Badly Packaged Truth ...

In our world, marketing is an art.  Swaying your opinions is a science.  Advertisers look to combine the two and create something that grabs your attention, holds it even if briefly, and implants a message that you should like the product they sell.  If they cannot make you like it, perhaps they can make you curious about it.  If they cannot make you curious, perhaps they can have you associate feelings with it.  The packaging of a message has become the way we tend to judge the message itself.  Imagine trying to sell a pizza in a cardboard box with a car tire track/print clearly running diagonally across the top of the box.  Seeing a tire track across the box, would make you think this pizza was run over, and is probably crushed inside.  No one would want it.  Imagine attempting to sell soda inside a dented, scratched, and bruised up soda can.  You would naturally think this soda can will have way too much pressure in it, and when you open it, it will explode.  Even if you could secure the contents without incident, the packaging would make you think that the can had “been through the mill”.  It would do little to inspire confidence in the quality of the drink.

People get used to seeing packaging of a certain type for the products they buy.  When the packaging does not match the historical expectations of what it should look like, it draws attention, but most often negative attention.  It is like introducing a third wheel on a motorcycle.  At first no one sees the value in this, and then a niche market is carved out in biker clubs for the unusual, or as utility in a side cart.  Surely no one would introduce a fourth wheel, but then they do.  And voila, the All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) is born.  But wasn’t that a Jeep?  No, the ATV is a motorcycle on 4 wheels, exposing you, the rider, to all of nature’s elements including massive injury if it rolls, or throws you from its grasp at high speed.  And yet the ATV market continues to grow.  Just like the idea of putting a motorcycle on the water, and voila, the watercraft market is born and thrives as well.  It would seem there is no limit to how we could apply the principles of a basic motorcycle with a little imagination.

And while we are now open to seeing perhaps a new kind of airplane based on a motorcycle given its rapid recent evolution; we are not so open in church.  All too many Christians, expect to see their leaders in a certain kind of package; a three-piece suit to be exact, something with a tie, and shiny shoes.  A deacon, or deaconess can get away with small variances.  But elders hardly can.  And a pastor, is chained to this image of appropriate packaging as surely as they are, to carry a Bible with them at all times.  And using your phone is a cheat, you must have a printed red-letter edition King James Bible, if you are to claim the title of preacher or pastor in this day-and-age.  Packaging sold to us by tradition.  Packaging in sync with our ideas about doing our best for God, but out of sync with what Jesus wore.  Even in His day, Jesus did not wear fine clothing.  He only wore clean clothing, certainly a by-product of baptizing so many people in the Jordan river.

Jesus did not take much of an interest in fine clothing.  In fact, he must have shunned it, at least for Himself.  It would have been remarkably easy to ask for it, from His followers.  They would have either given to Him, or secured it through taking up an offering, like so many modern ministers do believing this is the only way to secure the Lords favor.  It’s not.  Only at His death, is Jesus finally given a royal robe to wear, for the purposes of mocking the King of the Jews.  This is the robe the soldiers eventually gamble for as it still has value, even when Jesus dies above them.  But somehow, modern Christians cling to the idea, that simple, and clean are not enough.  Practical … for hands-on ministry to the poor and to the diseased never even enter our minds.  By this logic we would all be better off wearing scrubs.  With disposable clothing we could embrace the poor, and hug the sick, throwing away our scrubs later and buying new ones if they could not be cleaned in the wash.

But then, scrubs are not the most flattering of garments.  And our ministries are not designed for physical contact with those in need.  Our ministries are designed only for the listening ear, and contributing wallet.  So we expect 3-piece suit packaging, complete with tie, and shiny shoes.  Should a minister take the pulpit dressed in cargo shorts and a short-sleeved shirt with tennis shoes, we would rise up of one accord and throw him out.  Or at minimum, remove ourselves from the blasphemy that is sure to occur in a place that would permit this.  But it is not only clothing that marks our acceptance of a messenger of His truth.  It is behavior.  We have standards after all.  Biblical standards (or at least our interpretation of what those might be).  And we rigidly enforce our standards on everyone … including … Jesus.

Matthew marks the beginning of this thinking (or at least one of the first times it was publicly exposed) in his gospel in the ninth chapter picking up in verse 9 saying … “And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him.”  As Jesus is leaving his home country or city, He sees Matthew engaged in the practice of collecting Roman taxes.  This is the MOST hated position in the entire nation.  The guy who cleans the poo out of the swine pen would be considered high-society, compared to a tax collector.  Tax collectors are thieves by profession.  Even if they do not steal more for themselves (which most do), they steal Israelite wealth and transfer it to Roman coffers by the nature of what they do. 

Asking Matthew to become a disciple, was literally like asking public enemy number one, to become one of your chief ambassadors.  No thinking modern minister would ask a deformed, lesbian, overweight, stuttering, loud-mouthed, aging minority woman, dressed in shorts and a tee shirt with bare-feet, full of skin disease, and right up to the last minute, a thief of everything you owned, person … to come and follow them, and secure a prime place in your ministry for Christ.  The packaging is ALL wrong.  Any one of those things could perhaps be OK, but the entire combination would make them public enemy number one in the Christian community.  To make them an Apostle of Jesus Christ, is simply unthinkable.  This was the emotional equivalent of selecting a Roman tax collector in the time of Christ.  Matthew would begin his discipleship with Christ as the MOST hated man of the 12, and of the nation at large.  And what does this hated man do … he invites Jesus and the others to come dine in his home.

Matthew continues in verse 10 saying … “And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples.”  The friends of the hated, are hated themselves.  Matthew opens up his home not only to Jesus, to but too everyone else that would be willing to dine there.  His friends are the dregs of society.  Prostitutes, beggars, whoremongers, other thieves, even a gentile or Roman or two.  The list of people willing to associate with the most hated, are by nature also hated themselves.  Though on the social scale, Matthew is clearly the worst, the lowest, and the most hated of any of these groups.  They all serve a purpose.  Matthew and tax collectors serve only Rome.  None the less, Jesus comes and dines with them all.

