When John Saw His Name

Scripture For The Day 

 August 2, 2023

When John Saw His Name

All of us struggle with something or another. Maybe it’s low self-esteem. Maybe it’s pride. Maybe it’s fear.

Reading Revelation 21:9-21 this morning, I was given a new perspective by a commentator that I hadn’t fully appreciated before. John was given a vision of The New Jerusalem. He remarks how precise the angels were with measuring the New City all per God’s Instruction.  It will be Perfect. The city will Shine Bright with the Glory of God. The splendor of it all will be spectacular.  John does his very best to describe what he saw.  Verse 14 is what I want us to picture with our hearts. “And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.”  John is watching and soaking in all the details and beauty that he is seeing. The Bible doesn’t say he paused over this particular moment. But I can’t help but wonder what went through his mind when he saw his name written on one of the twelve foundation stones. Did he feel as if he was gulping on his heart? Did he fight the tears? Or did he let them flow?  

John struggled just like the rest of us. Days of feeling good and days of feeling bad. The study I have been doing has been on the life of John. Jesus called John and his brother James the “sons of thunder’. He was full of passion and sometimes acted a little too rash and a bit childish at times. His mother wanted her sons to sit on both sides of Jesus in heaven. That gives us a peek at how their mother may have raised them. But John grew in His understanding and became a pivotal part of sharing The Gospel of Jesus Christ. He often spoke of The Truth and Love in his writings. He essentially grew up in Jesus. Confidence is great but if compassion does not accompany that confidence, it can easily turn into pride. And here, here was his name written on a foundation stone. How humbling it must have been to see that. 

Child of God, God Loves us. We can never be ‘good’ enough. And if that’s what it takes, I fail miserably. But I am reminded over and over that He Loves Me… He Loves You. And our names are engraved in the palms of His Hands. Not because of what I have done. But because of Who He is.  How humbling. How Loved we all are. Remember that today.   





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