Theme Week – Thanks: Revelation 11
Old Testament: Daniel 1 & 2
Poetry: Psalm 114
Revelation is one of my favorite books in the Bible. It’s weird. It’s full of metaphor and symbolism. There is warfare, warriors, and a dragon defeated by a King upon a horse.
But you just read all this!
I want to end our week on thanks with the words of Revelation 11.
At the end, when the kingdom comes at the sounding of the last trumpet, the voices in heaven say “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” There is no wait, no delay, no other kingdoms. Every kingdom good or bad, across all of time and around the world, will now be the righteous, holy, eternal kingdom of God.
Of course the elders fall on their faces and worship God with thanks! Notice what they call the Lord God Almighty, “who is and who was”. No longer is the the one who is coming; he is HERE! He has taken power, he is going to reign. There will be judgment, yes, but it is also time for the saints, the prophets, and the God-fearers from every time and place to be rewarded.
My friends, you who desire to seek God through his word, grow through the word you read, and love God, his Christ, and your brothers and sisters because of what you read, you are in this promise. Today, I ask that you thank God not for what he has done or even what he is doing, but what he will do. In Revelation 11, we get to see a glimpse of the joy of those who love God because the God of all joy has arrived to be with his people.
Give thanks that God in the ages past created a good world, with great care, empowering humanity to carry his image.
Give thanks that God gives faith, hope, and love through Jesus Christ and salvation in his name, and that God takes the the brokenness and pain of life and turns it into something beautiful.
Give thanks that God will rule over the world, that God will destroy all wickedness, death, destruction, and pain, and that God will allow only righteousness, life, flourishing and joy to remain.
Give thanks to God today!
Reflection Questions
- How long did you spend in prayerful thanksgiving this week? Did you keep track of everything for which you gave thanks? How many different items did you think of?
- How many of the things for which you gave thanks were about what God has done in the past? What God is doing now? What about what God is going to do in the future?
-Jake Ballard
Jake Ballard is pastor at Timberland Bible Church. If you’d like to hear more from him, you can find Timberland on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/TimberlandBibleChurch/ ) and on Instagram (https://instagram.com/timberlandbiblechurch?igshid=t52xoq9esc7e). The church streams the Worship Gathering every Sunday at 10:30. Besides studying and teaching God’s word, he is raising three beautiful children with the love of his life, is a big nerd who likes fantasy (Pendragon), sci-fi (Star Wars) , and board games (Dungeons and Dragons). If you’d like to reach out to talk Bible, talk faith, or talk about your favorite nerdy things, look Jacob Ballard up on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/jacob.ballard.336 ) or email him at jakea.ballard@yahoo.com.
God bless you all!