Matthew continues in verse 11 saying … “And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?”  Enter organized religion into the story.  Enter centuries of tradition passed down within the church, even if they are wrong, or misguided … they remain traditions.  The behavior of Jesus was simply unacceptable.  His behavior rules Him out as being our Messiah.  How many things do you do in your church, or church service, because you have always done them that way?  How many rules and burdens have been placed upon you from the organized church, having nothing to do with the example of Jesus Christ, that you follow because someone said you should?  And when the pastor says you should, how many search the life of Christ, and through this lens, the scriptures for themselves to see if what even a pastor says is what really should happen?  We don’t.  We don’t take the time.  We just do what we are told, as sheep are known to do.

Matthew continues in verse 12 saying … “But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. [verse 13] But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”  Yikes!  Questioning the need for the sacrificial system itself in favor of mercy, was tantamount to blaspheming Moses and the history of that system that Jesus setup in the first place.  But then, Jesus setup that system because we care little for mercy, and so are in need of sacrifice to remind our hardened hearts what mercy should be.  To kill the innocent animals, was supposed to be hard for us to do.  It was supposed to be a reminder that the mercy we feel for the innocent would one day take the Saviors life for us all.  Because we prefer sin to mercy.  Because we prefer the love of self, to the love of others.  And in this preference, our mercy wanes.  And we are ALL unrighteous.  And we ALL have need of the mercy of our Lord to save us from ourselves.  Jesus reminds us that mercy underwrites our very salvation.

If the incident or the story ended here, we might feel good being able to criticize only the religious leadership of the establishment, about their narrow ideas of packaging, and their hypocrisy.  But even the fringe have ideas about packaging as well.  The fringe folks of our community look down on 3-piece suits as being haughty, as being condescending, as being un-enlightened with what is truly important.  The fringe folks have their own music, and methods, and ideas.  And as they rebel against the establishment, they become like the pilgrims of our ancestry who fled religious persecution, only to establish it themselves.  The fringe folks harden in their own ideas about what is important, and become inflexible to change, or adapt to something new.  And it is like looking at two sides of the same coin; both chained to the metal of insistence of being right that binds them. 

Matthew continues in verse 14 saying … “Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?”  John the Baptist was definitely NOT mainstream Israelite society.  He dressed weird.  He ate weird foods.  His hair was uncut.  He bellowed messages of repentance and baptized people under that banner in the river Jordan.  This was not the Rabbi you followed for a traditional experience.  This was the fringe.  The out there, the weirdo of the church.  He fit no mold.  Yet he and his followers maintained a few traditions like fasting.  And as they observed Jesus, they begin to see the unfairness of them fasting all the time, and the followers of Jesus never fasting at all.  It bothers them.  Even from a fringe perspective the packaging begins to look wrong.  Both the organized Pharisee and the fringe disciple of John are questioning the same thing … could the packaging of Christ that is different from both indicate He is not actually the Messiah?

Matthew continues in verse 15 saying … “And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast. [verse 16] No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse. [verse 17] Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.”  Jesus tells both audiences the same message, what He brings is new, it is a new life.  The traditions that burden us were never supposed to be there as burdens.  They were meant to free us, or we should be rid of them.  Fasting is not meant as a burden, but as a tool, to clear the mind to see the will of God clearer … or not at all.  Association with the dregs of society is not a sin, it is meant to show them love from a God of love, not to become them and like them participating in the same sins they are held captive to.

It is the love of Jesus that can free us from who we are, whether traditional Christian or fringe Christian.  Our freedom is not found in how we package ourselves, but in how much we love others, and burn to make their lives better.  How much we burn to point others to Jesus as the way to escape the pain of their lives, is the basis of our freedom, nothing else.  His mercy defines our freedom, nothing else.  When we love, we remove the need for sacrifice.  When all our minds are consumed with love of others, there is no room for sin to enter in.  Better that kind of love, then a cycle of sin-and-forgive we are content with today.  Better to love others so much, we do not have time to sin, we do not have desire to sin, we only want to see people find the love of Jesus Christ.  It is not up to us to clean them, that is the work of Jesus.  It is not up to us to judge them for who they are today, but instead to point them to Jesus and have faith that He will clean them up over time.  Jesus is not just looking to meet someone, and then turn over their salvation to you.  He is looking to meet them, love them everyday, and see them freed from pain of sin.  That is what salvation is all about.

Does it bother you that Jesus does this in a homespun garment and simple sandals?  Does it bother you that Jesus gets dirty on dusty roads?  Does it bother you that Jesus picks up all kinds of germs as he embraces the lepers, the demon possessed, the crippled, the folks with diseases of the skin and bloody wounds?  It is not clean work healing the folks in need.  Love is not clean, it is messy.  Love that redeems is messy to.  It has to be, to get to the place where you are, and remove you from it.  The Truth has a name.  It comes to us from the inspiration of His Holy Spirit still today.  Even if it is not wrapped in the package we traditionally accept, we can still listen for His Truth even when the person who offers it, may not be perfect yet.  It was never the package that mattered.  It is not the 3-piece suit that lends credence to what is said.  Only the content of what is said, can be measured against the Truth of Jesus Christ.  A lot of lies are said in 3-piece suits, just as they are in cargo shorts and tee shirts.  But a lot of truths are offered in both as well.

Let us open our minds to His Spirit, focus on it, and discard the package for what it is … meaningless.  It was not the homespun robe and simple dusty sandals that gave Christ His passion for us, and they did nothing to deter it either.  All they were, was clothing, nothing more.  No significance.  What He said matters, not in what clothing He said it.  The same is true today of ALL of His messengers to us.  Truth still has a name.  And Truth can still come to us from the most unlikely sources, if we will but see it.  Leave the packaging up to the influence of His Spirit, and focus only on the Truth that is uttered.  If Jesus is in it, the package is meaningless.  But if Jesus is not in it, no matter how well it is packaged, it is still worth nothing.  Jesus reminds us, if we want to do our best for Him, we should show mercy, and love others.  The recipients of that mercy and love will be looking in to your eyes, not at their reflection in your shiny shoes, or at the wrinkles in your cargo shorts.  Your eyes will reveal your passion … or not.

 

Lacking All Sense of Judgment ...

