In the Spirit

DEVOTION

THE REVELATION

IN THE SPIRIT

Rev 1:8-11

8 "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty." 

9 I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 On the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, 11 which said: "Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea." 

NIV

Is there any question who God is? Sure shouldn’t be for we have it all right here in his own words. He is the beginning of everything and he will be the ending of everything. We would have to believe this is in regard to all his creation rather than himself. He has no beginning and he has no end as he is who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty. He is always in the presence, with him time is meaningless, so he speaks in terms that his creation, us, can understand. His creation had a beginning and it is going to have an end, at least the physical world that we know today. We think of it as the Day of the Lord. But he is and was and is to come. It is and always has been about him. The whole of creation including all of us has always been and will always be about him. It is when we the people of his creation focus on our own selves, making us the center of our lives, we are in grave danger. Let us take a lesson from John today. He says about himself that he is our brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that is ours in Jesus. Although we could spend a great deal of time in thinking about being his, and each other’s companion in the suffering of Jesus, as well as all being companions in the kingdom along with having patient endurance, the main point or lesson we learn from John is in his next words. ‘On the Lords’ day I was in the Spirit”. This is the reason he could be a companion in those areas in the first place. He was in the Spirit. Now we have to ask which day is the Lord’s Day. The Jews always believed and still do that the Sabbath or the Lord’s Day is from Sundown Friday to Sundown Saturday. Of course this had some variance due to the seasons as to when Sundown occurs. We Christians have taken on Sunday as the third day when he rose from the grave as our Sabbath, or Lord’s Day. Some of us begin that day with the words, “This is the day the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it.” But what about the rest of the days of the week? Did God only create one day? Each and every day of our lives we should know are the Lord’s Day. Each and every day of our lives we should begin with those words. Now the truth of this is that John was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day. So if all the days of the week are created by the Lord, then all of them are the Lord’s Day. The Greek words used here bear this out as in the original it would say, I was in the Spirit on the day belonging to the Lord. All days belong to the Lord. It is we people who have decided to give him only one day, and thus keep the other days of the week for ourselves. So then if each day of the week, for that matter each day of our lives should be the day of the Lord, and thus we should be in the Spirit. This does not mean we stop doing what we do, we also need to work or labor six days and on the seventh rest. But then who of us work six days? So why do we pay so much attention to the seventh day being the Lord’s Day? It just does not make any sense, except that all the days are his and we should always be in the Spirit, whether we are at home, at work, or at play, but especially when we are at church. How many people who are in church on Sunday are in the Spirit? We cannot judge, but what we can do is try to make sure we are in the Spirit when we are in Church, when we are at work, when we are at home, and yes even when we are at play. Just think what kind of relationship we would have with all our companions if we all were always in the Spirit. Maybe we would even hear a loud voice like a trumpet saying something to us.