Thursday 27 Sep 2018

September 27: Revelation 4:1-2

Key Verse: Revelation 4:2
At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it.

Devotion:
What a wonderful thing to be able to experience and live through – being taken up into heaven... But the part which struck me most from this verse was the fact the apostle immediately became a spirit. We know Christ is going to return some day and those Christians who are still alive will be taken up into the air. We even call this the second death. But in reality it is nothing like death because it will be an immediate thing, going from being mortal to being immortal as we are taken up. When that last trump sounds, that will be the instant that we know that we are being called and in that same instant we will be changed into our immortal bodies. And that is the day we will see Christ seated upon His throne in heaven!

This vision was given to the apostle so we could know things that are going to happen. After the warnings were sent out to each of the churches about the types of things they were doing wrong, the time came for everyone to be taken up. So, just as we were told about the things that would happen, the vision was a visual description of what would happen too. The wonders John saw must have set him up for life – just knowing what was ahead of him and what glorious position he would eventually be in, death no longer would have had its sting for him.

What an amazing God we have. One who is present in all the things we do wrong. One who sees all of our sins. One who constantly tries to steer us in the right direction. One who chastises us when we do wrong. One who builds us up when we do right. One who’s love never falters. One who has prepared us a mansion in heaven. One who has laid up wonders in heaven and shown us through John’s vision what lies ahead... as long as we believe the truth, that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to die for us and rose again that we should live.

Points to Ponder:
Would it make you happy to know that something good lay ahead?

What else could be better that everlasting life with Christ?