The Joy of Revelation VI. The Beatitudes - 6

6.     22:7 (Look! I am coming soon!

Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy expressed in this book.)

Here we have another parenthetical insertion which again appears to come, not from the angels that continue to guide John through his visions, but Jesus Christ himself. Again, it seems as if Jesus can’t keep himself from trying to get the main point(s) across. We dealt with a previous one in the discussion of Beatitude #2, from Rev. 16:15. 

NOTE: Not all translations put these particular phrases in parentheses, e.g. the NRSV.

First of all, what are we to make of the first 2 phrases, over 1900 years after this was written? Some have dismissed outright the idea of Christ’s return. They are similar to the Jews who have given up on the idea that the Messiah is coming. Some of both of these groups would still claim they believe in God and that God has a role to play in the world, that there are still ways in which we can gain from the study of scripture. However, most Christians, and I am in that camp, do believe that there will be a time when Christ will return. What exactly that will look like we have some suggestions in the Bible, some of which we have dealt with in this chapter. One imagines there is much more we do not know. 

How then can we understand these words? I think John wrote them, quite probably believing that Jesus was coming soon. Much of the New Testament writing on the subject suggests the Early Christians held such a belief. It is not difficult to see how people of the time would have believed that, having just lived with Christ, with the events of his life, death and resurrection still on their minds. Paul writes from that perspective too.

We know John was writing to people who were living in difficult times. There were restrictions placed on their lives. There were prison sentences, there was persecution, mainly from Rome, sometimes from Jews and other religions. We see all this in the New Testament already. To tell the believers Jesus was coming soon and going to set things right, to vindicate them, would have been welcome news, a reassuring message that gave hope. We see this is a message all through Revelation.

This could also be interpreted personally. Those facing death would know Christ was coming for them. When they died, they would join him. That would be a positive message for them too. If Christ was not coming yet as in The Rapture, as it is sometimes spoken of, he was coming for those who remained faithful. He was coming for the persecuted, the martyrs. Some of them knew their death was going to be soon, and that meant Christ was coming for them soon!

Another approach to this time question has been to refer to what some refer to as God’s time. God, of course, is not limited by time. However, God created the system that marks our times. This does not mean time is irrelevant to God though. If he set it in motion, it is obviously important. In other words, what might seem soon in God’s scheme of things could be a long time for us in the human dimension of time. But we know and trust that God, who has demonstrated faithfulness in keeping his promises before, in fulfilling many elements of his plan, is still working it out. Indeed, demonstrating that is a key component of Revelation. 

If we then want to ask, what are these words of prophecy? In the grand scheme of things, they show God’s overall plan for the world, for humanity. As I have already written, prophecy is more than a prediction of the future. It is the word of God for a particular time, a specific situation. It can be a call to repentance. It can be God imploring us to return to faithfulness. It can be a plea to live out behaviour consistent with being a people of God. There is warning and judgment. We see all of these in the writings of the Old Testament prophets, and we see all of these here in Revelation. 

So, what does it then mean to keep these words of prophecy? What else can it mean but to respond in the affirmative to all of these invitations? If we repent and turn to Jesus, if we live justly and in righteousness, obeying the law of love, if we keep the faith steadfastly to the end of our lives – this is keeping the words of this prophecy. This is what the Lamb, who gave himself for us, asks of us. This is what will make us blessed. This is what can give us the joy of knowing we are on the right path, the joy of Revelation, walking with our Lord, headed to the glory described in so many ways in this important book for those who remain faithful.

The Joy of Revelation VI. The Beatitudes - 4 Revised

1.     19:9 Then the angel said to me, “Write the following: Blessed are those who are invited to the banquet at the wedding celebration of the Lamb!” He also said to me, “These are the true words of God.” 

This beatitude follows chapters describing the figures that are the nemesis of the Christians and all that those creatures and false prophets have done. These culminate in ch. 18, following which there is great rejoicing in heaven from all assembled there. Ch. 19:6-8 call for rejoicing because “the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.” If we are familiar with some of these figures of speech we know that the Lamb of course is none other than Jesus Christ, sacrificed for the sins of the world. None other than Jesus’ relative, John the Baptist, surely inspired by the Holy Spirit and knowledgeable from his study, growing up in the house of his devout priest father Zechariah, called him “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” when Jesus came to John to be baptized (John 1:29). 

The bride as a figure of speech for the people of God is first seen in the Old Testament when God, through the prophet Isaiah, says, “you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married. For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your builder marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.” This was spoken to the Children of Israel when they were being warned of judgement coming their way, followed by this as a promise of the future. 

