Part 1/8
Series: Revelation | Will the Church Be on the Right Side of History?
Read: Revelation 1
Read: Danial 10
Right around this time last year I was sitting in my office thinking through what we were going to teach in 2020 on our radio ministry. I already knew that we were going to be studying the Gospel of John because we had been on a four year cycle. I thought it would be interesting to look at all of the writings of the Apostle John, but that meant that we would have to study Revelation.
At the time, I wasn’t a pastor. So I thought I could get away with it by relying on other people to do the heavy lifting of teaching through the most challenging book in the New Testament. You can probably imagine the shock I felt the moment I realized that I would have to preach through Revelation when I took a pastorate in March.
In all reality, I’m excited to start studying the Book of Revelation. I’m sure I will grow from it and hopefully I can inspire others to get into this book, find some credible resources, and, ultimately, see God on a greater scale than they have seen Him before.
Making Sense of What Someone Else Saw
The Book of Revelation is a mixture of genres. First, Revelation is apocalyptic, meaning that it describes the end of the world using imagery and symbols to represent a complex reality that is beyond our comprehension. While all of the Bible should be taken literally, not everything that is described is literal. The first chapter gives us some insight into how this book should be read. The Holy Spirit is described as seven spirits. Obviously, this doesn’t mean that there are seven Holy Spirits. It’s a number that means complete and often refers to God as Holy and set apart. However, this letter was written to the seven churches in Asia, which also happen to be seven literal Churches. Some things are literal and some things are figurative. It takes a lot of time, patience, and imagination to figure out which is which.
Secondly, it is prophetic, which means that it is foretelling future events. There are many different ways to view the prophecies here, and scholars have disagreed about this since scholars started studying it. Here are the three major viewpoints. A preterist believes that all of the prophecies regarding judgment and destruction have already occurred in the timeline of the first century Church. A futurist believes that these events haven’t been fulfilled and will only be fulfilled in the end times. An idealist, and I promise that these are technical terms and I’m not just making them up, thinks that all of these pictures of destruction are metaphorical and cyclical, describing the Christian struggle throughout history. Those are just the big categories. Each one of them have sub-categories that lead into deeper sub-categories and it gets confusing really fast.
When I was studying for the ministry in my undergrad, I had to give a verbal defense of my faith to one of my professors in order to graduate. He could ask me about anything regarding theology or the Bible. At one point he asked me a question about eschatology. That is the theology of future events. I told him that I didn’t know, and it really bothered him. He kept pressing me and asking me why I didn’t know. So I told him, “I know what Ryrie, MacArthur, and Sproul believe. I just don’t know what I believe.” (Those were prominent Bible teachers at the time who were vocally dogmatic about their differing views of eschatology.) That didn’t satisfy my professor so he told me that he was going to talk with my pastor, who also happened to be a professor at the school. The next time I saw my pastor, he told me that he had spoken to the other professor. My stomach was in my throat, but my pastor’s face broke to a smile and he slapped me on the back and laughed, saying, “That’s the best answer I think I’ve ever heard about eschatology.”
I don’t share this story to give the impression that we should be glib about any school of theology, but there is a level of brevity we must bring to a subject where scholars have debated for centuries and, yet, can still respect each other as peers.
I’m not going to tell you what I think about the different views of Revelation, and I hope that by the end of this series you won’t be able to tell which view I hold. But I do hope that you will dream with the dreamers who saw the glory of heaven and learn to respect others who may see things differently.
Third, yes, I’m still working through a list here, Revelation is a letter, which means that it was written to real people in real Churches dealing with real cultural, sociological, and political issues. There was an actual context where this text applied to first century Christians, yet it also applies to us. We cannot see this as merely historical nor futuristic. The primary principles apply to us just as much as any other passage of Scripture.
Whatever conviction people hold about the Book of Revelation, one thing is insurmountably true: the Church has outlasted every institution that has tried to destroy it. Wherever there is persecution, the Church spreads. The victory always belongs to the LORD.
