Rick Joyner's Blog, page 13

The Fruit of Obedience—The Book of Revelation

     This week we will continue with Revelation 5:1-5:

      I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals.

      I then saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals?"

      But no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it.

      Then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look into it;

       So, one of the elders said to me, “Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David,   has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.”

     What is this book that no one in heaven or on the earth except Jesus is worthy to open? What are the seven seals? We need to understand why John was at this remarkable event before the throne of God, and why Jesus alone could open this book.

      John is not just in this vision as a prophet, but he was there also as an intercessor. As we are told in Psalm 115:16, “The heavens are the heavens of the LORD, but the earth He has given to the sons of men.” He knows what we need better than we do. Because He has delegated authority over the earth to mankind, He will not do things on the earth unless we ask. So here John takes the role of the intercessor and weeps that there is no one to open the book. A representative of the earth had to want the book opened. Then came the revelation that there is One worthy to open it—Jesus, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David.

     I was once caught up before the throne and witnessed the anger of the Lord directed toward a friend of mine. The Lord said that He was about to end my friend’s life because of a grievous sin he was committing and had not repented of. I begged the Lord to give him another chance, and the Lord granted it.

     I knew I had been given this experience to intercede for my friend, but intercession is more than prayer. I determined to find out what sin had gripped his life that caused the Lord to have to end it. It was revealed quickly and a long process of restoration began.

     A main purpose in this life is to be a priest to the Lord. This is a calling on all New Covenant believers. If we are shown something in a vision, or in the natural, it is likely that the purpose of the revelation is for intercession. That intercession can also take on the form of helping to resolve the matter, pulling others out of the sinful traps they have fallen into, or keeping them from falling into them.

     In my experience, I seem to have failed in helping some out of sin, or keeping them out of it, more than I have succeeded. However, when I was discouraged about this, the Lord directed me to look at His record. Though He died for all, it seems that many do not partake of His salvation—many remain in their sin. Even though this may look like a failure, many things will be resolved in the age to come that we cannot now understand. Therefore, He is looking for obedience, and He alone really knows the degree to which we are successful.

     I consider Heidi Baker to be one of the great missionaries of these times. She was converted during a crusade at the Choctaw Indian Reservation, and she was the only convert. No doubt the evangelist felt like that crusade was a miserable failure, with just one fifteen-year-old girl being the only one to meet the Lord. However, because of that one convert, countless multitudes have come to Him and been inspired by Heidi’s life.

     Think of the Apostle Paul. He prayed to be conformed to the image of the Lord’s death, and he died much like the Lord. Almost all of his friends had left him alone, and virtually all of the churches he had given his life to raise up had gone into apostasy. He may have wondered on the day of his execution if he had accomplished anything for the Lord. However, through the few letters he wrote, he is likely still gathering more fruit for eternal life than all of the subsequent ministries.

     We can rarely judge the fruit of something in this life. Our goal must simply be to be obedient.  

The Foundation of His Throne—The Book of Revelation

         Before proceeding to Revelation 5, we will conclude this part on the throne of God with a related truth from Hebrews 4:14-16:

         Therefore, since we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

         For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.

         Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

         As awesome as the throne of God is, we have a High Priest who sympathizes with our weaknesses, even though He Himself is without sin. He did not go to the cross and pay the price for our sin to then condemn us for them—He went so that we could be reconciled to God. Therefore, we are told that we can come boldly before His awesome throne anytime that we have a need, and we can be assured that there we will find the grace that we need.

         If there is any flaw with the Gospel it would be that it seems too good to be true. How can such an awesome, Almighty God be so kind, gentle, and loving? He is so good and wonderful that it is hard for us to comprehend and accept—it usually takes a while for us to do so. It is hard for us to accept that forgiveness is that easy and that we cannot do anything to earn it. Our total forgiveness has been purchased for us, and for us to think that we still have to pay something is to imply that Jesus’ sacrifice was not enough.