How does that guy end up with that girl?  Men think these questions to themselves, as from looking at the external beauty of the woman, and the relative comeliness of the man, the pairing just does not seem to make sense.  Could this beautiful woman truly not understand just how beautiful she really is?  Or could she truly not understand just how homely her partner is?  Does she just lack all sense of judgment or perhaps is her eyesight just that impaired?  Even the series of questions reveals a thinking about the judgment of men, that it is based in the appearance and little else.  Perhaps the judgment of the woman is based in something deeper, something more meaningful, something that will last.  But then …

Does this dress make me look fat?  I can’t wear that dress to the event because “she” is wearing one just like it.  The reasoning of women often seems grounded in insuring their own appearance remains at its peak condition, and cannot be confused with any other woman.  Having two women show up at the same event wearing the same dress is only acceptable if both are bride’s maids, and even then, both resent it.  Something about wearing the exact same dress is simply intolerable for women.  Yet as they examine the sea of men that accompany them to these events, they fail to realize that tuxedo’s, and even most formal suits, are so close in look and feel, that only designers can easily tell them apart.  Men are content to wear the same formalwear, without a second thought.  Women are content to allow them out of the house this way, in fact, most prefer it.  But two identical dresses require one women to go home and try again.  A self-imposed rule, but one as solid as any printed in a book of law.

Why a man questions the happiness of a couple where the woman is stunning and the man is at best “normal”; and why a woman constantly questions her own appearance; are questions of judgment Angels find great mystery in.  Would, that our lack of judgment only extended to our appearance.  But it does not.  Humans have a nasty way of taking what we have learned, and instead of building one brick of knowledge upon another, until we form a magnificent structure of understanding, we pick up our brick and run with it.  We ignore all other truth, even the question about how other truth might fit with our own to form greater truth.  Instead we grab the nugget of truth that makes up our brick … and we immediately proceed to slam someone else in the head with it.

We make our brick, the sole basis of our gospel.  We push aside any attempts at greater understanding, and we make our brick the determining criteria of whether others will find themselves in hell, or not.  Should they accept what we say, and how we see things, then they are fine for now.  Otherwise, hell and damnation are surely the punishment coming to anyone who would ignore the plain truth of our brick.  And since that is the eventual outcome they must face, slamming them in the head with our brick now, seems like the right thing to do.  And so, even in spiritual matters, we find ourselves lacking all sense of judgment.  We find our core doctrines as rigid as those of our Pharisee forefathers.  We find our propensity to curse any who refuse our beliefs, as natural and rigid as any zealot who ever walked the earth before us.  We may not kill others who disagree.  But we are comfortable condemning them in the afterlife to eternal death, believing they must convert or be eternally punished for their lack of insight.

But the truth of Jesus Christ is not found in the eye alone.  Nor is it found in the ear alone.  The eye and ear have radically different functions and perspectives and BOTH are correct.  The foot moves us to a better place.  The hand reaches out in comfort and affection.  The arms hold.  The brain discerns.  It takes every part of the body to even begin to understand the Truth of Jesus Christ.  Thinking the eye’s alone have it, makes the body deaf, and mute, and crippled.  Thinking the brain alone has it, makes the body cold, unfeeling, and unable to move at all.  But this kind of body analogy forces believers to begin to accept the reality that “their” brick is not the ONLY brick, that makes up a picture of truth.  It reveals that even in spiritual matters, we are ill equipped to judge.  And so Matthew continues recording the Sermon on the Mount in chapter seven of his gospel.

Jesus continues in verse 1 saying … “Judge not, that ye be not judged.”  When we judge others, we reveal something about ourselves.  It is automatic.  It is unavoidable.  No matter the subject, from bad fashion, to bad doctrine, what we use to judge others says MORE about us, than it will ever say about them.  And so, our Lord, the One we claim to follow, gives us a simple instruction that we should just not judge.  He continues in verse 2 saying … “For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.”  The brick of truth we use to slam others in the head, will eventually be the same brick that slams us.  As our insight into truth deepens we will come to realize the using truth to slam others is the wrong use of truth at all.  Truth without love, is “truth” outside of Jesus, and therefore less about truth and more about opinion.  Doctrines are meant to point people to Jesus, not divide people who claim His name from truly loving each other.

Jesus continues in verse 3 saying ... “And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? [verse 4] Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? [verse 5] Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.”  This analogy is not just about fashion, or about whether a couple is evenly matched in beauty and physique.  It is about something deeper than this.  It is about doctrine.  The mote that is in our brother’s eye represents some misunderstanding our brother has in related to scripture, that we think we know better about.  The condition of our brother is not even made in dispute, Jesus does not even argue it.  But, the beam that is in our own eye, represents a FAR greater error by orders of magnitude than the little misunderstanding our brother has.  I dare say, it is the beam of doctrines, rigid and large and all-encompassing that have no sense of love within them.

While we take an unusual interest in the small error of our brother, we reveal our complete misunderstanding of love at all.  Love is not meant as an excuse to sin, it is meant as a motive to seek Jesus who can change our very desires to want sin no more.  Love does not destroy doctrine, it becomes the foundation for them.  For if doctrine cannot be forged in love, it is merely opinion, not truth.  Truth is unafraid of new thinking, of questions, of growing larger than it is today, because our understanding grows larger.  We begin to incorporate other perspectives of the body, the eyes, the ears, the fingers.  And instead of shrinking, our truth becomes greater and more beautiful.  The man sees himself through the lens of Christ and sees that love reflected and true, is a great attractive quality that any woman would cherish.  The woman sees herself through the lens of Christ, and realizes that perfection is not brought about by Maybelline, but by submission to Jesus who makes her of infinite value to His Kingdom and the heart of any man.  Families are formed, with Jesus as the foundation, and nothing Satan can throw can rip them apart.

We learn to obey the simple edict of our Lord, to judge not.  Then the strangest of things happens.  Jesus proceeds with a text that is nearly the exact opposite of the entire lesson He just lays out.  Jesus continues in verse 6 saying … “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.”  Yikes.  We just went through the entire idea of Judging Not, His exact words, but now dogs and pigs are introduced.  How can we know who a dog or pig is?  Isn’t the point of the gospel to be shared with those who do not know Jesus?  If we begin by thinking they are all dogs and pigs, who would ever get to hear the gospel.  It makes no sense, or does it?

