A Call For Endurance (Revelation 14:12)

 


Friday, 12 December, 2025


Psalms 99; 100

Isaiah 46:1-47:4

Revelation 14:1-12


A Call For Endurance (Revelation 14:12)


Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.


This account from Revelation about the song in heaven reminds me of a time I went to a hymn fest in a certain church. The church had been designed so as to make the most of a full house of full-throated hymn singers. The organisers had managed to pack in not only a couple of hundred punters like me, but also the church choir, the organist, and a full brass band. The sound we made was less like St John’s “sound of harpists playing on their harps” and more like his “roar of many waters and like the sound of thunder”.


There is such a stark contrast in the two scenes we get in our second lesson today. From the heavenly choir above, to the angelic call for repentance on earth below, it really makes the reader know where they would rather be.


The apostle ends this little section by telling us exactly what we are to think about it all: to hear it as a call for endurance in our faith in Jesus. If we have ever had a moment in church (or maybe, since Christmas is coming, during a performance of Handel’s Messiah) where the sound of voices and instruments lifting up praise to God made us almost feel like our very souls were rising with them, then let us keep that moment as a personal encouragement to endurance.


What was a memorable worship moment for you? Does it make you want more? Do you see endurance as the path to getting more when Christ returns and raises you to himself?


Lamb of God, whose heavenly praise is as lovely as the harp and as stirring as thunder: inspire in us a desire to join in that heavenly worship, that we may endure in our obedience to your commandments and our faith in you.

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