Revelation 6:1,2 - The God who is in control

The seals now start to be opened, and it does not make comfortable reading. If you come to Revelation looking for some nice easy solution to life's problems or the world's problems then you are going to be disappointed, or you are going to have to utterly misinterpret what it says.

There is a sequence of sevens in Revelation, and within the seven there is a further structure. The first four are about what is happening on the earth, then the next two deal with what happens in heaven, and the final one kind of leads into the next series of visions.

The Lamb opened the first seal and one of the living creatures cried out "come". The first seal released a white horse. He held a bow and a crown and his purpose was to conquer and be a conqueror. As with most things in Revelation there are several lines of interpretation, most of them wrong. Some see this horse as Christ, others as the anti-Christ. Both of these are wrong and do not fit what is happening at all. A third line sees it as a spirit of conquest. 

We need to see the vision as a whole, and to see the book as a whole. One of the messages is that all the mayhem and conquest that we see in the world is actually under God's control. Modern man spends a lot of time trying to absolve God of responsibility for various things. This is a most unbiblical approach. If you read the Bible you see that it attributes all sorts of things to God, this is especially evident in the Old Testament. The message is that all the machinations we see going on are actually under God's control and part of His decree.

Now this causes some people a problem. How can a loving God decree wars and famine? Well first of all we need to ask is God Almighty? Answer, yes. If wars and famine are outwith His control then He is not Almighty. So this must be within His control. God has a purpose in all things, Now this does not mean that men do not have responsibility. We are guilty for all our acts of sin. 

If we look for a nice neat explanation of how things work out we will be disappointed. How God's decree, man's free will, sin, and God's grace all work together is well beyond our understanding. But we can be certain that God is in full control at all times.

Revelation 5:5-14 - The One who is Worthy

John is told not to weep. All had seemed hopeless, but there was indeed one who could open the seals. Just as the situation the church was in at the time might have seemed hopeless with no escape, and as the circumstances in our own lives might at times seem hopeless, but there is hope for there is One who is worthy to sort things out. This One is the Lion of the tribe of Judah. This is referring back to Genesis 49:8-10. There it speaks of Judah as a lion cub, and of the one to who the sceptre belongs coming. And it says that the nations will obey Him. The root of David is perhaps a reference to Isaiah (Is 11:1,10). The One whom all of the OT looks forward to is the One who is worthy. Notice that it says He has triumphed. On the cross victory was won and assured. 

Then John see one looking like a lamb that has been slain. Now we need to remember the situation. The church was small and despised by society. They worshipped a man who had been crucified. This vision is reassuring them that this Christ is the One who has all power and authority. He is the One who holds history in His hands. The One we worship is the One who is worthy. The seven horns and eyes signify that His power is complete, and His awareness of all that is happening is complete. When we are in the midst of trouble we doubt that God knows what is going on or that He is doing anything about it. This is a reminder that this is not so.

The Lamb then took the scroll from the One who sat on the throne. Then the four living creatures and the elders all worshipped the Lamb. This is a clear indication of the divinity of Jesus. 

The bowls contained the prayers of saints. Now consider what a prayer seems like on earth. To the one uttering the prayer it can seem so weak and futile. To those inflicting harm on others the prayer is just a sign of their power over the weak and the pitiful state that the victim is in. But here we see the true value of prayer. These prayers are highly esteemed in heaven, where power really lies.

The Lamb is worthy to open the scroll, and He had earned the right to do this because of His blood. He had purchased people from every tribe and tongue for the Lord. 

See than that these people will reign on the earth. We need to realise that God's destiny for us is that we reign on the earth. Realise how at odds with the situation this would seem to the people.

Then myriads of angels came and worshipped the Lamb. The Lamb is the One who is worthy to receive honour, glory and power. We need to remember that Christ is at the centre of it all.

This was followed by all the creatures on the earth worshipping the Lamb. Jesus is the One who receives all the glory.

Revelation 5:1-4 - Is the future hidden from view forever?

It is the Father who is seated on the throne, and a scroll was on his right hand. The scroll was sealed with seven seals. Seven represents completeness so the presence of seven seals means there was no round about way of opening the scroll. 

A mighty angel asked of all creation if anyone was worthy to open the scroll. In order to do so they would need to break the seals. But no one could be found, no matter where the angel looked. No one was worthy.

Man does not know the future and cannot tell the future. We do well to remember that when men make bold or proud predictions or declarations.

John wept. The Greek implies a loud wailing. John wanted to know what was going to happen, to understand the times and the unfolding of history. In the previous chapter he had been promised that he would see, but now it seemed as though this would not happen.

Revelation 4 - The Lord of All

Now begins what most people think of when they think of Revelation, the series of visions of judgement. However, as indicated in the preceding posts Revelation is actually a book designed to equip God's people to go through tribulation, to overcome in the midst of trials.

So we start with a vision of the throne in heaven. Worldly kingdoms of all sorts claim to have power, seek to exert authority. Indeed we see this today even in the west with governments' attempts to crush opposition to same-sex marriage. We need to know who is really in charge.

