June 24th, 2010 by Kristi Stephens

If you have missed posts from the Revelation series, you can find them all listed here.  To make sure you don’t miss any more, I hope you will consider subscribing in a reader or by email!

In chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation, our focus was entirely upon seven specific churches and both the commendations and criticism that Jesus Christ, the Lord of the Church, had for them.  As chapter four begins, we are met with a giant shift.

After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it.

Revelation 4:1-2

As we stated in The Last Warning to the Church, our focus will now entirely shift.  These opening verses move our gaze from earth to heaven, from the past/present to the future, from the church to Israel and God’s judgment on the unbelieving world.   The transition could not have been more dramatic for John.  The same trumpet-like voice of Jesus that he had described back in Revelation 1:10 is heard again, this time calling him to an almost indescribable scene.

The first thing he sees is a door standing open in heaven.  John hears the trumpet-like voice of His Savior, calling him into His presence.  Heaven opens, and John immediately finds himself before the throne.   I wonder what this was like.  Someday we will know.

Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. – 1 Corinthians 15:51-52

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. – 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

In Escape The Coming Night Dr. David Jeremiah notes,

“Twice in the book of Revelation we see an open door.  The first time is in Revelation 4:1 when John sees “a door standing open in heaven,” and the last time is in Revelation 19:11 when he “saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse.”  The first time the door opens, somebody goes up, and the next time, somebody comes down.” (86)

I am convinced that this shift in focus in Revelation from earth to heaven and John’s change in vantage point as he is called by the trumpet voice of Jesus Christ into God’s presence, allowing him to observe what will unfold during the tribulation period on the earth, parallels the rapture of the church.  We will hear His trumpet-like voice call to us.  We will be changed and will find ourselves in the Spirit before the very throne of God.

What a day that will be.  How I long to hear Him say, “come up here!”

There is an interesting perspective that many Christians have adopted.  Longing for the appearance of Jesus (2 Tim 4:8) is often equated with some kind of escapism – as though longing to be called home to heaven makes us useless, heartless, and unaware of the mission field God has placed around us on this earth in the here-and-now.  From my own life, I must say that the more I long to hear that call to my heavenly home, the more it compels me to examine how I live my daily life.  Am I taking advantage of every opportunity He has given me to share Truth, to show love, to lay up the only kind of treasure that will last? Jesus repeatedly warns His followers to watch, to wait, to not be caught unaware.  The apostles and the early church lived with a deep sense of anticipation for the return of Jesus – and it compelled them to turn their world upside down with the Truth of the Gospel.

This great hope is a purifying factor in our lives.

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.

1 John 3:1-3

May we long for His appearing.  May we purify ourselves as we yearn with great hope to hear that glorious call – may we live each day, each moment with urgency as we consider that our time may be short.

Maybe today… are you ready?

The amazon.com link in this post is an affiliate link. I would receive a small percentage of any sales resulting from this link.

June 23rd, 2010 by Kristi Stephens

I am ridiculously behind on book reviews.  Yes, you might object that I am also ridiculously behind on starting our look at Revelation 4… many apologies!  [Blame it on the pregnancy!]  Truth is, I used up all my writing time last night finishing a book that I just could not stop reading!  So, today I will tell you about it and perhaps you can be the one staying up late, laughing, highlighting, and reading pages and pages aloud to your husband who is valiantly trying to work on other things. ;)

Somehow Wilson manages to look at the existence of God, the nature of good and evil, the reality of hell, and other such “light” topics in a poetic, sarcastic, highly unusual, dizzying, and sometimes provocative way.  I really do feel like I am spinning a bit after stepping off a carnival ride… do not read this book looking for a matter-of-fact apologetic argument or list of data.  This reads more like a stream-of-consciousness rambling from a poet who loves science and philosophy but loves God more.  And I loved it!

My only objection would be that, although I loved the artistic way he wrote about it, I would have liked to see him more clearly explain that the evil and brokenness in this “beautiful but badly broken” world was not the way God intended His creation to be – the sin of humanity shattered the original beauty.  He does allude to this in many ways, but never really says that outright.

This book was worth the read just for his chapter on hell.  His description and explanation of the reality of hell was the most thought-provoking and beautifully stated I have ever read.  It is a beautiful bookend to the way Wilson begins the wild ride through this book – he pictures this world as a carnival with “darkness lurking in the corners,” and where we are all “carnies” along for the ride.  He stitches this thought together with this wonderful statement:

“Would you go to heaven?  There is a sign you must stand beside where the man with the cigarette takes the tickets.  There is a height you must achieve.

You must be wretched.  That is your ticket and your only qualification.  It is an unexclusive ride, but wild, with weather you’ve never seen, and deafening light.” (page 180)

I loved this dizzying trip as I tried desperately to keep up with Wilson’s train of thought.  It left me with a profound sense of my smallness – and at the same time a reminder of the great security we have when we come in our wretchedness to the Maker and Sustainer of our souls.

So, if you’re in for a wild ride (and are not offended when a Christian book veers far from the beaten and expected path)… this is worth a read.

And yes… eventually we will get to Revelation 4. ;)

**I was provided with a copy of this book in exchange for my review from Thomas Nelson Publishers. I am an amazon affiliate and would receive a small percentage of any sales resulting from the link above. The opinions expressed in this review are my unbiased thoughts as in keeping with my disclosure policy.

