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Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.

Praise to Christ for His Humility

Jesus, Lamb of God, when you walked this earth you did not consider heavenly equality, though that was yours to choose, but took the role of servant, and in humility and obedience allowed the rough nails of our sin to be hammered into your flesh for the sake of our salvation. And so it is that we acknowledge you as Lord of all, to the glory of God the Father, Son and Spirit, Three.

John Birch, faithandworship.com Mason Barge /2024

For Guidance in Bringing Others to Christ

Oh Heavenly Father, who has promised to send us a Spirit to lead us, if we but listen and hear his presence in the bustle of life, I pray for your direction and guidance in becoming a disciple of your word. Teach me to spread your truth, to anyone I might see who might be able to hear it. Let me always reach out and show your love to the world through my every action.

I pray, Holy Spirit, show me your path in this wayward world. Mold me by the model of your Son, and let me every day approach nearer to his perfect service. Let me, too, be a fisher of men. Show me how; teach me to help guide others to you, both in my words and in my deeds. In the name of Christ, I pray,

by Mason Barge

Meditation

“For you must know, the kingdom of God is within you.”

~ Luke 17:21

Benediction

Lord, support me all the day long of this troublous life, until the shadows lengthen and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over and my work is done. Then, of Thy mercy, grant me a safe lodging, and a holy rest and a peace at last through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Think of the day ahead in terms of God with you, and visualize health, strength, guidance, purity, calm confidence, and victory as the gifts of His presence.

St. John on Patmos by Hieronymous Bosch, ca. 1489.

Revelation 1:9, 12-20 (ESV)

I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. . . .

hen I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. . . . saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.

Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

Notes on the Scripture

Overview of the New Testament

27. The Revelation of St. John the Divine

The origin of Revelation (no “s” on the end — it is singular) is shrouded in mystery. Old church legend credits it to John the Apostle/Evangelist, but this is nearly impossible to believe, due to the markedly different writing style and theological concerns from John’s Gospel or Epistles.

The author identifies himself only as “John,” living on the island of Patmos. The book has seven or eight different names. The original title was Apocalypse or The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ. It is rarely known by these names today, however, because the book itself changed the meaning of “Apocalypse”! In Greek, “apocalypse” simply meant a revelation, an uncovering of something previously unknown; but due to the weird and violent imagery of the Biblical book, together with its vision of the end of the world, “apocalypse” has come to connote violent and widespread cataclysm.

The entirety of Revelation consists of allegorical or metaphorical visions given to John by an apparition of Jesus Christ. The book is divided into two basic sections.

The first three chapters of Revelation comprise an introduction and seven short epistles to churches existing at the time, roughly 90-100 A.D. These delineate the character, faults and strengths of each church, and prophesy their future. Given the nature of Revelation, many commentators believe that the epistles are entirely prophetic; and a rather good case can be made that these prophecies have largely been fulfilled in the past 2,000 years: each church represents an age, or period of time in what is now church history, with the seventh age having begun around 1960.

The remainder of Revelation, Chapters 4-22, are a fantastic vision of Christ’s Second Coming, the final judgment of mankind, the destruction of earth and the creation of a new earth, which most Christians consider to be the heaven of eternal life promised by Christ. Theologians have a big word for this, of course: “eschatology” (from a Greek word meaning “the end” or “last”).

Artist’s conception of
Revelation 20:4

A number of famous images that have become the stock of cheesy horror movies originate in these chapters: The Mark of the Beast (“666”), the Whore of Babylon, the rise of the Antichrist (although he is not termed such in Revelation—the term comes from 1 John), the Rapture, and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are all notable. Numeric symbolism abounds in Revelation, especially the numbers 4, 7, 12, and 666. Indeed, the book itself can easily be divided into either four or seven sections.

Interpretations of Revelation differ radically. It consists of such a huge mass of bizarre imagery, that can be interpreted in so many different ways, that it is impossible to give an overview in a short space. There are as many interpretations of it as there are churches. Scholars do not even agree as to whether most of the events have already occurred, have occurred in part, or lie fully in the future, nor the degree to which it is literal or metaphorical.

The four main schools of interpretation are:


1. Preterist (from Latin praeter meaning “past”), which holds that, through the use of symbols and allegory, Revelation deals with events that were fulfilled in John’s time, and that it was written primarily to provide hope and comfort to the first century church persecuted by Rome;
2. The Historicist approach views Revelation as a symbolic or allegorical prophetic survey of church history from the first century up to the Second Coming of Christ; it was widely espoused by major Protestant reformers (Calvin, Wesley, etc.). Note that the top illustration from Calvin’s Bible depicts the Whore of Babylon wearing the crown of the Pope!
3. The Idealist approach makes no attempt to find individual, literal fulfillment of John’s visions, viewing Revelation as a great drama depicting transcendent spiritual realities in colorful symbols; and
4. The Futuristic approach views Revelation as literal prediction of future end-time historical events preceding, during and after the return of Jesus Christ, including the preliminary establishment of His 1000-year kingdom and the Rapture. It is currently popular in evangelical churches.

To read it, one really needs to study it with one or more commentaries (or teachers) at hand. For simple reading, one might find Chapters 1-3 and 22 comprehensible and interesting.

Daily Inspiration

“I Hear You”

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