Stand
I got saved reading the Book of Revelation on
August 26th, 1979. At that time, I
took it absolutely literally and figuratively at the same time. I saw it as an unfolding of end times
on how this world would end. Years
later I discovered that it is MORE than that. I am not in any way saying that it cannot be taken as a
prophecy of how this world will end, I am just saying that it is much, much
more. It has tremendous personal
application in our lives today, even if we do not live to see the actual Second
Coming of Jesus to this world, and/or the rapture. It is current for my life and your life today. It was current for the lives of saints
who lived 100 years ago, and if the Lord delays, it will be current for the
people who (may) live 100 years from now.
It is a timeless
book. I do not believe it was written in
order to draw a time line showing exactly how this world will end from month to
month and year to year (although I am not discounting that application). I believe it is a multi faceted jewel
that can and should be viewed from many angles. I believe it is world history, church history, and your own
personal history.
John had an
“Eastern oriental” mindset, and so did the churches to which he wrote. They were not as much into timelines
like the American/European mind, but more into timeless swirling[1]
pictures that spoke ideas to them.
Notice in the Amplified Bible in Revelation chapter 1:1 the words “to
disclose and make known to His bond servants certain things which must shortly
and speedily come to pass in their entirety. ” Verse 3 says, “for the time [for them to be fulfilled] is
near.”
One must read the book
of Revelation without a mindset of time; chapters do not necessarily follow in
the order of events. It is an
eternal group of events. Mountains
= kingdoms or obstacles, numbers = ideas, concepts. The only way John could describe what he saw in the
invisible realm, was to relate it to what he knew; that is why Jesus showed it
to him this way.
Let us take a look at how Revelation can
apply to your everyday life.
1. The first great theme of this Book
is, seeing Jesus as He is right now.
Notice
in verse 1 it says, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ.” I believe that God gave us this view of Jesus because we
cannot see Him as He really is in any other way. Many walked with Him, many saw Him die, some saw Him
resurrected, but no one has really seen Him as He is right now. He is a warrior, a judge, the Lamb,
Almighty God, He is on the Throne, no being can stand up to Him, He is the
Victor, a “terrifying sight” to His enemies and He is active on your
behalf. John needed to know all of
this.
I believe Jesus showed
this vision to John to comfort him by bringing him faith and hope, and to make
sense of crazy circumstances he found himself in. It was also to do the same for the churches to which he
wrote this letter almost 2,000 years ago, and to do the same for you and me in
our lives today when we see all the crazy things going on around us. It is a handbook for obtaining victory
in our lives. It is not less than
end time prophecy (it could be that), but it is much MORE.
John’s condition: The world for John was
going crazy. Just imagine, he had
been living with Jesus for at least 3 years, he saw Him perform mighty
miracles, he saw Him get crucified, He saw Him resurrected. After the resurrection John must have
thought, “Now there is victory.”
He saw the Holy Spirit fall on mankind and the church get started. He established churches, he saw people
getting saved. All of a sudden the
original disciples were gone. Some
were crucified (Peter upside down), some were beheaded, and others done away
with by other means. He also saw
the world going into a wild spin.
He saw the rise of barbaric forest tribes with horns on their helmets
coming out of what we today know as Germany.
John himself was
almost killed by being boiled in oil, but they could not kill him. And now he was taken a prisoner and
banished forever to the Isle of Patmos.
Patmos is a rugged island in the Aegean Sea and its name means “my
killing.”
His daily chore included working a rock
quarry and hauling rock up and down hills on his back. He must have thought, “Has the world
gone crazy? Did I really know
Jesus? Was He really God in the
flesh like I wrote about in my Gospel book? Is the church a doomed thing? Is my life wasted?”
Then, all of a sudden – BAM!
Something appeared to him that he had never seen before.
Read Revelation 1:1-20. John got a peek into Heaven to see what Jesus is like
now! Verse 1 says that this is for
the unveiling of divine mysteries, and to let His church know some things that
had not been known before.
2. The second great theme of this book is
Jesus looking for overcomers who will go through trials and end up serving Him.
“Get my church ready John, things are going to get
worse. If they don’t clean up
their act, the horrible things that this world will throw at them will destroy
them along with the unbelievers, and some won’t make it to heaven!”
