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POSTED 05 NOVEMBER, 2007
The Message of Revelation
by
J.K. McKee
editor@tnnonline.net
Over the past few years as I have
witnessed my skills as a Bible teacher
improve—particularly my engagement with not only
the Biblical languages of Hebrew and Greek, but
also engagement with secondary and tertiary
resources—I have found myself become
increasingly nervous, if not perturbed, when
people use the word “revelation.” There are many
people who teach from the Scriptures, either in
the Christian or Messianic world, who
seldom engage with the Biblical text they intend
to teach. Rather than allowing the Holy Spirit
to prepare them, mold them, and guide them to
the resources and with the tools such people
need to be adequately prepared—such people
instead may rely on “revelation.” (This is
particularly true of those from Pentecostal
and/or charismatic backgrounds.)
Certainly, each one of us
(especially teachers) should have committed
enough of God’s Word to our hearts that should
we be forced to speak up—without having prepared
anything—we will be able to speak the truth and
voice an opinion (1 Peter 3:15). Yet, it is
often when we come to those difficult parts of
the Bible where spur-of-the-moment “revelation,”
whatever that may be, will often always
come up short. Some of us have to be willing to
say, “Let me get back with you on that,” and
then return to the office and crack open some
books. While we should certainly all be open to
God’s Spirit to show us new things, “revelation”
can sometimes be a very poor excuse for
performing adequate exegesis. Sometimes, pawning
things off on the Holy Spirit is an excuse for
nothing less than laziness.
Over the past ten to eleven years
(1996-2007), I have witnessed a great deal of
such “revelation” in the Messianic community
concerning the very Biblical book that bears
this name. Sometimes when a new wave of Middle
East peace negotiations would take place, I
would witness new, and sometimes contradicting
interpretations of the Book of Revelation. While
I would be forced to deal with a new point of
view, and in some cases be given a few things to
consider that I had never heard before, I more
than often witnessed people taking parts of
the text of Revelation and then force-feeding a
prophetic interpretation that may not have a
substantial basis when other parts of the book
were considered. Some of these interpretations
were “here today, gone tomorrow,” and fluctuated
with the ever-changing flow of global politics.
In the Book of Revelation, the
text begins with John in exile on Patmos
(Revelation 1:9) and ends in God’s redeemed
Creation (Revelation 22:3). Throughout the text
of Revelation one sees a great deal of imagery
relating to God’s judgment dispensed via seals
(Revelation 6:1-17; 8:1-5), trumpets (Revelation
8:6-9:21; 11:13-19), and bowls or vials
(Revelation 16:1-21). One sees references to
144,00 sealed servants (Revelation 7:1-8;
14:1-5), two witnesses (Revelation 11:1-14), a
beast coming out of the sea (Revelation
13:1-10), and something referred to as Babylon
(Revelation 17:1-18:21). There are many
different opinions regarding what these things
are, or represent.
Anyone who has been subjected to
some of the “pop” prophecy teachings of the past
twenty years is no doubt aware that there are
many interpretations available regarding the
Book of Revelation. All one needs to do is go to a
Bible bookstore’s prophecy section and there
will be timeline charts available on the Book of
Revelation. Each teacher who claims to
specialize in “prophecy” often has his or her
own chart as well. Each chart—be it pre, mid, or
post-tribulational—will place these judgments in
a particular order, and may even have these
judgments approximated by when they will take
place in accord with Daniel’s Seventieth Week
(cf. Daniel 9). Furthermore, some of these
charts may even have a date on them such as 20XX
for the Second Coming of Yeshua the Messiah.
While judgments, beasts, and
God’s wrath are certainly major themes of the
Book of Revelation, why is it that Revelation
chs. 6-18 are what often get most of the
attention? Certainly, is it not true that
Revelation chs. 1-5 and chs. 19-21 are also
important? Why does it seem that those who
address prophecy are often more concerned
with God’s vengeful judgment upon Planet Earth
during a rather short period of time, and the
identity of the antimessiah/antichrist, then
things such as Yeshua’s revelation to John
(Revelation 1:4-19; 4:1-5:14), the actual return
of the Messiah to Planet Earth (Revelation
19:1-21), the reality of eternal punishment upon
sinners (Revelation 20:11-15), and the glories
of the eschaton (Revelation 21:1-22:9)?
One of the most pertinent
questions that I believe each person who studies
prophecy needs to answer is: Is God more
concerned with the Forces of Darkness than the
Forces of Light? Many people, whether they
are aware of it or not, often answer “yes” to
this question! These are the individuals whose
examination of prophetic Scriptures are often so
focused on trying to figure out the timing of
the Second Coming complete with Date X, the
exact order of the seal or bowl judgments, and
how current political regimes play into these
prophecies—that they forget what God’s primary
mission actually is. Somehow, whether they are
consciously aware of it, such people believe
that God’s primary mission is to see the rise of
a worldwide beast system on Earth (Revelation
12:12-13)—because whenever “prophecy” is
discussed, that seems to be all that is
discussed.
No one should deny the stark
realities of the Book of Revelation, and the
evil that is going to be present when the
Tribulation period comes. A world government and
world dictator are going to arise. But I would
dare say that these are only side effects or a
poor Satanic imitation of what God actually
wants. God’s primary mission is not to allow
Satan to control the Earth for a short season.
