The Jewish Conspiracy to Take Over the World--more on Revelation

Every so often, because I am a conservative, some fringe group wants to enlist my support in warning the land of a sinister Jewish conspiracy to put the whole world under a Jewish ruler. Indeed, given the Left-Islamicist alliance, it seems that such sentiments are no longer a monopoly of the loony right.

But I will add my two cents worth. There is indeed an ancient, international Jewish conspiracy to put the world under the rule of a Jewish king. It's called Christianity.

Looking at Revelation 7, I am more convinced that the Apocalypse is a densely coded picture of the Christian era.

Revelation starts with 144,000 from the tribes of Israel and moves to a great redeemed multitude from every people, tongue and nation. This looks suspiciously like the spread of the Gospel from Jerusalem and Judaea, then to Samaria, then to the ends of the earth as commanded by Christ in the first chapter of Acts. The Christian faith was first announced to the world by the Jews Simon Bar Jonah, James and John the sons of Zebedee, and others in the very shadow of the Temple itself; and from them spread not only to the Jews, but also to the Greeks. And from the Greeks it spread to everyone else.

This leads me to identify the Great Tribulation described in Rev. 7:14 is, given what is recorded in Revelation 6, nothing but the general vicissitudes of the history of a world in which redemption is still and ongoing process.

On Revelation--The Rider on the White Horse is not Antichrist

I found out that I have a dissident view of Revelation, at least in some Evangelical circles.

During a Bible study on Revelation, I found out that many resources used by others describe the rider on a white horse mentioned in Revelation 6:2 as Antichrist. I have long been under the impression that this rider is none other than Jesus Christ himself.

The text states:

And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow, ans a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer (KJV).

Having looked up a number of online resources, I note the following reasons why this figure is associated with Antichrist:

1. He is accompanied by riders who represent war, famine, and death.

2. The passage of the seven seals speaks of the wrath of God against the earth.

Yet, against this, I note that the rider on the white horse appears again:

And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many diadems, and he hath a name written which no one knoweth but he himself. And he is arrayed in a garment sprinkled with blood, and his name is called the Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven followed him upon white horses clothed in fine linen, white and pure. And out of his mouth proceedeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God, he Almighty. And he hath on his garment and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Rev. 19:11-16)

How this figure can be anyone other than Jesus Christ is beyond me. The slaying of the wicked by words that are weapons echoes Isaiah 11:4; smiting and ruling the nations with a rod of iron echoes Psalm 2:9. Clearly this is the fulfillment of all of Israel's Messianic hopes of defeating the oppressing nations!

As for Jesus' association with the terrors of the other horsemen of the apocalypse and the trumpets and bowls of God's wrath following Revelation 6:2, this can be understood as comforting a persecuted and pressured church by reminding them that, as Matthew's Gospel assured them, all authority in heaven and earth, including over the terrors the shatter humanity, is held by the risen Jesus (Matthew 28:18). In these disasters, the hope of wicked men perish, but all ultimately ends with the Lord vindicating his people.

The 20th century was one in which contempt for Christ and his Gospel was widespread. It was also an age of uncritical faith in man-made institutions and programs. Yet the dreams of peace unleashed by a League of Nations in 1920 and a United Nations in 1945 have been illusory. The confidence of most "thinking people" (a thundering herd of independent minds, perhaps?) in so-called "scientific socialism" proved a mockery, and a very bloody one after the political murders of over 150 millions in peacetime. These are indeed horrible things to contemplate, but could this not be a case of our Lord shattering like earthen pots the kings of the earth who have gathered themselves against him (Psalm 2)? Is this not a call for us to reconsider the claims of our Lord, as many indeed are doing even now?

Yes, it is terrifying to consider the hand of our loving God in the vicissitudes of history. This may well lead many to hate God all the more. But let us not forget the garment sprinkled in blood in which our Lord Jesus appears. It is not the blood of his enemies, but his own sacrificial blood which he shed to atone for our sins when he, the righteous one, died for the unrighteous to bring us to God (I Peter 3:18). In that is the true refuge from the coming wrath.

More Thoughts on Revelation

People speak of Revelation 6 as a terrifying chapter, with the angels opening seven seals to reveal what is to come. Yet the chapter may also be cause for great hope for Christians.

The first seal reveals a conqueror on a white horse. As a young Christian, I was told by many that this is the Antichrist whom Paul mentions in the Thessalonian letters. But I have come to the conclusion that this is, in fact, Jesus Christ who rides forth to conquer. This is because of the unfolding of the Apocalypse, and because in Chapter 19 the rider on the white horse appears again, and is identified as one who is called Faithful, True, and the Word of God. These titles can only be Jesus Christ.

But how can Jesus' conquest be accompanied by war, death, disease, and disaster? Are Christians being encouraged to be the carriers of these things, as Muslims are encouraged to wage violent jihad in the Qur'an? In fact, this is no exhortation to violence, but a reminder that history, with all of its vicissitudes, is guided by our loving God and Savior. This becomes all the more clear as we look at where the passage leads.

The fifth seal reveals the martyrs of Christ. The sixth reveals a great earthquake and exlipse, and terror among all men. But after this, John sees 144,000 servants of God from the twelve tribes of Israel, and after them, an innumerable multitude of the redeemed from every people, tongue, and nation. Since, as the book of Acts tells us, the Gospel started in Jerusalem, then spread to Judaea and Samaria, and thence to the ends of the earth, this is a picture of the progress of the Gospel in the earth.

