Revelation 22:6-21 - Amen, Come, Lord Jesus

The visions have ended and we come to the close of this book. An angel assures John that the words are "trustworthy and true". Remember that this was no mere theoretical matter. John was the victim of persecution, having been exiled to Patmos and, at least according to Tertullian, boiled in oil and miraculously survived. Moreover, the people the vision was written to were enduring persecution. Even more importantly, the many Christians who have faced persecution through the ages, who still do so today, and who will when the great tribulation begins, need to know that these are not the wild dreams of some mystic, but the true and reliable word of God.

The angle had been sent by God to show His servants what would happen soon. Now this was almost two thousand years ago, but Christians have suffered the things described in this book throughout history. In the midst of difficulties we are blessed if we hold to the words in this prophecy.

John fell down to worship at the feet of the angel, but the angel immediately rebuked him. Only the Lord is to be worshipped.

John is not to seal up the words of the prophecy, the words are for now, and have been so throughout the last two thousand years. We are in the last days. Verse 11 is not a command, ie it is not telling those who do wrong to continue doing so. Rather it is saying that these things will happen. Evil does happen in the world and will happen. But those who do right must continue to do so as well, and those who are holy, devoted to the Lord, must continue to be devoted to Him.

Jesus then speaks directly, He is the Alpha and Omega, He brings a reward. We are blessed if we trust in Him, being cleansed by His blood, we will eat of the tree of life. But those who rebel will kept outside the Holy City, they will have no part in God's kingdom.

The Spirit and the bride say come. John 15:26,27 say that the Spirit testifies and we too must testify. The Spirit and the Church call on the world to come to Christ. The message of Revelation is not just for a encouragement, but is a call to the world. And note how harsh, in many ways, the message is. The gospel message is not just nice God will bless you stuff, it is about the harsh realities of sin. But if we respond there is a free gift of the water of life.

Then we get a severe warning, we must not add or subtract from the word. The consequences of doing so are severe.

The very end of the book closes just like the letters so often do. This is not a weird book, it is a revelation of the truth to help give us the strength to live lives of service to the Lord.

The Lord is coming soon! Halleluljah.

Amen, Come Lord Jesus.

Revelation 22:1-5 - A river runs through it

The metaphor of a river of life is found in Ezekiel 47:1 and Zechariah 14:8. In Ezekiel the river flows out from the temple, in Zechariah it flows out from Jerusalem. Here it flows down the middle of the city. The fundamental point is that it flows from the throne of God. In Ezekiel and Zechariah it is possibly speaking of the gospel flowing out to the world. Here it is the living water of God continually refreshing the saved people of God. 

The tree of life stood on each side of the river. In Genesis 3:22 man is banished from the tree of life, now that salvation is complete he is allowed to eat from it again. There is complete restoration. The reference to twelve months means that there will be a continual supply. There is also healing of the nations. Everything will be dealt with.

When Adam sinned God cursed the ground, amongst other things. There will now be no more curse. Instead the throne of God and the Lamb will be in the midst of the city and the people will serve Him.

Moreover, we will see Christ face to face, and His name will be on our foreheads. We will be completely Christlike, no vestige of sin left in our lives, just pure love and devotion to the Lord.

The Lord will be our light forever, and we will reign forever.

Revelation 21:9-25 - The New Jerusalem

Now an angel comes to show John the bride, to show him what the church will become. This is angel is one of the angels that had had one of the bowls of the last plagues (see 15:1). The various plagues, bowls, trumpets etc and the final salvation of God's people are all part of the same plot. John was taken "in the spirit" to a great and high mountain. This contrasts with the wilderness that he was taken to "in the spirit" to witness the downfall of Babylon. Here he sees the holy city of Jerusalem coming down from God. In 21:2 we have already seen the new Jerusalem coming down from heaven. We should remember that these are visions John is receiving, it is not a neat chronological history.

The city is then described. Again we should remember that this is pictorial language, not a set of engineer's drawings! Jasper is not actually a clear stone, and some other precious stone may be meant here. The key point is that the city shines with the glory of God.

The twelves are also symbolic. The mentions of the tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles is demonstrating the continuity of God's plans. The twelve angles shows that it is in perfect harmony with heaven.

