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Revelation Gives Me Hope

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Image © Kim Justinen from GoodSalt.com

As a child, I honestly believed that the book of Revelation was for grown-ups only. Silly as that may sound now, I have figured out now why I thought so. It was because of the scary beasts they always spoke about, the national Sunday Law (which would get us killed for believing in Jesus), the 7 churches and the dreaded mark of the beast. Whenever my dad’s friend started a conversation around that, I was quick to leave the room. Consequently, through most of my teen years, I never read anything from that book.

It seems that many other teens and even young adults struggle with the book of Revelation and choose to ignore reading it altogether. It makes me sad because this is probably the book to read. Have a look at these verses:

 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. Revelation 1:5-7

This is what changed my whole idea of Revelation. From the first verse the book assures me that it is going to reveal Jesus, and a couple of verses down, it goes back to show me that the same Jesus who loved me and gave His life for me is going to come back again, for me! This helps me realize that maybe we have spent too much time focused on the negative, when the book is more about the positive. It has become the anchor of my faith to know that no matter what beastly power may rise, whatever laws may be passed, Jesus has already assured me that He is coming back again, and all I have to do is live for Him with this hope. That’s the essence of this book!

 
Our hope is made sure and our anchor is made firm in that Jesus Christ will be victorious in the end. It is just like watching a delayed soccer match between Manchester United and Manchester City. I am not scared and terrified when a friend asks me to come over and watch it because I know which team won at the end of the game. I have no need to worry when I see the skillful dribbles from Manchester City. I don’t cry and walk away even when two players from my team are given red cards. it does not shake me when the clock is at 89′ and the score is 1 all. In fact, I get excited to see how this close game went down.
 
That is how Jesus is revealed in this beautiful book. The match score is already 2 for Jesus and 1 for the devil. He has called you to be His team mascot and wants you to see Him as the Victor throughout. He says don’t put your focus on the dribbles from the devil because in the end, even at minute 89, the devil has lost. Jesus loves you and me enough to reveal to us the bad that will arise too, so that we  are not surprised and unprepared but stand confident under the banner of His cross. “The Revelation of the Victorious Jesus Christ” I now call it!
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Revelation Gives Me Hope — 14 Comments

  1. Thank you for writing this Linda. I love it whenever you write. I too, remember leaving the room as a child, when I would hear about Sunday laws and such, but that was before I truly fell in love with the gospel as I have now.

    P.S. Manchester United beat Manchester city even after two red cards? 🙂

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    • I just rolled on the floor with laughter. Well, maybe in future they will, up to so far they haven't beaten Manchester City under such drama. That was just one of those "If it were to happen" things.

      And yes, you're right. The book of Revelation needs one to decided to start studying it and loving it for themselves and only then does it explain itself and make sense.

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  3. I was a very impressionable boy growing up, and I can remember being scared to death to see those posters of the beasts when there was a Daniel/Revelation Seminar. I had bad dreams about it. I was only too happy when my mother stopped going to it when I was 8. There are still many SDA's that like to jump on the beasts and ride it with spurs. I think I was 50 before I finally heard a sermon on Revelation that actually made me feel good about it. It was something along the line that "I read the end of the book, and God and his people win!"

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  4. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences Linda.

    "It seems that many other teens and even young adults struggle with the book of Revelation and choose to ignore reading it altogether."

    It isn't just teens and young adults that struggle with and consequently ignore Revelation! Makes sense. Revelation essentially unveils/reveals Satan's 'play-book'. No wonder he wants us to avoid reading it and knowing all his moves!

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  5. Hey Linda, thank you for writing this. I can relate😀🙈, I would just vanish whether it’s at church or home.I’m sure most of our young people feel the same that Revelation is all about beasts. I only learnt very late in my youth that it’s a very interesting book. Keep up the good work!👏🙏

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  6. Revelation 1:3

    This is a unique book, the only book in the Bible that offers blessings to its readers and hearers.

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  7. Linda, your experience is very similar to mine. Thank you for sharing your story. The book of Revelation helps to give me hope as well and I am glad for the timely arrival of this quarter's lesson study guide.

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  8. Praise God! God bless you Linda for your inspiring insight on the book of Revelation...it gives us hope knowing how it would end.

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  10. This post was written on my birthday. What a way to enter the new year. Thank you for such a lovely and encouraging post. Jesus has already won. It doesn't matter what we go through on this side of Heaven. We have a blessed assurance. I am encouraged!

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  11. Your story is an endorsement for personal study of God's Word, including the Revelation. Nothing negative in that prophecy, for why would the Lord send a negative message to His people? Yet it is often interpreted as negative by those who have yet to see the Lamb of God in the midst of God's Throne, and the Son of Man among the candlesticks, and mostly, they have not truly seen the sinless Jesus on the cross, or comprehended the full meaning of it.

    Not only is the final outcome revealed, but the path to personal victory through the blood of Jesus. So what that the wicked will finally be no more, if we too are lost among them? This book is personal and redemptive, and thus the need to study it as such.

    How could anything from Jesus be shunned by those professing to be His? For anyone else reluctant to study the Revelation, it is from Jesus, and as every word He ever spoke among men, it offers to every soul the Water of Life.

    Drink deeply and be refreshed.

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  12. Having grown up in an atheistic communist country, I got to know the book of Daniel and later the book of revelation. I was fascinated about the predictive elements in that book convincing me that there is a God knowing and guiding the future aiming at a new creation without evil. Overcoming evil by evil mankind did not convince me. History showed me that evil still existed even after revolution had taken place having purposed to abolish evil in society without ever being able to do so. The so called new man still was the old man. Those ugly "beasts" I understood and understand today as a symbolic expression of realism of evil in society in need of reformation by the gospel which is the center of the book of Daniel and Revelation (Daniel 7:13-14; Revelation 1:18). For evil to be no more, it needs a new creation of man in Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) and a new cosmic creation for transformed man to live in that new creation. (Revelation 21:4) This gives us the everlasting hope that the Creator also is the Recreator,the one who redeems us from all evil.

    However, my experience is no blueprint for everybody else as all have their own experience in this matter.

    Winfried Stolpmann

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