Escaping Biblical Idolatry, Part 7: Knowing The Revelation

In the book of Hebrews, we read the most fascinating segment of passages.  The writer (who, if it isn’t obvious, was writing to Jewish converts to the faith), wrote in the twelfth chapter,

Hebrews 12:18 For ye (the Jewish converts he was writing to) are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, 19 And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more: 20 (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: 21 And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:)

What is he referring to?  The time when Moses went up into the Mount to meet Yahavah while the Nation of Israel waited below.  He tells them that they have NOT come to such a scene as converts to the faith. (But at verse 22 he adds)

22 But you ARE come unto (now listen carefully how he puts this to them/then in that day . . .) but you ARE come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, (get the spiritual side of this over the material) and to an innumerable company of angels, 23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,  24 And to Yeshua the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. 

Then he gives some words of warning to the members of that Bride in that day (former Jews) and says

25 See that you refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, (meaning, back in Exodus) much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:

Now listen to what he adds,

26 Whose voice then (in Exodus) shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. 27 And this word, “Yet once more,” speaks to “the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.”

Now, what could be shaken in that day that was made that were to be removed?

EVERYTHING ABOUT MATERIAL RELIGION!  EVERYTHING!

Why?  Because God said back in Jeremiah that a day was coming when “after all things that can be shaken in both heaven and earth” He would write His laws on the hearts and minds of people.  That is an act of the Spirit.  That means zero mediation.  Zero material churches, deacons or elders boards, laws and mission statements, and men saying, know the lord, know the Lord – over.  Why?

God says, “because all will know me.”

What does that mean?

It means that once the Bride is taken up at the shaking of all things in heaven and earth, the Spirit will reign over the Kingdom, and it will increase forevermore accordingly. And we come to the book of scripture that gives the most detailed account of what this final shaking, what this destruction, what His return to take His Bride will look like – the Book of Revelation.

We’re not going to cover the content but just a few key things to understand about this amazing book.   

First, the Revelation, like the other books of the Apostolic Record, the Book of Revelation was written to them/then and not to believers today.  This is proven by the very words of Yeshua in the first -third chapters.

Remember, when Yeshua was on earth he said no man knows the day or the hour.  But here, as the resurrected and ascended Lord, he returns with this Revelation of Himself to the world and all that will occur as God wraps up everything about that former age.

To understand the Book of Revelation a person has to really understand the Old Testament and they way the Hebrew wrote and prophesied.

So, let’s consider some irrefutable passages that plainly tell us the audience intended to receive this and the time-frame for its inception.  Ready?  I am going to emphasize words and phrases as we quickly read through – verse 1 chapter 1 

Revelation 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

To show his servants things that must shortly come to pass. (The Greek word translated shortly cannot mean any real length of time, btw)

2 Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. 3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: “for the time is at hand.”

When the ketchup is at hand it is within reach.  That is why the Greek word is translated this way – we are not talking about a time in the distant future, folks.  Three verses – two reiterating that the things which John would see and report were going to happen shortly.

7 Behold, he cometh with clouds; (remember the angels who told the apostles that he was coming back in the same way that He left? In the clouds?  That is what this speaks to) and every eye shall see him, (people say, not every eye saw Him return then so He hasn’t returned but we have to search the scripture for interpretation and when we balance this with Hebrews which tells us that those who looked for Him would see Him we know how to understand every eye) and they also which pierced him: (sound like the current audience to me) and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. (The term kindreds speaks more to tribes (ethnos) in the Greek, which I suggest speaks to the twelve tribes that were gathered in Jerusalem at the high holidays at that time) Even so, Amen.

Then jumping to verse 10-11 where we read

10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, 11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.

Did you know that right here we are told who the audience was for this Revelation.  Even actual literal physical churches of THAT DAY who were having the immediate future revealed to the believers therein. The time was short, at hand, and the revelation was to those seven churches. Then John writes all that He saw, as commanded, and then we get to the last chapter where he wraps all that he saw and recorded up.

Let’s high grade through this last chapter and here what Yeshua Himself emphasizes to this specific audience of believers in those seven churches.  Ready?  In conclusion we read John say at verse 6

6 And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.

Then verse 7

7 Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

Verse 10

10 And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.

Verse 12

12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

And finally, verse 20 where John concludes to those Churches then, in THAT day

20  He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. (And then JOHN ADDS) Even so, come, Lord YESHUA.

And He did come quickly.  And He took His pure, holy, unspotted Bride.  And the 144000 men who were virgins undefiled with woman. And all of the prophetic utterances of the Old Testament, and of the Apostolic Record were fulfilled including the time that God talks about in Jeremiah, where His new Testament would fully unfold, occurred when Jerusalem, and over 1 million Jews who had gathered therein, were utterly routed by the Roman armies, shaking everything in heaven and earth, establishing a new heaven, a new earth and a new Jerusalem, forever resetting the administration of God on earth forevermore.

All supported by the secular writings of Tacitus, Seutonius, Cassis Dio, Josephus and others.