Messages to the Church Revealed (Smyrna) ...

John continues relaying the messages revealed to him for the church of Jesus in chapter 2 of Revelations and verse 8 … “And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive;”.  Again the author is identified as Christ.  This time the revelation is centered around our concept of time.  Christ says of Himself, that He is “the first and the last”.  In this Christ reminds us that He pre-dates our existence, and will last beyond it.  In this sense, time is not measured in earthly consecutive days and hours, but in the vastness of eternity.  This perspective on the reality of our God, should inspire us to think and believe that our earthly lives are NOT the end game God has in mind for us.  There is an existence outside of how we measure time here that is of far more importance.  That existence is not bound by the limitations of this one, and is only possible through the mechanism of Jesus Christ.

Next Christ again describes Himself as one who “was dead and is alive”.  Death itself could not hold our creator in its grasp, nor will it have any power over those who the Creator extends the gift of salvation to.  Should we lose our mortal lives, there is hope beyond our sleep.  There will be an awakening like Christ was awakened and through His power, we will live again, in an existence where time has no meaning and decay is a thing of our long distant past.  But our resurrection has more meaning than just from our physical condition of death, it also has relevance in our spiritual existence.  When we embrace sin, we embrace the pain and death that comes with sin.  They are inseparable.   But the power of Christ and His redemptive love, can resurrect us from our current spiritual condition of death, and show us what it means to truly live, now and after.  We need not wait for the final resurrection to be raised unto life today.  We can experience what it truly means to love others, as Christ loves them, and in so doing, know the bliss and perfection of the gift He offers in the here and now.  This resurrection is possible ahead of our physical graves, and carries immediacy and relevance to us today.

John continues in verse 9 … “I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.”  Jesus begins His message to Smyrna to once again remind them that He is engaged and aware of what is happening in that church.  He knows what works His Spirit has inspired among the believers there and what the results of that outpouring has been.  He praises the patience and forbearance in tribulation.  He notes the perceived poverty, but reveals that the lack of earthly wealth has not diminished in any way the treasure of wealth that has been laid up in heaven.  It was common practice in the early church that upon joining, a member would sell everything they owned, and donate the entire amount to the church, to be shared with anyone who had need.  This was way beyond the concept of tithing.  It was literally a 100% commitment to God, with nothing held back for ourselves.  But the end result of course, was a complete lack of personal finances, position, or earthly wealth.  Here Christ endorses this practice and reminds us that our sharing of our means is aligned with heaven and is more important than any hoarding of our means.

Then Christ addresses the topic of blasphemy.  He does not state that the false claim of these blasphemers is that they claim to be God, but rather they claim to be Jews, when in fact they are of the synagogue of Satan.  While Christ Himself setup the original religion and practices the Jewish people followed since the days of Creation (the Sabbath), Adam (sacrifice), Abraham (dedication and circumcision), Moses (the Law on the tables of stone), Solomon (the construction of the Temple), Nehemiah (the restoration of the Temple).  Christ had also come as the Messiah, and was the fulfillment of all the prophecies that pointed forward to His work of our redemption.  Upon rejecting Him, what was once His own religion; rejected now its own God.  To claim that salvation exists outside of Christ, or to claim that control and self-actions can lead to salvation, is to blaspheme the reality of our God.  It is Satan who values control.  It is Satan who tells us we need no one but ourselves to live as we choose and be the authors of our own ideas of salvation.  It is Satan who tempts us to see the forms and practices of our religion supplant the Christ of our religion.  His synagogue is not some dark place where believers wear red robes and do blood rituals.  Instead they masquerade as fine Christian chapels and mega churches with believers dressed in full business attire, but whose hearts have never been submitted to anything outside of themselves.  Those who claim to be Jews but are not, follow every idea and variation that keeps Christ out of the center stage of our salvation and instead “self” located there.  When we trust to our own strength, whether in “partnership” with God, or completely because of our own actions, we deny the reality of the need of our Messiah, and join with those who are labeled of the synagogue of Satan.

John proceeds in verse 10 … “Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”  The message to Smyrna is not a happy one.  There is no message of peace and prosperity, of earthly wealth and ease, of blessings and happiness in this world to the church of Smyrna or to us.  There is after all, a war raging all around us, one of Good and of Evil.  This war will inflict casualties, and evil is aimed fully at hurting God, by hurting the thing He cares most about … us.  The devil will throw us into prison.  In those days, the prisons were no clean, cable-TV, three meal a day institutions.  They were dark, dank, disease ridden dungeons, where food was a luxury and isolation could be the norm.  The devil intends both then and now, to offer us the contrast of earthly poverty and suffering for the sake of our belief in Christ, as compared to the wealth and ease of trusting to ourselves.  If the members of the Smyrna church would but deny their Lord, they could live long happy lives of self-indulgence and ease.  But if not, they would be made to suffer, and be tested in courts of law and outside of any justice, for the beliefs they clung to.  The message says they would have tribulation for ten days.  Perhaps this was literal and meaningful to them at the time they received this message.  Or perhaps this would be interpreted as prophetic, meaning they would have 10 years of tribulation.  Perhaps both. 

But what was most interesting about this message, was the hope offered with it.  Christ begins by saying “Fear none of those things”.  He begins by telling His faithful followers, that Satan has no real power over any of them.  Prison is not something we should fear or worry about.  In fact, death itself is not something we should fear or worry about.  After all He has just said, He Himself was dead and is now alive.  There was a reason He began His message with that greeting.  For if we continue to submit our will and our lives and our very existence unto Christ, He will grant us a “crown” of life.  Crowns symbolize royalty and kingship.  They are rare.  They are not intended for everyone in general.  But in this, everyone who clings to Christ and values His ideas of our existence over what we can see and experience in the here and now, will in fact be considered His royalty.  A status which we do NOT deserve; we are NOT kings and queens, yet He values us this much.  He has served us, as if we were.  He has done for us what is normally only done for kings and queens, yet He did it for us when we were but slaves to our sin and our selfishness.  He freed us from being slaves.  And now He elevates us to being considered royalty, a royalty that is not based in receiving praise but in serving others.  We are to be made kings and queens of service, as He is the God of service and love to others.  It is barely within our comprehension to be so treated by the God of the universe, who had to die in order that we might truly live.  This promise, and these ideas reflect the level to which God loves us and His church.

John relays the conclusion of this message as he pens in verse 11 … “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.”  Again the message is joined by words from the Holy Spirit of Christ.  It is intended for we who believe, for it is we who have an ear.  Again what must be overcome is self, the desire to rely on control, or the forms of religion instead of the Messiah of our religion, the blasphemy of thinking there is salvation outside of the gift of Christ.  And how will these ideas be overcome?  Only as we submit our will, our desires, and our very lives to the will of Christ.  When we do this, we are promised that the hurt of the second death will not come our way.  We will not know the sleep of eternal non-existence that comes at the final destruction of all that is evil.  Instead we will know the crown of life that He has given to us despite what we had earned.  We will know the gift of life He has given us though we deserve the second sleep that remains upon those who refused His gift and denied His salvation, preferring to trust to themselves and their own ideas about salvation.

