away from my sin, to God. But before when I would slip, I just kept falling and sliding down, down, down.
God bless you and thank you for encouraging us in the hard places!
“But before when I would slip, I just kept falling and sliding down, down, down.”
That was me too. I like things a lot better now.