Patmos

THE LORD’S DAY

I …was on the island of Patmos … On the Lord’s Day

Sunset brought lonely nights. Sunrise brought oppressive days. Day rolled into day as time moved on … alone. Exile’s most severe dynamic might very well be the loneliness. It was designed to break the human spirit. The absence of community with John’s only family … his brothers and sisters in Christ … must have been striking for him.

And “The Lord’s Day” might very well have been the perfect way to express that.

“The Lord’s Day” is a perfect symbol to represent misplaced faith and even Rome’s misunderstanding of time.

“Lord and God” Domitian claimed his day. You see, “The Lord’s Day” was a Roman term used for the day of the emperor’s feast. This was when the emperor was praised for peace and justice. Other gods claimed their day too but there was only one “Lord’s Day” and that belonged to the “sovereign” … to Caesar. Yes indeed, Rome’s emperor even deemed himself as lord over time. He was the one to be present in your thoughts and prayers on this day.

But John was “in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day!”

And John knew to whom this day (and every day) really belonged. In a real sense Domitian’s “Lord’s Day” became a joke to the Christians. They did not find his peace very peaceful or his justice very just. Not under the rule of a tyrannical emperor that demanded to be worshiped.

But REAL peace and justice were not a joke and the “Lord’s Day” took on new meaning for them … the first day of the week, the day of resurrection; a day to begin a new cycle in which the sovereign God was first.

In Jesus Christ, even time is redeemed. Even time is orchestrated to serve God’s purposes. This gives the saint (who is enduring hardship) great confidence and reason to praise. Even the saints in Heaven found consolation in this (Rev. 6:9-11).

TAKE HEART MY FRIENDS, ALL TIME FALLS UNDER THE LORDSHIP OF CHRIST.

But poetry can often do what prose cannot and Becky is going to sing a song for us this morning that illustrates what John discovered and I speak of:

IN THE SPIRIT

I was in the Spirit,

“ON Patmos – ON the Lord’s Day” was designed to drive home the sovereignty of Roman rule. But it was trumped by a greater presence … “IN the Spirit”.

Listen my friends … WHEN THE SPIRIT COMES EVERYTHING IS RENEWED.

o Everything is re-framed!

o Everything re-centered!

o Everything consolidated under God’s reign!

With the resurrected Christ there is a NEW Lord who overrides the effects of exile and informs/transforms life itself.

And that was not only true for John. It is true for every saint today that feels isolated, overwhelmed, oppressed, pulled in every direction. "In the Spirit" changes the entire atmosphere.

Richard Wumbrand is the founder of Voice of the Martyrs and personally spent 14 years in Romanian Prisons. In one of his writings he says:

“One of the greatest problems for [the persecuted] is knowing how to fill up his solitude. We had absolutely no books. Not only no Bible, but no books. … We looked at the walls, that was all. Now normally a mind under such circumstances would go mad … I can tell you from my own experience how I avoided becoming mad … we started … with prayer.” (Voice of the Martyr’s magazine, Rev. Richard Wumbrand, founder who spent 14 years in Romanian Prisons.)