Then John saw Jesus
walking in the midst of the seven churches, which represent every condition
that could be present in a church and believers. Jesus was judging them. Not to condemn them; He wanted them to be in shape for the
ensuing battle. It would be like a
general reviewing his troops and saying, “Get those guns in order, shine those
boots, etc.”
I admit to not
understanding all of the beautiful pictures and language portraits in
Revelation. In an effort to
summarize some practical points gleaned from Jesus’ message to each of the
seven churches of Revelation, I offer the following practical, yet probably
incomplete summary. I believe that
included here are areas that each one of us may apply to our own lives. Remember Jesus was not condemning these
believers and churches, He wanted them to overcome. He knew that Satan would prevent their overcoming unless
they repented.
The Church of
Ephesus (Revelation 2:1).
They were hard working for the Gospel, undergoing trouble and were
patient. They would not endure
wicked people. Their heart was in
the right place for God and His work.
But they left their first love.
Jesus said, “You deserted ME!
Get back into real time, vital living contact with Me, or you will not
survive and overcome what is about to happen to you.” We need to be in “real time” contact with God through the
Holy Spirit and the Word. The
analogy is, we can write letters to one another, we can send emails to one
another, we can even “chat” with one another on the Internet, but unless we get
face to face, our relationship will be limited. We need face-to-face contact with God.
The Church of
Smyrna (Revelation 2:8).
This was, and represents the persecuted church. Jesus knew of their great distress,
affliction, and poverty, but He told them to hang on and be faithful, even if
to death. Jesus had nothing
against this church. I submit that
this includes people who are destined to be physical martyrs. Their reward is the Crown of Life. Crown stands for authority, and life
represents the spiritual life given by God. Historically, the death of martyrs has brought about a great
harvest of souls. The First
Century Christians knew that for each martyr approximately 300 souls would be
saved. In the year 2000, there was
a tragic incident in an American High School in Colorado, where two demonized
boys killed thirteen people. Some
of the ones who died did so as true martyrs. Since that time there have been thousands of souls come into
the Kingdom of God through this event.
The Church of
Pergamos (Revelation 2:12). These people lived among an evil people
who had the spirit of anti-Christ, yet they did not deny Jesus. But Jesus saw that some of them had a
money problem, serving two gods at the same time and they welcomed some false
teaching about needing a mediator between themselves and God
(Nicolaitans). Some believers and
some entire denominations feel that there needs to be a human priest to mediate
between God and man. “For there
is one
God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus” (1
Timothy 2:5).
They also were prone to
sexual vice. Perhaps they had a
love of the “world” and its “gods.”
Revelation 2:14 states that these people hold the doctrine of Balaam who
taught Balak, the King of Moab to cast a stumbling block before the children of
Israel. Balaam was hired by Balak
to curse the Israelites prior to waging war with them. Balaam, a prophet, tried to curse
Israel, but he could only bless.
Later, as recorded in Numbers 31, in a war with the Midianites, the
Israelites, at the prompting of Balaam, mingled with the Midianite women. This sin caused Israel to fail, and a
plague came upon the entire congregation of the Lord.
“And Moses said to them,
“Have you kept all the women alive?
Look, these women caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of
Balaam, to trespass against the LORD in the incident of Peor, and there was a
plague among the congregation of the LORD” (Numbers 31:15-16).
Satan knows that sin and
disobedience is the quickest way to overcome God’s people. The curse could not be effective
because God had blessed them, but their own choice to sin defeated them.
Jesus said that if they
did not turn from this that He would fight against them. He also promised them a major blessing
of close fellowship with Him, if they overcame these problems.
The Church of
Thyatira (Revelation 2:18).
Jesus recognized their love and service, but He saw the spirit of
Jezebel, which is being out of line when it comes to authority. This often leads to sexual immorality
and being led astray in many other ways.
