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Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Reveling in Revelation: The “Before” That Makes Sense of the “After”

          In the book of Revelation, the first two words following the letters to the seven churches are, “After this…”[1] These two words tell us that we cannot move into the next visions of the book without taking the first three chapters with us. Anyone who tries to make sense of the rest of the book without being transformed by the previous revelations will end up overwhelmed by the apparent mystery of what they see and hear, or overcome by the subtle deception of self-dependent interpretations that lead them into places the Holy Spirit did not take them.

          In today’s blog, I would like to help answer this question: By the “after this” of Revelation 4:1, what should have happened to those who “read aloud… hear… and keep”[2] what is written in the book of Revelation? Or, what should have already happened to us in order for us to benefit from what comes after the “after this” of Revelation 4:1?

1.  By Revelation 4:1, we should already have experienced a true revelation of Jesus Christ to carry us through the rest of the book of Revelation, and the rest of the history the book of Revelation describes.

          “After this” leads into a picture of heaven’s throne room. However, it comes after the vision of Jesus that John has already described in the first chapter. This vision is made of two parts: the first is what John saw, and how he explained it in a collage of similes; the second is what he heard from Jesus’ own mouth, and the way Jesus wanted John to think of him as he received the rest of the visions. John describes the first part of the vision like this:

        12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15 his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.

          This vision was enough to cause John to fall at Jesus’ feet “as though dead.”[3] It was then that he heard the second part of this encounter. Jesus said, 17Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. These were Jesus’ own words calling John’s attention to the attributes of his divine nature and work that were the foundation of all that would follow.

          Obviously, everything else in the book of Revelation is “after this”, so why is this first? Because, if we haven’t encountered the Christ of the first chapter, we will have serious trouble seeing him in the rest of the book, or in the unfolding events of history the revelation talks about. “After this” is not just the next thing in a series of word-pictures; it is the next thing for those who have come to know the Christ of the first chapter.

2.  By Revelation 4:1, the Church should already have experienced a true revelation of our condition in the sight of Jesus Christ, the head of the Church.

          “After this” comes right after the letters to the seven churches. In these letters, Jesus tells each church how they are doing. We must accept that, before we see the rest of these pictures, and visions, and revelations, we must accurately see Jesus as he really is, and we must see ourselves as we really are.

          This means that, those who have received what is written in these seven letters so that we are even more determined to do the things Jesus commends, and have repented and renounced any of the things Jesus condemns, we can now see how we fit into the next scenes. Those who have obeyed Jesus in the first three chapters, whose hearts are pure in the cleansing blood of the Lamb, who have confessed and renounced their sins, and opened their heart to be filled to the full with the righteousness of faith, they are the conquerors who can travel victoriously through every scene that is described in the rest of the book.[4]

          In other words, we who have obeyed the Savior in the first three chapters, can continue through the book as conquerors reading about our further victories in Jesus Christ. At the same time as we see ourselves as the conquerors the book of Revelation reveals, we will also be conquerors in whatever life-situations we are facing, no matter whether we know how they fit into Revelation’s montage of history, or we are clueless about how the book of Revelation applies to anything we are going through at all. Those who have risen up in faith where Jesus commended and encouraged, and fallen down in humble repentance where Jesus reproved and rebuked, are going to be conquerors reading the book, and conquerors in living the life of the book.

          On the other hand, those who have not adjusted to the letters to the seven churches, are not doing the things of which Jesus approves, and are not renouncing the things of which Jesus disapproves, will not be conquerors, and will not see what the conquerors see.

          For example, think of a family that is divided. Some are living true to the values and ideals and heritage of the family, while others are in rebellion to their family-identity. If all of them show up for a family reunion, and there is an unveiling of a picture about what is ahead for the family, a picture that is totally consistent with all the history, and values, and heritage, that has already been part of the family from the beginning, those who are living up to the family name are going to view the picture in one way, while those who are rebelling against their family identity will see it in another.

          Those who love what the family is about, who are striving to live up to the family name, who work on their faults and failings that make them different from what their family is all about, will look at this picture of their future with desire to know everything about it because they want to experience it to the full.

          On the other hand, those who hate what the family is about, and have tried to dissociate themselves from anything to do with the family’s values and heritage, will see the picture of the future as one more thing they hold in disdain. They hear the grandfather say, “I have a dream!” and they hear themselves scoff, “You have a nightmare!”

          The point is simple: those who are living as conquerors now will see all that the book of Revelation shows them about being conquerors all the way through their lives. Those who are living as rebels, as disobedient, as victims of sin who have no faith in Jesus to save them from sin, or help them have victory over sin, will not be able to see what Jesus could do for them in the future.

          To put it another way, if anyone is blind to the vision of Jesus in chapter one, and unmoved by the wonders of who he is, what he is about, and what he is like as already revealed, they cannot expect that anything is going to happen to them as they continue looking through the Revelation. It is just more about Jesus! And, if they haven’t been moved by Jesus in the first chapter, with the revelation of his glory, and they haven’t been moved by Jesus’ assessment of their lives in chapters 2 and 3, so that they have adjusted to his divine will, they are not going to see the wonders that fill the pages of the next nineteen chapters.

          This is the point where, if you realize you are not entering the fourth chapter of Revelation as a conqueror, that you get right with Jesus before you do. Take another look at who he is. Take another look at who you are. Call out to Jesus to open your eyes so you can see him. Call out to Jesus to make you feel the ugliness of your sin in the hope of the gospel that provides you with the Savior who delivers from sin.

          …if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”[5]

          From my heart,

          Monte

© 2013 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)


[1] Revelation 4:1
[2] Revelation 1:3
[3] Revelation 1:17
[4] 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (Romans 8)
All seven of the letters to the churches include a word to the one who conquers”. This sevenfold reference to those who conquer is a central theme of the Revelation.
[5] Romans 10:9-11

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