Rick Joyner's Blog, page 12

Draw on His Grace—The Book of Revelation

         We touched on how the “beast” in Revelation is an economic system that determines who can “buy, sell, or trade,” but it is more than that. The beast is also the personification of the worship of man. That is why his mark is 666. In biblical numerology, six is the number of man because man was born on the sixth day. Therefore, this system is an economy that worships man, esteeming man as the god of man, able to solve all of our own problems, and able to pick the winners and losers and distribute the resources.

         There are two world governments in Scripture. One is the coming kingdom of God, and the other is the ultimate evil system to rule over mankind at the end of the age. This “beast” seeks to dominate the earth and if it were possible, thwart God’s purpose to reconcile the earth to Himself. This is the primary reason why Christians tend to resist globalization, and globalization tends to see Christians as its greatest threat. A key question determining who we worship at the end of this age is who we consider to be our source—God or man.

         This is a superficial, broad stroked view of what is unfolding, but the rest of the Book of Revelation addresses this from different perspectives, giving us an increasingly comprehensive understanding of it. Being His bondservant is a key to understanding this, and even the rest of the Revelation.

         In I Peter 5:5-7 we read, “GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.”

         We live each day by God’s grace, and as the threats to our life increase, we will become increasingly dependent on His grace. Knowing that He gives His grace to the humble, we should seek to humble ourselves before Him. In the text above, we are told an important way to humble ourselves—by casting our anxiety upon Him because we know He cares for us. How is this a way to humble ourselves? Anxiety is an ultimate form of pride. It basically thinks an issue is too big for God and that we must handle it ourselves.

         One of the most important things we can do is to determine everything we are worried about, give it to Him daily, and resolve that we will trust Him by not worrying. For the times to come, this must be a core of the fabric of who we are—those who demonstrate faith by trusting the Lord. Resolve that this week, and every week, you will grow in this trust and count anxiety as a desperate enemy that must be completely removed from your life.

 

[image error] [image error] [image error]

The Life of a Bondservant—The Book of Revelation

Last week we reviewed the life of a bondservant and the time that is coming when no one will be allowed to buy, sell, or trade without worshipping the beast and taking his mark. The Lord’s bondservants will not have to take the mark or worship the beast because it is the Master’s responsibility to provide for His servants. The Lord’s bondservants have the surest Source for all their needs. Therefore, a basic discipline in our bondservant calling is growing in dependence on the Lord as the Source of our provision. 

Now is the time for us to commit to be His bondservants and to come to know Him experientially as our Provider. The angels are now holding back the four winds before they are released to blow with all of their fury. As we are told in Psalm 32:6:

Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to Him in a time when He may be found; surely in a flood of great waters they shall not reach Him.

            When the flood is upon us, it will be too late to try to build our house on the Rock. In the time that is coming, we will not be able to trust in ourselves either. We must know the Lord as our Source, and He must be the Rock we have built our lives upon. The key to being a bondslave is to trust in the Master to provide for His slaves, and we have the most dependable Master of all.

            The mark of the beast is an economic mark. The last and ultimate trial of man is whether he will worship God or the ultimate idols—money and the humanistic system, which depends on mankind rather than God. Money itself is not evil, but when we put our trust in it in place of God, it becomes an idol. The ultimate test is whom we will worship and whom we will put our trust in.

            If we simply obey the biblical commands as to how to handle our money and resources, we will not have to worry about the mark of the beast—we will be prepared for this ultimate test. It has been estimated that about one third of biblical teachings on righteousness is about stewardship—how we handle the resources entrusted to us. In His Parable of the Talents, the Lord taught that we are determined to be a “good and faithful servant” or a “wicked, evil slave” by how we handle what is entrusted to us.

            The first biblical principle of stewardship is that the firstfruits are to be given to the Lord for the services of His house. Many think that this is an Old Covenant law, but it is in the New Covenant as well. In the New Covenant, we are called to be a part of the Melchezedek priesthood. As we are told in the Book of Hebrews, Melchezedek received tithes. Tithes were pre-law—even the patriarchs tithed.

            We may say that in our commitment to be bondservants, we have given everything that we have to the Lord. This obedience begins with taking the first 10% to the service of the house of the Lord as a tithe. After that, we are required to give offerings and alms to help the poor and needy. (It should be noted that of the two hundred and sixty-one references in Scripture to caring for the poor, two thirds of these are given to individuals and families, one third is given to the church, and none are given to governments).