Similarly the measurements given in verse 15 onwards are symbolic. I don't think we should expect to see a city with these exact dimensions. The dimensions represent a perfect cube, as was the Most Holy Place (1 Kings 6:20), the dwelling of God is now with man (21:3). The material of the foundations is then given. 

There was no physical temple in the city, for the Lord Himself was the temple. Nor did it need any sun or moon, for the Lord was its light.

Then we hear of the nations walking by its light and the rulers of the earth bringing their splendour to it. There is no longer any night, and no shameful thing comes into the city. It is inhabited only by those whose name is in the book of life. This raises a question of the exact timing of this. Is it still part of the millennium? This would then make sense of the mention of the kings of the earth and the nations walking by its light. Alternatively the whole point could just be to stress the final outcome for the church. Despite all the persecution the church faced, all the opposition to Jesus, it is Christ who will triumph, and His people with Him. There will come a time when sin and evil are banished forever, and Christ truly reigns. A time when we dwell with God in perfect fellowship.

Revelation 21:5-8 - Alpha and omega

The Lord then speaks directly declaring that He is making all things new.  In 2 Cor 5:17 Paul says that if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation. Jesus is about transformation, it applies to us as individuals, and will apply to the whole world. 

Now we need to remind ourselves of the context, especially as we are nearing the end of this book and it is easy to get lost in all the imagery and to forget where we are coming from. The church was facing, and would face, serious persecution, living in the midst of the world system. They, and we, need to know that these words of God are "trustworthy and true".

Back in Rev 1:8 Jesus announces that He is the alpha and omega, now He reiterates that call. "It is done". The defeat of evil, the purifying of His people, the salvation of His people will be completed.

The second part of verse 6 reminds us of Isaiah 55:1, and John 4:13. Indeed the metaphor of living water is used throughout the Bible.

Then it says "those who are victorious". We are not passive in Christ's victory, rather He gives us an active role. And we will be His children, He will be our God and we will have a wonderful inheritance (Rom 8:17). 

Having said who will receive this great prize, there is a severe warning about those who will not receive it. The first mentioned are the cowardly. This is put at the front of the list because of the massive temptation to compromise with the persecutors. The cost of giving in is always greater than the cost of resisting. The KJV is wrong when it uses the word "fearful" here, and NKJV corrects this to cowardly. Being fearful is not a problem, it is normal to be fearful in the extreme circumstances these people might encounter, it is how we react that counts.

Then the list includes those we would expect to have in it: the unbelieving, vile, murderers, sexually immoral, magic arts, idolaters and liars. This would fairly well describe those who were persecuting them. These will be consigned to the lake of fire forever. We need to be fully aware of the reality of judgement,

Revelation 21:1-4 - A new heaven and a new earth

We now get to see the new heaven and the new earth. We do not know exactly what this will mean, but we should focus on what we are clearly told, and the first thing is that it will be new. Now one might wonder why a new heaven is needed, a new earth makes sense, but a new heaven? It could be referring to a complete transformation of the relationship between heaven and man, or  to the fact that there will be no more war with demons for they will have been thrown into the fire forever. We may also wonder why the sea is said to pass away. We need to remember that the sea represented separation and danger.

The new Jerusalem comes down from heaven. It is prepared by God and made ready as the bride of Christ. So God is preparing the church for Christ. The new Jerusalem would seem to consist of God's people, purified and holy, rather than any emphasis on a physical place.

The importance of people is emphasised on verse 3 where there is the declaration that God's dwelling is now with the people. "I will be their God and they will be my people" is the oft repeated promise in the Old Testament. Now it is fulfilled. 

There will be an end to all sorrow and pain and death. In this life we receive a degree of comfort and healing from God, one day that healing will be complete. The old order of things will have passed away. If we are to understand life today we need to appreciate that it is temporary. Whatever we are going through just now, good or bad, is temporary. This does not mean that it doesn't matter, it does, but we need to have an eternal perspective.