         Many claim that they want the mercy of God and not justice. However, the mercy of God is established by the justice of God. God’s justice established that the consequence of sin is death, and Jesus, who did not deserve to die, died in our place to pay for our sin. If we then still had to pay a price for our sin, then it would be unjust, implying that the Father did not accept Jesus’ sacrifice of Jesus as being enough.

         So we can come boldly before the throne of God just as much when we have transgressed as we can when we have walked uprightly. We do not enter based on our own righteousness, but on the blood of Jesus and the price that He paid. When we come before the throne clothed in the righteousness of Jesus, the Father only sees the righteousness of Jesus—we are deemed completely pure in His eyes, regardless of whether we had a good or bad day.

         The power to enter before the Lord is never based on how well we have done, but on simple faith in the cross of Jesus to be enough to cover our sin and failures. Our boldness is because of what Jesus accomplished, not from anything we have done, or not done. We do not have to wait until we are perfect to enter His presence, but we are perfected by His presence.

         When Peter saw the Lord walking on the water and got out of the boat to walk on the water with Him, he could only do this as long as he kept his eyes on Jesus. As soon as he looked at the waves, he began to sink. We do the same in relation to the constant turmoil that is our old, sinful nature—all of the consequences of this sinful world. As long as we keep our eyes on Jesus, as our Righteousness, our Way, our Truth, and our Life, we can walk above the turmoil of our old nature and the trials of this life. If we start to focus on the turmoil, we will sink.

         So we don’t charge into the throne room arrogantly, but thankfully. We “enter His gates with thanksgiving” (see Psalm 100:4). How can we not be thankful for such great mercy and great grace? Bold humility is bold in the Lord and what He has done. The boldness we have is a reflection of the faith that we have in Him.

The Lord of Glory—The Book of Revelation

         We continue our study with Revelation 4:9-11:

         When the living beings give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever,

         the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

         “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created."

         Here we see that even the highest authorities in heaven, the twenty-four elders, cast their crowns before the Lord. Who could presume glory or authority in His presence? The four living beings and the highest elders all worship Him, giving Him glory and honor because all things exist by His will: “In Him we live, and move, and have our being” (see Acts 17:28). Even those who do not acknowledge Him cannot draw a breath without Him.

         Because we were created for His pleasure, there is nothing more fulfilling or exhilarating than worshipping Him. Before His throne and glory, it is impossible not to worship Him. This is meaningful to Him, but it can be even more meaningful when we go through this life against the opposition of the hordes of hell. We only see Him by faith, but we still worship Him. Therefore, our worship here in this life can touch Him more than it can in heaven where we cannot help but bow before Him. So do not waste your trials, but rather worship, constantly offering the thanksgiving and praise that He so deserves. When we do this while facing all that we do here, it becomes a witness, even to principalities and powers that the Lamb prevailed over.

         We are called to not only see His throne as we obey the voice to “come up here,” but we are also called to sit with Him on this throne (see Ephesians 2:6 and Revelation 3:21). This begins with seeing His throne by the Spirit, but how do we go from seeing to occupying? Seeing the Lord—who He is and where He sits—can bring about the greatest single change in our life. However, this is not supposed to be a onetime experience. We are called to “sit” with Him there—to abide in His authority. This must be real and practical, like all biblical truths that have become life to us.

         Psalm 78 is an overview of Israel’s history with God, how they experienced His goodness and yet turned away from Him over and over. In verses 41-42 we are told:

         “Again and again they tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel. They did not remember His   power: the day when He redeemed them from the enemy.”

         Consider that they “limited God.” How could anyone do that? We do it all the time. We do it the same way Israel did, by not remembering His power.

         The Lord is the Almighty and all powerful. He can do whatever He pleases as far as power is concerned. He has purposely limited Himself in some ways, requiring that we have faith in Him before He will move on our behalf. It was said of Jesus that He could not do many works in His hometown because of their unbelief. So we limit God when we do not believe in His power, and we release Him to use His power on our behalf when we believe in His power.

