Christ Church

Grace & Peace: Revelation 71

Ben Zornes on

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

“And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth. And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings” (Revelation 10:8–11).

John hears a voice from heaven again, which instructs him to go up to the angel who is straddling earth and sea. When he gets there, he is supposed to take the little open book from the hand of the great angel. And so John obediently approached the angel and said, “Give me the little book.” Given that the angel was immense, the fact that John could take the book and eat it means that it must have truly been tiny compared to the size of the angel.

What happens here is a precise parallel to what happened to Ezekiel. That ancient prophet was addressing the destruction of Jerusalem (also), as accomplished by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.

“Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest; eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll. And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness” (Eze. 3:1–3).

The bitterness that John experienced is mentioned a few verses later in Ezekiel.

“So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the Lord was strong upon me” (Eze. 3:14).

This combination of sweetness and bitterness means that a message of judgment must be both.This combination of sweetness and bitterness means that a message of judgment must be both. The sweetness lies in the vindication of God’s servants. The martyrs under the altar will have their prayer answered. The persecutors will be utterly thrown down. Justice will be done, and the saints of God will say hallelujah. The only time that word is used in the New Testament is some chapters ahead of us in Revelation, when the saints exult in the fact that the smoke of Babylon ascends forever and ever (Rev. 19:3). But at the same time, we remember (also from Ezekiel) that considered in isolation, God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Eze. 33:11). As a stand-alone reality, the stubborn willfulness of the rebel is a genuine tragedy. It is not a tragedy that God will allow them to use in order to emotionally blackmail those who do rejoice in the will of God, but it is a tragedy nonetheless.

The stubborn willfulness of the rebel is a genuine tragedy. It is not a tragedy that God will allow them to use in order to emotionally blackmail those who do rejoice in the will of God, but it is a tragedy nonetheless.We see in this passage that John is not just a simple observer. He is told that eating the book, tasting its sweetness, and having his stomach turned by the bitter results of the message, means that he, John, must prophesy again. This book eaten means that John is the prophet.

The book of Revelation continues as a condemnation of the city of Jerusalem, but we see here that the fall of the old system has ramifications for the whole world—the message is for “many peoples, nations, and tongues, and kings.” And this what the destruction of Jerusalem would facilitate—a gospel for the whole world.

Remember that the book of Revelation has three sets of seven. We have seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven bowls. There had been an interlude before the seventh seal was opened, and we are in the midst of a second interlude now, right before the blowing of the seventh trumpet. Before the hammer falls, there is a divine pause, the witnesses confirm their testimony, and then the judgment.

READ ALL GRACE & PEACE POSTS

Read Full Article

Grace & Peace: Revelation 70

Douglas Wilson on

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

“And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer: But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets” (Revelation 10:5–7).

We have identified this mighty angel with the Lord Jesus. He stands over the world, with His right foot on the sea and the other on the earth. He has the little book open in His hand. In this passage, He lifts up His hand to heaven in order to swear, in order to take an oath. This should resolve forever the question of whether it is lawful for believers to swear.

He swore in the name of the one who lives forever, the one who created heaven and everything in it, along with the earth and everything in it, and along with the sea and everything in it. That was the basis of His oath. What was the content of the oath?

He swore that there would be no more delay. The souls under the altar had been told to be patient for just a little while longer. They would have to be patient no more—the time has come. When the seventh angel sounds his trumpet, everything would be complete.

But what does that mean? There are two things expressed about this fulfillment. It is described as the “mystery of God,” and it was a mystery that had been declared beforehand to His servants the prophets. This gives us the content of the mystery plainly. Where the Scripture uses this phrase elsewhere, it is talking about the fashioning of one new kind of man—Christian—out of the old categories of Jew and Gentile.

“Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,” (Rom. 16:25).

“That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ” (Col. 2:2).

“How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel” (Eph. 3:3–6).

The mystery, given to the prophets down through the ages, but now unpacked and made manifest through the gospel, is that Gentiles are going to be made fellow heirs together with Jews.

The answer is that as long as the Temple in Jerusalem stood, there would be standing pressure for the Gentiles to become Jews as part of becoming Christian.This is all very well, but what does all that have to do with the seventh angel blowing his trumpet? The answer is that as long as the Temple in Jerusalem stood, there would be standing pressure for the Gentiles to become Jews as part of becoming Christian. This was the great controversy of the first generation in the church, and that controversy would continue as long as the Temple continued. The dominant identity of the church was going to be Jewish as long as the Temple remained.

When the seventh angel sounded, Jerusalem was done.

READ ALL GRACE & PEACE POSTS

Read Full Article

Grace & Peace: Revelation 69

Douglas Wilson on

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

“And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth, And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not” (Rev. 10:1–4).

Between the sounding of the sixth and seventh trumpet, we have an interlude—in the same way that we had an interlude between the opening of the sixth and seventh seals in chapter 7.