The message to the church at Smyrna reminds us that bliss in this world is not on the menu.  Our gospel is not one based in the ideas of happiness, wealth, and fulfillment in this world, but in the next one.  Our treasure is not found in our monetary acquisition, but in its full distribution to those in need.  These ideas are at complete war with most of American society and social values.  Indeed the early Christian church followed an extreme version of communism, not capitalism.  They prized giving away everything they owned, not hoarding it.  They were truly persecuted for their stubborn belief in His gift of our salvation, not merely suffering “perceived” slights or dispersions.  They were cast into prisons and killed for what they believed, not just ridiculed for having faith.  The message for Smyrna reminds us of the reality of the war that continues to rage between Satan who is bent on our destruction, and God who is bent on our redemption.  And it offers us hope, that while we submit ourselves fully to Christ, there is life worth living.  It begins here, and but it is intended for an existence that well beyond anything we will know in this world of pain, sin and self-obsession.

And the messages would continue …

 

 

Messages to the Church Revealed (Ephesus) ...

The first church of the seven was identified as Ephesus.  John begins in Revelations chapter two, by immediately revealing the source of the message; its author is Christ.  Verse one states … “Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;”  It is Christ who holds the seven stars, or seven angels of the seven churches in his right hand.  It is Christ that walks amidst the seven golden candlesticks or amidst HIS church.  Here again Christ asserts His ownership for His church.  John is not the owner.  The local pastor is not the owner.  Even the members do not “own” their own church body.  Christ alone does.  The message itself appears to be targeted at not only the church, but to the angel of the church.  This may imply that the message will be to the people, but that even after the people are gone, it remains a message the angel is to hold for this church in perpetuity.  But whether the message was prophetic, or immediately relevant, or both; what was clear was that it came from Christ.  It was not the opinions of John in this instance; it was the word of the Lord.

John continues relaying what he is told in verse 2 … “I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: [verse 3] And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.”  To begin Christ starts by insuring His followers understand that He is fully aware, and actively engaged in His church at Ephesus.  The outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the early days of the church of Jesus has borne fruit.  The people who follow Christ have labored to spread His gospel, they have been patient, and they have not stopped their efforts to spread His gospel merely because it is difficult physically on them.  In addition, they have suffered the burden of having to contend with “false” apostles.  Imagine how hard it must have been for an early Christian church with no form of mass or immediate communications to tell when a stranger comes claiming to be an apostle (who no one has ever met), from a genuine apostle (who no one has ever met).  They did not have Facebook or any way to look up the credentials of these folks.  Instead they would have to bring them into their midst, welcome them as is the Christian way, and only over time observe that self-interest, and self-motivation were the only objectives of these false messengers.  They were posing as believers, only to gain monetary advantage, taking what was shared and pocketing it much like Judas before them.  Sometimes these fakers would act as spies for the Jewish authorities to attempt to bring persecution to the true leadership of the church.

Because the mantra of the church of Jesus was to love everyone without precondition, the revelation of false apostles with hidden motives and agendas was neither easy nor immediate.  It puts the church in that contentious position of hoping for redemption, yet having to deal with the reality of refusal of that redemption from one of its own.  Here Christ acknowledges that not every person who claims to be an apostle is truly an apostle.  Claiming to follow Christ, does not make it so.  Claiming to have authority from Christ in the leadership position, such as an apostle, does not make it so.  To truly follow Christ, one must be the servant of all, not attempt to control all.  It is this difference that clearly marks those who through submission have been changed by Christ, and those who are merely claiming His name in order to gain advantage over others.  In general Christ acknowledges that the efforts of the church at Ephesus have had a positive impact.  However, that is not where the message ends.

John continues in verse 4 … “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.”  Perhaps the most heartbreaking words that might come from the mouth of our God; a message that we, His followers, have “left” our first love – Him.  The love of Christ being first and foremost in our hearts is the key from which all other actions and motives flow.  When the love of Christ is made secondary in any way, what follows is a reliance on self that creeps into our Christianity and into our thinking.  We begin to take credit for the spiritual works as if they came from us, instead of flowing through us with their source in Christ alone.  We begin to see ourselves as in a better spiritual condition than we are, because we begin to compare our relatively holy lives, with those who are not nearly so spiritually mature and perfected.  To lose our first love, is to seek another to fill its place.  In a marriage it is akin to seeking another lover, another partner, someone else.  In spiritual terms, it is the supplanting of love of Christ, for love of religion, or power, or control, or self.  If Christ is not kept at the center of our thinking and our love, if we do not seek to submit ourselves fully to Him, we cut ourselves off from the mechanism of our change, and the need for it.

Christ continues His admonition in verse 5 … “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.”  Remember that we are fallen because we are our own worst enemy.  It is not the devil who “makes” me sin, it is my own desire to do so, I need almost no encouragement from Satan to do what I already want to do.  If I am to stop sinning, I must seek first the only One who is able to remake my desires and cause me to change what I want, and therefore what I do.  The first “work” of our salvation is to submit our will to Christ.  It is why we repent.  When we see ourselves as we truly are, when we see the extent of our selfishness, and our literal eagerness to put Christ back on the cross so that we can have only a moment’s perceived pleasure that comes from self-gratification – we realize just how far our own selfishness will go.  We are no different than the persecuting priests, or Roman guards who tortured our Lord for their own amusement.  It is our amusement that has required His sacrifice.  And it is He alone who can change how we think, and what we love, in order that sin is no longer the temptation it once was.  It is our hearts that must change, before the works of our hands will.  This is the “first works” the church must return to.

If we do not.  We face a self-imposed removal from the presence of Christ.  Our candlestick, our symbolic representation of the perfection Christ is able to perform within His followers, will be removed by our refusal to embrace full submission to His changing and reforming power in our lives.  This is NOT the inclination, or choice, Christ wishes to make.  If it were, He would not waste time, warning us of our self-chosen fate.  This admonition, like every other from the mouth of Christ, was not meant to be a threat to us, but a wake-up-call on how to avoid the pain we so often choose.  Christ is working again for the redemption of His church, not for its condemnation.  But He is also plainly stating a truth, that when we refuse to put Him first, we are putting ourselves on the path of separation from Him, which He will be unable to stop.  Our choice, at the end of the day, rules our fate.  If we choose to forsake our love of Christ, and replace it with love of self, we cut ourselves off from our only hope of salvation.  Christ will not continue to keep an entire church at Ephesus holding a place in the golden candlesticks merely because it once did, or for history’s sake, or in a vain hope they will return.  If we forsake following, and lean on self, our vanity will see us removed and replaced with those who truly do see their need and follow, trusting in Him, and not in themselves.

