Hello! I am Jon Paulien and I’m glad you came to this page to check out my work. I am a New Testament scholar and Professor of Religion at Loma Linda University. On this website you will find a collection of my articles, commentary on Revelation, and links to my blog, videos, and other resources. Make sure you check the articles link above regularly to see the latest postings. In my hand above is an exact replica of p52, the earliest extant New Testament manuscript fragment, containing portions of John, chapter 18. Centered above my head is a replica of ancient Greek pottery. At either end above are two sets of books from, and about, my favorite spiritual author, Ellen G. White. I hope you enjoy the site.

Daily Devotional For May 26, 2026

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And one of the elders asked me, “Who are these dressed in white robes and where have they come from?” And I said to him, “My Lord, you know,” and he said to me, “These are the ones who are coming out of the Great Tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Rev 7:13-14.

           God’s end-time believers overcome by the suffering and victory of the Lamb rather than by armed resistance. Christ reveals His power more clearly through the broken than through the powerful and the talented. His kingdom is more advanced by the humility of a St. Francis than through the temporal power of the popes who promoted the Crusades. A Christian faith that stands up for the weak and the powerless is far more effective than one that brandishes its wealth and political power.
           Some homeless teen-agers, who grew up on the streets of Philadelphia, beat a young Korean to death. He was a Christian doing graduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania. At the time of the crime, the victim had just mailed a letter to his family at home in Korea. The parents traveled to the United States for the trial and sat silently throughout. As the trial drew to a close, they asked for one opportunity to speak. The request was granted right after the guilty verdict was read and before the sentencing.
           The parents approached the judge’s bench, and to the stunned amazement of the audience, they knelt down before the judge. They begged the judge not to carry out the penalty he had in mind, but instead to release their son’s murderers into their custody, so that they could give them the home and the care that they had never had.
           “We are Christians,” they explained to the judge, “and we want to show something of the grace that we have received from God to these boys.” The ones who had done so much evil to them and their son would now be on the receiving end of a grace that only God could possibly inspire.
           The judge, who newspaper reporters claimed had a reputation for being hard and unemotional, had tears in his eyes when he said:
           “I’m so sorry, but that is not how our system of justice works!”
           By their forgiveness, these parents offered a powerful testimony of a kingdom that is utterly different from the kingdoms of this world. It is a kingdom whose system of justice is radically different than the ones we know. It is a kingdom that is open to anyone who dares to believe in its existence and in its radical solution to life’s problems.¹

           Lord, I am deeply challenged by this example of forgiving grace. Forgive my lack of forgiveness in far lesser situations. Transform my heart through the example of the Lamb.

¹ Based on Keener, 248-249.