Chapter 22
The reason for the description in
the previous chapter of the satellite city that is suspended above the earth
and all of the translucent stones is to reflect or to show through translucence
the Shekinah glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. We notice that the gates are the
names of the twelve tribes, therefore the twelve patriarchs of Israel, and we
note that the twelve apostles are on the foundation stones. The point is a very
simple one: the glory of our Lord was shown in the lives of these men at some
time and now this is an eternal reminder of that principle. The reflected glory
of the Lord is the key to the indwelling of Christ, the Shekinah glory today.
That day will be the translucent glory of the Lord.
The pearly gates of chapter 21:25.
Each gate is one pearl. There are no oysters in the eternal state! Therefore
once again in the principle of the new heavens and the new earth we have
approximations. These are all the metals and even the gold is different from
the gold of the present universe. What do the pearly gates mean? They are not
the entrance to heaven; “St. Peter” is not standing there. It means that for
every great person in the eternal state there is a team of some kind behind
him. It means that when anyone comes to the front spiritually or in any
profession, system, or organisation, there is always and inevitably others who
have contributed to that greatness. No person is great by himself. Always
others have done things for that person.
There are four paragraphs in chapter
twenty-two. Paragraph one is the final description of the eternal state, verses
1-5. Paragraph two is the dialogue of John and the angel, verses 6-11.
Paragraph three is the final declaration of Jesus Christ, verses 12-17.
Paragraph four is the final declaration of John the apostle, verses 18-21.
Verse 1, “And he [the pur sui vant messenger from the angelic
college of heralds] showed me the river of the water of life, clear as crystal,
coming from the throne of God [the Father] and from the Lamb [God the Son].”
This is the continuation of the
eternal state. This is not the same as the river coming from the Millennial
temple in Ezekiel 47:1ff, nor is it the living waters which flow from the
Jerusalem of the Millennial state in Zechariah 14:8. We are now discussing the
eternal state which must be distinguished from the Millennium, the last
dispensation in history. We have passed from history into the eternal state, as
of Revelation 21:1. The water of life emphasises the fact that this is the
eternal state in contrast to time and human history. Furthermore, the water of
life emphasises the fact that the believer in the eternal state is in a place
where there are no changes. Eternal life is guaranteed by the water of life. He
has eternal life, he cannot lose eternal life, he cannot in any way diminish or
delete eternal life. Furthermore, the eternal state is guaranteed by the water
of life forever, and just as the rainbow was God’s guarantee that the earth
would never again be destroyed by water, so the water of life is the eternal
guarantee of the eternal state. This verse further emphasises the fact that the
satellite city known as the new Jerusalem is the headquarters of the universe
in the eternal state. Both the throne of God the Father and the throne of God
the Son are located in this satellite city. The Father and the Son are
mentioned as the two members of the Godhead who are directly involved in the
vision of our so great salvation. The pattern of the cross involves two members
of the Godhead and that is why the throne of God the Father is mentioned and
“from the Lamb,” God the Son. The omniscience of God programmed into the
computer of divine decrees all the sins of history. The justice of God the
Father called for the printout of this chip when our Lord Jesus Christ was
hanging on the cross so that God the Father imputed all of these sins to Jesus
Christ on the cross. He was judged for our sins.
Verse 2. In addition to the water of
life we have the tree of life mentioned for the first time but not the last
time in this chapter. In the middle of verse 1 we have the first monument of
eternal life, the river of the water of life. “In the middle of the street.”
This is actually the end of verse one.
Now we begin verse 2, “So on either
side of the river was the tree of life [the second monument, guarantee of
eternal life in the eternal state], bearing twelve categories of fruit,
yielding its fruit every month [the variety of blessings for each month of the
year in the eternal state]: and the leaves of the trees are for the healing of
the nations,” the nations are perfect, the function of the nations, the
memorial to the laws of establishment, all of this is involved.
What does all of this mean? The
first phrase belongs to the previous verse as the location of the river of life
in the satellite city. While the river runs down the middle of the street from
which the throne of God the Father and God the Son is located. They are the
source. Hence, the street which begins at the throne is divided by a median and
the median is the river of life. The presence of the tree of life is the second
symbol guarantee that all believers in the eternal state, cannot lose it,
couldn’t lose it in time, can’t lose it in eternity. There is no indication in
the context that the believer must drink from the water of the river and eat
from the tree to perpetuate eternal life. Not at all, these are monuments to be
viewed but not necessary in order to keep going in eternity. Rather the river
of life and the tree of life are visual guarantees to all believers of the
integrity of God: that God keeps His word.
We can make application from that
now in time. Those who believe in Christ have eternal life and everywhere the
eye moves in the satellite city the believer is reminded that he is the
possessor of eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ, and nothing can change
his status in the eternal state. Whatever changes occur in the prehistoric
angelic conflict and in its extension into human history are no longer
possible. It is impossible to lose your salvation. Therefore, both the river of
life and the tree of life are the visual monuments of the reality of eternal
life for every person who has or ever will believe in Christ. Human history is
now terminated; the eternal state has begun. Nothing will destroy the status of
the believer in the eternal state.
Daily the believer has two reminders
in the satellite city: the river of life in verse one and the tree of life in
verse two. The river of life in verse one is a memorial to the grace of God the
Father while the tree of life in verse two is a memorial to the grace of God
the Son. God the Son was judged on the tree, 1 Peter 2:24, that we as believers
might have eternal life from God the Father, represented by the river of life.
Hence, both the river of life and the tree of life are monuments to the so
great salvation we possess as believers.
The trouble is that we are noting
these things in the eternal state in the body of corruption, a body that still
has an old sin nature. We are discussing things that are perpetual and eternal
and can never change. Somehow people get a little bored with the idea of no
change. So the twelve fruits also have significance. There will be different
things going on and no one will ever be bored. To have eternal life is one
thing and never to be bored is something else. To have a perpetual state in
which you will never be bored is “the dark side of happiness.” Just as the tree
of life in the Garden of Eden was a motivation to our first parents, so the
tree of life in the satellite city of the eternal state is a monument to the so
great salvation we enjoy. Note that there will be nations in the eternal state
but no conflict of nations. Grace prevails for the healing of nations. And the
reason we have nations again is a memorial to the laws of divine establishment.
There is never a dull moment in the
eternal state as illustrated by the twelve categories of fruit on the tree of
life. Every month brings something different for the capacity of the
resurrection body. Again, there is no indication that we eat the fruit, but it
represents a concept. Apparently, God will find plenty of things to make us
happy every moment of the eternal state. The eternal state will be divided into
nations of believers in glorified bodies but there will be no conflict, no
antagonism.
Verse 3, the removal of the curse. “And there shall no longer be
any curse: furthermore the throne of God [the Father] and of the Lamb [God the
Son] shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him.”
During the Millennial reign of
Christ the curse was lifted from planet earth, that is from nature, but not
from people. People still had their old sin natures. Man was still born with
the old sin nature, the body of corruptibility, and the concept of total
depravity. The demonstration of the Millennial reign of Christ is that man in
total depravity cannot enjoy perfect environment. The difference in the eternal
state from the Millennium is perfect people in perfect environment, so that
perfect environment will be enjoyed by perfect people with perfect capacity.
The eternal state is the status of perpetual perfection on the part of
believers, hence ultimate sanctification. The problem of trying to visualise
this in the mind is the problem that so many people have. They know so many
self-righteous believers, and these self-righteous believers think that they
are already perfect when in reality they are a pain in the neck to everyone who
knows them and has to be in their presence for any length of time. So you have
the idea of imposing prejudices on everyone in the eternal state, but everyone
will be perfect there. There will be no such thing as a flawed personality or
any “unfortunate” personalities or personality conflicts.
Verse 4, a new relationship with
God. “They shall both see his face; and his royal title shall be on their
foreheads.” The believer will be face to face with the Shekinah glory, our Lord
Jesus Christ, without any fear of death, and the believer will be identified
forever by having the title of our Lord on his forehead. We belong to Christ
forever.
Verse 5, the eternal relationship
with God. “And there shall no longer be night; furthermore they do not have
need of light of a lamp, or the light of the sun; because the Lord God [Jesus
Christ, the Shekinah glory] will give them light [He will illuminate them]: and
they shall reign forever and ever.”
The new universe is illuminated by
our Lord Jesus Christ as the Shekinah glory. This is why there is no sacred
building or temple in the eternal state.
Summary: Verses 3-5
Verse 3,
1. Perfect restoration, “no more
curse.”
2.
Perfect administration, “God and the Lamb shall be in it.”
3. Perfect subordination, “His
servants shall serve him.”
Verse 4,
4. Perfect transformation, “they
shall see his face.”
5. Perfect identification, “His
title shall be on their foreheads.”
Verse 5,
6. Perfect illumination, “the Lord
will give them light.”
7. Perfect exultation, “they shall
reign forever.”
Wilbur
Smith: Wycliffe Bible Commentary Series:—
“All
the glorious purposes of God ordained from the foundation of the world have now
been attained. The rebellion of angels and mankind is all and finally subdued
as the King of kings assumes His rightful sovereignty. Absolute and
unchangeable holiness characterises all within the kingdom of God. The
redeemed, made so by the blood of the Lamb, are in resurrection and eternal
glory. Life is everywhere and death will never intrude again. The earth and the
heavens both are renewed. Light, beauty, holiness, joy, the presence of God,
the worship of God, the service to Christ, likeness to Christ, all are now
abiding realities. The vocabulary of man made for life here is incapable of
truly adequately depicting what God has prepared for those who love him.”
Verses 6-11, we now have a dialogue
between John and the angel. First of all we have the doctrinal veracity of the
book of Revelation. We begin with the sequential use of the conjunction kai, followed by the aorist active indicative of legw, “Then he said.” When it says “he” we are referring
to the pur sui vant messenger, this
angel who was on the death squad but is now a professor of eschatology. The
tour guide is now almost over and we are going to pull together the loose ends
for the Church Age believer. The constative aorist contemplates the action of
the verb in its entirety, which means that the angel is now going to summarise
the essential loose threads, important principles and doctrines that we must
understand before the Bible is closed out. We have the dative singular indirect
object of the personal pronoun e)gw, correctly translated “to
me.” This is also dative of advantage. It means that John is to be benefited by
communication with his professor, “Then he said to me.”
Next we have the nominative plural
subject from the near demonstrative pronoun o(utoj, “These.” With it is the
nominative plural subject, logoj, “doctrines.”
“These doctrines,” that is the subject, the content of the book of Revelation.
We have an ellipsis which demands the verb to be, e)imi,
“These doctrines are.” Then we have two predicate adjectives used as
substantives, pistoj and
a)lhqinoj: “faithful” means
dependable. You can count of these doctrines. The word pistoj means dependable or
inspiring faith; alhqinoj means true.
Translation so far: “Then he said to
me, These doctrines are dependable and true.” The principle is very simple.
