WHAT WE SEEK MAKES A DIFFERENCE

 "Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (Matthew 6:31-33)

The Gentiles Jesus refers to are not simply non-Jews. There were non-Jewish believers during Jesus's ministry, like the faithful centurion (Matthew 8:5-10) and the Syro-Phoenician woman (Mark 7:21-30). The Gentiles Jesus has in mind are unbelievers who find their only existence in this present world with no thought of eternity or God's kingdom. They seek intensely (επιζητουσιν) the physical and material things of this world.  In Revelation, these people are labeled as "dwellers on the earth" (3:10; 6:10; 8:13; 11:10; 13:14; 17:2,8 et al). Jesus promises His people that our heavenly Father will provide all these things if we trust Him and focus on spiritual priorities. (See v. 33)

 In contrast to the intensive "seeking" of the Gentiles for physical necessities and comforts, Jesus urges His disciples to "seek" (ζητεῖτε) the kingdom of God and His righteousness. The Greek particle translated "but" (δε) is not the strongest word that could have been used to express contrast.  Since it is followed by the adverb "first" (πρωτον) -- "but seek first" -- Jesus is not urging his followers to shift all responsibility for their physical needs to God, nor is He diminishing the importance of diligent work and wise management of resources. 

This verse is about priorities: Godly priorities relieve anxiety. Jesus says that the greatest possession we can have is our relationship to God -- citizenship in His kingdom and righteousness, Christ-like character.  

When our spiritual priorities are in order, we need not be worried, indeed, we will not be worried about our material provisions. God cares for His own.

NOTES ON REVELATION 11 (READ WITH AN OPEN BIBLE AND OPEN MIND)

 11:3-4

The two witnesses are identified in verse 4 as “the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.” This is an unmistakable allusion to Zechariah 4:2-3; 11-14.

 Zechariah’s prophecy presented one lampstand, a menorah of seven branches, and two olive trees that fed the menorah with oil, a symbol of the Holy Spirit. (Cf. Zech. 4:6) Here in Rev. 11, the two witnesses are equated with two lampstands and two olive trees. Revelation 1:12, 20 picture seven lampstands which are identified as the seven churches of Asia. The underlying meaning of the imagery is the same: light-bearing through the filling of the Holy Spirit. But why only two lampstands here? Of the seven churches whose “angels” (or “messengers,") received a message from Jesus, only two are commended as faithful: Smyrna (2:8-11) and Philadelphia (3:7-13). These may represent the “anointed ones,” the faithful churches who witness against the ungodly world.

 Numbers have symbolic significance in the Book of Revelation. Seven is the number of completeness. So the seven churches of Asia can be said to stand for the whole church of Christ, which comprises individual local churches. The messages to the individual churches (Rev. 2 & 3), though they are addressed to historical churches, speak to churches in any age.

 The light that a local church gives out to the world depends on the supply of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit works in response to faith and obedience. A lack of repentance may result in removal of the lampstand, that is, the removal of the testimony of that church (Rev. 2:5).

 11:7

“When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss (cf. 9:11) will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them.” Note that the beast from the abyss makes “war” with the witnesses. If these were two literal men, it would hardly be necessary to make war with them! If we see these witnesses as representative of the Church, we can see that satanic forces from the abyss are certainly at war against us! And they will seem to overcome us (cf. Rev. 11:7)—until the Church is raised from the dead and called up to heaven: “Come up here.” What follows is a very public catching up of the two witnesses “into heaven in the cloud” (just as Jesus went up into heaven in Acts 1:9). “[A]nd their enemies watched them.”

 Only when the church has finished its testimony on earth will God allow the satanic forces to overcome them. But then the Lord will raise them up again and catch them up to heaven. As William Hendriksen pointed out, this is hardly a secret rapture! Note: Judgment follows immediately after the catching up of the two witnesses.

 11:8-10

The whole world rejoices over the death of the Church, the one voice that condemned their wicked ways. It’s a holiday for them! They send gifts to one another! It was the Church that tormented them, constantly pricking their consciences until those consciences were cauterized. (1 Timothy 4:2)

 11:11-12

In the midst of the world’s celebration over the death of the Church, God breathes life into them, they stand on their feet, and God catches them up into heaven. Three and a half days is symbolic of half the time of the completion of God’s dealings with this world. Judgment follows immediately after the rapture of the Church.

