Concluding thoughts about Revelation

 

      I recently spent several weeks listening to lectures from Dr. M. Robert Mullholland from Asbury Seminary about the book of Revelation.  He had a very different viewpoint than what I have heard before.  It has caused me to rethink some of my previously held views.  One of the concluding statements that is made in that class is that Revelation is a call to discipleship to live as faithful followers of Christ and citizens of New Jerusalem in a fallen Babylon world.  There are several other conclusions that I made.

     I don't know if you have ever gone to a worship service and felt dissatisfied with it.  You walk away feel like there must be something more and feel like while it was nice that there was something missing.  Maybe you felt like you really didn't meet with God, but only heard a viewpoint from a man or woman who was speaking.  Well, the good news of this passage is that this will one day change.  One day as citizens of New Jerusalem we will dwell with God and our worship of Him will be face to face and no longer missing anything.  Revelation 22:3-4 says

    "And there shall no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His bond-servants shall serve Him; and they shall see His face, and HIs name shall be on their foreheads."

     This longing for something more will one day be fulfilled by God himself.  The second thing is that one day God will have the final word in his creation and make things right.  Even the best leaders of our country when you look back on history have had major weaknesses.  Whether it is JFK who was incredibly unfaithful to his spouse and use to sneak women up the back steps of the White House to Nixon who created Watergate and resigned in disgrace or other mistakes that leaders have made.  We aren't to put our ultimate hope in a world leader or party.   Don't pin all your hopes to some man who makes mistakes.

     While it is true that I am an American citizen, there is a sense in which all of us who are believers have a dual citizenship.   We are not only citizens of this country, but also of New Jerusalem.   We see our first glimpse of this in Revelation 21:1-2.  In it the tabernacle or dwelling place of God dwells among men.  It goes on to say, 

    "And He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall no longer be any death; there shall no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away." vs.4

     Several times then Jesus issues the invitation to drink of the water of life without costs Rev 21:6, 22:17.  This book of Revelation is very difficult to understand.  It takes a serious student of the Bible who can look at the history and think about what John's original readers would have thought of this and how they would have interpreted it.  I heard someone say that the theme of Revelation really is the throne of God.  I don't think that is far from the mark.  This book begins and ends with a picture of the risen Christ as the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end Rev 1:8; 22:13.  That while we live in a fallen world that is very much an adulterous and wicked generation we are called to live as citizens of a different kingdom.  A kingdom of New Jerusalem, loyal to the Lamb, in the midst of a fall Babylon world.

     Revelation 21:4 also mentions that there will no longer be any death.  Death robs all of us of loved ones interrupting our lives and creating an emptiness.  We miss those who have passed on before us.  Even Dr.Mulholland who taught the class I mentioned passed away years ago.  I am only able to see his lectures due to the fact that they were taped.  In Revelation 20:10 we see that the evil one is thrown into the lake of fire where he is tormented forever.  While at times it looks as though evil people win, that is only an illusion.  Satan is an enemy who has been beaten by the cross and resurrection of Jesus.  The citizens of New Jerusalem whose names are in the Lamb's book of life will one day be victorious.  The church will one day worship in God's presence fully victorious. It says of Death 

"And death and Hades (the grave) where thrown into the lake of fire. This the second death, the lake of fire.  And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." Rev 20:14-15.  

The Woman and The Dragon Revelation 12:1-6

   

12 A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; 2 and she was pregnant and she *cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.

The Red Dragon, Satan

3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven crowns. 4 And his tail *swept away a third of the stars of heaven and hurled them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her Child.

The Male Child, Christ

5 And she gave birth to a Son, a male, who is going to [a]rule all the [b]nations with a rod of iron; and her Child was caught up to God and to His throne. 6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she *had a place prepared by God, so that there [c]she would be nourished for 1,260 days.  Revelation 12:1-6, NASV

    In the class that I am taking through biblicaltraining.org web site, Dr. Mulholland mentions that in his commentary on this passage he believe the woman is symbolic of God.  He gives several reasons for this, but I have noticed that many commentaries disagree and say that the woman is symbolic of either Israel and the church or we could think of it as symbolic of the universal church.  There are some clues that this may be the case.

    The woman is pictured in Revelation 12 as having the moon at her feet and a crown of 12 stars on her head.  The number 12 could represent either the tribe of Israel or the 12 apostles or be symbolic of both.  Remember that the church in this period of time was largely Jewish and was only then beginning to move out of Jerusalem to the rest of the world.  The fact that the moon is there may be symbolic of the important place the cycles of the moon played in the life of people back then.  Their whole calendar was a lunar calendar.  The woman was clothed with the sun, which might indicate a glory and brilliance of the bride of Christ.  There is a purity to the church that is redeemed in God's eyes.   The woman is also bearing a child, who is symbolic of Jesus.