God’s Word, including the book of Revelation, reflects the absolute veracity of
God’s attributes. When we are studying the Word of God we are studying the absolute.
The absolutes behind the Word of God are the perfect attributes of God Himself.
The Bible, then, is a reflection of divine essence. Hence the Bible contains
doctrine from God as absolute truth. Not everything contained in the Bible is
true because it records the Satanic lies, the evil functions of fallen angels
and men, and it has a lot to do with people in the cosmic system. But
inspiration guarantees the veracity of what is recorded.
Now we have a statement from the
angel, and in the middle of verse 6 we have a kai,
but this is an inferential kai, a conclusion from the
preceding. It is translated “therefore.” Then there is the nominative singular
subject kurioj, meaning “Lord.” It can be
used for any member of the Trinity, the connotation is deity. Kurioj is generally used for God the Son as the revealed
member of the Godhead, but in 2 Corinthians 3:17,18 kurioj
is used for the Holy Spirit. That is the designation here, “therefore the
Lord,” a reference to God the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is introduced for
the first time but not the last. The Holy Spirit is the member of the Trinity
who functions, as it were, behind the scenes. If there is any word that would
describe the ministry of the Spirit it is the word “power” or “enablement.” God
the Holy Spirit is the enabler, He gives us what is necessary. None of us have
the ability to understand the gospel apart from the ministry of God the Holy
Spirit. Note that the word “Holy” does not occur in the King James version, we
have the noun pneuma but not hagioj, “therefore the Lord [the Holy Spirit], the God of
the spirits of the prophets.” The only use of pneuma
here is for the human spirit. The Old Testament was written by those who had
the gift of prophecy. God the Holy Spirit so presented to them the material
that they used under the doctrine of inspiration that they were able to
communicate God’s complete and connected Word to us. These prophets were born
again, they had human spirits, and the point is that the Holy Spirit
communicates spiritual phenomena to the human spirit. But you don’t have a
human spirit until after you believe in Christ. The pattern of the Holy Spirit
to the human spirit of the prophets is the pattern by which the believer of the
Church Age learns Bible doctrine at gate four of the divine dynasphere.
The middle of verse 6 is where we
find ourselves: “therefore the Lord the God of the spirits of the prophets.”
This is the principle of the ministry of God the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 2:4, “That my
doctrines and my preaching were not in persuasive words of man’s wisdom.” The
Greeks admired beautiful speech no matter what the thought content was. The
Romans had adopted Greek culture and therefore were often were interested in
eloquence rather than what was being said. Paul continues: “instead they were a
demonstration of the Spirit.” When he says this he is recognising the fact that
no unbeliever can ever understand the gospel apart from the ministry of God the
Holy Spirit. We are born spiritually dead. Adam’s original sin is imputed to us
the very moment that we are born. It is imputed to the old sin nature. Human life
is imputed to the soul, therefore we are born physically alive but spiritually
dead. Spiritually dead means we cannot understand spiritual phenomena. The
gospel is spiritual phenomena. We are here as believers not because we were
able to take it up, being a genius, but because God the Holy Spirit under a
doctrine called common grace made it real. In other words, the only thing that
God the Holy Spirit can give us by way of salvation fact is what is accurately
communicated in witnessing, by the evangelist, by the pastor, by whomever is
giving the information. God the Holy Spirit uses only accurate information and
none of us would ever be here as believers were it not for the third person of
the Trinity. That is why Paul says, “my teaching is in the demonstration of the
Spirit and of power.”
He is talking about two things.
First of all he is talking about the unbeliever, and then he is talking about
the believer. The unbeliever is spiritually dead. If the unbeliever is going to
be saved he must have facts. The facts are called the gospel. But he can be
given gospel facts and never understand it, it is the ministry of God the Holy
Spirit called enablement in which He acts as a human spirit to enable the
unbeliever to understand the facts of the gospel. The facts of the gospel would
be totally incomprehensible were it not for the fact that God the Holy Spirit
enables us to understand. The same ministry of God the Holy Spirit functioning
at gate one of the divine dynasphere enables us as believers to understand
doctrine.
Verse 5, “that your faith should not
be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God,” he is talking now about
believers and life in the divine dynasphere, God’s protocol system.
Verse 6, “However, we keep on
teaching wisdom among the mature; not the wisdom of this age, nor the rulers of
this age, who are fading out;
Verse 7, “but we communicate wisdom
from God in a mystery [the technical word for Bible doctrine for the Church
Age], which has been concealed, which God predesigned before the ages resulting
in our glory [the function of the protocol system];
Verse 8, “doctrine which none of the
rulers of this age have understood,” The Roman empire was the first client
nation to God. It’s rulers were generally degenerate. Some were not but they
were still evil. The client nation to God functioned magnificently with
terrible rulers. The point is that it doesn’t make any difference who is ruling
the nation. What counts is the size of the pivot of mature believers, “for if
they had known [but they did not], they would not have crucified the Lord of
glory;
Verse 9, “but as it stands written,
‘Things which the eye has not seen and the ear has not heard [empiricism as a
system of perception], also the things that have not entered into the right
lobe of man [rationalism as a system of perception],” doctrine is not learned
by rationalism and doctrine is not learned by empiricism. In other words, we do
not learn doctrine by our human ability. None of us can understand doctrine
apart from the ministry of God the Holy Spirit. Doctrine is spiritual phenomena
and spiritual phenomena can only be understood by a spiritual apparatus.
Verse 10, “For to us [believers] God
has revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit investigates all things,
including the deep things from God.” God the Holy Spirit is ultimately our
teacher, the One who enables us to understand.
Verse 11, “For what man understands
the things of man except from a frame of reference, which is in him? But even
so the things of God [doctrine] no one has known except the Spirit of God.”
What we know now the Holy Spirit has always known, and He makes it possible for
us to understand these things.
Verse 12, “Now we have not received
the world’s frame of reference, but the spirit [human spirit],” for us to begin
to learn we must be trichotomous. The unbeliever cannot understand anything
because he is spiritually dead, he has a body and a soul but no human spirit.
He can understand in his soul things related to human life but he cannot
understand things in his soul things related to God. After a person accepts
Christ as saviour he has a body and a soul and now a human spirit. When we were
spiritually dead the Holy Spirit must act as a human spirit so that we can
understand the gospel to have enough facts to make a decision.
Verse 12, “Now we have not received
the world’s frame of reference, but the human spirit from the source of God,
that we might have permanent knowledge of things [doctrines] which have been
graciously given to us under the authority of God.” The whole system of
learning doctrine is a protocol system.
Verse 13, “which things we also
teach by categories,” if we are ever going to learn the Christian way of life
we must learn it systematically, that is why we have categories of doctrine,
not by the teaching from the source of man’s wisdom, but by teaching from the
source of the Spirit, bringing together truth [doctrine] to a spiritual
apparatus [the function of GAP].”
Verse 14, the unbeliever. “But the soulish
man [the unbeliever is dichotomous, he is called the yuxikoj man] does acquire knowledge from the doctrines of
the Spirit of God; to him they are foolishness, furthermore he is not able to
acquire knowledge because they [the doctrines, the gospel message] are
discerned from the source of the [human] spirit,” and he doesn’t have the human
spirit, a spiritual apparatus. He is spiritually dead.
Verse 15, “But the spiritual [the
protocol believer living in the divine dynasphere] discerns all things [of
doctrine], but he himself is discerned by no man [the privacy of the priesthood
in perception of doctrine].”
Verse 16, “For who has come to know
the Lord’s mind, who shall instruct him? But we keep on having the mind of
Christ [Bible doctrine]?”
This explains the first part of
Revelation 22:6: “therefore the Lord God [the Holy Spirit] of the prophets has
sent his angel to make known.”
The doctrine of common grace
1. The doctrine of the total
depravity of man finds the unbeliever totally helpless to understand the
gospel. Therefore the integrity of God demands that the power of God be
effective not only in the life of the believer but in the life of the
unbeliever as well. How can anyone accept the gospel if he doesn’t understand
the issue? He cannot. He is spiritually dead and is incapable of understanding,
therefore the ministry of God the Holy Spirit in “common grace.”
2. Therefore the enabling ministry
of God the Holy Spirit is directed toward both believer and unbeliever. God the
Holy Spirit has a major portion in the life of the human race. Unbeliever: the
Holy Spirit has a responsibility called common grace. Common grace means simply
the Holy Spirit enables the unbeliever to understand the gospel. The believer
therefore has facts on which to make a decision.
3. For the believer the provision is
the divine dynasphere for understanding. Everything in relationship to God
demands perception: understanding God as God is revealed.
4. The grace of God always finds
mankind helpless, whether it is believer or unbeliever. The unbeliever is
spiritually dead, therefore totally helpless to understand the gospel and to
perceive the issue of salvation.
5. Therefore God the Holy Spirit
functions as a human spirit to reveal the gospel to the dichotomous unbeliever,
“the soulish man receives not the things of the Spirit of God.”
6. Not only is mankind born
dichotomous, body and soul, but at the same time the imputation of Adam’s
original sin means that he is spiritually dead — also called totally depraved,
the doctrine of the total depravity of man.
7. Just as you cannot communicate
with a corpse, or just as a corpse cannot perceive, so the gospel cannot be
understood by the unbeliever. Therefore, God the Holy Spirit functions as the
one who makes us understand, the enabling power of the Holy Spirit.
8. When mankind became spiritually
dead, when Adam sinned in the garden, Adam as the federal head of the human
race sinned, and therefore when man became spiritually dead Adam lost the power
to understand what God taught. But he did not lose simultaneously
self-determination. Hence, the free will or human volition of man must have
facts on which to make a decision. Though spiritually dead man still has self-determination.
These facts are learned by the ministry of God the Holy Spirit whose function
as a human spirit enables an unbeliever to understand Christ as the issue in
salvation. Common grace can be compared to the inhale of the gospel.
The doctrine of efficacious grace
Efficacious grace is the exhale of
faith in Christ through the enabling power of the Holy Spirit. So that when it
says, “By grace are you saved through faith”, grace means that God the Holy
Spirit gave you the ability to believe, because under the doctrine of total
depravity we don’t have that ability on our own, even with the facts. All we
can throw up is this weak positive signal. That positive volition is converted
into faith in Christ through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
Even after understanding some phase
of the gospel or the saving work of Christ man is still incapable of believing
in Christ. Man’s helplessness is simply the expression of his total depravity.
The unbeliever with gospel understanding now needs help even to believe in
Christ. Remember the man who fell down at Jesus’ feet and said, “I believe,
help thou mine unbelief.” He was simply expressing that even when we are
positive we need help. There never will be a time when we do not need help.
