Living Faith Devotional 65
5/19 – 5/25
In 2022 this Living Faith Devotional guided us to begin our journey through the entire Bible. By reading the final chapters from Revelation this past week, we have finished our journey through God’s epic narrative of hope, the story of God. Congratulations to those who read Genesis through Revelation! This week we are turning our focus to the Day of Pentecost, the birth of the Church, and the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit. For the earliest Christians celebrating Easter and the Day of Pentecost were the two most significant celebrations of the year. How will you celebrate the Day of Pentecost so that it is set apart from other days?
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Living Faith Devotional 64
5/12 – 5/18
This week we will finish reading the last book of the Bible, The Revelation to John. The unveiling John received from the Lord on the island of Patmos reminds us that the most powerful and wealthy kingdoms and nations of the earth can eventually become like Babylon, turning away from the will and purposes of God. Churches and individual Christians can also be led astray, or simply drift away from the Lord. Much like the deception of the serpent in Genesis 3, the Satan and evil forces aligned in opposition to God can lead people astray towards a path of destruction, devastation, and death. Yet the Lord will ultimately conquer the evil and brokenness of the world, making all things new (Rev. 21:5). John describes the newness of everything as “a new heaven and a new earth” where God will be among people forever (John 21:1 NRSV). The problems plaguing humanity and creation because of evil and sin will be no more. God “will wipe every tear from our eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more” (Rev. 21:4-5 NRSV). Hallelujah!
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Living Faith Devotional 63
5/5 – 5/11
In the portions of The Revelation to John that we will read this week, chapters 15 and 16 include plagues being poured out upon the Roman Empire like those the Egyptians experienced during Moses’ campaign on behalf of God to free the Hebrews from slavery (Exodus 5:1). Chapter 17 describes the Roman Empire as a version of Babylon, a nation living in rebellion against God. The message of chapter 18 is of the fall of the kingdoms and ways of the world that Rome represented at the time of John’s prophecy. Chapter 19 describes Jesus and his army conquering evil and those living in opposition to the Lord. With the fall of Babylon, “a great multitude in heaven” proclaim “our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory” (Rev. 19:1-7a NIV). Their response should also be our response to the “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Rev. 19:16 NIV). Our God has reigned in the past, He is the ultimate ruler now, and the Lord will reign forever. Through Jesus God will defeat the powers of evil and those who make themselves foes of the Lord. Let us rejoice in the victory that was accomplished on the cross at Calvary in the past, as well as the victory that will come in the future with Jesus’ return.
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Living Faith Devotional 62
4/28 – 5/4
As we continue our journey reading and studying the final book of The Bible, The Revelation to John, the symbolism this week within John’s prophetic and apocalyptic message includes the Church as witnesses in chapter 11, a woman in chapter 12 who represents Mary, Israel, and the people of God, with a description of a “dragon” that represents the forces of evil and Satan. In Revelation 13 John describes beasts using imagery that seems to point towards the Roman Empire, Emperor Nero, and those who worshipped the ways of the empire and its’ emperor during the time of the prophet’s ministry in the first century. Biblical scholars note that the languages of the first century Roman Empire — Greek, Latin, Aramaic, and Hebrew—had numeric equivalents for the letters. Regarding “the number of a person” described as “the beast” in Revelation 13:18, biblical scholars believe that it is highly likely to be “Nero Caesar,” the ruler of the empire who persecuted Christians, including having the apostles Peter and Paul executed for their faith in Christ Jesus. According to the study notes in The New Interpreter’s Study Bible, “John uses Old Testament imagery to represent the church as God’s victorious army” in chapter 14. And the Christian prophet utilizes exodus motifs most thoroughly in chapters 15 and 16, including the Church singing “the song of Moses…and the song of the Lamb” (Revelation 15:3 NRSV).
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Living Faith Devotional 61
Earlier this month, this devotional began guiding us to read and study the final book of The Bible, The Revelation to John. In Revelation, a Christian prophet named John shares a God-given unveiling that he experienced while worshiping on the island of Patmos. The revelation John received from the Lord and wrote in a letter to seven churches in Asia Minor includes three themes according to Judith L. Kovacs, the author of The Revelation to John commentary in The New Interpreter’s Bible One Volume Commentary. Those themes are:
1) In…the divine throne room in heaven John glimpses the sure reality of God’s kingship over all…but hidden on earth—where it is obscured by the activity of Satan and the weakness of God’s earthly witnesses. The letter to the churches concludes with the earth becoming like heaven after the Lord creates a “new heaven and a new earth” (21:1), where God’s kingship is universally recognized.
2) The powers of evil are involved in a life-or-death struggle with the Lamb (Jesus).
The challenge addressed to the seven churches is to take sides…as part of the army of the Lamb.
3) John’s apocalypse is an invitation to worship the only true God and a strong warning against false worship.
