A REFRESHING TOUCH
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Verse for Today
Revelation 1:17 - When I saw Him I fell at His feet as though dead. Then He placed His right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid, I am the first and the last".
Apostle John was very much familiar with the Lord Jesus while He was on earth. They lived and moved around together for about 42 months and John had the privilege of getting trained by the Lord Jesus himself. John had seen the glory of the Lord Jesus revealed to him in very many ways, including His transfiguration on the mountain. But the Lord's appearance to John on the island of Patmos was nothing like what John had seen before. Here John saw the Lord as the coming Judge. When John saw Him in His full glory as the true and righteous Judge, he was shocked with disbelief about the depth and height of His glory and John could not simply fathom it. He was terrified, and out of his shock, he fell at the feet of Jesus as though dead. This was probably the greatest moment of truth in the life of John when he was totally dumbfounded by the height of the glory of the Lord, and he just couldn't withstand the awesomeness of the person of the Lord of glory. This scene revealed John's total unworthiness before the Lord. All he could do was to express his nothingness before the greatness of the Lord and fall at His feet. John was also encompassed with the fear of the Lord. John would have thought so much about the terror of the Lord and the future that was awaiting the sinful world. At this awesome scene, we find a gracious Lord. The Lord knew that even though He was revealing Himself to John as the Judge, John had no part in that judgement because Jesus Himself paid it all on the cross of Calvary. Even though John deserved to be like dead in the presence of the glory of the Lord, His mercy was available to John to receive a divine touch from the Lord which would make John come alive and be well equipped to listen to the Lord and to obey His last commandment to write down and dispatch His message to the churches. So gracious is our Lord who would be kind enough to touch us in our weakest moments and revive our souls to respond to His claims on us because He has purchased us with His very blood. John's loneliness has now been taken away and is blessed with divine companionship in the most realistic sense. Such is our Lord who gives us His holy company when we are in dire straits in our lives.
Dear reader, are you feeling like Elijah, thinking that you are alone? Do you miss the company of God's people for fellowship and sharing? If the world take you away from your dearest ones, the Lord would compensate it all by giving His very personal companionship to you. He will make Himself approachable to you even when He is truly in His glittering glory. He is willing to extend His divine arms, yes, those everlasting arms, to touch you and to raise you up from the doldrums in which the wicked world would have dumped you. Even if all have forsaken you, the Lord is not unfaithful to forget you. He will come near you to show Himself to you in His full glory. He will let you see Him to the extent to which you could even describe Him as John was able to do. Perhaps He comes to you as a loving and caring shepherd. At other times, He comes to you in the form of a raven at the brook of Cherith or a widow at Zarephath, or even as a good Samaritan. Sometimes He comes like an angel at midnight in your prison cell where the world has chained you or like an angel to show you water to drink as in the case of Hagar in the wilderness. He sometimes appears to you like the commander-in-chief of the armies of Jehovah as He appeared to Joshua or by walking on the water for the disciples when they were tossed around and as an anti-firewall for the three Jewish young men in Babylon or shutting the mouths of lions. He comes to you through His Spirit and His Word to reveal His glory to you to take away your weariness, loneliness, misery, pain, poverty, distress and darkness from your way. If you expect a touch of His hands, you need to fall flat at His feet by switching off all your human faculties and declaring yourself a big zero. Then you will experience His touch of revival, fellowship, love and care which will make you stand in His presence and continue to serve Him. All fears will be gone and you will acknowledge Him as your beloved Lord to continue to be in His presence to experience greater depths of His glory to take hold of your whole being. Let us today draw closer to Him, meditate on Him and await to be more and more enlightened about what He means to us. Then all that we see around here on earth will become like shadows in the light of His glorious person. Yes, He is our beloved Lord Jesus, the One who loved us so much and gave Himself for us on the hill called Mount Calvary.
2 Kings 6:16 - "Don't be afraid", the prophet answered. "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them".
Thought for Today
The Lord will be with you even in your worst scenarios to revive and refresh your soul.