The unbeliever with gospel
understanding needs help. From what source does the help come? First of all it
comes from eternity past. The omniscience of God programmed into a PROM chip called “election”. Billions of years ago God knew that at a
certain point we would hear the gospel. God the Holy Spirit had already agreed
before man existed to function as the perceptive instrument for the facts, to
enable us to understand the gospel as spiritually dead unbelievers. He knew
that as a result of having the facts these weak positive signals would go up,
but they are helpless. God the Holy Spirit converts them into exhale, faith in
Christ. Knowing that, God called us. We respond, but we are too weak to do
anything, so God the Holy Spirit gives us the necessary breath to exhale. In eternity
past God the Father programmed into the computer of divine decrees the positive
decision of every human being who would believe in Christ, and this PROM chip known as election to privilege is a printout of the computer of
divine decrees. It is simply God’s prior knowledge of what we would do when
came into contact with the gospel. Hence, the gospel understanding from common
grace results in a call, kalew, the verb of election, a
divine call to those with positive volition at God-consciousness. This divine
call is made by God the Holy Spirit under the concept of efficacious grace. The
human will of the positive believer is weak and because of total depravity and
spiritual death God the Holy Spirit enables our volition to believe in Christ.
Even our volition needs help. Common grace is the inhale of the gospel;
efficacious grace is the exhale of faith in Christ. In both cases we have the
enabling work of God the Holy Spirit. Efficacious grace is not a process but an
instantaneous act of God the Holy Spirit in enabling the unbeliever to believe
in Christ. If you accept the fact of doctrine that the imputation of Adam’s
original sin at birth means spiritual death, then you have to recognise our
total inability to believe in Christ apart from the enabling work of God the
Holy Spirit.
The doctrine understanding from
common grace results in a call, an invitation, kalew, the divine call to those
with positive volition at God-consciousness and at gospel-hearing. This divine
call is made by God the Holy Spirit under the principle of efficacious grace.
But the human will of the positive believer is weak and there is where total
depravity comes in again: spiritual death. Therefore God the Holy Spirit
empowers the weak human volition to believe in Christ where positive volition
exists at the point of common grace. Remember that common grace is the inhale
of the gospel; efficacious grace is the exhale of the gospel.
The next verb in verse 6 is the
aorist active indicative of a)postellw which means to send. The culminative
aorist tense contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety but regards it
from the viewpoint of existing results, the enlightenment of the apostle John,
the human author of the book of Revelation, “therefore the Lord, the God of the
spirits of the prophets has sent his angel.” The active voice: God the Holy
Spirit, divine author of the scripture produces the action of the verb in
sending to the human author the information to the angel. The indicative mood
is declarative for the reality of the Spirit sending the pur sui vant messenger for the function as a professor of
eschatology to the apostle John. The accusative singular direct object a)ggeloj, “his angel,” possessive genitive. This is how John
receives the information which he passes on to us through the Word of God.
The purpose of the angelic professor
is given in the final phrase of the verse, the aorist active infinitive of the
verb deiknumi which means to declare, to
show, to reveal. We will translate it “to make known.” The constative aorist
tense contemplates the function of the teaching angel from the angelic college
of heralds. The active voice: the professor of eschatology, the pur sui vant messenger, produces the
action. This is the infinitive of intended result when the result is indicating
or fulfilling a deliberate objective, therefore a blending of purpose and
result. Then we have the dative plural indirect object of douloj which means “slave.” Notice the plural. Anyone who
communicates the message of the Word of God is a slave. Not only to John is
this word addressed but in the plural it is addressed to every pastor who has
ever studied this passage since the first century. Furthermore, this is the
dative of indirect object which means that John and any pastor who studies it
receives blessing from doing so.
Then he goes on to say, “to make
known to his servants,” John and future students of Revelation, “the things
which soon must come to pass.” This is a very important phrase because it
introduces our next doctrine. The accusative neuter plural from the relative
pronoun w(j is translated, “the things
which.” The impersonal verb dei means “must.” Then there is
the aorist active infinitive of ginomai, “come to pass.” But that
is not the key. The real key here is the adverb taxu,
correctly translated “soon.” In other words, the word “soon” or taxu actually tells us that the book of Revelation is an
historical textbook, beginning at AD 96 and going to the end of
time, and then jumping over into the eternal state for just a few paragraphs.
This historical textbook is divided into two sections. The historical trends of
the Church Age, the word taxu also
means that prophecy will begin again. The Church Age is the dispensation of no
prophecy. When the Rapture of the Church occurs that is the next prophetical
event. The word “soon” means prophecy beginning again. When does prophecy
start? The next item of prophecy on the agenda is the Rapture. It could have
happened in John’s day, “soon.” It could have happened in Paul’s day, he used
the word “soon” also. “Soon” means that there is no prophecy to be fulfilled
before the Rapture of the Church; it is an adverb for prophecy beginning again.
Translation of verse 6: “Then he
said to me, these doctrines are dependable and true: therefore the Lord, the
God of the spirits of the prophets has sent his angel to make known to his
servants the things [prophecies] which must soon come to pass.”
Verse 7, taxu or “soon” refers to
prophecy. There is no prophecy in the Church Age. So we are going to have the
word “soon” and we are going to have the phrase, “I am coming soon,” a phrase
for the Rapture of the Church. And it isn’t mentioned only once in verse 7, it
is mentioned in verses 7, 12, and 20. Three times in the last chapter in the
Bible we have the phrase, “I am coming soon.” Obviously it has great
significance.
The baptism of the Holy Spirit
occurred for the first time on the Day of Pentecost. God the Holy Spirit took
every believer alive on planet earth and entered him into union with Christ. That
was the beginning of the formation of the royal family of God. That was a
prophecy which our Lord mentioned in John 14:20. There is no prophecy during
the Church Age. The next prophecy will be at the end of the Church Age. “Soon”
is verse seven doesn’t mean “quickly,” as it is translated in the King James
version. It means in sequence of events, this will be the next time there is
prophecy.
We begin with the conjunction kai which introduces a conclusion, so we translate it
“Therefore.” The conjunction refers to the last phrase of the previous verse.
Hence, the Church Age is the dispensation of no prophecy, the dispensation of
historical trends. We have the demonstrative particle i)dou, and it means to concentrate, “Therefore, behold.”
It calls attention to the next prophetical event. Then the present active
indicative of the verb e)rxomai.
E)rxomai can be used either for the second advent or the Rapture, the context
determines. It means to come, “Therefore, behold I come,” followed by the
adverb taxu again, “soon.” This is the imminency
of the Rapture. What does “soon” mean? When our Lord gave us this promise it
was AD 96. The elapse of time means no unfulfilled
prophecy, the Rapture is imminent. When the Lord said, “I am coming soon,” in AD 96 He was saying that the next prophetical event is when He comes in
the air and we meet there.
The present tense of e)rxomai is a futuristic present, it denotes the Rapture as
not yet occurring but it regards it as so certain that in thought it may be
contemplated as already coming to pass. In other words, the futuristic present
confirms the doctrine of the imminency of the Rapture. Nearly all of the
apostles have something to say about the fact that the Rapture could have
occurred while they were still alive. It didn’t occur while they were still
alive but it could have because there is no prophecy to be fulfilled. “Soon”
means tonight, tomorrow night or a thousand years from now. The active voice:
our Lord produces the action, the Rapture of the Church. The indicative mood is
declarative for a dogmatic statement of doctrine, the doctrine of the imminency
of the Rapture. While e)rxomai is used for the second
advent of Christ it must be remembered that Revelation was written to the
Church, not to the Tribulational believers or the Millennial believers.
Revelation is a book of history and prophecy, therefore the historical textbook
from the completion of the canon of scripture to the end of time.
The Rapture is defined as an act or
a fact of being transported; hence, used in a technical theological sense to
describe the resurrection of the Church. It is the doctrine of the transfer.
The entire Church, the dead in Christ first and then we who are alive and
remain, are caught up together with Him to meet Him in the air. “And so shall
we ever be with the Lord.” That is a permanent transfer. Since the Church is
the royal family of God it has certain privileges that other believers in other
dispensations do not have. In fact, this is the dispensation of privilege. The
privilege here is that before Old Testament saints, Abraham, Moses, David,
etc., are resurrected we, the Church, are resurrected first. Why? Because we
are royal family of God. All of the Old Testament saints were simply family of
God. The imminency of the Rapture means no prophecy to be fulfilled before the
resurrection of the Church. When the royal family is completed, whenever that
is, then the resurrection of the Church will occur. Since the Church Age is the
dispensation of no prophecy and since there are no intervening prophetical
events between the baptism of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost we simply say
that the Rapture is imminent.
An example of something that is not
imminent would be the second advent of Christ. The second advent of Christ is a
prophecy but it is not imminent because first of all there must be the
resurrection of the Church and then all of the events between Revelation
chapters 6 and 19 have to be fulfilled first. So the second advent is not
imminent but the Rapture is. By way if contrast the Rapture can occur at any
time since no prophecies have to be fulfilled.
In verse 7 we have the end of the
Church Age. It will end in a moment of time with a resurrection: the Rapture of
the Church. “I am coming soon” is the doctrine of the imminency of the Rapture.
The futuristic present tense of e)rxomai denotes the Rapture as not
yet occurring but regards it as so certain that in thought it may be
contemplated as already coming to pass. Hence, the futuristic present emphasises
the imminency of the Rapture.
The next phrase says, “Happy is he.”
We have the nominative singular subject makarioj which means “happy,” then the articular present active participle of terew which means to have it and to guard it. Being an articular
participle the definite article is used as a personal pronoun. It refers to the
believer who resides and functions and continues momentum inside the divine dynasphere,
the sphere of the enabling power of God the Holy Spirit. The present tense is a
customary present, it denotes what habitually occurs to the believer living
inside the divine dynasphere. As a protocol Christian, as a winner in the
spiritual life through momentum inside the divine dynasphere, he has both
capacity for happiness and the reality of happiness to match his capacity. In
God’s plan is the capacity first, but once you have the capacity He provides
the happiness, the blessings. The active voice: the believer living inside the
divine dynasphere produces the action. The participle is circumstantial. The
object of the participle in the accusative plural is logoj, “doctrines.” “Happy is he who keeps the
doctrines,” referring to Revelation specifically but to the completed canon of
scripture in its entirety.
The word “doctrines” is followed by
the ablative of source from biblion. This recognises, now, that
the canon of scripture is completed. With it we have a demonstrative pronoun, o(utoj, the near demonstrative translated “this book.”
Nothing is more important to the believer than “this book.” “Happy is he who keeps
the doctrines of the prophecy from this book.” Note that the happiness derived
from life in the divine dynasphere is greater than any of the circumstances of
life. Happiness belongs to believers regardless of circumstances.
Verse 8, in his enthusiasm John
glorifies a creature. This is a repetition of John’s mistake in Revelation
19:10. It is possible to become so carried away with the Word that you confuse
the communicator with the content, a very dangerous situation. For the second
time this great apostle makes that error. The first mistake occurred with the
officer of arms from the angelic college of heralds; this occurs with the pur sui vant messenger from the angelic
college of heralds. There must be an increasing enthusiasm here because the
highest-ranking angel in the college of heralds is the king of arms, but the
lowest-ranking angel in the college of heralds is the pur sui vant messenger.