Jesus promised authority to those who overcame. There are many manifestations of the
spirit of Jezebel, some within the church and some outside the church. It is not primarily a sexual demon,
although it uses sex as one of its tools to control. It counterfeits the Holy Spirit and often acts as a false
prophet. Often, when found in the
church, Jezebel’s goals are to destroy the congregation. Often she is successful. Pastors must remain vigilant to people
who disguise themselves as super spiritual. Pastors, and all men, must remain in proper relationship
with their God given spouse; otherwise, they are prime targets. Young men who do not submit to the
authority of Jesus, are very often trapped by a woman with a Jezebel
spirit. Young women who find
themselves without an authority figure are often trapped by a male with a
Jezebel or an Ahab (Jezebel’s husband) spirit. This is why the church is commissioned to minister to widows
and orphans. They make up a large
groups of those who are not under a male authority (divorced women as
well).
The Church of
Sardis (Revelation 3:1).
Jesus called them dead! He
said that they thought that they were alive. That is a very dangerous position to be in, dead, but
convinced they are alive! This
could describe many main line denominations that go through the motions without
real life. He stated that their
garments were dirty but that there were a few who had on white, representing
His righteousness. The remedy
prescribed for them, and for those who are tending to be like them, is to back
up and remember the lessons they have heard in the past, and to be a doer of
the Word this time. In other
words, be obedient to the Word of God.
He said that if they repented and turned that He would not blot their
names out of the Book of Life. It
is a fearful thought that some people may have been scheduled for salvation but
had their name blotted out!
The Church of
Philadelphia (Revelation 3:7).
This was the church that was doing its best to live and minister
properly, but they were constantly under attack from the enemy. He found nothing against them, but
warned them to hang on to the end, or they would lose. I believe that these are the people who
are positioned to turn their troubles and curses into triumph and
blessings! I believe that these
are the people who are in the “Cosmic Courtroom,” and if they hang on long
enough, they will win. Revelation
3:10 indicates that God will keep them safe during the “trial.” These are the people who will have
spiritual authority and will be able to help others to overcome.
The Church of
Laodicea (Revelation 3:14).
This was the lukewarm church, they were neither hot nor cold. They said they were rich, but Jesus
called them poor. I believe there
is an indication that they were very religious and self-righteous. They were blinded to their
condition. Jesus warned them to be
overcomers, not losers. The reason
I feel that “lukewarm” indicates self-righteousness, is because He told them,
“Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’ –
and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked”
(Revelation 3:17). That is spiritual
pride. In verse 18 Jesus tells
them that they cannot even see their condition. I believe that all of us can take a warning from this
admonition. Let us not forget how
grace reached down and saved us.
Let us not judge others too quickly. The only remedial way of dealing with a brother or sister
who is not acting right is to bring them into the presence of God. It is not to hit them over the head
with the Bible! I am not saying
that there won’t be times of firm dealings with some people, but for the most
part love and grace are the needed ingredients. Criticism and gossip will not help people. Criticism and gossip is what comes out
of the mouth of the self-righteous person, and those are the people who Jesus
will “spue out of His mouth.”
The wonderful promise for repentance from a self-righteous
attitude, is intimacy with Him.
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in
to him and dine with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20). There is no intimacy with God for the
self-righteous, critical, and legalist.
I have known “cold”
believers who have been precious.
Remember cold tastes good to Jesus. I believe that there are many believers who do not know very
much about the Bible, but they have a great love for Jesus. They walk and live in love, but may not
be very evangelistic.
3.
The third great theme of this book is how we overcome bad
things in our life via the supernatural war and struggle that is going on in
the heavenlies.
The war trumpet is a
symbol of this conflict as is the unfolding of the SCROLL. I believe that the seals, trumpets,
woes, and vial or bowls of wrath all are different ways of looking at the very
bad things that are happening and will be happening in human history and
perhaps in our individual histories.
Revelation chapter
4
begins with a door that opens and allows us to see into the invisible
supernatural realm. Read Revelation
4:1-4.
Revelation
chapters 5-11 reveal the unrolling of this thing called the scroll - OVERCOMING
OUR CURSE! It is sealed with 7
seals, and nobody is worthy to unroll it.
Then, all of a sudden, Jesus is seen as the Lion of Judah, the root of
David, and the Lamb. This gives
Him the right to open it. The
scroll could and probably does represent several things including the unfolding
of human history, the title deed to the earth, the unfolding of our individual
lives, and the putting away of the Adamic generation, globally and
personally.
Zechariah 5:14 describes
this scroll as the curse.