As the message comes to a close, a further word of encouragement is offered.  Christ continues in verse 6 … “But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.”  Notice first, Christ does not advocate or endorse hatred for a person, or group of people.  He is specific to say “the deeds of”.  It is the sin Christ hates, NOT the sinners, for we ALL are sinners.  In this the church has followed His lead.  The Nicolaitans of this day, are not much different than many within most of our Christian churches of today.  They misinterpret the message of grace.  Instead of seeing grace as the means of redemption FROM sin, they see it as a vehicle TO sin freely.  They mistake the argument of Christ willingness to forgive, as His sanction that any sin or any act is OK, because right or wrong He will forgive it anyway.  This phenomenon has sometimes been referred to in our day as “cheap grace”.  The idea that nothing we do matters, because we have already been saved, and will remain so, because of the power of Christ.  And once this concept is embraced, most folks generally apply it to sex, or greed, or most other forms of self-indulgence.  The most fundamental flaw in this thinking, is a distortion of the nature of sin.  Instead of seeing sin for the pain it causes others and ourselves, we buy into the devils ideas that sin = fun.  When in fact, sin = pain.  Were we to see sin in that context, we would not seek to find more ways to embrace sin, but rather the only way we can be made free from sin and the pain it brings to others and ourselves.  Christ came to free us from our pain and our sin, not to give us a way to deepen ourselves in it.

The first message concludes in verse 7 … “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.”  John now adds a message from the Spirit of Christ, the unity of the Godhead working in concert for our redemption.  He that hath an ear, is we who are believers, if we purport to be followers of Christ, we should take heed to this message.  He does not constrain the message only to those few at Ephesus, but offers a broader audience, in fact all of us, to take notice.  To him “that overcometh”, so first what is it that must be overcome.  The loss of our first love, the replacement of Christ first, for self first, the embracing of the idea that sin is OK simply because forgiveness is there – in short what must be overcome is our own will and desires.  And “how” must self be overcome?  If we are the enemy, we will not cure ourselves.  If we are diseased, it cannot be us who cures us.  Instead we must be made clean.  Instead we must have our chains of slavery to self, broken by the only One who can.  If we are to see a victory over self, it must come from beyond ourselves.  Our salvation will be His gift to us, our role will be to accept it.  We must humble ourselves to see we NEED His gift, as we will be unable to obtain it on our own.  We must submit who we are to Him, in order that He can change how we think, what we want, and therefore what we do.  This is the overcoming that is promised to us by the Spirit.  It is the overcoming that is the promised reward.  What follows is only icing on the cake, not the cake itself.

To eat from the tree of life is to live forever.  It was the tree of life that Adam and Eve were denied access to, once they had embraced sin.  To live forever in the condition of sin, is not life, it is torture.  But once sin has been removed forever from our thinking, our motives, and our deeds, then real life can begin.  Then to live forever is no longer torture but perfection and bliss.  To be in the paradise of God, is not merely to be in the city of Heaven which he has designed and built and upgraded in order that we could share it with Him.  To be in the paradise of God, is to know the absence of self-obsession, and the fullness of selfless service to others, in short to know love, is to know loving others.  Our quest to be loved has long been fulfilled, for Christ has loved us, before we even existed.  To love others is the real agenda.  It is the real paradise, the real heaven.  The purpose of the revelation of Christ to His church in Ephesus, was not to remain stagnant until the day of His returning.  It was to embrace their first love of Christ in the here and now; to see the paradise of God active and alive in their lives in the here and now.  This was possible and achievable in the here and now, but ONLY through the seeking of Christ first and foremost, only through a recognition of our need of Him, and a submission and trust in Him to work in us, what He has promised.

And the messages would continue …

 

Revelations: The Nature of God Revealed ...

Jesus was known of His disciples as the man they had spent three and a half years with while He ministered here on earth.  This was the only context they had known Him in.  They saw glimpses of His divinity, but never the full picture of it.  John was now to reveal Jesus Christ to the masses, out of the context of the friend he knew, and in the role of the God we worship.  John begins with his introduction in verse 9 of his book Revelations in chapter one saying … “I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. [verse 10] I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,”  John begins by identifying himself as our brother, not as our leader, or our prophet, or as the bishop of the church, or as any other hierarchical figure in Christianity, but merely as our brother.  He further states that he too suffers in tribulation (both physical and spiritual) in the waiting for Jesus Christ.  He was in the Roman prison colony of Patmos because of his preaching of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ.  John witnessed to what he saw of the life of Jesus, but he also used scripture to illuminate the truth of Jesus Christ.

John then goes on, and says that he was “in the Spirit”; given the prophecy that follows, this is likely to be interpreted as being touched by the Holy Spirit, or filled with the Holy Spirit.  It happened on “the Lord’s Day”.  The only day throughout all of scripture to be directly associated with God was the Sabbath set at creation, verified in the law, and rested upon by Christ even during His sleep of death while in His work to redeem us.  Nowhere in scripture is found any directives to change this day, or discontinue its observance.  And so, both the early Christian church, as well as the traditional Jewish faith continued to observe the Sabbath to try to keep it Holy.  Though the Christian church had a bit different perspective on what that meant in terms of service to others.  John continues that behind him he hears a great voice, as of a trumpet.  Trumpets are loud.  They are clear.  They are musical.  It is not just a large crash, or big bang of something falling that grabs John’s attention – instead he refers to it as a voice.  A voice has purpose, and clarity.  But in this instance, the voice is loud, and requires attention.  The voice has structure and meaning and will continue to reveal to John a deeper of picture of Jesus Christ.

John repeats what the voice states in verse 11 … “Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.”  The voice is that of Jesus Christ already identified as the Alpha and Omega, the first and last of our salvation, and of existence.  John is directed to write what is revealed in a book.  A book implies that this will not fit in a traditional letter, it is going to be more content that a letter would usually contain.  And it’s audience would be the seven churches, or the Christian church of his time.  Now the key centers of Christianity in that day that comprise the church of Christ are revealed by name.  All seven were in reasonably close proximity in the Roman province referred to as Asia, sometimes called Asia minor.  On a recent map all of them would be located within the country of Turkey.  What is most interesting personally about the designation of these seven churches to me, is that none of them were tied to any political centers of power, either historical, current or emerging.  Jerusalem was once the capital of Israel and housed the Ark of the Covenant within the temple Solomon built.  The actual Mercy Seat where the physical presence of God dwelt with His people was there for years.  But no more.  Regardless of where God had been, or who comprised His church before, His current church was now only to be made up of those who follow Christ.

