Live Your Identity! The One Whose Name is Written in the Book of Life

By / Jan 28

In Rev 21:27 John describes the role God gives to his people by writing their names in his heavenly book. This is a received role. Nevertheless, this role grounds and compels activity as one embraces God’s initiative and call to identify with him and the Lamb. This received role includes all the benefits of kingdom life portrayed in Revelation, including forgiveness of sin, divine enablement, and providential care. And it demands that the one written by God in the Lamb’s book of life lives truthfully and purely in God’s presence. John’s inscription imagery at the conclusion of Revelation 21 must be considered in light of his broader matrix of inscription ideas that precede, especially those places where humans or personified individuals are in view.

Writing Names and Titles

Inscriptions figure prominently in Revelation. In Rev 2:17b, Jesus promises the church in Pergamum that he will give those who conquer a white stone with an inscription known only to the one who receives it. Jesus promises the conquerors in Philadelphia (Rev 3:12b) that he will make them pillars of God and write on them God’s name, the name of the new Jerusalem, and his new name.

John uses references to inscriptions as a cohesive feature binding units of thought in the narrative flow of Revelation 13–14 and 17–19. First, in John’s portrait of the evil triumvirate in Revelation 13, John notes that humanity worships the beast from the sea. Everyone, that is, whose name is not written in the Lamb’s book of life (Rev 13:8b). Those who worship the beast take his mark on their forehead or right hand (Rev 13:16). John counters that group with his vision of the 144,000, whom God sealed as his own in Revelation 7, standing with the Lamb on Mount Zion. John notes that God’s sealed ones have the name of the Lamb and the Father’s name written on their foreheads (Rev 14:1). John’s use of inscription imagery coheres Revelation 13–14 as a composite section of the book.

Second, references to inscriptions hold Revelation 17–19 together. Here, John describes the fall of Babylon and the victory of Jesus over the beast and his false prophet. In John’s vision, Babylon is personified as a woman, a harlot filled with blasphemous names (Rev 17:3). And on her forehead, John notes in Rev 17:5, is written an epithet describing her as the mother of prostitutes and evil on earth. In Rev 13:8, John states that all those whose names are not written in the book of life worship the beast and his image. In Rev 17:8b, he notes that that group is yet astounded by the beast who rises in power at the time of Babylon’s destruction. Inscription imagery in Revelation 17 validates and verifies the evil status of Babylon, the beast, and those who associate with them. But, inscriptions are neutral and can be employed to validate and verify God and his people. Thus, when Jesus returns as the rider on the white horse in Revelation 19, readers should almost expect some reference to inscriptions. John does not disappoint, concluding his portrayal of Jesus by stating in Rev 19:16 that the epithet King of Kings and Lord of Lords is written on Jesus’s robe and thigh.

Writing People

When John uses inscription imagery in Revelation with respect to the content of writing, he usually refers to a message, name, or title/epithet. In the final two chapters of Revelation, John breaks that pattern. He is no longer concerned with the inscription of names that might designate people but directly with people. In the New Jerusalem, just as in the lake of fire, people and not names dwell. 

At the great white throne judgment, John does not state that the names of those not written in the book of life go to everlasting punishment. Rather, the person not written is assigned to eternal punishment (Rev 20:15). John uses the indefinite relative pronoun ‘anyone,’ where we expect him to use a form of the noun ‘name.’ Though a name might be implied, taking into account previous references in Rev 13:8 and 17:8, the absence of a name and the presence of ‘anyone’ emphasizes that in the end, God will judge persons.

In the final paragraph of John’s description of the New Jerusalem (Rev 21:22–27), John first describes God’s presence there and then notes the demographics and quality of people beholding God there. In Rev 21:22–23, John notes that God and the Lamb are central in the New Jerusalem, replacing the sanctuary and the sun. God created the sun to mark times and seasons (Gen 1:14–19; Ps 136:1–9; et al.) and the sanctuary of the temple as the place where his gathered people might experience his presence—a tradition originating in the completion of the tabernacle (Exodus 40) and the temple (1 Kings 8–9). God’s personal presence among his people in the New Jerusalem, the eternal city (Rev 21:1–4, 25), removes the need for these structures that order the older age. 

In Rev 21:24–27, John describes those who will dwell in the New City with God. In view of the literary context, this is an ironic audience. John fuses inscription language in the Lamb’s book of life with nations and kings of the earth. Since Revelation 7, John has set forth what might be called the missionary theme of Revelation, as the nations are among God’s people praising him. But kings of the earth, portrayed most recently in the fall of Babylon, are notorious for rebelling against God—not bringing their glory into God’s presence. But in the flow of Rev 21:25–27, John notes that the nations and even the kings of the earth are among those written in the Lamb’s book of life. This is an exclusive group—opposite the wicked and defiled that have been cast into the lake of fire (Rev 21:8, 27); the group written in the Lamb’s book will now enjoy God forever.

¹ This is the seventh  entry in a series of FTC blog posts noting how John uses a particular grammatical form, the articular substantival participle, for specific words in Revelation that resemble a playwright’s roles in a script.

² γράφω in Rev 21:27.

³ Buist Fanning comments, “He (John) had spoken in the previous verses primarily of groups of people (‘the dead’ in vv. 12a, 12f, 13a, 13b), but here (as in v. 13c ‘each one’) he speaks of ‘anyone [τις] … not found written in the book of life’ (v. 15a). The fate of such an individual is to be ‘thrown’ (ἐβλήθη) into the fiery lake of condemnation just as the infernal trinity along with Death and Hades were ‘thrown’ into it previously (19:20; 20:10, 14)” (Revelation, ZECNT [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2020], 520).

⁴ i.e., ὄνομα.