John is invited to enter into heaven to see what is really happening and what will happen.

John saw a great vision of the throne in heaven. John is rather reticent about describing who is on the throne, but it is Jesus and He is covered in glory.

Surrounding the throne were twenty four elders, each with a crown and dressed in white. Lightning and thunder came from the throne and seven lamps were blazing.  It says these were the "seven spirits of God", or the "sevenfold spirit". Various interpretations have been given for the sea of glass.

The vision seems similar to what Ezekiel saw (Ezek 1:6,10).

The living creatures praised the Lord day and night. Th elders fell down and gave glory to the Lord.

Verse 11 sums up what we need to know. The Lord is the only One who is worthy to receive glory and honour. And why is He the only One who is worthy? Because He is the One who created all things, and He is the One who sustains all things.

Revelation 2,3 - Review of the Letters to the Seven Churches

Let's review the letters to the seven churches. The attributes of Jesus given in them are:

1. He holds the seven stars and walks amongst the lamp stands. Ie it is Jesus who is head of the church.
2. He is the First and the Last, and died and came to life again.
3. He has the sharp double edged sword.
4. His eyes are like fire and His feet are like burnished bronze. 
5. He holds the sevenfold spirit and the seven stars.
6. He is holy and true, He holds the key of David, and what He opens cannot be shut.
7. He is the faithful and true witness, and is the ruler of God's creation.

Now let's look at the rewards for those who overcome:

1. The right to eat from the tree of life.
2. Will not be hurt by the second death.
3. Will be given hidden manna and a new name
4. Authority over the nations
5. Will be dressed in white, Jesus will acknowledge their names before the Father
6. Will be pillars in the temple
7. Will have the right to sit with Jesus on His throne.

These letters, along with the various commendations, rebukes and instructions are a reminder of who is really Lord, and what the eternal rewards will be. We especially need to be reminded of these things when we go through times of trouble, and all the more so when the world persecutes the church. This is what was happening at the time Revelation was given, and is what the rest of the book is about.

Some see the book just as a record of the wrath that will come upon the world. This is a foolish view. It is a book to equip us to overcome in times of trial and tribulation, not a book about escaping tribulation, as the silly pre-tribulation rapture teaching would have us believe.
We should also bear in mind that the book starts with the state of the seven churches, what was right about them, what they needed to correct. In considering the state of the world our priority should always be to ensure that we, as individuals and as churches, are being faithful and true to Christ.

Revelation 3:14-21 - Laodicea

This is perhaps the most famous of the seven letters, and verse 20 the most famous verse. Verse 20 is often used in an evangelistic context, but we should remember that this letter is addressed to a church.

Laodicea was the richest of the cities, well established in banking, medicine and textiles. The one weakness was the lack of a good water supply. The city had a colony of about 7 000 Jews who had been given the right to practise their own religion.  Colossians 4:16 makes mention of a letter Paul sent to them, though this is now lost. Sadly the church was clearly in severe decline.

The attributes of Christ are His faithfulness, the fact that He is a true witness, and that He is ruler over God's creation, In a rich and prosperous society these things are often forgotten. Think of our own culture. Our whole ethos is now totally neglectful of the fact that Christ is Lord and that He is the truth,

The church was neither hot nor cold. This could be a reference to water, which if cold can refresh, if hot it can heal. The church was neither. Tje church thought they were rich, probably implies they were proud of their material wealth and so-called wisdom. Yet their true condition was quite the opposite. Spiritually they were naked and blind. 

Jesus commands them to get true wealth the true wisdom and healing. Again, this should put us on our guard against health and wealth preaching. Jesus does heal and does look after us, but our spiritual health is important above all. 

Jesus said all this to them because He loved them. He rebukes those whom He loves. We are so averse to criticising anyone or anything, but God does rebuke in order to lead us to true life. 

Jesus speaks to the world , and if anyone listens to Him then He will come and dwell with them. The greatest prize is to have Christ dwelling with us. 

Although this church received the severest rebuke, and no praise at all, it receives the greatest promise. To those who overcome He gives the right to sit on His throne with Him. All of us need to repent and believe.
Merry Christmas!

Christmas thoughts

The miracle of Christmas is that God came to dwell amongst us. He came not as some sort of superbeing or an angel, but He came as a man.

Why did He do this? Because He had created us in His image. We are the high point of God’s creation, a wonderful and treasured possession.

But we decided we didn’t need God, we decided that we could decide for ourselves what was right and what was wrong. We decided we didn’t need our Creator and we have been paying the price of our folly ever since.

Yet God loves us so much that He was prepared to dwell among us as a man. He loves us so much that He was prepared to go to the cross to die to take the judgement that should be ours.

Jesus came to call us back to Himself. So often we are reluctant to admit our need of God, to admit the failings and sins in our own life, reluctant to humble ourselves. But Jesus was prepared to humble Himself so that we might have life.

Realise how precious you are, realise how much you mean to God, and return to Him, the only one who can give you life.