Wed.’s Devo - The Revelation of Jesus Christ

Read: Joel 1:1-3:21; Revelation 1:1-20; Psalm 128:1-6; Proverbs 29:18 We know very little about Joel but it is believed that he lived and prophesied during the reign of Josiah. There had been a enormous plague of locusts that had stripped the countryside of all vegetation and destroyed the pasture lands even stripping the bark off the trees. Joel saw it as the judgment of God on the land. In Deuteronomy 28:38-46 God warned in his curses what would happen to a nation that forgot him. What was happening in the land was exactly what God had said would happen. These locusts came in four waves and consumed everything. It caused great fear on the faces of the people. Their attackers were not people but locusts and Joes calls them the army of the Lord. Joel calls the people back to the Lord. He calls them to repent and hopefully, God will turn their curse into a blessing. He calls for a solemn assembly of repentance and fasting. Only God could turn this around for them and Joel knows that and is hoping the people will allow God to bless them. He speaks of a day when God will restore all he has killed. When he does this he will do more than restore their physical blessing but he will pour out his Spirit upon all people. Sons and daughters will prophesy, old men will dream dreams and young men will see visions. God will pour his Spirit on the servant and the king, the men and the women. Everyone will be equal. Wonders will appear in the heavens and on the earth. Salvation will come to anyone who wants it. God cursed Tyre and Sidon, the cities of Philistia for taking all the silver and gold of God’s people and making idols of it. In return, God was going to sell their sons and daughters to the people of Judah and the people of Arabia as slaves. He told them to hammer their harvesting tools into weapons because they would have to fight in the Valley of Jehoshaphat - the Valley of Armageddon. It is known as the valley of decision because historically it was the valley where they had to choose as a nation who they would serve - God or the god of the Gentile nations they had just left. Judah would choose to follow the Lord and endure through all generations. God promised to forgive her sins and then they would be God’s people. Revelation is a book revealing who Jesus Christ is and what will happen soon. God sent an angel from heaven to present this end-time revelation to John while he was on the island of Patmos. The Romans had tried to kill John in many ways even putting him in a barrel of boiling oil but he would not die so they finally put him on this island for prisoners. Revelation is prophecy to the church and we are blessed every time we read it. It was a letter to the seven churches in the province of Asia. This message was from the seven Spirits in Isaiah 11:2 (the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord) that stand before his throne, the one who is, was and is still to come and from Jesus Christ. Jesus is the faithful witness to these things and the first to rise from the dead, and the ruler of all the kings of the world. God made us a kingdom of priests and invites us to see what is going to happen in the future. John was worshipping in the Spirit on the Sabbath when a voice like a trumpet blast spoke from behind him. It told him to write in a book everything he was about to see and send it to the seven churches in the cities of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. When John turned to see the one who spoke to him he saw a menorah with the Son of Man standing in the middle of the lamp stand. He was wearing a long robe with a gold sash. His hair was white and his eyes were flames of fire. His feet were like polished bronze and his voice like the voice of mighty ocean waves. His face was like the sun in brilliance. In his right hand were seven stars and a two-edged sword came from his mouth. John fell to his face in awe and adoration. The voice told him to write down everything because he was about to tell him the mystery of the seven stars and the seven lamp stands. The seven starts are the angels of the seven churches and the seven lamp stands are the seven churches. Lord, your glory is beyond our human understanding. Thank you that you reveal mysteries to us as humans. Help us to understand what you are trying to show us.