Corrected translation of verses 8
and 9: “And I John am the one who heard and saw these things. Then when I heard
and saw, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who made known these
things to me. Then he [the angel] said to me, Don’t do it: for I am your fellow
servant, along with your brethren the prophets, and along with those who keep
the doctrines of this book. Worship God.”
“worship God,” the aorist active
imperative of the verb proskunew. The constative aorist
contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety. The active voice: the
apostle John, the highest-ranking Christian alive in AD 96, is commanded not to fall down at the feet of the angel but is
commanded to produce the action of the verb toward God. This is the imperative
of command. The active singular indirect object from the noun qeoj includes an understanding of the ministry of all
members of the Trinity.
The content of the doctrine of the
teaching angel was so fantastic, so inspiring, to John that he had an emotional
reaction resulting in what might be classified as an impulsive act. He
worshipped the creature source of the information rather than the one who
provided it, the Lord Himself. In other words, enthusiasm for doctrine
sometimes leads people to glorify the teacher of doctrine rather than the
subject of doctrine who is our Lord Jesus Christ. The teacher of doctrine is a
voice, the means of communication of doctrine.
In John’s first mistake he received
a powerful answer from the officer of arms. Revelation 19:10 is that answer:
“The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy,” or in corrected
translation, “Doctrinal communication about Jesus is perceptive insight into
prophecy.” In other words, emphasis must be placed on the content of the Word —
in this case prophecy, not the one who communicates it. Though different
categories of creation both the teaching angel and the apostle John serve God
as communicators. Essentially the message from the angel to John was simple. It
is not the angel it is the message. The worship of the subject of
eschatological doctrine is worship of Jesus Christ. So it is the same old
story: it is not the man it is always the message. The day one gets his eyes on
the teacher of doctrine he ceases to understand and learn the content of
doctrine. Momentum in the Christian life comes from perception of doctrine. The
believer must be occupied with Christ, not preoccupied with the pastor-teacher.
Verse 10, the importance of the book
of Revelation. The Lord Jesus Christ has made two important prophecies in His
life. Remember that in His humanity He is a king, the son of David; He is a
priest, the high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, therefore a
king priest. And our Lord Jesus Christ is also a prophet. As a prophet He gave
two prophecies: one with regard to the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and one that
He was coming soon. Between the prophecy of the baptism of the Spirit and the
prophecy of the Rapture of the Church there is no prophecy. The Church Age is
the dispensation of historical trends.
We begin verse 10 with the
sequential use of the conjunction kai, “Then,” followed by the
present active indicative of legw, “Then he said to me.” Then
comes the prohibition, the aorist active subjunctive of the verb sfragizw plus the negative mh,
“seal not.” The ingressive aorist tense contemplates the action of the verb at
its beginning, hence it denotes entrance into a state or condition. With the
negative mh it prohibits the sealing of
the book of Revelation. Why? Because what John has been doing is writing these
things down and sending them across the water to the seven churches of the book
of Revelation. After he gets through with it he seals it and sends it as his
sermon. It is like mailing something. Don’t seal it! This book is very
important it is going to be a part of the canon of scripture. The active voice:
John as the human author is commanded not to produce the action, not to seal
the book. Revelation is therefore said to be an open book, not a closed one.
Therefore it is a book that can be understood. Any book in the Bible can be
understood by someone who has advanced enough to understand it, and any book in
the Bible can be taught by one who has the gift of pastor-teacher. The
subjunctive mood of prohibition with the negative mh
means a negative command, “Do not seal up.” Then we have the word logoj in the accusative and which
means “doctrines,” “Do not seal up the doctrines of the prophecy of this book.”
The Church Age is the dispensation
of no prophecy, therefore historical trends rather than prophetical trends.
Once the Church Age is completed by the Rapture then the prophetical trends of
history will resume.
The next phrase begins with the post
positive explanatory conjunction gar, “for.” Then we have a
nominative singular subject from kairoj,
“for the time.” Kairoj means historical sequence
of time, therefore it could almost be translated the historical sequence moving
on. We have the present active indicative of e)imi,
“is.” Then an adverb of time e)gguj, “near.” The ministry of
the apostle John in AD 96, including the
completion of Revelation, is in a most important transitional period. Judea,
the last Jewish client nation, having been destroyed and having moved into the
times of the Gentiles when only a Gentile client nation could function, means
that this is a very important period. SPQR is now the first Gentile
client nation to God.
Translation of verse 10: “Then he
instructed me, Do not seal up the words [doctrines] of the prophecy of this
book: for the time is near.”
The ministry of the apostle John in AD 96, including the completion of Revelation, was the time for preparing
the Roman empire for its role as a client nation. In 70 AD the fifth cycle of discipline was administered by Rome to the Jewish
nation. The Jewish nation was wiped out as a client nation to God. So in 70 AD a new time clock began to tick which has to do with the times of the
Gentiles. Only Gentile nations can function as a client nation to God during
the Church Age.
This book must be open to all the
seven churches, to Christians in every generation. It is an open book, and
“seal not” means that when a believer has mastered certain basic doctrines he
is ready for the book of Revelation, though it isn’t where you start as a
Christian. Revelation is an orientation to the doctrine that you have to the
time in which you live. The book of Revelation recognises the initial pivot of
the new client nation to God, the first of the Gentile client nations, a pivot
formed around seven churches of Revelation chapters two and three. The time is
near for this drastic change in history. The times of the Gentiles prophesied by
our Lord in Revelation 21:24 is now coming to pass. The pivot centre for the
first client nation will be the Roman province of Asia, the west coast of
Turkey. The trends of the Church Age, the dispensation of no prophecy, are
recorded in Revelation chapters two and three. The next prophetical event is
the Rapture of the Church and this is why the Rapture is said to be imminent.
The Church in heaven as a result of the Rapture is found in Revelation chapters
four and five. In Revelation chapters six through nineteen we have a detailed
eschatology of the Tribulation and the second advent.
If there is so much detail why is the book of Revelation written
to the Church and not the Tribulational saints? So there will never be any
doubt in our minds. There will be great periods of adversity, of historical
disaster, but we are to understand that the Church will not go through any part
of the Tribulation. We are not in the Tribulation, we will never be in the
Tribulation, the Rapture will occur before the Tribulation, and therefore
whatever adversity we have we have brought upon ourselves. The eternal state is
the subject of Revelation 21:1-22:5 and we have noted this in just enough
detail to realise that we have a glorious future ahead. Therefore, Revelation
must not be sealed. The last book of the Bible is a historical textbook, it is
going to give us trends in our time, it will keep us from making the stupid
assumption that we are going to be in any part of the Tribulation.
Verse 11, there are some options in history.
We have the articular present active participle of the verb a)dikew. A)dikew means he who does wrong. The definite
article is used as the personal pronoun. The present tense is retroactive
progressive, denoting what has begun in the past and continues into the present
time — also known as the present of duration. The active voice: mankind
produces the action of the verb. This is a circumstantial participle followed
by an aorist active imperative of the same verb, a)dikew. It should be translated: “He who does wrong, let him do wrong.”
Notice was it does not say: He who commits crime let him commit crime. Crime
must be restrained but people are free to follow their own volition in life.
They are free to make mistakes, they are free to do wrong, but they are not
free to commit crime. Crime is an attack upon human freedom.
Now the word “filthy.” We have the
nominative singular from Greek word ruparoj which means a degenerate
person, a defiled person. With this we have the aorist passive imperative from rupainw, “continue to be defiled.” And what are we to do?
Let him alone. Let the degenerate continue to be degenerate. As long as history
continues those in the cosmic system will continue to manifest and display
various types of degeneracy. Some will manifest moral degeneracy:
self-righteous arrogance, crusader arrogance. Some will manifest immoral
degeneracy. All mankind must take the responsibility for his own decisions.
Then we have the other side of the
picture. We start out with the aorist passive imperative of the verb a(giazw, “let the saint [believer]
continue to be set apart.” In other words, don’t bother believers in the divine
dynasphere, let them live there. This passage says, “furthermore, let the
righteous [the believer living in the divine dynasphere] still produce
something.” What is he going to produce? He is going to produce integrity —
“and let the holy person [the saint, the set apart one] still be holy [continue
to function in the protocol plan of God].”
Translation of verse 11: “Let him
who does wrong continue to do wrong: let the defiled person continue to be
defiled: furthermore, let the righteous one still produce integrity: and let
the saint continue to be set apart”
This passage is dealing with life in
the cosmic system versus life in the divine dynasphere which is the protocol
plan of God. As long as human history continues mankind possesses volition with
freedom to choose for God or Satan’s cosmic system. Furthermore, this option or
free will exists in the entire period of the believer’s life in time. The
options are clarified by the divine mandates and these mandates are the basis
for the believer’s responsibility to fulfill the protocol plan of God. From the
standpoint of the plan of God all believers are either winners or losers. They
should be free to function outside of the function of crime, they should be
free to continue to be winners or losers, for they will be held accountable at
the judgment seat of Christ.
The final declaration of Jesus
Christ recorded in the book of Revelation is in verses 12-17. The next prophetical
event in history is mentioned for the second time in this passage. It will
finally be mentioned in verse 20. Each time something is added for a slightly
different emphasis. Again we have the imminency of the Rapture.
Verse 12, the demonstrative particle
i)dou begins
this verse and again demands the same concentration, a recognition of the fact
that there is no prophecy in the Church Age. The present active indicative of e)rxomai presents to us once more the doctrine of the imminency
of the Rapture. The present tense is a futuristic present denoting the fact
that the Rapture has not yet occurred but regards the event as so certain that
in thought it is contemplated as already coming to pass. Jesus Christ produces
the action of the verb in the active voice. The indicative mood is declarative
for the reality of the imminency of the Rapture. Because there is no
intervening prophecy between the baptism of the Spirit at the beginning of the
Church Age and the Rapture we therefore use the word imminency. Imminency means
that the Rapture could occur any time. No one knows the time when it will
happen. When the royal family has been completed the Church will be
resurrected. Added to the imminency concept is the adverb taxu which does not mean “quickly,” it means “soon.”
Again it is the concept of the imminency of the Rapture.
This time there is a different
emphasis from verse 7, the judgment seat of Christ. The connective conjunction kai is translated “and.” Then the nominative singular misqoj means reward or decorations
or anything that indicates something well-deserved, “and my reward.” We insert
the verb e)imi because of ellipsis, “is
with me,” meta plus the genitive from e)gw. This means that Christ is speaking to the Church.
Again, the book of Revelation was written to the Church and therefore this is a
reminder that when the Rapture occurs there will be decorations and rewards. In
the context of verses 12-17 our Lord’s final words are specifically given to us
— members of the royal family of God. In contrast is the similar phrase about
coming soon in verse seven, referring to the fact that the Rapture has many
different aspects. Once more in verse 20 the phrase will be repeated and, once
more, with a different emphasis. The rewards mentioned here refer to the
decorations, the eternal blessings, the rewards that belong to the winner only.