It appears that the “mighty angel” that descends at this point should be identified as the Lord Jesus Himself. Here are some of the reasons. His appearance is consistent with how the Lord is described earlier in Revelation—face shining like the sun (Rev. 1:16), feet like brass burning as in a furnace (Rev. 1:15), and the rainbow that is now around His head was earlier around His throne (Rev. 4:3). He is clothed with a cloud, and that is new, but the Lord does appear on a cloud later (Rev. 14:14). The one sound argument that this is not the Lord comes from the fact that it is not mentioned here that John worships him as he did earlier (Rev. 1:17).

He has one foot on the sea and the other on the earth, indicating His authority over the entire globe.The Lord was the only one who could open the sealed book earlier, and here the mighty angel holds a little book, one that is already open. He has one foot on the sea and the other on the earth, indicating His authority over the entire globe. It also may indicate that He is speaking to Jew and Gentile both—the Jews being the land and the Gentiles represented by the sea.

Another indication that this is the Lord can be found in the allusions to Psalm 29. The thunders are the result of the angel’s loud voice, indicating that this is the voice of the Lord. “The voice of the Lord is upon the waters: The God of glory thundereth: The Lord is upon many waters” (Psalm 29:3).

The opened book is little, small enough for John to eat. The contents of the book have largely been unsealed, with the events contained in it accomplished for the most part. But at the same time, John is told not to write down what the seven thunders said. This is an indication that some things revealed to John were not to be fulfilled until later—a time outside the scope of the book. While the bulk of what John saw was fulfilled in the first century, there was some reserved for later.

For example, John is told later not to seal up the book of his Revelation, because the time was upon them (Rev. 22:10). Centuries before, Daniel had been told to seal up the words because the fulfillment was a long way out (Dan. 12:4). It would be odd for Daniel to be told this, when the fulfillment was four centuries away, and John to be told the opposite when the fulfillment of his words were to be over 20 centuries away. But here, what the thunders said has been withheld from us.

READ ALL GRACE & PEACE POSTS

Read Full Article

Grace & Peace: Revelation 68

Douglas Wilson on

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

“And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts” (Rev. 9:20–21).

We sometimes like to imagine that the damned in Hell would gladly repent, if only given the ghost of a chance. But yet here we have a harbinger of Hell, a hell-on-earth, and though you might think that would be an inducement to repentance, it turns out that repentance is a gift of the sovereign God. There really is a mystery to lawlessness, rebellion that makes no sense whatever.

The survivors of the previous plagues should have taken the fierce reality of those plagues into account—but did not. Notice that it says that they refused to repent of the works of their own hands. They crafted their own sinfulness; it was handmade idolatry. This is another place in the New Testament where idolatry and devil worship go together. “But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils” (1 Cor. 10:20). Sacrificing to idols is sacrificing to demons, and sacrificing to demons is having koinonia-fellowship with demons.

The material that is used to fashion the idols can vary—gold, silver, brass, stone, or wood—but the immaterial substance being invoked is always the same, which is devilish and demonic. John tells us that those these idols are made from many different materials, but it does not matter. None of them are alive. They cannot see, hear, or walk. And because those who make them have become like unto them (Ps. 115:4-8), it follows that these idolaters cannot see, hear, or walk either.

The sinners will not let the sin go, and the sins will not let the sinners go.In what sense? They cannot see righteousness, they cannot hear righteous commands, and they cannot walk in righteousness. There is the idol in the material world, gold, silver, and so on. Then there is the spiritual idol behind the matter, which is the demon. And there is also the invisible idol in the idolaters’ hearts—the things they would have to surrender were they to repent. And these sins include murder, sorcery, fornication, and thievery. These heart sins are their “precious,” and they will not let them go. The sinners will not let the sin go, and the sins will not let the sinners go.

Remember that the bloodguilt of murder would include the bloodguilt of abortion, a sin common in the first century as it is in ours. The word for sorcery is pharmakia, from which we get the word pharmacy. The occultism here is related to drug use, and when drug use becomes rampant, occultism is never far behind. Fornication would include the same kind of corrupt desires that we celebrate on the Internet. And they governed their lives with thievery in their hearts, just as we do. And Scripture teaches that having your world collapse around you will not by itself bring repentance. In order for that to happen, the gift of God must be given (Acts 5:31; 2 Tim. 2:25).

READ ALL GRACE & PEACE POSTS

Read Full Article

Grace & Peace: Revelation 67

Douglas Wilson on

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

“And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt” (Rev. 9:16–19).

As mentioned earlier, the invading army consisted of “myriads of myriads,” symbolizing a staggering number. As happened earlier with the 144,000, John first heard the number and then he turned and saw. This is not simply a marching army of incredible size, but is a cavalry of mounted warriors. If taken literally, the number would be 200 million.

The cavalrymen were decked out colorfully—breastplates of fiery red, sapphire blue, and sulfur yellow. The horses were like nothing on earth, horses with lion heads. They breathed out fire, and smoke, and sulfur, a breath that had the power to kill a third part of all the men. The destructive breath of the horses appears to match the colors of their riders—fire red, blue smoke, and sulfur yellow. The horses had lion heads that breathed calamity, and their tails were headed serpents, with a venomous bite.

This is all connected to the sixth trumpet, the middle of the last three trumpets. We are not yet at the horrifying end of the Battle of Jerusalem. We are still in the build up to that climax.

READ ALL GRACE & PEACE POSTS

Read Full Article