Revelation 20:7-15 - The lake of fire (warning this section includes a rant)

Now we see what happens after the thousand years. Satan is released from prison. He sets out to deceive the nations, thinking he can take up from where he left before he was bound. Gog and Magog (Ezek 38,39) represent the nations of the earth. Gog and Magog were used in Jewish apocalyptic literature to represent the evil forces. There are a vast number,

This indicates that the unsaved are around during the thousand years. Some who object to the literal millennium argue that it would not be possible for the reign of Christ to be on earth and people not believe, but this argument is without foundation and does not appreciate the full depths of human sinfulness. Jesus Himself came to earth doing good, performing miracles, setting people free and our response was to crucify Him.

An army was found and they marched on God's people. I take the "city He loves" to be Jerusalem. In all arguments about the place of Israel we do well to remember that God loves Israel and loves Jerusalem. However, while Satan had a grand plan, it did him no good. Fire came down from heaven and devoured him.

The devil was thrown into the lake of fire to join the beast and the false prophet. Their torment goes on forever. This is no temporary defeat, but an eternal defeat for evil.

Then we get a picture of the final judgement. All stand before the Lord and will have to acknowledge who He is. The books are opened. There will be no escaping the judgement, no getting off on a technicality, no place for clever lawyers. All the dead will be judged, rich and poor. The only release was for those whose name was in the book of life. If your name is not in it you will be thrown into the lake of fire.

Now there are people who argue about the nature of hell, saying it is destruction or annihilation, rather than eternal torment. Such arguments are utterly pointless and stupid. We do not know the precise nature of hell, but we do know that Jesus told us it is absolutely the worse place to go, and we should do anything to avoid it, even gouging out an eye. So those of you who argue it is not eternal torment, what are you trying to say, "hell, not as bad as you think it is"? Even if it is destruction, do you have any idea what that means? No you don't, so stop your stupid arguments. Hell is to be avoided at all costs, and part of our job is to tell people the only escape route there is. (Rant over)

Revelation 20:1-6 The Millennium

These six verses have, and still do, caused immense controversy, all centred around the millennial kingdom. There are three main views (each having at least fifty seven varieties!):

• amillennialism
• pre-millennialism
• post-millennialism

The first one says there isn't an actual millennium, but sees the church age as fulfilling this. The other two do say there is an actual millennium but differ as to when Christ returns, either before or after the millennium. Now clearly I am not going to seek to explain all aspects of the debate in this blog, nor to offer the previously undiscovered solution! However, I will try and proceed with care, trying to let the text guide us. We should also remember that this is part of the rest of Revelation, and part of the rest of the Bible. It is not six verses hanging detached from everything else.

First we see an angel. He has the key to the Abyss. Satan can do nothing without God's say-so. Job is an illustration of this point. The evil one is given all four titles, dragon, serpent, devil and Satan. He is bound for a thousand years.

Now given the rest of Revelation there is no need to take 1000 literally. It is ten cubed and represents completeness. Satan is completely bound. He is bound up and stopped from deceiving the nations anymore. This happens for a thousand years, then he is set free for a short time. Now this is why I find the amillennial view incomprehensible. Satan is clearly not bound up, and he is clearly still deceiving many people. In fact the New Testament (eg 1 Peter 5:8) speak of him as being active, as does the rest of Revelation! The only way I can see that this could be true under an amillennial view is if it is limited to people being enabled to receive the gospel, having the veil removed from their minds, but that hardly seems to do justice to the text.

Then John sees thrones of judgement. Those seated on them could be those who have died in Christ. Then there is special mention of those who had died for Christ. It specifically speaks of beheading, but it can be taken more generally. However, with the likes of Isis, actual beheading is very much on the agenda. They had remained true to Christ and refused to receive the mark of the beast. Then it talks of them coming back to life and reigning with Christ. The end of verse 6 emphasises that these verses are given as encouragement to those who may have to endure severe persecution.

Now what about pre or post millennialism? There is no mention of Christ's return here, but chapter 19 could be taken as the return of Christ. However, in Matt 28:19,20 Christ does say He is with us until the end of the age and all authority has been given to Him. So it is not absolutely necessary that Christ is physically here for people to reign with Him. However, I tend to favour the pre-millennialism view (the classical view, not the seriously misguided pre-tribulation version!).