In his book, Discover the Book
that God Wrote, Bill Bright writes about Anne Sullivan, introducing her
blind and deaf student Helen Keller the concept of God:
Using
a unique form of “finger language,” Anne began “spelling” words into the
child’s hand, and eventually Helen recognized the link between the words and
objects. Once Ann Sullivan had given
Helen the names of several physical objects, Miss Sullivan attempted to explain
the existence of God. She tapped out the
symbols for the name God.
Much
to Miss Sullivan’s surprise, Helen spelled back, “Thank you for telling me
God’s name, Teacher, for He has touched me many times before.” Even in her darkness, Helen Keller already
knew that God existed. With the help of
Anne Sullivan, the young blind girl had the ability to “see” and learn more
about who God is and what He does for us.[i]
Like
Helen Keller, each of us feels spiritually blind and deaf at times—like we know
inherently that God exists, but we need help understanding. We need God to take off our blindfolds, to
lift the veil so that we can know Him better.
2 Corinthians 4:4-5[ii] says that the Gospel is
veiled to those who are perishing. Satan
“has blinded the minds of the unbelieving
so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who
is the image of God.” While
unbelievers are blind to God’s glory and deaf to His voice, even believers can
be a bit impaired when it comes to experiencing the Lord. It’s like we’re wearing blindfolds and ear
muffs, that we need God to remove.
2 Corinthians 3:16-18 says, “…Whenever
a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where
the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face,
beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the
same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.” Yet the mirror that Paul refers to is still darkened, and
our image of Christ is a bit foggy at times (1 Corinthians 13:12). Yet there are times when God lifts the veil
completely, when God cleans our looking-glass and shows His glory the way that
it really is.
I
love the story where the prophet Elisha was beset by the soldiers of Aram. His servant went outside the tent one morning
to find them surrounded by enemies. In
fear, he cried out. But the prophet
could see something that his servant was unable to imagine. When Elisha prayed that God would remove the
veil from his servant’s eyes, the man saw horses and chariots of fire—the host
of heaven protecting them.[iii] Ordinarily we can’t see
this kind of thing, but every now and then, God lifts the veil.
Unveiling—this is what the book of
Revelation is all about. In fact,
embedded in the word revelation is
the word reveal—to lift the veil and
show what’s underneath. When a bride
walks down the aisle and her veil is lifted, everybody can see her beauty. Her loveliness is there all along, but it
remains hidden until the groom revealed her.
So too the church—the Bride of Christ—needs our Groom to lift the veil
so we see clearly and be clearly seen.
For
the next several weeks, we’ll be looking at an overview of the book of
Revelation, also known as the Apocalypse of St. John. This word apocalypse
has taken on a real negative meaning, evoking fear in those who hear it. People think that apocalypse means worldwide disaster, tragedy, and suffering. Movies depict the end of the world coming
through global warming and floods, super-volcanoes, mutated viruses, technology
run amok, and asteroids hitting the earth.
The term zombie apocalypse is
on everyone’s lips. Yet the word apocalypse simply means the same thing
as revelation—it means an unveiling
of God’s person and purpose in creation.
Apocalyptic
literature was a genre of Hebrew literature in biblical times. The book of Revelation is one example. Other examples of Old Testament apocalyptic
are found in the books of Daniel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Joel, and
Zechariah. In the New Testament, we find
apocalyptic literature in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and 2 Thessalonians 2. But before the Biblical books were canonized,
other apocalyptic books were also popular.
In that library we find books like Gabriel’s Revelation, The Apocalypse
of Elijah, and The Apocalypse of Thomas.
Canonical and non-canonical apocalyptic literature follows themes of
persecution and endurance, natural disaster and war, death and judgment, and
the Messiah ushering in God’s kingdom on earth.
Today,
there are so many different theories on the book of Revelation (we’ll restrict
our study to this book alone) that it is impossible to say which one is
correct. In a group of five Baptist
preachers, I recently took a poll and got six or seven different views. Some are preterists, who believe that
Revelation refers all or mostly to the situation in the Roman empire at the
time it was written and that it isn’t really about the end of days. Some are futurists, believing in a literal
unfolding of prophecy in the future.
Others who follow historicism believe that symbolically the narrative is
being fulfilled in the scope of all of the church’s history. Still others are idealists, seeing an ongoing
fulfillment in symbolic or allegorical ways.
