Revelation 22:1-21

Today we end Revelation. And with ending Revelation, we have ended the entire New Testament. If this is your first trip through the complete New Testament, congratulations! That’s an excellent accomplishment. The next step is the Old Testament, maybe in one year, then the entire Bible, beginning to end! That might be a 2023 plan for RTB.

Today, Revelation 22. In the past we have often gathered together on December 31 to celebrate our year of having read completely through the Bible. Part of our gathering – the beginning, actually – was reading through Revelation 22. I’m sorry that we haven’t done that the past few years. As I note above, maybe 2023.

One item from today’s reading: And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book. (v. 7) and Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. (v. 14) This verse is the seventh blessing given in the book of Revelation. Here are the other five:

• Rev. 1:3, Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.
• Rev. 14:13, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!
• Rev. 16:15, Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!
• Rev. 19:9, Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.
• Rev. 20:6, Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection!

I truly hope and pray that each of you feels blessed.

Revelation 21:1-27

Today and tomorrow, it’s all GLORY, folks!!

I’ve always heard or read that the church is the bride of Christ: For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. (II Corinthians 11:2) See also Ephesians 5:22-24, ff. Today we see the New Jerusalem as His bride: And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (v. 2) and …one of the seven angels … spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God… (vv. 9-10). So is the Church (all believers) to be resident in the New Jerusalem and therein to be His bride?

This New Jerusalem has no temple: And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. (v. 22) The “Holy of Holies” in the Temple and in the Tabernacle of old was God’s dwelling place on Earth. With God, Himself, resident in the New Jerusalem there is no need for a temple. Interesting!

In this New Jerusalem, twelve gates, twelve tribes; twelve foundation stones, twelve apostles. A blending of the Old and the New… Yes, folks, it’s all GLORY!!

Revelation 20:1-15

My ignorance of end-times theologies is huge! Both of my Study Bibles have long notes talking about the millennium, Jesus’ 1000-year reign that we read about today. They discuss three theories – amillennialism, premillennialism, and postmillennialism. And even as I read each of these explanations in both Study Bibles I find that I don’t know which of those three theories I am more prone to believe. A friend from many years back had his own theory, panmillennialism. He maintained that Jesus fulfilled all prophesy during His time on Earth, but that none of the scholars of His time had it correct as to what type of Messiah He would be. Likewise, when it comes to the end times all prophesy will be fulfilled, but no one will get it right – it will all “pan” out in the end! That’s where I tend to be – blessed ignorance!

But I am intrigued by Satan being imprisoned for those 1000 years. It’s like he will serve a jail sentence for crimes that he committed. But then when he is released we see that he will not have reformed at all, but that in fact he will be more venomous than ever! Surely he knows of his certain defeat! Why does he persist?

What I do know is Jesus’ certain return, that He is coming again. We saw in Paul’s writings that many people in Paul’s time were expecting Jesus’ soon return. And that perspective has held over the centuries, that many people then and now expect Jesus’ return very soon. But we do not know when. Period. Maybe today…?

Revelation 19:1-21

Another late-in-the-day post – the holidays are killers for keeping on a timetable!

My Study Bible noted that the word “Hallelujah” occurred four times in today’s first six verses – and not at all in the rest of the New Testament! I was surprised that Paul and other writers had never used that “Praise the Lord” phrase.

If you’ve already read today, great! If you have, go back, and if you haven’t go…to verses 1 to 10 and read/reread those verses, putting yourself in that setting as part of the multitude, because you are, in fact, invited: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. (v. 9b) Embrace that as your thought for the day.

Revelation 18:1-24

Babylon. A great many Biblical scholars agree that Babylon in John’s time was Rome, a city of wealth and power that ruled the entire Mediterranean world and was responsible for the deaths of thousands of Christians. So I wonder about Babylon in today’s world. That is, if Babylon is a city and not just a concept for evil, what city in today’s world is Babylon? The first city that comes to mind for me is LA/Hollywood. I believe that much of what is wrong in the world today is the result of Hollywood’s influence, especially the sex and violence that sells movies, evils that build the next generation. Other cities on my list include Washington, New York, and Moscow. But I’m certain that’s just my ethnocentric thinking.

One hour. For in a single hour your judgment has come. (v. 10b) For in a single hour all this wealth has been laid waste. (v. 17a) For in a single hour she has been laid waste. (v. 19b) I had to look back two chapters to see how this great destruction happened in one hour. Here’s the text from the angel pouring out the seventh bowl: The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” And there were flashes of lightning, rumbling peals of thunder, and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake. The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath. And every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found. And great hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, fell from heaven on people; and they cursed God for the plague of the hail, because the plague was so severe. (Rev. 16:17-21) That would be a terrifying one hour.

Revelation 17:1-18

The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. (v. 8) This triad, …was, and is not, andis about to rise…, didn’t make much sense to me until my Study Bible suggested evil that was, but is not now apparent, but will become so in the future. An interesting point about this triad is how it compared to Jesus, “who was, who is, and who is to come”. The beast triad is repeated at the end of verse 8.

A bit of today’s reading is the most confusing of anything yet that we’ve read in Revelation: And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked, and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire… (v. 16) This prostitute/harlot is evil herself, having been described as …holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality… (v. 4b), with a label on her forehead, “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.” (v.5b), and described further as …drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. (v. 6b) Yet she is made desolate and naked, eaten and burned by others seemingly as evil as herself. Evil battling evil…?? Stalin/Russia doing battle with Hitler in WWII? There is no “winner” in a battle of this sort – Earth is the loser!

Revelation 16:1-21

In the midst of these plagues being poured out on the earth, “…they blasphemed the name of God… [and] …they did not repent…” (vv. 9, 11, 21) So sad…!

More connections to the crucifixion: It is done. (v. 17) Those were also Jesus’ last words: When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished,” and He bowed his head and gave up His spirit. (John 19:30) Also, as I mentioned a few days ago in connection with the Lamb opening the sixth seal, an earthquake: …and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake. (v. 17) The earthquake at Jesus’ death was not as great, but the similarity remains. I can imagine God’s wrath, His anger against evil as He remembers His Son dying on the cross as payment for all the sins ever committed by humankind, all arising out of that evil that God is now battling in these closing chapters of Revelation.

Revelation 14:1-15:8

I was struck today by the beauty of the angels, the Lamb, the Son of Man, the heavenly worshipping bodies – in contrast to the past few days where we’ve seen evil in the person of Satan, the dragon, and the two beasts. Today was a much more fun read!!

Six different angels are mentioned in chapter 14, each with something different to say or do, then another seven angels come forth in chapter 15 with seven different tasks in chapter 16. One wonders how many angels there are in Heaven!

And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.” So He who sat on the cloud swung His sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped. (vv. 14:15-16) Bible scholars disagree, some saying that evil is reaped while others say that Jesus’ followers are reaped. I agree with the latter, going back to Jesus’ references in the Synoptic gospels, And He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few… (Matthew 9:37, Luke 10:2a) and I tell you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are ripe for harvest. (John 4:35b) Then, by contrast, in the following verses 17-20 it is clearly the evil that is being reaped, this time by an angel instead of the Son of Man. So it is Jesus who is bringing in His followers and angels who are reaping evil. Interesting.