Government Shutdowns

This government shutdown caused me to reflect on another shutdown that I read about in the Bible. In the Book of Revelations 1:9, John says that he was on the island of Patmos because of the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. Even though this was thousands of years ago, it is as if he is speaking directly to us today as he says,

“I John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.”

Most scholars take that to mean that he was banished to that place in an attempt to shut him down because of the Word that he preached and the fact that the emperor, Domitian, perceived his preaching as a threat to Roman political power. This attempted shutdown #GovernmentShutdown backfired because it was there that God was able to get John to himself and do a work in him that would explode and spread, first, to the seven churches and then, all over Asia and to the rest of the world. hmmm.

I could tell you about the shut down of a shepherd boy named David who was discounted by his father as worthy of consideration so he relegated him to the back of his home to tend sheep. He was discounted, shut out, shut down, or whatever you want to call it, but it was his relegation to that sight-unseen, lowly position of tending and protecting sheep from ferocious beasts that resulted in the kind of growth and development that would cause him to slay his giant and make him ruler of Israel.

But the best shutdown account of all is, Calvary. Yes. They stretched Him wide, nailed Him to an old rugged cross. He died. They buried Him in an attempt to shut Him down but it didn’t work because it was on Sunday morning that it backfired. He got up with all power in his hands.

Yesterday, at the end of my sermon I spoke of seeing Mike Tyson fight one of his opponents and they beat each other senseless, but at the end of the fight they went over and embraced each other, and I thought that it would be great if they would do that in politics. #God is able. #God-is-able