He Reigns
Bible reading
13 Then one of the elders asked me, ‘These in white robes – who are they, and where did they come from?’
14 I answered, ‘Sir, you know.’
And he said, ‘These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15 Therefore,‘they are before the throne of God
and serve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne
will shelter them with his presence.
16 “Never again will they hunger;
never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat down on them,”nor any scorching heat.
– Revelation 7:13-16 (NIVUK)
Devotional
What would you do to never feel hungry or thirsty again? For most of us in Portugal that question probably doesn’t motivate us very much. We’re used to being able to feed ourselves and quench our thirst whenever we want. But imagine you lived in a developing country and you had no food or access to clean water. You spend your days laying on the floor trying not to think about how hungry you are or how desperate you are for even a small drop of water.
This is the image John wants us to understand while he’s still standing in the throne room with the great multitude. This multitude isn’t praising and worshiping Jesus because they are slaves, they are praising him because they are thankful, overwhelmingly thankful. They have felt the pain of this world, they worked and struggled under extreme pressure, persecution and cruel conditions. But now here they are in heaven. They didn’t change one job for another, they have left one life for another! They can sing because they are full, they can rejoice because their thirst has been quenched. They can do this for hours because the light they have doesn’t come from the burning sun but from the Lamb.
You and I may never have to struggle with physical hunger or thirst (or maybe we will, we don’t know) but what we often suffer from is just as deadly. We suffer from spiritual hunger and thirst. We’ve walked far away from the bread of life and the living water and now we’re in trouble. But the same promise for those who have struggled with physical starvation and thirst, from persecution and hatred is held out for us. The source of life is Jesus. He wants to feed us and refresh our soul. He wants to be our shelter from the heat of stress and pressure that we face here.
New songs of praise are written every day out of a grateful heart from those who have faced death and suffering and now find themselves living in the presence of God. Perhaps today we could join them!
– 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.