Rome was the current political power of the day, Athens and Babylon preceded it.  No churches of Christ were identified in any of these political capitals as being part of the seven.  Instead, seven cities, of no special significance, located in a province of no special significance, but each containing followers of Jesus Christ made up the representation of His church.  The marriage modern Christianity would appear to love to nourish between the power of the state and the morality and values of Christianity does not reflect what the leader Christ revealed about Himself or His church.  Christ was never interested in politics, or the power of the state.  He was however always interested in people and whether they would allow Him to give them the gifts of perfection through the submission of their will to Him.  Following Christ, not leading Him, or attempting to compel others to join with Him, or attempting to mandate the morality of others in His name – no, Following Him implies submission.  It is in our submission we find salvation, not in our vain attempts at control or power.  Christ built His church under the pagan power of the Roman empire.  Politics were not in support of His church, and rather were determined to see it ended.  Yet Christ did nothing to overturn Roman rule while here on earth or after His ascension.  Instead He did what really matters, He focused on turning only the hearts of His followers.  This would one day change the entire world.

John now knows who will be the immediate audience for book he is to write.  But as this voice was coming from behind him, he wishes to see who is speaking and turns around.  He continues to pen what he sees in verse 12 … “And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;”  There is often a distinction made between the Old and New Testaments regarding the covenant between God and His people.  But it is interesting that the symbolism used in the Old Testament sanctuary finds new purpose in the New Testament revelation of Christ.  John sees seven golden candlesticks, it is easy to picture a Menorah in this instance in some variation.  For one just like it is described in the original sanctuary worship service of the Old Testament days of Moses and what would follow. 

Having seen the candlesticks, John turns his attention to Christ in verse 13 he continues … “And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.”  John identifies the person in the midst or middle of the candlestick as “like” the Son of Man.  He resembles Jesus that John knows, and uses language that was used by the King of Babylon in the days of Daniel’s three friends who were cast into the fiery furnace; one who is like unto the Son of Man.  Nebuchadnezzar recognized Christ, even without ever having met Him that we know of, and John recognizes Him as well.  Next John sets about describing the attire he sees, eerily similar to that of a traditional temple priest.   Clothed with garment down to the foot, and wearing about the waist and thighs a “golden girdle”.  It was not long ago that Christ had girded himself with a simple towel to wash the feet of his disciples, now that same implement seems to show He is still working in service to His church, and for their salvation.

John then sets about to describe Jesus the Man he knows as God continuing in verse 14 … “His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; [verse 15] And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.”  The purity of God is reflected in his head and hair as they are white as snow.  This is not to designate Christ as being of Arian decent, nor to decry his Palestinian heritage or perhaps previously olive complexion.  It is instead to remind us, that our God is not bound by our divisions or national ideas, or heritage of ethnicity.  Instead He bears characteristics that we do not find in ourselves.  He has a head and hair, though white as snow.  But his eyes are neither brown, green, nor blue; they are instead as a flame of fire.  John cannot see much of His skin due to the full length garment, but His feet are as fine brass, still burning in a furnace.  In our day the CGI effects in movies like the Terminator where seemingly liquid metal gels into the appearance of a man might be a good allegory.  And again John reminds us that His voice, is not merely the voice of a man, but as the sound of many waters.

John then describes items Jesus is carrying in verse 16 … “And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.”  In the right hand of Christ are seven stars, John does not know what this means at first, nor does he fully understand the imagery of the candlesticks as yet.  But out of His mouth went a two-edged sword.  Coming from the mouth of Christ are the words and teachings of Christ.  I AM that I AM had given His laws once to His people.  But in the life of Christ, was revealed the motives behind the laws, and the lesson of what it means to love and serve others, even to the point of offering His life for them and us.  Those words of Christ and teachings of Christ were a TWO edged sword.  Or in other words, they CUT both ways.  They both liberate and condemn.  They both save and judge.  Those who will hear the word of Christ, will be saved by His power to cut the evil out of the minds and hearts.  Those who will refuse to hear the words of Christ, are cutting themselves off from the only source of their salvation and are dooming themselves to be cut off from His presence forever.  The teaching of Christ, the fulfillment of the mission of Messiah, is that we ALL need a savior.  We are NOT to save ourselves.  This is a lesson even modern Christianity could stand to re-learn.  Those who put self at the center of their religion find no room for Christ there, and thus find only the doom of isolation from Christ.

The sun is difficult to stare at when it shines without clouds at noon day.  If you attempt it, you will likely lose your sight altogether.  The countenance of Christ is so bright, John can only describe it in that way.  His purity, His love is so intense, that as you gaze upon it, it is too bright for the selfishness still within us to stand.  Our evil compels us to recoil or withdraw from the presence of such purity.  As such John falls prostrate as he describes in verse 17 … “And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:”  John sees in himself the unworthiness of standing in the presence of perfect love and purity, and falls before God expecting to be dead.  Instead, the familiar hand of the one he loves placed upon him, perhaps helping him up, and the familiar greeting … “Fear not”.  How often John has heard those words from the voice of God, and how often they were needed.  Even before the message is delivered to John, Christ pays attention to the needs of John, and FIRST assuages his fears.  Then He continues saying again He is the first and the last, the beginning and ending of our salvation, of our transformation, of our perfection, and of our existence.

Christ continues in verse 18 … “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.”  Christ identifies himself as the man they knew and the life he spent with them.  He reminds them that He died for us, and is now risen for us.  He also states that He will be alive forevermore, there will be no future death for Him again.  And in addition He holds the keys of “hell” and of “death”.  “Keys” are needed to open prison doors.  They are needed for our freedom.  Hell is the condition of life while separated from God.  Any existence cut off from the presence and author of love, is ALREADY hell.  You do not need fire and flames to torture the flesh, if you are unable to love and be loved, and know only the pain of self-love and the slavery it causes.  You are already alive in hell.  You are already the prisoner of hell.  And no prisoner ever frees himself from this condition or state of existence.  However, Christ holds the keys to freedom from it.  Death, or the sleep of non-existence, is also something that Christ can free us from.  He can raise us from the dead, both our minds and bodies, but also from the death of our spiritual condition of self-focus.  He can raise us from the death we have embraced of our spiritual nature, and put life in its place, life that is found, rooted, and grounded in Christ alone.

Notice Christ does not hand John the keys.  No angel holds the keys.  We are not to be partners with Christ in freeing ourselves from our conditions of hell or of death.  We are to be freed BY Christ from these conditions and from Him alone.  Buddha, and Mohammed, and Moses, do not carry these keys.  There is no path to self-enlightenment.  There is no level of self-denial that will result in freedom from hell or death.  There is only Christ.  The two-edged sword has the power to cure us, or if we reject it, the inevitable result of seeing us trapped where we are, cut off from His presence.  The whole goal of our salvation was to bring us home to Him, to restore us into the presence of that kind of purity, without the stain of self to cause us to wither away and recoil. 