Take a closer look at the preceding texts.  The beams and motes, are in your “brother’s” eye and your own.  It would seem as though these verses are specifically targeted at members, at believers in Jesus.  We should be avoiding the doctrinal brick in the head between those who claim the name of Jesus, of those who believe in Him.  The generic admonition not to judge, allows us to spread the gospel of love to everyone without judgment.  Where the dogs and pigs begin to emerge is where love of others is rejected in favor of love of self.  Those who would twist the gospel of love, into blanket excuse and permission to love themselves with abandon, without limits, and at the expense of others.  Those who claim forgiveness is their get out of jail free card, while having no intention of change, or desire to change.  Those who would twist the life and sacrifice of Jesus as a way to sin and claim forgiveness, never even attempting to see if the sin itself might be transformed away from them, removed from their desires, and replaced by something more holy.

The pigs who would turn and rend you, cut you with sharp teeth and no concern, can easily be those whose version of life and philosophy is self-centric and do not want it disturbed.  They can certainly be out of the church, but they can populate it as well.  Those who do not understand love, may not want you to upset their perception of love for others.  They may be greedily feasting on doctrines who do not require them to love, only to obey the lists of do’s and don’ts outlined in the traditional interpretations of men.  It is not up to us to pre-determine who the dogs and pigs are.  It is up to us to be careful when we encounter them.  And to take heed not to become them.  The latter the far more dangerous outcome of our embrace of the rigidity of doctrine than the former.  To keep our pearls, and keep what is holy, we must center our love in Jesus Christ, and insure it always turns outward, away from ourselves, to those in need.  When our love is rejected on occasion, we must be more careful in its expression, and pray more for change.

In this way, we adhere to the counsel of Jesus, avoiding judgment, and still passionately pointing the world to Jesus to find relief from sin, not a continued embrace of it.

And the sermon was far from over …

 

An Epitaph for Death [part two] ...

In the previous portion of this study, our story in Revelations chapter 20 began AFTER the second coming to reunite us with our Lord and our God had already taken place.  The final end of evil remains the part of the story still to be told.  The Bible is more than just the story of the redemption of humanity.  It also serves to tell the story of the rise and eradication of evil itself.  That final ending part of the story of evil had only just begun.  Satan was bound alone with his demonic following here in the destroyed earth for 1000 years.  During this time we, the redeemed, review the judgments of our God upon those who have steadfastly refused every opportunity to accept the gift of His perfect freedom to love others.  The wicked lost have been asleep in their graves during this millennia but now, the time for evil is nearly done.  The time to see evil end is about to be revealed.

John continues in verse 7 … “And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, [verse 8] And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.”  As mentioned earlier the minute the wicked are raised, Satan looks with singular purpose to do one thing, build an army that can defeat the angels he lost to before.  Satan raises the old argument citing history from the tower of Babel, that if mankind unites behind a single purpose, we can defeat God.  Satan does not discourage evil in his ranks, he promotes it.  But in this instance he is not looking to lose troop numbers, so there is to be no early killing of each other in the ranks of his army.  We are to save our blood lust for the meek and mild residents of the city of heaven.  Notice too, there is no rebellion in his ranks.  No one stands up and rejects his ideas of conquest and murder.  No one refuses what he offers.

Think about it.  Scripture foretells all of this.  You are reading the future history of evil and righteousness right now in great detail.  Yet despite a sure knowledge of the outcome, if you find yourself awakened to be on the side of evil, you will join this insanity willingly.  What choice do you have?  What other fate is there?  Perhaps some join with the full knowledge of their impending doom.  Perhaps some continue to perpetrate evil acts of immorality and self-pleasure as much as they can while they await the coming battle.  How else to motivate his troops but to offer them temporary pleasures they might have been too timid to partake of while there was yet hope of redemption?  Evil does not look to reform and better itself, it looks only to deepen in the course it pursues.  What level of immorality could scarcely be imagined now, is fully set loose now that only one final battle remains.  Once again, the decisions to be lost or saved are seen cemented in the continued choices and actions of those in both camps.  The righteous are racked with grief at their own inadequacy in loving the lost back to redemption.  While the wicked are steeped in nothing but hate to see those who they formerly purported to love, killed to get out of their way.

Despite everything, despite the clarity of these revelations given to John and to us, NO ONE changes their minds or pursues a different course.  It is at this point, when the wicked approach the city of New Jerusalem descended from God to our world for the final battle, that a pause occurs.  The sky will serve as the 3D HD TV Screen from which a movie will be presented.  It is the actual story of humanity, of the genesis of evil, of the mission of love to redeem.  It is the story of His sacrifice here in life and on Calvary.  And within this picture is revealed to each individual the history of the attempts by God to see each of them redeemed.  All will see what Christ did.  All will see what was done in their own lives to see them redeemed.  And the results of this panoramic picture, perhaps the greatest movie ever played will have a unified result, even in the camp of the wicked.  ALL will bow before Christ and acknowledge that only the Lamb is worthy of worship and praise.  It is an involuntary response from a heart and sentient mind created by God.  No one can help themselves from doing anything other than this, up to and including Satan himself.

What happens next however is the reaction and distinction between good and evil.  The righteous once again have prostrated themselves before the Lamb, throwing their crowns to the ground at the thought of their own unworthiness.  They rise only as He comforts them and assures them once again of His so great love for them.  They think only to serve this God of Love in any way they can, according to His great purpose.  They carry no weapons.  They intend no blood shed.  They are not there to fight.  They are armed with only a love and gratitude to Christ that cannot be comprehended by us now, or by those who lay before them at that time.  They, like God, long for a different outcome.  They wish only that those who are lost, who at least now have seen the worthiness of Christ would seek one more time a chance at redemption.  Perhaps even now it is not too late.  But alas, one moment of clarity in the lives of evil, does not result in any desire to change.

