Revelation - Letter to a Friend (2)

LETTER I continued...

The central figure of Revelation is Jesus Christ the Lamb of God. We see Him in the first verse, we see Him throughout the book, we see Him in the conclusion. Revelation is a letter written to seven churches. We may speak of the “letters to the seven churches” when referring to chapters 2 and 3, but Revelation is actually one letter to the seven churches, and within the one letter we have specific messages that Jesus sends the churches in chapters 2 and 3.

 

Within this letter Jesus Christ is revealing Himself to those who are His. More specifically to His slaves, to His bond-servants, to those whom He has purchased with His blood, those who are no longer their own but who have been bought with a price.

 

Seeing the Lamb is seeing Revelation. If we are not seeing the Lamb, if we are not being drawn into deep relationship with Him, if we are not following Him wherever He goes, then we are not seeing the book of Revelation, we are not seeing what Jesus Christ had John write to the seven churches. Why look for the beast and its cohorts of chapter 13 when we ought to be seeking the Lamb? We only recognize the false when we know the True; if we aren’t in relationship with the Lamb nothing we can do will help us to identify the antichrist.

 

I think that 2 Thessalonians 2:3 – 11 can be instructive here. Those who do not receive the love of the truth come under a deluding influence sent by God – it is foolish for people to think that they can reject Jesus and yet discern the antichrist. There really is no middle ground, there is no individual autonomy. We either serve the Lamb or the enemy.

 

Do we have the Name of the Father and the Lamb written upon us (Revelation 14:1 – 4; 3:12)?

 

We should also note, regarding the beast, “All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain” (Rev. 13:8).

The only security against the deception of the beast is the Lamb, Jesus Christ. But note, that the saints will be overcome, and yet, in being overcome they will be overcomers (Rev. 13:7; 12:11).

This revelation is given to slaves, to bond-servants, to those who belong to Another. When we read, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Rev. 2:7), I wonder if this may not refer to the ear which has been pierced with an awl, indicating that the servant has become the forever bond-servant property of his or her master (Deut. 15:17).

 

Since the revelation is given by God to His bond-servants, it is unlikely that those who are not bond-servants can understand and “see” the revelation, which again is Jesus Christ. In other words, whether it is Boris or anyone else, if we are not “in Christ” as His bond-servants, the revelation is not given to us, it is not written to us. In addition, as 1 Corinthians Chapter 2 makes clear, without the Spirit of God we cannot understand the things of God.

 

Also, note that in verse 1 we read “the things which must soon take place” and in verse 3 we read “for the time is near.”

 

This means that, whatever else we may think, if we cannot “see” the present reality of Revelation when it was written, that we cannot see the present reality of Revelation today; furthermore, if we cannot see the present reality of Revelation today, we cannot see the reality of Revelation tomorrow and in eternity. In other words, Revelation is transcendent and its transcendent reality can only be experienced in Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.

 

In Revelation, God gives His bond-servants holy and heavenly imagery to counter the imagery of the world and the enemy. In Revelation, we are called to follow the Lamb wherever He goes. In Revelation, we are called to not love our lives, even to death. In Revelation, we are called to live in the City of God and not the city of man, not in the political and economic systems of man, not in the religious systems of man. If we do not see these things and respond in obedience to the Lamb, we can read all the “signs” we want to between now and death and at best will be puppies chasing our tails. At worst we will find ourselves on the side of the enemy.

 

 

Revelation – Letter to a Friend (1)

 

LETTER I

Dear Linus,

 

It occurred to me that one way in which we are strikingly similar is in our response to a subject, a problem, an issue. As I observed my response to you bringing up the subject of The Revelation of Jesus Christ to John, I realized this, for I have been pondering Revelation and your discussion with Boris ever since your spoke of it and thinking of a thousand follow up elements. True, we did not go into the subject in any depth, but you lit the fuse.

 

What I mean by our similarity is that when I bring a project or problem to you, whether regarding health or a home improvement project, I can expect a chain of follow up thoughts from you. For example, when I raised the issue of replacing our rear deck, you went into high gear in your consideration of the project; preparation, material selection, the best fasteners, how to measure the project and lay it out, tools to use, to name just a few things we discussed over a few weeks, up until the time you (and Boris) arrived to blessedly carry the project forward to completion.

 

Once I asked you about a home repair problem over the phone (I can’t recall what it was) and you gave me your initial thoughts. When we finished our call Vickie, who was listening said, “He’ll get back to you once he’s given it more thought.” Indeed, you did, a few times. This is the way you are when I bring something to you, and this is the way I am when you bring something to me. Our conversations have a life of their own, and any one conversation may contain threads from many past conversations. I often lament the fact we live so far apart, but if we lived close to each other we might never leave the coffee shop!

I live in Revelation, just as I live in the entire Bible, it is my biosphere in Christ for it is the Word of Jesus Christ, the revelation of Jesus Christ with both an upper case “R” and a lower case “r.” All of the Bible is the revelation of Christ Jesus, I see Him everywhere, I meet Him everywhere, He lives in me everywhere, I live in Him everywhere. Everywhere I seek to partake of His Divine Nature as I meet Him in His Word (2 Peter 1:4).

 

I see our journey Home in Revelation, in fact I see that this very day we are to live in that Holy City with the Father and the Son as our One and Only Light, with God as our Temple, with transparency as our Way of Life. I see us living as the Tree of Life in Christ, for the healing of the peoples. But I am getting ahead of myself, my point is that Revelation is very much “already – not yet,” I live in Revelation today, I will live in Revelation tomorrow.

 

As I pondered your chat with Boris, one of the first things that struck me is that if you don’t know what you’re reading you won’t know how to read it. The other thing that I thought about was whether Boris could even begin to understand Revelation because it was not written to him (more on this below).

 

We have so paganized Revelation that these things are a challenge. “Paganized!” you say.

 

Well, we are friends and I can write to you as a friend. Yes, I do mean “paganized.” We are like ancient pagan priests observing the entrails of animals to discern the future, having an insatiable desire to satisfy our appetite for knowing the future, for being ahead of the curve, for having special knowledge, and for drawing a crowd.

 

Let’s be honest, there are “Christian” ministries who keep followers tantalized with End Times teaching rather than teaching them to follow the Lamb of the Bible, the Lamb of Revelation. While Revelation teaches us to lay down our lives for the Lamb and others, these ministries offer a steady dose of self-preservation. While Revelation teaches us to participate in the ironic victory of the Lamb (it is both ironic and irenic as we lay down our lives), these teachers would have us align ourselves with world powers and earthly forces and conquer through violence and natural power and might and national and political and economic and cultural authority. Our victory is ironic in that who would think that we conquer through dying with Christ (Romans 8:35 – 39)? It is irenic in that we conqueror peacefully (James 3:17 – 18).

 

Well, as I said, you are my friend and I will write plainly.

 

“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John, who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw” (Revelation 1:1 – 2).

 

Three things immediately strike me about the first two verses.

 

1.       This is about Jesus Christ; it is the unveiling (the revelation) of Him.

2.       This revelation is given to His bond-servants (or slaves).

3.       It is about things “which must soon take place.” If we understand this in the natural sense of the word “soon,” then it actually means “soon,” it does not mean hundreds or thousands of years later than “soon.” I will come back to this.

 

 to be continued...