A mantra of many prophecy teachers is that Israel is the
interpretive key to prophecy, especially for the book of Revelation. This is a
regressive view in light of what the New Testament has to say 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 “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 can take and open the Sealed. The book is a
"revelation of Jesus Christ," he is the one to whom it belongs, gives
it to his servants, and 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 interpretive
key, it will continue to fail to unlock the meaning of prophecy and of the book
of Revelation.
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