{"id":15678,"date":"2026-10-25T00:00:39","date_gmt":"2026-10-25T07:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/?p=15678"},"modified":"2026-10-26T08:13:02","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T15:13:02","slug":"preparing-for-the-future-by-living-in-the-present-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/2026\/10\/25\/preparing-for-the-future-by-living-in-the-present-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Preparing for the Future by Living in the Present"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Revelation 4:1\u00a0<em><sup>1<\/sup><\/em><em>After these things I looked, and behold, a door opened in heaven, and the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, saying, \u201cCome up here, and I will show you what things must take place after these things.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Book of Revelation now takes a turn from the seven letters written to the seven churches of Asia Minor to a new vision of God\u2019s throne. The rest of Revelation clarifies and expands the themes found in the seven letters. The following chapters warn against disobedience or laziness and motivate obedience through symbolic language. It becomes difficult to determine how to interpret these symbols at points, what is literal and what is figurative. The seven churches were facing increased challenges, particularly from growing persecution. The following chapters provide the goal of faithfulness and endurance while warning against complacency and apostasy.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">After John wrote the seven letters, he saw a new vision of heaven, God\u2019s throne, and future events. Interpreters have debated for centuries about when these events will happen. Some have interpreted these predictions historically to have had immediate application in the first century when John wrote this book. Although some of the descriptions can be accounted for in this way, others seem to point to a future point. Thus, the debate continues about the interpretation of this book. Revelation could fit the theory of prophecy having two applications: at the time of writing (the Old Testament prophets speaking to Israel, or John in the first century writing to Christians) or some far distant time (fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies in the New Testament, or some unknown distant \u201cend of time\u201d for Revelation). What happened in John\u2019s day serves as a pattern or type for what may happen someday in the future.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">John is invited by a voice and mysteriously transported in his vision to heaven. His vision echoes the visions of God\u2019s throne described in Isaiah 6:1\u20133 and Ezekiel 1:4\u201314, 22\u201328. The voice is the same as in 1:10, when John first began to have his vision while on the island of Patmos. The context of chapter 1 indicates that this voice is of Jesus. The difficult part of this opening verse to consider is <em>after this<\/em>. Some type of time sequence is intended. The events on earth have their origin in heaven. God is in control of history while also giving humanity the freedom to choose its course.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">An important theme that is developed in the next two chapters is God\u2019s sovereignty and plan of redemption through Jesus. The authority of the Lamb and the salvation he provides should give assurance to the reader that what follows can be believed and bring encouragement. God is not bound by time but has a plan for the close of the age. We will be wise to read these chapters with an open mind and willing heart.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Revelation 4:1\u00a01After these things I looked, and behold, a door opened in heaven, and the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, saying, \u201cCome up here, and I will show you what things must take place after these things.\u201d The Book of Revelation now takes a turn from the seven [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotions","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15678"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15679,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15678\/revisions\/15679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}