Losers have no rewards. That is the emphasis.
Next we have the aorist active
infinitive of the verb a)podidomi which means to give back,
to reward, to award, and it can mean here to decorate in the sense of
presenting an award. The culminative aorist tense contemplates both rewards and
decorations given to winners at the judgment seat of Christ. It contemplates
them in its entirety but it regards it from the viewpoint of eternal results. Winners
in the eternal state have certain rewards, decorations, privileges which
distinguish them from believers who are losers. All are in resurrection bodies
but many privileges, rewards, opportunities for winners are above and beyond
those of losers. Active voice: Jesus Christ produces the action of the verb by
decorating certain believers as winners at the judgment seat of Christ. The
infinitive is the infinitive of intended result, it indicates the fulfillment
of a deliberate objective, therefore it is a blending of purpose and result.
The dative singular indirect object of e(skastoj follows. It means “to each,”
to each winner. This is the dative of indirect object, it indicates the protocol
Christian as the one in whose interest the award is given. Only the believer
who advances to gate eight of the divine dynasphere will receive the top awards
and decorations. The believer who achieves gate eight in the divine dynasphere
is on the honours list and will be knighted at the judgment seat of Christ. He
will have thereafter in the Lamb’s book of life a certain type of knighthood
after his name. You never make the honours list until you understand and
execute the plan of God for your life — residence, function, momentum inside
the divine dynasphere.
With this we have a comparative
conjunction w(j which can also be used as a
temporal conjunction. It is comparative generally but there is a hermeneutical
principle that words change their meaning because of their relationship to
other words. So the meaning of the word is determined by its usage. Here is a
temporal connotation to award each believer when rather than as. With it is the
nominative singular subject e)rgon which means production or
work. And with it is the possessive genitive of a)utoj, “his work.” Then the
present active indicative of the verb e)imi,
“when his work is.” The ellipsis demands another word in the English; something
like evaluated.
Translation: “Behold, I am coming
soon [the announcement of the imminency of the Rapture]; and my reward is with
me, to award each winner when his accomplishment is evaluated.”
In 1 Thessalonians 4:13 we have
reference to this resurrection which will be followed by the awarding of the
decorations and privileges to believers who in time were winners.
“But we do not want you to be
ignorant, brethren” the worst thing a person can be is ignorant and there is no
excuse for it. Due to the enabling ministry of God the Holy Spirit in the
perception of Bible doctrine, a ministry which begins with the restraint of the
human race for freedom of evangelism, followed by the enabling ministry of the
Holy Spirit in common and efficacious grace, followed by the tremendous
ministry of the Spirit in which He does six things for us at salvation,
followed by His enabling power inside the protocol system, the divine dynasphere,
“concerning those who are asleep,” sleep is used for the rest of the body after
physical death in connection with the believer. The Church Age believer who has
died and gone to heaven is often described as being asleep. A heresy has come
out of this, however, called “soul sleep.” The soul never sleeps, it is the
body that sleeps. In the analogy waking up from the sleep is the resurrection
of the body. The soul is absent from the body in heaven: absent from the body
and face to face with the Lord. The body sleeps in the grace waiting for the
resurrection, “that you do not grieve like the rest.” There are two categories
of people who grieve unnecessarily. Grief is normal because we miss our loved
ones who have departed, but it should never become abnormal. There is abnormal
grief under two conditions: the unbeliever who has no hope; the believer in the
cosmic system who is ignorant of the hope, “who have no hope.”
Verse 14, “For if we believe that
Jesus died and rose again [and we do: first class condition], so also God will
bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.”
Verse 15, “For this doctrine in the
word of the Lord we communicate to you, that we [believers] who are alive, and
remain until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen
asleep.” The body sleeps in the grave. The problem here with the Thessalonians
was that they thought that if you died you might miss the Rapture!
Verse 16, “For the Lord himself will
descend from heaven with a command,” there are two commands here, a voice
command and a trumpet command. Both are brought into one in order to bring into
view the fact that the Rapture includes the dead in Christ and those who are
alive at the time the Lord comes in the air, “with the voice of the archangel
[the highest ranking angel in the angelic order of battle],” the voice command
is given for the believers who are alive on the earth, and when that command is
given all believers alive on the earth will go from mortal to immortal in a
second. The body of mortality will be changed into a resurrection body
instantly, “also with the trumpet of God,” for the dead believers. The soul and
the spirit will enter the body and there will be resurrection from the spot
from which the body was buried, “in fact the dead in Christ shall rise first.”
Verse 17, “Then we who are alive and
remain [on the earth] shall be caught up together with them in the clouds,” for
the great assembly of all the royal family in the air, “for the purpose of
meeting the Lord in the air,” that is why the Lord doesn’t come to the earth at
the Rapture. To assemble millions and millions of believers the parade ground
is the atmosphere, “and so we shall always be with the Lord [in resurrection
bodies].”
This is background for the fact that
He says in Revelation 22:12, “I am coming soon [Rapture]; and my reward is with
me.” Following the assembly of all believers in the air we have Philippians 2:9-11.
The first item on the agenda is an unprecedented worship of Christ by the
entire assembled royal family of God which is assembled for the first time in
history.
Philippians 2:9, “Therefore also God
[the Father] has exalted him to the maximum,” the exaltation came when our
Lord’s third royal patent was awarded after His ascension, “and has given him a
royal title which is superior to every royal title,”
Verse 10, “that in the presence of
the person of Christ [this is the Rapture] every knee in heaven shall bow,”
this assembly takes place in the air, the first heaven, “both the ones who are
on the earth [believers who are alive at the Rapture], and the ones under the
earth [believers who died before the Rapture],
Verse 11, “and every tongue will
acknowledge that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Then following is the judgment seat
of Christ where the rewards are given to the winners of the Church Age. There
are many passages giving us the purpose for this evaluation: 2 Corinthians 5:10;
Romans 14:10-12, etc. The rewards are in the form of crowns, for example: the
crown of life of James 1:12; Revelation 2:10, a decoration for protocol
believers, those who are winners inside the divine dynasphere; the crown of
righteousness, a decoration to the protocol believer or winner from production
inside the divine dynasphere, like virtue; the crown of glory of Philippians
4:1; 1 Thessalonians 2:19,20, for pastors who fulfill their ministry inside the
divine dynasphere.
There are some warnings given
regarding the possibility of losing those crowns before you depart from this
life, 2 John 8, 10, 11; Revelation 3:11.
The highest decoration of all is the
order of the morning star. It goes with the highest order of chivalry in
Revelation 2:26-28. There is also an eternal order of chivalry which is
established at this time. The new knighthood is found in Revelation 2:17, the
uniform of glory which covers the resurrection body of winners only is found in
Revelation 3:4 and 5, a permanent historical record centre is established in
heaven and with it an eternal heraldry including those who are in the pivot and
whose names will be in the record centre along with accomplishments regarding
their influence on history and their new patent of heraldry, Revelation 3:12.
At the second advent the winner will return with Christ and reign with Him as a
winner, “Behold I bring my rewards with me.”
Verse 13, Jesus Christ as the key to history. The personal pronoun
nominative singular of e)gw is the first of six predicate
nominatives referring to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is followed by the first
letter, A)lfa, which refers to the deity
of Christ; the last letter of the Greek alphabet is O)mhga,
referring to the humanity of Christ and the hypostatic union. “I am Alpha and
Omega” was a reminder to the Jews of Deuteronomy 6:4 which was their worship
ritual. The Alpha glory of our Lord Jesus Christ plus His Omega glory is a
reminder that the Shekinah glory came in the flesh to Israel. “I am Alpha [the
deity of Christ] and the Omega [Christ in hypostatic union].” The phrases which
follow simply are appositional nominatives: prwtoj,
“the first”; e)sxatoj, “the last.” Jesus Christ
controls history from this first appositional phrase. As the first, Jesus
Christ is eternal God and he preexists human history; as the last, Jesus Christ
is the God-Man who terminates history with the judgment of unbelievers at the
great white throne and the blessing of believers in the eternal state. This phrase emphasises the fact, then,
that Jesus Christ controls history.
One of the greatest controls of
history is the restraining ministry of God the Holy Spirit. He restrains sin,
and in the restraint of sin that provides freedom necessary for evangelism and
for function in the protocol plan of God.
There are two more predicate nominatives,
a)rxh, “the beginning,” and teloj, “the end.” The beginning means that eternal God,
Jesus Christ, began history with the creation of mankind. Jesus Christ is the
creator of the universe as well as the creator of man. As eternal God Jesus
Christ began history with creation, John 1:3; Colossians 1:16. The word “end”
means Jesus Christ as the God-man in hypostatic union terminates human history.
The issue that comes out of this is
the plan of God. In verse 14 we have the eternal reward of the believer; in
verse 15 we have the exclusion of the unbeliever.
Verse 14, we have a nominative
plural subject, makarioj, which means “blessed” but
perhaps a much better translation in modern English is the word “happy.” The next
phrase is grossly mistranslated in the King James version because of a textual
problem. The correct text is Codex Aleph and Codex A which is Alexandrinas. The
incorrect text is the King James based on the Vulgate and the Syriac rather
than the good ones. So we have, not “Blessed are they who do his commandments”
but the articular present active participle of plunw
which means to wash. The corrected translation is, “Blessed are they who wash.”
The definite article is used for a plural pronoun and it refers to mature
believers in the protocol system, gate eight of the divine dynasphere. The perfective
present tense denotes what has come to be in the past but is recognised as a
present reality. The active voice: the believer produces the action. The
participle is circumstantial for the reward of mature believers in the eternal
state. The next phrase is the accusative plural direct object, not from swma, “bodies,” but stolh , “robes.” So: “Happy are they who wash their
robes.”
The washing of robes is the function
of the believer using the rebound technique by which he escapes the cosmic
system of Satan and simultaneously recovers life inside the divine dynasphere.
Believers who use the rebound technique by which they escape Satan’s cosmic
system recover fellowship with God and get back into the divine dynasphere. As
a result of the consistent use of the rebound technique, therefore coming under
the ministry of the enabling of the Holy Spirit, believers advance to maturity
and there are rewards mentioned in this verse which result. You cannot advance
or have momentum in the spiritual life apart from living in the divine dynasphere.
Living in the cosmic system means you are going nowhere in a hurry. There is no
life in the divine dynasphere apart from the use of the rebound technique.
Therefore consistent use of rebound is not only the basis of fellowship with
God in time but the means of advancing to maturity inside God’s protocol plan,
the divine dynasphere. Note the analogy in the passage: many washings of the robe.
Hence, not a reference to salvation but to the means of advancing spiritually —
one robe, many washings; one salvation, many rebounds. The object of divine
blessing here is the winner who has consistently used the rebound technique so
that he has lived out most of his life inside the divine dynasphere.