⁵ G.K. Beale writes, “They were written in the book of the Lamb before the creation, which means that they were identified at that time as ones who would benefit from the Lamb’s redemptive death. Therefore, they have been given the protection of eternal life, which comes as a result of the Lamb’s death. This prehistorical identification with the Lamb has protected them from the deceptions of the world, which threaten to suppress their trust in the Lamb, and has enabled them to be ready to enter the gates of the city to enjoy the life for which they have been destined” (The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text, NIGTC [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999], 1102).



Get Desperate for God! The One Who Thirsts for God

By / Jan 27

When you think about the final chapters of Revelation, what comes to mind? Judgment? Destruction? Hell, fire, and brimstone? While these are there, John’s theological portrait in Revelation 21–22 actually accentuates God’s desire to satisfy his people, thus urging all who hear his word to come to God and be filled.

Thirst for God is an acquired taste. Perhaps that is why John emphasizes this characteristic of the believer in the last two chapters of the Bible. We acquire a taste for God’s satisfying presence as we encounter him. Do you see the logic? God satisfies our thirst so that we thirst for him. It’s a cycle of satisfaction that in eternity will find no interruption.

God’s Desire to Satisfy

Revelation does not become less theological as John writes. The initial scenes of the book’s drama in Revelation 1–5 portray God’s centrality in history and the cosmos. In the final two chapters, John describes God’s eternal dwelling among his people in the new creation. The vision John enjoys in Rev 21:5–8 recalls Revelation 4. The one seated on the throne in Revelation 4 still is in Revelation 21. Though the universe has changed, God has not.

Central to the message John receives in Rev 21:3–4 is the statement that God will now dwell with his people. Death and tears will no longer have a place in the human experience. All this is personal for God. In Rev 21:5, John writes that what he hears is the voice of God speaking from his throne and announcing, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will freely give to the thirsty from the spring of the water of life” (Rev 21:6b, CSB).

The concept of thirst in Rev 21:6 is a physical metaphor that expresses a desperate spiritual need. In light of the throne room imagery of Rev 21:1–5, John’s readers would likely recall scenes from the throne room visions recorded in Revelation 4–5 and the content of the fifth seal in Rev 6:9–11. At the breaking of the fifth seal, the martyred saints cry out for justice. Their cries speak in heaven what their contemporaries in John’s audience on earth cry in their hearts as they long for God to vindicate them. Thirst in Rev 21:6 portrays God’s people longing for him to vindicate himself and his people. The one who thirsts in Rev 21:6 enjoys fellowship with the martyred saints described in Rev 6:9–11, those who received a white robe as a temporary token of what would come. In Rev 21:6, the thirsts of God’s people longing to be vindicated are finally satiated because God will now dwell with his people in the new creation. G.K. Beale writes, “This fellowship is reserved for those who have maintained their faith in the Lamb’s atoning death and their testimony to his redemptive work.”

Satisfaction for All

In the drama of Revelation 22, John receives first a vision of the river flowing from the throne of God (vv. 1–5), then a message from an angel instructing John to seal the prophecy (v. 6–11), and finally a message from Jesus himself (vv. 12–16). Jesus promises his presence and eternal satisfaction to his followers. John writes responses to this narrative progression in Rev 22:17, “Both the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ Let anyone who hears, say, ‘Come!’ Let the one who is thirsty come. Let the one who desires take the water of life freely.” 

My concern is with the breadth of the offer to find satisfaction in God. John portrays his readers as the special recipients of this final revelatory sequence in Rev 22:1–16—and perhaps the whole of the Revelation. Anyone who hears—and therefore understands the satisfaction God provides his people in his word—is to exhort all who would hear to come and be satisfied as well. In the last clause of Rev 22:17, John combines the activities of thirst and desire. These two verbs have a high degree of semantic overlap when thirst is used as a metaphor. John ensures that his readers catch his symbolic use of thirst by describing the water of life as the object of desire. The one who thirsts is to come as one who desires to satisfy his thirst in a specific way: by drinking from the water of life. John’s vision in Rev 22:1–5 begins with reference to the river flowing with the water of life, and transitions to the end of the chapter in Rev 22:17 by bidding those thirsty and desiring drink to come to Jesus. The role of thirsting and desiring satisfaction in God is one John would have his readers embrace.

Sip and Swig

God is satisfying no matter your current level of spiritual commitment. Drink a bit—and you will find that you want more. God’s instruction for your relationships, use of time, personal identity and expression, stewardship of money, paradigm of work and leisure will begin to prove faithful and good. Trust God’s word in one of these areas and you will want more. 

But know this, God intends to satisfy you beyond the here-and-now. God alone can satisfy your need for forgiveness of sin and eternal fellowship with him and his people in the new creation. So even as you find deeper and deeper satisfaction in God now, recognize that the best is yet to come.

¹ This is the sixth entry in a series of FTC blog posts noting how John uses a particular grammatical form, the articular substantival participle, for specific words in Revelation that resemble a playwright’s roles in a script.

² διψάω in Rev 21:6; 22:17; θέλω in Rev 22:17.

³ “Scripture often employs the figure of thirst to depict the desire of the soul for God. ‘As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God,’ sang the Psalmist (Ps 42:1; cf. 36:9; 63:1; Isa 55:1). God is a spring of living water (Jer 2:13; cf. Ps 36:9) that assuages thirst and wells up into eternal life (John 4:14)” (Robert Mounce, The Book of Revelation, rev ed., NICNT [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997], 385).

⁴ The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text, NIGTC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), 1056.

 



Be Faithful Unto Death! The One Who is Slaughtered for Their Testimony

By / Jan 26

Some of the roles John sets forth in Revelation lack appeal for modern readers, just as they would have for John’s live audience. As creatures, humans tend to avoid pain, not embrace roles that might lead to suffering. Let alone death. John exhibits pastoral concern in Revelation, compelling him to esteem those taking up the role of being slaughtered for Christ. The general hue of Revelation places believers in the cross-hairs of spiritual war, and in Rev 6:9, 18:24, and 20:4 John lauds those who have embraced the role of suffering for their faith even to the point of death. 

