[This week we’ll be looking into chapters 1-3 of the book of Revelation.]

Reflecting on the text

Have you ever asked the question, “Where is Jesus today?” Have you ever thought to yourself, “Okay, I know where Jesus was when he came to earth, and I suppose he is now in ‘heaven’ (whatever that means), but where is he now?”

This is one of the key questions John answers in this vision, but first he walks us through another even more crucial question, “Who is Jesus?”

There are certainly many “Jesuses” on offer these days. Think about some of the popular ideas about and conceptions of Jesus that exist in our world today.

One of the things that immediately comes to my mind is the “Jesus is my homeboy” clothing apparel. Now, I’m sure these people have great intentions and I’m all for seeing Jesus as our friend, but after this vision John records for us I’m not so sure he would think of Jesus as his “homeboy.”

Here’s how it went down. John was on Patmos, a sixty square-mile island thirty-seven miles off the coast of Asia Minor. He had been exiled there for refusing to stop talking about and worshiping Jesus. He very well may have been alone, but that wasn’t going to stop him from worshiping. After all, it was Sunday, and all the other followers of Jesus were meeting together to do the same thing. But today something was different. Today worship was particularly moving for John—he described it as being “in the Spirit.” We aren’t given many details, but he was probably meditating on Scripture, maybe singing a few songs.

And then it happened. Continue reading →