And so it begins.  The evil ones rise from their acknowledgement of the love of Christ, with only one thought on their collective minds, to kill Christ.  They realize that so great a love exists, and since they cannot be a part of it, they must kill it to have peace.  But like at His second coming, this battle will end before it begins.  John continues in verse 9 saying … “And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. [verse 10] And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”

Notice first that the attacking troops are “devoured” by the fires of God.  The devil is thrown into a lake of fire and will die last, in order that he suffer the longest and be punished for the magnitude of his deceptions and evil and pain he has caused.  John continues in verse 11 … “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. [verse 12] And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.”  He who longed to be their savior, stands now to impose the sentences of those who have been judged in the courts of heaven.  There is no escape for any who have refused to embrace redemption.  All men and women, both small and great are to have sentences passed.  They will burn and suffer in proportion to the pain they have caused. 

John continues in verse 13 … “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.”  There is no form of death that a wicked person could have experienced in this life that does not give way to these series of events.  Whether lost in a drowning in the depths of the sea, or obliterated in the blast of an atomic weapon, all the lost have been raised, all have seen the judgment of Christ, and all are to now experience the lake of fire in direct proportion to the pain they have caused.  Those who have caused little pain for others will be consumed fully and quickly.  Those who have caused much pain for others will be consumed slower, and will die only over a period of time, receiving in direct proportion to what they have caused, the pain they have wrought.

The effects of this punishment are to be eternal, just as the choice while they lived to embrace evil would not be altered even after seeing the great love of Christ in attempting to redeem them.  There will be no further chances at redemption, nor any further resurrections to look forward to.  Whatever the length of lifeline they have lived to date, it is to be their last.  Immortality is NOT on the menu.  A permanent existence even in torture is NOT to be their fate.  They are to burn, and die, and be no more.  Satan and his demonic hoard will die last, but die they will.  The universe is to be cleansed of all evil, not have it exist forever, even in a tortured state.  Justice demands the death of evil, not its continual preservation. 

Imagine the alternative for a moment.  If traditional views of hell were correct, then Satan is obviously not impacted by the flames, or otherwise how is he able to continue to deceive mankind for the last 6000 years while hell was going on, presumably starting with Cain.  After some period of time humans will adapt to a pain that does not kill them.  It is in our nature to do this.  So either God would have to constantly continue to invent new ways to cause us pain, or whatever the fires do, would eventually become commonplace to us.  Then too, even if punishment could be eternally causing pain, at what point would our sentence be served and the demands of justice met?  Even Hitler, should have atoned for his murders at some point.  It might take 6 million years to atone, or perhaps 6 billion, but at some point doesn’t Hitler have the right to state that his debt is paid?  Eternal torture perpetuates evil forever, instead of eliminating it as God has promised.  And can you imagine the acts of evil that would continue even in a venue like hell, if hell were a place that lasts forever.  Lastly, how could any of us, the redeemed who think of nothing but to love others, find happiness while those who we loved, continue to exist in a state of perpetual torture.  None of this makes sense.  It is a misrepresentation of the character of God, as told to us by His enemy, and with attempts at using scripture to prove it.

Our traditional teachings of an eternally burning hell are the doctrines of the enemy, designed to perpetuate a myth of an unfair God who desires pain and not redemption.  But to punctuate this fact, and undo any lingering doubts in our minds, John continues and concludes this epitaph in verse 14 … “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. [verse15] And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”  The final thing to be consumed by the fires sent by God are “death” and “hell”.  Death itself is to be put to an end.  Once Satan has died, once there are no more alive who have chosen to embrace evil, death will NO longer be relevant or needed in our universe ever again.  Its purpose will be ended with no future victims of its concepts.  Evil will now be in a state of non-existence.  Only good will remain.  The fires will go out.  They will do their eternal job, in inflicting an eternal punishment, but then when the job is completed, they will be needed no more.  There is to be no more hell.  There is to be no more death.  They are both to be ended.  This revelation is to be their epitaph.

There is no balance between good and evil, as these are mutually exclusive concepts where only one can rule.  Should evil win, life itself would cease to exist for all the roads of evil lead to death, the death of others, and eventually the death of self to escape what we become.  Balance, has never been needed.  Balance, is the mantra of the enemy.  Good does not need evil to survive or find identity.  Good is love, and it will on this day, overcome evil forever more.  In the battle between good and evil, good was always destined to win, as existence itself was the prize in question.  Evil is destined to die, to be extinguished forever in every form. 

From this point forward, even death will be gone forever.  The cycle of life is all we have ever known.  We witness in the leaves of the trees, the cycle of birth, growth, decline, decay, and rebirth.  But once death is gone, perhaps the leaves will be ever green.  Perhaps there is no decay anymore, perhaps to pluck a rose from a bush is to begin a new plant as a result.  We have no idea what it means to live life without the reminders of our own mortality.  We live now treasuring every moment because of the brevity of our lives, but then perhaps we will live treasuring every moment because every moment will have no end.

We might have thought the story of our redemption ended when once we were reunited with Christ.  And perhaps our redemption story was over at that point.  But scripture did not end then, nor did the revelations of Jesus Christ given to John.  The disposition of evil in finality had yet to be given, the ending of death itself was an important point that must be relayed.  This revelation helps us understand what love means, and what justice means.  This revelation dictates the end of evil forever and ever.  It amplifies the finality of the choices we make.  Should we elect to be redeemed, it will be so by the power and love of Jesus Christ.  But should we elect to place our salvation in ourselves, our self-deception will be our undoing.  The evil within us MUST be removed.  For ALL evil will one day meet its end.  If it is still a part of us on that day, our fate will be that of evil.  If we trust to Jesus Christ, our fate will be that of love that remains.

But even now, scripture was not to be at an end.  There is yet more to be revealed.  There is yet more to this story …

 

An Epitaph for Death [part one] ...

Perhaps the most significant thing about the revelation given to John in chapter twenty of his book is its position in both time and venue.  The second coming of Christ to take us home has already occurred.  The seventh item in the series of seven prophecies all throughout this book has been fulfilled (with perhaps one exception, the work of the seventh angel described in the next few verses).  The point simply is that from a human perspective, the most important event to see us reconciled to God has ALREADY occurred.  We are already reunited.  We are already to experience paradise and perfection, finally and fully.  But while we have played the role of “the redeemed” in this great conflict of good versus evil, of love-of-others verses love-of-self, the story is greater than us, it always was.  The final disposition of evil must now occur so that its universal eradication can be complete.