June 22nd, 2010 by Kristi Stephens

If you’ve been following along with our posts over at Scripture Dig for the past couple of weeks, I hope that you’ve come away with a better understanding of some of the study resources readily available to us over the internet!  One of our readers had mentioned that she uses e-sword on her computer, so last night I decided to download it and try it out.

E-sword is a free program that you must download onto your computer.  It takes a while to download as it comes in various components that you can pick individually after the initial download.  The majority of the resources are free, so without spending any money you can end up with a decent system including maps, dictionaries, Strongs concordance, and the entire KJV text linked with Strongs numbers.  Unfortunately the Bible translations that I wanted to add all required payment to download, and considering that I can access them for free on Bible Gateway, I passed on that!  However, there are several quality Bible resources that I am considering purchasing and adding, as the $10 or $20 they are charging is much less than what it would cost to purchase in book form.  I also like that e-sword has a built-in verse memory system – you can even keep track of prayer requests!

E-sword is only one of many resources available online.  For more information, check out this listing of links and resources from Scripture Dig, and I also have some additional resources on my great links page.

Tomorrow we will dig into Revelation 4 – and I hope that you will use these tools and others to dig in on your own in the meantime!  Do you have a favorite online Bible study resource to share?

[There is also a short survey up over at Scripture Dig today - come answer 6 short questions and give us some feedback?] :)

June 18th, 2010 by Kristi Stephens

Be sure to check out the blog auction over at Celebrate Every Day – some wonderful stuff up for grabs!  All proceeds will be going into an adoption fund for my friend Sandra and her family – help bring Joel home to his forever family!

Yesterday I received an email update from Becky McDonald (president of Women at Risk, Int’l) about the Wells for Widows project!  If you donated through their site I’m guessing you already got this email, but I wanted to catch everyone up on what has been going on!  Praise the Lord for His provision through His people – thank you again to so many of you who participated!  If this project has struck your heart, Becky explains below that there will be ongoing ways to help!

Dear Widow Well-doers:

How do you like your new name?  Guess what…we have funding for 60 wells! Oh me of little faith!  I was praying for 5 and you all came through!  This month they drilled 20 immediately and with the rains are proceeding slowly with the others.

Below are some pictures of the first widow family to receive a well.  This is the village my mom first taught Bible Studies in and the widow that she saw come to Christ.  These people in the picture are that widow’s family.  There are others “standing around” to watch the wonder of clean water coming from the earth.  What you will see is a prayer meeting that is held at the drilling of each well, so that the village knows beyond a shadow of a doubt who gets the credit…The Living Water Himself…Jesus Christ.

In one picture you see them praying, in another drilling, and in another you see welding.  This is a new thing being done at each widows well so that no one can steal the well.  They weld some sort of lock on it and then attach it to 4 metal legs into cement in the ground.  Go figure!  Well…whatever it takes to protect my tiny widows.  ALSO, we are employing some very very happy well drillers.  60 wells is more than a well driller does in years!  It is good to know that those muslim and hindu well drillers have to stand there and listen to the prayer meeting giving credit to the True and Living God!  I know from long experience that it is exactly this kind of testimony that works on the heart of the lost.

Pray for every widow but then pray for the driller that drilled her well to see in her a living proof like nothing they have ever witnessed.  Bengalis respect elderly.  Widows are unprotected, so they need our help…but their age matters in a good way.   The testimony to the village of the Christian God caring for the widows and praying to the Living Water is a powerful object lesson to mostly illiterate people.

Below in the first picture my partner (the one who is behind all this in the yellow t-shirt) stands with a family member who he wants us to pray for.  He is 75 and not a believer.  He wants this well to be the beginning of him sharing Christ with him before he dies.  By the way, Bengalis are like Americans were 100 years ago…they think a stoic face is important for a picture.  Notice the smile on the face of the woman when the water comes forth in the third picture.  For you men that helped lift our widows (we love the “few good men” that flock to our aide)….note the welding gear.

Now I am collecting micro-loans for these same widows. I am told that $330 dollars buys a cow, a goat and a start up of rice cake making.  We have helped them have clean water.  Now I want to give them a way to eat.  I can’t imagine being a widow and wanting a cow, a goat and to make rice cakes…but then…I am no widow, I am in the land of the free and I have a roof over my head and food on my table.

This little “micro-loan” will be distributed and monitored by the same bible study group to 75 widows as well as in the village of Chunati where WAR built a sewing academy that employs women to teach them sewing.  The younger women sew, but the older widows need the other plan.  So, if you are up to the task……..if you would like to see your widow with a mini-business to support herself from home…join me. I guess we started something didn’t we?  What a hoot.  Let me know if you are interested in going one more step with me and my widows….I hope to bring you all pictures in January when I am out there for the Sewing Academy Dedication.

I love my widow well-doers…that’s you!  God bless and keep you ever so close and pour out his bounty on you in return either here on this earth or in heaven when you get to stand by your “sister in Christ” across the ocean before the Living Water Himself.

Becky McDonald
President
Women At Risk, International
becky@warinternational.org
www.warinternational.org
(616) 855-0796