Most of our life is involved in overcoming curses of our old
“generation”. Apparently the
purposes for all of human history and our history could not be accomplished
until this scroll was unrolled, and in its unrolling, there were great
catastrophes and events of destruction revealed with each seal.
In 70 AD when the Roman
general Titus destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem, he also destroyed all the clay
pots that recorded on scrolls the old generations of the past. This included the generations that
brought down our family curses. When the enemy does his best to destroy us, the Temple of
God, all he can do is wipe out our curses, if we cooperate with God. The reason that the Mormon church goes
to such great lengths to perpetuate generational documentation is to perpetuate
the curse.
In chapter 11 it shows that the entire CURSE was absorbed
at the CROSS and the VEIL of the TEMPLE was thrown open. Jesus did it all. Praise God! He is the Worthy Lamb.
I believe that the
judgments, which come on earth and individuals during their lives, are the
consequences that Jesus was concerned about when He was trying to get His
people to repent in the first few chapters. He knew that without being right with Him, they could not
make it through the judgments and overcome. Actually, Jesus as the Lamb of God bore all these tragedies
on the Cross, but so many people just do not accept that. The plagues are the wrath of God on
earth, but we need to know that the entire wrath of God was put on Jesus at the
Cross.
I believe that the
plagues are, at least in shadow and type, related to the 10 plagues that God
put on Egypt when the Israelites departed with Moses.
I believe that going
through bad things with the overcoming power of Jesus is part of the unrolling
of our SCROLL (overcoming curses) in our individual lives. We change, we get a bigger view of God,
He becomes more real to our spirit and mind, we become more like Jesus, our
pride goes away, our harshness is smoothed out, and best of all, we take down
some demons for God’s Kingdom!
Chapter 7 reveals
that Jesus puts a supernatural seal around those who are His, those who have
decided to go all the way and become overcomers (Read Revelation 7:3.) These horrible judgments will have no
harm over His people; much like the plagues in Egypt destroyed the Egyptians,
but did not hurt the Israelites in Goshen, a suburb in Egypt. Jesus never said that He would keep His
people out of the tribulation, but He said that IN it, they would become
overcomers. The word seal indicates that the
character of Jesus has been imprinted onto your life, much like the mark of the
Beast means Satan’s character is imprinted on one’s life.
The idea of a
rapture out of a life with complete ease with your pockets full of money, escaping
the wrath coming on this earth or even in your life, is not Scriptural. God’s people have always gone through
tribulation, but they have always been overcomers and have always taken the
spoil of the enemy! Sure, some
people are called to go through more than the others, but we should be willing
to go all the way no matter what that means in our lives; we should trust Him
totally!
There may be a
final “great tribulation” on this earth someday. Even scientists see this now. But to the one whose child is being
raped by a Communist officer in front of their eyes, that has to be a great
tribulation. To the one whose
family is being put in front of a firing squad asking for the denial of Christ,
that is their great tribulation.
How about the one who gets the doctor’s report, “cancer”? Things could not get much worse for
them. They need to know how to
overcome even if Jesus does not step back onto this earth right this minute to
help them.
4.
The fourth great theme is that God really is on the Throne.
He is in charge, but He
wants to see you through your problems to victory in order to overcome them
rather than to take you totally away from them into some comfort zone.
Jesus bore all the
evil at the Cross. Nothing that
comes on you now, no matter how bad it seems, can really hurt you; it can only
be used for the destruction of Satan’s kingdom.
Revelation chapter
8:1-5
shows how powerful the prayers of believers are, especially when mixed with
praise. It does real damage to the
enemy!
Read chapters 9
and 10. In 9:1-4, God’s overcomers,
the ones that are standing fast and have cleaned up their lives, hear the
supernatural command from the Throne of God that whatever happens from these 7
seals and 7 trumpets, all these catastrophes, shall not be allowed to hurt
them. Wow! Think about this! This truth will overload your mind if
you meditate on it for long! This
is why I keep urging people to get their lives lined up with God! Revelation 10:10 shows the small
scroll, which I believe, is “our share of His sufferings” that we experience
when we are overcoming these curses in our lives. I could be wrong on this, and am only submitting this as a
possibility.
