Synopsis: In the book of Revelation, the redeemed people
of God is comprised of men and women from every nation purchased by the blood
of the Lamb.
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By Sven Wilhelm on Unsplash |
The book of Revelation
uses a variety of terms and symbols to portray a church under assault from
within and without, all while bearing witness in a hostile world. The company
of men and women “redeemed by the Lamb” is a multi-ethnic group that
transcends all national, social, and cultural boundaries.
The faithful members of the seven churches of Asia are included among this company. Tribulation and persecution are not aberrations to be avoided at all costs, but part and parcel of what it means to “overcome” and follow the Lamb. And at the end of its visions, all the nations of the earth ally with the Devil in a final attempt to annihilate the saints.
The faithful members of the seven churches of Asia are included among this company. Tribulation and persecution are not aberrations to be avoided at all costs, but part and parcel of what it means to “overcome” and follow the Lamb. And at the end of its visions, all the nations of the earth ally with the Devil in a final attempt to annihilate the saints.
(Revelation
20:7-9) – “And as soon as the thousand years shall be ended the
Accuser shall be loosed out of his prison, and will go forth to deceive the
nations that are in the four corners of the earth, the Gog and Magog,
to gather them together unto the battle—the number of whom is as the sand of
the sea. And they came up over the breadth of the land and surrounded
the camp of the saints, and the beloved city. And there came down fire
out of heaven and devoured them.” – (The Emphasized Bible).
The church does not escape
from these hostile forces through removal from the earth, nor does it resist the
onslaughts with violence. Instead, it “overcomes”
by following the Lamb wherever he goes, even if doing so means suffering and
martyrdom. It is in this way that the redeemed people of God “overcome”
to enter the New Jerusalem, the greater and true Promised Land.
What sets this company apart is
its composition of men and women redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. They have
been purchased by the sacrificial death of Jesus and, thus, become a “kingdom
of priests” to mediate the light of the Gospel in a darkened world.
This redemptive purpose is presented from the
opening paragraph of the book. Jesus is the “faithful witness, the firstborn
of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth,” a description that points
to his past death, resurrection, and enthronement for the basis of his present sovereignty
(Revelation 1:4-6):
(Psalm
2:2-8) – “The kings of earth take their station, and
grave men have met by appointment together—against Yahweh and against his
Anointed One…Yet I have installed my king—on Zion my holy mountain. Let me
tell of a decree—Yahweh hath said unto me, My son, thou art, I, to-day, have
begotten thee: Ask of me and let me give nations as thine
inheritance, and as thy possession, the ends of the earth.” – (The Emphasized Bible).
By the shedding of his blood, Jesus “loosed
us from our sins” and, thus, constituted us as a “kingdom of priests.” The
mission assigned by Yahweh long ago to Israel has now fallen to the church:
(Exodus 19:4-6) – “Ye have
seen what I did unto the Egyptians—And how I bare you upon wings of eagles, And
brought you in unto myself:— Now, therefore, if ye will indeed hearken to my
voice, And keep my covenant, Then shall ye be mine as a treasure beyond all the
peoples, For mine is all the earth; But ye shall be mine, As a kingdom
of priests And a holy nation.” – (The Emphasized Bible).
(Revelation 5:9-10) – “And they
sing a new song, saying—Worthy art thou to take the scroll and to open the
seals thereof; because thou wast slain, and didst redeem unto God by thy blood
[men] out of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, And didst
make them unto our God a kingdom
and priests—and they reign on the earth.” – (The Emphasized Bible).
(Revelation
20:6) – “Happy and holy is he that hath part in the first
resurrection: upon these the second death hath no authority; but they shall be priests of God and of the Christ,
and shall reign with him for the thousand years.” – (The Emphasized Bible).
In the very first verse of the book, its recipients
are identified as the “servants” of God, or douloi. The immediate
addressees are the “seven churches” or “assemblies” of Asia,
congregations located in key cities of the Province of Asia (Revelation
1:1-4, 2:20, 7:1-3, 11:18, 19:5, 22:3-6).
The seven churches are “fellow participants”
with John in the “Tribulation and kingdom and perseverance in Jesus.” He
was on the isle of Patmos, “because
of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.” John and his churches experienced
“the tribulation” in the late first century on account of their
association with Jesus (Revelation 1:8-9).
In Chapter 5, John sees a glorious figure
seated on a Throne at the epicenter of creation. He is holding a scroll sealed with seven seals. No one in the entire Cosmos is found who is worthy
to open it; that is, not until the arrival of Jesus symbolized by a freshly
sacrificed lamb. The Lamb is declared worthy to open the scroll, precisely, because
“he was slain and redeemed to God by his blood men out of every tribe,
tongue, people and nation, and made them a kingdom and priests to our God.”
