December 31 - Revelation 19-22: God Sets Everything Right in the End

Today’s Reading: Revelation 19-22

The Message

English Standard Version

Today is the last reading. What a journey! Tomorrow I will post a few thoughts on reading throughout the year. But today—let's finish this!

Thought to Guide Your Reading

The Curse is lifted and people who have set things right reign with God forever!

Summary in 100 Words or Less

A rider called "the Word of God" defeated the Beasts, the Dragon, and their followers.
A thousand years later, the Dragon and his army stood for one last, epic battle. God burned them all in a flash.
The world was judged by how they lived.
God moved into the neighborhood with His Children forever.
I, John, saw a bejeweled city without temple or sun. The curse was lifted!
Blessed are the ones who wash their robes! Drink of the Water of Life!
Warning: additions and subtractions to this book will be punished.
Come, Jesus! May His Grace be with you.

How Today’s Reading Contributes to the Gospel: God is Setting All Things Right

God set everything right in the end.

John offered solace to a group of people under great persecution. The Dragon and the Beasts symbolized Caesar and his rulers while their followers were people who wanted easier lives by going along with emperor worship. John wants Christians in Asia to know Caesar will not win in the end. God will defeat him. The epic battle, a thousand years in the making, turns out to be a slaughter of all evil while God loses not a single soldier. No group will ever defeat God. God will always defeat His Enemy.

God sets everything right in the end.

The followers of the Dragon and the Beasts are defeated alongside their icons. The world stands to hear God's Judgment. God judges the world based on how each person acts. The ones who set things right reign with Him forever. The ones who do not are thrown into the (metaphorical) lake of fire. Whether it is a literal lake or not is unknown—and unimportant.

God will set everything right in the end.

The vision of the new Jerusalem and the perfected Earth are so wonderful we can only hope they are as close to reality when the time comes. A city decked in jewels, with gold so abundant the roads are paved with it; a place where there are no places an enemy can attack; a city with no tears, pain, sickness, or sorrow. There is no temple or sun because they are unnecessary—God lives with His People and is their Light! The Tree of Life is back—the curse is lifted! The story starts anew, but this story will never have a serpent. God will set everything right and live with His People forever! Amen!

Come, Lord Jesus! Come!

December 30 - Revelation 12-18: The Dragon and the Beasts Mimic God with Disastrous Results

Today’s Reading: Revelation 12-18

The Message

English Standard Version

ONE DAY MORE!

Thought to Guide Your Reading

God's Enemy mimics God, gains a huge following, and is defeated handily.

Summary in 100 Words or Less

A Dragon attempted to kill a Woman giving birth to a Child. The Dragon was thrown to Earth and chased the Woman.
Two Beasts appeared and gave their followers a mark: 666.
The Lamb appeared for His Hour of Judgment between God's and the Beasts' followers.
Seven disasters would finish God's Wrath. God's Faithful Followers sang praises.
The Beasts' followers refused to honor God.
God's enemies were defeated in an instant at Armageddon.
I, John, learned the meaning of the visions. People will wage war against God's Chosen People but be defeated.
Babylon and all her followers will be defeated!

How Today’s Reading Contributes to the Gospel: God is Setting All Things Right

The Dragon and the Beasts mimic God.

The Dragon knocked stars out of the heavens. The Beasts had heads which were brought back from the dead. They all mimic the Lamb of God and the Angels of God. They perform magic tricks which lure their followers in. They try to look like God though they speak against Him in every way possible.
This vision shows an important way God's Enemy tries to defeat the world. If God's Enemy can appear to be like Him, He can take unsuspecting and ignorant followers into whoring and other terrible acts. It presents a difficult problem for us—how can we tell the difference in God's Messengers and the Beasts'? Those who are willing to publicly confess that Jesus is resurrected are God's Messengers. To John's readers, the designation is clear—Nero(n) Caesar is God's Enemy, the Antichrist. To us it is less clear but easily testable.

The Dragon and the Beasts amassed a large harem.

Since these people do not want to honor God, God's Enemy becomes very popular. So popular, in fact, that he can control the economy and blacklist people unwilling to get his mark. Many people will flock to join God's Enemy.

God defeats our Accuser.

What makes God's Enemy's defeat wonderful for God's Chosen People is that he is also our enemy. He stands before God telling how we do not set things right. God doesn't defeat him to squash a mosquito. God defeats His Enemy, the Accuser, to set our relationship right!

The Beasts' followers never wish to honor God.

Before we feel sympathy for the people who suffer the seven plagues, remember that each plague is meant to lead them to change and return to God. God does not want to punish them but they give Him no choice. He must have things set right and anyone against that will be punished.

How would it feel knowing you have no prosecuting attorney against you?