In chapter 11, the Cross gives Jesus
all authority. Read Revelation
11:15-19. “The seventh angel
sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said, ‘The
kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and
he will reign for ever and ever’” (Revelation 11:15). I believe that this event compares the Passover in Egypt
with Moses to the Cross of Jesus Christ. Jesus finally took the scroll
or our curse on Himself!
The entire wrath of God was put on the Lamb.
At the Cross, the
Temple veil was torn and the Ark was exposed for the first time (Revelation
11:19). “Then the temple of God
was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. And
there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail”
(Revelation 11:19). For the people who have accepted the fullness of the Cross,
all of the horrible things that happened in their lives and on earth worked to
their benefit, but to those who are not sealed, they are destroyed.
5.
The fifth great theme found in chapter 12 shows more of God’s
warfare in the heavenlies with angels and demons, which are coming against
God’s purposes.
Believers need to
cooperate in this warfare by knowing the value of Jesus’ blood, confessing the
Word of God as the offensive weapon and not loving their own lives, even to
death if needed. The confessed
Word of God is more powerful than most people realize! Revelation 12:11 says, “And they overcame him by the blood of
the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives
to the death.” The word lives, refers to the soul
life, not the physical life. I
think it can also apply to the physical life in the case of a martyr, but for
most of us it means allowing God to change us to conform to His image.
Read chapter 13 and focus on verse 1, 7-8,
11, 15, and 16. The sea, or the
world, tries to come up with its own solution to the wrath of God. It brings forth its Hitler’s, Stalin’s,
etc. to bring peace. Part of its
solution will be to have people follow them in worship, and to take the “mark
of their character” into their lives.
I believe that number 666 stands for the deifying of man, making mankind
into a god. 6 means man, 3 means trinity of
God.
In chapters 14
-19, John
saw the Lamb. After seeing all this
mess, he looked up and saw Jesus.
Then, there are a series of defeats put on the enemy. The enemy is not only defeated, but is
totally defeated. Actually this
victory took place at the Cross and the resurrection, but we must go through
warfare to keep Satan from stealing this victory from us. This has application to our lives. Once we go through the worst Satan can
throw at us, that is it, it is over.
That particular demon or curse can no longer hurt us. “Babylon is fallen,” said the angel in
verse 18:2. “Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!”
(Revelation 19:6). Verse 19:7 says
that “the marriage of the Lamb has come and His wife has made herself ready.”
This shows how intense Jesus is about us and His love for us. Jesus comes on His white horse just in
time to bring deliverance to those who are watching for Him. This corresponds with the “day of
visitation” spoken of in Daniel and in Luke 19, when Jesus comes with
deliverance for those who are watching, but for those who are not, with
destruction. The above is a time
line that we can apply to how God works in our lives.
6. The sixth great
theme is the process of hanging on until Jesus comes to you for your
deliverance after all the hardships and battles.
The victory was won for
us before we were born, but will we hang on and believe when things look bad? Our curse is put on Jesus, but will
we experience the victory?
In chapter 21 Heaven is revealed; God
with us. Jesus states that He is
Alpha and Omega, the first and the last.
Jesus was there before your troubles, He is there in them, and He has
the last word about them!
7. The seventh great
theme is that true ministry for the Kingdom of God is granted to those who have
been overcomers in the battles of life.
Somehow certain demons
are being put into the Lake of Fire, along with certain “False Prophets and
Beasts”, as we overcome (maybe not the final ones). Now the anointing of God takes hold of us and makes us
ministers of love and reconciliation to the dead and dying sea of
humanity. It’s called “the healing
of the nations” or Gentiles.
Chapter 22 is about ministry. We have new authority and we minister
the love and victory of God to all nations or Gentiles, or to put it another
way, those who do not have a covenant with God. There will not be any godless people in Heaven, so this must
relate to our authority to minister to the lost people now. After we have won through the power of
God, we are qualified to help others; we have authority over demons that hold
them captive. This idea is
evidenced in Isaiah 61. The first
part of the chapter deals with getting us free, and the later part deals with
us being ministers to help others get free.
Don’t be shaken when you see all Hell
breaking loose around you; I am in charge.
Trust Me, I love you,
Signed
Jesus