Christ Church

Grace & Peace: Revelation 85

Douglas Wilson on

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

“And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters” (Rev. 14:6–7).

We should first consider the fact that in this place the gospel is being proclaimed by a flying angel in the midst of the sky. We know from the record of Scripture that the gospel was fundamentally entrusted to the church, and not to angels (Matt. 28:18-20). But the fact that men are the ordinary preachers of gospel does not require the angels to be silent about it, as in this instance the angel isn’t. When Paul chides the Galatians for drifting away from the gospel, he says this: “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:8). The problem here was that it was a different gospel, and not the fact that it was preached by an angel. So ordinarily men are to preach the gospel, but this proclamation from the heavens fits in with what we are taught elsewhere.

We are coming to the climax of God’s wrath being poured out over Jerusalem, and Jesus had predicted this very thing before that destruction. “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come” (Matt. 24:14). This angel speaks to all nations—to “them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.” This is a sign that the demolition of Jerusalem is about to happen.

This angel preaches, it says, with a “loud voice.” What is the content of what he says? What is the shape of this everlasting gospel? What the angel says here fits in with what we are taught elsewhere. He says that men are to “fear God” (Luke 1:50; Luke 12:5). “But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him” (Acts 10:35). He says that men must “give glory to him” (Matt. 5:16; Matt. 9:8). “Insomuch that the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see: and they glorified the God of Israel” (Matt. 15:31). He says that “the hour of his judgment is come” (John 12:23, 31-32). “And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged” (John 16:8–11). And as we saw in the first chapters of Genesis, the God of the gospel is the God who made all things—whether “heaven, and earth, and the sea,” or “the fountains of waters.”

In short, what the angel declared in the preparation for Jerusalem’s destruction sounds very much like what the apostle Paul declared.

“God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead” (Acts 17:24–31).

Read Full Article

Grace & Peace: Revelation 79

Douglas Wilson on

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

“And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”
Revelation 12:13-17

Remember the theme of this entire book. God is in the process of divorcing the Old Jerusalem and preparing a bride for His Son in the New Jerusalem. This passage should be understood in the context of the build up to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.

The dragon, identified as Satan earlier, and also described in this same passage as a serpent, is furious with the woman who gave birth to the “man child.” The faithful remnant of Israel had brought forth the Messiah, and when the devil was thrown down to earth, he persecuted the Judean church. They had been prepared for this by the Lord’s solemn warning.

“When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains” (Matt. 24:15–16).

When the armies of Rome come, you are to go. And this is precisely what the Judean church did—seeking refuge in Pella in 66 A.D. She is there protected for three and a half years (a time, times, and half a time). A flood of wrath comes, but the earth absorbs it—as unbelieving Jewry absorbed the wrath that missed the Christians.

All of this is Exodus imagery—the believers who escaped from the demolition of Jerusalem were spared in just the same way that the Jews were delivered from Pharaoh. “Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself” (Ex. 19:4; cf. Dt.32:11-12). God took them out of Egypt on the wings of an eagle, and He brought these faithful Christians out of Judea on the wings of an eagle also. This also helps to identify the corrupt establishment in Jerusalem with Egypt itself. They had become the enemies of God. We saw this identification of Jerusalem with Egypt in the previous chapter, and here it continues. “And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified” (Rev. 11:8).

The dragon continued in its fury. Not able to kill the woman, he turns to make war on the remainder of her offspring (in this case, it is likely we are talking about the Gentile church). These are plainly identified as believers—they keep the commandments of God, and they have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

READ ALL GRACE & PEACE POSTS

Read Full Article

Grace & Peace: Revelation 78

Douglas Wilson on

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

“And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time”
Revelation 12:7-12

And there was war in Heaven. In the preceding verses, the woman who was to give birth had to flee from the dragon into the wilderness. I take vv. 7ff as a flashback, showing how that earlier circumstance had come about. The dragon had been in the heavenly places, but had now been thrown down. Having been thrown down, he continued his career of malice, pursuing the woman.

The reason this happened was that Michael the archangel (Jude 9) and his angels fought against the dragon (v. 7). Michael and his angels fought with the dragon and his angels, and as a result, there was no place remaining in Heaven for the dragon (v. 8). In the next verse, the dragon is identified—the old serpent, or the devil, or Satan, the deceiver of the entire world (v. 9). He was cast down to earth, and all of his angels together with him. This plainly identifies the devil of the New Testament with the serpent in the Garden.

Taking all of Scripture together, we learn that this “casting down” happened in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. “Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out” (John 12:31). This is why the next verse declares that “now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ” (v. 10). When the defender of sinners was vindicated on earth in the resurrection, the accuser of sinners was deposed in the heavens.

The meaning of the devil being cast down is that he is no longer able to accuse the brethren before God, as he would do both day and night. The accusing and prosecutorial nature of the devil is seen plainly in the Old Testament (Job 1-2; Zech. 3). And this ended in the cross. “And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it” (Col. 2:15).

“Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” (Heb. 2:14–15).

The resurrection of Jesus was the death of accusation in the heavenly places. The accusations in the presence of God are received no longer. This does not mean that the accusations have vanished, but they have been cast down to earth. And this means—if we are paying attention to the gospel message—we should embrace on earth what has been accomplished in Heaven. That is how we pray, is it not? We want to have God’s will done on earth as it has been done in Heaven.

