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Loveless Orthodoxy
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The Text
“To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, ‘These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lamp stands: I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostle and are not, and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary. Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lamp stand from its place—unless you repent. But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.'” (Rev. 2:1-7)
Jesus Commends (vv. 2-3, 6)
- Works, labor, and patience
- Cannot bear those who are evil
- Have tested false apostles and found them liars
- Have persevered, for My name’s sake, and not become weary
- Hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate
Jesus Condemns (vv. 4-5)
- Left your first love
- Repent and do the first works
- Or I will remove your lamp stand
Jesus Rewards (v. 7)
- To him who overcomes, I give the tree of life to eat, in Paradise
Savior of the World #6
INTRODUCTION:
The gloomy old reprobate Ambrose Bierce said this about the book of Revelation: “A famous book in which St. John the Divine concealed all that he knew. The revealing is done by the commentators, who know nothing.” It is indeed unfortunate that we by our sloth have made a revelation into one of the most obscure books of the Bible. We have managed to veil a raised curtain.
THE TEXT:
“I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom . . .” (Rev. 1:9).
UNDERSTANDING REVELATION:
A question will arise—“Do you take this book literally?” Well, we are Christians, and this means we believe the Bible, all of it, as the Word of God Himself. But if the questioner means by “literally” what such folk usually mean, the answer is that we take parts of Revelation literally, which means that other portions cannot be taken that way. Most contemporary Christians reverse the order, but everyone takes some parts literally and other portions symbolically.
REVELATION LITERALLY:
First, we have literal guidelines. We hold that the book of Revelation, which the exception of the last three chapters, was fulfilled two thousand years ago. We take this position because we take certain dear statements in the book at face value. This position is called preterism.
First, this is something the book directly says: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place” (Rev. 1:1; cf. 1:3, 19; 22:6-7,12, 20).
Second, this is what the book indirectly says: In Dan 8:26, the prophet is told to seal up his prophecy because it is a long way off. The event proved it to be about four hundred years away. But John hears this—“And he said to me, ‘Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand’” (Rev. 22:10). What does this mean for us two thousand years later?
Third, this enables us to make sense of the prophecies in a way which fits them “literally,” and also dates the book. History happened a certain way, but for the creative, the future is always infinitely malleable.
Fourth, this means that the book was not meaningless to its original recipients, the saints of the seven churches of Asia. “Hey, Clement! Who is Saddam Hussein?” John says to his first readers, “Let him who has understanding . . .” (Rev. 13:18).
NERO CAESAR:
One of the reasons why we tend to be so confused about the book of Revelation is that we have drifted away from the classical education of earlier times. This kind of education provided, in some small measure, the kind of information which the residents of these cities had from their own “newspapers.”
Nero was an animalistic pervert. He kicked one of his pregnant wives to death. He murdered his mother. He set Christians on fire to serve as lamps for his dinner parties. He would dress up as a beast and rape both male and female prisoners. And he was the covenant head of Rome—that great Satan.
His was the number of a man—Latin, Greek and Hebrew all used letters for numerals. We use Roman letters and Arabic numerals, but they used the same set of symbols for both. If we did that, awould be 1, b would be 2, and so on. So for example, this would give abc a numerical value of 6. In Hebrew, using their numbering system, the name Neron Kesar adds up to 666. No need exists to “massage” the numbers. And if you take it as Nero Kesar, as a Greek mistakenly might, you get 616, one of the textual variants of the number in the manuscripts.
Then there is the line of emperors. The beast was the Roman Empire, a city seated on seven hills. But the seven heads of the beast had another signification. “There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come” (Rev. 17:9- 10). The first five Caesars were Julius, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, and Claudius. The sixth Caesar was Nero, who was reigning when Revelation was written. Five have fallen, and one is.
There is also the matter of the forty-two months—“And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months” (Rev. 13:5-7). Nero was the first Roman emperor to persecute the saints, and he did so from November 64 to June 68 . . . forty-two months.
Who was the blasphemer? Asia was the center of emperor worship, and it was where our seven churches were located. Nero most certainly received “great things and blasphemies.” He had an immense statue of himself in his palace, and received accolades such as “The Eternal One! Thou august! Sacred voice!” Nero was one of the great blasphemers of history.
We have many other reasons to identify Nero as a principal figure in this book. He was the head of the beast which is the focus of the wrath of our Lord Jesus Christ, the ruler of
the kings of the earth.
KINGS OF THE EARTH:
Nero provides us with a case study of what the Lord Jesus does when He wields the rod of iron. We are told that the kings of the earth will bring their honor and glory into the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:24). But why would they see it in this way when we do not see it in this way?
