Reflections on Revelation #4 The One Who Promises
Reflections on Revelation #4 The One
Who Promises
There are great and precious promises made
to believers who overcome Satan’s schemes (2 Peter 1:4). We considered the rewards Jesus gives to His
faithful, for those who endure the rough, intense, and catastrophic times of
the End. The rewards include a resurrection from the dead, being publicly
acknowledged for your faithfulness, no longer will you be despised and
rejected, instead a crown of victory will be placed upon your head, you will
march in the parade of triumph. You will
be granted special privileges because of your service. There is a new name and a new identity
bestowed upon you. You will share in
Christ’s authority, that victory over sin, death, and evil. You will be given a permanent place of prestige
in the Kingdom, God Himself will confer honor upon you, and you will look upon
His face and know Him. This is eternal
life, eating the fruit from the Tree of Life, consuming the hidden manna that
nourishes the soul. Every tear, sorrow,
and pain, is swallowed up in the experience of God making all things new.
We have decided that Revelation reveals to
us the One who grants these rewards to all those who have bent their knee to
His Lordship. Careful consideration of
the revealed one gives us confidence that what has been promised will be
received.
Revelation 1:1 reveals that Jesus is the
Christ, the Messiah, God’s anointed. He is faithful and true (Revelation 19:11)
there is no deception in Him, no secret motives, no subtle manipulations. What Jesus says you can bank on.
Revelation 1:5 reveals that Jesus is the
Father’s faithful witness, testifying to Divine Truth, and because of that
faithfulness is the firstborn from the Dead, the leader in the resurrection.
Unbeknownst to the world, Jesus is the ruler of the Kings of the earth. He is Lord of lords and King of kings
(Revelation 17:14, 19:16). He leads His faithful into victory after victory.
Thus He is the guarantor of the rewards He will bestow.
John reveals Jesus as the son of Man, the
living one, the one who holds congregations in His hand, intimately aware of
what is happening in the lives of His faithful (Revelation 1:18, 1:13,
2:1). Jesus is with you in the storms of
life, He is not unaware of your struggle, he is the giver of the hidden manna
that will sustain you through. Jesus is for you, empowering you to endure.
Jesus is the speaker of undeniable truth
(Revelation 2:12) for He is the Son of God (Revelation 2:18). As such Revelation 3:7 declares that He is
holy and true, holding the keys to the Kingdom of God. He is the Word of God (Revelation 19:13). His word is reality and one day everyone will
submit to it. What He has said will come to pass.
Revelation declares that Jesus is the Amen
(Revelation 3:14) which tells us that He is the ultimate affirmation of truth,
the fulfillment of God's promises, the authoritative voice of divine will, and
the embodiment of reliability and steadfastness. If Jesus promises you a reward for your
service, a reward is coming.
At the start and the finish of the letter,
Revelation 1:8 and 22:13, Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega. Revelation 1:17 and
22:13, the first and the last. This speaks of Jesus' eternal existence and His
all-encompassing presence through all time and creation accomplishing the will
of the One He calls Father. Jesus has ultimate authority. Jesus has pronounced blessings upon the faithful
and He has the power to fulfill His promises to you.
When John, the beloved Apostle, the one out
of the 12 who shared the closest relationship to Jesus, sees his Lord in glory,
he falls dead at His feet (Revelation 1:18). Seeing Jesus took his breath
away. Everything came to a standstill
including a beating heart. That’s how awesome
Jesus is. Never should we allow Jesus to become so familiar that we lose our
sense of deference to Him. The more intimately we come to know Him the more
tremendous we realize He is.
There is another title we must consider for
this One who has given us these promises, and that title is used 20 times in
Revelation. Jesus is the Lamb. (Revelation
5:6, 5:8, 5:12, 5:13, 6:1, 7:17, 12:11, 13:8, 14:1, 14:4, 14:10, 15:3, 17:14,
19:7, 19:9, 21:14, 21:22, 21:23, 22:1, 22:3).