The war being over, God could have ended evil at his second coming event for all time.  But He chooses not to.  He brings to a temporary end the lives of humanity who refused His redemption, but then He delays the final disposition of lost humanity for another 1000 years.  He did not need to do this.  He would have been right to exterminate evil when it first began.  He would have been right to exterminate it again just after it cost Him the life of His only son, as Satan proved just how far evil would sink in killing God.  He would have been right again to exterminate evil forever at His second coming.  But He delayed in all these 3 events.  Why? 

Perhaps because only He would have known for sure that He was right about exterminating evil when Lucifer first refused to trust Him and began the descent into evil.  The rest of the angels and unfallen worlds would not have had the chance to see just how far evil would sink right at that time.  Perhaps because He held out hope that Lucifer might still change His mind, before He actually determined to see Christ killed on the cross of Calvary.  Perhaps He knew only the unfallen universe who had witnessed these events might be sure at Calvary and mankind still unconvinced.  Now, after the second coming, He once again allows more time to pass, so that mankind can see for himself in the aftermath of our world’s history of evil, why those who refused redemption would never change their mind.  Despite His own perfect knowledge of how bad evil is, He allows His creations to see it as well, so that we maintain our freedom of choice, and never repeat the mistakes that led up to the genesis of evil ever again.

John begins in verse one writing … “And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.”  The work of the seventh angel now begins.  Our world lays in shambles but there is one whose prison sentence is about to begin.  John continues in verse 2 saying … “And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,”.  Satan is to be bound for a millennia.  He will no longer be free to travel the extents of the universe.  He will be chained to the destruction he has caused.  The effects of the plagues are still upon our world.  This is not a happy place, no beauty remains, everything is in a state of utter destruction.  Verse 3 continues … “And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.”

In these verses are described a thousand year prison sentence for Satan and his demonic following throng.  They are to be bound in isolation with each other for 1000 years with no humanity left to torture or deceive.  Fallen mankind will be asleep in death for this 1000 years, only to be raised at its conclusion when Satan will be “loosed for a little season”.  You will again notice the absence of certain common beliefs in what is described here.  First, there is no eternally burning hell where everyone wicked has been thrown into as yet.  Instead, Satan is “alone” in this 1000 year punishment.  Second, Satan himself is not said to be in a state of God imposed flames of physical torture, but instead only constrained in a destroyed world alone with his demons to think about what he has done.  It is a “time out” for evil.  And finally, notice that when fallen mankind dies, their “spirits” or “souls” go nowhere.  They sleep the sleep of death for this period of time, they exist in no other plain of existence where they might continue to be deceived or otherwise tortured by Satan at all.

The events described by John in just these few texts again put an end to our ideas about an eternal hell that has always been in existence where Satan resides comfortably, and fallen mankind enters at the moment of their death to be tortured forever as disembodied souls.  Dead fallen men sleep just like dead righteous ones, without memory, without a continuance to another form of existence.  For what God said to Adam was true, we are not immortal, and we do not live forever in any state, we die.  It is God alone who can create us, raise us, give us life and make it last eternally.  Death is a state of non-existence, similar to sleep in that the passage of time and events happens without any awareness on our part.  The fire that will finally consume evil and for that matter death itself, is YET to come.  These events occur BEFORE that final ending.  If Satan were to be ruling in hell (as commonly believed), his numerous souls would serve as an eternal kingdom for him to delight in their deception and torture forever.  This makes both Satan, evil, and humanity effectively immortal.  These ideas are simply not supported in these passages revealed to John by Christ.

Next, consider the state of fallen mankind when they are finally raised from their tombs at the end of the 1000 year sentence on Satan.  There is no promise of perfection for those who have refused it their entire lives.  They do not come out of their graves to a welcoming Lord, but rather in the same condition they went into their graves with.  They are still sick, still perverted, still evil, still clinging to the same thoughts and actions that were occurring right before their death.  They are also raised into a fully destroyed world.  There are no mansions to greet them.  There is only their leader, who they have surrendered to, Satan who at this point needs soldiers most of all.  He works his deceptions once again, and uses his supernatural powers to heal the wounds and weaknesses in the soldiers he will need to fight against God for one final battle.  His numbers and ranks will be fully resupplied with this fresh crop of recruits.  He need only convince them, there is hope in a united mankind in opposing the will of God.

But that scene is still forthcoming as John takes us back to the start of the millennia in verse 4 writing … “And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.”  The redeemed live and reign with Christ for a thousand years.  The books of life and death are opened, the seals having been broken by the Lamb of God.  Judgment occurs.  Not the judgment of God, for that was already completed.  Now it is up to perfect mankind to verify the perfect attempts of God for the redemption of those who steadfastly refused to accept it.

Our God allows 1000 years for us to review His work in the lives of those who we loved, and are not there in the kingdom with us.  And so begins a terrible realization; we were the tools of God to be used in the salvation of others.  And it is we who SO often did not love as we should have.  We did not value the souls of others as highly as we should have, and in our sinful selfish state, we have been a cause in their downfall.  So many opportunities to save them squandered on the altar of our self-love, and selfish motives.  God had to use other means to reach these lost souls, because of our refusal to be a part of their redemption, finding ourselves too busy to help out.  How many lost souls will have heard nothing but the voice of condemnation from us in the quest to save them?  How many of us mistakenly thought that calling sin by its right name was more important than bringing the wounded sinner to the Savior who longs to heal that pain?  How much hate speech will we have carried only to see now where hate of any kind leads.

But despite our own responsibility and culpability in the loss of those we loved, God did not let our inadequacy cause the loss of one He so loved.  His efforts to reach the lost remain perfect, and the most that anyone could have ever done.  Our lack of participation stands only to us as an opportunity forever lost to us.  We have lost the opportunity to serve in the most important work of all time, the redemption of souls.  We lose this because of our refusal to submit to Him in full.  We bring our own ideas about salvation to the lost, and instead of achieving redemption, we drive them further into the despair of pain and sin, providing no way of escape, choosing rather to point out their pain and publicly make it worse for them.  Such are the results of a judgmental gospel.  The realization of what we have done, and the effects of it on others, will now overwhelm those who have perfected hearts, and know what it truly means to love others.  The work of God to perfect how we love, now threatens to shatter us in the realization of how our selfishness caused so much pain.  It is here where God must wipe away the tears from our eyes.