The promise of the Lord for faithfulness in this is that He will open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing until it overflows. However, as bondservants we do not receive anything as our own, but rather as stewards. So as His blessings and provision increase in our life, we do not just consume them on our own desires, but we see the blessings as being entrusted with more with which to do His will.

The Lord also taught that if we could not be trusted with unrighteous mammon, who will trust us with the true riches of the kingdom? So our goal is to be found trustworthy with natural things so that He can trust us with the kingdom’s greater resources. We should treat all things with the respect that the King’s resources deserve, but our hearts must be on heavenly things, not just the things on earth. This is why the patriarchs, who were wealthy enough to possibly have built the best palaces of their time, were content to live in tents. They had seen the city of God and lived for something greater than anything man could build on this earth. That is what bondservants must be devoted to building.

The Source of Our Trust—The Book of Revelation

         We recently did a cursory study of the “four winds of the earth” and how they unfolded over history. Next, we will cover how the sealing of the bondservants is taking place at this time, and how they will keep from taking "the mark of the beast."

         First, the Lord assures us that none can be plucked from His hand. Satan cannot steal what God is protecting, and neither can he put his seal over God's seal. The important issue is how we abide in God’s protection, and how we avoid taking the devil’s mark of the beast, being sealed as God’s bondservant.

         We previously studied how a maturing Christian goes through five levels of relationship to God. These are: believer, disciple, bondservant, friend, and son/daughter of God. Being a believer is wonderful, and those who embrace Jesus as Savior and His cross for the propitiation of sins have eternal life. Yet, the Great Commission was to make disciples, not just converts. Few believers go on to be the Lord’s disciple, according to His definition of a disciple. Fewer still go beyond being a disciple to being a true bondservant.

         In the beginning of this study of Revelation, we covered the basics of what a bondservant of Christ is, because Revelation was given to the Lord to give to His bondservants. For this reason, only those who are true bondservants can fully understand Revelation. So, understanding and embracing this calling is crucial. We will review those basics to make the necessary connection to this text.

         Our relationship with Christ on every level is more than just knowing it, saying it, or claiming it—it must be a reality in our life. It does not do us any good to say we believe in Christ if we do not actually believe in Him. His teachings lay out what His true followers would be like and do. Likewise, to claim to be His bondservant does not do us any good if we do not live the life of a bondservant. Our goal must be more than just understanding the life of a bondservant—our goal must be to live it.

         The word “bondservant” is a nicer way to say “slave.” The bondservant of Christ is the slave of Christ. A slave has nothing of his own, including time, money, resources, and even their family. We become bondservants when we give everything to Him and hold nothing back, as the Lord stated in Luke 14:33: “So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.”

         Under the Old Covenant, slaves were allowed but servitude was conditional and had an expiration date. If the time came for a slave to be freed but they loved their master and wanted to remain in their service, they could choose to do so. When they did this, they were taken to the doorway of the tent of meeting and were marked by the priest as a permanent slave of their master.

         Likewise, we must choose to become the Lord’s bondservant. He will not force this on anyone. We were bought with a price and we are not our own. We must choose to live the life of total commitment. When we do this, He marks us as His bondservant. We see this mark that the Lord puts upon His faithful ones even in Old Testament times.   

         We see that the beast is an economic power, and his mark is an economic mark that determines if we can “buy, sell, or trade.” This is because economic power is the dominant power at the end of this age. The Lord called the end of the age “the harvest,” which is when all seeds sown in man mature, the good and the evil. So this will be the time when darkness is in full maturity, but also the light.

         The ultimate darkness is contained in a dominant economic system because money is an ultimate idol of the human heart. This is the primary thing people put their trust in instead of God. Economics is a major place that determines who we really belong to.

         Bob Dylan got it right when he wrote the song, “You Gotta Serve Somebody.” Believe it or not, like it or not, everyone on earth is a slave. We are either slaves to sin and evil or we are a slave of Christ. Many are trying to negotiate a deal between the two, but the closer we get to the end of this age, the less people will be able to waver between the two. Right now, we are in the time called “the valley of decision,” and the decision is who we will serve.

         We will dig down a bit more on this next week, but do not let a day go by without seeking to abide in the protection of the Lord by growing your trust in Him. Do this by seeking to be the best disciple you can be. Make knowing Him and His ways the top priority of your life. Then apply this knowledge by resolving each day to be a better servant of the Lord, living to do His will.

