Read with Me
Revelation 1:5b-7 (HCSB)
To Him who loves us and has set us free from our sins by His blood, and made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—the glory and dominion are His forever and ever. Amen.
Look! He is coming with the clouds,
and every eye will see Him,
including those who pierced Him.
And all the families of the earth|
will mourn over Him.
This is certain. Amen.
Listen with Me
John concludes his greeting and opening of this circular letter with an ode, a song of praise to the Lord who had been with him through all his troubles, and who had reaffirmed in the midst of those troubles His call not only on John’s life, but on the life of every person who trusts in Him for salvation.
John notes a progression in his own salvation that all those reading and hearing his letter can relate to. It begins with God’s love for the whole world (John 3:16), a desire to do good to everyone so that they might respond with love of their own. In that way, their relationship with God, broken by their sin and rebellion, could be restored.
The next step in the progression is that those who respond to God’s love by believing in Jesus, the once-for-all sacrifice for sins, are freed from their sins by his blood. The sacrifice of Jesus for the sins of all mankind, freely available to all who will repent and believe, is the only hope of salvation. No other savior, no other religion promises cleansing of sins as well as cleansing from sin, because no other can provide it. It is only faith in the name of Jesus that can restore a person’s relationship with God (Acts 4:12).
The final step is that God calls all who have been saved through faith in Jesus into service for Him. From that moment forward, they are to be His kingdom and act as His priests who hold up the sacrifice of Jesus before lost people, so that all can see Him and receive Him. This calling is not just for officially ordained priests, pastors, and ministers, or even for evangelists and missionaries. Every person who has been saved by faith in Jesus is called to enter into the kingdom work of going and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20).
John finishes this section with a benediction glorifying God for his loving actions on behalf of all mankind, and a prophecy for the future. That prophecy affirms the ultimate victory of Jesus over all who oppose Him and over all who oppress His people.
It is important, even at this point in the letter, to realize that nearly everything in it is written in a style called “apocalyptic”, which uses symbols to convey truths that are impossible to fully describe due to a lack of earthly vocabulary fit to describe heavenly realities. In many cases, the same symbols are used to describe things that will happen in the near term, as well as things that will happen in the future, sometimes repeatedly in the future. This is the case with this prediction of Jesus “coming with the clouds”. Ultimately, this anticipates Jesus’ final return in the same way that he left (Acts 1:11), calling an end to time and receiving to Himself all who belong to Him (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18).
But there is also a “soon” sense in this prophecy. The picture of Jesus coming with the clouds would be heard by those who listened to John’s letter as a picture, a promise, of Jesus’ great power being manifested in the physical world in order to deliver His people from those who were persecuting them, not only in the future, but at that time. The idea that everyone will see Him, even those who pierced him, refers to Jesus’ ultimate return which will be seen by everyone living on the earth at the time. But it also refers to a “now” event, a soon-to-be-fulfilled promise. When Jesus delivered His people who were even then being persecuted, John tells us that He was going to do it in such a way that everyone, even the ones who were persecuting the Christians, and thus piercing Jesus by proxy (Acts 9:4-6), would have no choice but to accept that it was His hand, His power, that had delivered them.
Pray with Me
Father, it is sometimes hard to see past all the “future” interpretations I have been taught to any possible “now” message of comfort that John intended as a reassurance to his readers at that time that You were in control and would ultimately deliver them. But both are clearly present. As I read, help me to do so with a mind and heart that is willing to be taught by You more than human teachers can ever teach me. Amen.