Christ then gives John his mission in verse 19 … “Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;”  John is to record everything that has just transpired.  The timeframe for relevance will be … “things which are” … or messages that are needed today in the present timeframe of the audience of John.  But also they are “things which shall be hereafter”, or messages that are intended for those who will live beyond the immediacy of the audience of John’s readers.  Again the messages of these revelations have meaning in more than one timeframe, but key to any interpretation is the central premise of revealing Jesus Christ.  Outside of Jesus Christ, there can be no proper interpretation of scripture, the law, or the prophecies contained here. 

Christ then reveals the meaning of the symbolism John has just witnessed to him as He continues in verse 20 … “The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.”  The seven stars represent seven angels that work and minister to each of the seven churches, one a piece.  The seven candlesticks that Christ was walking amidst are His churches that he has just listed before.  Christ is establishing that these churches belong to Him.  He has assigned angels to minister to those churches.  He does not designate that each church belongs to its current pastor, or evangelist, or its founder, or committee of church board members, or elders, or deacons, or even its members.  Each church belongs to Christ.  Each member, or leader, all belong equally to Christ, to be led by Christ, and taught by Christ, and saved by Christ.  It is not the structure of the governance of the church that saves us, but the only real leader, Christ.  It is not our position of service that makes us any more or less important than other members of the church, our value is found in the love of our leader, Christ.  We belong only to Him.  We are His.  It is that which gives us value.

And the revelations of Christ had only just started …

 

Revelations: Church of God Revealed ...

Revelations of Jesus Christ began after his resurrection from the grave, not only in the book John would write on the topic.  To have Jesus Christ revealed to the world, and to His own church, was something both were in desperate need of, as are we today.  The book of prophecies and visions John would pen are often studied today with a focus on predicting latter day events, or for studying the history of political power in the world over time.  But these ideas, while present, are not supposed to be the key message revealed in this text.  Jesus Christ is.  The book we find most difficult to understand was first and foremost intended to be a book that revealed Jesus Christ more fully to the world.  This should be the first goal in its study, not a by-product of what is found within.  The Pharisees had already proven the point to John throughout his gospel to us, that interpretation of scripture without Christ, leads to an improper understanding that will allow those who claim to be the leaders of God’s church, to kill God Himself, in order to maintain their incorrect understandings, and their leadership over the people.  It is always Satan’s kingdom that craves power and subjugation, and God’s who wishes only the freedom to love others and find joy in the loving.

Jesus had a humble birth in this world, though He was honored as a King.  He grew up in the trade of a carpenter in a region not known for anything holy.  He ministered for three and a half years and revealed the will of God His Father on earth to show love to all He encountered.  He died and was raised from the dead.  After this, his physical appearances were limited.  The nature of Christ that was the Son of God was not something readily apparent in the life He lived upon earth.  But this nature was the more important one, and was the one which John would focus on now.  Christ was no longer in this world.  He had ascended back to the side of His Father.  He was home.  And the home He went to, was something none of us understood, or knew anything about.  The whole of the Old Testament pointed forward to His first appearing and hope of a Messiah.  There were some scattered prophesies about heaven and the ultimate restoration of God’s Kingdom past the end of time.  But the majority of the Desire of Ages was to see our hopes fulfilled in His first ministry to us, that of Messiah.  But now, Messiah had come and gone.  What was left to write in the New Testament was about the new hope and new focus of Jesus we would need to know.  It had come time, to reveal to the world, what was coming, and a new Revelation about the nature of Christ as God, not merely as the son of Man.

This effort would be even less appreciated by the remaining Jewish leadership.  It was bad enough to have to contend with the Man Jesus Christ.  But now to have to see His Divine side revealed was not an idea they relished.  In addition, John would be describing what God is like.  John would describing the Only God, the real God, this God which does exist, as opposed to all the prior deities that lived in pagan forms of worship, now revealed to be false.  In the book of Revelation, as is consistent with the entirety of scripture, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit would be discussed and revealed as working in concert for our salvation.  These three who were united and one in the mission of our redemption would be fully discussed.  There would be no mention of Diana, or Zeus, or Apollo, or Odin, or Thor, or Buddha, or Mohammed, or a Great Spirit, or Druid Nature worship, or any other form of past or present alternatives to the truth of Jesus Christ.  There were no other Gods, despite what Satan had propagated into the various forms of worship around the world.  And so in the revealing of Jesus Christ, would also come the unmasking of His enemy.  All of the false forms and false gods that have in common the worship of self; would also be revealed, in contrast to the revelation of the truth and life of Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ as our God would be revealed to us.  John would in the course of this new book reveal to the best of his ability what God looked like, in the form of God, rather than merely in the form of Man.  John would write about concepts that would be hard for man to understand.  For any finite being, would find it difficult to put into words something that knows no limits.  But the messages intended for John to reveal to us had an author.  As John opens His book of Revelations, he begins with attributing where the source of these writings would originate from.  Not from his imagination as many would like to believe, not from hallucinations induced by hunger or non-ideal conditions of the Roman prison colony at Patmos where he had been banished to, after the Romans failed to kill him boiling him in oil.  No, the source of these revelations had a home as he would begin to describe in chapter one, and verse one … “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:” - Notice first, that God the Father was the author of these revelations.  God the Father gave these messages to Jesus Christ, in order that Christ could reveal them to His servants (angels and men), about what was to shortly come to pass.  In this designation of time, there is an urgency, and an immediacy that argues that this message will have relevance in the timeline of the readership.  Christ then sends the message to John via an Angel tasked to take it to him.  The progression of the message begins with God the Father, is passed to God the Son, and is delivered to John via an Angel tasked with its delivery.

John continues in verse 2 … “Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. [verse 3] Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.”  John recorded the word of God, not his own inclinations, or his own ideas, or his own interpretations of what was revealed, but rather, just as it was delivered to him.  In this book to follow would be the testimony of Jesus Christ.  Everything that John saw, he would transcribe to print.  And so, John offers the reader the idea that just in the reading he will be blessed.  For again the time is at hand, the meanings contained in this book are both prophecy, and currently relevant.  They have meaning both here and now, and in the near future.  John tells us, that the same words may be interpreted in more than one way, but continued to remind us, that all meanings must be derived in the context of a revelation of Jesus Christ.