John continues in verse 5 … “But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. [verse 6] Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.”  Here John makes a distinction between the righteous who are raised from the dead at the “first” resurrection, and the wicked who are raised at the end of the thousand years.  Those who come out of their graves to the arms of a welcoming Lord, are brought out in a state of perfection, and will never taste death again.  Life will be the only state of being they know from that point on.  Death is a thing of the past for righteous ones who emerge from their graves to see the face of Jesus.  They are to be priests of God and Christ, taking their place in reviewing the judgment of the wicked over this thousand year period.  However those raised in the second resurrection, the one for the wicked dead, they are to be destined to experience the “second death” – a death or state of non-existence that is eternal in nature.

The epitaph for Death is begun but not quite yet ended as our study will continue in part two …

 

Contrasts of Finality [part one] ...

We have only ever known the events preceding the end of all things, of life as we know it.  For 4,000 years the people of this world waited in anticipation of the first coming of the Messiah.  All they ever knew were the events that preceded His first coming.  Many slept before that great day of our salvation arrived, before God became man, and showed the world what it means to love each other.  So now, we live on the other side of the coming of the Messiah, on the precipice of the end.  We are on the brink of the abyss, staring over its edge into the unknown.  But the reason for revelation is to demystify what is coming, to remove the fear, to maintain the peace of Christ.  John was given these beautiful Revelations of Jesus Christ in order that we see our salvation plainly, understand the attacks of the enemy in order to avoid deception, and know with surety, the outcome of the coming battles as well as the end of this war between good and evil.

All of the Revelations given to John thus far pointed to the events now about to unfold.  Every love-soaked message, every warning, every admonition, every prediction, was designed to lead mankind to the foot of the cross, to find our salvation based in Jesus Christ alone.  In the end, there are only 2 sides, a final contrast between good and evil as reflected in the people who walk the earth.  There is NO middle ground.  There are not 50 shades of gray, nor any other variety.  There are not many paths to God, there is only one.  There is only the blackness of infinite depth that comes packaged in the slavery of self-love.  And there remains its contrast: the bright white light of freedom to love others that is the basis of perfection, harmony with God, and comes in the form of our salvation brought about solely by Jesus Christ.  These 2 contrasting ways of life are all that exist in the end.

Those who bear the mark of the third beast, are content to compel the conscience of others.  They live to exert control.  They are wholly blind to the hate that lives within them, to the bloodlust they are so free to express.  They have deceived themselves into thinking that to kill those who do not share their majority view, is to do the work of God Himself.  But in truth, in Christ, they do not serve truth, nor Christ.  They serve only the dragon, who has only ever sought to compel the minds, hearts, and deeds of mankind in his self-based-service.  By contrast, God has only ever offered a choice to accept His love or not.  To be a true choice, what is selected by mankind must be respected, it must be allowed.  Those who have chosen to find salvation through Jesus Christ alone, MUST find it, or God is not God.  Those who have chosen to seek salvation in themselves in any way, or to seek salvation not at all, are to be allowed to have that choice respected in finality for all time.

What changes about our world at the end of all things, is not the choice, or the results of that choice – it is the finality of that choice.  For 6,000 years, God has waited patiently.  He has tolerated our lives steeped in evil, in order to see us redeemed from them.  He has longed for us to choose the freedom He offers.  He has put up with our refusal to come to Him.  He has shielded us from the pain our choices cause, protected us while we spit in His face, denied His victories, claimed credit for His deeds.  He has faithfully loved us, while we were anything but faithful in return.  He has acted as a loving parent trying so desperately to protect an erring child from the path of self-destruction they have chosen to embrace.  But patience has its limit, time for evil is not infinite, and evil is unrelenting.  Should time be allowed to progress forever, evil would consume every living thing it touches, till none remain.  Ironically, it is not God who forces the end of all things to be.  It is mankind.

When once the compulsion of the conscience upon pain of death is embraced by mankind the world over, mankind will have forced the finality of his own decision.  In effect, our decisions will be written in blood one way or the other.  For those who believe, and who define their identity in following Jesus Christ alone, we write our decision in the blood of Christ.  For those who refuse, they write their decision in the blood of the saints.  Whether Cain, or Abel, whether saved by Christ, or lost to self, the finality of our choice MUST be respected, or it is not a choice at all.

The plagues that John has only recently described were poured out, only AFTER this choice was made.  Evil has suffered the judgments of God, only AFTER evil determined it would never change its mind, it would never choose to be reconciled to God.  And the destruction that evil has embraced is now seen poured out into the world.  The evil woman, the Jezebel, the mother of harlots, and great whore of blending self into the process of our salvation has been judged of God.  She is to be slain.  Babylon, that great city, that government who should have been the light of the world, whose wealth made all rich; has used its power and might to bring destruction through the threat of commerce to the entire globe.  The false prophet, the impersonator of all deities, the dragon has now marshalled his forces to war against the returning lamb.  The contrast is made evident again.  Those who await the return of Love, hide from hate, choosing not to confront it, or kill it, or even to hurt it.  Those who think themselves as pure, and in blind zeal follow their false god, seek to kill any who dissent.  They seek no redemption of their foes, only their extermination.

The contrasts of finality are set.  Evil stands armed, ready, and desiring to kill those who would gently oppose it.  The righteous are buried in the love of Christ, they care for each other, and reflect such deep sorrow for those who WILL not seek love evermore.  The saved seek life.  The lost seek death.  The finality of their choices must be respected to be considered choices at all.  It is in this final scene, that John reveals the contrast of the second coming of Christ.  Believers have only ever longed to see this day.  Many will report, will consider, will think, that they long for it.  But they will be disappointed.  The Pharisees too, did nothing but devote their entire lives to the study of the word.  They lived every day reading, debating, and trying to deepen their understanding of scriptures, of the law, and of God’s will.  They too longed for the Messiah.  They just longed for different kind of savior. 

