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Grace & Peace: Revelation #38

Douglas Wilson on

“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11)

“And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald” (Rev. 4:2–3).

When the heavens open and John is invited up, he says that he was immediately “in the spirit” (v. 2). This is the second time this has happened in the book—the first is when he received the initial vision of the Lord Jesus walking among the churches (Rev. 1:10). Here is the vision of the Lord Jesus enthroned in Heaven.

This vision is very similar to the vision that Ezekiel saw at the beginning of his book (Eze. 1:26-28). Here it says that the color of the one who sat on the throne was like jasper, which can be red, yellow, brown or green. Sardius (known to us as carnelian) is red in color. In Ezekiel, the one who sat on the throne was described as the color of amber in the midst of fire. Here in Revelation, there is a rainbow around the throne, but the rainbow is described as emerald green. In Ezekiel, it is simply described as a rainbow. Clearly John is functioning in an intertextual way, wanting us to think of Ezekiel’s vision while at the same time developing it. The bow is around the throne, and so we should think of it as having a halo effect.

The first color mentioned is the color of jasper, which was the last stone in the high priest’s breastplate (Ex. 28:20; Ex. 39:13). The second stone mentioned here is sardius, which is the first stone in that same breastplate (Ex. 28:17).

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Grace & Peace: Revelation #37

Douglas Wilson on

“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11)

“After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter” (Rev. 4:1).

The first three chapters of Revelation should be considered as preamble. John is setting the stage, describing the reasons for the revelation that is about to be made manifest. Remember that the entire book is going to be read to the Philadelphians, to the Laodiceans, to the Thyatirans, and so on. This revelation is going to land in their respective churches very differently. Those in Philadelphia are already overcomers, and so they are ready for what this book contains. Those in Laodicea are not ready, at least not apart from repentance. The truth is always constant, but it strikes different levels of inconstancy differently.

John looked and a door in the heavens opened up. He heard a voice that was described as “the first voice,” and the voice sounded like a trumpet talking. John is invited up into the heavens so that he might be shown the things which were to come “hereafter.” Given what has been said in the preamble, and from details of the revelation itself, we know that these events will be shortly hereafter. John was not being shown the distant future. When Daniel was shown the distant future, he was told to seal the words of the prophecy because the fulfilled events were still 4 centuries in the future. John is told not to seal what he sees, and it would be odd if the events were 20 centuries out and counting.

The other thing to note here is that we see the development of a “two-layer” structure for the remainder of the book. Those two layers are the history of Heaven and the history of earth. God is worshiped in Heaven, and dramatic things are accomplished on earth. God is glorified in Heaven, and God is glorified on earth. And this is how we pray—may Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.

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Grace & Peace: Revelation #36

Douglas Wilson on

“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11)

“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches” (Rev. 3:20–22).

Despite the fact that the church at Laodicea was in a wretched state, the Lord still offers to commune with any who will commune with Him. The invitation is famously stated as though the Lord were knocking at the door of someone’s heart, but there is no mention of a heart in this text at all. The door He is knocking on is the door of a church. If any of the Laodiceans hear His voice—which indicates that He is both knocking and calling—and comes to open the door, the Lord promises to come into “to him” and sup with him, and the table fellowship would be mutual. This is not a salvation text at all—it is a reformation text.

And despite the defeated condition of that particular church, a glorious prospect is held out. That defeated church might have overcomers contained within it. To anyone who overcomes, the Lord will invite him to be seated together with Christ in His throne. This is done according to the same logic that was applied when the Lord overcame in His trial, and was seated together with the Father in His throne. As that Father shared His throne with the Son, so the Son shares His throne with believers who overcome.

The same general invitation is given to them that is given to other churches—if a man has an ear, he should take care to listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. Here we should note the plural churches. What is said to each church is said—mutatis mutandis—to them all. We make adjustments in application in the different churches, but there is always some application.

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Grace & Peace: Revelation #35

Douglas Wilson on

“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11)

“I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent” (Rev. 3:18–19).

The church at Laodicea was spiritually poor, and the likely reason was that they were not poor at all when it came to material goods. Laodicea was a wealthy city—it was a center for banking, and also had a thriving wool and linen industry. They were also famous for a medical school, and for an eye ointment that was made there out of Phrygian powder.

The Roman historian Tacitus once wrote this about the city’s recovery from a major earthquake in 60 A.D.: “Laodicea arose from the ruins by the strength of her own resources, and with no help from us” (Annals, xiv.27). They were rich, and the church there was an apparent partaker of the general wealth. And this meant in turn that the Christians were tempted to provide a sort of pious echo of that pagan wealth instead of offering a true alternative to it.

And so the Lord challenges them to receive true riches in place of their shadow riches—but He makes a point to use images drawn from their shadow wealth. Buy refined gold from me, gold refined in the fire (banking). Buy white raiment to cover your nakedness (textiles). Anoint your eyes with a spiritual eye salve (medicine). For more on this background, see Storms and Beale.

There were some severe spiritual problems in the six other churches of Asia, but the Lord somehow finds something to commend with them. But not here. This church really was, from front to back, wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. And yet . . .

What is the Lord’s response to this wretchedness? He invites them to be zealous in repentance. And He invites them this way because, as He puts it, He loves them. Why did He rebuke and chasten them? “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.”

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Grace & Peace: Revelation #34

Douglas Wilson on

“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11)

“Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked” (Rev. 3:17).

The reason why the church at Laodicea was lukewarm was because when it came to riches, they were hot. In short, their wealth made them self-sufficient, and self-sufficiency is what lukewarmness in religion is. The reason the Lord would spew them out of His mouth is because they had said to themselves that they were “rich, and increased with good.” The end result of this was that they had “need of nothing,” which meant they had need of nothing from the Lord. If you don’t need anything, then you don’t need anything from Him.

This is the perennial temptation that comes with wealth, and Scripture warns of this constantly. The Israelites were warned as they came out of the wilderness—where God gave them water from the rock and bread from the sky—that they would be tempted to this self-sufficiency. “And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.” (Deut. 8:17). The rich fool looked out on his need for bigger barns with some complacency (Luke 12:18). Jesus says not to lay up treasure on earth, where moth and rust destroy (Matt. 6:19). And Paul tells the rich in this world not to trust in “uncertain riches” (1 Tim. 6:17). In short, the Laodiceans apparently thought that in their case riches would not do what riches always do.

And the apparent lack of need in one area covers over the desperate actual need in another. While they said they had “need of nothing,” what did they in fact need? There is only one thing worse than being wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked, and that is to be all five of those things and add to it the sixth misery of not knowing about it.

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