Good stuff...

[Start your day off with a portion of God's Word and you're off to a great start. Comments in [] are my thoughts.]

Revelation 1 (New Living Translation)

Prologue

¹ This is a revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him [John] to show his servants the events that must soon (suddenly or quickly) take place. He sent an angel to present this revelation to his servant John, ² who faithfully reported everything he saw. This is his report of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.

³ God blesses the one who reads the words of this prophecy to the church, and he blesses all who listen to its message and obey what it says, for the time is near. [There's two promises of blessings:  one for the person who reads these words of prophecy to the church; one for all who listen and obey what it says.]

John’s Greeting to the Seven Churches

⁴ This letter is from John to the seven churches in the province of Asia. (now Western Turkey) [These seven churches represent all the churches of the world.  We don't have the liberty of saying, "Oh, that wasn't for us; that was for then, not for now."  Wrong... it's for churches, period.]

   Grace and peace to you from the one who is, who always was, [this answers the question, "Where did God come from?" Let's face it friends, if we could completely and totally explain God so that we could wrap our feeble little minds around Him, He wouldn't be God.  I need Someone that's Bigger than me to trust my life with and that Someone is God.] and who is still to come [Jesus is coming back]; from the sevenfold Spirit before his throne; ⁵ and from Jesus Christ. He is the faithful witness to these things, the first to rise from the dead, and the ruler of all the kings of the world. [Did you realize that no one else, no other "god," no other religious leader can boast of being risen from the dead but Jesus Christ; no other "god" can boast of resurrecting someone from the dead (Lazarus, etc.) but Jesus Christ.  This alone satisfies me that He is God and that He alone is the Master over life and death.]

   All glory to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by shedding his blood for us. [Jesus Christ settled our sin-debt once and for all.] ⁶ He has made us a Kingdom of priests for God his Father. [Priests? We are priests?  That's what He says.  Blessed are those who preach and blessed are those who listen an obey. Priesthood.  Wow!] All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.

⁷ Look! He comes with the clouds of heaven.
      And everyone will see him—
      even those who pierced him.
   And all the nations of the world
      will mourn for him.
   Yes! Amen!

⁸ “I am the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end,” says the Lord God. “I am the one who is, who always was, [He has said that twice now in just this one chapter... must be something He wants us to believe] and who is still to come—the Almighty One.”

Vision of the Son of Man

⁹ I, John, am your brother and your partner in suffering and in God’s Kingdom and in the patient endurance to which Jesus calls us. I was exiled to the island of Patmos for preaching the word of God and for my testimony about Jesus. [Being a preacher is not easy, but God is always with the man of God (the person who is obeying God's Word) whether he's a preacher or not.] ¹⁰ It was the Lord’s Day, and I was worshiping in the Spirit. Suddenly, I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet blast. ¹¹ It said, “Write in a book everything you see, and send it to the seven churches in the cities of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”

¹² When I turned to see who was speaking to me, I saw seven gold lampstands. ¹³ And standing in the middle of the lampstands was someone like the Son of Man (Jesus). He was wearing a long robe with a gold sash across his chest. ¹⁴ His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow. And his eyes were like flames of fire. ¹⁵ His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice thundered like mighty ocean waves. ¹⁶ He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp two-edged sword came from his mouth. And his face was like the sun in all its brilliance.

¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell at his feet as if I were dead. But he laid his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last. ¹⁸ I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave. [There it is.  Jesus is the Master over death and the grave.  Death and the grave are His servant.  They do what He tells them to do. He alone knows the reasons. And in the Psalm it is stated that He is "just and good" therefore we can trust Him regardless of when we or our loved ones die.  He alone knows what lies ahead for each one of us and He alone decides the number of our days.  When it is my time to die, it will be what God has determined is best for me (and those I leave behind).... I will be with Him! of course, that's what's best for me... there's nothing better than being in glory with Him!  This topic of death and when a person dies, and why, is so fascinating, especially when viewed from God's perspective.  That's the most comforting way to view it, even if the person we are grieving for is not a believer.  Oh, now my little cogs are turning. :-) Dare I write what I am thinking?  Yes, but just remember, these are just my thoughts based on what I believe about God's character and power and based on the fact that God knows all about each of us from before conception through death. Here goes:  In some instances, I believe that when a lost person (an unbeliever) dies, God knows that person is never going to accept what Jesus did for them and they are more than likely being a stumbling block in the life of someone who is going to believe.  Now, the responsibility of us as priests... (that's what Jesus calls us) is to pray for these unbelievers before they die.  When we pray for them, God will do everything in His power to save them, but remember, each person has a free will and can reject in their heart and mind what Jesus has done for them and they usually do if their heart is hard.  We are to pray for God to soften their hearts.  It takes a very hard hearted person to reject the drawing, the love, and the conviction of the Holy Spirit, but there have been many with hearts just that hard.  Babies and children are a different topic.  I could go on and on, but I'll stop.]

¹⁹ “Write down what you have seen—both the things that are now happening and the things that will happen. ²⁰ This is the meaning of the mystery of the seven stars you saw in my right hand and the seven gold lampstands: The seven stars are the angels(messengers) of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

[Well, that was just fun.  Revelations is a tough book to understand for most and I'm looking forward to delving into it again.  Please leave me a comment or a question, if you have one.  I may not know the answer, but we know the One who does know the answer and we'll pray together for guidance.]

Jesus is coming again!  We are so blessed!

Got to go ride my bike!