We begin today with one of two
verses which I believe to be a profile of John’s
physical circumstances while he is writing this
letter to the churches of Asia Minor. It is
sort of the “who, what, where, when and why” of
the book of Revelation setting the tone for a
better understanding of the author and the
conditions from which he is writing this book.
Today we want to look at verse 9.
It says there:
“I John, who also am your
brother, and companion in tribulation, and
in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ,
was in the isle that is called Patmos, for
the word of God, and for the testimony of
Jesus Christ.”
We have already established John
to be the scribe of this book – however
he is not the “lone” author. As we have
discovered it was Jesus who commissioned him to
write the things that He was to reveal to Him,
“through the spirit” – so technically we could
say that Jesus was the author, revealing to John
what to write.
However, John is allowed some
platitude here in “connecting” with the
reader by attaching his name to it and reminding
them that he is one of them and that, what Jesus
had commanded him to write was for them! He says
. . .
“I John, who also am your
brother, and companion in tribulation”
Many of John’s “brothers and
sisters in Christ” had already been martyred for
the sake of Christ by the Romans in 70 AD. At
the time of this writing it was some 20 years
after that horrible trial of the early church,
yet the cause of Christ had survived the
martyrdoms and the attempted extinction of the
Christians by the Roman Government, and though
they were still not entirely free to worship
openly as they once were (if you could say they
were ever able to worship openly), they
did carry on through letters such as
these, passed through the hands of unexpected
carriers.
The fact that John wrote this
book at all is a testimony of His faith in the
Lord, because for all intents and purposes, John
had prepared himself to even die there on the
Isle of Patmos since his sentence was to be
exiled for life which brings us to our next
point: Why was John exiled in the first place?
Why was He on this forsaken island?
“. . . for the word of God, and
for the testimony of Jesus Christ.”
You probably won’t hear this from
very many preachers or teachers who teach the
book of Revelation, however, my study has proven
to me that John was not exiled “just because” He
believed in the Lord. In fact, they may have
tolerated a quiet, non-offensive citizen who
minded his own business, keeping his beliefs
silent. But John preached about the Blood of
Christ. He preached about the resurrection of
Christ and let’s not forget that John was one of
the 120 there in the upper-room on the day of
Pentecost. In other words, John was a
tongues-talker. He breathed the Spirit of God in
every word He spoke – with evidence of God’s
power to heal and to save to the uttermost
through Jesus the Son. Why wouldn’t they want to
get rid of him? He was perpetuating the cause of
Christ.
In reading some of the history of
the time following Christ’s death and
resurrection, I found that people were still
getting saved and lives were being changed and
people were telling their kids and their
grand-kids the story of Jesus and the TRUTH
Marched on!
In that next verse (verse 10) we
begin to see some of that spirit come to life as
John says – without shame or regret….
“I was in the Spirit on the
Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice,
as of a trumpet,”
John is accrediting this
magnificent work that God had revealed to him
through many visions and the presence of God
with Him – even in this deserted Isle called
Patmos – which by the way means “my killing”.
That in itself let one know that once you were
exiled to the Isle of Patmos you were sentenced
to live there for the rest for your life and to
even die there.
But we find John saying,
“I was in the Spirit on the
Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice,
as of a trumpet,”
There has been a great deal of
rhetoric as to what was meant by the “Lord’s
day”. Of course we have those who want to run it
down(know for sure), to prove that the Sabbath
should be on one day as opposed to another – yet
this is not referring to the Lord’s day as we
would see it in our studies today.
The word day here refers to the
Eastern understanding of the word in the Greek
which is Hemera (hay-mer'-ah). That
literally refers to the time of day when between
sunrise and or sunset. A time where all vices or
indulgences were under check (control) so as to
not cause attention to one’s self.
After
doing further study I found that the Lord’s Day
also referred to the end times, “The Day of the
Lord!” (Ref., Act 2:20; 1Co 5:5; 2Co 1:14; 1Th
5:2; 2Pe 3:10)
It is
clear to see by these verses - in light of
John’s plight, that it could have been on any
day that he was in worship and thinking on the
Lord – that the thought may have crossed his
mind, “I wonder what will be the end?” He may
have even voiced it to the Lord saying something
like, “Lord what will be the sign of Thy
coming?” It wouldn’t be so unlike him since he
was one of the four who asked that question of
the Lord in Matthew 24:3 – to which Jesus
answered…
“Take heed that no man deceive you. For many
shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ;
and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of
wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not
troubled: for all these things must come to
pass, but the end is not yet. For nation
shall rise against nation, and kingdom
against kingdom: and there shall be famines,
and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers
places. All these are the beginning of
sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to
be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye
shall be hated of all nations for my name's
sake. And then shall many be offended, and
shall betray one another, and shall hate one
another. And many false prophets shall rise,
and shall deceive many. And because iniquity
shall abound, the love of many shall wax
cold. But he that shall endure unto the end,
the same shall be saved. And this gospel of
the kingdom shall be preached in all the
world for a witness unto all nations; and
then shall the end come."
Mat 24:5-14 (KJV)
It wouldn’t be unlike John or any
Christian who had been banished to an island
called “my killing” to live out the remainder of
his days, void of Christian companionship and
fellowship in the Lord, to wonder “How much
longer Lord?”
I don’t believe it was a sign of
weakness or feeling sorry for his plight, but I
believe it was more in the way of asking God how
he could used of God so far away from
civilization with no foreseeable chance of
getting back there again. As I said earlier, it
is a testimony of John’s faith in the Lord to
write this book at all, but little did he know,
that he had been “set-aside” for this very
purpose.
Again – I understand that this is
to be a teaching lesson, but as I have said
before, I am a Pastor first, and I cannot pass
up this opportunity to mention that you may feel
as though God is finished with you and that your
life is over. You may feel that in your
circumstances there is NO POSSIBLE WAY you could
be used by Him. He is not finished with you yet
my friend. Call on Him today, and look beyond
the walls that now seemingly confine you, and
ask God that all important question . . . what
can I do for you today my Lord.
It may be that all you can do is
write. WRITE! It may be that all you can do is
to make phone calls to people and see how they
are and ask if you can pray for them. Do it in
Jesus’ Name and watch how your ministry will
unfold before your very eyes. Whatever you “can”
do – do it and let God worry about the details
of how He will use it to His Glory.