We then see this image numerous times in the preceding books of the New Testament, referring to those whose sins are forgiven, who believe in Jesus and the life-giving power of his death and resurrection. This is The Church, the body of people. John the Baptist already expounded on this when he said “He who has the bride is the bride groom. The friend of the bride groom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. For this reason, my joy has been fulfilled (John 3:29).” Then Jesus himself use this image, including here already a reference to a banquet, when he spoke to his disciples about fasting, "The wedding guests cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? The day will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast (Matthew 9:15).” Of course, Jesus is he referring to himself as the bridegroom.  Here though, Jesus’ followers are referred to as wedding guests and not his bride. The Apostle Paul picked up on this idea when he wrote the Corinthians, “I feel a divine jealousy for you, for I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ (II Corinthians 11:2).” Paul is referring to Jesus as the husband, and believers, Christians, as the potential bride.

We sometimes read in scripture that the angels marvel at God’s doing, his love for and relationship with the humans he has created. I think one can see this in the words of the angel here. The Bride, The Church, has come through all of its trials and testings and is now ready for full union with Jesus. The Church is entering the next phase of its existence where it will live forever in the manner in which God originally intended man to live. The Kingdom of Heaven, of God, which Jesus spoke so much about, has arrived. The situation is no longer ‘near at hand’ as Jesus sometimes said. It is here. It’s as if the angel can hardly believe it. God’s plans have been fulfilled at last.

So, when the groom and bride are ready, what do you have? You have a wedding feast! We know wedding feasts are by invitation. Here the angel is exulting over how blessed, how privileged, to be invited to “the banquet of the wedding celebration of the Lamb.” As if to emphasize that this is really going to happen, to tell the writer that it will really occur – God’s goals are being met, the angel adds, “These are the true words of God.” This is not open to question. There is no more waiting, the wedding feast is here!

We don’t know what this event will really be like. We have a taste of it in the many parables Jesus told that included banquets (e.g., Matt. 22:1-14, 25:1-13; Luke 14:15-24), as well as other references such as Matt. 8:11, where Jesus talks of many coming from the east and the west to feast with the patriarchs in the kingdom of heaven. Most importantly, as with many aspects of the kingdom, we have instances of life here and now that give us a foretaste of this great feast. Our former pastor, with some of our congregation’s members had the vision to start a meal for our congregation and whoever wanted to join us from the neighbourhood. Our pastor had often spoken on the parables and the teachings where Jesus spoke about weddings and banquets and who was being invited. He simply believed that we, with our abundance, should share freely with those among us and around us, just as God so lavishly pours out his blessings on all of us, saint and sinner alike. This banquet has continued for some five years now and everyone looks forward to its happening. When you enter the room – our church ‘s gym -  on those evenings when this feast has been prepared,  it is abuzz with the excitement of people gathering again, reuniting or meeting new faces, and all waiting to be served the feast. Just imagine the excitement and the feast when this will really be a feast with Jesus present! How blessed to have been invited to that indeed! 

The Joy of Revelation VI. - The Beatitudes - 4 - see next post for a fuller version

  19:9 Then the angel said to me, “Write the following: Blessed are those who are invited to the banquet at the wedding celebration of the Lamb!” He also said to me, “These are the true words of God.” 

This beatitude follows chapters describing the figures that are the nemesis of the Christians and all that those creatures and false prophets have done. These culminate in ch. 18 following which there is great rejoicing in heaven from all assembled there. Ch. 19:6-8 call for rejoicing because “the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.” If we are familiar with some of these figures of speech we know that the Lamb of course is none other than Jesus Christ, sacrificed for the sins of the world. The bride is a figure of speech we see numerous times in the preceding books of the New Testament referring to those whose sins are forgiven, who believe in Jesus and the life-giving power of his death and resurrection. This is The Church, the body of people.

We sometimes read in scripture that the angels marvel at God’s doing, his love for and relationship with the humans he has created. I think one can see this in the words of the angel here. The Bride, The Church, has come through all of its trials and testings and is now ready for full union with Jesus. The Church is entering the next phase of its existence where it will live forever in the manner in which God originally intended man to live. The Kingdom of Heaven, of God, which Jesus spoke so much about, has arrived. The situation is no longer ‘near at hand’ as Jesus sometimes said. It is here. It’s as if the angel can hardly believe it. God’s plans have been fulfilled at last.

So, when the groom and bride are ready, what do you have? You have a wedding feast! We know wedding feasts are by invitation. Here the angel is exulting over how blessed, how privileged, to be invited to “the banquet of the wedding celebration of the Lamb.” As if to emphasize that this is really going to happen, to tell the writer that it will really occur – God’s goals are being met, the angel adds, “These are the true words of God.” There is no question, no more waiting, it’s here!

