My daughter, Caroline, crept on cat’s paws through the house during the night. Being the only girl, her room was always situated closest to my own. When they were small, both her brothers raised the alarm at deafening pitch if they were ever sick or awakened by a dream. You heard them long before you saw them, but Caroline could waken me simply by staring. She would quietly cross the room, skirting her dad’s side of the bed to stand immobile, not even breathing loudly, next to me, waiting patiently to tell me she had already puked and flushed it down or that she needed to go potty. She was always excellent at hiding games, infinitely patient and never one to give herself away. She’s the one I think of when I read this Revelation passage.
“I, John, am a believer like you.
I am a friend who suffers like you.
As members of Jesus’ royal family, we can put up with anything that happens to us.
I was on the island of Patmos because I taught God’s word and what Jesus said.
The Holy Spirit gave me a vision on the Lord’s Day.
I heard a loud voice behind me that sounded like a trumpet.
I turned around to see who was speaking to me.
When I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands.
In the middle of them was someone who looked “like a son of man.” (Daniel 7:13)
He was dressed in a long robe with a gold strip of cloth around his chest.
The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow.
His eyes were like a blazing fire.
His feet were like bronze metal glowing in a furnace.
His voice sounded like rushing waters.
He held seven stars in his right hand.
Coming out of his mouth was a sharp sword with two edges.
His face was like the sun shining in all its brightness.
When I saw him, I fell at his feet as if I were dead.
Then he put his right hand on me and said, “Do not be afraid.
I am the First and the Last.
I am the Living One.
I was dead. But now look! I am alive for ever and ever!
And I hold the keys to Death and Hell.”
So write down what you have seen.
Write about what is happening now and what will happen later.”
Revelation 1:9-10, 12-19 NIRV
https://bible.com/bible/110/rev.1.9-19.NIRV
“This is the revelation from Jesus Christ.
God gave it to him to show those who serve God what will happen soon.
God made it known by sending his angel to his servant John.
John is a witness to everything he saw.
What he saw is God’s word and what Jesus Christ has said.
Blessed is the one who reads out loud the words of this prophecy.
Blessed are those who hear it and think everything it says is important.
The time when these things will come true is near.”
Revelation 1:1-3 NIRV
https://bible.com/bible/110/rev.1.1-3.NIRV
John was bold. He would not stop speaking the name of Jesus. He spoke with such conviction that people listened and many believed. The others were gone, killed for their faith. John alone remained of the twelve. He was convicted in an unfair trial but he was not killed. He was left to die on an island prison.
He survived on a diet of living water and bread of life. There was no church building on Patmos, no building of any kind other than the crude shelters constructed by its inhabitants, all prisoners. No guards were needed. No high walls hemmed them in. The sea surrounded them. The sun was the only timekeeper. No blasts from the shofar announcing times of prayer and sacrifice could be heard but Revelation 1:10 records John’s words, “It was the Lord’s Day, and I was worshiping in the Spirit.“
An audience of one bowed his head and heart to the Creator of the universe on the Lord’s Day. Confident that God was present, John worshipped in the Spirit, and when he did, God tiptoed up behind him and revealed His Word, His Truth, and His Majesty up close and personal. We get a sneak peek in the Bible.
In the second chapter of Paul’s letter containing God’s message to the church at Corinth part one, we find three unique Greek words describing human beings. According to Schofield’s Study Bible notes, Paul asserts there are only three types of people in the world.
Natural man, psuchikos in the Greek, literally means “of the senses.” Like the first man, Adam, after he had sinned, he lives unrenewed before God. He has not experienced the new birth and is not yet a new creation in Christ. He lives apart from God and under His wrath.
Spiritual man is pneumatikos in the Greek. This person is filled with the Spirit, having been renewed through new birth in Christ. She walks by faith rather than sight, in full communion with God through His indwelling Spirit. She has the mind of Christ and is constantly being taught and reminded of spiritual truth by that same Spirit. She is repentant, teachable, and surrendered to her Master, Christ.
There is yet another type described here by Paul under inspiration of the Spirit. The worldly Christian, termed sarkikos is literally “of the flesh.” She is still walking according to the sinful nature and remains a babe in Christ. This person craves only spiritual milk and is able to comprehend only the simplest Truths.
Paul gives a warning here. The natural man (psuchikos) may be “learned, well-educated, genteel, eloquent, even fascinating,” but the spiritual content of scripture is absolutely hidden from him. Quoting the prophet Isaiah, Paul penned these words.
“Brothers and sisters, I couldn’t speak to you as people who live by the Holy Spirit.
I had to speak to you as people who were still following the ways of the world.
You aren’t growing as Christ wants you to.
You are still like babies.
The words I spoke to you were like milk, not like solid food.
You weren’t ready for solid food yet. And you still aren’t ready for it.
You are still following the ways of the world.
Some of you are jealous.
Some of you argue.
So aren’t you following the ways of the world?
Aren’t you acting like ordinary human beings?
One of you says, “I follow Paul.” Another says, “I follow Apollos.”
Aren’t you acting like ordinary human beings?
After all, what is Apollos?
And what is Paul?
We are only people who serve.
We helped you to believe.
The Lord has given each of us our own work to do.
I planted the seed.
