Revelations 22:12-21

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Read Revelations 22:12-21 Verses for meditation: Revelations 22:12-13, 16, 20-21 ESV: 12 "Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” 16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” 20 He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! 21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen. Reflect How does it feel to be reading the very last few verses of the bible? What do the proclamations, the last few of them, say about Christ? Come, Lord Jesus! Does this really express our desire? How does the greatest book end, and on what note? But is this really the end? Relate With mixed feelings, I'm writing this last devotion based on the final ten verses of the greatest book, the bible. What a journe...
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Mk.12:41 to 13.37

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READ: Mk.12.41 to 13.37

FOCUS: Mk.13.35-37

REFLECT: 

Jesus gathers up all the intervening time between His first and second comings, and divides it into four watches—one long night of the world's sin—and He says, You don't know (and, I think He implies, I don't know ) whether the coming is to be early in that time or in the middle of it, or three-quarters of the way through, or clearly at the end. No one knows. I don't know; you don't know. But it is like a man going on a journey (here He likens it to His own going away) who gives his servants work to do, and he expects them to do it. He sets a doorkeeper to watch.

What is he to watch for? Is he to watch for the master's return? That is the way this is usually interpreted. But that is not it, for he is to start watching as soon as the master leaves. He knows the master will not be back right away. What then is he to watch for? He is to watch so that no one can deceive him and gain entrance into the house,  wreck, ruin and rob all that the master has. So Jesus' word is, Be alert; don't go to sleep; watch! There are temptations and pressures that will assault you to make you think that it is all a lie, to make you give up and stop living like a Christian, stop walking in faith, stop believing the truth of God. Watch out for that. In the meantime, do your work. Don't let anything turn you aside. Don't let anything derail you from being what God wants you to be in this day and age. This is the way you watch. We are not to be looking up into the sky all the time, waiting for His coming. That will happen when He is ready. We are to watch so that we are not deceived.

RELATE:

I have been disturbed at how many Christians seem to have fallen away. I look back across many years of ministry, and I see men whom I would have sworn were solid, tremendously committed, faithful, Bible-teaching Christians but who are now denying their faith and have turned aside. On every side, seemingly, this increases—people falling off into immorality and iniquity, turning away from their faith, saying, in effect, they no longer believe the Lord or the Bible. It is this our Lord is warning against.

Therefore, He says that we are to keep awake. Do not believe all the secular voices that tell us the world will go on forever as it is now. Don't believe the other voices that tell us there is no God, so we can live as we please, or that if God exists, He will never judge us. Don't believe the voices that whisper to us constantly and try to turn us away from our faith. With one sharp, arresting, ringing word of command, Jesus ends his message: Watch!

REST:

Lord, strengthen me and help me to stay alert, that I may endure to the end, that I may be faithful unto death, that I too may join in that great day with those who are given the crown of life. Amen.

Do we need to wake up and smell the dangers of complacency and carelessness in our daily walk with God? Why must we be watchful, alert, and above all prayerful?


TAN TEE KHOON

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