We began our study of the book of Revelation over 1 month ago. The first devotional was titled “Grab This Blessing” based on chapter 1, verse 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.”
Now, I’m going to be honest with you – I believed there would be a blessing to come from reading and studying Revelation, but I thought it might be like a mysterious blessing only God knew about. As if a secret door would be unlocked because we stuck with it and trudged our way through the dread of the doom and gloom. I never imagined I would actually really be BLESSED by reading this. I thought I would just be driven by fear studying this, but it’s the absolute opposite – I’m overwhelmed by God’s love and patience.
I don’t see a mean angry God – I see a God who is willing to wait and wait and wait, through thousands upon thousands of years, giving each soul time to finally come to him. I see a God who is willing to go to any length and any extent to bring his children to him so that he can save them. I see grace upon grace and immeasurable mercy poured out on me simply because I choose to believe in his son Jesus.
Why didn’t someone tell me how incredibly blessed I would be in studying these words? Oh wait – someone did! GOD DID. “God blesses the one who reads these words and listen to its message …” And surprise, surprise – GOD WAS SOOOO RIGHT … AGAIN!
The word revelation in Greek is apocalypse. That word makes us even more fearful, but that’s our own spin. Both apocalypse and revelation mean REVEALING. You know like, “I have a revelation about this situation.” It’s a moment of sudden understanding. Yes, Revelation – a moment of sudden understanding. I understand what is being revealed here in this final, dreaded book of the Bible.
What’s being revealed is the profound love of God and the true meaning of salvation. Through Jesus, I am saved from all that is to come. Saved. Saved from the destruction. Saved from the plagues. Saved from the slaughter. Saved from the sting of death. Saved from Satan. Saved from the Antichrist. Saved from the mark of the Beast. Saved from the lake of fire. That is SALVATION.
Now I get it. Revelation, a moment of sudden understanding. The only way you can be truly grateful for Jesus saving you is to understand what you have been saved from. God wants you to know what you’re being saved from so that you can never be the same!
I always say my favorite people to stand next to are the ones who have crawled on rock bottom before. The ones who have come to the absolute end of their self and found themselves in a terrible mess. Those are the ones I want to rub off on me. You know why? Because they know what being saved really feels like.
By far, one of the most powerful experiences I’ve had this year was sitting in a Ben Fuller concert when he shared his testimony. He had been a drug addict, living the lowest low for 15 years – then he met Jesus. Jesus changed him. And I mean literally. Jesus changed his desires. He went from the drug addict on the street to leading worship with thousands of people at Red Rocks amphitheater. Ben knows what it means to be saved. He wakes up every day knowing where his life could be, but thank God it’s not.
He has a song called “He Got a Hold of Me” and the chorus goes like this:
It was at the end of myself
When I cried out for help
It was in the wandering lost
When I stumbled to the cross
And at the lowest place
I met the highest name
Broken and left crawling on my knees
He got a hold of me
Jesus
He got a hold of me
Jesus
Some of us are walking through life,