The Book of Revelation.
Upon reading that title one may envision some pretty
wild things thanks to the movies, television show, and books (mostly
fictionalized interpretations of God's word.)
The truth is, the Book of Revelation is pretty wild. It's filled with
prophetic symbolism the invokes some amazing imagery. To sit down and read the
Book of Revelation without comprehension of symbolism would mean to take all
things written literally and if all were taken literally one would surely believe
John, the apostle was crazy for writing down this vision from the angel,
Jesus' vision, Jesus' Revelation of what MUST come to pass, and come to pass
shortly. The same God-man who
spoke-'Blessed are the meek', spoke -
Rev 21:6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha
and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of
the fountain of the water of life freely.
Rev 21:7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things;
and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
Rev 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the
abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and
all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and
brimstone: which is the second death
Jesus spoke BOTH.
Jesus didn't mince words! Jesus who spoke of LOVING God and LOVING
others spoke of a BURNING LAKE OF FIRE.
So before you stop your Christian walk at the love
part, continue on until you get to the part about the second death.
Study the Book of Revelation and by the GRACE of God,
through the HOLY SPIRIT'S leading may comprehension come and with it, a
blessing. Jesus' love is found even in
the lake of fire, where all evil is finally once and for all completely and
utterly destroyed beyond any ability to rise again. The destruction of all evil is LOVE,
excusing evil and allowing its continued existence is not love!
Please, Father in heaven, please give us our daily
bread, our spiritual food of understanding, of enlightenment through You and
Your word! All in Jesus' name we pray!
Amen.
*******
Continuing from 'Daniel and the Revelation' by Uriah
Smith'
Page 344
The seven stars which the Son of man held in His
right hand are declared to be the angels of the seven churches. (Verse 20.)
The angels of the churches, doubtless all will agree,
are the ministers of the churches. Their being held in the right hand of the
son of man denotes the sustaining power, guidance, and protection vouchsafed
to them. But there were only seven of them in His right hand. Are there ONLY
SEVEN thus cared for by the great Master of assemblies? May not all true
ministers of the entire gospel age derive from this representation the
consolation of knowing that they are upheld and guided by the right hand of
the great Head of the church? Such would seem to be the only consistent
conclusion to be reached.
Again, John, looking into the Christian Era, saw only
seven candlesticks, representing seven churches, in the midst of which stood
the Son of man. The position of the Son of man among them must denote His
presence with them, His watchcare over them, and His searching scrutiny of all
their works. But does He thus take cognizance of ONLY SEVEN individual
churches?
May we not
rather conclude that this scene represents His position in reference to all
His churches during the gospel age?
Then why were only seven mentioned?
Seven, as used in the Scriptures, is a number
denoting fullness and completeness.
Therefore the seven candlesticks denote the ENTIRE
gospel church in seven periods, and the seven churches may be applied in the
same manner.
Why, then, were the seven particular churches chosen
that are mentioned? For the reason, doubtless, that in the names of these
churches, according to the definitions of the words, are brought out the
religious features of those periods of the gospel age which they respectively
were to represent.
"The seven churches," therefore, are easily
understood to mean not merely the seven literal churches of Asia which went by
the names mentioned, but SEVEN PERIODS of the Christian church, from the days
of the apostles to the close of probation.
Page 345
The Source of Blessing.--
"From Him which is, and which was, and which is
to come," or is to be--an expression which in this connection refers to
God the Father, since the Holy Spirit and Christ are mentioned separately in
the immediate context.
The Seven Spirits.--
This expression probably has no reference to angels,
but to the Spirit of God. It is one of the sources from which grace and peace
are invoked for the church. On the interesting subject of the seven spirits,
Thompson remarks: "That is, from the Holy Spirit, denominated 'the seven
spirits,' because seven is a SACRED and PERFECT number; not thus named . . .
as denoting interior plurality, but the fullness and perfect of His gifts and
operations." [2] Albert Barnes says, "The number seven, therefore,
may have been given to the Holy Spirit with reference to the diversity or the
fullness of His operations on the souls of men, and to His manifold agency on
the affairs of the world, as further developed in this book." [3]
His Throne.--
This refers to the throne of God the Father, for
Christ has not yet taken His own throne. The seven spirits being before the
throne "may be intended to designate the face that the Divine Spirit was,
as it were, prepared to go forth, or to be sent forth, in accordance with a
common representation in the Scriptures, to accomplish important purposes in
human affairs." [4]
"And From Jesus Christ."--
Some of the chief characteristics which pertain to
Christ are here mentioned.