         So we should continually seek to see Him—who He is and where He sits—on His throne that is above all other powers or authorities. We do this by seeking to see Him in everything that we’re doing, and including Him in all parts of our life.

         When the Lord was asked His name, He said that it is “I Am.” His name was not “I Was” or “I Will Be,” but “I Am.” It is a good thing to know the history of the Lord’s dealings with men and how He came as Jesus of Nazareth. But He is no longer Jesus of Nazareth—He is the Lord of Glory who sits on a throne of authority above all others. It is a good thing to see Him as the coming King, but the way we must see Him today is who He is today. That’s why we are exhorted by the Scriptures, “Today if you hear His voice,” and “now is the time, and “today is the day of salvation.”

         How would our lives be changed if we remembered the Lord’s power when facing every challenge that comes to us, and prayed with faith for His intervention? What would happen if we stopped limiting God by not remembering His power, and started releasing Him and His power into the earth by always seeing Him as He is now, where He sits now, and even began to sit there with Him? We would begin to live one of the most extraordinary and powerful lives ever. That is our calling.

Loving What God Loves—The Book of Revelation

The four living beings, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, "HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME" (Revelation 4:8).

         In Scripture, the number four is a number for “whole,” such as when the “four corners of the earth” speaks of the whole earth. Because man was created on the sixth day, six is usually the number of man. Later we will see how the “man of sin,” who personifies the sin of man, has the number 666, or three sixes. This is a revelation of how the sin of man in its full maturity seeks to displace the worship of the Trinity with the worship of man. This is the ultimate maturing of humanism.

         These four living beings are a prophetic metaphor of mankind as it is before the throne of God. With “eyes around and within,” we have been given a magnificent ability to see externally and internally. The wings speak of the ability to soar above the earth. Even though these remarkable abilities of mankind are now marred and distorted because of the corruption of the Fall, God gave these abilities to man. He put it in us to want to see, understand, and explore things around us and in us. We also have a constant yearning to reach for the heavens. These are from God, and when mankind is restored and again abiding in His presence, they will be perfected.

         The way that these attributes will be perfected is declared by these beings in this text—worshipping the Holy One by seeing His holiness, and seeing Him in our past, our present, and our future. This is to see Him as the ultimate understanding of everything. Once we see Him on His throne, we will not continue to worship the creation but only the blessed Creator. When we have a right relationship to God, we can then have a proper relationship to the creation, including to ourselves. Then we will, like the four living beings, be captivated night and day by our awesome, holy God.

         We are created for God’s pleasure. Therefore, there is nothing that can be more fulfilling to us than doing the things that bring pleasure to God. This begins with loving Him. If we do this as we should, we will also love all others and will love the creation. “God so loved the world” not just mankind. As we see in Revelation 11:18, the Lord will “destroy those who destroy the earth.” Those who wantonly destroy the creation have lost the essence of who they were created to be.

         As we grow in our love for God, we also grow in our love for all that He loves, and we will not needlessly destroy or mar what He loves. The first command given to man was to take care of the garden. This too is part of the purpose of mankind. As we are restored to who we are created to be, our care for the creation will grow with our love for the Creator.

         Every love, or devotion, that mankind has will be distorted if we do not abide in the Lord. Although some things are distorted by fallen men, this does not mean that we avoid them. Rather, we must endeavor to do them in the right spirit with excellence that comes from being changed by the glory of the Lord and living in His presence.

         He is declared to be “He who was and is and is to come.” To know Him, we must see Him in all three. We come to know Him as the Creator who “emptied Himself” to become a man and live on earth among men to make the propitiation sacrifice for the world. He is no longer “Jesus of Nazareth” but is the Lord of Glory, sitting on His throne at the right hand of the Father. That is how we know Him now, but we must also know Him as He will be—the King of kings who will come again with His hosts to restore the earth. We will expand upon all of this as we continue our study of the awesome Revelation.

