Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy…
Anyone can read the book of revelation, but not everyone can “hear” it.
“He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches”
Like the Lord, Himself, the revelation of Jesus Christ has both a temporal (body) and an eternal (Spirit) aspect. Reading the word may give us the temporal surface of its meaning, but only “hearing” the Word (rhema) makes possible the true spiritual understanding hidden between the lines.
Too many of us have been content to work with the surface word, twisting it this way and that to make it say something credible, then building an entire eschatology upon that straw foundation. God has always intended that He should be the lone source of understanding for this book and, indeed, all of the bible. When we come to Him with this heart attitude, He is faithful to be our teacher, encouraging us to “hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches”.
For only when we hear, can we…
…keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
(Rev 1:3)
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Revelation 1:1
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him, to show unto His servants, things which must shortly come to pass…
What, exactly, is the “revelation” God gave to Christ “to show unto His servants”? The word translated here as “shortly” actually means “briefly”, “right away” or “at hand”. Therefore, we can immediately reject the popular belief that the book of revelation was given as a warning of coming natural or supernatural calamities, the rapture of the church, or some future millennial kingdom, since none of these has occurred, at the apocalyptic level, in nearly 2000 years. And no matter how you slice it, 2000 years is not “shortly”. Therefore, whatever the “revelation” is, we can be certain it has already been with us a very long time.
The Greek word “apokalupsis” translated into English becomes “revelation”, which actually means to “uncover that which was hidden”. Put another way, it means to shine light on a mystery. In a sense, God is saying that what was previously unknowable can now be known. This is why God entrusts the “revelation” to none but Christ alone, so His servants may receive it from Him directly, without the clutter and distortion of human interpretation.
…to show unto His servants…
If we examine the phrase “His servants” we find there are only two possible candidates for this title. Either it speaks of all the servants of God throughout New Testament history, or it refers only to the disciples who followed Him during His 3 ½ years of earthly ministry. For the reasons already mentioned, I don’t believe “His servants” refers to believers throughout church history. Jesus was given the revelation to show “His servants things which must shortly come to pass”, meaning things that have not yet come to pass but will very soon. If this was referring to you and me, the word “shortly” would be totally out of context.
That leaves us with one option: “His servants” speaks of those disciples still alive during the earthly ministry of Christ. This is the best interpretation of the phrase since only the disciples would be able to receive any revelation that must “shortly” come to pass. Therefore, the revelation God gave to Christ was to be given to His disciples during the 3 ½ year period Christ walked on the earth.
So, what was this revelation of Jesus Christ to His disciples?
And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
(Mat 13:10-11)
Jesus came with a revelation from the Father for His chosen disciples. He called this revelation the “mysteries of the Kingdom” and He declared it to be for “His servants” only.
For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.
(Mat 13:17)
The Kingdom was both the Lord’s message and His mandate. He declared that the end of the world would not come until the good news about the Kingdom was heard in every country. He established, through countless parables, all the characteristics of the Kingdom, how it would both look and function on the earth. He revealed its gates (salvation by grace through faith) and its source of power (the Word and the Spirit of God).
This was the true revelation of Jesus Christ to His servants the disciples. A revelation of a long promised Kingdom that would begin mere days after Christ’s ascension back to the Father (“shortly”), when the Holy Spirit of God would come down to make His home with the bride of Christ, on the day of Pentecost.
Therefore, the KINGDOM is the revelation of Jesus Christ. It was given 2000 years ago, yet is still a mystery to much of the world, including many in the church today. It is the commandment of all who can “hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches” to understand and make known this gospel of the Kingdom to the ends of the earth.
… and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
(Rev 1:1)
The key word here is “signified”. It’s the Greek word “semaino” which means “to mark or indicate symbolically”. An angel was sent to John to “signify” the revelation of Christ, or, to put it another way, to symbolize the revelation of the Kingdom. But why symbolize it? Why not simply lay it out plainly so people could understand it?
To understand the answer, we need to first understand the revelation itself…
What, exactly, is the “revelation” God gave to Christ “to show unto His servants”? The word translated here as “shortly” actually means “briefly”, “right away” or “at hand”. Therefore, we can immediately reject the popular belief that the book of revelation was given as a warning of coming natural or supernatural calamities, the rapture of the church, or some future millennial kingdom, since none of these has occurred, at the apocalyptic level, in nearly 2000 years. And no matter how you slice it, 2000 years is not “shortly”. Therefore, whatever the “revelation” is, we can be certain it has already been with us a very long time.
The Greek word “apokalupsis” translated into English becomes “revelation”, which actually means to “uncover that which was hidden”. Put another way, it means to shine light on a mystery. In a sense, God is saying that what was previously unknowable can now be known. This is why God entrusts the “revelation” to none but Christ alone, so His servants may receive it from Him directly, without the clutter and distortion of human interpretation.
…to show unto His servants…
If we examine the phrase “His servants” we find there are only two possible candidates for this title. Either it speaks of all the servants of God throughout New Testament history, or it refers only to the disciples who followed Him during His 3 ½ years of earthly ministry. For the reasons already mentioned, I don’t believe “His servants” refers to believers throughout church history. Jesus was given the revelation to show “His servants things which must shortly come to pass”, meaning things that have not yet come to pass but will very soon. If this was referring to you and me, the word “shortly” would be totally out of context.
That leaves us with one option: “His servants” speaks of those disciples still alive during the earthly ministry of Christ. This is the best interpretation of the phrase since only the disciples would be able to receive any revelation that must “shortly” come to pass. Therefore, the revelation God gave to Christ was to be given to His disciples during the 3 ½ year period Christ walked on the earth.
So, what was this revelation of Jesus Christ to His disciples?
And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
(Mat 13:10-11)
Jesus came with a revelation from the Father for His chosen disciples. He called this revelation the “mysteries of the Kingdom” and He declared it to be for “His servants” only.
For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.
(Mat 13:17)
The Kingdom was both the Lord’s message and His mandate. He declared that the end of the world would not come until the good news about the Kingdom was heard in every country. He established, through countless parables, all the characteristics of the Kingdom, how it would both look and function on the earth. He revealed its gates (salvation by grace through faith) and its source of power (the Word and the Spirit of God).
This was the true revelation of Jesus Christ to His servants the disciples. A revelation of a long promised Kingdom that would begin mere days after Christ’s ascension back to the Father (“shortly”), when the Holy Spirit of God would come down to make His home with the bride of Christ, on the day of Pentecost.
Therefore, the KINGDOM is the revelation of Jesus Christ. It was given 2000 years ago, yet is still a mystery to much of the world, including many in the church today. It is the commandment of all who can “hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches” to understand and make known this gospel of the Kingdom to the ends of the earth.
… and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
(Rev 1:1)
The key word here is “signified”. It’s the Greek word “semaino” which means “to mark or indicate symbolically”. An angel was sent to John to “signify” the revelation of Christ, or, to put it another way, to symbolize the revelation of the Kingdom. But why symbolize it? Why not simply lay it out plainly so people could understand it?
To understand the answer, we need to first understand the revelation itself…
Monday, June 15, 2009
Two Dimensional Prayer Authority
Lately I’ve been hearing from the Lord about praying in 2 dimensions. He showed me that nothing 1 dimensional can be seen, let alone acted upon effectively. Even the tiniest pencil dot on a piece of paper exists in two dimensions when viewed through a magnifying lens.
The 2 dimensions the Lord is referring to are the temporal and the spiritual. God has granted every child of Adam a degree of temporal authority. He did this the moment He decreed that Adam would have “dominion” over all the physical earth. Spiritual authority, however, has always remained with God Himself.
For God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (Joh 4:24)
When God became a man in Christ, He reclaimed two dimensional authority for Himself.
Then Jesus came near and said to them, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. (Mat 28:18)
Now, because His Holy Spirit (spiritual authority) lives in me, a child of Adam (temporal authority), I also possess this 2 dimensional authority.
But possessing is not the same as manifesting. If my prayers evidence my grasp of temporal authority in that I “speak to the mountain” but display ignorance of my spiritual authority to know and understand “why” the mountain is present in the first place, I may well be moving one mountain, only to have a bigger one take it’s place.
Likewise, if I understand the spiritual “why” of my circumstance, but fail to exercise my temporal authority to proclaim Christ’s victory over it, I have left the temporal dimension of my authority unused, resulting in half the results I should be seeing and bearing witness to.
God is all about balance. Therefore, He often, if not always, presents things in twos – Israel and the Church, grace and truth, king and priest, Word and Spirit, Adam and Christ etc. It shouldn’t be surprising, then, that satan’s preoccupation in my life is getting me to tip the scales to one side or the other. If he can get my prayer life out of balance, he knows my 1 dimensional prayers will remain largely ineffective as a weapon against his agenda for me.
However, if I’m able to achieve and maintain this Godly balance of Kingdom authority in my prayers and pursuits, the scripture teaches…
The LORD your God goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.' (Deu 20:4)
In both dimensions.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
The Fruit of My Lips
No man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who are made in God's likeness.
God spoke all of creation into existence. I am His offspring and, the scripture teaches, I have the same creative or destructive power in my words.
Every word begins as a thought. The thought produces the word and the word produces the authority either for blessing or cursing. Angels, both good and evil, act on the authority of these words. The commandment given to all angels, both good and evil, is the same -- maximize the effectiveness, reach, and impact of the word spoken.
If the word spoken in authority is a blessing, the angels of Heaven are immediately empowered by this word to maximize the impact of the blessing. This may include preparing the soil of the heart of the person being blessed so they may receive the seed blessing and produce much fruit. This can take time if the soil is fallow ground, which is why the scriptures instruct us to “wait on the Lord”. It is not the Lord we are waiting on, but ourselves to become fertile ground for the blessing.
However, the same is true when the word spoken is a curse. The demons of hell are immediately empowered by this word to maximize the impact of the curse. Sometimes this will happen immediately with some tragic event, often it is just the first toe-hold for the enemy to begin the process of maximizing the destructive impact of the curse both on the one cursed as well as others who will ultimately be caught in its expanding web of influence.
I’m reminded of the example of a church in the mid-west. The congregation had long struggled with the concept that Christ’s work of healing is a finished work, that all they had to do was receive it. They were just beginning to accept the idea and healings were taking place at every service. Then one of their own, a 17 year old boy, was in an accident on his motorbike. The entire congregation prayed over him and believed for his recovery. The boy, nevertheless, died.
This tragedy severely shook the faith of the church. The pastor was inundated with questions as to how such a thing could happen if it were really true that Christ’s work of healing was for everyone who believed. The pastor had no good answer for them. He decided to go and comfort the family as best he could. While speaking with the boy’s mother he learned that she and her son had a fight before he left. She was very angry at him and, as he was walking out the door, she said “Don’t ever come back here. I never want to see your face again”. When the pastor heard this, he asked if she had repented of saying this. She had not.
As painful as this example is, I believe it drives home the point. Satan will stand on the word spoken in authority, and he has the law on his side in doing so.
Likewise, all of Heaven will stand behind the word spoken, when that word is in agreement with the word of God and His Spirit.
From the fruit of his mouth a man's stomach is filled; he is sustained with the product of his lips. (Pro 18:20)
Life and death are in the power of the tongue, and those who desire it will eat its fruit. (Pro 18:21)
Out of the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things should not be this way. (Jas 3:8-10)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
