Faithful Friday Faves: Revelation

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi.

Ok.  Wow.  Nothing like a skim through the book of Revelation to shake up a quite Friday morning.  I remember reading through it as a teen, thinking all that imagery was so wild.

But now, given the condition of the world and what is in the newspapers every day, much of it seems, well, not so far fetched.  It doesn't take a great stretch of the imagination to see the possibilities of those things that John saw and wrote about in the vocabulary he had available to him at that time.

So, what to pick from the summation of things which were, which are, and which are to come?  The encouragements to the saints, the promises of glory, the warnings to the unrepentant, the wonderful praises and poetic worship?

There is no one verse that can adequately convey the essence of Revelation; I'm very grateful that that wasn't my objective.  Just one verse from the book that speaks to me at this moment.  And what caught my eye this morning was a phrase that I hadn't even underlined yet...but it is stated and then repeated in short order:

This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints - Rev. 13:8b

 This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God's commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.  - Rev. 14:12

Both passages are discussing the time of judgement and distress.  I'm not going to get into who exactly those saints will be at that moment; this isn't the forum to discuss the intricacies of pre-trib, post-trib, mid-trib, Rapture or no Rapture.  It is enough to note that there WILL be faithful followers around when judgement is falling and life is unraveling and  everything humans have considered safe and secure is shaking and crumbling.

For the saints of God, the instruction is patient endurance.

I don't think this is stick-your-head-in-the-sand endurance, or go-hide-in-the-hills endurance, it is maintaining your faith in God and not trusting the schemes of governments or charismatic leaders for deliverance.  Which will likely go against the prevailing 'wisdom' of the day.

Don't. Give. Up.