THE 144,000 Devotion 1 of 26 The deep love of Jesus for His church is confirmed in the remarkable book the Revelation. You will recall it is written, "Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it" (Eph 5:25). Again, we read, "Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor" (Eph 5:2). -- Tomorrow:
His great love, however, did not end when He gave Himself for the church, submitting to the curse of God (Gal 3:13), the ravages of the power of darkness (Lk 22:53), and the rejection of men (Isa 53:3). That love continues in His care and feeding of the church. He "nourishes" as well as "cherishes" the body of the redeemed (Eph 5:29). With a consistency faith can grasp, the Lord is ensuring that the faithful are both nourished and stabilized. Their only hope of survival is found in spiritual "health and healing" (Jer 33:6, NKJV).
Never is Christ's loving care of the church more evident than when he teaches them, unveiling things pertaining to life and godliness. Our Lord desires for His people to be close enough to Him to hear His words of guidance. Even His stern admonitions, as with the flawed churches (2:5,16,22; 3:3,16), were a Divine effort to bring the wayward back to the place where He could speak comfortably to them. God's people are not to be as the "horse or like the mule, which have no understanding, which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, Else they will not come near you" (Psa 32:9).
The Lord will, and prefers to, guide His people with His eye (Psa 32:8). He is bringing them to glory (Heb 2:10), not driving them, and requires their undivided attention to do so.
The book of Revelation is best understood from this perspective. With tender care, King Jesus is bringing the sons to glory (Heb 2:10). The process involves informing them of their adversary and his cunning attempt to lure them from the place of nourishment. If they are not knowledgeable of Satan's devices, they will surely be snared by them (2 Cor 2:11).
The Spirit opens to us the devil's attempt to seduce the saints by a powerless form of religion (2 Tim 3:5). With great solemnity, He confirms to us that power is granted to the devil to do this because of the failure of the professed church to take hold on the truth. "Strong delusion" (that is, delusion that overcomes all but those who are dominated by faith) is inevitable where the heart is lulled to sleep. As it is written, "And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness" (2 Thess 2:10-12). Those who do not receive the love of the truth cannot possibly avoid being snared by a delusion that will eventually lead to their condemnation. God has mandated this will be so. It is the church's business to inform people of this fact, for it is the "pillar and ground of the truth" (1 Tim 3:15).
It is remarkable how very few professing Christians are persuaded of this. They appear to approach what is nominally called the Christian life, as though commitment and consistency were not even required. Such people neglect their souls, refusing to eat the bread of life and drink the water of life. They are, however, deluded in this matter. The present ministry of Jesus is absolutely essential to the salvation of His elect. If those who purport to be His disciples do not hear Him now, they will not dwell with Him then.
THE CENTRALITY OF THE LAMB
"Then I looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion . . . " Throughout this book, "the Lamb" is central. Twenty-six times the book of the Revelation refers to the exalted Christ as "the Lamb" (Rev 5:6.8.12.13; 6:1,16; 7:9,10,14,17; 12:11; 13:8; 14:1,4,10; 15:3; 17:14; 19:7,9; 21:14,11,23; 22:1,3). This is Jesus in His redemptive capacity.
We must not allow our vision to be distracted from "the Lamb" to lesser considerations. While some have chosen to focus their attention on the tribulation, or the mark of the beast, or some other aspect of the good fight of faith, heaven has focused upon the Lamb. He, and He alone, is the object of their attention. We do well to make Him our concentration as well.
PRAYER POINT: Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank You for the sanctifying and satisfying centrality of Your Son.