Apollos watered it.
But God has been making it grow.
So the one who plants is not important.
The one who waters is not important.
It is God who makes things grow.
He is the important one.
The one who plants and the one who waters have the same purpose.
The Lord will give each of them a reward for their work.
We work together to serve God.
You are like God’s field.
You are like his building.
God has given me the grace to lay a foundation as a wise builder.
Now someone else is building on it.
But each one should build carefully.
No one can lay any other foundation than what has already been laid.
That foundation is Jesus Christ.
A person may build on it using gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay or straw.
But each person’s work will be shown for what it is.
On judgment day it will be brought to light.
It will be put through fire.
The fire will test how good each person’s work is.
If the building doesn’t burn up, God will give the builder a reward for the work.
If the building burns up, the builder will lose everything.
The builder will be saved, but only like one escaping through the flames.
Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple?
Don’t you know that God’s Spirit lives among you?
Don’t fool yourselves.
Suppose some of you think you are wise by the standards of the world.
Then you should become “fools” so that you can become wise.
The wisdom of this world is foolish in God’s eyes.
It is written, “God catches wise people in their own evil plans.” (Job 5:13)
It is also written, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of wise people don’t amount to anything.” (Psalm 94:11)”
1 Corinthians 3:1-16, 18-20 NIRV
https://bible.com/bible/110/1co.3.1-20.NIRV
Paul’s saying that there are only three kinds of people in the world means that each of us fits one of the categories. Those who reject Christ, those who say they accept Christ, and those who walk with Christ. Obedience makes obvious which is which. Practice what you preach. Walk the talk. Every culture appreciates and expects integrity but somehow we’ve convinced ourselves that no one will notice if we live according to the flesh when we claim to walk by the Spirit.
When we call ourselves Christian, we are literally calling ourselves follower or imitator of Christ. The term was first applied to followers of the Way of Jesus in Antioch. (Acts 11:26) It was likely meant as a slur, a mocking insult used by unbelievers to describe those who acted contrary to worldly wisdom because they longed for a better country, a heavenly homeland prepared for them by Christ. (Hebrews 11:16, John 14:2-4, 6) The little they had, the shared extravagantly. They turned the other cheek, loved their enemies and did good to those who persecuted them. They blessed those who cursed them. They loved and forgave as Christ did, following the example He set for them. Their actions confounded their neighbors but it set the stage for the preaching of the gospel.
“And this was the way it was with me, brothers and sisters.
When I came to you, I didn’t come with fancy words or human wisdom.
I preached to you the truth about God’s love.
My goal while I was with you was to talk about only one thing.
And that was Jesus Christ and his death on the cross.
When I came to you, I was weak and very afraid and trembling all over.
I didn’t preach my message with clever and compelling words.
Instead, my preaching showed the Holy Spirit’s power.
This was so that your faith would be based on God’s power.
Your faith would not be based on human wisdom.
The words we speak to those who have grown in the faith are wise.
Our words are different from the wisdom of this world.
Our words are different from those of the rulers of this world.
These rulers are becoming less and less powerful.
No, we announce God’s wisdom.
His wisdom is a mystery that has been hidden.
But before time began, God planned that his wisdom would bring us heavenly glory.
None of the rulers of this world understood God’s wisdom.
If they had, they would not have nailed the Lord of glory to the cross.
It is written that “no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human mind has known.” (Isaiah 64:4)
God has prepared these things for those who love him.
God has shown these things to us through his Spirit.
The Spirit understands all things.
He understands even the deep things of God.
Who can know the thoughts of another person?
Only a person’s own spirit can know them.
In the same way, only the Spirit of God knows God’s thoughts.
What we have received is not the spirit of the world.
We have received the Spirit who is from God.
The Spirit helps us understand what God has freely given us.
That is what we speak about.
We don’t use words taught to us by people.
We use words taught to us by the Holy Spirit.
We use the words taught by the Spirit to explain spiritual truths.
The person without the Spirit doesn’t accept the things that come from the Spirit of God.
These things are foolish to them.
They can’t understand them.
In fact, such things can’t be understood without the Spirit’s help.
The person who has the Spirit can judge all things.
But no human being can judge those who have the Spirit.
It is written, “Who can ever know what is in the Lord’s mind?
Can anyone ever teach him?” (Isaiah 40:13)
But we have the mind of Christ.”
1 Corinthians 2:1-16 NIRV
https://bible.com/bible/110/1co.2.1-16.NIRV
I am pneumatikos. I belong to God in Christ. I walk in the light of His Word, not by my own understanding. I am looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth where all will be as God intends. “He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”
Revelation 21:4 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/rev.21.4.NLT
““Don’t let your hearts be troubled.
Trust in God, and trust also in me.
There is more than enough room in my Father’s home.
If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?
When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.
And you know the way to where I am going.”
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No one can come to the Father except through me.”
John 14:1-4, 6 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/jhn.14.1-6.NLT
No surprises here. Jesus is still the one way to God through faith in His substitutionary death on the cross. Still He stands at the door and knocks, waiting, gentleman-like to be invited in to dine as friends. His Word is the milk and the meat. Blessed are those who hear it and think everything it says is important. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled. When and how He chooses to speak may surprise you, but His eternal Word never changes. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
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