This week I have been especially impressed with the way one
particular Scripture helps me understand the scroll and its seven seals as
introduced in Revelation 5. There we read, “Then
I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written
within and on the back, sealed with seven seals.”[1]
The
first thing about this scroll is that it is “written
within and on the back…” This tells us that the one who sits on the throne
has already written down all remaining history. He knows what is going to
happen, and all ends well.
The
fact that this scroll is in the right hand of the one who sits on the throne
means that history is not in the hands of terrorists, false teachers, beasts,
antichrists, or even the red dragon. While we are never told details of what is
on the scroll, seeing it in the right hand of the one who sits on the throne is
enough to settle our hearts that the right person is handling whatever could
happen.
The
question is, what value is there to know that there is a scroll full of writing
on both sides, that it is in the right hand of the one who sits on the throne, and
that we are never told what it contains? This is where another Scripture makes
so much sense of this.
Before
Jesus ascended back to the throne-room of heaven, he made some concluding
remarks to his disciples regarding the ongoing work of God on earth.
He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has
fixed by his own authority. But
you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be
my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the
earth.”[2]
On
God’s side of this picture, there are “times
or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.” Whatever God
has determined for the times and seasons of history is in his right hand,
picturing the fact that he has “fixed”
the times and seasons “by his own
authority,” hence they are already written down on the scroll.
On our side, Jesus said, “it is not for you to know” these times or seasons. This being
true, the book of
Revelation was given to us for some other reason than to let us know the times
and seasons the Father has fixed by his own authority.
What
should we focus on instead of the times and seasons that are not for us to
know. Jesus stated it like this: “But you
will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my
witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the
earth.”[3]
The
reason it is not for us to know the times or the seasons the Father has written
on both sides of the scroll, is because we are here in this world to be Spirit
filled and empowered churches that put all our attention on living as Jesus’
witnesses in this world.
What
has settled into my heart is that the Revelation is not the world’s best
mystery novel that invites us to sit back in a comfortable easy-chair and see
if we can figure out the clues before getting to the end of the book. The
Revelation is not given to tell us what is written on both sides of the scroll,
although we do need to know that there is such scroll, and that it is in the
right hand of him who sits on the throne.
Instead,
we are to seek to be filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit to live in this
world as the one body of Christ, each of us maturing in our place in the body,
using our spiritual gifts to serve one another in love, while understanding
that all the bad things we see happening around us as described in the seven
seals are not hindering God’s word, his will, or work from being fulfilled. Such
world events are actually the evidence that Jesus is breaking the seals on the
scroll so that all the plans and purposes of God will be done exactly as God
has decided.
What I
realized just this morning is that, the very thing we see happening in the
partnership between a scroll that we can’t read, and the seven seals that are
soon to be opened for all to see, is already portrayed for us in the picture of
the Lamb standing before the throne of God looking like it had once been slain.[4]
In this
one beautiful and complex picture, the Lamb of God looking as though he had
been slain reminds us that God has already fulfilled all the words that had
been written about Jesus Christ. This happened while Jesus’ disciples thought
that their hope in the Messiah had been thoroughly dashed by Jesus’ death by
crucifixion. This was a world event that no one saw coming, that no one
understood, that had the appearance of utter defeat, and grief, and sorrow,
while it was the exact, detailed, letter-of-the-law-fulfilling work of God that
turned out to be all that God had written.
Now we
see this Lamb who had once been slain, who was raised from the dead, who had
ascended back into the heavenly throne room, opening the seals by his power and
authority, sending out the horsemen who will wreak havoc on the earth as
warnings, and signs, of the impending wrath of God against sin, and the painful
cost the church will bear in joining the sufferings of Jesus Christ our Lord.
All
this to tell the church to not be dismayed at the terrible events that will
come upon the world as though something strange were happening. Remember how
dismayed the disciples were at the death of their Savior because they did not
remember what was written and spoken about all that was to happen to him that
would bring about God’s plans.
So now,
look at the terrible things you will see happening in the world. Do not think
that they are hindering the work of God, but see them like this, that Jesus is
breaking the seals that will then bring about the very fulfillment of God’s
written words. In the same way as the horrendously confusing experience of
Jesus’ death was the fulfillment of God’s death-destroying, sin-destroying, red
dragon-destroying work, so the seven seals tell us that the worst that happens
in the world, the worst that the enemies of God do to the church, will result
in the complete and final and full victory of Jesus Christ that he already
secured on the cross, turning into the absolute, to-the-letter fulfillment of
all that God has written on the scroll.
Conclusion:
don’t try to figure out something that the Word of God tells us in the word of
God “is not for you to know”. Not
only is it foolish to think we will discern mysteries that God has hidden from
us, but it is sinful and rebellious to defy our Savior’s words. Those who
discern the word of God will become the most Spirit-filled, obedient,
courageous, servants of the kingdom, pouring their lives into multiplying
whatever talents of silver and gold have been put into their hands, being all
the more devoted to our work because of our implicit, childlike faith that God
is lovingly devoted to his work with a perfection we can only imagine.
It has
already been prophesied and fulfilled that Jesus said, “Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in
the scroll of the book.”[5]
It is the Lamb of God, now looking as one who had been slain, who is still
doing God’s will, all that is written on the scroll of the book.
Here on
earth, while all manner of terrible things will happen (as described in the
seven seals), we have a mandate to witness to the Lord Jesus Christ regarding
how he has already fulfilled all that was written of him in God’s book. We keep
going in this no matter what things look like because we know that our God is
working to fulfill the rest of the story, and will one day return for us just
as he said.
When
Jesus returns, all the last things that happened to us, in whatever ways they
were experienced all over the world, will be just as he said they would be. However,
we will be so busy enjoying the feeling of being caught up together with all
God’s people to meet the Lord Jesus Christ in the air[6]
that we won’t need to look into the scroll. Instead, we will be looking into
the face of the one we have longed for, and will feel ourselves instantaneously
becoming just like him.[7]
From my
heart,
Monte
© 2014 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.)
No comments:
Post a Comment