Good morning, all!

Father, we know that You are author of truth and life, we pray You continue to reveal this through Your sons and daughters. Let us become the reflection of Your truth in this world and let us live by Your glory and grace. We pray that we reflect this to one another so that Your glory covers the earth, Amen. How often do we look in the mirror?

Revelation 17

1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
And the last of the seven angels which had the last vial said, come let me show you the judgement of the whore that’s rules in many places;

3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
Of course, this wasn’t a physical place, it was in the spirit within me, and it showed me this colorful beast FULL of names and it had 7 heads and 10 horns.

6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
And there was a woman riding this beast intoxicated with the blood of saints and martyrs: and when I saw her, I had great admiration for what she represented.

7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
But the angel said, why do you admire her? Let me reveal the mystery of this woman and the beast that carries her around.

14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them:
The beast fights but it’s NO match for the Lamb…He wins!

Bottom line

This of course is a very colorful piece of scripture but let’s remember God loves us and He is for us, so let’s look at these verses from that point of view. I believe the angel speaking to John is the spirit of Christ within him and He’s healing his mind since he is isolated on the island of Patmos. The first thing the angel says to him is to come hither…let me show your something spiritual NOT physical, I believe he’s showing John himself and how he’s viewing his situation…the man in the mirror.

[2Co 3:18 NKJV] But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. The bible is the mirror, and it speaks to us, it’s a reflection of our heart that God uses to TRANSFORM us…this happens over time from glory to glory. What image might we find when we look in that mirror?

[2Co 4:4 NKJV] whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. The image, our true nature and character is Christ and if we don’t see HIM, it says our MIND is blind…NO faith. Faith will have you look beyond reason and logic, it will have you look beyond your religion and even your customs and beliefs if they are NOT part of Christ. Did you notice the beast was FULL of names? What names? How about all the different denominations in the world? How about all the political affiliations? What about race? Listen there’s only one name in that mirror it’s CHRIST. Did you notice the beast had 7 heads? I see that as the fullness of the church age, it’s a bunch of head knowledge but NO heart. And then it’s strength comes from the 10 horns, it’s a picture of the law…legalism. What is legalism? I believe this is how John felt as he was intoxicated by the blood of saints…self-righteous and the blood of martyrs…self- pity. It’s religion based on achievement and failure, we get either reward or punishment. Now John did marvel at this beast initially, but the angel corrects his thinking and shows him how destructive this type of thinking is when we serve a God like that, performance based and NOT BY grace. He was living a lie and he didn’t even know it, and yeah, he did walk with Jesus…yet he missed the mark…maybe we should check the mirror?

[Gal 5:4 NLT] For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace. Can you see the picture this morning? John was cut OFF from Christ in his thinking (island=isolation), he thought he had to perform to get right with God and when he did that notice he didn’t lose God’s grace it was a FALL. What should we do when we fall?

[Pro 24:16 NIV] For though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again. Rise, get up, come hither…it’s having a mind of faith and believing that God’s grace is the only thing that we need to be set free and it has nothing to do with our performance. I suppose maybe John being a disciple of Jesus might of thought he was better than some but that’s NOT the image of Christ, the I’m better than mentality is a beast nature which is called self-righteousness. And the martyr mentality is just as bad, it says I have it worse than you look what they’ve done to me. Did you notice who wins the war? The LAMB. I hope when you look in the mirror you find the Lamb, it wins every time.

Point to ponder

How powerful is the Lamb? [Jhn 1:29 KJV] The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Holy cow…strong enough to take away the sin of the WORLD, I think that includes a lot of folk…sounds like a winner to me.

Let’s all reflect Christ in each other, In Him Phil

Faith – Family – Friends