No one can be found to worthy to open the scroll of destiny, the world
is doomed to unrelenting repetitive cycles of pain and suffering, it breaks
John’s heart. Then one of the Elders says: “Don't weep. Look—the Lion from Tribe
Judah, the Root of David's Tree, has conquered. He can open the scroll… (Revelation
5:5 (MSG). All of heaven breaks out in
praise. John looks again and sees a Lamb that looks like it has been
slaughtered, neck slashed, but standing tall (Revelation 5:6). A Lamb
slaughtered but very much alive, Jesus. The Lion is the Lamb.
Isaiah 53:1-12 (MSG)
Who believes what we've heard and
seen? Who would have thought God's saving power would look like this? The
servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling, a scrubby plant in a parched
field. There was nothing attractive about him, nothing to cause us to take a
second look. He was looked down on and passed over, a man who suffered, who
knew pain firsthand. One look at him and people turned away. We looked down on
him, thought he was scum. But the fact is, it was our pains he
carried— our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us. We thought he
brought it on himself, that God was punishing him for his own
failures. But it was our sins that did that to him, that ripped and tore
and crushed him—our sins! He took the punishment, and that made us
whole. Through his bruises we get healed. We're all like sheep who've
wandered off and gotten lost. We've all done our own thing, gone our own way.
And God has piled all our sins, everything we've done wrong, on him, on
him. He was beaten, he was tortured, but he didn't say a word. Like a lamb
taken to be slaughtered and like a sheep being sheared, he took it all in
silence. Justice miscarried, and he was led off— and did anyone really
know what was happening? He died without a thought for his own welfare, beaten
bloody for the sins of my people. They buried him with the wicked, threw
him in a grave with a rich man, Even though he'd never hurt a soul or said one
word that wasn't true. Still, it's what God had in mind all along, to crush him
with pain. The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin so that
he'd see life come from it—life, life, and more life. And God's plan will
deeply prosper through him. Out of that terrible travail of soul, he'll
see that it's worth it and be glad he did it. Through what he experienced, my
righteous one, my servant, will make many "righteous ones," as he
himself carries the burden of their sins. Therefore I'll reward him
extravagantly— the best of everything, the highest honors— Because he looked
death in the face and didn't flinch, because he embraced the company of the
lowest. He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many, he took up the cause
of all the black sheep.
Philippines 2:9-11 (MSG)
Because of that obedience, God lifted him
high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, so that all created
beings in heaven and on earth—even those long ago dead and buried—will bow in
worship before this Jesus Christ, and call out in praise that he is the
Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father.
Jesus is the Lamb who wins the Lion’s'share
of the victory. Because He has already won, Jesus bestows rewards for your faithful
service, even now. Still, there will be
times in your life when you will find it necessary to mediate on these
revelations of Jesus to get you through. In the thick of it, we need to remind
ourselves of who Jesus is, for in remembrance of Him we find strength to
endure.
There is no doubt that Revelation is written
to encourage believers in rough, intense, and catastrophic times. The seals are those rough times, the trumpets
are intense times, and the bowls are catastrophic times. History confirms that
Christians experienced social ostracism and economic hardship because they
refused to participate in pagan rituals and the worship of Roman gods. Some believers were imprisoned, and others
had their property confiscated all to pressure them to renounce their
faith. Beatings, torture, and execution,
most notably execution by crucifixion, being thrown in the arena with lions,
and burning at the stake were not unheard of.
In addition, some Christ followers were forced to fight in the Colosseum
for public entertainment. John was
banished and exiled to the island of Patmos.
If you refused to participate in the imperial cult, worshiping the Roman
Emperor as a deity you could be charged with treason. These persecutions varied in their intensity,
their frequency, and their location, but they were a reality for those who had
bent their knee to the Lordship of Christ.
To endure you need to know in whom you have
believed.
2 Timothy 1:11-12 (MSG)
This is the Message I've been set apart to
proclaim as preacher, emissary, and teacher. It's also the cause of all this
trouble I'm in. But I have no regrets. I couldn't be more sure of my ground—the
One I've trusted in can take care of what he's trusted me to do right to the
end.
In perilously times we need to be sure that
Jesus is with us.
Here in these United States, we declare that
all people are endowed by the Creator with certain unalienable rights. The USA was known as a Christian nation, one
nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Our laws were an
expression of Kingdom morality. Christianity
was respected if not adhered to. Most people attended Church, granted it was
the social thing to do, still people were familiar with what the Good Book
said. But today, well into the 21st
century, things have dramatically changed.