 11:13-19

Here already we see a picture of the final judgment of the saved and the unsaved (cf. John 5:25-29; Mark 11:13).  This supports the view that the visions of Revelation are different views of the same period of time -- the whole redemptive history or in particular, the church age.  (See also Rev. 20:12-15, note the phrase "great and small")

 Darrell W. Johnson notes the parallel between Chapter 7 and Chapter 11. Both are interludes: the first between the sixth and seventh seals, and the second between the sixth and seventh trumpets. The first interlude, says Johnson, asks the question in 6:17: “Who is able to stand?” The answer in Chapter 7 is those “who have the seal of God on their foreheads” (6:10 cf. 9:4). The question answered in Chapter 11 is: What are the sealed ones to be doing during this crisis in history? The answer, as I have already noted, is that they are to be witnesses for Christ in this evil age.

This parallel is important because it shows the parallel structure of the visions. It also supports the interpretation that the two witnesses represent the Church. See Darrell W. Johnson, Discipleship on the Edge: An Expository Journey Through the Book of Revelation.)

THE SEVEN SPIRITS BEFORE THE THRONE

 John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before His throne, Revelation 1:4

“Seven Spirits” – this is a difficult expression, but it appears refer to the Holy Spirit. (Cf. 4:5) The blessing of “Grace and peace” can only come from God (cf. Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:3; 2 Cor. 1:2; Gal. 1:2; Eph. 1:2 etc.), and the source of the blessing here is three-fold: “Him who was and who is and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before the throne, and from Jesus Christ . . .” Who else but God could be joined to the other two? Revelation 4:5 calls this spiritual manifestation “the seven Spirits of God,” and likens it to “seven lamps of fire burning before the throne.” In 5:6 the “seven Spirits of God” are “seven eyes” who proceed from the slain Lamb and are sent out into all the earth. We see this imagery of eyes in Zechariah 3:9 and 4:10, clearly speaking of God’s omniscience. So we can conclude that the ”seven Spirits of God” refer to the omniscient Holy Spirit of God.

 Note well that John introduces figurative language from the very beginning of this highly symbolic book. Seven and multiples of seven range throughout. Other numbers also have figurative meaning.

Ezekiel Saw the Wheels--And a Lot More!

 If you get a headache trying to visualize Ezekiel's vision in Chapter 1, you are not alone. Like a complicated dream, Ezekiel's vision defies visualization after the dream has ended. Like other apocalyptic visions, this multifaceted vision is highly symbolic. And it is the meaning of the symbols that we should seek to understand, rather than trying to picture the scene. 

The dream-like nature of Ezekiel's vision is seen in the modifiers he uses: Ezekiel describes the vision in terms that reflect something beyond our normal comprehension:  “something like” (v. 4), “resembling” and “appearance” (v. 5); “something that looked like” and “like” (v. 13); “appearance of,” “like,” and “as if” (v. 16); “something like” (v. 22); “like” 2x (v. 24); “something resembling,” “appearance 2x,” and "resembled” (v. 26); “something like” 2x, “appearance of” (v. 27); “appearance” 2x, and “likeness” (v. 28) (citations from NASB95)

I'm sure you have seen artists' depictions of this vision. The description of the "wheels" has led some to suspect they were alien space crafts! All this misses the spiritual significance of the vision as a whole and the elements in particular. We shouldn't miss, for instance, the fact that the "living beings" described are similar to visions of cherubim in other passages. The vision of the throne above the "living beings" corresponds with the description of Yahweh as the One "enthroned above the cherubim." (1 Samuel 4:4) And we should ask, Why is the vision coming out of the north? And what is the significance of the Spirit moving the wheels and living beings? What is the significance of the different faces on the beings? Why do the details of other depictions of cherubim differ from one another? Is the manifestation of these beings changeable in order to convey a special message each time? 

Many other questions could be asked that would lead us to greater insight into Ezekiel's vision. But trying to envision an artist's depiction of the vision is fruitless. 

GOD WILL AVENGE HIS TEMPLE

 Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers! The LORD has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, Because His plan is against Babylon to destroy it; For it is the vengeance of the LORD, vengeance for His temple. (Jeremiah 51:11)

Twice in two chapters, the LORD declares that He will take vengeance against Babylon for the sake of His temple. (See 50:28) This Babylon intoxicated "all the earth ... The nations have drunk of her wine; therefore the nations are going mad" (51:7).

