Jesus Revealed

 Jesus Revealed

By Richard P. Joseph

David Jeremiah just wrote a book for the next generation, I’m guessing because those that read the 1990’s Left Behind books never saw it fulfilled!  In other words,  they keep predicting the second coming of Christ but it, for some odd reason, never seems to happen so they keep writing more books and movies and sermons predicting the second coming is right around the corner.  I am certainly in the wrong business if I want to make a lot of money.  The futurist doctrine of the second coming is nothing but a big pot of gold for those promoting it.  I am trying to go through Revelation again, not to make money, but real slow this time, to glean the truth from it.  

So what should I expect by going through the book of Revelation real slowly?  I’m really not sure but perhaps I can pick up on clues that the untrained eye never sees.  But let’s be honest, those that completely understood the book of Revelation were those that lived through it in the first century.  I do not believe we will ever completely understand all of it, that is unless new material is uncovered but that is not likely.  So let’s take a look at a few things I am getting from the first chapter.  

John wrote the book of Revelation to the seven churches which were in Asia Minor.  My first question is: Why was it written to churches way up in Turkey and not in Jerusalem?  One reason might go something like this (which I have heard a couple different scholars expound upon);  Since Paul was imprisoned from 60 to, at least 62, and couldn’t visit those churches, John may have taken on the mantle until Paul was available again.  But John got arrested and was sent to Patmos, which was a prison Island close to those churches.  Along with that, as you read through the book of Acts you will discover that, at the beginning, just after Pentecost,  nearly all of the missionary activity was in Jerusalem.  However, when Stephen was martyred by the authority of Saul, the Church began to spread outward into the Roman empire.  As you near the end of Acts you find that most of the activity is now outside of Jerusalem.  So those seven churches were a hotbed of Christian activity at that time which was around 62-63 AD when John wrote the letter.   The second reason John wrote it to them is a reason that most pastors just can’t wrap their minds around and that is, it was relevant to those in the first century.  It was written to “them” because it was them that were to be affected by it, not us. Obviously, the church at Jerusalem also read it too.  Why people are still waiting for Jesus to be revealed when John wrote an entire book revealing Jesus to us is beyond me.  Of course we all want to see Jesus in heaven with our own eyes but that is not the revelation, what John saw was the revelation.  Just read it and you will know!

The book of Revelation was the announcement that the Parousia was beginning.  Revelation is a book of coded numbers.  It uses several different coded numbers but let’s just look at the number seven right now.  There was a seven year period of activity that was split in two sections, there were seven churches, seven seals, seven trumpets, seven bowls and a seven headed monster.   These are not necessarily written in chronological order but rather they are layers of the same thing.  The number seven is a number of fulfillment just like when the earth was created in six days and God rested on the seventh day indicating that all was fulfilled.  John now doubles down on the fulfilment scenario by introducing a new order of priests being that the old order would pass away in the next seven years.

Revelation 1:6

 6 and has made us [c]kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Peter, probably after reading Revelation himself, repeated this observation.

1 Peter 2:5

5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ

This may sound nice to us today but placing yourself back in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago, you would be stoned for blasphemy.  In the old order, only Levites could become priests.  In the new order each man is the priest of his household and Jesus, who is from the tribe of Judah, is the High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.    

Basically, what I am saying is that the book of Revelation is a book showing completion and transition.  One other note I would like to make is a true story I had recently.  I may have mentioned this before but it is worth mentioning again.  I told a friend about the preterist view and she had a friend that had multiple seminary degrees.  He met me and I asked him to explain to me what the words soon and near meant.  I asked that because in the first few verses of Revelation it uses those words as time stamps of the prophecy fulfilment.  The scholar first asked me what bible degrees I had.  I told him none, only a science degree.  He then, in a very condescending manner, told me that I had no right to challenge him from my uneducated point.  He said the answer is too complicated to just explain in a short meeting.  On one hand I can understand what he was saying as there are many times that I try to explain to someone deep things of scripture but they do not even have a basic understanding of scripture so I sound like I am speaking a foreign language to them.  But I am not that uneducated and all he had to do was explain what soon and near meant.  The truth is that for him to explain what soon and near meant he would have to do what we call high level linguistic gymnastics.  That is a nice way of saying that he had to make up a bunch of nonsensical theology in order to evade the simple definition.  Using Occum’s razor, I will stick with the straight forward uneducated answer.  In other words, John and Jesus were not liars and Jesus did return exactly when he said he would.  No gymnastics necessary.  We will look at the number seven later in other articles so stay tuned.