Thursday Devotional – Jesus is Worthy to Reveal and Hold Secrets (5/22/25)

Who likes to be in on secrets? My kids like to be in the know about gifts for their siblings. They especially enjoy being able to help pick out a gift. However, there are certain gifts no sibling knows about for the birthday kid until the birthday comes.

Similarly, through our study of Revelation, we get to be in on some of the secrets regarding the end of time, the new heaven and the new earth! Jesus hasn’t given us all the details, though. We won’t know or understand everything until our new life in heaven.

Before the 7^th angel sounded the trumpet, we receive an interesting interlude:

Revelation 10:1-4         Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars. ² He was holding a little scroll, which lay open in his hand. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, ³ and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke. ⁴ And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven say, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down.”

Jesus (through the 7 thunders or 7 spirits or the Holy Spirit) revealed a mystery to John that only he knows. Why can’t we know it? Maybe it is too awful regarding the final and complete judgment on the entire earth. Maybe it’s beyond our comprehension. Maybe it was specific to John.

Whatever the reason, it made me realize how privileged we are to know any of Jesus’s plans. It’s amazing Jesus chooses to reveal some details to us. We can appreciate the “secrets” we do know and diligently study the Bible to understand all that He has revealed.

What time will you and I set aside each day to learn more of Jesus’s “secrets” (by the Holy Spirit’s help)? Which “secret” will you and I share with others?

Thurs Devo: Secrets Known

My sisters and I were trying to keep a secret from my parents for their 40^th anniversary dinner. The secret didn’t last long, though. My parents almost booked a trip to visit my granddad (in Texas) for the same weekend my youngest sister and her husband were secretly flying here (to Michigan) to celebrate! The secret had to be revealed so that my parents could plan to be here to enjoy their own anniversary dinner!

Even as grownups, it’s hard to keep a secret from our parents. With Jesus, it’s actually impossible! He knows everything about everyone! 

Revelation 2:18-23         ¹⁸ “To the angel of the church in Thyatira write:

These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. ¹⁹ I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.

²⁰ Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. ²¹ I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. ²² So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. ²³ I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.

Jesus knows all. He sees our secret sins. He also sees our loving actions that no one else recognizes or appreciates.

How is it both comforting and challenging to know Jesus searches each of our hearts?

As holy and perfect as Jesus is, He patiently gives us opportunities to repent. Sometimes it takes bringing things into the open to motivate us to repent and turn from our sinful ways. Then, we can enjoy a renewed relationship with Him!

Alice