So the faithful believers on earth have both a shield and a sword. They defend themselves, and they go out as overcomers. The shield is the blood of the Lamb (v. 11), able to withstand every accusation that an exiled devil can throw at them. Elsewhere in Scripture the shield is faith (Eph. 6:16), which means the flaming darts that the devil throws must be fiery doubts—given their heat by means of accusation. The fact that the devil has no more audience in Heaven with this kind of thing does not mean he never gains an audience here. But he can only do so by means of a lie.

The sword of the faithful believers is their word of witness and testimony, coupled with their willingness to die (v. 11). We are to defend ourselves from accusation by means of the blood of Christ, and we are to conquer the world by means of our testimony to the blood of Christ.

The call is given to the heavens, along with those who dwell there—rejoice that the devil is banished. There is a concurrent woe for the inhabitants of the earth and sea (v. 12). The devil has been thrown down, and is furious, and he knows he has a very short time to stamp out the infant church.

READ ALL GRACE & PEACE POSTS

Read Full Article

Grace & Peace: Revelation 77

Douglas Wilson on

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

“And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.”
Revelation 12:1-6

So a great sign or portent appears in the heavens. She represents the faithful remnant of Israel, she who was to give birth to the Christ, but who did so in travail and pain (Is. 26:17-21). We know she is Israel because of the dream given to Joseph—“And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me” (Gen. 37:9)—Joseph himself would have been the twelfth star. And there is clearly some sort of astrological significance to the fact that the woman (Virgo?) has the moon under her feet, the sun in her midriff, and a crown of stars on her head.

A second wonder appeared in the heavens. This was a great red dragon, identified as the devil or Satan a few verses down (v. 9). This dragon had the combined characteristics of all the beasts in Daniel’s vision, showing how each pagan empire was simply Satan in a new guise. This was no less true of Satan’s Roman period, during which he sought to devour the Child Christ through the agency of Herod the Great. The seven heads here also identifies him with the beast of Rome that appears in the next chapter.

Apparently Satan had drawn a third of the angels into his rebellion against God, dragging them down to earth with him. His intent was to devour the Christ as soon as he was born, but the attempt was unsuccessful. In this passage, the narrative jumps from Christ’s birth to His ascension. The fact that this child is Christ is confirmed by the fact that the child was destined to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. This was prophesied of the Messiah in the Old Testament (Ps. 2: 9), and is applied to Christ later in Revelation (Rev. 19:15), and to His shared rule with His saints earlier (Rev. 2:27). There is no reason to change the identification here.

Having given birth to the Messiah, faithful Israel fled to the wilderness where she was nourished and provided for by God for three and a half years.

READ ALL GRACE & PEACE POSTS

Read Full Article

Grace & Peace: Revelation 76

Douglas Wilson on

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

“And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned. And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail”
Revelation 11:15-19

And the seventh angel blew the seventh trumpet, and the signification of this trumpet blast is declared in heaven by “great voices.” It is fitting that the declaration that follows instantly evokes that great musical theme that Handel assigned to it in The Messiah—music indeed worthy of great voices. The seventh trumpet indicates the formal establishment of Daniel’s fifth kingdom, the rock that struck Nebuchadnezzar’s great statue on the feet, and which then grew to become a mountain that filled the entire earth.

The seventh trumpet indicates the formal inauguration of Christ’s reign on earth. Christ had ascended into the heavenly places forty years before, and had approached the Ancient of Days on the clouds of heaven (Dan. 7:13), where He was granted universal dominion. “And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed” (Dan. 7:14).

In order to function as Christ’s body on earth, we needed the Spirit to empower us.But in order for this heavenly kingdom to have its earthly reality made manifest, two great things had to happen. The first is that the Spirit had to be poured out on the church, so that we could do the work of the kingdom in the power and authority of Christ. In order to function as Christ’s body on earth, we needed the Spirit to empower us. The second thing that had to happen was the removal of the old Judaic Temple. Before the Christian faith could become the holy Temple of God on the earth, the old shadow had to be removed. Had it remained, it would have been too great a distraction. “In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away” (Heb. 8:13).

We saw back in chapter 4 that the twenty-four elders are representative of all God’s elect throughout history. They are the ones who fall on their faces and give glory to God. They worshiped the Almighty, the one who gathered great power to Himself in order to reign. The lament of the saints under the altar in chapter 6 is now heard. The nations were angry, but God’s wrath came upon them. This passage says that it was the “time of the dead,” which I do not take as the last judgment at the end of history. Rather, the lament of the saints had earlier asked how long God would delay His judgment, how long before He avenged their blood. The same word for judgment is used here—and this is the point where God gives His reward to His servants the prophets, and to the saints, and to those who feared His name, whether small or great. God would destroy those who destroyed the earth, and a new aeon, the Christian aeon, opened up.

The shadow Temple on earth was flattened so that the Temple in the heavens could be opened up to all mankind.The shadow Temple on earth was flattened so that the Temple in the heavens could be opened up to all mankind. “The temple of God was opened in heaven.” And just as the veil hiding the Ark of the Covenant was torn in two when Jesus died, so also the veil of the heavenly curtain was rent. The “ark of his testament” in the celestial realms was now seen. It is no longer hidden away. The mercy seat, the heavenly mercy seat, is no longer hidden in darkness for most of the year. The gospel of the new creation can be preached anytime, anywhere.

And to underscore and emphasize all of this, God italicized this great declaration, and He did it with lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.

READ ALL GRACE & PEACE POSTS

Read Full Article