He is "the faithful Witness." Whatever He
bears witness to is true. Whatever He promises, He will surely fulfill.
"The first begotten of the dead" is an
expression parallel to --
1 Corinthians 15: 20, 23;(((1Co 15:20 But now is Christ
risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. 1Co 15:23
But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they
that are Christ's at his coming. ))))
Hebrews 1: 6, (((Heb
1:6 And again, when he bringeth in the
firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship
him. ))))
Romans 8: 29; (((Rom
8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also
did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the
firstborn among many brethren. ))))and
Colossians 1: 15, 18, (((Col
1:15 Who is the image of the invisible
God, the firstborn of every creature:
Col 1:18 And he is the head of
the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that
in all things he might have the preeminence. )))
)where we find such expressions
applied to Christ as "the first fruits of them that slept,"
"the
Page 346
firstborn among many brethren," "the
firstborn of every creature," and "the firstborn from the
dead." But these expressions do NOT denote that He was the first in POINT
OF TIME to be raised from the dead; for others were raised before Him.
Moreover, that is a very unimportant point. But He was the chief and central
figure of all who have come up from the grave, for it was by virtue of
Christ's coming, work, and resurrection, that ANY were raised before His time.
In the purpose of God, He was the first in point of time as well as in
importance, for it was not until after the purpose of Christ's triumph over
the grave was formed in the mind of God, who "calleth those things which
be not as though they were" (Romans 4: 17), that any were released from
the power of death by virtue of that great purpose which was in due time to be
accomplished.
Christ is "the Prince of the kings of the
earth." In a certain sense He is that now. Paul informs us, in Ephesians
1: 20, 21, that He has been set at the right hand of God in the heavenly
places, "far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion,
and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which
is to come." The highest names in this world are those of princes, kings,
emperors, and potentates of earth. But Christ is placed FAR above them. He is
seated with His Father upon the throne of universal dominion, and ranks
equally with Him in the overruling and the controlling of affairs of all
nations of earth. (Revelation 3: 21.)
In a more particular sense, Christ is to be Prince of
the kings of the earth when He takes His own throne, and the kingdoms of this
world become the "kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ," when they
are given by the Father into His hands, and He comes forth bearing upon His
vesture the title of "Kings of kings and Lord of lords," to dash
them in pieces like a potter's vessel. (Revelation 19: 16; 2: 27; Psalm 2: 8,
9.)
Christ is spoken of further as "Him that loved
us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood." We have thought that
earthly friends loved us--a father, a mother, brothers and
Page 347
sisters, or bosom friends--but see that NO love is
worthy of the name compared with the love of Christ for us. The following
sentence adds intensity of meaning to the previous words: "And washed us
from our sins in His own blood." What love is this! "Greater
love," says the apostle, "hath no man than this, that a man lay down
his life for his friends." John 15: 13. But Christ has commended His love
for us in that He died for us "while we were yet sinners." But more
than this, He "hath made us kings and priests unto God and His
Father." From being leprous with sin, we are made clean in His sight;
from being enemies, we are not only made friends, but raised to positions of
honor and dignity. What matchless love! What matchless provision God has made
that we might be cleansed from sin! Consider for a moment the sanctuary
service and its beautiful significance. When a sinner confesses his sins, and
receives forgiveness, he lays them on Christ, the Lamb of God, which taketh
away the sin of the world. In the books of heaven where they are recorded, the
blood of Christ covers them, and if the follower of God is faithful to his
profession, those sins will never be revealed, but will be destroyed by the
fires that purify the earth when sin and sinners were consumed. Says the
prophet Isaiah, "Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back." Isaiah
38: 17. Then will apply the statement of the Lord through Jeremiah, "I
will remember their sin no more." Jeremiah 31: 34.
No wonder the loving and beloved disciple John
ascribed to this Being who has done so much for us, glory and dominion,
forever and ever!
*******
There is NO doubt numbers play a part in the
Bible. Seven and Twleve- the numbers
of perfection, of wholeness. Symbolic in meaning for completeness.
The number 7, the number 12. 7 days of Creation. 12 tribes of Israel, 12
apostles.
Taken from a site online-
- Jesus chose
12 disciples who later became the 12 apostles which seem to fit the
context of the number 12 used elsewhere in the Bible as this number also
signified governmental rule or authority. The betrayer, Judas, was
replaced by Matthias (Acts 1:23-26).
- The New
Jerusalem which descends out of heaven has 12 gates made of pearl which
are manned by 12 angels. Each of the gates has been named after one
of the 12 tribes of Israel.