Why is the modern church no longer prophetic? There is only one alternative to civic megalomania. Those who will not have a Lord over the state are those who insist that the state is Lord. But we are Christians, and the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus (Rev. 19:10).
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Savior of the World #5
INTRODUCTION:
In this series of messages we have been presenting what is, for many, a very different way of looking at the Scriptures. We have been talking about historical optimism, as opposed to the rampant historical pessimism of the modem evangelical world. But we must be careful in using phrases like “way of looking at the Scriptures.” This refers to what is called our hermeneutic, which refers to the art of interpretation, and so we must take some time to consider this. The word comes from Hermes (otherwise known as Mercury), the god of messages. But he was also the god of thieves, which is why we need to be careful.
Now if we presuppose the biblical hermeneutic in order to come to the Bible, then have we really derived it from Scripture? And if we come to the Bible without a hermeneutic in order to learn what our hermeneutic should be, then how can we learn anything? This applies to more things than eschatology, but it certainly applies there.
UNDERSTANDING SCRIPTURE:
We must understand the nature of words, the nature of communication: Words are never spoken into a void. All communication presupposes at least a speaker, a message, and a recipient. Communication needs these three elements as a bare minimum. If you assume communication, you are assuming these three things. And without a hermeneutic a man is as deaf as a post.
The Word of God is not spoken into the Void. The Bible is the Word of the self-revealing triune God, who thereby reveals Himself to man. The Bible is not the Word of God suspended in the sky. It is the Word of God to man. Thus we have the three dements necessary to communication—the speaker is God, the message is the Word, the recipient is man. And man, in order to “hear,” must have a built-in hermeneutic, given to him by God. As Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Matt. 11:15). Logocentric discourse is therefore inescapable—God, in giving us language, has seen to it.
HERMENEUTICAL DISCIPLES:
So our pattern should be that of allowing the New Testament to provide commentary on what passages in the Old Testament mean. We have the basic hermeneutic already, which is then refined and sanctified as we calibrate it according to Scripture.
For the apostles not only teach us about Jesus. For example, the apostles also teach us about particular passages, as in Deuteronomy, say.
Because our subject is historical optimism, we will be looking at places which deal with this subject, but the process should govern all our studies. Allow the New Testament to
teach you the Old Testament. The Bible teaches Bible—and so let us consider here Psalms, Deuteronomy, and Isaiah.
Psalm 2—The second psalm is quoted in multiple places in the New Testament (Acts4:25-26; Heb. 1:5; 5:5; Acts 13*33; Rev. 227; 19:15). The psalm has twelve verses. The first two are quoted in Acts 4 and applied to the crucifixion. God’s response is one of laughter. He then declares Himself concerning His Son. Verse 7 is quoted three times in the New Testament, and in each instance, the reference is to Christ’s becoming something after His completed work. Acts13:33 makes this explicit in the resurrection. In verse8, right after the resurrection, Christ is given the nations. The next verse (9) is quoted at least twice in Revelation; the first time Christ shares His authority with those believers who overcome, and the second time it is applied to Christ alone. The psalm concludes with an appeal to the kings of the earth to make their peace with the Christ.
Isaiah—the great vision of glory and peace is given in Isaiah, and we know it well. The lion will lie down with the lamb. But when will this happen? Let the New Testament tell us. “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, Who shall stand as a banner to the people; for the Gentiles shall seek Him, and His resting place shall be glorious” (Is. 11:9-10). Notice how Paul quotes this passage in Romans 15:12. “Now I say that Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers, and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy, as it is written . . . And again, Isaiah says: ‘There shall be a root of Jesse; and He who shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, in Him the Gentiles shall hope’” (Rom. 15:8-9, 12). Simply put, Paul tells us that Isaiah’s vision began to come to fruition in his day, in his mission to the Gentiles.
Deuteronomy—Through Moses God promises the people of Israel a prophet like Moses. This is quoted by Stephen in Acts 7:37 and applied to Christ. Acts 322-23 makes the same identification, but with more information. “Jesus Christ . . . whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. For Moses truly said to the fathers, The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you. And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people. Yes, and all the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days. You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities” (Acts 3:19-26)
The psalmist again—Psalm 110 is also quoted many times in the New Testament (Matt: 22:44; Mk 1236; Lk 20:42-43; Acts 2:34-35; Heb. 1:13; 5:6; 7:17, 21). The psalm ends with Christ crushing the rulers of the whole earth. But how is this to be done? In the gospels Christ quotes the psalm to show that David’s Lord is also David’s son. But in Acts2:33-35, the passage is applied to the present reign of Christ at the right hand of the
Father. The rest of the quotations refer to Him as both prince and priest in terms of a present reality. This means that He will remain at God’s right hand until His gospel work is accomplished.
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The Meaning of Gift