Revelation

30 August 2020

Dear Phyllis,

There is so much on my heart this morning I scarce know what to say. Oh, I saw Jesus this morning; He was wonderful. No I didn't see a vision, but He sure spoke to me in my devotions. What can I say?

Among other things I picked up my Bible and just glanced at Revelation. I was immediately struck by the first five words - “The revelation of Jesus Christ”. It is?! I remember talking with a sister telling her that when we read Revelation we should not look at the seven Seals, the seven Trumpets, and the seven Bowels, but look at the revelation of Jesus Christ. That sounds like good advice but I have been far more interested in the three Sevens than what little we see of Jesus.

To begin with, we might say that John wrote two books of revelation. The first one was his gospels. There are four records of the life of Christ and John is radically different, The first three are the synoptic gospels which tell the story of the life of Christ. John goes at it from a totally different approach. More than any other place, John tells about the heart of Christ. John was clearly Jesus' favorite. He was the closest to Jesus. He was the last one at the Cross and the first one to believe after the resurrection. John had an intuition that the others didn't have. When Jesus appeared at the lake after the resurrection no one knew who it was, but John said to Peter, “It is the Lord”. At the Last Supper we read twice that John was leaning on Jesus bosom (Jn. 13:23,25). Culturally, as Americans, that is a pretty difficult one for us to handle. That smacks of sexual perversion. Russia is a kissing country. It was a little difficult for me to handle to see two men kissing in church, but that is the culture. There is nothing wrong with it. (I mean a real smack right on the lips.) Vietnam is a hand holding country. So is Russia. The father of one of our Bible workers had been a soldier during the Vietnam war. He went with a team to Saigon and met General Tha Dam. The brother said he thought it was strange to see these two men holding hands while walking down the road. In Jesus' day in Israel it was a sign of closeness to lean on the breast of another man. (Not today in America.)

That is one view of Jesus in John's gospel but John wasn't leaning on Jesus' breast in Revelation. When he saw Him he fell at His feet as one dead (Rev. 1:17). In His prayer in John 17 Jesus prayed, “Father glorify Me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was” (Jn. 17:5). Obviously the Father has done that. The revelation of Jesus that we see in John's last book is; “all the kindred of the earth shall wail because of Him” (Rev. 1:7).

I thought, my goodness we have come along ways since the Garden when God came down in the cool of the evening to fellowship with His created being. What a radical change and astounding history of humanity for 6,000 years. We know next to nothing about the earth before the Fall, but what has happened since then isn't pretty. Eve's first son killed his brother and men have been killing each other ever since. Not long after the Flood God chose a man and started a new race of people that He called His chosen people, Israel. That didn't work out too well. After a couple thousand years Jesus came to His own people, but the rulers said, “We will not have this Man rule over us. Kill Him!” Then God began to call out an unusual species of humanity that is called, the Body of Christ. Jesus was here for 33 years and then went back to heaven. But He sent His Spirit back to live in the hearts of His people and be a witness. The Body of Christ has been the representative of Jesus for the past 2,000 years. But they haven't done too well either. I admire the Lord in being so honest with us in giving us such a frank view of the Church. I believe the position that the Seven Churches are a history of the nature of the Church for this dispensation. It started off hot but lost her first love. Then there was horrific persecution; the fall into idolatry, false teaching, immorality, deadness, and the final church. Laodicea. That one is affluent but makes Jesus sick to His stomach. But Jesus has been with it all. Now let's look at the revelation of Jesus.

The first thing that John saw after he was caught up to heaven was there as a Throne. Perhaps more than anything else that is the one thing the devil doesn't want us to know. The center of the universe is not science or technology. The number one message today is that there is no law and everyone can make his own law as he wants. More than that, we are seeing something unbelievable in the streets of America where thousand are trying to destroy civil law. There is a considerable segment of the US population that thinks anarchy is a good idea for political advantage We have come to an utterly astounding place in politics where the lines are drawn at an unbelievable position. Thank God there is a Throne in heaven and there is One Who is seated on that Throne. If there is anything that should give us stability and hope it is this revelation of Jesus Christ. More than that we see that there is a Book with seven Seals. This is the future history of the earth in advance. This may not tell us much about Jesus, but it does give us a clear view of His plans for the final act. Man howdy, it is going to be a rough showdown.

When Jesus went back to heaven the main message that He left with His people was that He was coming back for them. He told the disciples, “I am going away, but I am coming back for you so you can be with Me forever.” (Jn. 14:1-3). When He went up, two angels told them, “This same Jesus is coming back as you have seen Him go” (Acts 1:11). And it has been the central posture of the Church since then to look for the coming of Christ (1 Cor. 1:7).

The other night, Pammy asked me, “When is the rapture?”. I told her, “I don't know and I don't care.”. There are at least four positions on the rapture – pre-trib, post-trib, mid-trib, and split or partial rapture. For the past century the basic position of most conservative Christians, has been to hold to the pre-trib rapture position. At the present I don't like it as it is an easy out position. I see a tremendous amount in the Scripture that brings this into serious question. What are you going to do with 1 Cor. 15:15 that clearly says, “At the last trump the dead in Christ shall arise”? If we believe the Bible that is a tough one to explain.

But one position I will not abandon is the immanent return of Christ. If Jesus told us anything He said that it would be at the least expected time. I don't think the appearance of the anti-christ and the 3^rd Temple is the blessed hope. I find it impossible to believe that Paul taught anything other than that Jesus could come at any moment. Obviously this was a problem in Thessalanaica. Paul had taught them that Jesus was coming back and then some Christian died. The believers questioned, “What is going to happen to them?”. To answer that question Paul wrote 1^st Thessalonians and told them, “Don't worry. The dead in Christ will rise first and then we which remain will be caught up in the sky to be with them.” (1 Thes. 4:13-17).

There are two radically different views of Jesus return. Jesus said and Paul said He would come as a thief in the night (Lk. 12:38,39; 1 Thes. 5:2). And Jesus told Chaiaphas that he would see His return (Mt. 26:64); and Rev, 1:7 confirms this. Can you explain that? I can't. The last word that Jesus ever spoke was “Behold I come quickly” (Rev. 22:7). Two thousand years doesn't look like quickly to me. More than that I believe this has been the consistent witness of the Holy Spirit in the heart of every Christian for 2,000 years. With the exception of a few hard core post-trib Christians, who are looking for the anti-christ, every on-fire Christian I have ever met in my life believed firmly that Jesus would come in their life-time. They were wrong. Is Jesus lying?

I have never been more firmly convinced that every word in the Bible is true. Every word that came form the mouth of Jesus is factual. And the witness of the Holy Spirit in the heart of every Christian is real. How can you explain it? I can't and I am not interested in trying. I am content to allow the Father to explain to us His own spiritual mysteries. But I know it is true.

Oh, praise God, He is coming soon! bill