With this opening, John sets the stage of where the message comes from, and to whom it is being delivered.  He continues in verse 4 … “John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;” - John opens with a message for 7 key churches, that are located in Asia.  Notice first these churches do not include the countries of Rome (Italy), or Jerusalem (Israel).  They are in Asia, or plainly stated the rest of the world.  The message or revelation of Jesus Christ is no longer just to be offered to the traditional descendants of Abraham.  The revelations of Jesus Christ as God, are to be freely available to His followers around the world.  The number seven denotes perfection in the kingdom of God, it is a form of symbolism to signify to us, a state of perfection that exists in a universe we have little understanding of.  So when John opens his greetings, He is in effect, saying He is greeting the perfect church of the real God, Jesus Christ, those who follow the Truth and the Life.  He does not include in this greeting, other churches, other gods, or even traditional descendants of Abraham.  Followers of Christ alone, can be included in the church of God.  A failure to recognize Christ, by definition excludes one from membership in the church of God the Father.

Next John reveals in this first greeting an aspect about God which finite man has a hard time understanding; that God exists outside of what we understand about space and time itself.  John uses the words … “from him which is (present tense), which was (past tense), and which is to come (future tense)”.  Christ existed before His human origin, and before our creation, and before our understandings of the big bang, and before anything we call a start of time or space.  As God, Jesus Christ exists in the present, in our reality, in the space and time we call “now”.  And as God, Jesus Christ will exist in the future, past our own deaths, past the death of this world, past any boundaries we could imagine in time or in space.  This idea makes time irrelevant where it comes to describing God.  Jesus, for our purposes, has no beginning, nor does he have any end.  He exists past both of those conventional ideas we are bound by.

Next John offers us the location that this message came from the throne of God.  He further clarifies that there are 7 spirits who are before His throne.  Seven being a symbolism for perfection, this implies that the perfection of the Holy Spirit is before His throne.  John’s use of the words “and from” state that the greetings of Grace and peace are joined by the Holy Spirit as well to the church of God the Father.  John continues in verse 5 … “And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, [verse 6] And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”  John further states his greetings are joined by Jesus Christ as well.  He then begins to describe Jesus as being the faithful witness.  In this Christ was a faithful witness to the will of God, the love of God, and the law of God.  Christ was forever showing the love of God to us, and telling us that in each and every miracle, His Father’s will was fulfilled.  Jesus is further described as the “first begotten of the dead”.  In this Jesus’s resurrection offers us hope that because of His gift, we too can be raised from the dead.  Not just from our physical state but from the dead of a life of selfishness, chained to self-service, this is a state He can raise us from as well.  The leadership of Christ is to be above the kings of this world, even kings are to owe their service to Christ. 

John then states that what Christ has done for us, is to turn us from the slaves of self-service, into kings and priests unto God His Father.  We join with God in serving others, and in so doing we become kings of service, and priests of service, all for the benefit of others – just as Christ has done for us.  We are not to be glorified or worshipped, but instead our service and our love to others will be His glory.  John rightly attributed glory and dominion for ever to Christ alone.  Just in these first few verses, John inexorably ties Jesus Christ to God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit.  It is impossible to claim to worship God the Father, if one denies His Son, or His Spirit.  The 7 churches are not perfect because they commit no sin, or need no savior; instead they are perfect because they acknowledge their need of Jesus Christ as their only hope of being saved from the slavery of self.  Modern day Muslims, and Jews, still claim to serve the same Father God we Christians do – but they deny the divinity of His son – and in so doing keep themselves from being identified with the source of their salvation.  This choice of separation leaves them with no-one to break the chains of their selfishness, and offer them the life God so longs to see them live.  His door stands open, but their denial of His Son, leaves them no savior to save them from themselves.  It is not enough to worship only part of God, we must accept the whole of God if we are to see the Truth, and experience His Life.

John continues with the message of God the Father in verse 7 … “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.” – Perhaps ironic that in the seventh verse is the most important point of the entire book – Jesus Christ will be returning to this earth.  Further the manner of His return is described, He will be coming with clouds, and every eye shall see Him.  The return of Christ is to be from the sky, in like manner as He ascended.  And His return is not to be a secret, but one that will be witnessed by the entire world.  It will be seen also by those who pierced Him.  This could be both spiritual (those who deny His divinity, or deny their need of Him to save them from themselves), or it could be literal if those who were responsible for His death are raised to see His triumphant return, to finally and fully know the proof of what He had told them, and what they knew in their hearts to be true, but would not accept to be true.  All kindreds of the earth shall wail, implies that in every people of every land, there are many who do not wish to see Him return.  They are more happy with their lives as they are.  They do not wish a change.  They do not wish His freedom.  To see the Truth of His returning is to recognize their lives will not be allowed to continue indefinitely in the evil they have embraced.  But even so, Amen, even so, John wishes for Christ to return.

John continues to write the message He has heard, the revelation of Jesus Christ from the Father God Himself as he continues to describe Christ  in verse 8 … “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.”  First, as has been the case all along, Christ is the Alpha (or the genesis or beginning) of our salvation.  He is also the Omega (or ending, or finisher) of our salvation.  We are saved because He loved us before we knew Him.  We are drawn by this love to Him.  We are granted the freedom to decide whether to accept this love or not.  And having accepted, it is by the power of His love, that He changes us from who we were into who He intended us to be.  The Father again identifies Christ as the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending of our way of salvation.  He again states that our concepts of time do not apply or constrain God, He is beyond them.  And finally, He states the Truth that all power is in the hands of God and Christ.  He is the Almighty.  There is no limit to the power within Him.  He is able to save us, from what we are powerless to save ourselves from. 

This revelation of what God is like, what Christ is like, in the form of God was stunning.  Then and now, the idea the God is beyond our ideas of time, is hard for us to grasp.  But then and now, the idea that Christ is powerful enough to save us, and is the main point in the true religion of God is consistent throughout the entire Bible.  Here John affirms it once again.  What has changed between the Old and New Testaments of Christ, is that one pointed forward to His mission as Messiah.  And the other points forward to His mission as God and Redeemer.  The church of God has been identified as belonging to the rest of the world now.  It is not constrained by the history of Judaism.  Nor is it tied to the power of the Roman empire.  It is not bound to political power, or historical bias, it belongs to those who see the need to be saved from themselves by the power of Jesus Christ. 

False gods have been eliminated.  And self too has been denounced.  In these texts of revelation of Jesus Christ, is found no reference to how we save ourselves, either on our own, or in partnership with Jesus.  We have no role in that other than to accept His gift of our salvation.  Jesus is identified as Alpha and Omega, not man, not self, not us.  This revelation was hard for former Jews to accept, it is no less difficult for us today.  Too many wish to take the reins in their own salvation, too many wish to keep some measure of control in how they are saved, and in so doing keep self at the center of their purported “Christianity”.  They leave Christ to the side, and continue to rely on self, and on their own actions to validate their salvation.  Instead of finding the true change that full submission brings.  In this, they would find actions natural, instead of labored.  They would find rest, instead of burden.  But to find it, they must join the true church of Christ, and follow Him, not themselves.

