"Then the angel...said to me, 'look up and see...'" Zechariah 5:5

One of the constant struggles I have encountered this past year is the struggle to keep my focus. There are times when I have felt as though I was on a treadmill with my main objective just to keep going, with no real sense of where or why I was going. I would look ahead and see such an intense schedule I would be in despair. I would look back and see so many mistakes I would feel discouraged. I would look around and see so much sin, apathy, and compromise I would feel defeated before I had even begun.

In a world where we have homeless on our streets...
   ...violence in our homes
      ...drugs in our veins
         ...sex on our minds
            ...entertainment before our eyes
               ...selfishness in our hearts
                  ...materialism in our grasp
                     ...rights beneath our feet

Plus mutiny in our children
   ...adultery in our ma rriages
      ...hypocrisy amongst our leaders
         ...jealousy amongst our friends
            ...treachery at our workplace
               ...superficiality amongst the people
                  ...WITHIN THE CHURCH!

--it can be hard to keep our focus, can't it?

I have been comforted by a story my mother tells me of a man who used to help around the home. He was a former Navy officer who had kept up his weapons sill, qualifying to be a deputy sheriff in the county. Each year he was required to renew his permit not only to carry his pistol, but to maintain his status as a deputy. One year, the day he was to re qualify was the same day he got his new bifocal glasses. He wore his new glasses when he went to the target range where he was required to fire six shots from his pistol in rapid succession within a few seconds time, hitting the target each time in order to pass the test. As he gripped his pistol, aimed at the target, and the buzzer sounded letting him know the clock had begun to count off the seconds, sweat began to pour down his face, steaming up his new glasses. he totally lost his focus on the target. When my mother asked, "What in the world did you do?", he replied that he remembered what his old Navy instructor had told him: "When you lose sight of the target, just remember your position." In his mind's eye, he remembered where he had last seen the target and pulled the trigger repeatedly. When the clock stopped indicating his time was up, and the smoke had cleared, the target was examined. He had hit the bull's eye every time!

However, you and I can't keep going without our focus. "Without vision, the people perish." For me, the best way to refocus--to recapture the vision--is to stop looking ahead, looking around, looking back, and just looking up!

Although writing the new devotional commentary on the book of Revelation this past year added hours and hours of intense work to an already overloaded schedule, every moment was a blessing, because it forced me to keep looking up! It refocused me again and again on Him!

The rest of this article has been adapted from the introduction to the book, entitled

The Vision of His Glory, which will be published in Christian bookstores this Spring.

When life doesn't seem to work, when bad things happen to good people, when evil triumphs over good, when Satan seems to have the upper hand, when all hell breaks loose, when death still stings and the grave seems to have the victory, is there any hope at all?

The book of Revelation answers with a resounding yes! YES! YES! When stars fall from the sky, when mountains fall into the sea, when demons invade the earth, when the blood of those massacred rises to the height of a horses bridle--even when the worst conceivable nightmares become reality-- there is one splendid, shining, sure hope for the future! His name is Jesus!

The Book of Revelation was originally written to give hope to the early church when Christians were being fed to lions, nailed to crosses, burned at the stake, and boiled in tar. It was written by a Christian who himself was suffering "because of the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus". It was written specifically to a generation of Christians yet to come who will experience what Jesus described as "great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now--and never to be equaled again."

Many Christians have missed the blessing awaiting them in the book of Revelation because they have been intimidated by its numerical symbolism or overwhelmed by its awesome imagery. They read of mysterious lamp stands and sacred seals, worldwide earthquakes and trumpeting angels, monstrous beasts and miracle-working dragons--and quickly turn instead to the soothing poetry of the Psalms or the simple promises of the Beatitudes.

However, Revelation is, above all, a book of hope, and the blessing to be found in its magnificent imagery has been, for me, a continuous, awesome experience of worship as it has caused me to look up and led me to a fresh, personal encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Book of Revelation was written for you, confirming Jeremiah's prophecy: "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to ...give you hope and a future.'"

"Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, 'Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.'" Lift up your head! Open your eyes to the Person of Jesus Christ!

Pilate, the Roman governor who presided over the trial of Jesus, challenged the rioting mob that shouted for His crucifixion with these words: "Behold the man!"

That same challenge has been heard down the centuries: "Behold the Man". But the vision the mob beheld has changed from that of a bloodied, tortured, mangled prisoner on His way to execution to a vision of the same Man bathed in glory!

The crown of thorns has become a dazzling, bejeweled crown of gold...

The seamless robe gambled for by His executioners has become a robe of light, flashing like lightning in its brilliance...

The hands that were bound now hold the book by which every person who has ever lived will be judged. The crowds gathered in the courtyard of the judgment hall early that Friday morning jeering, "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!" give way to multitudes of thousands upon ten thousands who fill the universe with shouts of praise to the One Who alone is worthy of all honor and glory and wisdom and thanks and power and strength!

The vision has caused the martyr in the flames of death to smile,

It has given strength to the weak...
faith to the doubting...
courage to the timid...
peace to the fearful...
victory to the defeated...
    hope to the hopeless!

Behold the Man! The vision is glorious!

Would you join this AnGeL in looking up?

In His Joy,

Anne Graham Lotz