Topic: Found Wanting? [DCLM Daily Manna 2 February 2019 Daily Devotional]
Text: Revelation 20:1-15 (KJV)
Key Verse: “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them and they were judged every man according to their works” (Revelation 20:13).
MESSAGE:
Napoleon Bonaparte, a French emperor, who like Adolf Hitler, brought death to millions of people to satisfy his lust for earthly power, screamed: “I die before my time, and my body will be given back to the earth. Such is the fate of him who has been called the great Napoleon. What an abyss between my deep misery and the eternal kingdom of Christ!”
There are many stories from the Scriptures and in our contemporary time that expressly show the real experience of men after death or near the door of death. There is the passionate cry of the rich man who died without God, but pleased that warning should be sent to his brothers to avoid them meeting him in the same place. There are numerous stories of atheists, who while on earth, deceived many with their erroneous beliefs and teaching, but while on their death beds, cried like babies.
It is self-deceit to think that death is the end of all activities. The passage brings to reality the hereafter events that will affect all mortals. John uses prophetic figurative languages in order to rehearse the effect the gospel has had on the work of the kingdom of darkness. The seventh and last symbolic vision in Revelation is given to manifest the totally of the victory of the gospel over the spiritual powers of darkness.
John emphasises that no unrepentant sinner in this world will escape the final judgment. The beast and the false prophet will also be judged.
If you must escape the looming judgment, adequate preparation is required. As a sinner, you must confess your sins, forsake them and accept Christ as a personal Lord and Saviour while believers must remain steadfast in holiness and righteousness till the end.
Thought For The Day: Victory belongs to the courageous.
Bible Reading In One Year: Matthew 10-11
DCLM Daily Manna was written by Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.
