Notes on the Book of Revelation

If you have ever been fascinated with the Book of Revelations, but was just way too scared with the fact that it seemed to speak of just so much doom, I’d like to point out that it’s not all doom and death, after all. If anything, it is a story of our times, and it’s a benchmark of where we are at in God’s History.

If your love for God has grown cold in the past few months, there are a few things He would like to remind us of, from John the Beloved’s Book of Revelation.

But before I talk to you of God’s loving reminder to us, about His purposes, let me talk about two things that had I had been able to pick up from Revelations that had inspired me before.

The first thing that I had ever come across that made me see hope in the Book of Revelations (Chapter 22 v.1-5) is this:

The angel showed me a river filled with the water of life, as clear as crystal. It was flowing from the throne of God and the lamb. Between the street of the city and the river there was a tree of life visible from both sides. It produced 12 kinds of fruit. Each month had its own fruit. The leaves of the tree will heal the nations. There will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and the lamb will be in the city. His servants will worship him and see his face. His name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night, and they will not need any light from lamps or the sun because the Lord God will shine on them. They will rule as kings forever and ever.

The leaves of the Tree of Life was something that had caught my eye before, and I felt like it was one of the most important symbols of our time, but I never really understood the part of the leaves before, though I was inexplicably drawn to that symbol. I thought it was some mystical thing that would arise in the future. It turns out that... It’s us Christians, actually.

The Tree of Life, in the understanding I had been given, is Jesus. In John 15, He talks of being the main Vine, and that we are the branches. To me, the Tree of Life is still Jesus, and the leaves.. Are us Christians.

Notice that whenever a Christian, or a pack of Christians, decides to take a city, or a country, or some uninhabited region even, change takes place in the region, and the things that were going awry in the place just gets, well, fixed. It is because God is using us and the message of His Love that we bring, to lovingly heal the region where we are called to dwell. So if you have a stirring for missions, like Samuel, say, “Speak, Lord, I am listening,” because who knows, God may be using you as part of the pack of leaves He is using to heal that place or nation.

Another verse or area that struck me is this:

"Don't be afraid! I am the first and the last, the living one. I was dead, but now I am alive forever. I have the keys of death and hell.

That was taken from Revelations 1:17-18. Before I used to be scared that I will die before my time. Today, I realize that I can only die by prematurely my own hand or when Jesus decides that I will be of better use in Heaven, OR if I have rebelled much too much. It had puzzled me why some people’s loved ones had died prematurely before. Today, I realize that either their hearts had no room for Jesus, or they were an object of idolatry for some people.

Some mothers may love their children too much, other men and women may love other people above God; some other people may have stained Jesus’ name much too much, or still others just needed to be put out of the way because they had been such potent instruments for Satan’s kingdom that they have to be taken out of the way, even if that sounds much too Machiavellian for comfort, even for me. But God is all-wise, and He can do whatever He wants with His creations. The only way I know to keep our lives... Is to lose our lives for Jesus.

Now we go to the doom-ridden part of this narration.

We are now at the part of history wherein Babylon is on its way to permanent destruction, and false religion is on its way out, while true Christianity is being led, by Jesus, into an agreement. As we were taught in Victory Christian Fellowship, we are a Family of God. For me, VCF is my NUCLEAR family, but ALL OTHER Christian Churches are my EXTENDED FAMILY. Kids, let us not be too clique-ish and love only our VCF brothers and sisters. Let us love even those Christians who come from other churches, because they are our brothers and sisters too.

We are also in the part of history when God finds our self-centeredness His biggest adversary, as stated in Revelations 13 (v.16-18):

The second beast forces all people--important and unimportant people, rich and poor people, free people and slaves--to be branded on their right hands or on their foreheads. It does this so that no one may buy or sell unless he has the brand, which is the beast's name or the number of its name. In this situation wisdom is needed. Let the person who has insight figure out the number of the beast, because it is a human number. The beast's number is 666.

I do not fully understand the “brand,” but one insight I had with this is that it could be a spiritual “brand.”

But before that, let me explain what is meant by the number “666.” It is nothing to fear! It had always been man’s worst enemy, since the dawn of time. Or at least, since The Fall (from the Garden of Eden). Because, when you look in the mirror when you wake up in the morning, you actually stare at that beast.

Yep, “666,” is YOU.

“6,” in the Bible, according to Bible scholars, is the number that symbolizes Man. Since God is 7, and man falls short of the glory of God, we are then on number 6. I came across that concept eons ago from an article online, and the point is, I realize how true that is.

You have to admit that we are the ME generation: where our motto seems to be, “Me, Myself and I”: 6, 6, 6.

When we do something, we seem to be doing it for our own purposes. Even in ministry, a lot of us are motivated only by Self, and not Love... Love for God, or Love for our Neighbors as we love ourselves. That is the reason why we are so ineffective as Christians. Because our motives to reach others are based on the need for worldly acclaim. When Jesus said that we must serve, in order to lead, He did not say that we brandish that title: “Servant-Leader.” He meant to say that we do indeed roll up our sleeves and scrub that floor if need be!

People-pleasing is not in God’s plan. If you do things in order to please others, you are in danger of being in disobedience, actually. So even if it’s strange, even if it’s impractical to the people around you, even if it’s in Ezekiel proportions, if you are clear that God said it to be so, follow it.

Back to the Me Generation concept that is just so abhorrent to God.