God’s primary mission is to see individuals
reconciled to Himself through His Son, Yeshua
the Messiah, and His corporate people fully
restored. God wants His people empowered to
perform mighty tasks so that all might come to a
knowledge of Him. This theme is not something
hidden in the Book of Revelation, nor should it
be something difficult for us to understand:
“At once I was in the Spirit, and
there before me was a throne in heaven with
someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there
had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A
rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the
throne. Surrounding the throne were twenty-four
other thrones, and seated on them were
twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white
and had crowns of gold on their heads. From the
throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and
peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps
were blazing. These are the seven spirits of
God” (Revelation 4:2-5).
Yeshua’s apokalupsis to
John is one where He is revealed to him in all
of His majestic glory at the right hand of the
Father. Sitting around the throne are creatures,
continually saying “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come”
(Revelation 4:8). The elders sitting around the
throne “lay their crowns before the throne and
say: You are worthy, our Lord and God, to
receive glory and honor and power, for you
created all things, and by your will they were
created and have their being” (Revelation
4:10-11). I believe that when John is called
into Heaven by the Lord (Revelation 4:1), he was
actually taken from the First Century into the
distant future where God’s judgment of the
wicked and vindication of the righteous have
already occurred. When John is shown Yeshua in
His total supremacy, I believe it is no
different than how the Book of Revelation ends,
with the New Jerusalem coming down to Earth:
“No longer will there be any
curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be
in the city, and his servants will serve him.
They will see his face, and his name will be on
their foreheads. There will be no more night.
They will not need the light of a lamp or the
light of the sun, for the Lord God will give
them light. And they will reign for ever and
ever” (Revelation 22:3-5).
The Lord certainly desires all
people to spend eternity with Him in this
wonderful place. It is by no coincidence that
just as the Holy of Holies was originally to be
a perfect cube (Exodus 26:2-8; 1 Kings 6:20), so
is the New Jerusalem also a perfect cube
(Revelation 21:16). Indeed, the New Jerusalem is
intended to be the greatest expansion of
the Holy of Holies. But rather than simple
memorials such as the Ark of the Covenant being
present—God Himself will be there.
The challenge of understanding the principal
message of Revelation is that it does not
involve the rise of the beast system or God’s
final judgment on humanity. The principal
message of Revelation is seeing God’s plan for
the ages finally realized. The Messiah is going
to return. Israel is going to be restored. The
righteous from all ages and generations are
going to be given resurrected bodies and are
going to be rewarded for their faithfulness. We
get to return to the paradise that God
originally gave Adam and Eve. We get to see our
Lord in all of His magnificence reigning over a
universe that is truly “good”[1]!
In order to see these things, we
have to understand the imperative of the Book of
Revelation: “The Spirit and the bride say,
‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’
Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever
wishes, let him take the free gift of the water
of life” (Revelation 22:17). The Holy Spirit
within us today should empower us to fulfill the
Divine mission that God has assigned us. As the
Lord calls people to Himself, He often has to
use us as human vessels to accomplish this. Let
us also not forget that Yeshua taught, “this
gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the
whole world as a testimony to all nations, and
then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14). While
we can assert that this concerns the prophesied
restoration of all Israel—God’s Kingdom goes
beyond Israel and extends into eternity.
Understanding the true message of
the Book of Revelation—its depiction of Yeshua
sitting upon His throne, its encouraging word of
Divine vindication over evil, and ultimately the
blessings and profundities of the future
eschaton where there will be no sin, disease,
pain, or suffering—is something that is often
missed today, even in our Messianic movement. In
a movement where we should strive to truly see
the big picture, and understand that our mission
to see others come to faith in Yeshua is by
no means inconsistent with God commissioning
Ancient Israel to be a testimony of His
goodness, we often fall far short. Instead, we
often suffer from a “nuggets theology,” where
teachers compete to have the latest, greatest,
so-called “revelation” that is often devoid of
any serious examination with the big issues. Too
much new “revelation” concerns the Book of
Revelation, and it almost always avoids the
principal thrust of Yeshua’s revealing to John:
“Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who
keeps the words of the prophecy in this book”
(Revelation 22:7).
That “prophecy,” while certainly
involving a message of the future, also had a
message for those living in the late First and
early Second Centuries who first received
Revelation, and should have relevancy for all
generations of Believers—regardless of
whether we are in the Last Days or not. The
Prophets of the Tanach were raised up by the
Lord to call the people back to Him and back to
obedience. The prophetic message of Revelation
should likewise do the same. Revelation
should have relevancy for us beyond what
it says about the Tribulation period,
antimessiah/antichrist, false prophet, or the
fall of Babylon. The prophetic message of
Revelation should cause us to wonder if we truly
remember that God is most concerned about His
people, and that all would come to a
knowledge of the salvation He has provided in
Yeshua.
The next time you hear the
“latest” interpretation of the Book of
Revelation, ask the teacher if he or she truly
understands the message of Revelation. Is the
teacher concerned that all being taught spend
eternity with the Lord in that “Holy of Holies”
New Jerusalem? Or is the teacher claiming a new
“revelation” that may not take into
consideration God’s prerogatives for His people?
These are valid questions for us to consider.
I believe that when we can
finally understand the most important parts of
Revelation—that we will be ready as His people
to see all of Revelation finally come to
pass. Until that time is upon us, we have much
work to do.
J.K. McKee (B.A., University of Oklahoma; M.A.
Student, Asbury Theological Seminary) is the
editor of TNN Online (www.tnnonline.net) and is
a Messianic apologist. He is author of several
books, including: The New Testament Validates
Torah, Torah In the Balance, Volume I, and
When Will the Messiah Return?. He has also
written many articles on the Two Houses of
Israel and Biblical theology, and is presently
focusing on Messianic commentaries on various
books of the Bible.
NOTES
[1]
Cf. Genesis 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31.
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