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Redemption and Eviction

There is a 180-degree difference between ‘come’ and ‘go’ yet one little Greek word can be translated as either. Come with me into Chapter Six of the book of Revelation to discover the profound difference.

The depiction in Revelation of the heavenly throne-room starts with God the Father sitting on the throne holding a seven-sealed scroll in his right hand. This document represents the title deeds to earth forfeited by Adam and Eve when they rebelled. Someone pictured as a slaughtered lamb steps up as humanities’ redeemer and takes the scroll from the Father. This is of course a representation of the Lord Jesus as the ‘Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’ (John 1:29). All of creation, heaven and earth, burst into songs of praise, but the climax of the scene is yet to come.

Revelation Chapter Six opens with the words: ‘I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!”(NIV) This command is given four times, and each time a horseman rides out to afflict the earth.

Scholarly commentaries usually contain much debate about the one little word ‘come’. Some try to apply it to John the revelator as in, ‘Come and see’, but this makes little sense. The usual understanding is that the command is addressed to the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, but why would the guardians of the throne of God be calling forth devastation upon the earth when the final judgment of God is not yet in view? This doesn’t make sense to me either.

The problem is resolved when we realise that the Greek word translated as ‘come’ may equally well be read as ‘go!’… and what a difference this makes. Scholars like Seiss and Lenski state that the meaning is determined by the context and that ‘Go’ is more appropriate to the context of Revelation Six. The Holman’s Christian Standard Bible gives ‘go’ as an alternative reading and the God’s Word and the International Standard versions don’t even give ‘come’ as an alternative.

This may be a little word but it has big implications, for what is happening here is that the devil is being given his eviction orders;

“Go! Get out you squatter! Leave the earth you have illegally claimed as your own! Be gone!”

Satan and his minions know they have to vacate the premises but they fight every meter of the way. What we see portrayed in Revelation 6:2-8 is something all too familiar in countries such as mine where evicted squatters often do as much damage to the property as they can before being forcibly thrown out.

The first demonic horseman rides out with satanic authority given it to stir the nations into a frenzy of conquest. The German Third Reich is a good example. Hitler’s goal was world conquest and his first rallying cry was ‘Lebensraum – we need more room to live!’. The inevitable result of conquest is war, which in Nazi Germany’s case followed shortly after the conquest of Poland. So, the second horseman of the Apocalypse represents war. The third horseman represents famine, the natural consequence of the ravages of war, and the fourth horseman represents the disease and death which result from war and famine.

Verses 9 to 11 paint a graphic picture of the persecution that invariably follows the devastation of war: When conquests fail then someone needs to be found to take the blame, and the ‘someone’ is usually the people of God. History is replete with the sad record of this evil phenomenon – Rome, Nazi Germany, Communist Russia and China, several African states, and so on.

Verses 12-17 portray the final turn of the wheel of conquest-war-famine-pestilence-persecution… holy judgment! God will not allow the persecutors of His people to go unpunished, and so judgment follows persecution as surely as day follows night.

I use the analogy of a wheel because the cycle I have just described rolls like a wheel down the timeline of history. As we approach the end-of-days the circumference of the wheel grows larger and it turns faster. Wars become more intense and destructive, and famines and pestilence more widespread and resistant. What is more, in 2013 Reuters reported that about 100 million Christians were suffering persecution! Can divine judgment tarry much longer?

In my next post I want to deal with the 144,000 ‘witnesses’ of Chapter Seven: Who do you think they represent?

The Seven-sealed Scroll

1 Comment / Blog, Home Bulletin, My Blog / Christopher Peppler

There are some very valuable documents housed in museums and vaults around the world, but none of them compare in importance to the heavenly reality of the one pictured in Revelation.

In my last post I covered the disclosure of the throne of God, which John saw in heaven, as the central point of all of creation. Chapter Five of the book of Revelation starts by describing a significant detail: ‘Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals.’

The obvious question is, “What is this scroll?” I give a detailed explanation in Chapter Eight of my book ‘Revelation in The Stars’, but here is the short version:

The scroll in the hand of God the Father represents the title deeds to Earth. God created humankind, Adam and Eve, and gave them the right and responsibility to rule over the natural world (Genesis 1:28). Then they rebelled, and by doing so forfeited the title deeds to the earth. In my book I write that ‘Man turned away from God in rebellion and put his trust in Satan instead. In doing this, he became indebted to Satan, who enslaved him and took his inheritance as collateral for the debt’. To understand what is really happening here we need to realise that the creation has always been God’s possession. He did not give it to humankind, but merely placed it in their care and delegated authority over it to them. Satan never did get to own the earth, but because humankind submitted to him instead of to God he did obtain temporary rights to it.

In Roman times, when the book of Revelation was written, title deeds consisted of a scroll detailing the description of the property. If the property was pledged or given as collateral, then the conditions of redemption were inscribed on the outside of the scroll which was then attested to by seven witnesses each of whom placed their personal wax seal onto the outside of the scroll. So, the title deeds contained the property description on the inside and the redemption conditions of the outside.

John continues the drama of the scene of God on the throne holding the title deeds to earth in His right hand: ‘And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside’. The idea conveyed here is that John wept aloud, copiously and in great anguish, because he realised that humanity was doomed unless someone could be found who met the redemption conditions on the scroll. Condition One: The redeemer must be a man, not an angel, because mankind had forfeited the title deeds. Condition Two: The penalty of death, incurred in the great rebellion, must be paid for on behalf of humankind. Condition Three: The redeemer must be without the sin. No wonder John wept! What man was without sin?! And who but God could pay the penalty of death? It was just impossible! …and so John wept in bitter anguish.

But the drama continues to unfold with: ‘Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.” Who was born to the tribe of Judah? Who is the descendant of King David? Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the lion of Judah, the Root of David is the ONLY one qualified to redeem humankind. Jesus, and Jesus alone, is God made man! He alone is the incarnation of the divine! In him alone God the Son became a man! Only the life of God the Son could compensate for the forfeited life of all humanity. And only the life of the Son of God could substitute for the lives of his fellow men and women.

The throne room drama reaches a climax with the words: ‘Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne’. Jesus, the Lamb of God, standing in the heavenly Holy of Holies, presenting his credentials as a redeemer, the evidence of his sacrificial crucifixion!

The scene concludes with successive of praise that start in the throne room, extend to the entire angelic realm, and then to creation itself!

And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.” Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!” The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.

But wait, there is more!… but it will have to wait till my next post.

The Seven-sealed Scroll Read More »

Title deeds

Redemption and Eviction

The Seven-sealed Scroll

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