Revelation Part 1
Eternity Online: John Edmiston (Editor)
Eternity-Inspiration for Thursday 16th October 1997
Revelation Part 1
(Revelation 1:1 NIV) The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave
him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known
by sending his angel to his servant John,
For the next fortnight we will have a look at the book of Revelation
in bite-sized bits and get as far as we can. If there is considerable
interest we may then finish it off at a later date. I will not be
setting dates for the second coming or doing anything rash but rather
looking how the extraordianry vision of God and Heaven it contains
can enrich and inspire us.
Firstly the revelation is of Jesus Christ. It is also a revelation of
"what must soon take place". Its audience are Christians "his
servants". The means of delivery was by "his angel" a special
heavenly messenger. These four facts need to be kept in mind
throughout the book. Lets look at them one by one.
The revelation of Jesus Christ. All New Testament revelation is of
Christ however the book of Revelation is a very special revelation
because it tell us quite plainly what the ascended Jesus is like. If
our last glimpse of Jesus was a bare-footed man ascending in a cloud
or a bright light on the Damascus road then we would be impoverished
theologically. Revelation gives us a glimpse of "the Lamb upon the
throne", Jesus Christ as the centre of unbroken worship and praise
and very definitely God. He is seen as worthy of worship and only
God is worthy of worship. The Jesus of Revelation is grand and
powerful. He is at the centre of the cosmos. He is not just a
prophet or a miracle worker He is the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. Here we see Him as clearly the one who upholds
creation by the word of His power. (Hebrews 1:3 NKJV) who being the
brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and
upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself
purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
"to show His servants". The book of Revelation is written to a church
suffering the persecutions of Diocletian. It is not written for
non-Christians. It starts with seven messages to the seven district
churches of the Roman Province of Asia and continues in a mode that
requires a deep knowledge of Scriptures and biblical symbolism. It is
a book to insiders.
"what must soon take place". O! The controversy. Revelation was
written in 90-95 AD and the interpretation of "what must soon take
place" are many and varied. Some see it all happening in the first
and second centuries AD while others see it as being all future.
Whatever the interpretation it is written as a prophecy of events
that had not yet taken place at the time of writing. It is not just
an allegory, it is a prophecy.
"He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,". The
angel referred to is an interpreting angel who delivers Jesus'
messages using the ancient messenger formula. "I (the master's name)
say to you..." e.g If farmer Abraham sent his slave Zachariah with
a message to Jacob he would run and when the slave reached Jacob the
slave would say "I Abraham say come to my house for lunch tomorrow we
are killing a calf and having a feast...etc". The slave would repeat
verbatim what the master said and use the Master's name and the first
person pronoun "i". We don't do that but they did back then. The
angel on the beach and throughout the book is not Jesus but is His
special messenger. Firstly verse 1 says that an angel brought the
message, secondly Jesus is not an angel (Hebrews 1:1-14), thirdly
when the story is finished in chapter 22 we read...(Revelation
22:8-9 NKJV) Now I, John, saw and heard these things. And when I
heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel
who showed me these things. {9} Then he said to me, "See that you do
not do that. For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the
prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God."
The one "who showed me these things.." was not worthy of worship and
was not God but a "fellow-servant". Mind you this angel was so
impressive that the apostle John was overawed by him! The angel is
impressive, the angel carries many of Christ's symbols (as he is the
angel of Jesus Christ, perhaps a very special "personal messenger")
but the angel is not Jesus. The ascended Jesus is on the throne and
too awesome for words.We cannot conceptualise Him now, there is no
beard and sandals nor a golden breastplate. Like the Father and the
Spirit He is glorious and awesome and beyond representation in
earthly terms. The angel represents a few aspects of Jesus and
communicates them to us like an ambassador but the ambassador finely
dressed is still not the King.
Putting this together we see that the apostle John is conducted on a
tour of the person and work of the ascended Lamb of God. Who He is in
glory and what His plans are for us are revealed. They are revealed
to Christians through a message delivered to the apostle by a special
angel. I do not wish to be overly contentious about the angel but I
suggest you at least consider what I have concluded.
Prayer:
Lord Jesus who is ascended on high and is the Lamb of God and who is
worshipped forever may we praise and adore You. May we get some clear
glimpse of you beyond the beard and the sandals. May we come to know
You in Your authority and glory and might and strength and splendour.
Amen.
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