The Me Generation people, sadly, myself included, like following their own desires too much. We like running after the newest iPod, the newest digicam, the newest laptop, at the expense of forgetting what should be our main agenda: Loving God and Loving Others.

Don’t get me wrong, God promises to bless His children, but only if they can choose to follow Him first.

God does not desire that we, His children, be poor. Instead, He desires that we would seek Him, above all these things that seem to give us comfort, value and significance: money, relationships, power.

When Jesus came to our world the first time, his generation was a wicked and perverse generation that sought after money, power and possessions. Has anything else changed, much?

In His time, the Pharisees were all after showing to the world how important they were by tithing publicly and letting the world know that they tithed. But Jesus debunked the myth that God’s standards for glory were equated to the world’s own standards. He accomplished that through telling His disciples that it was the poor widow instead who had given more than everyone in that room, with her two copper coins, among other parables.

There is also this parable of a rich fool, in Luke 12 (v.13-21):

Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to give me my share of the inheritance that our father left us." Jesus said to him, "Who appointed me to be your judge or to divide [your inheritance]?" He told the people, "Be careful to guard yourselves from every kind of greed. Life is not about having a lot of material possessions." Then he used this illustration. He said, "A rich man had land that produced good crops. He thought, 'What should I do? I don't have enough room to store my crops.' He said, 'I know what I'll do. I'll tear down my barns and build bigger ones so that I can store all my grain and goods in them. Then I'll say to myself, "You've stored up a lot of good things for years to come. Take life easy, eat, drink, and enjoy yourself."' "But God said to him, 'You fool! I will demand your life from you tonight! Now who will get what you've accumulated?' That's how it is when a person has material riches but is not rich in his relationship with God."

I am again reminded of the case of Rico Yan. When I was younger, I had wondered why the whole Philippines seemed to mourn when he died. Who was he, that people loved him so? I mean, I was actually just watching the entire hoopla with borderline curiosity, even if I did have a crush on Rico Yan before. To me, he was just another star. He was just another cutie who didn’t really touch my life. But why did the Filipino teen populace cry with such wracked passion at the loss of his death. It was so horrid and surreal, yet I couldn’t help feeling that these people had reached the zenith of their idolatry, because such passion and torture should only be reserved for crying about Jesus’ death!

But back to the love of money and worldly honor. We go to Luke 16 (v.19-31):

"There was a rich man who wore expensive clothes. Every day was like a party to him. There was also a beggar named Lazarus who was regularly brought to the gate of the rich man's house. Lazarus would have eaten any scraps that fell from the rich man's table. Lazarus was covered with sores, and dogs would lick them. "One day the beggar died, and the angels carried him to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. He went to hell, where he was constantly tortured. As he looked up, in the distance he saw Abraham and Lazarus. He yelled, 'Father Abraham! Have mercy on me! Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water to cool off my tongue. I am suffering in this fire.' "Abraham replied, 'Remember, my child, that you had a life filled with good times, while Lazarus' life was filled with misery. Now he has peace here, while you suffer. Besides, a wide area separates us. People couldn't cross it in either direction even if they wanted to.' "The rich man responded, 'Then I ask you, Father, to send Lazarus back to my father's home. I have five brothers. He can warn them so that they won't end up in this place of torture.' "Abraham replied, 'They have Moses' [Teachings] and the Prophets. Your brothers should listen to them!' "The rich man replied, 'No, Father Abraham! If someone comes back to them from the dead, they will turn to God and change the way they think and act.' "Abraham answered him, 'If they won't listen to Moses' [Teachings] and the Prophets, they won't be persuaded even if someone comes back to life.'"

Here we see how the Rich Man was rewarded with what was due to him in the Afterlife. While God intended Hell for the demons, when a person has clung to his sins or to the love of money much too much to the point that repentance no longer has room in his heart, God does not hesitate to throw the person to hell. No matter how much God loves humans, He is also equally just as He is loving.

I am of the belief that even if we’ve prayed the Sinner’s Prayer, as Paul says, we have to “work out our salvation with fear and trembling.”

Even James, the brother of Jesus, attests to that, when he said in James 2:14-26 that “Faith without deeds is dead.”

While I surely do not subscribe to the school of thought that says that works can replace faith, I also do not subscribe to the thought that we can accept Jesus’ call of being His friends without turning from what He calls sin. We surely cannot do this on our own, because in our flesh, we are nothing more than dead zombies who just want to cleave to the comforts of our old lives.

My point here is that even as you had said to Jesus that you want to be His, you have to make a choice daily as to Whom to follow: God, or the god of money (or lust, or power, etc.).

The good news is, everything is done and over with. The martyrs’ blood has been spilled, and there is nothing that can stop Jesus’ coming back. I feel it in my Spirit, I know that I have to make a daily choice to live as a Christian, and not as the fallen woman that I always will be, in my flesh.

To me, the Book of Revelations is not a book of doom and fear. To me, it’s a chronicle of our times. The remnants of the Tribulation is still there, but I am sure that the Kingdom of Jesus is coming relentlessly. So kids, “wash your robes” in His blood, seek after HUMILITY, and be quick to obey when you have confirmed God’s Word for you.

(Disclaimer: My views and insights do not reflect those of Victory Christian Fellowship as a body of believers.)

Bible text taken from the God's Word version of the Bible, as viewed from MacSword.