Literalists
are divided as to the timeline of events found in the Bible’s apocalyptic
literature. Post-tribulational
premillennialism sees future events one way, while Pre-tribulational
(dispensational) millennialism views it another way. Then there are postmillennialists and
amillennialists, and people who have long ago given up trying to figure out the
timeline. Since there are so many good
Christians with so many views, I intend to take a different approach with this
study of Revelation. Instead of trying
to figure out a timeline of future events, I purpose to look at a few themes
within the book of Revelation, and ask three questions:
1.
What did it mean to
the first generation of Christians who received the Revelation?
2.
What does it mean in
my life today?
3.
What will it mean to
the last generation of Christians, before the return of Christ?
While it will be impossible
for me to not display my biases, the goal is to dispense with dispensationalism
or any other time-sensitive view and simply seek to understand what our
life-altering take-away might be from a study of this remarkable book. At the risk of oversimplification, we’ll
spend several weeks in Revelation, not digging too deeply into the details, but
learning to live its principles out in our lives.
Within the first five chapters
of the Book of Revelation, we read about several apocalypses, several unveilings, or revealings, or revelations of
Jesus. First, in 1:4-5, John says that
the book of Revelation isn’t from him alone, but also from “Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the
seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ.” This book is divinely inspired, and adds a
blessing for those who read and follow it (1:3), and a curse for those who adds
to or takes away from them (22:18-19).
Next, we find a promised
apocalypse, or unveiling, in 1:7, where Jesus promises to come in the
clouds. (We’ll talk more about that
later).
Then, in 1:9-20, Jesus unveils
His glory by appearing to John on the island of Patmos, who was “in the Spirit on the Lord’s day (1:10).” Instead of donning His earthly appearance as
the Carpenter from Nazareth, Jesus displays his divine glory in a way that
makes John fall to his feet like a dead man.
His hair is white and his eyes are flames of fire. Bronze feet glow like they’re in a furnace,
and his voice is like many waters. He
holds seven stars in his hand, and from his mouth comes a two-edged sword. Despite His unearthly appearance, Jesus tells
him not to be afraid, but to write everything he sees and hears. The rest of the book is a record of that
vision.
In chapters two and three, Jesus
continues to reveal Himself by personally writing messages to the seven
churches in Asia. In each of these
letters, Jesus greets them, reminds them who He is, gives some insights into
their personal lives, gives criticism if necessary, warns them of danger,
exhorts them, and gives them His promises and assurances.
Then in chapter four the scene
shifts to the throne room in Heaven, which reveals God seated on the throne,
surrounded by the heavenly court who praise His name. Chapter five peels back more of our
understanding of Jesus’ cosmic role as both the Lion of Judah and the Lamb of
God who offers Himself as our sacrifice.
He alone is worthy to open the book with seven seals. 5:10 reveals something about the future of
believers as well. Addressing the Lamb,
the heavenly court sings about the saints: “You have made them to be a kingdom
and priests to our God; and they
will reign upon the earth.”
Revelation’s
first five chapters are full of apocalypses, unveilings of God’s character and
humanity’s identity in Christ. To the
first generation of Christians who suffered persecution under Rome’s cruel
thumb, this strange book gave assurances that there’s more going on in the
heavenly realms than what we can imagine.
Spiritual realities that were actually “more real” than their physical
suffering promised that God was with them to see them through.
The take-home
for believers today is that just as He did in the past, God continues to reveal
Himself to the churches. God is still
speaking to each believer today, if we’ll listen to His voice and seek His
vision. Believers can still get a
glimpse of glory as we pray in the Spirit.
Of course, when God reveals Himself to us, it is often what we think of
as a personal apocalypse—in the more common usage of the world. We experience a real apocalypse—now. God’s revelations are often devastating. Like Isaiah, we often respond that we are
undone by our own sin in the face of His holiness. Our egos are devastated when we come face to
face with the Alpha and Omega. God’s
revelation changes everything.
The final
generation of believers that witnesses the veil’s last lifting will be
astounded as they see heaven and learn that it was all that they’d read about
in this great book of Revelation. If
there are those who are “left behind” after the Rapture (as some interpret
eschatological literature), then books like Revelation will reveal God’s
purposes and His plan of salvation to those who remain.
What a
marvelous book is this Apocalypse of John!
I look forward to the next few weeks with you, learning from God’s Word
and discovering what it has to say in our lives today. As we begin our journey, let us be reminded
of the blessing God gives to all who seek to understand this great book: ‘Blessed is he who reads and those who
hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it:
for the time is near[iv].’
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