Chapters Nine and Ten –The Trumpets Blow

Diamond Text for Chapters Nine and Ten Nine—” In returning and rest shall you be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength” (Is. 30:15).

Jesus moves on with JP – “John, you are one of the most self-assured Pastors I’ve ever seen. This next dream vision is for you. Out of the bottomless pit of your self-assurance, locusts have been swarming. Like the locusts that teemed in the prophet Joel’s day, they won’t kill anyone; they’ll just torment people. “Before them people are in anguish” (Joel 2:6). Your ministry in those churches left many people in anguish.

You think Jezebel in Thyatira, Antipas’ murderers in Pergamum, and the arrogant rich in Laodicea all conspired to send you here to Patmos. John, I brought you out here! Your “swarming locust” style of pastoring (a lot of confrontation, but little compassion) just added to their inner torment. They changed nothing; they resisted my efforts to turn their lives around. You uselessly poured out your fire and brimstone. You felt like failure. And you were.

“You intensified their resistance to my Word so badly that I finally took them home. They’re with me now. But you still have a mission. Leave your locusts in the pit. Take the little book this vision gives you , and swallow it! Don’t’ just read it; digest each word.

“You probably think God’s “Book” ledgers all the good and bad things people do. Your “biting locust” pastoral style, you thought, would turn the murderers, idol worshipers and thieves back to God. It did not. You didn’t get God’s Book right, either.

“No, my Father’s “Book of Life” records the “tossings, exiles, and tears” everyone goes through. Read Psalm 56: 9: “You keep count of my wanderings; you put my tears in your bottle – it’s all in your book.”

“My Father is remaking you, John. When you arrived here on Patmos, he threw your clay on his creation wheel to reshape you. Through visions and dreams he’s turning you into a compassionate Pastor. When you go back, you’ll start to listen to the thieves and murders -- even to Jezebel! You’ll find out what Pharaohs drove them wandering into the wilderness; you’ll share what makes them cry.

“My Father and I will see to it that you find your rest in me. You’ll be much quieter than you were before. You’ll become more like God -- “Gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love” (Joel 2:13)

***

As a Pastor, I never had that “biting locust” style. But I surely believed “my way was the best way.” Just ask my wife --she’s in heaven, but ask her anyway.

I have a new friend who works with me all the time to “return and rest” in Jesus. As God works with her to get me to “let go and let God,” I find my self less in bondage to “my way is the best way” and more free to live “God’s way is the best way .” Thanks be to his mercy and grace!