Lord's Day Devotion - They Stayed True

 

What is the feeling you get when you read Revelation chapter 6?  I feel my joints begin to go weak.  Seal after seal is broken on the scroll that only the Lamb was found worthy to open.  Each time another seal is opened, severe judgement is meted out.  It's not something I like to see or hear about though.

When the seventh seal is reached and opened in Revelation 8, there is ominous silence in heaven for about half an hour.  With each trumpet blast - well, let's not open this up just yet.  Just know worse and worse things happen and I think you all get the picture.  I mention it because, going back to the fifth seal in Revelation 6:9-11, there is something very curious that happens.

There is a pause, a withholding as it were, and a staying of the hand of judgement to be poured out.  John shows us the glimpse of martyrs who had been...

 "slain because of the Word of God and the testimony they had maintained" (v.9).

They wanted to know when they would be avenged.  They were told

 "to wait a little longer" (v. 11).

These men and women had been overcomers to the point of death.  They had found courage to keep their faith in the face of persecution and pain and death.  They had stared it all in the face but were willing to be that testimony for Jesus until the very end.  These are the people whose faith we can definitely follow (see Hebrews 13:7).  They had stayed true to their Sovereign Lord whom they declared

 "holy and true" (v 10). 

 Brothers and sisters-in-Christ, I also feel overawed thinking of their faith and courage.  They had Jesus, so do I.  I pray I can stand up to this test of faith too.

I wonder if they had turned their eyes to the cross of Christ - to Christ, the one who went through  all the suffering to redeem their souls and ours.  His was the supreme example of staying true.  Jesus did this for the "whosoever" of the world, for all time.

Jesus suffered God's wrath for our sakes; for our sins' punishment.  As Jesus followers, we will be spared all the end time vengeance, as well as eternity in Hell.  I feel the relief this knowledge brings yet also realize if I'm called to suffer at the hands of mankind who hate the name of Jesus, that I hope I look to Christ on the cross and remember what He endured as well as recalling those martyrs who went before us - following their faith and courage realizing we too, can have this in Christ.

I'm not sure how you all feel about it should you find yourself in such shoes.  I feel that faintness and weakness in my bones.  Yet, we can also remember that we will be safely under that heavenly altar with our fellow servants.  There is some comfort for those who stay true.  God keeps us safely.

Let us give heartfelt praise and thanksgiving to our Savior Jesus this Lord's Day as we partake of the broken bread and drink from the cup of wine in remembrance of Jesus' death and ressurrection.  Indeed, He is the Lamb of God who is worthy of all praise, honor and glory for all He has done and for staying true for us.

Give thanks with a grateful heart in Jesus' name.

                                           ~ERC  August 2023~

Based on Revelation 6:9-11 NIV.

Sing, Christ Our Hope in Life and Death, along with keith and kristyn Getty.