Eternal Life

Alone on Patmos. Cut off. With the stroke of a magistrate's pen [John] was sentenced to pass his days with no companion, with no church. "Rome had stilled the tongue of Peter and silenced the pen of Paul. Now she would break the shepherd's staff of John. No doubt she felt smug in her proscription. One by one, the iron fist of Caesar would crush the fragile work of the Galilean. "If only she had known. But she had no idea. No clue. No concept. For what Rome intended as isolation, heaven ordained as revelation. Rome placed John on Patmos for punishment. Heaven placed John on Patmos for privilege. The same apostle who saw the open grave of Christ was now to glimpse the open door of heaven." Max Lucado, The Great House of God, 86-87