Next we have the reward for mature
believers in the eternal state. It begins with the conjunction i(na which introduces a final purpose clause, “that.”
Next is the future middle indicative of e)imi
and a present nominative e)cousia, “in order that they may
have the authority.” The future tense of the verb e)imi
is a predictive future, it anticipates the privilege of the mature believer in
the eternal state. It is something only a winner receives. The verb to be
becomes the verb to have when used with certain other verbs in the context. E)cousia here is not “authority,” it means “privilege.” This
is a direct middle voice in which the subject, the winner in time, acts with a
view toward participating in the results of the action. The indicative mood is
declarative for the reality of the eternal state and the reality of special
rewards and blessings for winners. The mature believer who achieves gate eight
is a cut above everyone else in the eternal state and therefore there are
certain things he can do and no one else can do. One of them is to attend the
special parties in Paradise in the garden and to be in the presence of the tree
of life.
With this we have the preposition e)pi plus the accusative of xulon,
which originally meant wealth but eventually was corrupted in the Koine and
became “tree.” It is translated, “that they might have their right [privilege]
to the tree of life.” The “tree of life” is the descriptive genitive of zoh.
What is this tree of life? The tree
of life is described first in Revelation 2:7, “… to the winner, I will give to
him the privilege of eating from the tree of life, which is in the Paradise
[the King’s Garden] of God.” The tree of life and the privilege of eating there
is a privilege that belongs to a few, those who are called here, not overcomers
(which is of English) but winners. Winners are the ones who are allowed into
this giant garden located in the new Jerusalem. This is not a tree to keep you
alive. You are in a resurrection body in the eternal state, you have no trouble
staying alive, you will live forever and ever. This is a privilege. Actually,
eating from the tree of life just means the best parties in town. Eternal
happiness and blessing are always associated with the tree of life in the
eternal state, which emphasises the fact that the tree of life is the ultimate
reward for the mature believer. It is the ultimate in eternal blessing and
reward and it separates winners from losers in time.
The winner or mature believer is the
one who consistently resides in the divine dynasphere which is God’s protocol
plan for the Church Age believer, and it is fitting that the winner should
receive a special privilege which differentiates him from all other
unbelievers. Differentiation has to do with the wonderful decorations and the
fact that the winner ruled a kingdom during the Millennium. Pardhj [Paradise] was a king’s garden. When the king threw
a party in the ancient world he always sat on a dais on which was his ivory
throne. He could sit there and see all of his friends. The idea was that it was
a party concept. When Alexander the Great conquered the Persians one of the
first things he did was to coin into the Greek language the word Pardhj. He called it paradeisoj, Paradise. Revelation 2:7 talks about the Paradise of God, “the tree
of life which is in the Paradise of God.” This is the near context of the word.
It is that special park in the new Jerusalem where the winners gather to party
in the eternal state. The tree of life is available to all believers who
achieve maturity, to winners only. The tree of life is both capacity for
blessing and happiness plus the total appreciation of God. God is the centre of
the party. Hence the tree of life is only mentioned in three areas of the Word
of God: first in Genesis, secondly in Proverbs, and thirdly in the book of
Revelation. Wherever it is found it is always associated with not living on and
on but great happiness, super happiness that cannot be duplicated.
To get a fix on this we have to go
back to the law of first mention. That takes us back to Genesis. By creation
man, in the garden with the tree of life, was designed for happiness. The
happiness-capacity principle is the fact that there were four categories of
trees in the original garden of Eden, one being the tree of life. Man could
perpetuate his happiness indefinitely in the garden. There was one tree called
the testing tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If used his
volition to reject God’s plan for the garden of Eden and ate from the forbidden
tree then it was all over. Only negative volition toward the plan of God could
destroy man’s perfect happiness in the garden, the original Paradise called the
garden of Eden. The tree of life was originally in the garden of Eden for man
as the ruler of this world. Man was created a winner; man was created a ruler.
Adam ruled the world. Man’s sin separated from the tree of life. In other
words, when man died spiritually through sin he lost both the rulership of the
world to Satan and access to the tree of life in the garden of Eden. The tree
of life had never been used by Adam apparently in the first place, except that
it was part of the capacity package for great happiness. It is now denied to
Adam in the second place. When Adam sinned, then, the tree of life was no
longer available in time, it is postponed as a reward for winners only in the
eternal state.
Cf. Genesis 3:24. The fact that
neither Adam nor Eve touched the tree of life prior to their fall seems to be
quite obvious from inference. If man in a state of spiritual death, however,
had eaten from the tree his immortality in a state of spiritual death and his
lack of capacity for happiness would condemn the human race to total
unhappiness in the lake of fire with the devil and his angels. Genesis 3:22,
“Behold, man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; therefore, lest
he, extend his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live
forever [in a state of spiritual death],” that is where man was thrown out of
the garden. The inference is obvious: life forever in the state of spiritual
death would be life in the lake of fire for all eternity. But the tree of life
has been reserved as a blessing for those believers who are winners in time.
The first issue in human history is
another tree of life. The tree of life has been closed down and a new tree of
life replaces it, the cross where Jesus Christ was judged for our sins. The
issue is John 3:36. The tree of life is available to every member of the human
race under three categories: positive volition at God-consciousness; positive
volition at gospel hearing — normal evangelism; positive volition at gospel
hearing under crisis evangelism. The tree of life in the garden could not
provide salvation, it could only provide perpetual happiness. Man after
spiritual death needed salvation. If man had partaken of the tree of life there
would be no extension of the angelic conflict. Therefore God prevented man from
eating of the tree of life. Once man sinned he wanted happiness. The easy way
was to go and eat from the tree of life, but God shut it down and the tree of
life was never touched. The only tree that was eaten was the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil; therefore, man’s original sin and the historical
extension of the angelic conflict.
We have an option now. Just as our
original parents partook of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which
was forbidden, and became spiritually dead, so we now have the option of
partaking of the tree of salvation, the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.
Therefore the fall of man provides another tree of life, the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. For those who believe in Jesus Christ there is eternal life. We
have an option which can be exercised as long as we live: “Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” After we believe in Christ 40 things are
given to us. One of them is our immediate entrance into the divine dynasphere.
Entering into gate one of the divine dynasphere creates the best part of the
option of the spiritual life. We start out with the option already fulfilled.
We have the option of being positive and living in the divine dynasphere; we
have the option of being negative and living in the cosmic system. In the
divine dynasphere we make decisions; in the cosmic system we make decisions. In
the divine dynasphere we have good decisions from a position of strength; in
the cosmic system we have bad decisions from a position of weakness. Bad
decisions from a position of weakness cut down future options and can only be
changed by “washing your robes,” daily rebound.
For those who believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ God has provided a protocol option. Rejection of that protocol
option means that even though you have eternal life, and even though there is
nothing that you can do to lose your salvation, you will never enjoy the tree
of life. That is for those who exercise a positive option in time.
The privilege of mature believers in
the eternal state is given in the final clause of verse 14. We have the aorist
active subjunctive of the verb e)iserxomai which means to enter, “that
they may enter.” The aorist tense is a constative aorist contemplating the
action of the verb in its entirety. The active voice: mature believers produce
the action of the verb in relationship to eternal rewards of the garden. The
subjunctive mood is a potential subjunctive. It implies a future reference and
is qualified by the element of contingency. It is used here as a part of
forming a second phrase to the purpose clause.
The entire verse says: “Blessed
[Happy] are they who wash their robes, in order that they may have their right
to the tree of life, and may enter into the city by the gates.”
Verse 15, the eternal cursing of the
unbeliever. We are still dealing with the eternal state at this point and in
the eternal state the unbeliever does not have a second chance. The unbeliever
remains in the lake of fire forever and ever.
The adverb of place begins the
verse, e)xw, which means “outside,”
outside of this eternal state that we have been studying. It is a reference to
outside of the status of the believer in the eternal state. In other words, it
is describing the unbeliever. “Outside” means inside the lake of fire. In this
passage there are six categories of unbelievers listed. A similar list of six
categories was previously noted in Revelation 21:8. Some overlap exists. In
both verses we have the description of unbelievers categorically by certain
sins. The sins of these unbelievers are mentioned only because they were a
distraction in normal or crisis evangelism.
Next comes the list. We have to put
in a verb because of ellipsis, “Outside are.” First on the list is the
predicate nominative plural of the noun kuwn,
“dog.” The Bible must be interpreted in the time in which it was written. Man’s
best friend was apparently not man’s best friend in Bible times. Dogs were
generally regarded in a derogatory manner. Dogs were scavengers and hence in
most Bible passages you will find that dogs are identified with some form of
degeneracy. There is one reference to dogs being useful, Job 30:1. Isaiah sees
an analogy between the local police force and dumb dogs. This is not
complimentary either to the dog of the ancient world or to the police officer, Isaiah
56:10-11. A dumb dog was a dog unable to bark, “all of them are dumb dogs
unable to bark.” Homosexual prostitutes were also called dogs in the ancient
world, “You shall not bring the wages of a dog for an offering, for both of
these are an abomination to the Lord.” In other words, they didn’t permit the
prostitute or the homosexual prostitute to give money in the temple. Hence, the
dog is related to sexual deviation. A seducer of women was called a dog’s head
in 2 Samuel 3:8. Unbelievers at the cross were called dogs in Psalm 22:16, 20.
Hence, the word “dog” is generally used to classify unbelievers. It is this
connotation which begins the categorical description of unbelievers in
Revelation 22:15. “Outside are dogs” — unbelievers. So this first category is
describing unbelievers and the things that distract them. The unbeliever is
such because he has failed to exercise his three options: at God-consciousness,
at gospel hearing under normal evangelism, at gospel hearing under crisis
evangelism. This means that somehow the word “dogs” in describing unbelievers
describes something they did that distracted them from the gospel. It is a
reference to unbelievers with emphasis on cosmic evil. The fact that dogs are
used as the analogy to the unbeliever is documented by certain passages such as
Matthew 7:6; Philippians 3:2; 2 Peter 2:22; Psalm 22:16, 20. “Dogs” is simply
describing unbelievers distracted from this principle which deals with the fact
that there are going to be many people in the lake of fire because they would
not understand Ephesians 2:8,9. “Dogs” is dedicated to the fact of works.
Category #2 is farmakoj which refers to drug abusers. This is a category of
people who are distracted from believing in Christ. When God the Holy Spirit
reaches out with common grace and gospel facts and presented and understood
because the Holy Spirit acts as the human spirit, there are some who cannot
believe and will not believe and do not believe because they have opted for
drugs. They have therefore gone in for hallucinatory, illusionary type of
activity and they are distracted from the gospel.
This is not a message on sin, it is
a message on distraction: that distraction which causes the unbeliever to
reject the enabling ministry of God the Holy Spirit at the point of common
grace.