Yes, the world is a frightening and scary place, and history can be terrifying. But through it all, all authority in heaven and earth has been given to Jesus, who gave his life for us and conquered death on our behalf, and he is spreading redemption among us. The hopes and ambitions of sinful men are overthrown in the vicissitudes of history, but Christ is also at work bringing many sons to glory.

Hence, the counsel of God in Revelation is not terror or despair, but faith and hope.

Reading Revelation

Our adult Sunday School class is working its way through the book of Revelation. Last week, we read the fifth chapter.

I came away from the study thinking that John's purpose is showing the Lord Jesus Christ as the proper focus for worship. The angels, living creatures, and elders before Christ's throne fall before him crying, "Worthy is the Lamb!" This is an echo of the doxology sung to the Father in Chapter 4. Jesus Christ, slain for our sins as the Lamb of God, risen and glorified, shares worship with the father, his seven horns (symbols of power) and eyes sending for the Spirit. Few other passages of Scripture underscore that Jesus Christ is God.

Jesus in Glory is not only the Son of Man figure from Daniel 7, whom we see again in Revelation 1. He is also the sacrifice for our sins. John's description of Jesus as the Lamb of God in both John 1 and Revelation 5 cannot have confused his earliest readers, who, as Jews living when the ministry of the Jerusalem Temple was still a living memory, would have known of its animal sacrifices, especially the ritual killing of the Passover lambs. The adored one who is worthy is the one whose shed blood covers the sins of his people and renders them worthy to approach and worship.

Jesus is also the one worthy to open the book with seven seals. What is this book? I take it as a symbol of the whole Scripture. This is because no other book of Scripture is as rich with reference to other portions of the Bible than Revelation. I remember Mormon missionaries during my youth who argued passionately that John's warnings in Revelation 22:18-19 referred only to John's own work. Yet this cannot possibly be true when Revelation shows a heavenly figure measuring the temple and those worshiping therein as in revelation; Jesus describing himself as beginning and end as YHWH does in Isaiah; the reminder of the covenanted community's status as kings and priests as mentioned in Exodus; worship scenes reminiscent of the building of Solomon's Temple and the Book of Psalms; strange beasts as in Daniel; and mention of the death and resurrection of Jesus as in the Gospels and Epistles of the New Testament. John knew what he was doing: he was putting the capstone on Scripture, and reading the whole through his knowledge of Jesus slain for our sins and triumphant over sin and death.

Perhaps the reason why our witness today lacks power is that our exposition of apocalyptic ignores the Gospel of Christ's finished work. Heaven sings in triumph before Jesus who shed his blood for sinners and conquered death for them. We on earth tremble and quake, as if we have no hope to share with those around us. May God forgive us.

The image reproduced above is the Ghent Altarpiece, by Jan van Eyck.

Theology for Dummies -- Two

Revelation:

Man is a worshipping being. While human concepts of God differ, most peoples understand that there is a power or being higher than themselves. While many call themselves "atheists"--people without a deity--their godlessness is invariably linked to the traditions in which they were raised, and their denial of a God or gods is the denial of whatever their wider society worships. However, these "atheists" sooner or later deify something that a Christian would call a creature, or created thing: self, money, power, the cosmos, you name it.

However, since Adam's rebellion against God described in Genesis 3, this "God-consciousness", or natural revelation, which seems hard-wired into us is insufficient to give us a full, saving knowledge of God. As Calvin observed in Book I of his _Institutes of the Christian Religion_, this natural revelation suffices only to tell us that we are lost. And since God is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable while man is finite, mortal, and conditioned, God cannot be "discoverec" by human effort. If God is to be known to us, he must reveal himself.

The Bible is the book of God's revealing of himself to men. It deals with God's choice of the family of Abraham as his vehicle of revelation and salvation, recounts the history of that family becoming a nation, and records Moses the lawgiver and the various prophetes who came to the people of Israel. It goes on to show how promises of the Messiah are fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

The Bible is both necessary and sufficient for saving knowledge of God. In times past, prophets were sent to ancient Israel from time to time. God might show miracles, too--although biblical miracles tend to cluster around the Exodus from Egypt, entry into the Land of Canaan, the ministries of Elijah and Elisha, and int the work of Jesus Christ and his apostles. However, the coming of Christ and his working salvation for us completes the work of revelation. Thus, while the Old Testament came from various God-guided men working over a span of time ranging
roughly from 1400-400 B.C. (Moses-Malachi), the New Testament was composed by Jesus' apostles and their associates within a generation.

Hence, all of our "God Talk" must ultimately be based in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. The Westminster divines meeting in London between 1645-48 spoke of how only the words of Scripture and what could be derived therefrom by "good and necessary consequence" could bind the consciences of Christians. This is the essence of Protestant Christian theologizing.

In the Roman and Eastern traditions, the traditions of the church are taken as revelation as well, for it is held that God the Holy Spirit is ever guiding his church. To this, the Protestants add that the church can and does err, and that the Holy Spirit will convince us of the words God himself has given. Scripture is therefore a check on the exuberence (sometimes sinful) of the church and a corrective. Perhaps this is why the biblically-informed Western world has long been the most actively self-critical of the world's major civilizations.

Many faiths describe themselves as "searches" for truth. Yet Christian theology is based on the premise that the truth came and found out men. More will be said later.