The Hope (3): What is Revealed?

By Chris Theobald    14th June 2002    0 responses

The New Jerusalem

The message of Revelation can be summed up by focusing on Revelation 12:7-12:

“And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down–that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.”

The essence is that Jesus fought and won a battle on the cross which forced evil down to earth, but Satan knows that God will soon call an end to time when he will be wiped out, which is why he is furious. The hope of Revelation comes in the end chapters when the new Jerusalem is revealed and the final victory is achieved.

The Seven Letters

However there remain some areas which are ‘scary’. Jesus says, “He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.” Revelation 3:5.

“If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.” Revelation 1:5.

This seems to mean that if people do not take notice of the instructions they are given about how to come into line with what Jesus wants they will cease to be among those listed in the book of life as citizens of the kingdom of God. This is only frightening for people who do not repent. We who are saved know Jesus as our Lord, saviour and friend. We cast our anxieties upon him because he cares for us (1 Peter 5:7) and “He was pierced for our transgressions” (Isaiah 53:5-6). We have come into a relationship with him and therefore can repent, but if we do not then sin becomes a barrier between God and us as it was before, if we reject what Jesus tells us to do we reject him. How many churches have any of us been to where the fire and life has gone? Does this provide the explanation?

Study of these letters may lead to the conclusion that Jesus is largely focusing on the immoral practices within the Church. It should be noted that “prostitution” in this context can also mean prostitution to sin in general not just sexual immorality. A person may sin in order to gain something in return e.g. pleasure; although we know that this is not true pleasure, that is only found in Christ who offers us a life free of sin. This interpretation also applies to the passage relating to the whore of Babylon later in the book.

The joy of what Jesus says to his church is found at the end of each letter; that “To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.” We will be given the right to eat of the tree which Adam and Eve ate of in Genesis 4 with God’s blessing; we “will not be hurt at all by the second death” (Rev 2:11) we have died once already to sin, the second death is only our human bodies and we will be given new bodies in heaven when we become like Jesus; Jesus “will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it.” (Rev 2:17) There was a legend that some of the manna eaten by the Israelites in the desert in Exodus was stored and hidden and it is this to which Jesus refers.

The final battle

The white stone was an entry ticket to events at the time, it was also a sign given in court to those found not guilty as a sign of their innocence. Jesus “ will give authority over the nations–’He will rule them with an iron sceptre; he will dash them to pieces like pottery’ — just as I have received authority from my Father. I will also give him the morning star.” (Rev 2:27-28) We will be given Jesus authority, it is worth noting that in the final battle we will be God’s army to finally defeat Satan; “The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.” (Rev 19:14 see also 19:15). Jesus “will never blot out [our] name[s] from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.” (see above for discussion).

“Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God” (Rev 3:12) Philadelphia was famous for the temple which was one of the wonders of the ancient world due to the number of pillars it had. God’s temple will be larger as we are the pillars, Christ being the cornerstone (1 Peter 2:6). “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent.” (Rev 3:19) Here we see the reason for these letters Jesus is not seeking to make us scared, out of love for us he is rebuking us so that we might be like him. “To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.” (Rev 3:21) We will be co-heirs with Christ, this is the hope that we have. This is the hope that we can share with others.

Revelation – a celebration of God’s love for us

I hope this series has been of help and interest. It is a bit of a whistle stop tour of Revelation (and at times most of the rest of the Bible) there are many more learned and detailed commentaries available, I personally have found that finding out about what the symbols means makes the book less scary and more a celebration of God’s love for us. I know many people get confused and worried about what this and other apocalypses mean, but remember Jesus tells us not to fear.

Have fun discussing Revelation, but remember that in looking for the needle in the haystack it is important to remember why we started looking for the needle in the first place. We must look for the hope and in doing so we must use our studies to glorify God and to learn more about him and his love for us, not just as a purely intellectual exercise (end of sermon).

God bless.

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By Chris Theobald

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