And this was only the beginning of the revelations John was to reveal …

 

Revelations Begin ...

Mary Magdalene had fulfilled her gospel commission to take the message of hope to the new Christian church (the eleven remaining disciples).  Her message given to her directly by the Savior “should” have engendered hope, given courage, and inspired faith.  This was the first revelation Christ made to us of the completion of His work to save us from ourselves and our sins.  The first revelation of His love to us after rising from His grave; was to pause His own work and take time to comfort the grieving Mary with His words of profound love.  We were to see His Father as our Father.  We were to see His God as our God.  Jesus was alive, not dead in a tomb.  His work to pay our penalty for the sins we embrace was completed and He was on His way to His Father to see our salvation confirmed.  Mary had done as Christ had asked.  But her message bore no fruit.  She had done what Jesus Himself had told her, her new life had begun, because of the gift of Christ, but even though she had done what she was commissioned to do, her words were not heeded.  Such is the arrogance of those who are determined to pre-judge the messenger as unworthy or unreliable, rather than to hear the word of God thru whom it was given.  Mary should not have been judged by her former life, for now through the light of Christ’s gifts, her former life was passed away, and her new life had begun.  The words Mary brought from the mouth of Christ Himself should have been judged on their own merit.  For His words were a fulfillment of the mission of the Messiah, and everything He had taught them could have been brought to mind, if they had simply been willing to hear it.  But they were not.

The closest men to Christ, His most ardent followers; were not immune to chauvinism, prejudice, and despair from what they saw with their eyes, and believed to be the only “facts” that could exist.  They had seen Christ crucified.  They had seen Christ, nailed and pierced.  They had seen Christ, laid dead in a tomb.  These things they had witnessed or been told, and these things they believed.  They knew them to be certain.  Their hopes in the rabbinical view of an anti-Roman kingdom had been shattered.  Their faith had been shaken.  Their despair in their own actions taken during the killing of the One they claimed to love more than life, were now only a source of tremendous guilt.  They had accepted the idea that His body was gone from the grave, for they had witnessed that themselves.  But they only believed this was simply yet another act of Roman or Priestly cruelty, not anything more.  Despite the personal testimony of Mary Magdalene, they remained unconvinced.  They had a scriptural understanding, and personal witness, that formed a set of “facts” that could not be undone by the faith that lay within them.  Like us, they needed, their preconceptions wiped away.   Like us, they needed a revelation of Christ, that would change “how” they think, and “how” they “see” the world and the reality of the Truth of Christ.  And Christ would offer them exactly that.

It was the same day as the report of Mary.  It was the evening.  They had gathered again on this Sunday night in the upper room, for fear of the Jewish leadership.  They believed the Jews would persecute and kill them for their former association with Jesus.  But in truth, the Priests who had already heard the testimony of the 100 Roman soldiers; were not looking to silence them for what they “used” to know, but for what they might now discover.  Now that the Sabbath had ended and soon the people who had gathered at Jerusalem would be returning home from the worship of atonement, the Priests would have more time to focus on these last remaining loose ends.  But the disciples feared from their entanglement with the past.  They assumed it was because of their association with the slain Lord that they would be sought out next.  They had no idea, it was because He was arisen, that they had now become even more dangerous to the legacy of control the priests wished to maintain over the people.  Had the priests known that His own disciples did not believe He was alive; they would not have killed them.  They would instead have put them all on public display and made them testify as to their certainty that He was dead and gone.  This would have boosted the credibility of the Priests, and destroyed any hope of an early Christian church.  Their certainty despite the word of Mary, and the witness of 100 other Roman soldiers, would have been welcomed by those who oppose the gospel.  The irony was thick.

But Christ had a revelation in mind, to wipe away the misplaced fears of His disciples.  He would change their thinking in an instant.  He would alter their future in a moment.  And He would restore in them the hope for an early Christian Church meant to shake the very foundations of power in the world around them.  John records in His gospel in chapter 20 beginning in verse 19 … “Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.”  Notice first, John specifically points out that the doors were shut, likely locked, possibly barricaded.  The idea there was to keep the angry folks out, and keep the folks inside safe.  They had gathered there for fear after all.  Jesus does not knock on the door from the outside of this situation.  Christ is no longer to be confined or limited by the structures of men.  Christ is now freely able to show to us His divinity.  As such He appears in the midst of the secured room.  And His first words are the same ones they know, and have heard Him say on similar occasions when miraculous events had occurred – “Peace be unto you”.  The very first personal revelation of Christ to those men there is to relieve their fears.  Once again Christ addresses our most pressing needs.  Once again Christ demonstrates what it means to love another and not Himself.

Christ does not enter this room with the righteous judgment He is equipped to condemn them with.  They have all failed miserably during His trial and murder.  None of them stood with Him.  None of them offered Him comfort.  All of them did nothing, though all of them had claimed devotion to the point of sacrificing their own lives for Him.  He does not begin His conversation with them, by demanding that they acknowledge their failures, and seek forgiveness before He “allows” them to join in His ministry of saving the lost.  As with Mary, He does not hold them accountable for their very acts of failure committed only a short while ago.  Instead He does not even address these failures.  For their sins, like Mary’s, and like ours, have ALREADY been forgiven.  He does not seek perfection in His servants before they are allowed to serve.  Instead He offers perfection as a gift that will come to them over time as they learn to submit their will to His own.  In this regard, John continues in verse 20 … “And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.”  He is the Life.  He changes fear into joy.  He reveals that death is no boundary with which He will be contained, and that instead He is master over the grave and beyond it.  He shows them Himself, His wounds that prove He is no ghost or aberration, but the physical Man they know and love.  He reveals again to men the Truth of Himself.  Truth is found in Christ alone, not in the failed interpretations of scriptures the disciples had clung to only moments before.  The Truth had made them free.  Scripture could now be interpreted in the Light and the Truth of Jesus Christ, never again outside of Him.

John continues in verse 21 … “Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.”  Jesus was calling them to be sent into the world.  Notice the goal of the follower of Christ is NOT to seek isolation from those in corruption who need to be saved.  Instead He sends His own into the world, like His Father had sent Him.  These men were not to be evangelists by profession, but by example.  They were to be living ambassadors of Love.  They were to demonstrate what it means to Love others to a world who was in such desperate need of Love.  Christ did the will of His Father, as we are to do His will.  These men were to heal the sick because it is the will of Christ, as Christ healed because it was the will of His Father.  Christ held back love from no man or woman or child or senior citizen.  He gave Love to all who He encountered.  He sought out those in the MOST need of Him, He did not make them come to Him first.  Christ took the initiative and went to them.  Christ was sent to the world.  He came to bring Life.  He did not sit still and make those who might have an interest in Life, come figure out where He was and find Him.  Instead He brought Life openly into the world and imparted it everywhere He went.  He did not allow prejudice to keep Him away from Samaritans, Romans, or the most grievous sinners.  Instead He welcomed them all like the precious children of His that they are.

