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The Last!

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Revelation 1:10-12 I was in the Spirit [rapt in His power] on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a great voice like the calling of a war trumpet,11 Saying, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last. Write promptly what you see (your vision) in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia—to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.12 Then I turned to see [whose was] the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands,…

Natasha Bedingfield penned the lyrics to the song, Unwritten. Here are the lyrics: I am unwritten – Can’t read my mind – I’m undefined – I’m just beginning – The pen’s in my hand – Ending unplanned. Staring at the blank page before you – Open up the dirty window – Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find. Reaching for something in the distance – So close you can almost taste it – Release your inhibitions – Feel the rain on your skin – No one else can feel it for you – Only you can let it in. No one else, no one else – Can speak the words on your lips – Drench yourself in words unspoken – Live your life with arms wide open – Today is where your book begins – The rest is still unwritten. I break tradition Sometimes my tries are outside the lines – We’ve been conditioned to not make mistakes – But I can’t live that way.

Only there are a couple of things I would disagree with: The pen’s in my hand? Mother Teresa once said: I am a little pencil in God’s hands. He does the thinking. He does the writing. He does everything and sometimes it is really hard because it is a broken pencil and He has to sharpen it a little more. In 2 Cor. 3:3 the Apostle Paul reminds us: You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. NIV

Ending unplanned? Your ending is planned. There’s a curious Scripture passage which states: And all the inhabitants of the earth will fall down in adoration and pay him homage, everyone whose name has not been recorded in the Book of Life of the Lamb that was slain [in sacrifice] from the foundation of the world. (Revelation 13:8 AMPC) Jesus was crucified before the foundation of the world? Your life has been planned. Take part in His Plans.

As Natasha reminds us: We’ve been conditioned to not make mistakes. Stop it. Drench yourself in His Words and release you inhibitions. Try outside the lines of your comfort zones and break your tradition. Quit living that way. Reach for the One in the “Distance” that according to Acts 17:27 really isn’t that far away. And don’t just open a dirty window (your limited vision) but open up the Door you have been commanded to open (Rev. 3:20). You are the one with the handle. He’s knocking on the other side waiting for you to make room for Him; to open the Door. Walk with Him in the Light of the Lampstands, or Menorahs of His Holy Spirit.

Dead Man Walking!

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Revelation 1:17-18 When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as if dead. But He laid His right hand on me and said, Do not be afraid! I am the First and the Last, 18 And the Ever-living One [I am living in the eternity of the eternities]. I died, but see, I am alive forevermore; and I possess the keys of death and Hades (the realm of the dead). AMPC

Candace Osmond, on her website, Grammarist discusses the popular idiom, “dead man walking,” stating: “Dead man walking” is a phrase we’ve all heard thrown around, from conversations to T.V., movies, and even books. But have you ever taken a second to think about where it could have possibly come from? The roots of the phrase “dead man walking” actually originated in the United States in the early 20th century. It was created in prisons to describe a man condemned to death who was being led to his execution. The guards would walk him down the corridor, and others would say, “dead man walking!”

The author of Revelation, the Apostle John, is believed to have been in his nineties when he was exiled by the Emperor Domitian to the Isle of Patmos. Interestingly, tradition states that Domitian attempted to boil John to death in a boiling cauldron of oil but John survived unscathed. As a result the Emperor banished him to exile on Patmos in which many of the prisoners were forced to work in the mines. All of these things taken together in a collective whole become even more interesting against the backdrop of John 21:19-23  He said this to indicate by what kind of death Peter would glorify God. And after this, He said to him, Follow Me! 20 But Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved, following—the one who also had leaned back on His breast at the supper and had said, Lord, who is it that is going to betray You? 21 When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, Lord, what about this man? 22 Jesus said to him, If I want him to stay (survive, live) until I come, what is that to you? [What concern is it of yours?] You follow Me! 23 So word went out among the brethren that this disciple was not going to die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not going to die, but, If I want him to stay (survive, live) till I come, what is that to you? AMPC

The Apostle had faced down the possibility of death on numerous occasions simply by choosing to be counted among the followers of Jesus. To follow Jesus was to embrace death. It was guilt by association and none was more intimate with Jesus than John. John was the only disciple courageous enough to stand at the foot of Jesus’ crucifixion and was no stranger to its inevitability. Which makes the events of Revelation 1 almost comical. John wasn’t afraid of death – he is in his nineties – yet when he encountered the Shofar-like Voice of Jesus “on Fire” – he fell at His feet as a dead man. To which Jesus replies to His friend: Do not be afraid! I am the First and the Last, 18 And the Ever-living One [I am living in the eternity of the eternities]. I died, but see, I am alive forevermore; and I possess the keys of death and Hades (the realm of the dead). Jesus had faced down the specter of death, was crucified, and raised from the dead. He wanted to remind John of the fact: I am alive forevermore! (and you will be too).

The Apostle Paul had written years earlier: For we who live are constantly [experiencing] being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake, that the [resurrection] life of Jesus also may be evidenced through our flesh which is liable to death.12 Thus death is actively at work in us, but [it is in order that our] life [may be actively at work] in you. 2 Cor. 4:11-12 AMPC

For all of the Apostles death was no stranger yet they did not “smell” like death. The Resurrection Life of Jesus only grew stronger in them as they repeatedly submitted to Jesus, the Spirit and the Word. Every time they yielded and obeyed; every time they submitted themselves to the will of God – they lived even more and those around them came to life too. Possibly this is the reason John was invited to “Come Up Here!” in Revelation 4:1. John reminds us in Revelation 12:11 that those who live with Jesus in eternity – those permitted to “Come Up Here!” – are those who “did not love and cling to life even when faced with death [holding their lives cheap till they had to die for their witnessing].” Revelation 12:11 AMPC

During this holy season remind yourself to not cling so tightly to this life but to embrace Jesus’ death in order to become His life to those around you. Look up and see the “great cloud of witnesses” in Hebrews 12:1 and listen for their exhortation: “For the reward of the lamb and for His Suffering!” This was the exhortation of Moravian missionaries who sold themselves into slavery, and packed their belongings in a coffin that would be used to bury them on the mission field. Join with the other dead men, women and children walking – into His Light and Love.