We don’t know what this event will really be like. We have a taste of it in the many parables Jesus told that included banquets (e.g., Matt. 22:1-14, 25:1-13; Luke 14:15-24, as well as other references such as Matt. 8:11 where Jesus talks of many coming from the east and the west to feast with the patriarchs in the kingdom of heaven. Most importantly, as with many aspects of the kingdom, we have instances of life here and now that give us a foretaste of this great feast. Our former pastor with some of our members had the vision to start a meal for our congregation and whoever wanted to join us from the neighbourhood. This has continued for some five years now and everyone looks forward to its happening. When you enter the room – our church ‘s gym - it is abuzz with excitement of people gathering again, reuniting or meeting new faces, and all waiting to be served the feast. Just imagine the excitement and the feast when this will really be a feast with Jesus present! How blessed to have been invited to that indeed!

THE JOY of REVELATION VI.The Beatitudes of Revelation - 3

1.     16:15 (Look! I will come like a thief!

Blessed is the one who stays alert and does not lose his clothes so that he will not have to walk around naked and his shameful condition be seen.)

The first part of this verse again brings to mind the words of our Lord as recorded in the Gospels when he was warning his disciples about things to come, including what the world would go through before his final return, his Second Coming (e.g., Matt. 24:42-44). 

It scarcely needs to be said, but Christ’s Second Coming, which is what the first part of this verse refers to, is  going to be a major event. As I write this, our world is going through a coronavirus pandemic. For many, this has become the end of the world as we know it.  Indeed, nothing most of us have ever experienced compares to it. For some, or in some ways, it is the end of the world as we have known it. However, Jesus’ return won’t only increase our anxiety, as a pandemic or the unexpected coming of a thief can do. It will be the end of the world as we know it. 

This verse, the warning and the beatitude, is bracketed. One has to wonder why. The most reasonable explanation is that this is the voice of Jesus himself interjecting into the messages John is receiving from angels. The imagery of Jesus’ coming like a thief might seem unusual. Jesus is no thief! Of course, it is a figure of speech to make us think about what Jesus’ coming will be like. At the same time, the content of the preceding and immediately following text, is such that Jesus himself wants to get across to us the gravity of the situation being described

The imagery of Jesus’ coming as occurring like the unexpected intrusion of a thief can be traced back to the gospels where Jesus refers to his Second Coming (Matt. 24:43, Luke 12:39.  The Apostles Paul (I Thess. 5:2) and Peter also then use this imagery (II Pet. 3:10). Indeed, Jesus himself used this expression in his address to the church in Sardis (Rev. 3:3).  

We can say three things about this:

1)    We don’t know when a thief might come. So, what do we do? We might take measures to safeguard our more prized possessions, such as locking them up in a safer place in our home. We might have locking

windows and we might lock our doors, especially if we are home alone or at night when we are sleeping. We leave most of our money in a bank, or even put some of our valuables in a safety deposit box at home or in a bank or similar place we think is more secure. Many of us even alarm our homes and apartments, sometimes with direct communication with a security firm we pay to keep an eye on the alarm system.

But what does that way about most of us. Are we excessively are concerned about our possessions, our ‘earthly goods,’ as we sometimes say? Too many of us in our Western society at least, really have too much, and become too concerned about it. There is a truism about life that the more you have, the more you are concerned about what you have. Indeed, it has been also shown that in too many instances, the more we have, the less we give! Some of us who have more personal contact with the less fortunate, or find ourselves among those society would consider such, know from experience that the poorer tend to share a lot more than the wealthy. What a sad comment on what happens to us when we succumb to the lure of success, wealth and possessions. My father, who spent 25 years working among Canada’s indigenous citizens used to talk about their freely sharing what they had with their neighbours. Indeed, we know – or should - that many of our indigenous neighbours are still among the poorer in our society, thanks to some of our laws and our continued discrimination when it comes to things like giving them a job or a place to live. 

2)    So, perhaps Jesus is saying in a subtle way – for many of us, His coming might be as unwelcome as that of a thief. We are so caught up in the affairs of our daily lives, our world, that we don’t pay attention to what

Jesus might have to say to us about being really prepared for his coming. Have we made preparations for his coming? How do we prepare? 