The Slaughtered Ones Heard in Heaven

Revelation can be seen as a protracted answer to the saints’s question John hears when the sixth seal is broken, “Lord, the one who is holy and true, how long until you judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood?” (Rev 6:10, CSB). John notes that the ones crying out to God for justice are those who had been slaughtered because of God’s word and their testimony of Christ (Rev 6:9). The role of being slaughtered or martyred in Rev 6:9 and in Rev 18:24 expresses the highest degree of faithfulness to Christ. Beale states it clearly: “Since the symbol of identity for all Christians is the slain Lamb, they all also can be referred to by the same metaphor.” 

Two ideas in Rev 6:9 underscore the saints’ devotion to God as they cry out for justice. First, John’s grammatical choice of “those who had been slaughtered” portrays the violent means of the martyrs’ deaths as yet vivid and in full color. Even if their deaths were decades before, the effects and violent frame of those deaths cast a shadow extending to the very moment when they cry out for God to avenge their blood. The slaughter they endured was thus an antecedent action that placed the saints in the resulting state implied by the slaughtering event. To be slaughtered is to die violently with scars and visible effects that forever mark a person as having been slaughtered.

Further, the nearness and proximity of the violent death of the martyrs anticipates John’s description of why the saints were slaughtered. At the conclusion of Rev 6:9, John notes that the saints had been martyred because of their continuous, consistent testimony of Christ. Those who acted faithfully, even to the point of being slaughtered, did so after fulfilling the role of testifying to the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. The saints were not one-offs or kamikaze-like actors; instead, regularly as believers, they were holding fast in the role of witness.

Second, the slaughtered ones’ testimony was related to the word of God. God’s word and the testimony of the martyrs, in this context, must be understood not only as two sides of one coin but the latter as the expression of the former. The martyrs personally testified God’s word as revealed in Christ and they, not God’s word, shed blood for that testimony. God’s word guided their lives and was worth their lives.  

The Slaughtered Ones Rejected on Earth

John’s description of the fall of Babylon underscores God’s just wrath. In Rev 18:21–23, John employs a series of emphatic negations to note that the very characteristics for which Babylon was attractive would cease at the moment of God’s judgment. Everything earthly in her would be condemned. Why? Babylon is portrayed not only as the city of neon and glitz but blood and gore—of God’s people. “In her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and of all those slaughtered on the earth” (Rev 18:24). 

Just as in Rev 6:9, here in Rev 18:24 as well, the interpretation of the conjunction “and” plays a formative role in understanding the verse. Does it coordinate three separate groups of humanity or three labels/functional roles for one group of humanity? The flexibility of descriptors like saints, prophets, and slaves, with not only martyrdom but also general suffering in Revelation, portrays a broad spectrum of persecution that the single people of God have endured across the ages (à la Hebrews 11). Thus Rev 18:24 refers to one group, and God’s people, the saints are faithful in their prophetic calling, they fulfill the role of suffering for their testimony, sometimes unto death.

The Behaded Raised to Reign

We noted that in John’s vision of the fifth seal (Rev 6:9–11), the slaughtered ones suffered because of God’s word and their testimony. In Rev 20:4, John writes that the testimony of believers and God’s word are why believers are beheaded: “Then I saw thrones, and people seated on them who were given authority to judge. I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God.” On the spectrum of suffering, slaughter and beheading rank on the high extreme. And in Rev 6:9 and 20:4, those faithful in the role of suffering even unto death are rewarded, in the former with white robes and in the latter with thrones upon which they will rule and reign with Christ.

The Role of Martyr Without the Martyr Complex

Jesus called his disciples to take up their cross and follow him (Matt 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23). They knew what Jesus meant. Luke notes that when large crowds were traveling with Jesus, he told them that if they wanted to follow him, they would, comparatively speaking, have to hate their closest family members and even their own lives to be his disciples (Luke 14:25–27). Jesus does not call us to look for ways to suffer but to know that we will suffer for him. Disciples have an endurance mindset because of the value of knowing and being known of Jesus. John’s esteem for those who have been slaughtered and those who have been martyred reminds us that our faith is valuable.

¹ This is the fifth entry in a series of FTC blog posts noting how John uses a particular grammatical form, the articular substantival participle, for specific words in Revelation that resemble a playwright’s roles in a script.

² σφάζω in Rev 6:9; 18:24; πελεκίζω in Rev 20:4.

³ G.K. Beale, The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text, NIGTC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), 28, 392.

⁴ Beale, Revelation, 391.

⁵ J. Scott Duvall writes, “These Christian martyrs suffered and died specifically because of their witness” (The Heart of Revelation [Grand Rapids: Baker, 2016], 109).

⁶ Babylon will never be found again (v. 21), the sounds of musicians will never be heard again (v. 22a), craftsman will never be found again (v. 22b), the sound of a mill will never be heard again (v. 22c), lamp light will never be seen again (v. 23a), the voice of bride and bridegroom will never be found again (v. 23b).

⁷ Rev 11:18; 12:11; 16:6; 17:6; 19:2.

⁸ “Throughout Revelation, God’s people are not simply called to avoid evil and endure suffering, they are pictured as faithful witnesses and called to faithfully bear testimony to Jesus Christ, conquering by being faithful even to the point of death” (Andreas J. Köstenberger and Gregory Goswell, Biblical Theology: A Canonical, Thematic, and Ethical Approach [Wheaton: Crossway, 2023], 681).

₉ David E. Aune notes that in the ancient world, beheadings were a public affair signaled by a trumpet so that the crowd could observe the punishment for the crime (Revelation 17–22, vol. 52C of Word Biblical Commentary [Dallas: Word, 1998], 1086-87). 



Stay Awake! The Role of Keeping Alert

By / Jan 25

Many of us can’t focus for 5 minutes. The technological resources available to us opportune new pursuits without end. We can go in 1,000 directions and nowhere at the same time. This is a spiritual danger. The Bright Shiny Object fabricates a tale of fulfillment but lures us from reality. It promises what it cannot deliver, and we are susceptible if we are not paying attention to our spiritual lives. Challenging life situations, relational strife, and boredom—these and so many other circumstances can be a greenhouse of distraction from God.

