Sermon Central
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7 Stars And 7 Lampstands Series
Contributed by Chris Appleby on Nov 28, 2017 (message contributor)
Summary: Keep the faith, persevere to the end, because you’re already part of his eternal kingdom, already one of his priests able to come into his presence to worship him and to serve him.
The kingdom. Before you let persecution get to you, you need to remember that you also share the kingdom of God with all those who believe in Jesus Christ. It may seem like we’re in the minority at times but ours is God’s minority, ours is the kingdom of the one who is coming in the clouds to rule the kings of all the earth. So we can have confidence in who we are and in the Church we’re part of.
The patient endurance. How do you respond to opposition from the forces opposed to God in this world? Some people have tried violent action. Others have retreated into monasteries or exclusive communities of the faithful. But John’s answer is patient endurance where you are, standing firm in your faith in God. This is probably one of the hardest things to do, when God’s time scale seems so much longer than ours. I mean, I get impatient if the train’s running a couple of minutes late and here we are 2000 years later still waiting for God to act. But we mustn’t forget what Jesus told John’s disciples in our gospel reading last week. God is at work if we have the eyes to see it. He does keep his promises. All we have to do is to endure, to persevere, to keep running the race to the end.
The Content of the message
Finally let’s reflect briefly on the content of the message of this book. There’s a lot in this book, but let me suggest that it’s encapsulated in what we find here. Jesus is coming in the clouds. His appearance will be seen by everyone on earth. Those who love him will rejoice, while those opposed to him will tremble.
He was dead but now he lives forever and his death and resurrection have opened the way for us to be freed from our sins. He holds the keys to death and Hades.
He is the first and last. He was there at the beginning and he will be there to bring in the end of all things.
So keep the faith, persevere to the end, because you’re already part of his eternal kingdom, already one of his priests able to come into his presence to worship him and to serve him.
I hope as we work our way through these first few chapters of Revelation over the next few weeks that we’ll be encouraged to remain faithful, to resist the opposition we come up against and to serve the living God with all our energy and enthusiasm.
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