The Story of the Bible

In Rome a man named Onesimus met Paul. He was a runaway slave who belonged to a friend o f Paul, named Philemon, living at Colosse in Asia Minor, not far from Ephesus. Paul led Onesimus to give his heart to Christ, and then, although he would have liked to keep him with himself, he sent him back to Philemon, his master. But he asked Philemon to take him, no longer as a slave but as a brother in Christ. This he wrote in a letter which he sent by Onesimus, called "The Epistle to Philemon". Onesimus carried at the same time another letter to the church at Colosse. This letter is "The Epistle to the Colossians." And about the same time Paul wrote one of the greatest and most wonderful of all his letters, "The Epistle to the Ephesians," which he sent to the church in Ephesus. So all the world has been richer ever since Paul's time by having the four letters which he wrote while he was a prisoner at Rome.

It is thought, though it is not certain, that Paul was set free from prison after two years; that he lived a free man, preaching in many lands for a few years; that he wrote during those years the First Epistle to Timothy, whom he had sent to care for the church at Ephesus, and the Epistle to Titus, who was over the churches in the island of Crete; that he was again made a prisoner and taken to Rome; and from his Roman prison wrote his last letter, the Second Epistle to Timothy, and that soon after this the wicked Emperor Nero caused him to be put to death. Among his last words in the letter to Timothy were these:

"I have fought a good fight; I have run my race; I have kept the faith; and now there is waiting for me the crown which the Lord himself shall give me."

The Throne of God

Revelation i: 9 to 20; iv: 1, to v: 14.

You remember the apostle John, "the disciple whom Jesus loved." When John was an old man, he was made a prisoner by a cruel emperor of Rome, and was kept in a little island called "the isle of Patmos," which is in the Ægean Sea, not far from Ephesus. While John was shut up on this island the Lord Jesus Christ came to him, and showed him some things which were to come to pass.

JOHN ON THE ISLE OF PATMOS

It was on the Lord's Day, the first day of the week, when suddenly John heard behind him a loud voice, as loud as the sound of a trumpet. He turned to see from whom the voice came; and then he saw seven golden candlesticks standing, and among them One whom John knew at once as his Lord Jesus Christ. Yet Christ, as he saw him, was far more glorious than he had been while living as a man on the earth. He was dressed in a long white garment, with a girdle of gold over his breast; his hair wand his face were so shining that they seemed as white as snow; his eyes flashed like fire; his fet were like polished brass, glowing as a furnace; and his voice sounded like the rushing of a mighty torrent of waters. In his right hand were held seven stars; and a glory came from him brighter than the sun.

When John saw his Lord in all this splendor, he fell at his feet in great terror. Then he felt the right hand of Christ laid upon him; and he heard his voice, saying:

"Fear not; I am the first and the last, and the Living One. I was dead, and now I am alive for evermore. Write the things which you have seen, and other things which I will show you, and send them to the seven churches in Asia. The seven stars which you see in my hand are the ministers of the seven churches; and the seven candlesticks standing around me are the seven churches."

Then the Lord gave to John the words of a letter which he commanded John to write to the seven churches in that part of Asia, of which churches that at Ephesus was the first. To each church was to be sent a different letter, the word of the Lord Jesus to that church, praising it for some things, and rebuking it for others. When these words had been given to the churches, John saw a door opened in heaven; and he heard a voice like the sound of a trumpet, saying to him, "Come up to this place, and I will show thee things that shall come to pass."

Then at once John was taken up to heaven, and he saw the throne of God, and One sitting upon it whom he could scarcely see for the dazzling glory around him. And over the throne was a rainbow of many colors. Around the throne were twenty-four old men, the elders of the church, dressed in white, with crowns of gold on their heads. Out of the throne came lightning, and thunder, and the sound of voices. Before the throne was a sea of glass like crystal, and beside the throne were four strange living creatures, each having six wings. And these living ones were saying "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God, the Almighty, which was and which is, and which is to come."