FBC Daily Devotions

Well, Ly and I made it back safely Saturday evening. It was a relaxing time simply resting in awe of the beauty of the Mexican Caribbean. But as beautiful as that may be, it will pale in comparison to the presence of God. The response of so many from every tongue and tribe, the worship of all of creation attests to the magnificence of what will one day be a reality for us.

Mako Kato did a wonderful job with the devotions last week, wouldn’t you agree? He gives us one more from last week’s passage that didn’t get published so here it for today’s devotion. May God bless the meditation of His word.

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Read Revelation 5:11-14.

July 4^th is upon us.  We’ve seen the spectacle.  Watched the reds, whites and blues light up the sky.  Heard the resounding booms as firework after firework is launched into the darkness.

July 4^th is about as big as gets on this earth.

Imagine how much bigger the scene that John describes is.

Myriads and Myriads and thousands of thousands of angels (ESV, NASB).  The NIV calls the number thousands upon thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand.

Imagine all of them praising God, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing” (Rev. 5:12 ESV).

I have a feeling the angels sing better and louder than anything on this earth.

And then if that wasn’t loud enough or beautiful enough, every creature, everywhere praises the Father and the Son, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” (Rev. 5:13 ESV)

This Independence Day, as we watch the fireworks in awe, remember John’s vision of every creature praising God.  That calls for a bigger celebration than a celebration of our Independence from England.  After all, which is a bigger cause for rejoicing: independence from England, or independence from death?

July 4^th is a good as day as any to say you’re proud to be an American, but do you take the same pride in your heavenly citizenship?  Are we proud to be followers of Christ?

We can sing “God Bless America,” and He has, but do we take the same pride in singing praise to God?

So let’s sing: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and forever!”   Amen.

Read Revelation 5:9-10

In this song I’m reminded of what the church is.

We have been ransomed by the blood of Christ.  If it were not for Christ’s death there would be no church.

We come from a variety of backgrounds.  God’s people will be “from every tribe and language and people and nation.”  His kingdom is not based on race.  Imagine that.  We at FBC are part of a kingdom with people from all over the world.  One day, every tribe and language and people and nation will be represented.  We will rub shoulders with the Bisorio and someday the Siar tribes from Papua New Guinea.  We will hear Japanese, Chinese, English, Spanish, Yiddish, and Hindi.  Those from Argentina, England, Japan, Canada, and Kenya are part of the kingdom.  God’s priests will include Tibetans and Kurds, Jews and Palestinians.

But how much do our earthly backgrounds matter?  We may consider ourselves to be Asian-American, African-American, Japanese, Korean, or Hispanic but we have been made into a kingdom and priests to our God.  We are part of a greater kingdom now.  We are people set apart for God.

I don’t know what language you speak or what nation you call home, but in Christ we are made into a different kingdom.  When we remember our missionaries in prayer remember that not only are they our brothers and sisters in Christ, but the Christians who they are serving with in other countries are also our brothers and sisters in Christ.

We may speak different languages.  We may not be able to understand why some don’t appreciate sashimi and spam musubi, but we have something in common.  None of us deserve it, but Christ ransomed us by his blood, so that whoever believes in Him can join his kingdom.

If we are all part of the kingdom, let’s treat fellow believers as fellow priests: Servants of God who we will reign with together over the earth.

Read Revelation 5:6-8

In verse 5 we read about the one who has conquered.  The elders told John to behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David.  But instead of a Lion, John sees a Lamb.  Where is the powerful, mighty King?

Maybe the disciples had similar questions when Jesus was on this earth.  If Jesus was the Messiah, when would he start his reign?  But instead of conquering earthly kingdoms, Jesus acted as a sacrificial lamb.

But the Lamb in this picture isn’t weak.  A couple commentaries point out that the seven horns are a symbol of strength.  This Lamb is worthy of our praise.  He is God.  The four living creatures and the elders bow down before him.

Verse 8 mentions two things that the elders are holding.  Each is holding a harp.  This reminds me of praising God through song.

The other thing they are holding are golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.  That’s an interesting image.  Imagine that our prayers our like incense.  They are like offering up something good to God.  It is another way for us to worship Him.

I can’t imagine the sight that John saw.  God the Father seated on the throne, the Lamb who was slain, and the elders bowing before the Lamb.  But somehow, in it all, God accepts the worship of little specks of dust like us.  He treats our prayers like golden bowls full of incense.

So let’s remember today to pray and remember who we are praying to.  It’s so easy for me to lose sight of how awesome God is when I pray.  I know many times prayer for me can be just something I have to do before I eat a meal.

But if we are giving our prayers up to God as incense, then I hope that we are doing it with an attitude of worship.  We can be filled with awe at the conquering ruler, but at the same time we know that the Lamb was slain for us.  He loved us enough to die for us and will hear our prayers.  We can approach Him with confidence and awe.

Read Revelations 5:1-5

(This is Mako pinch-hitting for Mike while he is away this week.)
Who is worthy of opening up the scroll and breaking its seals?
Not me.
In this passage, I’m reminded of who we are as humans.  No one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll.  Not only that, but no one could even take a look into it.  We can’t be sneaking a peak.

Romans 3:10-11 looks back at the Psalms which state, “No one is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.” (ESV)

There it is again… The words, “no one.”  Surely with words like this to describe humans, we are not worthy.
By this time John was crying, but I’m assuming you haven’t gotten to that stage because you know more of the story.

There is someone who can open the scroll.  Just like He is the only one who could have taken away our sins, He is the only one who can open the scroll.
Let’s remember that it is Jesus who is worthy and He is the only one who is worthy.  Remember Jesus’ words in John 14:6. No one can come to the Father except through him.

In our efforts to try to understand Revelation and the meaning behind all the symbolism, let us not forget the centrality of Jesus.  Remember the opening words of the book.  It is not the Revelation of John, it is “The revelation of Jesus Christ…”

Who is Jesus?  Here the elder refers to Jesus using two Messianic titles from the Old Testament.  The first is the “Lion of the Tribe of Judah.”  A reference for this is in Genesis 49:9-10, which calls Judah a lion’s cub and links this image to royalty.  “The scepter shall not depart from Judah,” verse 10 says.  Jesus is the conquering, ruling lion.  His reign is eternal.

The second image given is that of the “root of David.”  This also draws on the idea of Jesus as a ruler, a descendant of the royal King David.  It comes from Isaiah 11:1, which talks of the Messiah as a shoot coming from the stump of Jesse.

Both these images show a conquering king and that is the reason given for why Jesus is the only one who can open the seals.  Verse 5 says he “has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”

So today, remember the conquering King, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the root of David, who is worthy to open the scrolls, and worthy to die in our place on the cross.
He alone is worthy: The King of Kings.

This week Ly and I will going on vacation! After a long school year for Ly, this is a much needed break for her (and me, too!). For devotions this week, I am asking that you feed yourselves this week with the Word and a dependence on the Holy Spirit. Meditate on this passage throughout the week. Study it. For those who have reference BIbles, look up some of the references and see how they pertain to the passage.

No promises here, but we may have special devotions once in a while by others this week. That’s all I can say for now. We’ll see…

Hope you all enjoy the week with God. We’ll see you when we get back!