The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 359: John's Apocalypse (2024)

Episode Date: December 24, 2024

As we begin reading from Revelation, Fr. Mike makes us aware of the symbolism found throughout this apocalyptic book and highlights its goal of strengthening the Church through the worship that happens at Mass. He also encourages us to find strength in God when facing challenges, just as Paul did. Today’s readings are Revelation 1-3, 2 Timothy 3-4, and Proverbs 31:8-9. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 359. We are reading from the book of Revelation chapters 1, 2, and 3, as well as the conclusion of St. Paul's second letter to Timothy chapters 3 & 4

We're also reading the book of Proverbs chapter 31 verses 8 & 9 as always the Bible translation I'm reading from is the revised standard version second Catholic edition I'm using the great adventure Bible from ascension if you want to download your own Bible in a year I'm reading plan for these last seven days. You can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a year and That'll be neat. You can also subscribe to this podcast for the last week and then, you know, it's one of those things that let go of your pride, let go of your pride. Just subscribe, come on.

Just kidding, I'm not accusing anyone of anything, I'm just joking around. It is day 359, we are reading Revelation chapters one, two and three, second Timothy chapters three and four, as well as Proverbs chapter 31, verses eight and nine. The Revelation to John. The Apocalypse. Chapter 1. Introduction and Salutation. The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants what must soon take place. And he made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness

to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is he who reads aloud the words of the prophecy and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written therein, for the time is near. John to the seven churches that are in Asia, 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 witness the firstborn of the dead and the ruler Of kings on earth 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 everyone who pier Him, and all the 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. A Vision of Christ I, John, your brother, who share with you in Jesus the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet

saying, Write what you see in a book, and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sard Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea. Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning, I saw seven golden lampstands. And in the midst of the lampstands, one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash across his chest. His head and his hair were white as white wool,

white as snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze, refined as in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth issued a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand upon me, saying, Fear not, I am the first and the last and the living one.

I died, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and Hades. Now, write what you see, what is and what is to take place hereafter. As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. Chapter 2. The Message to Ephesus To the angel of the church in Ephesus write, The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands,

I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear evil men but have tested those who call themselves apostles but are not and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember then from what you have fallen, repent and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lamp stand from its place unless you repent. Yet this you have. You hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who conquers, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, Which is in the paradise of God. The message to Smyrna. And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write, The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life, I know your tribulation and your poverty, but you are rich, And the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not,

But are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison that you may be tested, but for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who conquers shall not be hurt by the second death. The Message to Pergamum And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write, The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword,

I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. You hold fast to my name, and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas, my witness, my faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. But I have a few things against you. You have some there who hold the teachings of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice immorality. So you also have some who hold the teachings of the Nicolaitans. Repent then!

If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who conquers, I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone with the new name written on the stone, which no one knows except him who receives it." The Message to Thyatira And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write, The words of the Son of God,

who has eyes like a flame of fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and beguiling my servants to practice immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her immorality.

Behold, I will throw her on a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation unless they repent of her doings. I will strike her children dead, and all the churches shall know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you as your works deserve. But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay upon you any other burden. Only hold fast what you have until I come.

He who conquers and who keeps my words until the end, I will give him power over the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received power from my Father. And I will give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Chapter 3. The Message to Sardis.

And to the angel of the, for I have not found your works perfect in the sight of my God. Remember then what you received and heard. Keep that and repent. If you will not awake, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come upon you. Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. He who conquers shall be clothed like them in white garments, and I will not blot his name out of the Book of Life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." The Message to Philadelphia

And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, The words of the Holy One, the true One, who has the key of David, who opens and no one shall shut, who shuts and no one opens. I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not but lie Behold I will make them come and bow down before your feet and learn that I loved you Because you have kept my word of patient endurance I will keep you from the hour of trial which is coming on the whole world to try those who dwell upon the earth

I am coming soon hold fast what you have so that no one may seize your crown He who conquers I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." The Message to Laodicea And to the churches, And neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth. For you say I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing,

not knowing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. Therefore I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, that you may be rich, and white garments to clothe you, and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen, and sav to anoint your eyes that you may see. Those whom I love I reprove and chasten, so be zealous and repent. nakedness from being seen, and salve to anoint your eyes that you may see. Those whom I love I reprove and chasten. So be zealous and repent.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him and he with me. He who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I myself conquered and sat down with my father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The second letter of Paul to Timothy, chapter 3, Godlessness in the last days there will come times of stress. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive,

disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, inhuman, implacable, slanderers, profligates, fierce, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding the form of religion but denying the power of it. Avoid such people, for among them are those who make their way into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and swayed by various impulses, who will listen to anybody and can never arrive at a knowledge of the truth. As Johnnes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth.

