Shut up!

There is a man named John in the Bible. His life has been marked by encounter with God and he cannot help but talk about Him. God has changed his life and so he talks and teaches about Him all the time...to the point that the people that he is around are sick of it. They are sick of him and they are sick of what he is talking about and what he is talking about is Jesus.

These people of John's day get so irritated with his mouth yapping about Jesus all the time that they begin to think about how they can shut him up. Then they stop thinking about it and they act on it. They decide to take John to a deserted island where no other human being lives 180 miles away and leave him there. TO SHUT HIM UP. "We're tired of hearing you froth at the mouth about this Jesus. SHUT UP! SHUT UP!

And so John is exiled to the deserted island of Patmos. And here is why I am writing about this today. John knows why he is there. He knows why they exiled him to Patmos. We actually get his explanation in the bible book of Revelation, the last book of the bible, chapter 1 verse 9. I love this verse. It is weighty. He writes with language and words that aren't used a lot these days. Listen to how he describes himself and also calls to you. "I John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus..." Wow! Those words stir me. He is calling you and I to what real life is. It is about the opposed battle to love Jesus passionately and intimately and to battle for hearts for the kingdom of God. And then we come to THE REASON! John is about to tell us why he was put on Patmos. Was it because he was so irritating, so persistent, so loud. He tells the ultimate reason why he was on Patmos at the end of that same verse 9. "Because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus." YEEEEESSSSSSS!!!!!!!!! That is who we love! That is who we serve! That is who battles for us. "Make no mistake", John says. "I am on Patmos because I am marked by the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ."

May this be said of you and I as well.

In a story Jesus told in the bible book of Mark chapter 4, He told about a farmer sowing seed. The seed is the Word of God and he says that sometimes there is opposition to the seed of the word of God growing in us. The way that Mark says it is, " When trouble and persecution come BECAUSE OF THE WORD OF GOD...". When it comes, not if it comes. Man, Damon, you're gonna scare people away from wanting to follow Jesus. No. We're not that strong and powerful by ourselves. If God wants to have us, He is going to have us, thanks be to God. And He will develop us to stand in the midst of trouble and persecution....like John on Patmos.

Here is a strong ending. They put John on Patmos to SHUT HIM UP! While John was on Patmos we read in the very next verse in the bible book of Revelation chapter 1 verse 10 that while John was on Patmos the Holy Spirit told him to write down what he was seeing and hearing from God while he was there. And John did. And you can read what John wrote down from the Spirit of God in the bible book of Revelation this very day. JOHN DIDN'T SHUT UP! THEY COULDN'T SHUT HIM UP! He is still speaking today through the Spirit of God in the pages of the living word of God. Thanks be to God. GOD WILL NOT BE SHUT UP!

For the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ!

There's more.