We do not prepare by spending hours and time listening to speakers, reading books, going to so-called prophecy conventions about detailed predictions of when Jesus will return. Jesus himself was very clear that this was not to be our focus. Read Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21, and especially Luke’s record of what Jesus said before he returned to heaven in Act’s 1:6-8. What did Jesus say in these passages. He clearly said ‘the times and the seasons’ of his return were not to be our concern.  What Jesus said in the gospels is that we are to pray that we will have the strength to endure whatever might come in our lives prior to Christ’s return.  Our concern is to stay awake, like a homeowner who really does not want to be caught off guard by a thief.  What he says in Acts is that it is our job to go out and spread the gospel so that others can learn to be prepared for Jesus coming. Those are our tasks in this age.

3)    Fortunately, most of us never experience the unexpected arrival of a thief in our homes, which is what this is really referring to. But what happens if we do? What is it like to experience the arrival of ‘a thief in the

night,’ or any other unexpected time for that matter? If this has happened to you, as it has to us, it can be quite traumatic. Our home was one broken into when we were away at work and the children at school during the day.  Even then, some of us experienced a feeling of disease for some time. There is a feeling that the place you most feel at home and comfortable in, where you thought you were most secure, has been violated. Your life is not the same. Depending on the violence of the situation, where there might have been not just a break-in but an assault or worse, some even go through what we nowadays call post-traumatic stress. For those who are already prone to be anxious, this can tip the scales into a clinical situation (as a retired psychiatrist, I know about these things). In other words, this a majorly intrusive event. 

The good part, the blessing, the beatitude is this. In the first place, we can be better prepared for Jesus’ coming than we can be for the arrival of a thief. I have already mentioned briefly what Jesus said we ought to be occupying ourselves with. Indeed, one could say all of his teachings and all of the rest of the New Testament tell us how to be prepared for Christ’s coming. We prepare in what we believe, in having faith and in how we live. The faith we need is that Christ’s death has removed the barrier to our being able to experience eternal life with Jesus in the new or re-created world to come. It is believing that his resurrection illustrates the power of God to raise us to life after our death too. The how-we-live part is summarized succinctly by Jesus himself when he talks of the questions at the final judgment on our lives being - Did you feed the poor? Did you give a cup of cold water to the thirsty ‘least-of-these’? Did you welcome the stranger? Did you clothe the naked? Did you take care of the sick? Did you visit people in prison?

I have really already dealt somewhat with the second part of this verse in The Joy of Revelation III – Messages to the Churches, which was posted to my blog January 26, 2020. 

Do we know when a thief will come? Not likely. The second part of this verse is really telling us that we should stay alert, but not to the extreme of losing our clothes. Those reading this might well have understood first the symbolic meaning of this phrase.  It refers to losing the white robes always described when the faithful are seen in heaven, before the throne.  The white robe, always the sign of purity, was the mark of the one who had overcome, who was victorious.  There is judgment and punishment for those who outright reject Jesus or who do not live as best they know how with the knowledge they have. This last would have been the case with everyone before Jesus’ own first coming. But the loss and shame will be even greater for those who have known Christ, but then turned their backs on him. Those who denied him under persecution, of which was a risk in the time of John’s writing when Rome was persecuting the Christians to the point of death. They would lose these clothes if they were led astray, if they fell away from following the true gospel, maintaining their allegiance to Christ alone. They would not wear the white robe of the victorious. They would not be seen among the throngs John sees in his visions of heaven.

There can be further meaning here too. We are not to give up everything and just sit around waiting for Christ’s return. We are to keep our clothes on and continue to live as our Master taught. We have work to do while we are on earth. We will also be shamed if we neglect that. We are not to just lounge around undressed, living the life of ease. But what a reward if we stand firm and do the good works God has prepared “beforehand to be the way of life” of us who believe (Ephes. 2:10)!

VI. The Joy of Revelation: The Beatitudes of Revelation - 2 of 7

1.     14:13 Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: ‘Blessed are the dead, those who die in the Lord from this moment on!’”

Generally, especially when we look at one verse of a biblical passage, we do well to consider its context so as to see better what it is attempting to tell us. Now, as I might have already stated, Revelation is not always written in such a way that this is as important here as in other scriptures that present, for example, a story. Revelation is not a book written in a linear fashion. As we have begun to see, Revelation is somewhat of a compilation of pictures, visions, as much as stories. Indeed, some present the same picture/vision or ‘story’ again in a different way, from a different perspective or vantage point, sometimes even seemingly from a different time.  

Here is one saying, described as coming from heaven. It is actually preceded by the appearance of three angels, each with a different message (14:6-11). These and a following comment directed to ‘the saints’ along the lines of other messages to God’s people, are dealt with in part III of this blog on Revelation, Messages to the Churches.

