Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

In John’s vision at the beginning of Revelation, Jesus appears in royal robes with a sword in his mouth. He had messages for seven churches, located in ancient Asia. That’s where western Turkey is today.

Jesus praises each church for its good deeds. Then, like using the sword in his mouth, he delivers warnings. 

The first church is Ephesus. Jesus commended them for hard work, endurance in hardship, and for rejecting false apostles. Then he delivered this warning: You have forsaken your first love. Repent, or I will remove your lampstand (Rev 2:4-5). 

It’s an odd statement, You have forsaken your first love. Is that like getting a divorce? Or is Jesus complaining that they no longer have the intensity and focus of their first love for him?  

“First love” may have two meanings. One is first in time, like a Hollywood coming-of-age story where a young couple meet and fall madly in love. The other meaning of first love is, You’ve changed your priorities. What you should love first and most, you’ve bumped to second place. You’re messing up! 

So which “first love” does Jesus mean? 

I don’t think he is calling Ephesus back to the early intensity of a Hollywood-type romance. When I was young in the faith, I was in love with Jesus for a few wonderful months. I was full of spiritual intensity and warm feelings, in love with God, rejoicing in his presence. 

Do you think I created that experience by meditating and praying and working for God? Or was my experience of love a gift God gave me to draw me further into relationship with him? 

Is a mature marriage marked by the same intense feelings as first love? Of course not. For most of us the early passion is replaced by a lifetime of trust and goodwill, a more settled state of affairs.

I think Jesus’ criticism of Ephesus is that, in the long hard work of following him, they misplaced their priorities and diluted their affections. They worked hard for Jesus, but they forgot to cultivate love for him. 

I have a similar problem. I find it much easier to do something concrete like write a script or walk the dog, than to pray or to reflect on whether I have a heart of love for Jesus. Especially if he doesn’t give me warm feelings of intimacy and relationship and peace like I’ve had in the past.

Let’s pray. 

Jesus, we hear your invitation to review our loves and to renew our first love. 

I remember the intensity of youthful love, but I can hardly repeat that at my age. In the busyness of church and work and life and family, my love for you becomes distant and diminished.

Today, I give you my heart again. Renew my love for you. May it grow larger than my other loves. May my work today not be a substitute for lost love, but an expression of a love ever growing and renewing.

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

John opens the Book of Revelation by reporting visions God gave him of the present and future. He says, “On the Lord’s Day, I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet” (Rev 1:10). 

I’m not sure what it means to be “in the Spirit”, but the experience allowed John to see visions and hear other-world communications. 

When John turned to see the trumpet-voice that addressed him, he saw someone like a son of man, decked out in royal garments, with snow white hair and blazing eyes, with feet like fiery bronze, with a voice like rushing waters and a face like the shining sun (Rev 1:13-15). 

This person is like the one Daniel saw in his vision 500 years earlier (Daniel 10:4-13). But the man in John’s vision had an new, disturbing characteristic: a double edged sword coming out of his mouth. 

Weird, eh? A sword in the mouth? Commentators suggest this represents the word of God, similar to Hebrews 4 which says, “The word of God is living and active, sharper than a double-edged sword” (Heb 4:12). 

The man in Daniel’s vision was fighting the prince of Persia, but we don’t know what weapons he was using. The man in John’s vision doesn’t tell war stories about the Prince of Persia or other spiritual opponents. Perhaps his battle will be conducted with words, using the sword in his mouth.  

The man with the sword said to John, “Don’t be afraid. I’m the first and the last. I was dead. Now I’m alive forever. I have the keys to death and the underworld” (Rev 1:17-18). Clearly, this man is Jesus. Can’t be anyone else!  

In John’s vision, Jesus was surrounded by seven lampstands, representing the seven churches in Asia. He holds seven stars which represent seven angels (or messengers), one for each church. 

A quick summary: Jesus appeared to John, standing among the churches, accompanied by angel messengers. The words in Jesus’ mouth were a sword. That doesn’t sound like a friendly message for the churches. But we’ll look at that next time. 

Let’s pray. 

O Jesus, you who stood among the churches of Asia, stand among our churches today. Send your messages to us, that we may hear your words, even if they are a sword that threatens our comfort and a fire that burns our complacency.  

Help us to see you as John saw you: a royal king, a commanding presence, a fire in our community, a shining sun in our darkness. With your sword, cut away the evil and distractions in our lives. Wound us, purify us, heal us.

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

The New Testament epistles advance a program of faith, loving relationships, and moral living. Then comes the Book of Revelation with visions of fire, flood, pandemic, war, and Armageddon. The real Christ and the anti-Christ battle for world domination, and Christians get caught in the crossfire.   

I don’t try to put Revelation into charts and timelines. Nor do I think it tells tomorrow’s headlines today. Revelation doesn’t give enough information to put the rapture, the millennium, and God’s great judgment in chronological order. 

But let’s start with John at the beginning. John the author, calls his book “the revelation of Jesus Christ” (Rev 1:1). Which means, “Jesus is the author and holds the copyright on this material.”  

John states his purpose for writing: “This is the revelation God gave to show his servants what must soon take place” (Rev. 1:1). Two thousand years ago, John predicted catastrophes and victories that would happen soon. We too believe they will happen soon. Perhaps in the next 2000 years of history.

Really? Who rules the earth? Aren’t Biden and Putin and Netanyahu and Xi Jinping the strong men who build their nations they want? No, says John, they are only second rate kings who report to King Jesus, the one Lord who rules them all. Hmmm. That’s not how the news anchor on my TV reports it.

Second, says John, Jesus is: 
    The one who loves us and freed us from our sins.
    The one who makes us into a kingdom of priests who serve God (Rev 1:5-6). 

Seems odd, doesn’t it? King Jesus who lets a delusional Putin invade Ukraine, and a vengeful Netanyahu bomb Palestine, and a power-hungry Jinping threaten Taiwan. This King Jesus doesn’t build a military-industrial complex to rule them all, but a kingdom of priests to serve God. How is that a solution to the realpolitik of a violent world? 

Third, John says of Jesus: 
    He is the one who will come in the clouds
        and rule the earth (Rev 1:7). 

Ahh. That must be one of the things that will happen soon. King Jesus will appear and make his weak and invisible kingdom strong and real. 

Let’s pray. 

Jesus, we worship you because you are the king over the kings of earth. As the psalmist warned the presidents and dictators and party-leaders of the world:
    Kiss the son lest he be angry
      and you be destroyed in your way (Ps 2:12).      

We worship you, Jesus, because you loved us and freed us from our sins. Free us from the kingdom of darkness. Free us from the powers of this world. Free us from sins that entangle us, from confused thinking that immobilizes us, from self-interest that hinders our service for you and others. 

We worship you, Jesus, because you are building a new kingdom. Not based on guns and bombs, nor economic power and trade. But a kingdom of priests who serve God, and wait for his intervention. 

We worship you, Jesus, because you will come in the clouds to rule earth. Today may we serve your kingdom with loving works and steadfast faith. And tomorrow, when you demonstrate your power, may we reign with you forever. 

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube