MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Seven Applications of Revelation

by Dennis Johnson

Why did God give us the book of Revelation? If you had asked me this question when I was a young Christian, I might have said, “To help us discover when Jesus will return to earth,” “To help us make sense of events in the Middle East,” “To give us nightmares about the tribulation so that we don’t get lax and miss the rapture,” “To give Christians something to argue about,” or, simply, “To confuse us.” My answer today is different: God gave the Apocalypse shown to John in order to bless us — to do us good, to convey His grace, to fortify our hearts. In Revelation, God promises His blessing seven times (a symbolically significant number): to those who hear and hold Revelation’s message (Rev. 1:3; 22:7), who die “in the Lord” (14:13), who stay awake and alert (16:15), who attend the Lamb’s marriage supper (19:9), who share the first resurrection (20:6), and who wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb (22:14; see 7:15).

God gave the book of Revelation neither to tantalize nor to satiate our curiosity about His hidden timetable but rather to arm us for the spiritual conflict that we face every day. At the end of my commentary on Revelation, Triumph of the Lamb, I asked, “What should this book do to us?” Below are the answers I offered in response to this query, and I believe they show how Revelation should be applied.

REVELATION HELPS CHRISTIANS SEE OUR SITUATION IN ITS TRUE 
PERSPECTIVE

Appearances can be deceiving. We often gauge how “the war” is going by the way things look to us today based on headlines about political and economic trends or global crises. The paradoxes in Revelation’s visions remind us that “we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7). Christ’s cross looked like the slaughter of a helpless lamb, but it was actually the triumph of Judah’s Lion (Rev. 5:5–10). When faithful martyrs shed their blood, their foes seem to have conquered (11:7; 13:7). In fact, the martyrs are the true victors who vanquish Satan “by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death” (12:11).

REVELATION SHOWS OUR ENEMIES IN THEIR TRUE COLORS

Our enemy is stronger and savvier than we are: “the great dragon … that ancient serpent … the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world” (12:9). But the seed of the woman has come, conquered the Serpent, and ascended to heaven (v. 5). Satan can no longer accuse: his charges have been silenced by Christ’s sacrifice (vv. 10–11). Frustrated over his defeat at the cross, Satan vents his wrath against the church on earth (vv. 12–17). His weapons are violent persecution (the Beast), plausible deception (the False Prophet), and seductive pleasure (the harlot Babylon). The sovereign state, civil religion, and luxurious indulgences may seem to be “saviors.” Don’t be fooled: they aim to destroy. Revelation’s symbolism peels back the façade that often hides the grotesque hollowness of Satan’s counterfeits.

REVELATION REVEALS OUR CHAMPION IN HIS TRUE GLORY

As its title promises, this truly is “the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1:1). It unveils Jesus and fixes our hearts and hopes on Him. He is the hero of each dramatic scene. He is the Son of Man foretold in Daniel 7, luminous in divine glory, who by His resurrection seized death’s keys and now walks among His churches. He is Judah’s Lion who conquered by being slain, redeeming people from all the earth’s peoples. He is worthy of worship from every creature everywhere. He is the Captain of heaven’s armies, riding into battle against His and our enemies, defending beleaguered saints, and finally destroying the Dragon and his beasts. Our Champion lifts our weary hearts with His promise: “Surely I am coming soon.” We reply: “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” (22:20).

REVELATION ENABLES US TO SEE OURSELVES IN OUR TRUE BEAUTY

Jesus’ messages to the churches of Asia show that His fiery eyes (1:14; 2:18) see us accurately, commending our faithfulness but exposing our flaws (chaps. 2–3). Nevertheless, as mottled as the church’s spiritual complexion is now, our Bridegroom loves us and will not rest until He presents us to Himself “as a bride adorned for her husband” (21:2), clothed “with fine linen, bright and pure” (19:8). Revelation paints our coming wedding in such vivid colors that we long to pursue now the loveliness that will then be fully ours (1 John 3:2–3).

REVELATION SUMMONS US TO ENDURE AS WE SUFFER

Revelation was originally addressed to Christians who were suffering for their faith. They experienced poverty, slander, prison, and even death (2:9–10, 13). Writhing in his death throes in the aftermath of the cross, the Dragon escalates his assault against the saints until Christ returns to consummate history. Jesus does not promise a painless escape from this war of the ages. Instead, He promises His presence as the one who is “alive forevermore” (1:18). In response to that promise, we must heed the King’s call to patient endurance (1:9; 2:2–3, 10, 13, 19, 25; 3:8, 10; 13:10; 14:12).

REVELATION CALLS US TO STAY PURE WHEN COMPROMISE INVITES

Some of the first-century churches, like many churches in the twenty-first century, faced a subtler threat than persecution. Satan, the father of lies, tried to mislead believers through purveyors of false teaching (2:15, 20). Material comfort and compromise with the paganism of the surrounding culture also proved alluring (2:14; 3:17). Such insidious assaults on wholehearted allegiance to Christ are still with us. Against the Devil’s lies and invitations to idolize pleasure and prosperity, Revelation calls us to keep our hearts and lives pure as befits those who will be the Lamb’s whiterobed bride (3:4–5, 17–18; 7:9, 14; 14:4; 19:7–8; 22:14–15).