Just as God brought judgment on historical Babylon for the sake of His physical temple, He will also exact vengeance on “Babylon the great,” the ungodly world system, for the sake of His spiritual temple, the Church. (See Rev. 18)

Compare this passage in Jeremiah with Revelation 14:8 and 18:2-3 --

And another angel, a second one, followed, saying, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality. (Revelation 14:8)

And he cried out with a mighty voice, saying, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird. "For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality. (Revelation 18:2-3)

The connection between historical, physical Babylon and the diabolical world system designated "Babylon" in Revelation is unmistakable. This system harkens back to Genesis 11 and the Tower of Babel, where arrogant, sinful mankind set out to make themselves "god," all powerful. This world system, of which Satan is god (2 Cor. 4:4), exalts man as supreme. 

Man's proper role is to be the temple of God, but Satan has corrupted God's temple, as he did the temple in Jerusalem, which was a figure of the spiritual temple. God will destroy "Babylon" for the sake of His temple -- the Church, the Body of Christ, the Temple of the Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians 3:16-17; Ephesians 2:21-22; 1 Peter 2:5).

LIVING IN THE NEW JERUSALEM

 And the people blessed all the men who willingly offered to live in Jerusalem. (Nehemiah 11:2)

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant . . . (Hebrews 12:22-24)

It is a curious thing that among the Jews returning from captivity in Babylon, very few wanted to live in Jerusalem. In order to provide workers and security during the rebuilding of the walls, one in ten had to be chosen by lottery! (Nehemiah 12:1) But there were those who wanted to live in the holy city, even though its walls and houses were still in ruins.

Living in Jerusalem in those uncertain times involved risks and dangers. The inhabitants of the land, whose generations had been there since the Assyrian relocations centuries earlier, resented the returning Jews who claimed ancestral ownership of the land. Those enemies used every means, including threats of violence, to stop the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem.  Those who volunteered to live and work in Jerusalem had to have faith that God would see the work through and provide a secure future for them.

The writer of the book of Hebrews reveals the ultimate fulfillment of the City of God, the heavenly Mt. Zion. It takes courage and faith in these last days to renounce this world and declare one’s citizenship in the kingdom of heaven, “the city of the living God” (Hebrews 12:22).  It takes spiritual eyes to see what God has promised: a new heaven and a new earth.

The Church of Jesus Christ, persecuted in much of the world, poor and meeting in secret, looks a lot like the broken-down walls of Jerusalem surrounded by enemies. But God promises that when this spiritual city is complete, it will be a glorious Bride descending from heaven!

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (Revelation 21:1-2)

So let us boldly declare: “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ  . . .” (Philippians 3:20)

LET NO ONE KEEP US FROM FOLLOWING CHRIST

 

"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26)

Does the above verse make you uncomfortable? You’re not alone. The explanation you have probably heard is that our love for Jesus should be so much greater that it makes all other love seem like hate by comparison. That explanation always left me dissatisfied. Can love be measured like that? There is only one way, and that brings us to Jesus’s central message concerning discipleship: We must let no one and nothing keep us from following Christ!

The larger context, all of Jesus’s teaching about discipleship taken together, explains all those disturbing passages, including the one about plucking out one’s right eye and cutting off one’s right hand! Whatever or whoever stands between us and Christ must be rejected and counted as our enemy. That includes our life in this world. Note that Jesus said, “even his own life” (Luke 14:26). That is the same as what Jesus said in John 12:25—

“Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”

Eighteenth-century Baptist commentator John Gill explains, 

  “. . . these are to be neglected and forsaken, and turned from with indignation and resentment, when they stand in the way of the honour and interest of Christ, and dissuade from his service: such who would be accounted the disciples of Christ, should be ready to part with their dearest relations and friends, with the greatest enjoyment of life, and with life itself, when Christ calls for it; or otherwise they are not worthy to be called his disciples.”

Methodist commentator Adam Clarke agrees,

 “He that loveth father or mother more than me - He whom we love the most is he whom we study most to please, and whose will and interests we prefer in all cases. If, in order to please a father or mother who are opposed to vital godliness, we abandon God’s ordinances and followers, we are unworthy of anything but hell.”

So breathe a deep sigh of relief! If your dear ones support and encourage your faith and service for Christ, there is no conflict. Indeed, if your loved ones are also believers, your love for God and your love for them are harmoniously united:

‘We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.” (1 John 3:14)

“No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.” (1 John 4:12)

The conflict comes when we let our love for people or our love for life in this world keep us from following Christ. We must make no comparisons nor mince any words: We must hate whatever would keep us from Christ!