by Scotty Smith
Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come.
Revelation 1:4

The words of Revelation are the words of an octogenarian. The apostle John, one of the original twelve disciples, is writing as an eighty-year-old man on the Isle of Patmos. God gave him a difficult season in his life that then culminated in the series of visions that began to supersize the gospel in John’s life. I’m in my mid-sixties and I think, Lord, if I live to be eighty, can I see what John sees, can I behold like he did, can theology be doxology in my life, can the informed mind be the inflamed heart and the engaged hands until I suck my last breath of oxygen? John wrote—and it’s almost like you’re at a wedding party or some event where there’s a toast—these wonderful words:
Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. (Rev. 1:4–5)
Folks, get over your obsession with who is sitting in the White House. It’s who is sitting on the throne of heaven that matters. It does not mean we become apolitical, and it certainly doesn’t mean we become cynical. It means we love and we serve with hope. John finished out the vision this way:
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” (Rev. 1:5–8)
Can you hear it in the heart of an eighty-year-old, wrinkled man? Can you hear the wonder, the glory, the freedom, the willingness to show up in Rome and to live in this story, to follow this Jesus? This is the One incarnate with us and for us. This is the One in whom we share union.

Thought to Remember for Today

Consider the last verse of the Bible and hear the always much moreness of God’s grace for us: “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen” (Rev. 22:21 NIV).

Fitzpatrick, E. (2016). Grace untamed: a 60-day devotional. Colorado Springs, CO: David C Cook.