Daily Devotional

On August 2, 1939, Albert Einstein, in collaboration with other physicists, wrote to President Franklin D Roosevelt, warning of the dangers of Nazi Germany developing uranium-based weapons. The letter, which later sold for more than $2 million at auction, prompted Roosevelt to begin the Manhattan Project, which resulted in the development of the first nuclear weapons.

Revelation’s letter of warning is infinitely more valuable. In the very first verse, we see that this is a message originating from the omniscient, omnipotent, all-loving God of the universe! This is a message containing information that no one but God could give—because no one but God had this knowledge. As the apostle Paul discerned, “For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ” (Galatians 1:12). Additionally, note the similarity to the words of the prophet Daniel, to whom God likewise revealed apocalyptic prophecies centuries before: “There is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days” (Daniel 2:28).

We are also given insight into heaven’s chain of communication: The message was passed from God the Father to God the Son, by whom it was “signified,” which, in the original Greek, means to put into symbolic language or to explain. Christ—the Mediator, the Ladder, the Repairer of the breach—put God’s message into terms we could understand. Then, He passed it to “His angel,” who passed it to the apostle John, who in turn passed it to the Christian church, after which it was finally given to us.

Immediately, we are given the first of seven instances (Revelation 1:1, 3; 3:11; 22:6, 7, 12, 20) indicating what this message is about—the nearness of future events. There is an urgency to it, an alarm. Sets of seven are prominent in the book of Revelation. In the Bible, the number seven represents fulfillment, completion. The events we are about to study will most certainly be fulfilled. Are we ready?

Loving Father, may I carefully read this pressing message from heaven in order that I may be prepared for the things that will soon happen on our planet.

For Further Study: Jeremiah 1:9; Ezekiel 3:17; 2 Corinthians 3:2