The Four Great Powers—The Book of Revelation

         We continue this study with Revelation 7:1:

          “After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of     the earth, holding back the four winds of the  earth, so that no   wind should blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree.”

         As we touched on last week, the “four winds of the earth” are the earth’s four great powers that can bring sweeping and profound changes to a civilization. These four are: military power, religious power, political power, and economic power.

         We see historically that the first great historical epoch was dominated by military power. This was the age of the conquerors and great military empires. Most of the conflicts on earth at that time were about military conquest.

         The next great civilizational epoch was dominated by religion, and the military became subservient to the emerging religious powers. These religious powers included Islam in the Middle East and North Africa, Hinduism in the Far East, and Catholicism and Protestantism in the West.

         This period emerged about 300 AD and reached its peak during the Crusades and the Ottoman Empire from about 1050 to 1500 AD. The religious leaders were the most powerful men in the world during this time. Most wars were religious conflicts. In the West, the conflict was mostly between Christendom and Islam, or between the different emerging sects of Christendom.

         The next great civilizational epoch was dominated by politics. This period began about the time of the signing of the Magna Carta during the 1600s. It continued through the mid-twentieth century. This was a time of great political change, when new forms of government were born through social upheavals, such as the French, American, and Bolshevik revolutions.

         During this time, the religious and military powers became subservient to political forces. There were still religious and military wars, but the sweeping social changes were almost all the result of political conflicts.

         The transition between each of these great epochs was general, sometimes unfolding over hundreds of years. During the beginning of the twentieth century, we shifted into a new great civilizational epoch—the one dominated by economic power. This change was ignited by World War I, which fulfilled biblical prophecies that spoke of the time when the kings of the earth would be destroyed. Before World War I, most nations were ruled by kings who inherited their power through royal bloodlines. After this war, the remaining kings were mere figureheads with no real power.

         The Bolshevik Revolution was both a political and an economic revolution, marking the beginning of the shift in power from the political to the economic. World War II was ignited and driven to a degree by the most evil manifestation of racism, but it was driven even more by economic conquest. Japan attacked America because they considered our economic embargo an “act of war” against them.

         During the Middle Ages, wars were fought to impose religious will on the enemy. During the last great epoch, wars were fought to impose political will. We now fight wars to impose our economic will on others. The Cold War was a very real war, but it was an economic war. It was fought and won more by banks and economic policies than by military power. The recent Gulf Wars were mostly fueled by economic interests, or the Western nations would not have engaged in them.

         Understanding that we are in the economic epoch compelled me to spend much time studying economics over the last few decades. I knew it was necessary to understand the times. Knowing that most do not have the kind of time I’ve had to study, I constantly try to condense and share what took me so long to grasp. I try to do this in a form that others can absorb in hours instead of years. Others have been raised up to do the same for this and other key issues of the times.

        All these “winds of the earth” have had their time, but we have emerged into a time when the military, religious, and political powers are becoming subservient to economic powers. Why is this important? We see that the “mark of the beast” is an economic power:

And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their forehead

and he provides that no one should be able to buy, sell or trade, except the one who has the mark (Revelation 13:16-17).

         In Revelation 7:1-3, the four angels are sent to hold back the “four winds of the earth” until they have sealed the bondservants of God on their foreheads. We see that there will be a time that the "four great winds of the earth" will be in relative abeyance, and so there will be relative peace until the Lord has sealed His bondservants.

        Next week we will cover how the sealing of the bondservants is taking place now.

The Winds of the Earth—The Book of Revelation

         After the three great signs of the earthquake, the darkness, and the falling stars, the heavens split apart, with nearly half of mankind turning to the new religion called secular humanism. We now come to truly remarkable events as described in Revelation 6:15-17:

   Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains;

    and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb;

    for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

         In biblical prophecy, mountains often speak of governments, such as the Lord referring to His kingdom as “the mountain of the house of the Lord.” Rocks seem to represent smaller societies. Since the three great signs, secular leaders have been in a mad rush to make government the people’s god. Likewise, many societies emerged that seemed intended as a counter to the purpose of New Covenant church life.

         What happens next in John’s prophecy points directly to what is happening now:

After this, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth holding back the four winds of the earth, so that no wind would blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree.

Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God. He cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea,

saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads” (Revelation 7:1-3).

         The “four winds of the earth” are the four powers that have shaped human history: 1) military, 2) religion, 3) politics, and 4) economics. These “winds of the earth” are earthly powers that emerge from the earthly minded.

         The earthly wind of religious power is not the true faith in God. It is what mankind built in the name of Christ, but not by Christ. These are the powerful religious institutions that have, since their founding, sought to control the “seas”—the masses of humanity. They have also persecuted the true and faithful seekers of God.

         We will dig down on these four powers a bit more later—Revelation has much to say about them. For now we must grasp the most important event taking place on the earth at this time. God is holding back the greatest conflicts to unfold at the end of this age, the “great time of trouble,” while His bondservants are sealed. That they are being sealed on their foreheads speaks of the sealing of their minds, their understanding. As Paul wrote to the Romans, they are “not conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewing of their minds” (Romans 12:1-2). True servants of the Lord think differently from the earthly-minded in profound ways. These are the ones given eyes to see and ears to hear what the Spirit is saying.

         These are also the ones who will not take the mark of the beast. The devil cannot place his mark on those who have God’s mark. These are the key elements we must comprehend to understand the times:

1) The four winds of the earth

2) The present restraint on these winds

3) The bondservants

4) How bondservants are sealed in their minds

5) Why the angels restrain the damaging of the earth, the sea, and the trees

6) The mark of the beast

7) The beast itself

         These we will cover over the next few weeks.

The Language of Prophecy—The Book of Revelation

Thanks to those of you who brought up that some of the seals were skipped over. The WFTW covering those was somehow lost, or copied over, and somehow missed in proofreading. I will go back, redo it, and interject it later.

        

         After the great signs of the earthquake, the darkness, and the falling stars, we come to truly remarkable events described in Revelation 6:14-17:   

       The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

       Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains;

        and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb;

       for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?"

         Prophetic language has been called “more art than science.” To the consternation of those who rely on their understanding to decipher biblical prophecy, it rarely follows mathematical precision. It can go from the metaphorical to the literal and back again in a single statement. Biblical prophecy can move in consistent linear time and suddenly jump centuries ahead, inserting Messianic or other prophecies before moving back to a linear flow. Why?

         We may think that if the Lord wanted people to believe His word, He should have been more specific, clear, and mathematical. He could have done this, but He did not give these prophecies so that people would believe in Him. He gave prophecy as a guiding light to those who already believed in Him. He said through Isaiah that He spoke in mysteries so that the people “seeing would not perceive, and hearing they will not understand” (see Isaiah 6:9-10). Prophecies are given in a spiritual code that only those reading or hearing by the Holy Spirit can comprehend.

         Most of the Book of Revelation is written in metaphors that point to literal realities. The literal tells us what happened, but the metaphors are keys to understanding why they happened. Here we have three literal signs—the earthquake, darkness, and falling stars—before going back to the metaphorical. Even so, they are accurate in describing what unfolded right after those three literal signs. These signs were seemingly given to mark the time that the next great spiritual events would take place.  

         How would “the sky” be split apart? Of what could this be a metaphor? It was something of much greater consequence than the three signs had been. Until the time of these three signs, virtually everyone believed in God in some form, or believed in a Creator. In  1836, just three years after the meteor sign that looked like the stars were being cast like figs, Charles Darwin presented his Theory of Evolution to the scientific elite at Cambridge. It quickly took root in the scientific community. This new theory was what many scientists had sought for a long time—a way to explain the natural world without having to acknowledge a Creator.

         This new theory was not only embraced by much of the scientific community, but it seemed to be in perfect timing to complete the loop for existentialist philosophy. The religion of secular humanism was born. This made man his own creator, and exalted man’s reason above religion. This new religion of man became the fuel for rising revolutionary political activists, the Marxists, who would swiftly take over and dominate half the world’s population.

         The sky, the heavens, is often a metaphor for what man sees when he looks up. Until this time, it was always a Supreme Being. After this time, nearly half the world had exalted man to that place. John saw it as the sky being split apart. This could hardly have been a more perfect metaphor for what happened during that time. The powerful of the earth fled from God and His judgments through governments (mountains), societies (hills), or any other way they could hide from Him.

         The Lord addresses this in Psalm 2:1-6:   

         Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain?

         The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One.

