Parting With Words
Sunday, April 27
Revelation 1:4-8
Bekah Lindberg
Community Covenant Church
Peabody, Massachusetts
Revelation can be an intimidating book to study. It is filled with mysterious phrases and fantastical images that people have spent their whole lives trying to figure out. Trying to understand what every detail means may be impossible. But Revelation is painting a picture with words, which we can see and appreciate without understanding every detail. Today’s passage depicts who Jesus is. I count twelve names for Jesus here, including “the faithful witness,” the one “who loves us,” “the Almighty,” and most famously, “the Alpha and the Omega.” That is the Greek equivalent of calling Jesus “the A-Z.”
In this vision, we are reminded that Jesus was at the beginning and at our beginnings, that he is present with us in the middle, the now, and he will be with us when we reach the end. Take a moment to remember that Jesus is the God of the universe, holds all of time, and loves and relates to all our lives.
Alpha and Omega, remind us that you were before our struggle began and will walk with us until it is long over. Amen.
To God Be The Glory Forever And Ever
Monday, April 28
Revelation 5:11-14
Cheryl Opper
Covenant Congregational Church
North Easton, Massachusetts
“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” (v. 12, NIV).
I had to read this passage a few times before it spoke to me. Suddenly it clicked: these verses were reminding us to shout, “Worthy is the Lamb!”
Most of our prayers and shouts to God are asking for help, healing, strength, mercy, and forgiveness. How many times a day do we shout praise and glory and say thank you to our precious Savior and almighty God? And how often after God has answered our prayers do we give shouts of praise and publicly give God the glory?
I have a plaque on my bedroom dresser that says, “God’s timing, not mine. God’s will, not mine. God’s plan, not mine. God’s glory, not mine.”
Lord, help us to give you the glory and praise forever and ever! Amen.
Every Nation
Tuesday, April 29
Revelation 7:9-12
Sandra Gannon
Highrock Covenant Church
Arlington, Massachusetts
At first, when I received this passage as my assignment, I felt like I got the short straw! The imagery of Revelation can be confusing and hard to wrap my mind around. But I read the passage three times as we were directed, praying for God’s wisdom. And then I saw that the imagery of this text was beautiful.
“A great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb” (v. 9, NIV). In this beautiful imagery there are no barriers between God’s people as they worship together, fallen on their faces, before God’s throne. This is God’s story. This is God’s plan. God’s will be done.
God, remind us of this beautiful promise that you will make all things right, in your time. Amen.
Tears Of Lament
Wednesday, April 30
Revelation 7:13-17
Anonymous
To read about those living through tribulation is distressing. They hungered, thirsted, and were scorched by the sun with eyes full of tears.
But the later part brings comfort, as Jesus’s blood washes the robes of those same people and makes them white in the blood of the Lamb. They get to worship God in the heavenly temple, and Jesus the Good Shepherd wipes all their tears.
Reading these words helps my faith because I am often filled with tears of lament. My family also is lamenting as it is a trying time for us all.
But reading how these saints persevered through the final tribulation encourages me, knowing that Jesus provides a final resting place with shelter where our tears will be dried and he will be glorified.
Jesus, may we be a testimony to your love and peace even through our laments! Amen.
The Old Versus The New
Thursday, May 1
Revelation 21:1-6
Bekah Lindberg
Community Covenant Church
Peabody, Massachusetts
I cannot read this passage without thinking about my grandpa. We read this text at his funeral. Although he was a faithful Christian his whole life, my grandpa did not have an easy life. A significant stroke meant he returned to Jesus with mental and physical limitations that he did not begin life with. The old order—the order of sin, death, mourning, illness, and loss—kept impacting him. As we cried at his funeral, it seemed as though this old order still held us.
And yet Jesus proclaims, “I am making all things new” (v. 5, NRSVU). Throughout his life and with his faith, Grandpa was able to hold this tension between what is and what God promised will be. Indeed, God is making all things new. Jesus made us trustworthy and true. Sometimes when the old order is strong, I have my doubts, but then I remember my grandpa’s faith and my own and I believe again.
Help me to have faith in your word that all things will be well and new again. Amen.
Eden Restored, The New Jerusalem
Friday, May 2
Revelation 21:10; 21:22-22:5
Allison Beth
Trinity Covenant Church
Manchester, Connecticut
“No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads” (22:3-4, NIV).
Amen, amen, and amen. What a glorious day! The curse of sin is indefinitely defeated—no sadness, no darkness, no pain. No temple is needed as this new city of God is 100 percent a place of worship.
The song “I Can Only Imagine” keeps playing in my head. Our place of eternity is with Christ at the right hand of God the Father. All believers’ names written in the Lamb’s book of life will be joyously celebrating together. The only forbidden tree of life is now available to us in the new Eden. Our eternal life with our Creator, our Lord, our Savior, our Father. Can you imagine? This unfathomably beautiful place where God reigns forever and ever and ever!
Dear Lord, there are no words for the great joy to envision the day we call the new Jerusalem, your holy city, our eternal home. Thank you for painting a picture in John’s vision of what “we can only imagine” with all our praise. Amen.
Visions Of Heaven: He Knows My Name
Saturday, May 3
Revelation 2:1-14, 16-17, 20-21
Jody Ludwig
Covenant Church of Easton
Connecticut
A few months before my mother died, she had been diligently diving into the Scriptures. Although she had read through the Bible many times, it was as though her eyes were opened for the first time to these promises. Reading Jesus’s warnings to a compromising church in Pergamum and a corrupt church in Thyatira, we could be reading today’s news feed. But the Lord also made two incredible promises to those who are victorious, to those who do not compromise and have one foot in the Word and the other in the world. First, we will receive some of the “hidden manna,” that special bread from heaven (v. 17). Then, he will give us each a new name, a secret name written on a white stone and known only to us.
I know my mother has been given a her own special name, known only to her and the Lord. I wonder what kind of name will be given to me. What special characteristic the Lord will see in me?
Lord, help us to be discerning and to repent of compromise in our lives. Amen.