John’s audience in Revelation was tempted by the Bright Sinny Object of safety and security, getting by and fitting in to get along and stay alive. Tempted to live for the here and now, to live as earth-dwellers instead of citizens of the soon-to-be-revealed heavenly city, John’s audience, too, was vulnerable to Satan’s lies.

Blessed Are the Alert

What is required of God’s people in this atmosphere of spiritual warfare? In Rev 3:3, Jesus urges the church in Sardis to keep alert since his coming is like a thief. In the sixth bowl judgment (Rev 16:12–16), John records the only speech report attributed to Jesus in any of the seal, trumpet, or bowl judgments. Jesus said, “Look, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who is alert and remains clothed, so that he may not go around naked and people see his shame” (Rev 16:15, CSB). John ties together the role of keeping alert with the role of keeping one’s clothes. It is as if, in John’s mind, the level of the believer’s alertness is visible to the believer and the watching world.

We should understand the broader context of Jesus’s statement during the sixth bowl judgment recorded in Rev 16:12–16. John notes that unclean spirits that perform signs proceed from the mouths of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet. The events detailed in the sixth bowl judgment assume that readers have fresh in their minds, among other passages, Revelation 12–13. The three-person demonic force described in Revelation 12–13 is here in Revelation 16:12–16, said to come upon the kings of the earth. Under demonic influence from the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet, the kings of the earth prepare for battle—anticipating the military imagery in Revelation 19–20. When the devil is the subject of signs in Revelation, those signs are always false but yet persuasive. The devil and his forces mimic and mock God and tempt believers to act in accord with the devil’s earthly program (Rev 13:13–14; 19:20). The devil uses schemes to distract us from God, warm us to the world, and orient our hearts to an earthly identity of sight rather than a heavenly identity of faith.

Motivations for Staying Alert

John would have his readers embrace the role of alert allegiance to God amid demonic temptation to live like earth-dwellers. In the sixth bowl judgment, John offers three ideas that compel us to embrace the role of keeping alert. First, as we stay alert and maintain allegiance to Jesus, we are protected from Satan’s traps and the spiritual deflation that they bring. Jesus’s promise of blessing those who embrace the role of staying alert rests on God’s justice to reward the faithful. Will not God be alert to those who are alert to him? Second, we should remember that God’s intervention to help us during trials and temptation can come at an unexpected time—like a thief’s arrival to seize property at the least expected moment (see Matt 24:43–44; Lk 12:39–40; 1 Thess 5:2–8; 2 Pet 3:10). The arrival of the thief in the night is our hope! God sends his aid in the darkest and most difficult seasons, so look for it when you feel weak, afraid, and vulnerable. Third, we need to be watchful so that the patterns of our lives, here represented as elsewhere in Revelation by the imagery of clothing (Rev 6:11; 7:9, 13; 19:8, 14), resemble enduring obedience to God. 

Conclusion

So, how can you resist the devil’s distractions and embrace the role of one who remains alert? First, meditate on John’s motivations in the sixth bow judgment; cling to God’s justice as you watchfully wait for the thief in the night. Second, meditate on these motivations amid God’s people. John wrote Revelation to the seven churches as groups, and elsewhere, the author of Hebrews highlights the critical nature of life in community (see Heb 3:12–15; 10:19–25); remaining alert is not a solo role. Third, engage the mission Jesus gave to his church (Matt 28:18–20); a soldier engaged in active warfare is not easily distracted (2 Tim 2:1–7). Fourth, trust that God will enable you to stand firm and remain alert (2 Cor 3:4–6; Col 1:11–14; Eph 6:10–11;2 Pet 1:3).

¹ This is the fourth entry in a series of FTC blog posts noting how John uses a particular grammatical form, the articular substantival participle, for specific words in Revelation that resemble a playwright’s roles in a script.

² Brian J. Tabb notes that Jesus’s words resemble an interruption of the sequence of events that John records in the sixth bowl judgment (All Things New: Revelation as Canonical Capstone, NSBT 48 [Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2019], 52).  

³ Rev 16:15 is one of seven beatitudes John writes in Revelation, the others are in Rev 1:3; 14:13; 19:9; 20:6; 22:7; 22:14.

⁴ γρηγορέω in Rev 16:15.

⁵ G.K. Beale notes that keeping one’s garments implies refusing to commit idolatry and worship the beast (The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text, NIGTC [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999], 837).

⁶ We must not allow ourselves to be lulled into spiritual sleep by the demonically inspired seductions of the surrounding world or to be cowed into complacency through fear of persecution” (Alexander E. Stewart, Reading the Book of Revelation: Five Principles for Interpretation [Bellingham: Lexham, 2021], 150). 



Episode 247: FTC Mailbag

By / Jan 24

A new mailbag installment is here! A couple good questions on preaching, whether it’s ever permissible to “sprinke” rather than immerse, what to do with an unqualified elder team, how important is it to know the biblical languages?, moving a church away from a senior pastor model, and more.



Set Your Compass! The One Who is Oriented Toward God

By / Jan 24

Believers need to look at their spiritual compass regularly. In seasons of dullness, when the landscape of life looks the same day after day, orienting ourselves toward God reminds us that the grind has a bigger purpose. In seasons of danger, orienting ourselves toward God fortifies us to endure challenges to our faith. John’s audience in Revelation faced both seasons of danger and seasons of deception. John writes that the one who is oriented toward God is protected from Satan’s lies and assured of rule with Christ in the age to come.