Spiritual Beings in Scripture—The Book of Revelation

         There are a couple of additional points about the throne of God in Revelation 4 that we should consider. As we touched on before, we see many different beings in the heavenly or spiritual realm in Scripture. One point to consider is that Satan was only able to draw a third of the angels to follow him in rebellion. Some think that because a third of the angels fell and two-thirds did not that the good outnumbers the bad two to one. This is far from the case.

         Angels are the spiritual beings we are most familiar with because they are the primary messenger beings we interact with, but there are many other types of spiritual beings. None of the other spiritual beings fell, and so the good in the spiritual realm outnumber the bad by an incalculable number. But it is not really about numbers. If all but God had fallen, His goodness would still far outweigh all of the fallen.

         Some ancients believed that when the Lord taught that He was the Good Shepherd that would leave the ninety-nine to go after the one, He was speaking of how He left the other worlds He created to go after the one in rebellion—the earth. When Satan fell he was cast down to the earth, and all of the evil and rebellion in creation, both natural and spiritual, are here on the earth. So the rest of creation remains obedient and in harmony with God, except this speck of dust in the universe called earth.

         That God did not destroy this tiny speck that had fallen, but rather sent His Son for our redemption, reconciliation, and restoration will forever be one of the greatest manifestations of His nature. This will be celebrated forever throughout the natural and spiritual creation. This also reveals an important truth—size may have little to do with importance.

         Even in the natural creation, the earth is hardly a speck of dust in comparison to the universe. Yet it now has infinite value because the Son came to live on earth as a man and redeemed it with His sacrifice. If that were not enough to make the earth possibly the most important location in the creation, God the Father Himself will come to the earth to live among men. For this reason, we should never consider anyone or anything insignificant because it is small or weak.

         Although it may be interesting to consider if there are other occupied worlds, this is not clear in Scripture and we cannot make a doctrine out of it. But what about what many consider to be “proof” of alien visitations or UFOs? I submit that they are not visitors from other planets but are spiritual beings, such as “Ezekiel’s wheels” that do manifest in the natural from time to time. I bring this up because this can be a major diversion from our course.

         I did a study in the1970s to track when most of the UFO sightings took place. It was noteworthy that most of them happened around significant events on earth, such as the beginning of revivals, other significant moves of God, or important events with the nation of Israel. These are not aliens from other planets. These are spiritual beings from both the good and bad side that for some reason tend to become visible to more people during times of important events on earth. Some experiences that people claim to have had about being kidnapped by aliens may seem to be real, and they may have been to a degree, but they were dealing with demonic entities, not aliens.

         This kind of thing will increase in frequency as this age comes to a close. There are some things in Revelation that might be considered comparable to the aliens people claim to see, but we must not be distracted by this. If anything like this happens to you, take authority over it in the name of Jesus.

         Another point about the “seven spirits of God” in this chapter: The most dominant number in Revelation is seven. We’ve studied the Seven Churches, and we will see several other sevens in this vision. Seven is well established as the number of “completeness” in Scripture, beginning with the seven days of the week. A key to understanding this book is that all of the sevens are related. They speak of the same events and/or periods of time, but from different perspectives. They must be fitted together to get the complete message, as we will see.

Seeing Him As He Is—The Book of Revelation

         We proceed in our study with a verse by verse look at Revelation 4:5-8: “From the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices” (NKJV).

         The throne of God is an active place! In Psalm 97:4, we are told that the Lord’s lightning lights up the world. This is usually symbolic of revelation that goes forth from the throne of God, or by His authority. Thunder is the audible response to lightning. Likewise, whenever there is a revelation given from the throne of God, there will be a great sound upon the earth. There will also be “voices,” or those raised up to carry the revelation.

         Next are the “seven lamps of fire [that] were burning before the throne that are the seven Spirits of God” (verse 5b NKJV). Seven is the number for completion in Scripture, and many consider this to be the complete revelation of the nature of God. These are what the lampstand in the Tabernacle of Moses and Temple of Solomon represented, as well as the seven churches addressed by the Lord at the beginning of Revelation. Each church had a unique revelation of Christ, who John wrote is revealed “in their midst.”

         Christ Jesus is also the exact representation of God the Father to the degree that if we see Jesus, we have seen the Father. We must therefore keep this warning in mind: “But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ” (II Corinthians 11:3). Christ Jesus is the full revelation of God.

         Next we read, “Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal” (NKJV). Crystal is the highest quality glass and the weightiest. This speaks of transparency before the throne, and that which is of high value. To be included in the events and conversations around the throne of God is the most honored privilege one could have. This is open and available to all of God’s children. Anyone can come boldly before His throne by the blood of Jesus. However, because there is such open access, it is a very weighty matter, just like crystal.

        Next we have an incredible description of the “four living beings:

         And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living beings full of eyes in front and in back.

         The first living being was like a lion, the second living being like a calf, the third living being had a face like a man, and the fourth living being was like a flying eagle.

         The four living beings, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying:

           “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!” (NKJV)

         Some translated the word for these beings as “beasts” or “creatures,” but they are of more dignity than that. Of course, all beasts and creatures are to be honored as creations of God, but there are higher forms of life. These that are so intimately associated with the throne of God are higher forms of life, even higher than man.

         As Psalm 8 tells us, man was made “lower than the angels.” Angels were created with different levels of authority and power. Many seem to assume that all spiritual beings are angels, but there is a diversity of spiritual beings in Scripture. These seem to be just a glimpse of the multitude of spiritual species.

         I have had many experiences where I was caught up into the heavenly realm. It seemed to me that the diversity of spiritual species is even more diverse than those on earth. These spoken of here are an intimate part of the throne of God, yet all have resemblances to earthly species—the lion, the calf, the man, and the eagle. I think when we fully experience the spiritual realm in our “next” life we will find that all earthly species resemble heavenly ones. Remember, the whole physical universe is but “a shadow” of the heavenly one.

         These four beings are like the ones Ezekiel saw in chapters 1 and 10 of his prophecy. These four also parallel the basic messages of the four Gospels. One of these emphasizes Jesus’ nature as “the Lion of the tribe of Judah” (His sacrificial nature), the calf or ox in Ezekiel (His humanity as the “Son of man”), and the eagle (His spiritual nature). That these are all revealed here as part of His throne indicates that these are foundational to the authority He will exercise upon the earth.

         That these beings are continually crying “Holy, holy, holy” is a powerful statement of how the Lord’s sanctification—His devotion to total obedience and the rejection of sin in any form—are basic to seeing Him as He is. The holiness of God, and the holiness we are called to, is rarely taught in these times, but we must see this to see Him as He is. This it will be a major subject of the last great move of God on the earth.

The Authority of Heaven—The Book of Revelation

         Last week we began to address how “Jacob’s Ladder” is Jesus Himself, as we see in John 1:47-50. We are called to be the messengers who ascend on Him into the heavenly realm. The rungs on this Ladder are the progressive revelations of who Jesus is. We go up as we see Him as our Savior. We go higher as we come to know Him as our Lord. We go up when we see Him as the Good Shepherd, and we go higher when we know Him as the “Apostle and High Priest.” We go higher when we see Jesus as the Creator and the reason for the creation, as the Apostles John and Paul wrote.

         Hebrews 6:1 tells us that we are to “leave the elementary teachings about Christ” to go on to maturity. This does not mean we leave the teachings about Christ, but rather the elementary ones so that we can go on to more advanced teachings about Him. It is all about Jesus. We will never stop seeking to know Him better and abide in Him more fully. As we are members of His body, we ascend with Him and sit with Him on His throne in the heavenly places.

         As Jacob also saw the messengers descending upon the Ladder, His messengers descend to the earthly realm to bring evidence of the kingdom of heaven’s reality—and heaven’s authority over any condition on earth. Jesus did this as He walked the earth. He was abiding with the Father and doing on the earth what He saw the Father do in heaven.