Things are Bad, But God Is Bigger
At the time that John was writing this letter the Church was facing a great deal of persecution. John was in exile on the island of Patmos for preaching the gospel. The Roman government was increasing in power, but more importantly, it was increasing in popularity. Statism was on the rise. Rome had provided stability, better trade, a good economy, a unified language, etc. People that were not supportive of Rome were looked on as being backward and out of touch. At the time, there was a cult forming that started to worship Caesar and call him their savior. Because Christians could not do this, they were being scrutinized. The scrutiny led to Christians being demonized and eventually made the scapegoat to all of the problems of their society. This inevitably led to their persecution. In other words, Christians were being labeled as being on the wrong side of history.
Christians had good reason to be concerned as the tide began to shift towards their disfavor. Their churches had stopped growing. In many cases they were in decline. They had been teaching that Jesus would soon return, but the passing of time brought doubt and discouragement. They were losing confidence in the power of God as they began to fear the government and trust in compromising alliances to preserve their way of life.
Some people like to define idolatry as anything that we love more than we love God. But it is better defined as anything feared or trusted in more than God. Fortunately, Revelation reminds us that God is on His throne. He is the one who is, who was, and who is to come. Despite what we might think, God is still present and in control. It might have looked like God was defeated when His One and One Son died on a cross, but that just shows the mysteries of God to use the worst possible scenarios to bring about the greatest good. So He will work with those who are being persecuted to serve as a kingdom of priests.
God is the Alpha and the Omega. The beginning and the end. If you look back at John’s writings, how does he start his Gospel? “In the Beginning was the Word…” This is clearly a nod to the open words of Genesis, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Then, how does John open his first letter to the Church? I John 1:1 says, “That which was from the beginning…” Now John starts his apocalyptic prophecy by saying that God is the Alpha and the Omega. He is the one who started everything and He will bring it to it’s final judgement and destruction before creating a new heaven and a new earth. But we are getting ahead of ourselves.
Fear, but Don’t Be Afraid
As John’s vision begins, he hears the voice of Jesus and when he turns to see Him he describes Jesus as something like a Son of Man. This is a connection to Daniel 10 and the vision of God. When John was writing his Gospel, he wanted people to understand the humanity and deity of Jesus, “These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31). John wants us to understand that this is like a human, but there is something else that the eye cannot quite see.
The way that Jesus is described is significant because it is all imagery of the character and qualities of Christ. He is described as wearing a long robe symbolizing that He is the high priest, trimming the wick on the seven candle stands. He has white hair and flaming eyes, signifying His wisdom and ability to see through to the truth of who we really are. He has blazing red feet of bronze. This likely describes his rule of power with fierce justice. His voice is like rushing water. This is not the still waters of the shepherd of the 23rd Psalm. These are words that demand our attention, lest we get swept away and over the falls to our own destruction.
All of these descriptions of Jesus are used in the Old Testament to describe God Himself. So when Jesus says that He is the Alpha and the Omega, we understand what John was trying to explain in His Gospel, Jesus is both God and Man.
Notice how John responds to seeing Jesus? He falls on His face as though dead. This is exactly how Daniel responded when He had a vision of God. We like to think that when we meet Jesus we will just walk up to Him and give Him a hug. But the reality is, anyone who has had the privilege of seeing a vision of Jesus in His glory has trembled.
John had spent years with Jesus. In fact, he describes himself as the one Jesus loved. They were close. John was now at the end of his long life, having served Jesus and the Church for decades. But when John saw his old friend, He responds with the same fear as anyone else would. This is the honor and glory that Christ deserves.
Whether your tendency is to fear the world or turn to it and appeal to this world’s power to fix your troubles, you need to see the Jesus that Revelation shows. He is the one who is worthy to be feared and trusted. He demonstrates it by showing us what He has done for us. He has died, and yet still lives. He is eternally God and man. And, notice, He holds the keys to death and hell. That is the one we ought to fear and trust. Through Him, and Him alone, we will conquer and be victorious.
Adam Miller is the president and host of Songtime Radio and serves as the pastor of South Chatham Community Church. This article is a condensed version of one of his sermons.