Spiritual Ears in Every Church

In the letters to the churches in Revelation 2-3, Jesus describes the role of being oriented toward God. The letters differ in length and use of metaphors and literary features, but they all display a general introduction-body-conclusion framework. The repeated phrase “anyone who has ears to hear” calls the recipients of the letters to orient themselves toward God. Jesus’s formulaic expression effectively establishes a concrete role he expects believers to embrace so they might fulfill his instructions. In the broader discourse of Revelation, those oriented toward God have rejected the false teaching propagated by the beast, the false prophet, and Satan (see Revelation 13).

Jesus’s statements after the letters to the seven churches echo his point in the parable of the soils (Matt 13:1–15; Mark 4:1–12; Luke 8:4–10). There, Jesus cites Isa 6:9–10 to explain that God has enabled those who hear and accept the kingdom’s message while others who hear the same message and reject it have been hardened by him. Regardless of the specific imagery Jesus uses to introduce himself at the beginning of each letter or the various metaphors and Old Testament themes Jesus employs in the body of the letters, Jesus concludes his address to each church by identifying the role of the recipient. Those in the recipient’s role are called to heed the message and respond faithfully. They are to embrace the role of being oriented toward God.

Protection of the Mind

In Revelation 12–13, John records his visions of the spiritual forces that oppose God and his people on earth. The dragon, the beast from the sea, and the beast from the earth described in Revelation 13 employ their delegated authority against believers, taking some captive and killing others (Rev 13:10). They arrange the structures of the world to intimidate and coerce humanity to worship them, establishing an earthly kingdom. Everything about the nature and activity of the dragon, the beast from the sea, and the beast from the earth in Revelation 13 mimics and mocks the triune God of heaven and his rule over the cosmos. Satan and his forces establish a system for the members of their kingdom—captive by fear and force—to receive a branding mark visible on the right hand or forehead (Rev 13:16–17). This mark, the symbol of power for the beast and Satan’s earthly kingdom, ironically portrays weakness because it identifies the deceived and beguiled with Satan and his impending doom. And in Rev 13:18, John urges “the one who has understanding,” the one oriented toward God, to resist Satan’s lies. 

In the letters to the churches in Revelation 2–3, “ears” signify that one’s faculties are sensitive to God. Ears resemble spiritual discernment that will be carried out by one’s entire body. The same idea is communicated via “mind” in Rev 13:18 (see also Rev 17:9). The one oriented toward God heeds Jesus’s instructions in Revelation 2–3 and realizes Satan’s limited capacity in Revelation 13. The actor in this role is oriented toward God, responding faithfully to God’s revelation about his activity and the finite domain he has entrusted to Satan.

Living in Light of Eternity

And what does John envision for those who are oriented toward God, who walk in spiritual wisdom and resist the beast’s efforts to expand Satan’s kingdom? In Rev 20:6a, John describes the blessedness of “the one who shares in the first resurrection.” John notes that this holy and blessed role of sharing in the first resurrection is consistent with a life of spiritual fidelity. The role of sharing in the first resurrection befits those who have resisted the mark of the beast and maintained their witness of Christ even unto death (Rev 20:4). Those who enjoy a share in the first resurrection offer spiritual service to God and reign with Christ (Rev 20:6b). The concept of participation in resurrection life rests upon the spatial dualism surfacing throughout Revelation. The believer’s share in eternal life anticipates the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven in Revelation 21. In that domain, every creature is oriented toward God and the Lamb, the source of light itself (Rev 21:22–23).

Conclusion

So where are you oriented? Is your compass fixed on the due north of New Jerusalem and life with God and the Lamb? Do your ears listen to what Jesus says to the churches with a mind trained towards sensitivity toward God? Or do you wander in seasons of dullness, danger, or deceit? Orient your ears and minds toward Christ as you wait to rule with him in the coming age!

¹ This is the third entry in a series of FTC blog posts noting how John uses a particular grammatical form, the articular substantival participle, for specific words in Revelation that resemble a playwright’s roles in a script.

² ἔχω in Rev 2:7, 11, 17, 2:29; 3:6, 3:13, 22; 13:18; 17:9; and 20:6.

³ Rev 2:7, 11, 17, 2:29; 3:6, 3:13, 22.

⁴ Brian J. Tabb writes, “Those with ‘an ear’ rightly grasp that the Spirit of God and the exalted Christ address the churches in and through this book of prophecy. They also test the spritis and resists the siren song of the false prophet and its emissaries such as Balaam and Jezebel (2:14, 20; 16:13-14)” (All Things New: Revelation As Canonical Capstone, NSBT 48 [Downers Grove: IVP Academic], 223-24).

⁵ G.K. Beale suggests that the parallels between the conclusion of the seven letters and the parable of the soils imply a mixed congregation in the churches with the result that each hearer’s spiritual state will be made public by how they respond to Jesus’s message (The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text, NIGTC [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999], 234). Yet, as George Beasely-Murray states, Jesus has in view the one who reacts faithfully, overcomes, and receives God’s blessing (“Revelation,” in New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition, ed. D. A. Carson et al., 4th ed. [Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994], 1428).

⁶ Robert Mounce notes the cognitive labor believers must expend in order to orient themselves toward God in the midst of spiritual battle, stating “What is crucial at this point is to recognize the true nature of the struggle. While the Lamb was victorious on the cross, the full and public acknowledgment of tha victory awaits a final moment. Believers live in the already/not yet tension of a battle won but no quite over” (The Book of Revelation, rev ed. NICNT [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997], 263).

⁷ Ian Paul writes, “Spatial references function as an extended metaphor for humanity’s spiritual state, and the descriptions of the heavenly realm suggest a spiritual, prophetic perspective on the mundane realities of the earthly realm. The consummation of John’s vision report is the coming of the New Jerusalem down from heaven to earth, where the two realities finally converge” (“Introduction to the Book of Revelation” in The Cambridge Companion to Apocalyptic Literaure, ed. Colin McAllister [Cambride: Cambridge University Press, 2020], 43).