Category #3 is the predicate
nominative plural from pornoj, and it simply means
fornicators. Members of the opposite sex can be a distraction to a lot of
things. For example, Adam did not walk over to the tree and partake of the
forbidden fruit, he walked over to the woman and took it out of her hand. The
tree was not his interest, it was the woman. The woman was a distracter.
Category #4 is foneuj which means murderers. Criminal arrogance has no
respect for human life. Murder is a distraction to normal living and it is also
a distraction to the gospel as presented under the principle of the enabling
power of the Holy Spirit, the principle of common grace. Freedom in life
depends on respect for privacy of individuals, the sacredness of property and
life. While believers can be criminals, and while believers do and have
committed murder, this context is referring to unbelievers who have been
distracted from the gospel by their arrogance and criminality.
Category #5 is the predicate
nominative plural of e)idololotrhj,
which refers to idolatry. This distraction refers to idolatry and the phallic
cult. It combines fornication with demonism as a distraction to the gospel
presentation and the ministry of the Holy Spirit in that category.
Finally, there is category #6. It
starts out with a connective conjunction kai,
a nominative singular paj, “ and everyone,” and the
present active participle of filew is followed by the present
active participle of poiew. These two words are
combined to form not someone who tells lies but a phrase that says “everyone
who loves and practices yeudoj, “the lie [or falsehood].”
The literal translation doesn’t tell us what it means. Actually, it should be
translated in modern English, “and every pathological liar.” It isn’t lying
that distracts one from believing in Christ or considering the claims of Christ
in the gospel, it is the pathological liar. There is a vast difference. A
pathological liar is in a system which is distracted from both normal and
crisis evangelism. He can’t tell the truth, he is an impulsive liar. He lies
when it is unnecessary. Lack of integrity often poses a barrier between the
unbeliever and the gospel. Because he is so caught up in the function of lying
if he says he believes he is lying. Therefore he becomes a psychological
demonstration that if you have dealt with falsehood all of your life when the
truth comes and you say you believe the truth you say it just for some reason
other than believing. So much of the gospel deals with the integrity of God
that the pathological liar simply resents the gospel message.
Translation: “Outside are dogs, and
the drug abusers, and the fornicators, and the murderers, and the idolaters,
and every pathological liar.”
While the sins listed in this verse
are also committed by born-again believers in time they are listed here as the
sins of unbelievers which distract from the gospel. The things unbelievers emphasise
to the extent that they become negative toward the gospel and reject Christ as saviour
in time are presented here. Certain sins create a preoccupation syndrome in the
cosmic system so that the unbeliever disregards the gospel message no matter
how many times he has heard it.
The source of the book of Revelation
is the subject of chapter 22:16. We begin with the personal pronoun in the
first person singular, e)gw\. It is a reference to the
unique person of the universe, our Lord Jesus Christ. The next word is the
proper noun “Jesus.” This is the name for his humanity and emphasises the work
of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. When the omniscience of God entered into
the computer of divine decrees on one PROM chip all of the sins in the
history of the human race they were all reserved for one point. When we come
into the world we are automatically spiritually dead because of the imputation
of Adam’s original sin to each one of us. Our sins are not imputed to us for
judgment. We are born spiritually dead because of the imputation of Adam’s sin
and all of the sins in the history of the human race, from the original sin to
the last sin of the Millennium, are all on one PROM
chip. They were programmed in in eternity past. When our Lord Jesus Christ was
hanging on the cross the printout occurred and all of these sins were imputed
to our Lord Jesus Christ and were judged. Jesus Christ was judged for every sin
that has ever been committed in the history of the human race. “Jesus” means saviour.
Jesus Christ is the only saviour.
Next we have a delegation of
communication, the aorist active indicative of the verb pempw which means to send, “I Jesus have sent.” The culminative
aorist tense contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety but regards it
from the viewpoint of existing results. The Church is briefed on the rest of
human history from AD 96 to the end of history.
The book of Revelation, then, is an historical textbook starting with the first
Gentile client nation, the Roman empire, and going to the end of time. The
active voice: our Lord Jesus Christ produces the action of the verb. The
indicative mood is declarative for the reality of delegated authority in
communication.
With this we have the accusative
singular direct object from a)ggeloj referring
to the angels who taught John while on the Isle of Patmos. With it is the
possessive genitive from e)gw, “I have sent my angel”
which is a reference here to the pur sui vant
messenger from the angelic college of heralds who has been explaining things to
John since chapter 21:9.
The purpose is in the aorist active
infinitive of the verb marturew,
which means to testify, to be a witness and to give accurate information in a
courtroom. In this case the courtroom is the world and the apostle John is the
recipient of this information which is written down under the ministry of God
the Holy Spirit and given to us. The constative aorist tense contemplates the
angelic teaching to John in its entirety. The active voice: the pur sui vant messenger from the college
of heralds produces the action. This is the infinitive of intended result which
fulfills a deliberate objective, hence a blending of purpose and result. The
Church is to be briefed with regard to what is to happen in the future and what
are the historical trends of the Church Age.
Next we have the recipients of
Revelation. We have e)pi plus the dative plural from
e)kklhsia, referring
to all of us as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. E)pi plus the dative should be
translated “for the benefit of the Churches.” This is also a dative of indirect
object in the sense that it indicates the ones in whose interest the action is
performed. It adds up to the blessing of all believers in the Church Age who
master the content of the book of Revelation.
Now we have the first of three royal
warrants of our Lord Jesus Christ mentioned in this verse. Our Lord Jesus Christ
has three royal titles. By virtue of His eternal and infinite being as God
Jesus Christ has His first royal warrant. By virtue of the virgin birth and His
genetic descent in that virgin birth we have the second royal warrant. Then, by
virtue of His strategic victory on the cross at the first advent we have our
Lord’s third royal warrant. Our Lord has three royal titles and all three are
mentioned in this verse. His first is a title of divine royalty. Jesus Christ
as eternal and infinite God possesses all of the attributes of the essence of
deity. As God, Jesus Christ is coequal and coeternal with the Father and with
the Spirit. As the manifest person of the Trinity our Lord Jesus Christ wears
the crown of divine royalty, John 1:18; 6:46; 1 Timothy 6:16; 1 John 4:12. Only
the Lord Jesus Christ is the revealed and the manifest person of the Trinity.
Jesus Christ is also Jewish royalty. This was brought about by the virgin
birth. He is directly descended from king David. The third royal title which we
will find in this verse has to do with His strategic victory in the angelic
conflict. This might be classified as His battlefield royalty for our Lord
Jesus Christ resolved the angelic conflict by His death on the cross, bearing
our sins, being judged for us, becoming our saviour. By being judged on the
cross for our sins the strategic victory of the angelic conflict was
accomplished. This royal warrant is related, then, to the saving work of our
Lord Jesus Christ. It relates to His deity and His second advent in hypostatic
union. These are the three categories of royalty.
There are titles related to each one
of these categories. As divine royalty our Lord Jesus Christ is called the Son
of God. As Jewish royalty He is called the son of David. In His battlefield
royalty He is called the King of kings, Lord of lords, the bright morning star.
In Revelation 19:16 we read He has a royal title which has been written on His
robe and on His thigh: “King of kings and Lord of lords.”
There are also royal families in connection
with each one of these titles of royalty. Every category of royalty has a
corresponding category called royal family. Regarding our Lord’s divine royalty
His family includes God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. In His Jewish
royalty it includes the entire Davidic dynasty, all of the ancestors of the
royal line of David. This category would include the mother of His humanity,
the virgin Mary. After the virgin birth Joseph and Mary had other children by
natural generation who are a part of the royal family under the category of
Jewish royalty. These children are mentioned in Matthew 13:55,56.
The royalty applied to the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ. He has a full name used in the scripture: “The Lord
Jesus Christ.” Kurios
or Lord denotes deity. The word we have in our passage, I)esouj or Jesus, means saviour, emphasising His
battlefield royalty. The word Xristos or
Christ means anointed one, Messiah, Jewish royalty, the fulfillment of the
famous ritual line of Deuteronomy 6:4. The great principle that we will find in
our passage in Revelation 22:16 is the fact that there is therefore a royal
family for every stage of our Lord’s deity. 1. Our Lord is God. As deity He has
royal family: God the Father and God the Holy Spirit; 2. The Davidic line: His
human royalty, and we have the entire dynasty of David; 3. At the point of our
Lord’s resurrection and ascension, seated at the right hand of the Father, when
He was given a third royal warrant, He was minus a royal family. Therefore God
the Father brought to a sudden halt the Age of Israel and the Church Age began
with the baptism of the Holy Spirit which is the means of forming the royal
family. The Church Age is therefore the dispensation of the royal family of
God. When the royal family is completed there is the resurrection or Rapture of
the Church and then the Age of Israel comes to its conclusion, for the Age of
Israel was halted seven years short of its completion. Those seven years are
picked up in the Tribulation.
At this point we begin with the royal
title of our Lord. In His first royal warrant is Jewish identification. We have
the pronoun “I”, the verb to be “I am,” and then the word ‘riza, a predicate nominative,
and has to with the fact that David had a root. The root of David is eternal
God, our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ as God is called the root of David. In
other words, He is the one whom created Adam, He is the one who created Abraham,
He is the one who created Judah, He is the one who brought into the world
David, as it were. Jesus Christ as God is the source of the royal dynasty of
David.
Then it says “the seed.” The
predicate nominative of genoj should be translated
“descendant.” Our English word “genes” comes from this Greek word. It is a
reference to the humanity of Christ in hypostatic union. It is a reference to
His second royal warrant, He is the Son of David. The word “root” refers to His
Alpha glory and the word “descendant” refers to His Omega glory. Together the
combination of words forms the principle found in Deuteronomy 6:4 and
Revelation 22:13. Jesus Christ the God of Israel is also the saviour of Israel.
Jesus Christ through His first advent became the God-Man and through His second
advent He will return to deliver Israel and provide all of the unconditional
covenants.
The title that comes up now is “the
bright morning star.” It refers to our Lord Jesus Christ as the ruler of the
Church. It was prophesied by Balaam in Numbers 24:17 when he said, “I see him
[Christ], but not now; I behold him, but not near; a star shall come forth from
Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise from Israel.” And though our Lord was born in
the flesh in the line of David, and therefore Jewish royalty, He is also the
head of the Church. He is the star that Balaam saw from out of Jacob, He is the
great sceptre, the one who will rule forever.
The title of our Lord as the morning
star is used in relationship to the second advent in 2 Peter 1:19, “We keep on
having a more reliable prophetic doctrine, with reference to which doctrine you
perform honourably by habitually concentrating in your right lobes on the lamp
shining in a dark place, until the day dawn and the morning star has come.” The
morning star refers to the second advent of Christ. So this is His third royal
warrant. Jesus Christ is the strategic victor of the first advent, the tactical
winner at the second advent. This title is used for the highest decoration
given to a Church Age believer living in the protocol plan of God.
