Though we live in relative ease, comfort, and prosperity in America, our mindset must always be that of exiles sent to this country to represent the world’s one true and final King, our Lord Jesus Christ. Like the Apostle John and the ancient church, we exist in the tribulation, the kingdom, and the patient endurance in our Lord Jesus Christ (see Rev. 1:9). 

For someone who came to faith in the 80s it’s a bit surreal to contemplate that we’re just over seven months away from entering 2020.  For much of the 80’s the Bible-believing community was awash in speculation, discussion, and anticipation of the secret rapture of the church, which would be followed by the Great Tribulation. Consequently, many of us were sure that this world would never see the year 2020.

However, as we crossed the threshold of 2000 and into the 21st century, talk of the rapture has waned, being replaced with the best way to address America’s challenges so that we can more fully enjoy the blessings of liberty. Yet as the people of the living God, we know that no country, no matter how great, can ever truly satisfy our deepest needs for identity, meaning, peace, security, value, purpose, and destiny. Beyond that, our primary mission remains: to be a witness to the world’s one and true King, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Consequently, though we live in relative ease, comfort, and prosperity in America, our mindset must always be that of exiles sent to this country to represent the world’s one true and final King, our Lord Jesus Christ. Like the Apostle John and the ancient church, we exist in the tribulation, the kingdom, and the patient endurance in our Lord Jesus Christ (see Rev. 1:9).

In the book of Revelation, Jesus gave us several visions that ground and fuel our worship and witness for the God who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood. The first vision is of our Lord Himself. Revelation 1:9-20 reveals the vision of our Lord that John experienced while living in exile on the island of Patmos. Behind him he heard 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 Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.’”

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