Kingdom
This is the end…of the Book, and of the ages. We’ve come to the final scene in the story of God’s grand redemption of the world. As we dive into Revelation, we encounter many things, more than half slightly more than at least halfway confusing. What?! Amidst flashes of lightning and peals of thunder, series of “sevens” that seem forever, the sound of trumpets and smell of brimstone, the scorpions, horses, and spirits – amidst all of this, you might think, What is going on? Is there anything to be gleaned from this? Indeed, amidst the multi-sensory madness of sights and sounds, there is one truth that looms over the chaos: the reality of God’s reign, in Jesus.
You can read the Revelation of Jesus Christ and theorize ‘til Kingdom come (literally!) about times and dates, schedules and metaphors, kings, kingdoms, and world events, but you cannot read the Revelation of Jesus Christ and miss this fact: God Wins! God Reigns! Jesus Christ has overcome! Look at who Jesus is in the opening pages of Revelation:
Jesus is the ruler of the kings of earth, the Alpha and Omega, who was and is and is to come, the One who was dead and is alive forevermore, the One who is holy and true, the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the Beginning of God’s creation, the One who purchased with His blood people from every tribe and tongue and nation. Multitudes sing, “Salvation to our God, and to the Lamb!” Every created thing sings, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.” God is King! The Lamb has overcome!
Overcome. This word comes to us through tears (5:1-5). For the believers in John’s audience, and we who believed through them, overcoming comes through tears. Look at the events surrounding these declarations of God’s reign: famine, persecution, suffering, trials, even martyrdom. The pages of this book are fraught with pain. Look at Jesus’s exhortations to the seven churches: “To him who overcomes…” “To him who overcomes…” We who await Jesus’s second coming feel the pain of the present. It isn’t easy. But we also see the end, and we know Who sits on the throne. The assurance of the future bleeds into the present. The Lamb has overcome.
So in the midst of pain and trial, suffering and persecution, don’t forget: you know who sits on the throne. Just like Jesus told His disciples in John 16:33, In this world you will have trials, but take heart,
I have overcome the world.
Author: Pastor Jon
The Thread...daily! 