Translation: “I Jesus have sent my
angel to declare these things to you for the benefit of the churches. I am the
root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”
Verse 17 — Now we come to the source
of the final invitation. We have two conjunctions kai
which are always translated “both,” and then the word “and.” So it is “Both the
Spirit.” The source of the final invitation in the Word of God comes down to
the word pneuma, a reference to God the
Holy Spirit and presents the divine side of salvation. The divine side of
salvation begins with the doctrine of common grace. When the gospel is
presented to any member of the human race it finds the unbeliever dichotomous.
He has a body and he has a soul but neither the body nor the soul can combine
to understand spiritual phenomena, and so the gospel being spiritual phenomena
is totally incomprehensible to the unbeliever, 1 Corinthians 2:14. So God the
Holy Spirit begins His enabling ministry by acting as a human spirit for the
understanding of the gospel message. That is the doctrine of common grace.
Common grace, then, is the ministry of God the Holy Spirit in evangelism,
specifically the work of the third person of the Trinity in revealing the
gospel to the unbeliever as it is presented. Because the unbeliever is
spiritually dead under the principle of total depravity he cannot understand
spiritual phenomena. The gospel is spiritual phenomena, therefore in the
function of common grace the Holy Spirit acts as the human spirit for the
understanding of the gospel. The basic function of the Holy Spirit in common
grace, then, is to take the gospel presentation and make it understandable.
In John 16:8-11 we have one of the
many passages on the subject of the ministry of the Holy Spirit in convincing
the unbeliever. “And he [God the Holy Spirit], when he comes, will convince the
world [common grace] concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgment.” Note
that personal sin is really not an issue in salvation because all personal sins
were judged at the cross. God the Father imputed these sins to Christ and
judged them. That is the saving work of Christ on the cross, and because of
that saving work our personal sins are not the issue but the One who was judged
for our sins, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse 9, “concerning sin, because
they do not believe in me.” The only reason why anyone is ever judged at the
last judgment is because they do not believe in Christ.
Verse 10, “Concerning righteousness,
because I go to the Father, and you see me no longer;
Verse 11, “and concerning judgment,
because the ruler of this world [Satan] has been judged.”
The principle of common grace is
found first in Genesis 6:3, “My Spirit [God the Holy Spirit] shall not always
convince inside man forever, for in going astray [mankind] he is also flesh;
nevertheless his days shall be 120 years.” In other words, what was being said
at that point is the fact that at the point this was given there were 120 years
before the human race would be destroyed by the flood and the only ones who
would be preserved would be believers. God the Holy Spirit stops working on the
unbeliever after he dies. Death is the end of it. Common grace, then, is the
work of God the Holy Spirit in revealing the gospel to the unbeliever in either
normal or crisis evangelism. It includes enablement to understand, enablement
to perceive the true issue of the gospel related to faith in our Lord Jesus
Christ. Common grace is the evangelistic ministry of the Holy Spirit up to the
point of human volition. In common grace the Holy Spirit brings the unbeliever e)pignwsis facts on which a decision
can be made.
Next is the doctrine of efficacious
grace. When it says “the Spirit says, Come” in this passage it is referring
also to the invitation. Efficacious grace is the evangelistic ministry of God
the Holy Spirit related to positive volition of the unbeliever. Positive
volition is expressed through faith in Jesus Christ. Under common grace facts
are perceived by the unbeliever who takes this gnwsij gospel and believes it. Here
is the way it starts. The gospel is presented, there is no human spirit so the
Holy Spirit acts as a human spirit and makes it real into the left lobe where
it becomes gnwsij doctrine,
it is understood. Then faith believes that information and this is the point of
efficacious grace, also the point when it becomes e)pignwis. Faith says, “I believe it.”
That is the response to the invitation. Common grace, then, is antecedent to
efficacious grace and therefore the illustration of breathing. The inhale is
common grace, the exhale of faith in Christ is efficacious grace. Efficacious
grace is the ministry of the Holy Spirit in empowering the human will to
believe in Jesus Christ. Human volition is weak and needs divine power. It is
provided just as the Holy Spirit provides at every stage. The power before
salvation is the ministry of the Holy Spirit in efficacious grace. Efficacious
grace is not a process, it is an instant moment when we believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Common grace can be resisted by human volition but efficacious by
its very connotation is always effective to bring us to eternal salvation.
The human side of evangelism is the
function of the Church, “and the bride.” The Greek word is numqh and is correctly translated “bride,” one of
the seven different ways in which the Church is described. The Church is called
a “new creation” under the principle that Jesus Christ is the last Adam and we
are the new creation, 1 Corinthians 15:45.47; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians
6:15. The Church is also called the body. Under the analogy Christ is the head,
we are the members of the body. The third analogy is the shepherd and the
sheep. Christ is the good shepherd, John 10; the great shepherd, Hebrew 13:20;
the chief shepherd, 1 Peter 1:4. The good shepherd gives His life for the
sheep; the great shepherd provides for us as members of the body of Christ; the
chief shepherd rewards us at the judgment seat of Christ. We have the vine and
the branches in John chapter 15. In 1 Peter 2:4-8 we have the Church described
under the concept that Christ is the chief cornerstone, we are the stones of
the building. The sixth is the high priest and the royal priesthood. Number
seven is the one in view in our passage: Jesus Christ is called the groom and
the Church anticipating its future after the resurrection is called the bride.
Hence, we establish the bride as the Church, the royal family of God, every
believer of this dispensation.
Then we have the present middle
imperative of the verb e)rxomai, and it is the invitation to
salvation. The aoristic present tense is for punctiliar action in present time,
it expresses the idea of a present fact without reference to its progress. The
aorist presents the concept of a point of time and the aoristic present
fulfills the concept. It is the idea, “Now is the accepted time.” This is a
deponent verb, middle in form, active in meaning. The Church, along with the
ministry of the Holy Spirit [the human and the divine side of evangelism],
produce the action, the imperative of entreaty on the part of the Church. Hence
it does not convey the finality of a command but has the force of an urgent
request. The urgent request is to believe in Christ now while you have a
chance.
The invitation at the point of
common grace comes next, the connective conjunction kai,
“furthermore.” Then the articular present active participle from the verb a)kouw indicating the first stage of evangelism,
“Furthermore he who hears.” The present tense is a perfective present and that
presents a fact which has come to be in the immediate past, understanding of
the gospel, the ministry of the Spirit in common grace, but is emphasised as a
present reality. The active voice: the unbeliever produces the action of the
verb in understanding the gospel. This is a circumstantial participle. The one
who hears is the one who is evangelised.
The aorist active imperative comes
next. The unbeliever has to do some thinking and he has to think “Come.” The
word is legw which usually means to
speak but also can mean to think. “Let him think, Come.” The culminative aorist
views the function of common grace in its entirety but regards it from the
viewpoint of existing results. Once God the Holy Spirit has acted as a human
spirit so that the gospel becomes spiritual phenomena, it is transferred to the
left lobe and there it becomes gnwsij doctrine. At this point the
unbeliever has to start thinking and in positive volition he thinks in terms of
Come. Positive faith perception: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt
be saved”; negative faith perception: “He that believeth on him is not
condemned, but he who believes not is condemned already because he has not
believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
What is the result? “Consequently
the one who is thirsty,” this is the one who has positive volition at
God-consciousness, the one who has positive volition at the point of gospel
hearing, “let him come.” This is the unbeliever making the transition from
common to efficacious grace. In other words, faith in Christ. The general
invitation, then, is for both normal and crisis evangelism. “The one who
desires it,” the unbeliever with positive volition at the point of common
grace, ”let him take of the water of life freely [gratis].” The taking of the
water of life is a synonym for faith in Jesus Christ. The aorist active
imperative of lambanw is
the verb to take. it means to take or to seize. The culminative aorist tense
views common grace and resultant positive volition in its entirety but regards
it from the viewpoint of efficacious grace, faith in Christ. The moment anyone
believes he is automatically saved, he automatically has eternal life and he
can never lose it. The active voice: the unbeliever produces the action of the
verb through the exhale of faith in Christ. The imperative of command is a
direct and positive appeal from God the Holy Spirit under the concept of
efficacious grace. The accusative neuter singular direct object from o(udor, “water,” follows. It is used here for the
possession of eternal life. With it we have a descriptive genitive of the noun zwh which means life, and with it an adverb dorean which means no cost. The price of salvation was
paid on the cross.
Translation of verse 17: “Both the Spirit and the bride say, Come.
Furthermore, he who hears let him think, Come. Consequently, the one who is
thirsty, let him come. The one who desires it, let him take of the water of
life without cost.”
Next we have the last testimony of
the apostle John in verses 18-21.
Verse 18, the warning against adding
to revelation. There is also a warning in verse 19 against deleting from
revelation. “God shall take away his share from the tree of life,” loss of
reward to the believer; loss of everyone, of course, to the unbeliever, “and
from the holy city,” the satellite city, “which things have been written in
this book.” Similar to Revelation 2:7 and 22:2.
Verse 20, the certainty of the
resurrection of the Church. It begins with a very important concept: “He who
communicates [declares] these things.’ The word communicates is the word marturew which means to give evidence in court, to give
accurate evidence, not hearsay. Therefore it can be translated “communicate” or
“declare.” The next word is “says,” better translated “has this to say.” Then
we have a fascinating phrase which is simply a positive affirmation. In the
Greek it is three letters, nai, translated “yes.” It is
the emphatic repetition of our Lord’s statement of the imminency of the Rapture
or the resurrection of the Church. The present active indicative of e)rxomai follows. E)rxomai is used both for the second
advent and the Rapture. Here it is used for the Rapture. The futuristic present
tense denotes the fact that the Rapture has not yet occurred but is regarded as
so certain it is regarded as already coming to pass. Hence, the futuristic
present emphasises the imminency of Rapture. The indicative mood is declarative
for a dogmatic statement of Bible doctrine, the imminency of the Rapture.
Then the adverb taxu which does not means quickly here, it means soon.
The point is that there is no doctrine to be fulfilled, no prophecy, before the
Rapture occurs. There is no intervening prophecy. “Soon” means historical
trends are the order of the day until the resurrection. The next item on the
agenda of eschatology, the next prophecy, is the Rapture itself. That is what
is meant by “soon.” “He who declares these doctrines says, Yes I am coming
soon.” Then we have a response to that. We have the Greek A)mhn [Amen]. This is the same as we have transliterated
into English. But a transliteration is not a translation, it merely brings into
English equivalent letters what the other language says. We actually translate
it here, “So be it.”
Next we have, “Come Lord Jesus.” The
word e)rxomai is used, the imperative of
entreaty which expresses a wish or desire, but in the meantime carry on.
Verse 21, the priority policy of the
plan of God is given in the last phrase of the book of Revelation.
“The
grace of our Lord Jesus be with all of you.” Grace is the policy of the plan of
God. There is no place for us to earn or deserve anything at any time. There is
no such thing as salvation by works. There is no such thing as spirituality by
works or executing the plan of God by works.