At first reading some might wonder, how can one be blessed when dead. Most of us want to live as long as possible, or at least as long as we are well enough and finding some joy in life. Indeed, many fear death. By this time though, if we have read the whole of Revelation especially, we can understand that death might have been seen as a welcome reprieve from the suffering and persecution Christians were experiencing at the time Revelation was written. We have also begun to see positive images of what is in heaven. So, to be taken from this earth with all of the problems they were going through, to die, for the believers could indeed be seen as a blessing. The blessing aspect of dying for and in your faith is emphasized by the positive attention, the recognition, given to martyrs in some of the visions in Revelation. To be a martyr was indeed coming to be considered a blessing.

This might be true for some of us in today’s world too. We might be suffering from cancer or some other debilitating illness and long to be freed of our affliction, knowing too that only in death would that occur. Christians, more in other parts of the world than here in North America where I write from, who are being beaten, burned, put in prison and even killed, would surely long even more strongly for escape. 

Then there is the second part of the beatitude. The preceding passages suggest Christ has already come to redeem his saints but that God’s actions are still bringing some to repentance. Needless to say, in a world deprived of the salt and light of Christianity, their lives could be unimaginably difficult. There is in this blessing also a call to them to endure, as the preceding verse had said, to be faithful. Only then, if they maintained their faith in the face of the tremendous odds of the time, the tribulation, would they die in the lord and receive this blessing. May that be true of all of us, that we keep the faith till we have passed from this life. 

The Joy of Revelation VI. The Beatitudes of Revelation - 1 of 7

After the initial 3 posts on Revelation, the last of which was put up three weeks ago, I thought it was time to add to them – before you lose interest. I am working on the whole book but that takes time. I am not, as you will notice, posting these chapters in the order in which the material appears in the text. It is more of a topical division of the book, posting a topic, or even a part of a topic when there is a lot of text covering one area, at a time. Some of those subjects, by reason of both the quantity of material and its complexity, take longer to work through. So, I am posting here part one of one topic or theme that is easier to deal with: The Beatitudes of Revelation. 

Many of us will be familiar with the Beatitudes Jesus delivered as recorded in Matthew 5:3-11, a brief summary of which also appears in Luke 6:20-22. When the word beginning each of those, “blessed,” is taken as a cue, commentators have singled out seven passages in Revelation as being Beatitudes. Seven, of course, is a commonly used number in the book and we know it stands for completeness and perfection. The passages are:

Ch. 1:3; 14:13; 16:15; 19:9; 20:6; 22:7, 14.

Let us look at them in order.

1:3 reads “Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy aloud, and blessed are those who hear and obey the things written in it, because the time is near!”

Just a couple of comments about the actual words of the text first.  It is stated that the person who reads this book aloud is blessed. In our day, when we all have our own Bibles – if we want – this does not seem remarkable. Some might have read that there is something different, perhaps superior, in terms of how our brain processes things read aloud as opposed to silently. However, that is not the concern here. 

In the days when this was written few had copies of these writings. It is stressed several times in the book that the messages contained herein are important for the target audience, the Early Churches. The time is supposedly short, so it is important that the message get out to as many as possible as soon as possible. Reading this text aloud was the best way to do this, likely to a house church congregation or in a synagogue, as part of worship or teaching. That is why the person who reads this aloud gets a special blessing; he is spreading The Word to as many as possible with the best available means at the time.

The message is that “The time is near,” referring in the short term to a time of persecution, in the longer term to Christ’s return. To best arm believers to endure the suffering to come, they will do well to hear the encouraging message of Revelation. It is incumbent on the reader to share this message. To begin with, book contains reassuring examples of where the saints are especially singled out for protection (see Protection of God’s People, another section to come in these postings). The other significant positive message is that the Jesus they serve as Lord has in some measure already defeated Satan through his sacrificial death and resurrection. More to the point, he will in the end be victorious over all those evil powers that are making life difficult for them and even taking some of their lives in martyr deaths. The Caesars of the day might demand allegiance, but the Christian’s allegiance is to Christ. He and his kingdom, of which they are a part, are more powerful than any earthly ruler or kingdom.

The same time-urgency of getting this message out underlines the blessing given to those who not only hear the word, but obey it. The obeying part is that the listeners are not to be cowed into denying their Lord by doing such things as yielding to receiving “the mark of the beast.” Nor are they to be lured away by the charms of the age as personified in the whore, named Babylon (both of these pressures to be dealt with further in the coming sections on Judgments and The Wars of Satan). They are to read the signs of the times with wisdom, and, secure in the hope the message of this book should bring, endure. Those who do so to the end will receive the rewards frequently pictured in this book (some of this is dealt with in the previous post Messages to the Churches). They will ultimately arrive safely at their eternal and blessed prize for their faithfulness and devotion, even their deeds.