He Reigns
Bible reading
8 A second angel followed and said, ‘ “Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great,” which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.’
– Revelation 14:8-13 (NIVUK)
9 A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: ‘If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, 10 they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulphur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.’ 12 This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus.
13 Then I heard a voice from heaven say, ‘Write this: blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’
Devotional
I used to play the piano, in fact, I took lessons for 10 years. Every week for those 10 years I had the same task – to play scales. Over and over again in different ways and with different rhythms I would practice scales. Ask any child who has had to practice scales if they enjoy it, and they will tell you, “No”. But ask every piano teacher if it’s an essential habit, and they will answer “yes”. Scales are the foundation of music, if you can play your scales well, you can play almost anything.
So it is with patient endurance. This is the third time that John has told his readers that they will need to practice patient endurance if they are going to make it through to the end. This is the foundation of running our race and ending well. When things get difficult, when persecution comes, when wrong seems right and right seems wrong and we don’t understand everything that’s going on, we need patient endurance.
Patience is needed to understand what is happening and to remain calm through it. Endurance is needed because we will be tempted to give up when things get difficult. As followers of Jesus, we must remain faithful to Jesus and keep his commands. There will be plenty of opportunities to turn our backs on Jesus and to take an apparently easier path, but do not be fooled. The way to God and eternal life is only by remaining faithful to Jesus through patient endurance.
What has your day been like? What has your week or month been like? Perhaps it has been really difficult to keep your commitment to Jesus, to stand firm and to not compromise. Well, today is a new day. The Holy Spirit is near and will grant you peace as you ask for it and as you need it. Your faithfulness is not in vain and what you do for Jesus, will never be forgotten.
– Connie Main Duarte
This devotional is part of a series that helps us navigate the texts of the book of Revelation with fresh eyes. A new devotional every Saturday.
These devotionals are available in Portuguese and in English.