A mantra of some prophecy teachers is that Israel is the
interpretive key to prophecy, especially regarding the book of Revelation. This
is a regressive view considering what the New Testament declares about Jesus.
Scripture is clear - Jesus is the one in whom all God's promises
find their fulfillment; he is the substance that casts the shadows recorded in
the Hebrew Bible.
John’s prologue presents Jesus as the “logos,” God’s great
and final revelation. The prologue contrasts Christ with the previous
revelation given by Moses. The word that became flesh in Jesus Christ “tabernacled
among us.” He is the true tabernacle in whom God’s presence dwells, not a
stone structure in Jerusalem.
God’s fullness, grace, and truth are found only in Jesus. Moses “gave
the law,” the Torah, but “grace and truth came through Jesus
Christ.” It is the Son alone who has seen God and therefore “interprets”
(John 1:18).
This last word represents the Greek verb ‘exegeomai,’ the
very term from which we get English words like ‘exegesis.’ It means to explain,
interpret, recount, etc. Most interesting, in this Greek clause the verb has no
object, the statement is open-ended; simply, “Jesus interprets.”
If Jesus is the true and final structure “made-without-hands”
in whom God’s presence dwells, why is it prophetically necessary to build
another stone building “made-with-hands,” another pile of rocks in which His
presence and glory will not be found? The interpretive key to Bible prophecy is
Jesus Christ, not Temple, Torah, Territory, or Israel.
ALL God’s promises find their “yea” and their “amen”
in Jesus. God’s mysteries are revealed in Jesus, not feast days, Hebrew
letters, or the phases of the moon. The Prophecy Industry has exchanged Jesus
Christ as the key that unlocks scripture with something else. Talk about
“replacement theology!”
In the Book of Revelation, it is Jesus portrayed as the
sacrificial Lamb who alone has the right to take and open the Sealed Scroll.
The book is a "revelation of Jesus Christ"; he is the one to
whom it belongs, he gives it to his servants, and he provides the
interpretations of its visions (Revelation 1:1, 1:17-20).
Jesus is the one with all authority and the keys to Death and
Hades, not Israel. He is the one who "opens and no man shuts."
And he is the one who knows the conditions and activities of the seven churches
of Asia and provides each one with encouragement, correction, and discipline as
needed.
Angels provide John with information about his visions but do so
as dispatched by the Lamb. The book is about "what things must soon
come to pass" upon the "servants" of Jesus, not
national Israel. Until the Prophecy Industry ceases to employ the wrong key, it
will fail to unlock the meaning of prophecy and, especially, the book of
Revelation.
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