- In
Revelation 7, twelve thousands from each of the 12 tribes of Israel will
be saved near the end of the present world system.
- The walls
of the New Jerusalem are measured at 144 cubits high which is 12
multiplied (Rev 21:16).
- The New
City is also 12,000 furlongs squared (Rev 21:16).
- There are
12 precious stones that will be used as the foundation of the New
Jerusalem (Rev 21:19-20).
- The wall of
the city had 12 foundations with the 12 names of the apostles on each one
(Rev 21:14).
- Twelve
thousand will be taken from the earth so that they may serve the Lamb of
God, Jesus Christ (Rev 14:1-5).
- The high
priest’s breastplate had 12 precious stones embedded within them.
- There was
even a woman who had suffered from a blood hemorrhage for 12 years
(Luke 8:40).
- There are
12 Minor Prophets in the Old Testament. They are called minor, not
because they are less important than the Major Prophets, but due to their
size being considerably smaller.
- There are
12 historical books in the Bible: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Sam, 2
Sam, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and
Esther.
- There were
12 loaves of permanent offerings on the golden table (Lev 24:5).
- There were
12 explorers or spies sent into the land of Canaan (Due 1:23).
- Solomon had
12 administrators in his kingdom (1 Kings 4:7).
- There were
12 men who laid 12 stones in building a monument to the Lord (Joshua
4:3).
- The Book of
Chronicles contained 12 great priests.
- Twelve
curses were indicated for disobedience to Israel (Duet 27).
- A young
Israelite male took 12 years before he could be admitted as a “son of the
law.”
- There were
the 12 sacrifices of animals that were to be given (Numb 7, 29).
- No animal
could be sacrificed until it was seven days old (Ex 22:30).
- There were
seven “I AM’s” in the Gospel of John that Jesus used when He spoke of
Himself.
- The Lord
would discipline Israel up to sevenfold (up to seven times) if they
refused to obey Him (Lev 26:18).
- Jesus
mentions seven woes (or judgments) on the unrepentant in Matthew 23.
- Jesus also
mentions seven parables in Matthew 13.
- There were
seven letters to the seven churches in the Book of Revelation (2, 3).
- There were
also seven trumpets announcing judgments by God in the Book of Revelation
(8).
- There were
seven signs given in the Gospel of John.
- There were
seven pairs of clean animals that were received into the Ark (Gen 7:2).
- Joshua and
Israel marched around Jericho seven times while seven priests blew seven
trumpets before the walls came crashing down (Joshua 6:3-4).
- Elisha told
the military commander Naaman to bathe in the Jordan River seven times
and he would be healed of his leprosy (2 Kings 5:10).
- There were
seven qualities or attributes of the Messiah mentioned in Isaiah 11:2.
- There are
seven things that the Lord hates mentioned in Proverbs 6:16.
- There were
seven stems on the lampstand in the tabernacle (Ex 25:37).
- There were
seven angels pouring out seven bowls of the wrath of God in the Book of
Revelation (16:1).
Truly we can comprehend there being symbolic
prophetic wording in this book of 'things which shortly must come to
pass.'
Tell me something, just from a human point of view
because that's what we are, humans. If you had the knowledge of some
wonderful, yet also awful things pertaining to the future, that would take
thousands of human years to unfold, would you tell people plainly what was to
come? You might jump up and say, "Yes! Most definitely! All this
prophetic babble and symbolism is confusing." However, what if you KNEW immediately that
your descendants that would live during this these thousands of years would be
of the mind that nothing bad would happen to them for a long time and so their
sense of need to prepare was lost, what then? What if you knew for a fact that
Christ would not return for another five hundred years, how would that color
you view? Would you be willing to take more deliberate risks with your
sinning, believing you could seek forgiveness at a later date? Would you cease
to really care because it was so far away that you found it easy to believe it
would never happen at all? The risks in knowing facts could in truth color
your way of life and not in a very good way at all. Also, when people find
themselves knowing plainly where is the faith?
If you knew how your life would play out from birth
to death, if you were handed a manual of your life and in it was written every
single thing you'd do in significant situations, what happens when they begin
to come true and you can do nothing to change them? You know you're going to
get into a car accident and seriously injure someone, yet you cannot change
it, you can simply wait for that day to arrive and that event to occur, what
then? What sense is there if you cannot
change circumstances, if you cannot change the outcome?
God knows the end from the beginning, but we cannot
because we are CREATURES, something we tend to forget all too often. We are
given FREE WILL to choose without knowing what takes place. It is NO longer free will if we have no
choice. And simply because our CREATOR
knows does not negate OUR free will.
