Scripture
Look! I have been standing at the door and I am constantly knocking. If anyone hears Me calling him and opens the door, I will come in and fellowship with him and he with Me.
~Revelations 3:20, LNT
Quote
Loving Jesus, gentle Lamb, in Thy gracious hands I am; Make me, Savior, what Thou art, live Thyself within my heart.
~Charles Wesley
My only living Church Mom is 91 and lives in New Orleans. She called me a couple of weeks ago. When I went down to see her last summer, she gave me all her old bibles and books. The Living New Testament was among them. My goal was to finish reading it on Hannah’s birthday and so Saturday morning I read most of the REVELATION of Jesus Christ which is practically always the last book I read when reading through the bible. I don’t understand a lot of the Revelation but there are a few things that I do understand and I am always encouraged to reread this book. The Reforms don’t approve of Evangelicals using Revelation 3:20 in presenting the gospel, but neither do they believe in presenting the gospel. They do not believe you can invite Jesus into your heart. I wouldn’t believe it either if it wasn’t in the word of God and had He not come in to my heart when I believed. When William Holman Hunt painted the LIGHT OF THE WORLD, people began to notice that there was no knob on the outside of the door. Jesus is standing at the door knocking and calling–this is the Divine side, our part is to hear and to open. There is always a Divine side and a human side: the incarnation is proof. This does not distract from the sovereignty of God; He chose to make it this way. He is God, and He can do as He pleases.
By nature, Jesus is gentle and meek. I do know that He expressed anger on more than one occasion, and he did some pushing and shoving when He cleansed the Temple but other than this one experience, we never see Jesus pushing and shoving. He is not an intruder; He does not invade–He simply knocks and awaits our invitation. My goal in life is to please Jesus by obeying His commandments. My desire to do so increases with age but I have to admit, there have been times of rebellion. My Master has the power and the judicial right condemn me to hell if He so pleases, but He chooses rather to show me mercy and compassion; for which I am grateful. Ah, He has the power to push and shove but He has never used that approach with me. He gently nudges me toward the right path. He has even allowed me to do it my way and fail. This is just one of many reasons I love Jesus.
My Synopsis of Revelation
- Jesus is worthy of our worship and praise.
- Things may get tough before history comes to a close but in the end, Jesus wins!
- The World System is in rebellion against Christ.
- The World System will always persecute the Church: we should expect it.
- Martyrs are special.
- Heaven is a busy place. A lot of activity there and it is centered around the Throne and Christ the Lamb.
- I definitely will not get a tattoo…He [the Antichrist] required everyone– great and small, rich or poor, slave or free–to be tattooed with a certain mark on the right hand or on the forehead. [Revelation 13:16, LNT] If I had one, I would be getting it off pronto which is French for ASAP. If you have one on your forehead or lower arm, there is no hope for you. Just kidding about the ‘No Hope’ part but I am not kidding about getting them off ASAP.