REVELATION ENCOURAGES US TO BEAR WITNESS AS GOD WAITS

Lest Revelation’s summons to endure and stay pure incline us to withdraw into bunkers, hiding from the dangerous and defiling world, we need to heed Revelation’s encouragement to bear witness to “the testimony of Jesus.” Our word martyr is derived from the Greek word meaning “witness” (martys, 2:13). John was on Patmos “on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus” (1:9). The church is symbolized in two witnesses who announce God’s word, sealing their testimony with their blood (11:4–12; 13:7). Christ’s witnesses suffer not in timid silence but for their bold declaration that Jesus is Lord of all. Through our testimony, God is fulfilling the vision of Revelation 7: “Behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb … and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb!’” (7:9–10).

God gave us the book of Revelation not only to inform our minds but also to transform our lives. It gives us insight into the realities of our situation, our enemies, our Champion, and our true identity, and it calls us to patient endurance, hopeful purity, and courageous witness.

"QUOTE" OF THE WEEK

“Our enemy is stronger and savvier than we are: “the great dragon … that ancient serpent … the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world” (12:9). But the seed of the woman has come, conquered the Serpent, and ascended to heaven (v. 5).”  -Dennis Johnson

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.  Genesis 3:15

Why did Jesus have to come?  You ever think about that at this time of year?  Why did he have to take on flesh and be born in a barn in Bethlehem?  Genesis 3 tells us the reason.  The reason He had to come is because of the fall. 

I heard a pastor once say “The sin of mankind is the black backdrop of the Christmas message.”  We often say at this time of year that Jesus is the reason for the season and he is, but why?  Why did he have to come?  Because of sin.  So sin is also the reason for this season, that just doesn't look as good on a Christmas card.  But sin is an important part of the Christmas message. 

When an angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream in Matthew 1, he says in v.21, “She (Mary) will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”  Jesus’ very name means salvation.  That’s the reason he has come. 

Though we don’t like to think about sin and the fall and about the fact that our world is ruined and wrecked because of sin this time of year—we like to think about Christmas trees and stockings hung on the mantle and Bing Crosby—to truly understand this wonderful message of Christmas, we need to understand our sinfulness and our desperate need of a savior. 

We live in a world where messages about man’s sin and God’s wrath and judgment are not popular, even in Christian circles.  But if we don’t focus on this, on man’s sin and God’s great wrath and judgment, we will never truly come to understand His amazing grace.  It is knowing what we have been saved from that makes this message so great.  What makes God’s grace so amazing, what makes the gift of His Son so glorious, what makes the Christmas story so special is when we truly understand that without Him—without Christ, we are dead, helpless and hopeless.

I want to encourage you this Christmas season to spend time thinking about that.  Meditate on the reason why Christ came—spend time thinking on your sinfulness and God’s great mercy and grace this time of year.  I pray those truths would lead you to be more thankful and worshipful this year than ever before.  

To listen to THE CHRISTMAS STORY IN GENESIS, click HERE

"QUOTE" OF THE WEEK

The sin of mankind is the black backdrop of the Christmas message.  -anonymous 

“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, ‘How have we despised your name?’  Malachi 1:6

In Malachi, God is calling out the priests and the leaders of Israel and is saying, “You have sinned against me—you have despised my name.”  But they say in response, “HOW?”  “How have we sinned against you?  How have we despised your name?”

 God answers them in Malachi 1:8.  He says,

When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil?   

God had clearly told them that He wanted the best from them—He wanted the best sacrifices they had to offer.  But after fifty years of nothing happening in the temple, after 50 years without a word from God, they decided that instead of giving Him their best, they would just give him the rest.  They would give him what’s left. 

So they offered blind and diseased animals and kept back the best back for themselves.  They were going through the motions in worship—they were complacent.  We learn all throughout Scripture that there is nothing that enrages God more than when His people become complacent and simply go through the motions in worship and give Him the rest instead of giving Him the best. 

God says through Malachi in Malachi 1:10,

Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the LORD of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand. 

God gave a similar word to those in the Northern Kingdom of Israel through His prophet Amos when he said,

I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.  Amos 5:21

He says in Malachi 1:11,

For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts.

God is saying something similar here.  He says, “I have no pleasure in you—I will not accept an offering from your hand.”   He says, “My name will be great among you, or it must not be used by you.”  He basically says, “I would rather you close the doors to your place of worship rather than go through the motions of worship with me.” 

That’s what they were doing in Malachi’s day and then they had the audacity to say, “What?  What’s wrong with what we are doing—How have we sinned against God?”  They were going through the motions and did not see one thing wrong with it. 

Believers, this is not to be our mentality.  God wants us to come to Him with all we got—with our best and wants us to lay it at His feet—He wants us to look to Him and trust in Him for everything and he wants us to praise Him for all we have and be willing to lay it all down before Him.

"QUOTE" OF THE WEEK

For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts.  Malachi 1:11