This group is not national Israel or the Jewish people but, instead, all the
men and women of every nation who have been redeemed by the Lamb (Revelation 5:9-10).
The same category applied previously to the
churches of Asia is now applied to this great multitude of men and women from every
nation; that is, a “kingdom of priests.” This vast company
is larger than the seven small congregations of Asia, yet it also includes
them.
In Chapter 7, John “hears” the “number”
of God’s servants that are “sealed,” twelve thousand males from each of
the twelve tribes of Israel, 144,000 in total. But when he looks, he “sees” a vast
multitude that “no one could number out of every nation, and all tribes, and
peoples, and tongues, standing before the Throne and the Lamb.” What John
“sees” interprets what he “hears,” and the innumerable multitude he now sees is
the same company he saw previously from “every nation, and all tribes, and
peoples, and tongues.” In both passages, the blood of the Lamb redeemed the
men and women from every nation. Thus, for example, the members of the innumerable multitude are arrayed in white garments, having “washed their robes and
made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 5:9-10, 7:1-17).
In this way, the book of Revelation transforms the image of the tribes of Israel assembled for march to the land of Canaan into a vast multitude of men and women redeemed by Jesus from every nation and seen “coming out of the great tribulation.” Upon exit, they stand “before the throne of God” in his “sanctuary” where the Lamb shepherds and “leads them to life’s fountains of waters,” a picture of life in the New Jerusalem (Revelation 7:13-17, 21:1-6).
The Two Witnesses in Chapter 11 are called
the “two lampstands.” This means that in some capacity they represent
churches. Revelation is consistent with its symbolism. They are also called
“prophets.” When their ministry is finished, the Beast that is to “ascend
from the Abyss will wage war with them, overcome and slay them.” This
clause borrows language is from Daniel’s vision of the “little horn”
that waged war on the “saints”:
(Daniel 7:20-21) – “Also
concerning the ten horns, which were in his head, and the other which came up,
and there fell—from among them that were before it—three—and this horn which
had eyes and a mouth speaking great things, and his look was more proud than
his fellows: I continued looking when this horn made war with the holy
ones—and prevailed against them.” – (The Emphasized Bible).
(Revelation
11:7) – “And as soon as they have completed their witnessing, the
wild-beast that is to come up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them, and slay
them.” – (The Emphasized Bible).
The “Beast from the Abyss” cannot kill
the Two Witnesses until authorized to do so by a higher authority. But their violent
deaths do not mean a defeat for the Lamb. Their martyrdom produces the Day of
the Lord and the consummation of the Kingdom of God (Revelation 11:15-19).
In Chapter 12, Satan is expelled from heaven
and, therefore, finds he no longer can “accuse our brethren before God”;
he has lost his prosecutorial powers. Enraged, he gathers his forces to “wage
war against the seed of the woman, those who keep the
commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus.” This passage also
uses the same language from Daniel to describe the Dragon’s violent
assault against the Woman’s “seed.” This group is identified by its
association with Jesus, those who have the “testimony of Jesus”
(Revelation 12:9-17).
Likewise, the “brethren” overcome the
Dragon “by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony, and
because they love not their life even unto death.” Clearly, this group
belongs to the Lamb. They have been purchased by his lifeblood, tasked with
bearing witness, and are willing to die a martyr’s death if required. They
pursue perseverance in tribulation, not escape from it (Revelation 12:11).
The “Beast that ascends from the sea” will,
likewise, “wage war with the saints and overcome them.” Once
again, language from Daniel’s vision of the “little horn” is employed to
describe the Beast’s war against the followers of the Lamb. It parallels the
descriptions of the Beast’s war against the Two Witnesses and that of the
Dragon against the “seed of the Woman.” Whether attacked by the Beast
from the Abyss, the Dragon, or the Beast from the sea, Satan is the driving
force behind the assault (Revelation 13:1-10).
(Revelation
13:7-10) – “And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them; and
there was given him authority against every tribe and people and tongue and
nation. And all they who are dwelling upon the earth will do homage unto
him—every one whose name is not written in the scroll of life of the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. If anyone hath an ear: let him
hear. If anyone into captivity, into captivity he goeth away. If anyone
with a sword doth slay, he must with a sword be slain. Here is the
endurance and the faith of the saints.” – (The Emphasized Bible).
When the Beast “wages war” with the
saints, believers who are destined for captivity must go into captivity.
Likewise, those given over to be slain by the sword must with the sword be slain. This is “the perseverance and the faith of
the saints,” their martyrdom, not their escape from the space-time
continuum (see - Revelation 14:12).
