Latest / The Daily Word / September 17 – Come, Lord Jesus
Transcript
- Cory: Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, good wee hours of the night. Whenever you are joining us, welcome to the Daily Word Podcast from Lakeshore Christian Fellowship. My name is Corey Barnes, and it is my privilege to pastor our Katava campus. I'm excited to be sitting down with you for another Daily Word episode. We're going to be doing a devotion out of the New Testament portion of our life journal Bible reading plan. And today Is September the 17th, and we are finishing out the book of Revelation, Revelation chapter 22 today. and here's what stood out to me. I think that John's words here at the end, the way he closed out this book, kind of capture the real meaning of this entire book and actually all of all of scripture. Here's what I mean by that. I think sometimes we miss the fact that when we're reading the book of Revelation, it's not just the book of how the world is going To end. It's not the revelation of of the end of the world and tribulation. That's often what we associate with it, but the book of Revelation is really the book of the revelation of Jesus. That is what this book is, and I think we lose sight of that because of all the imagery this book contains. And I don't have to tell you about that imagery. You've been reading it over the past few weeks. I mean, we've seen dragons and and eagles and sea monsters and horned beasts and horsemen and living creatures that we've seen the the horrors of babylon like like there's all kinds of crazy imagery in this book that captures the imagination and I think that's actually part of the reason the Lord chose to convey this revelation the way he did was because he wanted our imagination to be captured. I digress. But it's after having witnessed all those things firsthand, after having seen the depictions of violence and wars, of seeing the church, God's people, persecuted and harassed, that John says these final words and they don't have anything to do whatsoever with any of that imagery. No, this is how John closes this incredible book. Verse twenty, he who testifies to these things says yes, I am coming soon. Amen, or so be it. Come Lord Jesus. Now I remember growing up at the height of the Left Behind series and all of its depictions of the brutality of the tribulation, and I clearly remember the fear. that those books left in me and what the end of the world may look like and you don't have to look around for find another millennial who was in the church who had anything to do with those books and they will agree with me. Like there's some horrifying depictions going on in that series and in the book of Revelation itself because regardless of whether you agree With the interpretive choices of the Left Behind series, the the the imagery in Revelation is pretty scary, regardless. And there's no doubt that some of us today that are finishing this book, maybe it's the first time we've read it, maybe it's the tenth, who knows? But some of us are probably finishing this book with a sense of unease. Unease with with how frightening some of that is. Imagery is, and if that's the case, allow me to point out that John, the one who witnessed and recorded all those images firsthand, he didn't end revelation with a sense of dread, but rather with a hope-filled plea that should be the cry of all of our hearts. Come Lord Jesus. This isn't a cry of despair for us. We don't we don't cry it out because we've given up. On our situations, our circumstances improving. We don't cry it out because we've given up hope on the world. No, rather, we actually cry it out because we have hope that God's promises are yes and amen. This is a cry of faith-filled expectation that Jesus will actually do all that he said he would do, that he will come back, that he will make wrongs right. There truly will be a day where there are no more tears, no sickness, where the very glory of Jesus lights the world so that the sun pales in comparison. Come Lord Jesus. Now we see what Jesus does when he comes back to the earth. The last two chapters we've read, 21, 22, they paint this beautiful picture of how the Lord is going to restore the earth, the life that he brings. So let me ask you this question with that in mind. Are there any areas of your life that need Jesus'? touch? Are there any areas of your life that need him to bring that kind of life? Are there any areas where maybe you've given up hope that he is going to restore, that he is going to make things right, that he is going to heal, that he is going to answer his promises to you. If there are, then I want to encourage you to join me in building up our faith, declaring our hope, and speaking over those areas of our life. Come, Lord Jesus. Jesus, we just thank you. We thank you for who you are. We thank you that you are faithful and that you complete every good work that you began. We thank you, Jesus, that you are one day coming back and you will restore this fallen creation. And we say, Come, Lord Jesus, fix this place. And when we look at our air our lives and the areas where we see challenge, where we have struggle. Where we have circumstances that look like there is no hope, just like the world looks like there is no hope. We can confidently place our hope in you and declare over those areas, come, Lord Jesus, come. I thank you, Lord, that we will see your goodness. We praise you and we thank you, Jesus. Amen.