Be Victorious! The One Who Conquers

By / Jan 23

In Revelation, one of John’s favorite roles for the believer to embrace is the role of conqueror, often expressed by the English word ‘victor.’ John’s language should shape how we view God, our local churches, and ourselves. Grant R. Osborne notes, “One of the most important messages of the book is the challenge to be a ‘conqueror.’” 

Conquerors in Every Church

Jesus describes the role of the conqueror formulaically in his messages to the churches in Revelation 2-3. At the conclusion of each letter, Jesus addresses those who heed his message in the church as the conqueror (Rev 2:7, 11, 17, 26, 3:5, 12, 21). In each verse, Jesus promises a personal reward to the conqueror. These uses of the term shape the literary structure of their respective letters and cast an ideological frame for the Revelation as a whole. Jesus calls believers in every church to embrace the role of conqueror by remaining faithful to him despite earthly temptation and opposition.

Jesus’s call for believers in local churches to take up the role of conqueror should shape how we view ourselves and our brothers and sisters in our local churches. Our refusal to compromise doctrinal and moral integrity is an act of conquering the spiritual forces that oppose us.

The Conqueror and Eternal Rewards

What might motivate those taking up the dangerous role of the conqueror to be faithful to Jesus despite opposition and even the threat of death? In the letters to the churches, Rev 15:2, and Rev 21:7, John promises rewards for those who conqueror. In John’s vision of the heavenly throne room in Revelation 15, he sees the souls of those victorious over the beast standing on the sea of glass gathered around the throne to praise God. Language and imagery from Revelation 4-5 and 6:9-11 (the fifth seal) punctuate John’s vision in Revelation 15 and contribute to the narrative framework of the book. Those who conquer the beast and his image (Rev 15:2) do so because the slain Lamb also stands to show that he has been victorious over death and redeemed them (Rev 5:6-10). In Rev 15:2, John portrays how the followers of the conquering Lamb themselves conquer the beast and his image. John writes parallel phrases emphasizing the spatial separation between the conquerors and the demonic forces opposing them—those who conqueror won the victory from the beast and from his image. The conquerors are those who have separated themselves from demonic influence through Jesus’s victory for them. The conqueror is free because of his flight from Satan’s domain.  

John’s vision reflects other New Testament passages that portray separation from demonic influence as an act of spiritual victory. James told his readers that if they resisted the devil, the devil would flee from them; if they drew near to God, God would draw near to them (Jas 4:7-8). Peter concluded his first epistle by urging his readers to be sober and alert because the devil was prowling around, seeking to devour them. They needed to resist the devil, firm in the faith, aware that the trials they endured were common to all believers (1 Pet 5:8-9). In the broader discourse of Revelation, apocalyptic imagery tells a story of God’s victory for his people and their victory for him as they endure Satan’s temptations and show Satan to be inferior to God. The reference to the conquerors in Rev 15:2 recalls the repeated reference to the victorious ones in the concluding lines of the letters to the seven churches. Having been presented with the costly role of the conqueror, John’s readers may have been asking, Will victory be worth the sacrifice (sometimes unto death) required to resist Satan and earthly forces? John’s vision of heavenly community and reward reported in Revelation 15 answers in the affirmative.

In Revelation 21, John describes the new creation. John uses apocalyptic imagery to build his narrative to this point. Along the way, he describes his visions and sets out God’s promises of reward to those who remain faithful to God. Throughout Revelation, John frames the promise of reward in relational terms as God comes to dwell with his people in the new creation. In Rev 21:7-8, John contrasts all of humanity, placing them into one of two categories. He uses the term conqueror as the heading for the faithful ones, writing, “The one who conquers will inherit these things, and I will be his God, and he will be my son” (Rev 21:7, CSB). The one in the role of the conqueror is the one who has remained faithful, participating in the victory of the One on the throne and the Lamb. The human victor referenced in Rev 21:7 has been victorious over Satan and the worldly forces under Satan’s delegated authority. God promises to reward the conqueror in two ways: by (1) giving him a share of rule and dominion over the new creation, and (2) designating him as a son in terms previously ascribed to Solomon, son of David and fulfilled in Jesus (see 2 Sam 7:14).

Conclusion

Wherever you are in your spiritual development, John’s portrayal of the believer in Revelation will encourage you. In Revelation, John esteems those who conquer. John describes the conqueror as an actor who, despite opposition, overcomes the temptation to compromise fidelity to God and is rewarded. The victory and reward derive from standing with the Lamb who was slain and who redeems men from every nation for God. So stand firm, resist the devil, and cling to the Lamb who will return and will establish you as conqueror.

¹ This is the second entry in a series of FTC blog posts noting how John uses a particular grammatical form, the articular substantival participle, for specific words in Revelation that resemble a playwright’s roles in a script.

² νικάω in Rev 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21; 15:2; and 21:7.

³ Revelation, BECNT (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2002), 122.

⁴ G.K. Beale comments that John’s language is “a compressed expression for ‘the ones coming off victorious [by separating themselves] from’” (The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text, NIGTC [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999], 790). 

⁵ What is promised to the king in David’s line is generalized to apply also to those who identify with him in faith and obedience” (Buist Fanning, Revelation, ZECNT [Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2020], 536).



Take Up and Read, Take Up and Listen!

By / Jan 22

I have been a pastor for twenty-five years. That’s a lot of Bible reading and hearing. And I can’t wait for the next time my church gathers so we can read and hear the word together. I am fascinated by John’s emphasis on Revelation as Scripture and how he describes reading and hearing Scripture in Revelation. John establishes formal roles of reading and hearing Revelation, the final book of Scripture, so the word of God will forever guide the church.

The One Who Reads God’s Word

John begins Revelation by noting two streams of communication. What he is writing has come from God through Jesus through an angel to John. John’s words are the very words of God. The first communication stream in Rev 1:1–2 could be labeled spatially as a descending communication stream. The second stream is horizontal, described in Rev 1:3. John’s grammatical choices portray reading, hearing, and following (what was heard in the reading) like roles believers should embrace as a part of their Christian life. 