The “saints” in Chapter 13 are identified
in the following chapter as “they who keep the commandments of God and the
faith of Jesus,” a clause virtually identical to the one in Revelation 12:17,
“They who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus”
(Revelation 14:12).
Next, the “Beast from the earth” causes
all the “inhabitants of the earth” to render homage to the image of the
Beast from the sea and to take its “mark.” In contrast, the sealed
company of the redeemed stand with the Lamb on “Zion,” having his
Father’s “name written on their foreheads.” Thus, humanity falls into
two groups: those men sealed by God who follow
the Lamb, and the “inhabitants of the earth” who take the Beast’s mark.
There is no middle ground (Revelation
13:15-18, 14:1-5).
(Revelation
14:12) – “Here is the endurance of the saints—they who
keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. And I
heard a voice out of heaven, saying—Write! Happy the dead who in the Lord do
die from henceforth. Yea! (saith the Spirit) that they may rest from their
toils, for their works do follow with them.”
The redeemed gathered on “Zion” sing a
“new song,” just as the four Living Creatures and the twenty-four Elders
did before the Throne. The 144,000 “males” constitute the same company
described previously, only now from a different perspective (“they were
redeemed from mankind” – 14:4). This group is comprised of those “who
follow the Lamb wherever he goes,” the “redeemed from the earth.”
At the commencement of the seven bowls of
wrath, the company of the redeemed is described with imagery from the Exodus
story. Those who “overcome” the
Beast are seen “standing upon the glassy sea having harps of God, and they
are singing the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb.”
(Revelation
15:1-4) – “And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous—seven
messengers having seven plagues, the last, because in them was ended the wrath
of God. And I saw as a glassy sea mingled with fire, and them who
escape victorious from the beast, and from his image, and from the number of
his name, standing upon the glassy sea, having harps of God; and
they sing the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb,
saying—Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God, the Almighty! Righteous and
true are thy ways, O King of the ages! Who shall in anywise not be
put in fear, O Lord, and glorify thy name—because alone full of lovingkindness;
because all the nations will have come and will do homage before thee, because
thy righteous deeds were made manifest?” – (The Emphasized Bible).
“Overcome” translates the same verb
used in the messages to the seven churches for the faithful saints who “overcome.”
It is the same verb found when the “brethren overcame Satan by
the blood of the Lamb.” Once again, the same company of the redeemed is
seen, although from a different perspective. Nevertheless, it is the same group
of redeemed saints seen previously.
Saints overcome the Beast, not by escaping persecution, but by faithfully enduring whatever the Beast inflicts. Those destined for captivity go into captivity; those for death by the sword are killed with sword. This is the “perseverance of the saints.” Like the 144,000 on standing with the Lamb on “Zion,” the faithful saints that John now sees standing on the sea of glass sing the “song of the Lamb.” This “song” links the two groups; they are one and the same.
“Babylon” is judged and destroyed for her
egregious sins, among them, her persecution of the saints, apostles, and the prophets.
John sees her “drunk with the blood of the saints and the
blood of the witnesses of Jesus.” The saints rejoice over her
destruction because it means their vindication. In the interim, the redeemed “people”
of God are exhorted to “come out of her that they may have no fellowship
with her sins and of her plagues they may not receive” (Revelation
17:1-19:10).
The fall of Babylon causes rejoicing on the earth
and in heaven. It is the time for the “marriage
of the Lamb, for his wife has made herself ready.” She is “arrayed
in fine linen,” which represents the “righteous acts of the saints.”
Christians who heed the Spirit and overcome are, likewise, “arrayed in white
garments”; so also Likewise, believers who come out of the great tribulation
are also seen “arrayed in white garments,” having washed and made them white “in
the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 3:5, 3:18, 7:9-17).
From start to finish, the focus of the book
of Revelation is on the church, the people of God consisting of men and
women from every nation redeemed by the Lamb. Her struggles, challenges,
conflicts, and final victory are the concern of the book. A variety of terms
and images are used to portray this single company, terms mostly derived from
the Old Testament story of Israel. The book of Revelation reapplies them
to the followers of the Lamb.
The mission of the church assigned by its
risen Lord is not to escape tribulation but to persevere through it, bearing
faithful witness along the way. She is a royal body that reigns with Jesus but
does so in a priestly role. The churches are lampstands intended to shine the
light of the Lamb in the world, and that goal cannot be accomplished if the
church is removed from the earth.
Like John on the isle of Patmos, the saints are
summoned to become “fellow participant in the tribulation and the kingdom
and the perseverance in Jesus.”
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