    The fact that the dragon is standing in front of the woman to try and devour the child may be symbolic of Herod.  In Matthew Henry's commentary on this passage, he says that the 10 horns are the 10 provinces that Rome was divided into by Augustus Caesar.  The 7 heads of the dragon could remember the 7 hills that Rome was founded on.  Herod attempted to kill Jesus by getting the wise men to find out about where Jesus was born and then he planned to kill him.  According to Matthew 2:12 the wise men were warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod, so they went home another way.  Joseph was also warned that Herod would try to kill Jesus and to flee to Egypt, which is what he did according to Matthew 2:13-15.  When Herod realized he had been tricked, he had all babies 2 years and younger killed in the region of Bethlehem, a horrific bloodbath Matthew 2:16-18.

    Revelation pictures often a battle that occurs such as in Revelations 12:7.  It is a battle of forces between good and evil.  A lot of people are very hesitant to read Revelation due to all the symbols in the book.  And there are an awful lot of different interpretations of Revelation.  One of the most common today is based on dispensationalism.  Made popular by the left behind series.  It is one that I was taught as a teenager.  It has been the popular viewpoint only over the last 100 years though of church history.  Most of church history people did not have a pre tribulation rapture view of end times.  We can agree though that ultimately the story of Revelation is one where God triumphs over evil and judges the world.  He restores creation and creates a new heaven and new earth and begin the reign in New Jerusalem.  There will no longer be a curse and we will see his face and the throne of God will be among mankind Revelation 22:3-4

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dispensationalism

Four Views of the end times

https://www.olivetree.com/store/product.php?productid=21131

picture above from 

https://www.equip.org/article/woman-revelation-12-mary/

Invitation to a Journey

   I have been reading the book "Invitation to a Journey" by the late M. Robert Mulholland Jr.  I found out about Dr. Mulholland through a training site called biblicaltraining.com.  He teaches a class on Revelations there that was taped before his death in 2015.  I was so impressed by this man's knowledge that I looked him up and found out he was the author of several books.  A few days late, I happen to find one of those books on sale at the library for 10 cents. 

   There are a lot of good points in this book about spiritual formation.  I think those of us who are Baptist and many others in the church should consider spiritual formation and where we are in our walk with Christ.  So many people say that they are saved, but have little evidence of that in their lifestyle.  Dr. Mulholland talks about the stages of the classical christian pilgrimage as being first awakening, then purgation, illumination and then union which includes an abandonment to grace.  I noticed that while this last stage is the goal "union" also includes the dark night of the senses and the dark night of the spirit.

    One of the things that the book also emphasizes is that the christian life is not something you do, but something that you are.  You are incapable in fact of doing enough good works to please God even for a moment.  Our role as it says in John 15:1-5 is to abide in Christ and allow God to do his work in us.  The fruit of the Spirit is mentioned in Galatians 5:22-23 which the Spirit grows within us.  We don't do this by our own efforts.  Dr. Mulholland says about this "These come not by our effort or attempts to inculcate them in our actions, but are gifts that emerge as we release control of our lives and come to entrust ourselves to God." (Mulholland, page 111).

     We get into trouble when we act as though we are doing something for God and not with God.  Like children learning to walk we want to show off what we can do while it is God's hands that are holding us up the whole way.  The apple tree doesn't brag about bearing apples.  It is just something the tree does as a result of what it is.  If we are "in Christ" as Paul described in detail in places like the letter to Ephesus then we will bear fruit based on whose we are.  It isn't though that there is no will or work on our part however because we have to do the tough thing of surrender control over to Him.

    This may be the real area where the battle in the christian life occurs.  Because our sinful nature always wants to be in control.  Our flesh wants self reliance and independence and it hurts our pride to think we actually must be dependent and humble and trusting in another.  But, true victory comes not in self reliance, but complete and utter surrender understanding that I am helpless to save myself.  

    One of the other good points that Dr. Mulholland makes in this book is on page 50 when he says, "If you want a good litmus test of your spiritual growth, simply examine the nature and quality of your relationships with others.  Are you more loving, more compassionate, more patient, more understanding, more caring, more giving, more forgiving than you were a year ago?"  In other words, you cannot separate your relationship with God from your relationship with others.  Mulholland goes on to say, "Our relationships with others are not only the testing grounds of our spiritual life but also the places where our growth toward wholeness in Christ happens."  We may be tempted to think about spiritual growth as something that happens privately within us, but in reality, growth cannot occur apart from my relationships.  Something to think about.  I highly recommend the book "Invitation to a Journey: A Road Map for Spiritual Formation" by M. Robert Mulholland Jr., 

For a look at the class on Revelations that Dr. Mulholland taught and is offered for free online go to:

https://www.biblicaltraining.org/revelation/robert-mulholland