         "Let us break their chains," they say, "and throw off their fetters."

         The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them.

         Then He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in His wrath, saying,

         "I have installed My King on Zion, my holy hill" (NIV).

         Those who sought to cut their ties to God and replace faith in Him with faith in man, would suffer the ultimate catastrophe and the ultimate confusion. There can be no unity or peace among men without God, unless enforced by the most severe control and dominance, such as under communism. This bondage steals the essence of what mankind was created to be: the image of God, born to be creative.

         True science makes the basic principles of Darwinism foolishness. When people want to believe, or not believe, something bad enough, they will tend to accept a molehill of evidence like it was a mountain, and view a mountain of evidence that refutes what they want to believe like a molehill. Even so, God will have His say in the end.

         John saw the heavens split, and that is essentially what happened. For all of those running from God, there were many running to Him. After the two Great Awakenings, powerful revivals and movements swept whole nations into the Lord’s waiting arms. After this, the forces of darkness and the light could be easily distinguished, for their ultimate clash at the end is now unfolding.

Signs of the Times—The Book of Revelation

         This week we will continue with the sixth seal:

       I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood;

       and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind (Revelation 6:12-13).

         If the sixth seal parallels the sixth church age, then we should find events that could fulfill this prophecy. We are not disappointed—some events seem to have been fulfilled literally and in spectacular ways.

          The Great Lisbon Earthquake on November 1, 1755 may have been the most powerful quake in recorded history. It shook most of Europe, Africa, and was even felt in North America. The damage was extreme in Portugal, Spain, and North Africa. The population of Lisbon was about 150,000 at the time, and an estimated 90,000 died that day.

         The ocean receded so that dry land could be seen for a great distance from where it had been. When it came back, it had risen fifty feet above its previous level. Whole villages as far away as North Africa disappeared. There were reports of large bodies of water, such as the Lochs in Scotland, rising out of their banks and then withdrawing far below their previous levels. It is believed that a large part of the earth’s surface was agitated that day.

         This could certainly qualify as the “great earthquake” John saw with the opening of the sixth seal. But what about the sun turning dark? This too happened on what has been called “the Dark Day” of May 19, 1780. The degree of darkness, and the time it lasted, was different in various places, but it was far beyond what could have been considered an eclipse. Eclipses last for minutes, but this darkness began around 10am in New England and lasted from 14 to 36 hours in different places. An eclipse is like a shadow passing over the earth, but this darkness was so great that people were unable to read or see the time on their watches during normal daylight hours without candles.

         At night, the darkness was so thick that people reported being unable to see a white sheet of paper held inches away from their eyes. No stars were visible. On the few occasions that the moon appeared, it was reported to be blood red, just as in John’s prophecy.

         The cause of this phenomenon has never been explained. Many considered this a sign that Judgment Day had come, and it was reported that people died because their hearts failed them for fear of what had come upon the earth. The historic accounts often refer to this day as being like the plague of darkness that came upon the land of Egypt in the time of Moses.

         The third sign—stars falling like a fig tree casting its figs in a great wind—was also fulfilled on November 13, 1833 with a meteor shower. Some reports suggested that this was the most spectacular meteor shower ever witnessed. Some even described it as "stars falling like fruit shaken from a tree," just as John had described.

          As we read in the first part of Revelation, the stars represented the messengers to the churches. It seems that this great meteor shower event was a sign in the heavens of the great messengers being released upon the earth. Since that time, some of the greatest voices in church history appeared and burned brightly in the short span of their life, much like a meteor shower.

         Such signs are given as markers of the times. These amazing signs took place in the sixth church age. They spanned the time of the First and Second Great Awakenings and likely contributed to them. Modern missions and the modern evangelical movements emerged during this period and spread over the earth. After these signs, we should see the unfolding of the next great event John prophesied would come, which we will cover next week.

The Two Authority Mandate—The Book of Revelation

         This week we will continue with Revelation 6:3-4:

   When He broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, "Come."

    And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that men would slay one another; and a great sword was given to him.

         Last week we compared this second seal to the obvious parallels with the church of Sardis, the second church that the Lord addressed in Revelation. We ended by asking if this implies that the Gospel message itself had been tainted red by war. The answer to that is “yes,” and this is a corruption. The bride of Christ is to be clothed in white reflecting her purity, not red or any other color. War is an ultimate defeat for Christianity, but are there not righteous wars and righteous warriors? Yes, but to understand this we must tackle a basic theological issue that I call “the two authority mandate.” This is explained in Romans 13:1-7 when the Apostle addresses the Christian’s relationship to secular authority:

Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.

