1 The revelation of Jesus Christ,
which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. (Revelation 1)
This
morning I reread the first three verses of Revelation with the aim of moving on
into the next paragraph. As often happens, something new stood out to me and
kept me from moving further into the book. I suddenly realized that the word “must”
means something different from the word “will”. The book of Revelation is not
Jesus telling us the things he knows “will” happen, but unveiling the things
that “must” happen.
The
word “must” makes this a prophecy of the things that are determined by the
plans and purposes of God. This is not Jesus telling his persecuted children
that he merely knows what will happen. This is Jesus telling his persecuted
children that he is in full control of what happens. For all his plans to be
fulfilled, these are the things that must soon take place.
This
draws the attention of the reader and the hearers to the sovereign purposes of
their God. He is not telling us that he only knows things will happen, as
praiseworthy as that would be, but that he makes things happen. These beasts,
and antichrists, and prostitutes, and Babylons, and armies of the earth that
will persecute and martyr God’s people will carry out what must happen for the
rebellion of man to be thoroughly witnessed and brought to an end, and the
sovereign lordship of Jesus Christ to be thoroughly witnessed and glorified.
What
added to my blessing was realizing that this is the pattern of Scripture, to refer
to prophecy as God’s declaration of what “must” happen because of his sovereign
lordship over his creation. Here are some examples.
Jesus
prepared his disciples for his death by telling them, “…that he must
go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and
scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”[1]
When Jesus told his disciples about what they could
expect in the years ahead, he did not tell them that he merely knew what would
take place. He said, “And when you hear of wars
and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet.”[2]
At
the time of Jesus’ arrest, his disciples still did not understood what he had
told them, so Peter took out his sword to try to defend his Messiah. Jesus
responded by saying, “Do you think that I cannot
appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of
angels? But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that
it must be so?”[3]
Afer
his death he reminded them of what he had told them, that, “...everything
written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”[4]
There are many
other such references that bring out the clear picture that prophecy is not God’s
claim to merely know what “will” happen in the coming times and seasons, but
that he has determined what “must” happen. He is sovereign over everything the
world, the flesh, and the devil attempt against him.
Peter spoke to
this very thing on the day of Pentecost when he was explaining to the crowd the
significance of the Holy Spirit coming upon Jesus’ disciples. He declared:
22 “Men of Israel, hear these
words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and
wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves
know— 23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite
plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless
men. 24 God
raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him
to be held by it.[5]
Peter’s point
was that Jesus was delivered up to be crucified by the “definite plan” and the “foreknowledge
of God”. God did not just foreknow that Jesus would die, but he had a
definite plan to use the death of his Son to give life to his people. This is
the same as Jesus saying that these things “must” happen because God had
planned and purposed them.
Now that I
have had time to meditate on this wonderful difference between “will” and “must”
I am all the more attentive to see how the book of Revelation will show the
definite plans and foreknowledge of God telling us what must soon take place no
matter what the enemies of God are able to do during this short time.
Jesus Christ
is King of kings and Lord of lords, so everything must unfold according to his
sovereign will. Jesus’ disciples must persevere in living by faith knowing that
the darkest night is surrounded by the prophecies of victory that must be
fulfilled. No matter what we see, faith knows that we can trust what Jesus
says. What Jesus said must be fulfilled regarding his first coming was
fulfilled just as he said. We will one day find the same to be true about all
the things the book of Revelation says must soon take place.
© 2012 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, Canada, V1K
1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
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