Diving Into Revelation

10/23/11

Revelation 1-4
Mark 1

This morning I had a beautiful time of worship overlooking my hometown, remembering who I was, my path, the good and the bad... Even the road I drove on to get up to this point had scarring memories that I was forced to confront, and in that time of worship, give to my Savior those things and give thanks for where he has brought me. Good morning... Especially poignant after an evening of journeying back into old habits with old friends... Good morning :)

This morning I read revelations 1-4, and the first chapter of Mark. The spirit came alive in these readings, first in Mark talking about the importance of Jesus being baptized by John... describing the very moment the spirit descended on Him(as a grown man, beginning his ministry), and heaven was torn open!

God then says to him... “you are my son, with you I am well pleased.” So, what happens next? This spirit he was just gifted with, it “sent him out into the desert, and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan.”

Dang.

Before he even began his ministry... he had to spend forty days with Satan! He experienced I believe every form of temptation known to man... he can relate with us in our times of weakness, because he has felt it too... but it is by HIS strength we are given the power to overcome. :)

Having gone through this, he was ready to be moved by the spirit to confront those which he just spent forty days with. The spirits of evil that roam the earth...

The first chapter of Mark you see Jesus confronting evil spirits left and right. It’s crazy how he deals with them though.

An evil spirit spoke out of a man in the tabernacle saying “what do you want with us, Jesus? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are - the Holy One of God!” (24)

So the evil spirits KNEW who Jesus was... what he was there for. And what did jesus do? He would expel them from their carriers, and tell them to “Be quiet!”... “he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.” This is why we ask in Jesus' name... in recognition of His power over the spirits that haunt us. Depression, loneliness, addiction, helplessness.... so many more.

So jumping from here to Revelation was pretty appropriate actually...

John’s vision, while you can very easily pick it apart verse by verse, I chose this time to read it more as a story... a story with a beginning like no other.

So John hears from God, “write these things to these seven churches, and send it to them”.. I could write all day about these seven churches, but for now i’d just encourage you to read the different letters written to each, and soak it in. Jesus speaking to John says to us all after each letter... “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Ask the spirit for this ear to hear what it is telling YOU through these letters to the seven churches. Intense stuff...

After he hears these seven messages from God, heaven opened up to him! He was invited up, and taken up “in the spirit, and there before [him] was a throne in heaven.”

Jesus too had heaven torn for him, and was given that same spirit... remember? Mark 1...

This is what he (John) saw...

“the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne. Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God (described in each of the seven letters). Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.”

Can you imagine?!

It then tells us of four creatures that are there by the throne... these creatures I believe representing creation, their job is just to live always in worship to their creator... which it seems they do pretty well.

So God is sitting there in this throne, “His face was like the sun shining in all it’s brilliance.” (1:16)... and He has this scroll in His right hand.

This scroll no one had ever been able to open. The elders, the creatures, angels and all creation had been awaiting. The power of this scroll brought John to “weep, because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside.”

But then steps in the Lion of Judah, the Root of David... Jesus, our saviour who broke the power of sin, to break the seal, and read the scroll.

Jesus comes onto the scene, approaching the throne of God with the appearance of a lamb... a lamb with seven horns and seven eyes, representing the seven spirits of God he had received.

He then took the scroll from God, and everyone fell... the elders, the four living creatures all fell in anticipation and worship for what was about to happen. They praised the lamb and proclaimed his greatness.. they would say “you are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.”

Then came the worship of the tens of thousands upon tens of thousands of angels surrounding the throne, awaiting the opening of the great scroll. The angels worshiped, then came the worship of “every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them.” They worshiped this lamb that would save...

Everyone worshiped!

So, I guess next time we get the first tastes of what the scrolls say. Last time I read these, I was rocked pretty hard...

But today, I am in a very special way thankful for Jesus, the one who showed me life... the one who had the spirit descend on him, spent 40 days experiencing Satan and his tactics so that we could have access to this same spirit which gave Him strength, upon his death. The gift of the spirit, is the gift of life... lets embrace it today, and pray for “ears to hear” what the the spirit is telling us through these scriptures.

Be well friends.