Verse for Today
Revelation 1:17 - When I saw Him I fell at His feet as though dead. Then He placed His right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid, I am the first and the last".
Apostle John was very much familiar with the Lord Jesus while He was on earth. They lived and moved around together for about 42 months and John had the privilege of getting trained by the Lord Jesus himself. John had seen the glory of the Lord Jesus revealed to him in very many ways, including His transfiguration on the mountain. But the Lord's appearance to John on the island of Patmos was nothing like what John had seen before. Here John saw the Lord as the coming Judge. When John saw Him in His full glory as the true and righteous Judge, he was shocked with disbelief about the depth and height of His glory and John could not simply fathom it. He was terrified, and out of his shock, he fell at the feet of Jesus as though dead. This was probably the greatest moment of truth in the life of John when he was totally dumbfounded by the height of the glory of the Lord, and he just couldn't withstand the awesomeness of the person of the Lord of glory. This scene revealed John's total unworthiness before the Lord. All he could do was to express his nothingness before the greatness of the Lord and fall at His feet. John was also encompassed with the fear of the Lord. John would have thought so much about the terror of the Lord and the future that was awaiting the sinful world. At this awesome scene, we find a gracious Lord. The Lord knew that even though He was revealing Himself to John as the Judge, John had no part in that judgement because Jesus Himself paid it all on the cross of Calvary. Even though John deserved to be like dead in the presence of the glory of the Lord, His mercy was available to John to receive a divine touch from the Lord which would make John come alive and be well equipped to listen to the Lord and to obey His last commandment to write down and dispatch His message to the churches. So gracious is our Lord who would be kind enough to touch us in our weakest moments and revive our souls to respond to His claims on us because He has purchased us with His very blood. John's loneliness has now been taken away and is blessed with divine companionship in the most realistic sense. Such is our Lord who gives us His holy company when we are in dire straits in our lives.
Dear reader, are you feeling like Elijah, thinking that you are alone? Do you miss the company of God's people for fellowship and sharing? If the world take you away from your dearest ones, the Lord would compensate it all by giving His very personal companionship to you. He will make Himself approachable to you even when He is truly in His glittering glory. He is willing to extend His divine arms, yes, those everlasting arms, to touch you and to raise you up from the doldrums in which the wicked world would have dumped you. Even if all have forsaken you, the Lord is not unfaithful to forget you. He will come near you to show Himself to you in His full glory. He will let you see Him to the extent to which you could even describe Him as John was able to do. Perhaps He comes to you as a loving and caring shepherd. At other times, He comes to you in the form of a raven at the brook of Cherith or a widow at Zarephath, or even as a good Samaritan. Sometimes He comes like an angel at midnight in your prison cell where the world has chained you or like an angel to show you water to drink as in the case of Hagar in the wilderness. He sometimes appears to you like the commander-in-chief of the armies of Jehovah as He appeared to Joshua or by walking on the water for the disciples when they were tossed around and as an anti-firewall for the three Jewish young men in Babylon or shutting the mouths of lions. He comes to you through His Spirit and His Word to reveal His glory to you to take away your weariness, loneliness, misery, pain, poverty, distress and darkness from your way. If you expect a touch of His hands, you need to fall flat at His feet by switching off all your human faculties and declaring yourself a big zero. Then you will experience His touch of revival, fellowship, love and care which will make you stand in His presence and continue to serve Him. All fears will be gone and you will acknowledge Him as your beloved Lord to continue to be in His presence to experience greater depths of His glory to take hold of your whole being. Let us today draw closer to Him, meditate on Him and await to be more and more enlightened about what He means to us. Then all that we see around here on earth will become like shadows in the light of His glorious person. Yes, He is our beloved Lord Jesus, the One who loved us so much and gave Himself for us on the hill called Mount Calvary.
2 Kings 6:16 - "Don't be afraid", the prophet answered. "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them".
Thought for Today
The Lord will be with you even in your worst scenarios to revive and refresh your soul.
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