Men of corrupt mind and counterfeit faith. But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men. Paul's charge to Timothy. Now you have observed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions, my sufferings, what befell me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra, what persecutions I endured, yet from them all the Lord rescued me. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and imposters will go on from bad to worse, deceivers and deceived.

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Chapter 4 and out of season. Convince, rebuke, and exhort. Be unfailing in patience and in teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths. As for you, always be steady, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. For I am already on the work of an evangelist. Fulfill your ministry. For I am already on the point of being sacrificed. The time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. From now on there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day.

And not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing. Personal Instructions Do your best to come to me soon, for Deimos, in love with this present world, has deserted me, and gone to Thessalonica. Crescians has gone to Galatia, Titus to Domitia. Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful in serving me. Tychicus, I have sent to Ephesus. When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments.

Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm. The Lord will pay him back for his deeds. Beware of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message. At my first defense no one took my part. All deserted me. May it not be charged against them. But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength to proclaim the word fully that all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion's mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil and save me for his heavenly kingdom. To Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. Final greetings and benediction.

Greet Prisca and Aquila, and the household of Onesiphorus. Erastus remained at Corinth. Trofimus, I left Ill at Miletus. Do your best to come before winter. Eubulus sends greetings to you, as do Pudens and Linus and Claudia and all the brethren. The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.

The Book of Proverbs chapter 31 verses 8 and 9. Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are left desolate. Open your mouth, judge righteously, maintain the rights of the poor and needy. Father in heaven, we give you praise and glory. We thank you for bringing us to this new day, to this new book of the book of revelation, as well as the conclusion of St. Paul's second letter to Timothy. Thank you so much. Thank you for these last days of this 365-day journey. We give you, we can't even begin Lord God to count up the blessings not only the blessings of beginning the blessings of making it

through to the end we have talked so many times Lord about having a good beginning you remind us that it is better to have a good ending than it is to have a good beginning help us to end well we make this our prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen. I wanna go in reverse. I wanna talk first about the second letter of Saint Paul

to Timothy. A couple of things that are just, they're just beautiful. You know, as Paul is encouraging his spiritual son, Timothy, one of the things that he's reminding him of doing is he's reminding him of the fact that suffering is gonna be part of this, that there are those who are going to oppose you and there are those who are gonna fall away. I mean he already wrote to Timothy about this and he's just reminding him of this. In fact, you know, even just those hard words, those sad words at the

end of chapter four or middle of chapter four really, where Saint Paul says, do your best to come to me soon. You can hear the ache in his voice. For Deimos, in love with this present world, has deserted me, gone to Thessalonica. Cretians has gone to Galatia, Titus to Damesia. Luke alone is with me. And get Mark and bring him with you. He's very useful.

He goes on to say, Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm. And at last, in verse 16, chapter four, at my first defense, no one took my part, all deserted me. May not be charged against them but the Lord stood by me and gave me strength. And that's just, it's so important. We have to recognize that this is our lot, right? This is going to be our story as well. That there are people that we're going to trust, there are people who are going to be in our comrades in arms when it comes to following after the Lord. And we just pray that we're not the ones who fall away. We just pray that we're going to trust. They're people who are going to be in our comrades in arms when it comes to following after the Lord.

And we just pray that we're not the ones who fall away. We just pray that we're not the ones who betray. We just ask the Lord, please Lord God, help me not betray it. But also when those friends, when those family, when those people in my life, when they do fail me, help me also like Paul to be able to pray. May it not be charged against them.

Help me to forgive, to let it go. You know, Saint Paul also, two things I just wanna highlight because there's really powerful lines in chapter three where St. Paul's writing to Timothy, he says, as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it. And now from childhood, you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to instruct you

for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Now, as St. Paul's writing about the sacred writings, which are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Now, as St. Paul is writing about the sacred writings, he's talking about the Old Testament. And I think that is so good for us. All of us who have gone through the entire Old Testament, except for those last verses in Proverbs chapter 31, all of us who have gone through the Old Testament, we recognize that the entire Old Testament is pointing to the new. In fact, the New Testament is hidden in the old and the old is revealed in the new. And so here is Paul writing to Timothy saying, yeah, you've been familiar with those. They've instructed you and goes on to say, all scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness that the man of God may

be complete, equipped for every good work. And that's just, again, one of the reasons why maybe, maybe in eight days, we're going to start back in day one and one more lap around the Bible in another year. But we also recognize that we pray that God helps us not just to start well, but he has helped us to finish well. St. Paul in chapter four, verse seven, he says, I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.