The link between Rev 1:2 and 3 is a text, words on some material form. John wrote, and he envisions believers embracing the role of the public reader. The public reading of Scripture that John expects pre-dates the synagogue communities and churches of his day, finding its early precedent in Moses’s reading of the law to Israel as they prepared to cross the Jordan River in Deuteronomy 27–32. After the exiles returned to Jerusalem, they gathered to hear the law read publicly (see Nehemiah 8). When the synagogue communities in Palestine and throughout the Mediterranean region gathered, reading Scripture was a part of their agenda (Luke 4:16-21; Acts 13:13-15, 27, 42-44; 15:21). Paul exhorted Timothy to devote himself to the public reading of Scripture (1 Tim 4:13) and told the Colossians to exchange letters with the Laodiceans so that both letters could be read in both churches (Col 4:16).

The one taking up the role of reading Scripture was not only blessed, he was a blessing. Not simply a blessing, but he was even necessary since the vast majority of the ancient world could not read. Therefore, those who read Scripture to the community enabled God’s people to hear his word and be blessed in the hearing.

The One Who Hears God’s Word

Those faithful in the role of hearing God’s word read to them, John notes in Rev 1:3, are indeed blessed. The proverbial predicate nominative “blessed” recalls many points in the storyline of Scripture, including Psalm 1 and Jesus’s Beatitudes at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5:3–12) and Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6:20–22). The faithful enjoy God’s blessing for many activities—including hearing Scripture.

The role of hearing John’s prophecy—the culmination of Scripture—is not to be a one-off endeavor. Those who hear God’s word and enjoy its blessing do not stand on the stage once but repeatedly—with the company of hearers. The axiomatic portrait of hearing and blessing in Rev 1:3 is carried not only by the use of blessed as the predicate nominative but also through John’s grammatical choice describing those who hear, and hear, and hear. “Play it again!” John envisions hearers of Revelation exclaiming. John describes a crowded stage of actors that includes a reader and many hearers who respond to what they have heard by keeping their testimony of Christ to the end despite danger and opposition that will come upon them precisely because they are hearing and heeding John’s prophetic message. 

And at the end of Revelation, John returns to the role of those hearing God’s word. In Rev 22:17, he writes, “Both the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ Let anyone who hears, say, ‘Come!’ Let the one who is thirsty come. Let the one who desires take the water of life freely” (CSB). The one who hears is the first of three roles that John would have his readers embrace. The placement of the role of hearing in Rev 22:17 is noteworthy for two reasons. First, at the broader discourse level of Revelation, it returns us to Rev 1:3 and further accentuates the communicative string John describes in Rev 1:1-3. Anyone who has heard the apocalypse has heard God’s revelation through Jesus, an angel, and John. Second, at the micro discourse level of Rev 22:17, the one who hears is the first of three roles, including desiring and thirsting. That hearing is listed first in this string of roles implies that hearing what John has written stimulates the hearer’s senses to seek God. 

John portrays the role of hearing such that those embracing God’s word as it is read would undertake two specific tasks. First, they would long for John’s message to be actualized. The hearer is to say, “Come!” John likely has in mind that those hearing his prophecy of Jesus’s victorious return in Rev 19:11–21 would long to see the rider on the white horse arrive to conquer evil and consummate his kingdom. Second, in Rev 22:18, John states, “I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book,” John admonishes those hearing his prophecy that they are stewards of God’s word. Because John has truthfully written what the angelic messengers revealed to him from Jesus from God, again recalling the authoritative communicative string outlined in Rev 1:1–3, those in the role of hearing John’s prophecy must maintain God’s word to the next generation unchanged. They must heed it faithfully, adding or subtracting nothing.

Feeling the Weight of the Word

All of this is serious business. If we read Scripture in public, we should attend to our words. Sometimes, we should read faster. For instance, a passage like Isaiah 40 is a long thought, and it would be good to pick up the pace so that the hearers sense the crescendo of Isaiah’s argument about God’s faithfulness. Sometimes, we need to read more slowly. Don’t hustle through John 1:1-18. We should familiarize ourselves with the words of a text so that when we read it, we can emphasize repeated words or phrases, pause without interrupting ideas, and give hearers a sense of the wholeness of Scripture. 

And when we hear the word, let’s airplane mode our devices and turn off all notifications. Prioritize the printed page so that as you listen and follow along, even in a different translation, you can follow the broader flow of thought surrounding that portion of Scripture. Be blessed in the reading and hearing of God’s word! 

 

¹ This is the first entry in a series on FTC noting how John uses a particular grammatical form, the articular substantival participle, for specific words in Revelation that resemble a playwright’s roles in a script.

² ἀναγινώσκω in Rev 1:3.

³ “Although the ‘scripturalization’ of Christian worship certainly became more formalized and regularized across time, both the importance and the impact of corporate reading of Scripture writings are evident from the outset of the Jesus-movement” (Larry W. Hurtado, Destroyer of the gods: Early Christian Distinctiveness in the Roman World [Waco: Baylor University Press, 2016], 108).

⁴ See especially Harry J. Gamble, Books and Readers in the Early Church: A History of Early Christian Texts (New Haven: Yale, 1995). 

⁵ ἀκούω in Rev 1:3; 22:17, 18.

₆ This is the first of seven beatitudes that John writes in Revelation (see also, 14:13; 16:15; 19:9; 20:6; 22:7, 14).

⁷ If, as David E. Aune states, “ancient authors not only chose words to convey the meanings they intended but also chose words whose sounds effectively communicated those meanings” (Revelation 1-5, WBC 52A [Dallas: Word, 1997], 21, italics original), we would expect no less concerning the final installment of Holy Scripture. 



Digital Detox, Intentional Ignorance, and the Proximity Principle

By / Jan 18

For Christians to thrive in the modern era, there are two spiritual disciplines we must adopt: Digital Detox (fasting from screens) and Intentional Ignorance (fasting from information).

