5/30/2023

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE READING:

“I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. Then I was told, ‘You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.’” (Revelation 10.10-11)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

It would be foolish to ask, “Have you ever been sick to your stomach?” We all have. And then most are confronted with “It must have been something you ate!” For the most part, it probably was something that we ate. Sometimes, it was a virus that was not food-borne. So, this “upset stomach” feeling is something we all can relate to. When something disgusts us, we might say “That really makes me sick” or “That turns my stomach” or “I can’t stomach the thought of it.” It seems those are identities that have been around for a very long time. It doesn’t always have to be physical. It can be emotional, psychological, spiritual or prophetic. The point is “How do we respond to it?” Do we take medicine, seek a doctor’s visit, turn to the internet for the most convenient solution or call “Dr. Mom”? We can choose to do nothing and bear through it until “it passes.” We can take measures for soothing and fostering a healing including a time of rest until “it passes” or we feel strong enough to do what is needed. We can just “grin and bear it” and work our way through it. It is within the context of worship and service that we can embrace this sense of working through tough times, bad news or the unknown ahead and around the corner.

I am not speaking of a “works righteousness” attitude, aptitude and altitude. I am speaking of accepting what is bad, wrong and/or evil and pressing forward know what is good, right and holy. Just as John felt faint and ill at the consumption of all that had been shown, revealed and given to him, we can relate. We must also relate to the command which he received: “You still have work to do.” Just because we are sick and tired of the way things are in the world doesn’t mean we surrender our calling to be God’s people in the world. We are called to present, portray and promote God’s will, God’s perspective and God’s call over our lives and through our lives for the sake of others. These are the “righteous works” that are rooted in our decision to remain “right with God” in spite of everything else. Here John was caught up in the “heavens” to receive a word from the resurrected Christ. It was not given to him as a bonus for being a “good and faithful servant.” It wasn’t intended to be an honor or reward or positive affirmation of “good work or good intentions.” It was given to him to be delivered back into the world so that the truth of “what comes next” would be heard. God said to Ezekiel, “I am telling you this now so that you will not be surprised when it happens. Instead you will say ‘This is the work of God.’” Jesus told His disciples on that Passover feast night, “I am telling you this now so that you will not be surprise when it happens. Then you will know that God’s word has been fulfilled.” So, now it is being told to John for the same reason and purpose. He is to tell everyone he can of what he has seen, been told and commanded to declared for the sake of those who will believe it, receive it and conceive of the way their lives should go “in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, for richer for poorer till death us do part.” Fitting, isn’t it, that the true climax of this Revelation to John is a wedding. In the gospel of John, the first miracle attributed to Jesus was “turning water into wine” at the wedding in Cana. Of course, Jesus reminded His mother who made the request of Him for the sake of her friends to “take care of this problem,” saying “Woman, you know that My time has not yet come.” For John, that time was approaching but had not yet come when the Bridegroom, Jesus Christ, would come to take His Bride, the Church, to dwell with Him forever in His Father’s House. It was in that House Jesus had prepared a place for her (that is, us). It came with a price of redemption to claim her as His own. It was the price of His surrendering both body and spirit to the taste of death. It was as bitter as the sponge dipped in wine vinegar lifted to His lips on the “tip of the spear” when He spoke out “I thirst.” I have no doubt that bitter drink, like the bitter herbs sampled at the Passover meal the night before, upset His stomach. Regardless, He pressed on. He could not be complacent. He was driven by the urgency of the moment and call on His life. Those next seventy-two hours in Jesus’ life were prophetic, fulfilling and made complete the promise of God to redeem His people from the depth of their despair rooted in sin. They could not be free by any others means than to be covered by the Blood of the Lamb who was slain. It might have even made God’s stomach upset as He took it all in; but He pressed forward because He is our God and we are His people.

So, we too much press on and do the work given and revealed to us. God’s will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.

A PRAYER FOR TODAY:

You are our God and we shall be Your people in spirit and in truth. Continue to dwell among us. Let the revelation by Your Holy Spirit inspire us to greater service in a more refined identity. We do not live as ourselves for ourselves. Rather, we live in Christ as He lives in us. We declare it with all the elders and angels in Heaven, saying “Holy, holy, holy is He who was and is and is to come.” In Jesus’ name we live, serve and pray. AMEN.