And there's something so, I don't know. I don't the race, I have kept the faith. And there's something so, I don't know, I don't even know if I have words for it. It's just so powerful, we just say, God, please, let that be me. Let me not fall away from you, let me not abandon you, ever, ever. And if I do, bring me back. Because we know this, that the Lord's love for us

never fails, even if we walk away from him, he is faithful, we heard that yesterday or the day before that that even if we're unfaithful he is always faithful even if we don't care about him he cares for us even if we say I reject your love that love of his for us never waivers ever ever so Lord if we have walked away if we have fallen away bring us back bring us home so revelation a couple things this is maybe this is the the one you've been waiting for everybody. I don't know if that is. I don't know if you've been afraid of Revelation or if you've been excited for Revelation. But a couple things about the Book of Revelation is this is going

to be a great book. It's a lot like Daniel. It is a lot like those other books of the prophets of apocalyptic literature, right? Where there's a lot of symbolism. For example, talks about the number 10. When you hear the number 10 in the Book of literature, right? Where there's a lot of symbolism. For example, it talks about the number 10. When you hear the number 10 in the book of Revelation, there's 10 horns, there's 10 days, for 10 years this is gonna happen. Just know the number of 12 will be a number of fullness, right?

Number seven is number of Sabbath, the number of covenant. Okay, so the number of 12 be a number of power, a number of completeness. 10 is powerful, but not all powerful. 10 would be powerful, but limited. And that is just kind of a little insight, little clue that when we read the word 10 here in the book of Revelation,

that's what that is oftentimes, I believe maybe even every time is referencing. There's power there, it's long lasting, but it's not lasting forever, it's not all powerful. So it's limited power, it's limited time. Hopefully that makes sense. But let's look at the dating. So John says that he writes the book,

and so the traditional belief is that John, the beloved John, that he wrote this book of Revelation, that this is a revelation from Jesus Christ to John so that he can pass it on to the churches. Now we talked about the seven churches, so the addressees of John's book of Revelation are these seven churches in Asia and we just get to hear in these first three chapters we get to

hear what's going on in those churches but before that let's back up even more and say what's the dating of this book of Revelation. There are I think two theories essentially. One theory is that the dating of this book is from the 90s. That the end of John's life, he's an old man at this point, and he's writing this book of revelation during the era or the age of the emperor Domitian. So that's one of the theories. Another theory is that this is happening in the 60s or 70s.

So 30-ish plus years ahead of that time would be another theory, and that would be under the time of Nero. Now, a couple reasons why I like, I prefer in fact, that this would come from the 60s, 60s before the year 70. And one is because when we get to the number 666, everyone is afraid of the word 666,

or the numbers 666, that is in Hebrew numerology, a number indicating the name of Nero Caesar, or Caesar Nero. So you know, all the letters, all numbers have a letter value, or all letters have number value, and so if you add those up, later on we're gonna hear this,

where John says, this is code, but if you're smart enough, you can figure this out. Because if I'm writing this during the time of Nero, then it makes sense that I'm gonna keep this a code, and so you don't see me essentially lambasting the emperor who wants to kill all these Christians in Rome. So, it would make sense. And also, there's some variations that have the number six one six and that still spells Nero

Just in I think in the Latin language So it's it makes a lot of sense that if this is happening during the persecution of Nero versus the persecution of Domination That makes sense to me. Also what makes sense is that Jesus had said that essentially I'm coming soon And the end of the world is happening soon. In fact, remember in the gospels, Jesus prophesied that I'll come back before all these things take place, that essentially the world will end. Before this generation ends,

all these things will take place. So since Jesus prophesied this, he'd say, wait a second, when did that happen? And if you remember in the year 70 AD, what happened was Rome destroyed Jerusalem They destroyed the temple and we have to understand how important the temple was. I mean, I've emphasized this I think over the last 359 days but the temple was everything in fact Remember when God showed Moses on the mountain the dimensions in the building of the temple

It was meant to be a little microcosm of the cosmos right a microcosm of the world, the dimensions and the building of the temple. It was meant to be a little microcosm of the cosmos, right? A microcosm of the world, of the universe. That's meant to be, that's what it is. So in the year 70 when the Romans came into Jerusalem and destroyed the temple, what this is a prophecy of destroying the world. Because the temple again is the epicenter. The temple's epicenter are not only of finance, it's not only the epicenter of politics for the Jewish people, it's the epicenter of worship. It is the center of the world. It is a microcosm of the world.