         When Jesus healed a cripple, He could see what the Father was doing in heaven—there were no cripples there. If heaven touched a cripple on earth, then heaven’s authority over all healed the cripple here. Likewise, the devil and his demons had been cast out of heaven. So when the authority of heaven touched one who was demon possessed on the earth, the demons would be cast out.

         When He saw the people lacking food, there was no lack of anything in heaven. So He touched the little boy’s lunch with the authority of heaven. By this touch, there was not lack but rather an overflow. Once you open the windows of heaven, there will always be overflow, simply because heaven is bursting with so much. As Malachi 3:10 tells us:

         “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this," says The Lord of hosts, "If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing so that there will not be room enough to receive it” (NKJV).

         We teach about this in more depth in our prophetic training, but this is a very real and practical way we are all called to live as messengers of His kingdom. Our goal every day is to see each event from the perspective of the Lord’s throne. We then seek to see our place in presenting His throne, or authority, in them.

         As we go through the door that is in heaven— we have been invited to “come up here”—we must see Him more clearly on His throne. True faith is not a formula. It is the simple recognition of Jesus—who He is and where He sits above all rule, authority, and dominion.

         True spiritual maturity could be summed up by how close we are to the Lord and how well we abide in Him. If we abide in Him, we will sit with Him on His throne in the heavenly places. That is the highest seat of authority. From the place of abiding in Him, we can “do all things through Christ” (see Philippians 4:13).

Messengers from Heaven—The Book of Revelation

         Last week we began to address the “high calling” of God in Christ, and what it takes to attain to it. We will cover this more as the message unfolds in the Book of Revelation. For now, we just need to know that there is one to make sense of the biblical prophecies we must cover.

         As we covered in Revelation 4:1-4, a door stands open in heaven with a voice calling us up. When we enter, we see the One on the throne. This door is open for each of us today. It should be a daily quest to see the glory of the One who sits on the throne. As we do, we are changed into His image, becoming like Him and doing the works that He did.

         Jesus walked the earth, but He saw it from the perspective of heaven with His Father’s eyes. He lived to do what He saw the Father doing. In this way, He touched earth with heaven everywhere He went. This too is our calling—to be more at home in the heavenly realm than in the natural realm and to bring heaven to earth.

         There is a theological principle called “the law of first mention.” More of a principle than a law, it indicates that the first mention of something in Scripture is usually a basic revelation of its purpose. The first place in Scripture where it is revealed that God has a house, or dwelling place, is when Jacob dreamed of a ladder reaching into heaven. That is a basic revelation of the purpose of God’s house—to be the place of access to heaven.

         Jacob also saw the messengers of God ascending and descending upon it. This is a profound revelation of what the house of God, the church, is called to be—the place of access to heaven in which God’s messengers ascend into the heavenly places. They then descend back to earth with evidence of heaven’s reality.

         Is this not how Jesus lived? He constantly talked about the kingdom of heaven because that is what He constantly beheld. He then demonstrated the authority of the kingdom of heaven over any condition on the earth, even death.

         Death is the ultimate enemy. It is the last enemy destroyed in the coming kingdom, but then death will have no place in creation under heaven. We can live in the kingdom now, with all the benefits and authority of the kingdom that we grow in as we mature in Christ Jesus. We only have true spiritual authority, or kingdom authority, to the degree that we abide in the King. He has overcome death. As we abide in Him, we are freed from the fear of death, the ultimate shackle the enemy uses to keep us bound to the temporary and the earthly.

         For this reason, our main goal as we seek to understand Revelation is to see Christ, to draw closer and abide in Him so that He can express Himself through us. He is the Head, and we are the body that responds to the will of the Head. Our goal is to see with His eyes, hear with His ears, and understand with His heart, so that we become like Him.

         In Revelation, much of what John saw was the harlot church, “Mystery Babylon,” and the antichrist. However, when he was carried to a high mountain, he saw the New Jerusalem, the bride of Christ. So much of what we see is the result of where we are. Seeing Babylon is important and a part of our maturing, but we do not want to stay in the place where that is all we see. We want to learn the lessons and use them to go higher.