The rapid growth of digital technology has implications for our spiritual formation. The form of connectivity that comes with smartphones and watches is fundamentally new in human history; this isn’t necessarily good or bad, but it is certainly different. Thus, the countercultural spiritual disciplines that serve our growth ought to be different as well.

Spiritual formation and the purposeful means of formation (spiritual disciplines, habits, and practices) are always contextual; the dehumanizing forces of our idols express themselves differently in different cultures. Our culture is the first culture that is radically digital.

Deformative Power of Digitization

Being chronically connected to the internet tempts us to be “like God” in fresh and terrifying ways. We have never before been as tempted to pursue omnipresence and omniscience as we presently are.

When we have 5G internet in our pockets and on our wrists, we are networked into the entire developed world. We can instantaneously observe, communicate, and be interrupted by people on the other side of the planet who are on their phones more easily than our neighbors down the street who are grilling in their backyard or playing in their front yards.

We are more interrupted than ever; our interactions with our closest loved ones and neighbors are more vulnerable to being hijacked by the wants or needs of someone far away as our own attention spans have been truncated by our notification settings.

Information used to be a hot commodity; now it is ubiquitous. With “googling” as the new verb and “GPTing” something right around the corner, access to information is instant. Will we forget what not knowing something for more than 30 seconds feels like?

Omnipresence is one of the characteristics of God. When technology makes us hyper-present, not only can our nervous systems not handle it, but our close friends and loved ones go unloved because we are aloof, distracted, and preoccupied.

Omniscience is also one of the characteristics of God. God can handle knowing all things, we cannot. We are limited, bound, and local by virtue of being embodied. From simple trivia to current events, it is good for us to not know things.

Part of the reason we are so mentally unhealthy as a society is that we are flirting with omnipresence and omniscience. We know too much and know about it, so we are anxious and depressed.

The Power of the Proximity Principle

Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30ff) in response to the question, “who is my neighbor?” In the story, a man is harmed on a road and in need of help. Later, two people travel on the same road, see the man, and then pass by him. But a Good Samaritan travels by where he is lying harmed, sees him, has compassion, and then acts.

The first two stand condemned not simply because they didn’t help, but because they were right there, up-close-in-the-flesh, and able to help, but still didn’t help.

The basic ethical principle here: proximity and ability create responsibility.

Many are plagued by a low-grade sense of chronic guilt and anxiety because our nervous systems are not designed to handle all of the information we have access to in our digital age. Young people, in particular, are plagued with over-responsibility that leads to paralysis and depression.

We end up functioning like the Levite and the Priest in Luke 10:31-32 who are unable or unwilling to love the people right in front of them because we are preoccupied with all of the information, problems, and suffering far away from us.

If we look through the lenses of proximity and ability, some of our info-induced anxiety will dissipate and we’ll have a clearer conscience as we love those who are in the “place” God has placed us (like the Good Samaritan).

Only God can handle omniscience (knowing everything) and omnipresence (being everywhere), and we should repent of our desire to be like God in this way.

The Christian tradition has long practiced the discipline of fasting. Most basically, fasting is depriving oneself of a good thing for the purposes of prayer and growth. Our new context requires two new forms of fasting: fasting from digital devices and fasting from information.

How to Practice Digital Detox

A digital detox is a fast from digital devices, especially your smartphone, smartwatch, or tablet. The digital detox helps us repent of omnipresence. It is a break from being tethered to your electrical umbilical cord and your dopamine pacifier. Here is what I try to make this look like for me:

  • Daily: When I walk in the door from work, I leave my phone on a shelf by the door for at least thirty minutes while I play with my kids and reconnect with my wife.
  • Daily: I dock my phone at a table on the other side of my bedroom a minimum of 40 minutes before I go to bed and don’t look at it for 20 minutes after I wake up (except to stop my alarm)
  • Weekly: A 12-hour Digital Detox that includes going to the park, going on a walk, or going to the gym without my phone.
  • Monthly: A 48-hour social media, email, and texting Digital Detox.
  • Twice Monthly: Leave my phone at home when I go on a date with my wife.
  • Annually: Once per year, a 3-day personal Spiritual Retreat that includes a Digital Detox among other forms of traditional fasting and prayer while I focus on being present to the Lord.
  • Annually: Once per year while on vacation, a 5-day total Digital Detox where my phone and computer are all the way off, and I focus on being present to my family.

How to Practice Intentional Ignorance

If it is true that ignorance is bliss, then that explains a lot of our current mental health crisis. The information we are asked to carry and steward is too much for our non-Divine minds.

Intentional Ignorance is the radically countercultural choice to embrace not knowing everything you could know. Here is what I try to make this look like for me:

  • Less Updates: I don’t watch Instagram or Facebook stories. I don’t want to know what people are up to all the time.
  • Less Breaking News: I unfollow almost all news accounts, especially those that do BREAKING NEWS.
  • Less Answered Questions: At least once per day, I let a question go unanswered. What is the actual difference in diameter between the NBA ball and the WNBA ball? I’m going to choose just not to get my phone out and Google that. What happened with that rocket in North Korea yesterday? I choose not to find out the answer to that. In doing so, I pray, “Lord, you are the Omniscient One; because I trust you and your approval I don’t need to know that.” The feeling of enduring ignorance is foreign to us but serves our formation.

Many of these practices are aspirational for me; too often I’m embarrassed at the unhealthy patterns of my own device use. I recommend these habits as someone who knows his own.

Humans are called to have dominion over creation, but too often our own creations have dominion over us. The dual practices of Digital Detox and Intentional Ignorance will help us right the balance of power that our devices have over us as we seek congruence with and fidelity to the Spirit of Christ.



Episode 246: What Happened to the Gospel-Centered Movement?

By / Jan 17

Is the gospel-centered movement dead? Are the young Reformed these days restless? What happened to gospel-centrality and why does it matter? Jared Wilson and Ross Ferguson discuss these questions and more on this week’s episode of the FTC Podcast.