And so here is Jesus in Revelation, here is Jesus in the Gospels, who's prophesying, yeah, the end of the world will happen in this generation. It makes sense that we would say that this would be written in the year 60 so that John is prophesying, getting the people ready for the destruction of the temple and that ransacking of Jerusalem in the year 7080.

It's an opinion. Other people have different opinions that are informed as well, but that's also gonna inform us a lot about what's going on for the next number of chapters. So just FYI, with all of that in mind, one of the things we know is that regardless of what emperor this was under,

this was a time of persecution for Christians. Regardless of what year this was, this was a time of great persecution for Christians. And so what is God doing? God is saying, okay, I want you to get prepared. I want you to get prepared for this persecution and just know that there is a battle happening that's going on in this world

between evil in the world and between God. Not that evil and God are equal, not at all, not even close, but because we live in this world, because we live on this planet, because we live in this time that's broken, there is this battle that is waging. So let's begin. Chapter one, we have this revelation and it's,

you can't even begin. I'm so glad you all read the Old Testament because you know that when someone like John, when he says something like, here is Jesus, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, the ruler of the kings on the earth. Or when it says that here's Jesus,

I saw one like a son of man come. Like, wait a second, I've heard those terms like in Daniel, book of Daniel, that's a really big deal. Jesus even himself says, you will see the son of man coming in power and glory. So we know the background for all this, but the background of the context of this is I John your brother in chapter one, verse nine,

who share with you in the tribulation, in Jesus in the tribulation, in kingdom, in the patience, endurance, on the island of Patmos, he was exiled to the island tribulation and kingdom and the patience endurance on the island of patmos He was exiled to the island of patmos and he's there on the Lord's day Now this is gonna be really critical because this is gonna set the stage for everything that happens after this This is not a book of revelation. That's all about just about future stuff. It's not about just about like it's not about the rapture It's not about anything like that. It is about Strengthening the body of Christ strengthening the church

Via the worship that happens at the mass. This is gonna be so important. This is about strengthening the church through the worship that happens in the mass. That's what the book of Revelation is all about, or largely about. So they're on the Lord's Day. What's the Lord's Day?

The Lord's Day is the day that Christians celebrate the Mass. Every Christian at this point on Sunday would celebrate the Mass and he hears these words, you know, right? What you see, right? What you see, he turns and sees the voice that's speaking to him. He saw the seven golden lampstands. In the midst of the lampstands, one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe, golden sash across his chest. What's that? The priestly robes. That's what they are. So you have Jesus, the one like the Son of Man, the high priest with priestly robes.

He turns and sees him on the Lord's day. This is so, so critical. And he sees this and what happens, verse 17, when I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Now this is just, man, how often, you know, of course, Jesus doesn't want us to be afraid of him. But we have this thing called the fear of the Lord when we know that here is God himself and here

I am NOT God here is the creator of everything. I'm a measly creation That sometimes I think we have this maybe not you but we can have this cavalier attitude of this I just approach God however I want come as you are what there's a sense of these Of course God loves us as we are but man If I turned and saw the Lord God himself standing in front of me, I would do, this is John the beloved. He didn't even run away at the news of fiction.

This is John who was faithful. This is John who suffered. John was boiled alive and didn't die. And then here he is. If anyone could boast like, you know, St. Paul says, if anyone could boast, it'd be John. If anyone could just run up to Jesus and say, hey, Jesus, we were best friends when you walked

on this earth in the incarnation, it'd be John. But when I saw him, I feel at his feet as though dead. I just think that next time you go to adoration, next time you go to adoration, just realize, here's the truth. Next time you go to mass and you see the Eucharist elevated and say, that's Jesus. Sometimes we just get so distracted.

Sometimes they're so blah. Sometimes you're dead inside about this. And yet what does Jesus say to the church in Laodicea? He says, the thing I hold against you is that you're neither cold nor hot. You just show up. Yeah. And you show up.

