As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on Him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is My Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:16-17.

We love, because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19. Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28.

Do not forget that He (God) led you through the great and terrifying wilderness with its poisonous snakes and scorpions, where it was so hot and dry. He gave you water from the rock! He fed you with manna in the wilderness, a food unknown to your ancestors. He did this to humble you and test you for your own good. Deuteronomy 8:15-16.

I’m rereading the book Revelation by Erica DeWaard, aka Farmer Girl on Facebook, which I read the first time, this week, in less than 2 days. She has brought out in each chapter of Revelation the most important things to understand and that is so needed because we can become so distracted and side-tracked by the symbolic imagery that we lose the important thread running throughout. That God is in control. He always has been and He always will be. And He will bring an end to evil. And it isn’t ourselves that saves us, it never was.

How can we save anything good when we keep trusting empire (Babylon), over God? Empire is the way of Satan, the adversary of God. It always has been and it always will be until God ends the madness. After Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit led Him to the wilderness where Satan tested Him and one of the tests was showing Jesus all the Satan-inspired empires through all their successive ages through time of their strength and power and domination – all of them including those today and those yet to be until Jesus returns. In that strength, power, and greed, the vulnerable are always crushed. We see it still today. We’re troubled because it’s an uncomfortable truth. It’s the exact opposite of the way of God and His Kingdom. Revelation reveals Jesus the Son as He is now and the Father’s timing for bringing an end to Satan’s way of evil. In that wilderness Jesus chose wisely and rebuked Satan. One of the things I loved about DeWaard’s explanations of the numbers we see in Revelation is how they show completion or incompleteness. In the Bible, 3 shows emphasis – HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is the LORD God Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come. He is always here – then, now, and for all time. And 7 shows completion. So 6, the number we all fear and endlessly debate (666), shows with emphasis the incompleteness of empire, all empire! And I love how that reduces the fear factor. And another point made in the book is that Jesus standing outside knocking at the door, refers to the door of His church because He is addressing them/us. That’s sobering! He knows. Do we? I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues; for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.” Revelation 18:4-5. Come to Me! That is the imperative always, the thread running throughout all of Scripture that is given for us that we choose Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit, and trust Him to lead us. I don’t think we can afford to kid ourselves anymore. Empire or the Kingdom of God. In what will you trust? And the beautiful truth is Creator God IS Love. Can we give thanks that He is the Creator of all creation? He knows, unlike us, and we are saved in Him. HOLY, HOLY, HOLY, is the LORD God Almighty! Who was and who is and who is to come!