John makes it clear that this message comes from another place. It comes from heaven, and it is the account of the climax of a heavenly invasion that has already begun. God is establishing his Kingdom on earth now and that process will culminate in the return of Christ. The more the Kingdom comes into the world in this present age, the more polarised the world will become because the brighter the light, the darker the shadows become. In Matthew 13:24-30 Jesus likened the Kingdom of God to a crop of wheat and the seeds of Satan to weeds. He predicted that the weeds will grow beside the wheat until, at the end of this age, God will send his angels to weed out of his Kingdom everything that does evil (Matthew 13:41). This is what we shall see in the book of Revelation. The church at the time was experiencing an overt manifestation of evil as their presence in the world polarised people. God wanted to remind them that their heavenly invasion would be successful despite the opposition. God’s Kingdom would come in this age, at the end of which Jesus would return to his Kingdom, purge all evil from the earth and usher in the age of the new heavenly earth (Revelation 21-22). Let us be reminded that we are the foot-soldiers of God. We are here to vanquish darkness with light, turmoil with peace, hatred with love and evil with justice. That is your mission if you choose to accept it.
Ask God to make you shine more brightly as a witness for him.
Read Revelation 1:4-8.