It's great. You're there, but I would rather that you would be cold or hot, but because you're lukewarm, I will vomit you out of my mouth. How many of us, we approach the Lord's presence, we go to mass, we go to adoration, we just even pray, call upon the name of the Lord, and just meh, meh, lukewarm.

To me, Jesus says, when I'm like that, Jesus says, hey listen, either get fiery hot for me, or coldly reject me because this lukewarm approach is not working. Yet what does Jesus say? He laid his right hand upon me saying fear not I'm the first and the last the living one I died behold I'm alive forevermore. It basically get up you know and that's so good because here's Jesus who loves us yes our response our proper response would be, I'm dead. And his response is, I love you.

So both responses can be equally true at the same time. But here's these messages to the churches in Ephesus or in the seven churches in Asia, first one, Ephesus. We have the lampstands and the angels. Sometimes for the spirits, there's no other translation. Sometimes like, wait, what are the angels. Sometimes, or the spirits is another translation. Sometimes like, wait, what are the seven spirits? What are the seven angels? And there are some who have said that the seven angels

are the bishops of those churches in those cities, which sure, a person can make that argument. But the interesting thing is for the rest of the book of Revelation, when it uses the term angel, it means angel. And so, like, okay, well, that's kind of problematic. You don't wanna just twist it to make it mean what you think it means or what it might mean in this case another it could be angels like actual there's angels assigned to

those churches another it could be the Holy Spirit that here is the you know seven number of Covenant here is this Holy Spirit that is given in different ways to these seven different churches that's what could be a thing and then of course the the world lampstands are the seven churches as Jesus himself says at the end of chapter one. All of these churches have things that they need to be corrected on and I already mentioned Laodicea that they're lukewarm right? They're neither hot nor cold. But I just want to highlight one and that's the church of Ephesus, the very first church, because Jesus says, he says, I know your works. This is chapter two verse two. I know your works, your toil, your patient endurance

and how you cannot bear evil men, but have tested those who call themselves apostles, but are not and have found them to be false. I know you're enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake and you have not grown weary. All of these things are so good. They are orthodox, right?

They're believing the right things, orthopraxy. They're living the right way. And they're also even suffering for the sake of the Lord. They're doing great. But he says in verse four, but I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. And this is just so key.

You know, we can do, we can believe the right things and we can do the right things and that's good. And Jesus, he even praises them for that. But we're not just about doing the right things or believing the right things. It's about loving the one who lived and suffered, died and rose from the dead for us. It's not just about doing the right things or believing the right things. It's about loving the one who lived and suffered, died and rose from the dead for us. It's about love.

And so whenever I hear, read this, and I've read it quite often throughout the course of the year, every year, and I hear those words of Jesus to Ephesus, and I think, I don't want that to be me, because I can recognize, but I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember then from what you have fallen, repent and do the work you did at first. And that's,

that's so important because I think, okay, Lord, I think I'm believing the right things and trying to do the right things, but I also, I want to be in love with you. That's the thing, right? I want to, I just want to be in love with you. That's what he's calling you to too, to fall back in love with you. That's what he's calling you to too. To fall back in love with Jesus. It's easy to fall in love, it is hard to stay in love. But Jesus is calling us back to that.

Okay, last thing. Jesus also has words for the churches that he says, okay, if you do this, to him who conquers, in chapter two, to him who conquers, I will grant to eat the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. One of the reasons why I'm telling you that this whole book of Revelation

is gonna be pointing back to the mass again and again. I grant to eat of the tree of life. Here it is, the Eucharist. Not only that, but later on in verse 17, Jesus says, he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who conquers, I will give some of the hidden manna. And again, the Eucharist, once again, this piece of this.

And then lastly, I mean, there's more references, but this has been long already, I apologize for that. But there's this line that always strikes me as just the intimacy with which Jesus wants us to live with him. Right after he says, to him who conquers, I will give some of the hidden manna, chapter two, verse 17, he says, and I will give him a white stone with a new

name written on the stone which no one knows except him who receives it that here in eternity here in heaven Jesus will give you a new name and that name is only known between you and him that is only known between you and him and it's the kind of the kind of, you know, I think sometimes we think, well, does God love everyone? If he loves everyone, then I'm not special. And here Jesus is declaring, no, I have a special, I have a unique love for you.

This has been a long one. I apologize. It'll be shorter from now on, but we had to do it. I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. Oof, God bless.