Christians are no longer looked upon as favorable by the dominant
culture. We should note, a Babylonian culture. Vocal believers can face rough,
intense, and possibly catastrophic times when they express their faith and
refuse to recant. Recall Revelation 11:3 in which we read about the two
witnesses of God. We said that these two
witnesses are a symbolic representation of the Church, those who bear witness
to God’s truth by their words and actions. The witnesses are God’s ambassadors,
the exact description the Apostle Paul used to remind believers of their high
calling:
2 Corinthians 5:20 (NIV)
We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as
though God were making his appeal through us.
“God uses us to persuade men and women to
drop their differences and enter into God's work of making things right …” (2
Corinthians 5:20 (MSG). It is in the
carrying out of this duty that we can encounter persecution for our faith. It
is in such times that we must remember who it is that we have pledged our life
to and the power and authority that is His, power and authority to be the Lamb
that wins the Lions share of the victory.
There is another source for rough, intense,
and catastrophic times, we have an enemy.
The Dragon, who empowers the Beast and Babylon, is no friend of
believers.
Ephesians 6:10-12 (MSG)
God is strong, and he wants you strong. So
take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best
materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything
the Devil throws your way. This is no afternoon athletic contest that we'll
walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a
life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.
We may be thrust into difficult, impossible,
or chaotic times because we are in the midst of a war. “Be prepared. You're up against far more than
you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has
issued, so that when it's all over but the shouting you'll still be on your
feet” (Ephesians 6:13 (MSG).
Expect things to be difficult, when they are
not, you need to celebrate. Bad things
do happen to good people, when they do you need to remember what Jesus
experienced and the resurrection that awaited Him.
James 4:7 (NIV)
Submit yourselves, then, to God.
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
It is only through faithful obedience that
comes from contemplating who Jesus is what He has done, and what He promises
that you find that hidden manna you need to nourish you throughout the
spiritual battles which seek to destroy your faith. Look away from the problems
and look to the overcomer of problems and the Devil will flee. As you draw near
to Christ, there is no place for Satan to hide in the shadows.
Hard times can be thrust upon you because
you live in an anti-Christ culture and you’ve taken a stand for your savior,
your liberator, and you refuse to back down.
You can find yourself amid horrendous times because of the spiritual
warfare being waged against you. There
is one more enemy, an enemy within, a traitorous saboteur, called egoism. The
Apostle Paul called egoism the sinful nature, the self-centered upon the self
that urges you to do what you want, when you want, to whom you want, regardless
of the consequences instead of submitting to the Lordship of Christ (Galatians
5:17-25). Egoism’s power to sabotage
your best intentions can also be rectified by considering who Jesus is. You know that He obeyed the One He called
Father in all things, enduring misunderstanding, persecution, and even
execution. He cared more about His mission, His calling, His representation of
His Father, more than His own welfare.
His heart was right, there was no saboteur within. You can break the power of egoism (Charles
Wesley, O For A Thousand Tongues to Sing). Recognize that you need what Jesus
has, an intent to love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and
your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22: 37-39). Count the cost of dying to
yourself, and then ask God to change the intent, the motivation, and the
desires of your heart to be like Jesus.
The promises of Jesus are for those who
defeat the outer enemy, Babylon and its Beast (1 John 2:15). You will be triumphant with Christ when you
conquer the inner foe, egoism, that sinful nature (Galatians 5:17, 1 Peter
2:11, Ezekiel 36:26). You will share in Jesus’s glory when you defeat that
stubborn adversary, Satan, the Dragon (James 4:7, Revelation 12:11). When you meditate, contemplate, and focus
on who Jesus is, you will find the power you need to endure the rough, intense,
and catastrophic times.
Hebrews 10:23 (NIV)
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we
profess, for he who promised is faithful.
One more title for Jesus. Jesus is revealed to us in Revelation as the
Morning Star (Revelation 22:16). The
Morning Star proclaims a new day is coming.
Trust that this is so and in doing so allow the Holy Spirit to fill you
will hope and the power to endure.
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