But when the Messiah appeared, He brought with Him a return to the simple, humble, message of love and service to others.  And the inflated ego of the Pharisees would not accept it.  They had mastered the law and the scriptures, and were wholly ignorant of the love behind them both.  They had put their trust for salvation in the power of self, in the mastery of what “they” learned from scriptures.  They needed no dependence on something outside of themselves to be saved, and thus they were comfortable with murdering the Giver of the law, and the scriptures they devoted their lived to study.  So at the end, history repeats.  Many Christians now stand armed and ready to slay all those who will not yield their conscience to the views of the majority.  They bear the name of Christ, and live the hate of the dragon.

But for those who love others, the end of pain is thing of celebration.  The finality of the triumph of love is a moment all have waited for.  So against this backdrop John continues to reveal what transpires in chapter 19 and very 1 saying … “And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God:”  The first fruits of His salvation, those who were raised from the dead at His crucifixion and returned to God as the first fruits of humanity now praise the Lord their God and our God.  They cry out to honor Him, for He alone is worthy of glory.  He alone has shown the definition of glory in unselfish love to others.  He alone is worthy of honor and power, for His love is more powerful than all the evil that ever has existed.  And His salvation is His gift to us.

John continues in verse 2 … “For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. [verse 3] And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever.”  There is a respect for finality in the praising statements the first fruits offer.  The judgments of God, His stamp of approval or denial have been made known as to the all the false doctrines of the churches who claim His name, and serve the dragon.  Those who sought to find salvation in themselves, whether alone, or in part, have found only the results of evil’s punishments poured out on their doomed efforts.  The many true followers who they killed in the name of a saving God, are avenged in the plain declaration of God’s disapproval of their actions.  The finality of this question is to be made clear, and permanent.  The phrase John uses is “her smoke rose up for ever and ever”.  The results of God’s judgments are final, there will be no additional discussions, no revisions, no edits, no opinions.  The matter has been judged, and the results are to be eternal, for ever and ever.

Notice here, it is not the torment of the whore that is to be eternal.  She is not to be tortured forever.  These texts reveal she is already dead, burnt, and gone.  It is her smoke, the after-effects of her destruction, her lack of existence, and the memory of her error, that is to last forever.  She does not stay in a state of perpetual dying.  She does not get to live on, whether in agony, or through adapting to pain, to live a tortured existence constantly bemoaning her state.  Eternal life, even in agony, is NOT her fate.  But she is to die.  And she is to remain dead.  The memory of her evil choices lives on the smoke, but not her consciousness, nor her body.  The dead know not anything.  She will sleep the sleep of non-existence, neither sharing the joy of love, nor the agony of dying.  It is a contrast in finality.

John continues in verse 4 … “And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia.”  Here again the 24 elders, the representatives of our world that sit closest to God and witness His work for our salvation, praise Him who gives freely to all the redeemed.  In addition, the 4 beasts, or representatives of the other creations of our God, the other sentient life around the universe we know so little of, also praise Him.  Notice how they humble themselves, by lowering themselves, in effect falling to the ground.  When we see the love of God through the lens of perfection, even after millennia, it overwhelms us, and causes us to prostrate ourselves before the glory of His love.  We will never fully understand it, forever learning more of its depths, and trying better to reflect it.  The time of the redemption of mankind is not just a cause for human celebration, it is one for universal celebration.  There is no “prodigal’s brother” in this story, only servants of the King who are glad to throw a celebration at the redemption of he who was lost and is found.

John continues in verse 5 … “And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great.”  We do not know the source of this voice.  Perhaps it is the voice of the Holy Spirit, perhaps the voice of the archangel.  Both the cause of celebration is to be universal, both in our world, and in all the other unfallen worlds across the galaxies.  The response comes quickly as John continues in verse 6 … “And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.”  The response echoes across the universe, it sounds like rushing water, like thunder, in its declaration of praise and thanksgiving.  It is likely many voices in one accord, all echo the praise our God deserves.

John continues in verse 7 … “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. [verse 8] And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.”  Here John recalls the analogy of the wedding feast Jesus spoke of so long ago.  Five foolish virgins and five wise who took the extra precautions to be ready with extra oil – in this case he focuses attention on the bride herself, the church of Christ, the true followers of Jesus.  There are they who love.  These are they who cannot imagine breaking His laws of love, nor choosing to follow another, nor identifying themselves as anything other than followers of Jesus Christ.  These do not kill.  They love.  These do not compel.  They invite and accept.  These do not condemn, they focus on redemption.  These have made themselves ready in the acceptance of the salvation that comes from Jesus Christ alone.  Notice how John carefully uses the words “to her was granted”.  This shows that the fine linen, that is clean and white, and represents the righteousness of the saints IS A GIFT!!  It is “granted” to her, it is given to her.  It is not something she earned, performed services for, or bought with her wealth.  It is a gift, granted to her from her Husband.

The angel continues to speak to John in verse 9 … “And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.”  All who are redeemed are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.  In addition all who witness the redemption of fallen mankind from around the universe may well enjoy that invitation too.  We are not the exclusive creations of our God.  We share His love with our fellow created beings.  And perhaps on that long awaited day, we will share a feast with more species than the ones we recognize today.  John’s joy in the reaction to this scene of so great joy overwhelms him as he continues in verse 10 … “And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”  John is so thankful he is ready to worship the bearer of so good news, but the angel is quick to correct him.  The angels of heaven know, that only God is worthy of worship. 

This angel identifies himself in such simple yet profound language.  He refers to himself as a “fellow servant”.  He too works His part in the mission of our redemption, in SERVICE to others.  In identifying with John he reminds him gently that these revelations are part of his mission in the redemption of mankind.  He then identifies himself secondarily as “of thy brethren”.  The angel considers himself to be part of our family.  He accepts us, even with all our undeserved nature, faults, and history; as a part of his closest kin.  He adopts us into his family without reservation, limitations, or preconditions – sound familiar?  It should.  It is the nature of the love of God reflected through this one of his creations.  He then points out to John, that the testimony of Jesus Christ is the Spirit of Prophecy.  Jesus testified while here of what was to come.  He spoke of what He alone could know was going to take place.  All through this book of revelations, Jesus has revealed Himself and our salvation to John through each and every prophecy. 

The scene in heaven is set to joy, a stark contrast to what lay below it.  The finality of the judgment of God is to be celebrated and lamented.  The contrasts have only begun, more was to unfold in just a few moments …