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Living Faith Devotional 60
4/14 – 4/20
Last week this devotional guided us to begin reading and studying the final book of The Bible,
The Revelation to John. If you watched the Bible Project videos you were informed that this book of The Bible does not provide a secret predictive code about the end of the world, but it does use meaningful images from the Old Testament within the apocalyptic portions of it. In Revelation a first century Christian prophet named John, who was probably not one of the twelve apostles of Christ, shared symbolic God-given visions about heaven, earth, the church, the Roman Empire, Jesus’ return, and the redemption of the world, that was given to him while worshiping on the island of Patmos where he was imprisoned for his testimony about Jesus and the gospel of Christ (Revelation 1:9-11). Through the work of the Holy Spirit, the Lord guided John to “write in a book what” he saw, “and send it to…seven churches” in Asia Minor (Revelation 1:11 NRSV). At the beginning of John’s letter to the churches he explained that God gave him a “revelation {unveiling}…to show Jesus’ servants what must soon take place” (Revelation 1:1 NRSV). The letters within the book were addressed to Christians during a season of suffering and persecution, with a desire to motivate the hearers and readers of it to be faithful and continue worshiping Jesus Christ during greater hardships that were soon to come. Although portions of the book do not sound or seem hopeful, it ends with the Lord “making all things new,” including “a new heaven and a new earth” where he will dwell with us like he intended from the time of the Garden of Eden (Revelation 21:5, 21:1 NRSV). Although it was written to churches of the first century, parts of John’s message within the book apply to us as well. When we face hardships or persecution, will we remain faithful as disciples of Christ and continue worshiping the Lord, or compromise?
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Living Faith Devotional 59
4/7 – 4/13
During the past few years, the Living Faith Devotional has taken us on a journey through reading and studying most of the books of The Bible. Our trek has included the Old Testament, all four of the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John), the book of Acts, the New Testament letters attributed to the apostle Paul, and the other New Testament letters up through Jude. This week we will begin reading and studying the final book of The Bible, Revelation.
The book of Revelation, also known as The Revelation of John, is a combination of being a letter written to churches in seven different locations in Asia Minor, prophetic messages from God shared through a first century Christian prophet named John, and apocalyptic literature. Although it may seem strange and unfamiliar to us, apocalyptic literature was popular during the first century. The Greek word apokalypses in Revelation 1:1 means “unveiling,” and is translated as the English word “revelation.” Apocalyptic literature uses symbolism to help unveil truth about the world. John’s Revelation was addressed to Christians experiencing persecution and suffering, with a desire to motivate the hearers and readers of it to be faithful during their season of crisis. John’s message revealed that things were going to progress from bad to worse for the churches before Christ’s return. The end of Revelation reveals that with Jesus’ return there will be redemption for the world as all things are made new.
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Living Faith Devotional 58
According to John Mark, the gospel writer, on the first Easter morning Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome took spices to the tomb where Jesus was buried (Mark 16:1). They were expecting to find his lifeless body still in the tomb, because they saw him die on the Roman cross a few days earlier. Yet perhaps they forgot what Jesus had said about himself on three different occasions, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise” (Mark 9:31 NIV). When the ladies entered Jesus’ tomb, they met an angel of the Lord (Mark 16:5). The messenger of God told them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you” (Mark 16:6-7 NRSV). Jesus had conquered death and sin and was back to life just as he had foretold on multiple occasions. He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!
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Living Faith Devotional 57
Holy Week 3/24 – 3/30
During this special time each year, known as Holy Week, Christians throughout the world remember. Yes, we remember Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem as the crowd of Israelites cheered and welcomed the one who was sent by God to save us (Mark 11:9; John 3:17). We remember the events of the last week of Jesus’ life before his resurrection, including the Lord’s Supper. During that special meal with the disciples, which itself was an annual way for the Jewish people to remember their identity as God’s people, Jesus took the bread and a cup of wine as part of a previous way of remembering and gave them a new meaning as he revealed that his body and blood were going to be offered as a sacrifice for the people of the world for the forgiveness of sins. As we partake in the Lord’s Supper today, nearly two thousand years after Jesus shared the meal with his disciples, we remember that God established a new covenant with the people of the world, Jews and Gentiles, in and through his Son (Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20). During Holy Week we remember that Judas betrayed Jesus, which causes us to wonder how we too have betrayed the God revealed through Christ our Lord. After being betrayed he then was arrested by Roman soldiers, which caused the disciples to scatter and abandon him. We remember that later that night Peter repeatedly denied that he knew Christ. What about us? In what ways do we deny our Lord and Savior? We remember that it was first century religious leaders and a representative of the Roman government who put the author of life on trial. Yet when Pontius Pilate tried to extend mercy to Jesus a crowd of people in Jerusalem cried out for the “King of the Jews” to be crucified (Mark 15:6-15). We remember that after being tortured by the soldiers, Jesus experienced an excruciating death upon a Roman cross (Mark 16:15-37). Believes then placed the lifeless body of Jesus into a borrowed tomb (Mark 15:42-47). And we remember that that was not the end of the story, but it was the end of Holy Week.
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Living Faith Devotional 56
3/17 – 3/23
As we continue reading and studying The Gospel According to Mark, this week we move into the section of John Mark’s version of the good news of Christ with Jesus’ ministry of miraculously healing, casting out demons, and teaching continuing. In the chapters and verses we will also read the account of Peter declaring that Jesus is the long awaited Messiah, the three occasions of Jesus predicting his death and resurrection, as well as the glory of God being revealed in and through Christ on a mountain. Also in this section of the gospel, the invitation to discipleship that had been shared on the Sea of Galilee to “come follow me and I will send you out to fish for people” at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry transitions to “whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Mark 1:17; 8:34 NIV).
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