         It is understandable that many want to just go to the mountaintop and skip the valley, but that is not how it works. Like Israel, we must go through a wilderness to get to the Promised Land. There are no shortcuts, but we can make the journey either shorter or longer by how we respond to the lessons we must learn. As Francis Frangipane said, “You never fail one of God’s tests. You just keep taking them until you pass.” The trials and revelation about the evil of man and the evil the church has fallen to is intended to prepare us for the great revelation and authority He wants us to walk in.

         So, as we proceed we must cover some hard things. Do not run from them. Remember, we are called to be overcomers. We need to let these things reveal the things in us that must be overcome. Revelation about the antichrist is in this “revelation of Jesus Christ” because the antichrist is who we all are without Christ. It is a necessary revelation of how much we need Christ.

         We all go through times of being drawn to Christ by His glory and goodness and times when we are driven to Him by the evil in the world and in ourselves. Both are part of the journey. There are seasons for each, and we will get much further if we recognize the season we’re in and embrace it, resolving that we will overcome—not be overcome. The victory comes by trusting in His cross and taking up the cross we have been called to take up daily.

         This being said, the completion of our journey is a place of unfathomable glory, peace, and joy in the Spirit. That is our home—the destiny of our sojourn. Our purpose is to bring it to those still in darkness, those who desperately need a touch from heaven. You are one of the messengers called to ascend and descend upon Jacob’s ladder, who we are shown in John 1:47-50 is Jesus Christ.

The High Calling—The Book of Revelation

     As we also see throughout Revelation, as well as other biblical prophecies of the age to come, there are positions of authority in heaven. Many Christians are under the delusion that in eternity we will all be the same, but that is well-refuted in Scripture and in Jesus’ teachings about the age to come. In places like The Parable of the Talents, Jesus taught that those who are a better steward with what they are given in this life determine how much authority they will have in the age to come.

     We also see distinctions, such as the “great company” that stands before the throne of God in Revelation 7 and the overcomers who will “sit with Him on His throne” (see Revelation 3). He also taught about those who are “greatest in the kingdom” and those who will be “the least in the kingdom.” His authority in the kingdom age is a kingdom—not a democracy as some seem to suppose. That He is “the King of kings” indicates that there are many kings in His kingdom, but He will always be preeminent.

     This brings up a question that we should now consider: If we are all perfect in the resurrection, as many suppose, what is authority in the kingdom for? We need to consider this now because of how it can affect other things revealed in Revelation.

     First, Scripture reveals an earthly resurrection and a heavenly one. Many think of eternal life being in heaven, but obviously not all are resurrected in heaven. Some, and maybe most, are resurrected on the earth. There are also rulers in the age to come, and those they rule over.

     The Scriptures are clear that it will be this way, but it does not give much detail, but rather hints. When God does not address things in more detail it is because this is all we need to know at this time. We know there is what is called “a better resurrection” (see Hebrews 11:35), which is the heavenly one. We know there are those who will not just be subjects of the kingdom, but of the Lord’s own household.

     Seeing the different resurrections helps us make sense of the many prophecies about the age to come. Also, we can understand what Paul wrote in Philippians 3—that he did not consider that he had yet attained. He was not talking about salvation or eternal life, which he attained the moment he believed in the cross of Jesus for his atonement. Paul wrote in this text near the end of his life that he was pressing on toward “the mark of the high calling of God in Christ.” Paul saw a “high calling” so great that after living one of the most remarkable missionary lives of all time, he did not assume that he had yet attained it. Rather, saying “this one thing I do,” he pressed on for the high calling (see Philippians 3:13-15).

     This life is about “training for reigning.” We are also told that the earth will be restored to the paradise it was originally created to be, and that it will be populated. The consensus of theologians and teachers has often been that many who are saved and have eternal life but did little to pursue the high calling—or did not mature in Christ—will be resurrected on the earth as part of the restoration. Those who attained to the high calling that Paul saw will be resurrected in the heavenly nature in the heavenly realm.

