John's Witness To God's Comfort
I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingship and patient endurance in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony about Jesus. (Revelation 1:9)
Tradition tells us that John was the last of Jesus’ disciples to enter into heaven. John was the only one of the apostles that was not executed for his witness to the resurrection of Jesus. Instead, John was able to live a full life but was exiled to the Island of Patmos for spreading the Word of God. It was during that time that John received the vision from God concerning “the things that soon must take place.” (Revelation 1:1)
Even though John never suffered the painfully cruel execution that it is said the other apostles did, John also didn’t always have an easy life. He, along with Peter and Paul, was arrested many times for teaching about Jesus. He became one of the pastors to the Ephesian congregation, and grew to love them, only to be ripped away from them and sentenced to exile on Patmos. He was beaten and discouraged from teaching about Jesus on multiple occasions. And after all that, John still wrote the letter of Revelation. The visions that John received weren’t meant to scare Christians but to comfort them. Even though all the things symbolized in Revelation would take place, God does not allow his Word to go without witness. he does not allow it to stop working in the hearts of people to bring them to faith in Jesus.
God has made us his priests and his kingdom. We are to witness to the world about the resurrection of Jesus. We are to tell others that God has given us a savior from our sins. And while we do that, we may suffer many things. But we are not alone. God does not abandon us, nor does he allow his Word to be wiped out completely. When we look at the suffering of the apostles and see what they endured for the Word of God and the Testimony of Jesus, let us be encouraged to be God’s witnesses no matter what the cost.
The song for today is “John the Revelator” By Jared and Nick Fields