Have you ever taught someone a lesson the hard way? Letting them make
mistakes to learn from them when you could have stopped them? You watch someone doing mathematical figures
a certain way, all the while knowing they are wrong. Yet you let them come to
that determination themselves so they can go back and learn where they went
wrong, and this teaches them much more than had you stopped them and revealed
their error outright. And this holds true for more than just mathematical
figuring. Many a life lesson is learned the hard way, not to be cruel but to
teach. Did you take away the free will of a person making the wrong
mathematical figures by NOT stopping them but knowing they were in the wrong?
No. Just because you KNOW an outcome
does not stop free will.
C.S. Lewis summed things up pretty neatly when he
wrote this in his book- 'Mere Christianity' -
'CHAPTER 25
TIME AND BEYOND
TIME
….
In the last chapter
I had to touch on the subject of prayer, and while that is still fresh in your
mind and my own, I should like to deal with a difficulty that some people find
about the whole idea of prayer. A man put it to me by saying 'I can believe in
God all right, but what I cannot swallow is the idea of Him attending to
several hundred million human beings who are all addressing Him at the same
moment.' And I have found that quite a lot of people feel this.
Now, the first
thing to notice is that the whole sting of it comes in the words AT THE SAME
MOMENT. Most of us can imagine God attending to any number of applicants if
only they came one by one and He had an endless time to do it in. So what is
really at the back of this difficulty is the idea of God having to fit too
many things into one moment of time.
Well that is of
course WHAT HAPPENS TO US. OUR LIFE COMES TO US MOMENT BY MOMENT. One moment
disappears before the next comes along: and there is room for very little in
each. That is what Time is like. And of course you and I tend to take it for
granted that this Time series - this arrangement of past, present and future -
is not simply the way life comes to us but the way all things really exist. We
tend to assume that the whole universe and God Himself are always moving on
from past to future just as we do. But many learned men do not agree with
that. It was the Theologians who first started the idea that SOME THINGS ARE
NOT INT TIME AT ALL: later the Philosophers took it over: and now some of the
scientists are doing the same.
Almost certainly
GOD IS NOT IN TIME. His life does not consist of moments following one
another. If a million people are praying to Him at ten-thirty tonight, He need
not listen to them all in that one little snippet which we call ten-thirty.
Ten-thirty-and every other moment from the beginning of the world-is ALWAYS
PRESENT FOR HIM. If you like to put it that way, He has ALL ETERNITY in which
to listen to the split second of prayer put up by a pilot as his plane crashes
in flames.
That is difficult,
I know. Let me try to give something, not the same, but a bit like it. Suppose
I am writing a novel. I write 'Mary laid down her work; next moment came a
knock at the door!' For Mary who has to live in the imaginary time of my story
there is NO interval between putting down the work and hearing the knock. But
I, who am Mary's maker, do not live in that imaginary time at all. Between
writing the first half of that sentence and the second, I might sit down for
three hours and think steadily about Mary. I could think about Mary as if she
were the only character in the book and for as long as I pleased, and the
hours I spent in doing so would NOT appear in Mary's time (the time inside the
story) at all.
This is not a
perfect illustration, of course. But it may give just a GLIMPSE of what I
believe to be the truth. God is not hurried along in the Time-stream of this
universe any more than an author is hurried along in the imaginary time of his
own novel. He has infinite attention to spare for each one of us. He does not
have to deal with us in the mass. You are as much alone with Him as if you
were the only being He had ever created. When Christ died, He died for you
INDIVIDUALLY just as much as if you had been the only man in the world.
The way in which my
illustration breaks down is this. In it the author gets out of one Time-series
(the real one). But God, I believe, does not live in a Time-series at all. His
life is not dribbled out moment by moment like ours with Him it is, so to speak,
still 1920 and already 1960 For His life is Himself.
If you picture Time
as a straight line along which we have to travel, then you must picture God as
the whole page on which the line is drawn. We come to the parts of the line
one by one: we have to leave A behind before we get to B, and cannot reach C
until we leave B behind. God, from above or outside or all round, CONTAINS THE
WHOLE LINE, AND SEES IT ALL.
The idea is worth
trying to grasp because it removes some apparent difficulties in Christianity.