Therefore, whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.

For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same;

for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil (Romans 13:1-4).

         Earthly, secular governments have a different mandate than the church. For the church, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal (physical) but spiritual. Our weapons are truth, love, compassion, and forgiveness, etc. We see here that secular authorities’ weapons are carnal, and they are in disobedience to their God-given mandate if they fail to use the sword to avenge evil. Many Christians, and governments, sometimes confuse these two mandates, and they often stumble because of the confusion.

         So what do you do if you’re a Christian soldier or policeman? John the Baptist was asked this question, and basically his answer was not to use the position for unrighteous gain, but he never told anyone to quit their job. You are under the civil government’s authority while on duty. They gave you a weapon for a purpose, and you would be in rebellion against God’s mandate for civil authorities if you do not use it when needed. When off duty, pray and use weapons that are not carnal. This does not mean that we cannot use our spiritual weapons, such as truth, compassion, and the character of Christ when on duty, but don’t turn the other cheek or give away your coat to crooks when on duty!

         We are also subjects of the kingdom of God. We are not just ambassadors, but sons and daughters of the King of the universe. Yet while in this life, we are commanded to be subject to the civil authorities, respect them, and pay our taxes as the next verses in Romans 13 commands:

Therefore, it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience' sake.

For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing.

Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor (Romans 13:5-7).

         This brings up an important question: does this mean that we should submit to someone like Hitler? First, when the Apostle Paul wrote this, Nero was the Roman Emperor. Nero was possibly the most wicked of all—he fed Christians to the lions and ended up taking Paul’s life. So the answer to that question is “yes,” unless they command us to do something that is in direct contradiction to the clear dictates of the Word of God. In case of such a conflict, we must do as the apostles and declare that we must obey God rather than men.

         So what about the gray areas where we are not sure? That’s why we’re told in places like John 10 how important it is to know the Lord’s voice. Throughout the Old Testament, which addressed so much of the daily behavior of His people, when there was an exhortation to obey the Lord’s commandments, “and heed His voice” would be added. The Bible does not, and could not, contain instructions for everything, and if it did, then the New Testament would be another law. We must know the voice of the Lord too, and obey His voice.

Seeing in Part, Knowing in Part—The Book of Revelation

         This week we continue with Revelation 6:1-2:

         Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living beings saying as with a voice of thunder, "Come."

         I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.

         As we have covered, the repeated theme of sevens in Revelation are related. Seven is the number of completion in Scripture because the creation week was seven days. There is a connection between the seven churches, the seven seals, the seven trumpets, etc. Seeing that connection is necessary for understanding much of what is intended in this symbolism.

         The opening of the seals speaks of the releasing of certain major forces on the earth during the coming church age. When the first seal is opened by the Lamb, we see a white horse. White is portrayed almost everywhere in Scripture as a symbol of purity. Horses often portray that which is the carrier of a message. The bow here represents that which shoots arrows, and arrows often symbolize truths going forth.

         The one on this horse went forth conquering and with the intent of conquering. This is a fitting symbol of the way that the Gospel went forth at the beginning of the church age, represented by the church of Ephesus, which means “purity.”

         Now let’s look at the second seal opened in Revelation 6:3-4:

                When He broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, "Come."

                 And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the   earth, and that men would slay one another; and a great sword was given to him.

         The second of the seven churches addressed by the Lord is the church at Sardis, which parallels this second seal. The city of Sardis was named after the red Sardis stone, and here the horse released is red. This red horse represents war, and the biblical city of Sardis was a military base where forces patrolling the region were garrisoned.

         The church at Sardis was warned about the coming tribulation they would suffer. This was a time of some of the most intense persecution of Christians under the Roman Empire. Red was certainly an appropriate color for this age, and the horse released by the opening of this second seal seems to fit perfectly. This was a period of terrible bloodshed, and it targeted Christians especially.

         Has the Gospel message been tainted red by war? The answer to that is clearly “yes,” and this is a corruption. The bride of Christ is to be clothed in white, reflecting her purity. War is an ultimate defeat for Christianity. Yet, are there not righteous wars and righteous warriors? Yes, but to understand how this we must tackle a basic theological issue that few Christians have grasped. We will do this in these Words for the Week as they become a theme in Revelation.