Jesus does not ask them to become preachers and teachers by trade.  He does not tell them to collect money so that their ministries have the finances to be successful.  He does not tell them to worry about money at all.  For Christ did not rely on finances to do the will of His Father.  Money was not a concern at all where Christ was involved.  But people were, and people are.  To bring Love to those in need was the commission He was enrolling His erring disciples into.  It would be the sharing of love that would bring perfection into the world, and into His own followers.  It would be Love that alone which would offer the motivation to change, and the power of Christ to effect it.  John continues in verse 22 … “And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: [verse 23] Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.”  Notice that the power of Christ, in His Spirit, was not something they inherently had within them, but was instead a gift to them and to us, like everything else that has to do with our salvation.  It does not come from within us, but as a gift.  The receiving of the Holy Spirit was done here, not at Pentecost.  That later day was a manifestation of a gift that had ALREADY been given.  This is an important realization and revelation – salvation had already been accomplished – these gifts and revelations were a publication of an event that has ALREADY transpired.

Verse 23 is an echo of this sequence of events.  For those who accept the message and love of the good news of Christ; they have ALREADY been forgiven.  It is time to tell them this incredibly good news.  The disciples themselves had not asked for forgiveness for their own failures as yet, but Christ had already forgiven them, and was now inviting them to join Him in ministry to the world.  He was not giving them bags of gold to finance their ministry or end poverty, but instead was breathing into them His Spirit to perfect the Love of others within them.  Love would be enough to make their living examples a ministry that could not be contained.  Those who accepted what they said about salvation being the gift Christ had ALREADY given; their sins were ALREADY forgiven.  Those however, who like them, only moments before had rejected the good news of Christ, retained the lack of hope that comes with refusing the forgiveness Christ ALREADY offers, would retain that hopelessness.  We choose to retain our own sins, not because we are forced to by our own weakness, but because we choose to by pushing away the freedom He so longs for us to accept.  Those who will not hear, or accept the gift and revelation of the Truth of Christ, are dooming themselves to the slavery of their own beliefs.  Their sins are retained by their refusal to let go, and accept the gift of His salvation and freedom.  Christ had changed the minds and perceptions of His disciples in that room that evening because they did not continue to reject the idea of His divinity after they had seen His revelation to them.  They let go their fears of the past, and were made free from the Truth of His presence.

Only God could forgive sins.  Christ could forgive us, because He is God.  He was not telling His disciples they had the power of forgiveness, He was telling them they had the honor of revealing the forgiveness of Christ to the world.  Those who would hear the gospel would find forgiveness of Christ already active in their minds and hearts.  Those who would reject the gospel of Christ would leave themselves with no hope of forgiveness, for none was left who could grant it.  This was His most powerful revelation to those men in the upper room – that He was the sole source of our salvation – it would be His gift to us, and nothing we could do for ourselves.  For self is always the enemy of our own salvation.  For the ten men, and Mary, who were there, faith was once again renewed and affirmed and put into action.  Thomas however, was missing at this event.  Perhaps he had been out to find food.  Perhaps he had an errand to run.  But Thomas was not present to personally witness this revelation of Christ to the others.  And Thomas was not able to accept this testimony based on the word of others alone.  He needed a personal revelation as well.  John chronicles the response of Thomas beginning in verse 24 … “But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. [verse 25] The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

Thomas had heard the message of Jesus being alive now twice; first from Mary, now from the other ten.  But Thomas could not take the good news of the gospel just on the testimony of others, he needed more.  He too needed a personal revelation in order to be sure.  He wanted to believe.  He wanted like the others to be so sure.  But he was not.  So even though the ninety and nine had been assured, the needs of the one still searching sheep aroused the attention of the One who meets every need, and loves every soul.  John continues in verse 26 … “And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.”  Notice first, there was nothing significant about the day of the week in which Christ appeared.  The first time was on Sunday to affirm the testimony of Mary to his followers.  This time it was on Monday a little more than week later to meet the needs of Thomas.  This time, just like the first, the doors were secured again, and Christ enters the room anyway appearing the midst of them.  Once again, He offers His greeting of peace to them all.  This time Thomas was there to hear it for himself.

Now it was time to give Thomas the faith he would need, now it was time to give Thomas the revelation he had required.  John continues in verse 27 … “Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.”  Christ wanted to insure that Thomas too, would be certain.  Christ wanted to blow away every doubt, and every remaining shred about “how” Thomas thought.  Thomas needed to “know” and Christ was there to insure that he did.  Thomas responds in verse 28 … “And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.”  No more doubts lingered in Thomas.  He now addresses Christ not as his friend, but as his Lord, and his God.  The divinity of Christ is no longer even a question in the mind of Thomas.  He is convinced with a faith no one will ever be able to take from him in the future.  But there is a greater Truth that must be revealed to them all.  John continues in verse 29 … “Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”  The revelations of Christ are not all to be seen.  The most important revelations of Christ will be experienced in the lives of those who believe.  It will be the freedom from the slavery to self and sin, that is the experience of revelation we will still be able to witness for ourselves.  This gift of salvation is not theoretical, but experiential.  It is personal to each of us.  It does not come in a corporate block, but in a one-on-one method.

The men in that room all needed to hear from Christ that His revelations were not limited to those who could “see” Him, but to those who would choose to believe in Him.  That message was recorded not only for the Greeks of his day, but for us who would read these words, never having seen the person of Jesus Christ, but would be able to discern His revelation to us in the form of the salvation He brings us as His gift.  Now to see Christ, we need only look at the acts of love and benevolence offered unselfishly to those in need.  It is there that we see Christ reflected to the world.  It is in the Love we show to others that we find Him today.  When it is we who show this kind of unconditional love to others, it is we who reflect Him.  When we Love without judgment or condemnation, instead loving alone to the point of redemption, it is we who join with Him, we are sent, as He was sent. 

It is not our former lives that dictate our worthiness to share in His ministry.  It is not our financial acumen or wealth that enables us to minister for Christ.  It is our willingness to submit our own will to His, and our willingness to reflect His so great love to others through us.  John seems to recognize that there are too many miracles to contain in His gospel, or perhaps any gospel.  He pens this epilogue in verse 30 … “And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: [verse 31] But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.”  John offers us His insights into the proof of the divinity of Christ.  But more, he offers us the revelations of God who walked our earth, and lived a life of perfect love.  God is love.  His kingdom is comprised of those who love.  It was for love that He saved us.  It was for love that He wishes to take us home with Him.  It was for love that He was given to the world.  It will be only love that sees the world redeemed, and us with it.  Love is the only answer that can finally and fully defeat evil.