Before I became a Christian one of my objections was as follows. The
Christians said that the eternal God who is everywhere and keeps the whole
universe going, once became a human being. Well, then, said I, how did the
whole universe keep going while He was a baby, or while He was asleep? How
could He at the same time be God who knows everything and also a man asking
his disciples 'Who touched me?' You will notice that the sting lay in the time
words: 'While He was a baby'-'How could He at the same time?' In other words I
was assuming that Christ's life as God was in time, and that His life as the
man Jesus in Palestine was a shorter period taken out of that time - just as
my service in the army was a shorter period taken out of my total life. And
that is how most of us perhaps tend to think about it. We picture God living
through a period when His human life was still in the future: then coming to a
period when it was present: then going on to a period when He could look back
on it as something in the past. But probably these ideas correspond to nothing
in the actual facts. You cannot fit Christ's earthly life in Palestine into
any time-relations with His life as God beyond all space and time. It is
really, I suggest, a timeless truth about God that human nature, and the human
experience of weakness and sleep and ignorance, are somehow included in His
whole divine life. This human life in God is from our point of view a
particular period in the history of our world (from the year A.D. one till the
Crucifixion). We therefore imagine it is also a period in the history of God's
own existence. But God has no history. He is too completely and utterly real to
have one. For, of course, to have a history means losing part of your reality
(because it has already slipped away into the past) and not yet having another
part (because it is still in the future): in fact having nothing but the tiny
little present, which has gone before you can speak about it. God forbid we
should think God was like that. Even we may hope not to be always rationed in
that way.
Another difficulty
we get if we believe God to be in time is this. Everyone who believes in God
at all believes that He knows what you and I are going to do to-morrow. But if
He knows I am going to do so-and-so, how can I be free to do otherwise? Well,
here once again, the difficulty comes from thinking that God is progressing
along the Timeline like us: the only difference being that He can see ahead
and we cannot. Well, if that were true, if God foresaw our acts, it would be
very hard to understand how we could be free not to do them. But suppose God
is outside and above the Time-line. In that case, what we call 'to-morrow' is
visible to Him in just the same way as what we call 'to-day'. All the days are
'Now' for Him. He does not remember you doing things yesterday; He simply sees
you doing them, because, though you have lost yesterday, He has not. He does
not 'foresee' you doing things to-morrow; He simply sees you doing them
because, though to-morrow is not yet there for you, it is for Him. You never
supposed that your actions at this moment were any less free because God knows
what you are doing. Well. He knows your tomorrow's actions in just the same
way -because He is already in to-morrow and can simply watch you. In a sense,
He does not know your action till you have done it: but then the moment at
which you have done it is already `Now' for Him.
This idea has
helped me a good deal. If it does not help you, leave it alone. It is a
`Christian idea' in the sense that great and wise Christians have held it and
there is nothing in it contrary to Christianity. But it is not in the Bible or
any of the creeds. You can be a perfectly good Christian without accepting it,
or indeed without thinking of the matter at all.'
*******
Maybe this will
help you in comprehending or maybe not, but truthfully, to unveil what is
known because TIME is a whole different thing for you, would be foolhardy and
God is anything but. God is FOR us, not against us.
God would have us
comprehend the PLAN of salvation. God
would have us KNOW the truth revealed as facts through prophecies coming to
pass. God would have us comprehend if all the prophecies came to pass for the
past, then for the future the prophecies would also come to pass. God would
have us choose SALVATION and all His prophecies for us are towards this end
and no other! We can have hope through Christ and God's amazing word to us,
this knowledge that has existed for thousands of years, passed down verbally
then written upon the page is for us to learn from.
TRUTHFULLY answer
me this? If living for Christ now, if believing through faith in Him as your
Savior only gives you a HOPE of a future in a sinless existence where is the
harm? WHERE? And IF by your reckoning
it's all fables and foolishness, what have you lost in having HOPE? Even if your life were cut down because of
your hope, you've lost nothing but time in a sin-filled world.
I believe and will
continue to believe, I have hope and will continue to have hope. My faith is
in CHRIST JESUS MY LORD, MY SAVIOR! He is LOVE, sin free and LOVE pure LOVE,
He is my EVERYTHING! And I lose NOTHING by believing in HIM, nothing of any
real worth, nothing of eternal worth at all. I may lose EVERYTHING of
temporary worth, but nothing of eternal worth.
More on the prophecies of Revelation
tomorrow. More blessings, by the grace and mercy of our LORD and SAVIOR, JESUS
CHRIST! Now and forever, always in HIM!
Amen.
*******
Rev 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God
gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to
pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
Rev 1:2 Who bare record of the word of God, and of
the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.
Rev 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that
hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written
therein: for the time is at hand.
Rev 1:4 John to the seven churches which are in
Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and
which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;
Rev 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful
witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of
the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own
blood,
Rev 1:6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God
and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Rev 1:7 Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye
shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth
shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.
