The Mustard Seed Mill

I last wrote about The Revelation of Jesus Christ. Often when we read Revelation, we focus on all the things that are to come and try to figure it out, but we often overlook the main focus. It is the revelation of Jesus Christ. Given that it’s a revelation of Jesus, I start to think… I want a revelation of Jesus! Then I begin to realize, Jesus gave a revelation of himself to a specific person. He gave a revelation of himself to John.

Why did this revelation come to John?  Why were these amazing details about Jesus revealed to him?  Details unlike any that had been seen or heard before as described in scripture were given.  John was given revelation not only about what was to come, but who Jesus would be through it all.   

Something I think that marked John’s life that paved the way for this revelation from Jesus is John’s closeness with Jesus.  We see John throughout scripture not worrying about those around Him.  In John 21:20-25, we see Peter asking Jesus about John.  In essence, Peter is comparing himself to John and asking what Jesus had planned for John.  Jesus looked at Peter and told Peter not to worry about John.  It didn’t matter if Jesus let John live forever, Peter was to focus on what Jesus had for Peter.  We don’t really see John worrying so much about others, but we constantly see John’s focus on being near to Jesus.    

John seemed to have that down in a way that we don’t often see.  At the dinner table, we see John sitting against Jesus’s chest.  We see John describe himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.”   I don’t think that was a prideful title.  I think that was a deep revelation he had in his heart of love he knew from Jesus.  We see a real relationship with John and Jesus.  We see Jesus entrust his mother, Mary, to John at the cross.  There was true fellowship, love, and a deep relationship. 

I think that this is what gave way for John to receive the revelation of Jesus Christ.  When we press into someone, like John did with Jesus, we open the door for them to share more of themselves with us.  We understand each other in such an intimate way that we can trust each other with more of who we are.  I think Jesus and John had this kind of intimacy.  I think Jesus found John trustworthy because John knew how much Jesus loved him.  When we know how much Jesus loves us, we begin to understand the world around us in a different way.  We trust Jesus, even with the things around us.  When we understand how much someone loves us, we want to steward that love and the details of that person in a different way.  

John knew Jesus loved Him.  He knew it in such a way that it was natural for Jesus to reveal more of himself to John.  John was able to write what Jesus had revealed to him so that the rest of us could get a glimpse of Jesus.  The Jesus we need when we feel we are fighting for our lives.  The Jesus that was present at the creation of the world, who through Him all things were made and exist.  The Jesus that will come back in all His glory.  John wrote about the love of Jesus in the Gospel of John.  He wrote about Jesus from the foundation of the earth.  And he wrote about the Jesus that is and is to come in Revelation. 

I want to be like John.  It’s his focus on the relationship with Jesus that made way for the revelation.  John didn’t go to Jesus asking for a revelation.  He simply had a lifestyle of leaning into Jesus.  He let Jesus love him and received that love.  

Revelation 2:12-17 is the letter to Pergamum.  In that letter, it is told to those that overcome and hold to true teachings that they will receive of the hidden manna.   The hidden manna is referring to the pot of manna that was stored in the Ark of the Covenant. It was a part of God’s covenant and promise for those that followed His law.  This hidden manna is representative of Jesus.   When we hold true and cling to the Lord, we get to partake in this perfect manna.  The manna that sustains.  The manna that never rots.  The manna that never runs out.  The manna that is Jesus.  

There is a desire to strive for the cool revelation or the answer to the prayer.  I think John saw it differently; he let himself just live in the love of Jesus and Jesus showed up.  He let himself press in and Jesus saw him trustworthy enough to reveal more of Himself to John. 

Lord, let me be like John.  Let me live a life marked by the revelation of your love.