Come, Lord Jesus

Daily Reading:  Revelation 22

I am coming soon. (Revelation 22.7, 12, 20)

Devotional Thought: Three times in Revelation 22, Jesus says, “I am coming soon.”  Each time that truth elicits different, but related, responses...

• Blessed is the one who keeps his words (v. 7).  The life that is lived according to God’s Word is a rich and full story here and now.  But, there is another story - the story of his coming.  Whether his coming is personal in our own deaths or general in the second coming, the result is the same.  If we want to be blessed in eternity, we need to live life in keeping with his Word.

• His reward is with him (v. 12).  A popular advertising strategy for credit cards these days is to tout the awards available for using their particular cards.  Jesus has rewards available for us, too.  In this passage he says he will reward everyone according to what he or she has done, in particular according to what they have done with Jesus.  The life lived by faith in the Son of God will be rewarded with a rich welcome into his presence.  The reward of a life that has rejected?  Eternal separation from God.  I wonder if we choose our credit card rewards more carefully than we choose our eternal rewards.

• Amen. Come, Lord Jesus (v. 20).  The heart that trusts in Jesus welcomes his return.  Such confidence and desire is ours because we know that the veil of separation between us and him will be removed.  Not only so, the “veils” that separate us from one another – death, distance, misunderstanding, etc. – will be removed so that even our relationships with others shall be made perfect in heaven.  I long for that day.

Amen!  Come Lord Jesus!

Prayer: Lord, I want to be blessed and rewarded when you come.  Help me to keep your words and to choose carefully my reward.  Then, I can pray, "Come, Lord Jesus."  Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 106:19-23

19 At Horeb they made a calf and worshiped an idol cast from metal.

20 They exchanged their glorious God for an image of a bull, which eats grass.

21 They forgot the God who saved them, who had done great things in Egypt,

22 miracles in the land of Ham and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.

23 So he said he would destroy them— had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him to keep his wrath from destroying them.