     This does raise other questions, which we will address as we come to the passages that illuminate them. For now, the greatest quest one could ever be on in this life is for the high calling of God in Christ. There is nothing greater that we could ever achieve in this life than this. What this is and how we pursue it is revealed throughout the Scriptures for those who have eyes to see. This is part of the message of Revelation that we see unfolding.

     We also know that all who are resurrected will have a life so wonderful that we cannot comprehend or describe it yet. Even so, as we saw in the promises to “the overcomers” in the Seven Churches of Revelation, there are greater positions and rewards bestowed on those who overcome. This also seems to be a theme of the high calling—that they fought the good fight of faith and prevailed. To be an overcomer, there must be challenges to overcome.

     What do we overcome? This begins with our carnal nature, which the New Testament teaches us how to overcome. This is no doubt a huge battle, but overcomers are those who do not give up until they have prevailed over it to abide with the Lord in the Spirit.

     The overcomers in the Seven Churches overcome the great delusions and stumbling blocks of their times as well. We began to cover some of these, as revealed in Revelation, in the church age represented by Laodicea. There may be others that are specific to the countries we have been called to, or even the profession we have been called to.

     The point is that we develop the mindset of an overcomer. We refuse to be overcome by anything of this world, even our own flesh. This whole life is meant to be a battle to test and purify those called to the highest calling—to be sons and daughters of the King of kings.

The Mark of True Authority—The Book of Revelation

         Last week we covered the twenty-four elders around the Lord’s throne in Revelation 4 and what they represent. The twenty-four elders are mentioned four more times in Revelation, and each time they fall on their faces to worship the Lord. This is a crucial picture of godly authority—they are worshippers. The greatest prophetic model of the Messiah in the Old Testament is King David, also one of the greatest worshippers in Scripture. Being devoted to worship is fundamental to those who would walk in godly authority.

         These twenty-four elders are also humble before the Lord. They bow before Him—the basic nature of all true spiritual authority. Because of the truth that “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (see James 4:6 NKJV), humility is a basic characteristic of godly authority. Certainly we have many examples of godly character in leadership today, but we also have many blatantly arrogant, boastful, dominating, and overbearing authorities in the church today with significant influence. How is this? The Apostle Paul lamented this in II Corinthians 11:19-21:

         For you, being so wise, tolerate the foolish gladly.

         For you tolerate it if anyone enslaves you, anyone devours you, anyone takes advantage of you, anyone exalts himself, anyone hits you in the face.

         To my shame I must say that we have been weak by comparison.

         It is shameful the way weak, undiscerning Christians so easily fall to this kind of carnal authority. If someone exalts himself or herself to gain influence, it is a sure sign that they are not the godly authority the Lord sends. If they take advantage of God’s people, this is also a sure sign that they have not been sent by God. What good parent would send someone like this to take care of his or her family? How much more will God only send those who are of His nature to serve His family?

         If we are called to any level of authority in the household of God, we must keep in mind whose children we serve. I recognize a ministry or position in the church when I see the Lord in them. For example, I have gotten to know the Lord as my Shepherd. I know His voice as my Shepherd. The way I recognize a true shepherd sent from God is not by their knowledge, degrees, or even who ordained them. Although these carry some weight, what I’m looking for is my Shepherd in them. The same is true of a teacher. I recognize them as a teacher when I see my Teacher in them.

         The church at Ephesus was commended for putting to the test those who called themselves apostles, but were not. If we are true, faithful shepherds or watchmen for God’s people, we have a responsibility to test any who claim to have been sent by God. I would take it as a pretty good sign that one has not been sent by God if they are offended by the test. Those who know they are sent by God will not be so insecure.

         As we proceed through the Book of Revelation, one of the main lessons is the difference between the authority of God and the counterfeit authority of the devil and how it is deceives many. This will become increasingly important as we proceed toward the end of the age.