Special Note:

         As we addressed at the beginning of this study, there are different schools of thought on the interpretation of the Book of Revelation. Some are in conflict with the others. For example, one school of interpretation considers this white horse and its rider in the text above to be Christ, and another considers it to be the antichrist. Then there are variations in-between.

         Of the different schools of interpretation that I have studied, I usually found some positions that had merit and some that did not. For this reason, I try not to be dogmatic in my presentation, but rather remain open to insight from others. Because we all “see in part” and “know in part,” I am just offering my part that must be put together with others to have the whole picture.

         In this study, I have shared mostly from the historical view of the Book of Revelation. This view made the most sense to me, had the fewest contradictions, and was the orthodox position held by virtually the entire Protestant and Evangelical movements until the 1844 Advent Movement. During that movement, a few popular writers made the futuristic view more common, and it was embraced widely in the growing Evangelical movement from that time on. It was then adopted by the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements. As far as I can tell, the teachers in these movements who promoted the futuristic view were almost completely ignorant of the historical view.

        Now, I think that some parts to the futuristic view do have merit. Even if you hold strictly to the historical view, there are some things in Revelation that have yet to be fulfilled.

         That being said, any teaching will lose me when the revelation and symbols are bent to fit predetermined conclusions. The historical view is one school of interpretation where such a bending was not as apparent. This view takes it literally when John was told that these things would “shortly come to pass.” This view sees them as an unfolding of what is now mostly history, with just a few matters left to be concluded before the end of this age.

         Even so, I have not read a study from any of those who had the historical perspective that could explain everything. I  think there is a lot of understanding yet to be given on Revelation. Yet to receive what is to come, we must know what has been given. This is a purpose for this study.

Reigning Upon the Earth—The Book of Revelation

         Returning to the scene John witnessed before the throne of God, the seven seals released the unfolding events. As John also witnessed, Jesus alone is worthy to open this book and release the seals because He purchased the earth by His sacrifice on the cross. The following verses explain:

         And I saw between the throne with the four living beings and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.

         And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.

         When He had taken the book, the four living beings and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

         And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.

     "You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth" (Revelation 5:6-10).

         John was caught up into this vision to witness Jesus being introduced to heaven as the One who has overcome. The Lamb has the seven horns, the seven eyes, and the seven Spirits of God that are sent out into the earth. We know this because it says in Colossians 2:9, “For in Him (Christ Jesus) dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.”

         As the Lamb enters, the four living beings and the twenty-four elders fall before Him in worship. They begin to sing the new song that declares His worthiness. The song’s discourse declares that He purchased from every tribe, language, people, and nation to be a “kingdom and priests” who will also “reign upon the earth.”

         The verse following the one quoted in Colossians above states that we are “complete in Him.” Just as the Godhead dwelt fully in Jesus so that if we see Him we see the Father, Jesus now dwells fully in His people, those who are the “kingdom and priests who will “reign upon the earth.”

         Because Christ is in us, there is more authority in a single believer than in all the kings, presidents, dictators, or authorities on the earth. God’s people have reigned on the earth, but not very well. Few have grasped the power entrusted to us, much less walked in it. We have the authority to do the things that He did, and even greater things. Yet for most of the age, we have lived like slaves to ungodliness rather than as His kingdom of priests. Even so, in this weakened state, the church has been the most powerful entity dictating the course of nations.

         The authority of the Godhead dwelt in One Man, the “man Christ Jesus,” and He now dwells in the many. This is why the Apostle Paul did not write that he had the mind of Christ, but that “we have the mind of Christ” (see I Corinthians 2:16) (plural). No one man can contain His mind, but we have each been given a part. As we come together in the koinonia He has called His church to, we have His mind.

         This story unfolds throughout Revelation, and now most of it has unfolded in history. At the end of this story, the bride of Christ, the church, wakes up to her purpose and authority. She becomes what she is called to be. History really is His-story in His people, and it is the most remarkable story ever told. This revelation is a telling of that story in advance through prophetic metaphors. It calls to those who have ears to hear, eyes to see, and hearts to understand.

         Just as John was given this vision so that he could intercede, it was also given to convey to us the authority of Christ that we are called to carry in this life. This is the One we have joined to, and we are called to abide in and to sit on His throne with Him.