Inauguration of the New Covenant

In the course of our study, I have presented material that is essential for reading and understanding Revelation. As these principles and insights are not widely understood among modern evangelicals, the Book of Revelation is largely misunderstood. It remains a sealed book to the contemporary Church, contrary to the angelic directive that it should not be sealed (Rev. 22:10)!

Revelation 22:10 NASB95

And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.

BASIC PRINCIPLES

In Revelation we must understand that John clearly declares that its events “must shortly take place” (1:1, 22:6) because “the time is near” (22:10). Any approach to Revelation that tries to project the prophecies into the distant future, thousands of years away, is expressly contradicting John’s opening and closing statements.

Revelation 1:1 (NASB95)

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John,

Revelation 22:6 (NASB95)

And he said to me, “These words are faithful and true”; and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show to His bond-servants the things which must soon take place.

Revelation 22:10 (NASB95)

And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.

Furthermore, we must see that John presents his prophecies in symbolic form: they are “sent and communicated [literally: signified]” (Rev. 1:1). Besides John’s direct, opening statement, we learn in two ways that his prophecies are not to be interpreted literalistically: (1) In his first vision, he shows that the images represent something beyond themselves. The seven stars represent “angels of the seven churches” and the seven lampstands represent the “seven churches.” He continues providing such examples on a regular basis (e.g., 5:6, 8; 17:9–10, 12, 15). (2) Many of his images would be patently absurd if taken literally—images such as the seven-headed beast (13:1), locusts with faces of men (9:7), a winged woman standing on the moon (12:1), a harlot drunk with blood (17:6), and more.

We also must keep in mind John’s stated theme. In Revelation 1:7, he declares that Christ is coming to judge those who are responsible for his crucifixion, the tribes of the Land:

Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him.

This thematic statement picks up on Christ’s pronouncement in his Olivet Discourse, which was given upon his ceremonious and dramatic departure from the temple (Matt. 23:37–38; 24:1):

Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. (Matt. 24:30)

Interestingly, Christ’s statement is also tied to his generation, just as John’s is:

Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. (Matt. 24:34)

As we trace the unfolding of Revelation’s theme, we learn that John is presenting a forensic drama wherein God judiciously divorces his old covenant wife (Israel) in order to take a new wife. The main visions open with the vision of God seated on his throne (Rev. 4:2). Throughout Revelation, John presents God as “he who sits on the throne” (Rev 4:2, 3, 9, 10; 5:13; 6:16; 7:10, 15; 19:4; 21:5). From his throne, he issues a writ of divorce (Rev 5:1) which Christ takes (Rev 5:7) and opens (Rev 6:1). As the divorce scroll is opened, we witness Israel capitally punished for her marital unfaithfulness (Rev 6:1–19:2, with interludes), for she appears as a harlot (Rev 17:1, 5, 15; 19:2). Then we see a new bride (the Church) descending from heaven to take her place (Rev 21:2). She is the “new Jerusalem” who takes over for the old Jerusalem (Rev 21:2); she no longer needs a temple because Christ brings the presence of God to his people (Rev 21:22).

KEY CHARACTERS AND ACTIONS

In the course of his drama, John points out a sea beast, who represents the Roman empire and particularly Nero Caesar, the first Roman persecutor of the Church (Rev. 13:1ff). God’s unfaithful wife, Jerusalem / Israel, aligns herself with Rome against Christ and his followers: she is like a harlot seated on the beast (17:3, 7). This picks up on Israel’s deference to Caesar in rejecting Christ and his followers (cp., John 19:12, 15; Acts 17:7; cp. Acts 4:27; 16:20; 18:12; 21:11; 24:1–9; 25:1–2).

In illustrating the first century occurrence of these events, we showed that the apocalyptically-framed judgments can easily be applied to the first century destruction of Jerusalem during the Jewish War with Rome. We documented samples of the historical judgments from the writings of the first-century Jewish historian Josephus.

Finally, we set forth the results of the turmoil surrounding the first century divorce of Israel as God’s people. The final order is established, which is the kingdom of Christ. This appears under the image of his 1000-year reign over the world (Rev. 20:1–6; cp. 1:6; 5:10) and as an inbreaking of the new creation principles of kingdom salvation (21:1; cf. Isa. 65:17–20; 2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15). With the old covenant concluded, the new covenant brings the direct presence of God (as opposed to a temple-based presence) and the final redemptive order. Christianity is here for the long run.

NEW TESTAMENT CONCURRENCE

Basically, Revelation is a dramatic presentation of some basic themes unfolded in the New Testament. These themes are the coming of the new covenant as the final redemptive order, which appears in Christ, and the passing away of the old covenant order (the temple system) and people (Israel), who rejected Christ and his new order. These corollary themes are abundantly displayed in the New Testament.

The Synoptic Gospels record that when Christ’s appearance is first announced, the Gentiles are the ones who “come to worship him” though “all Jerusalem” was “troubled” (Matt. 2:1–3). When Christ opens his ministry he declares his new covenant kingdom “is at hand” (Mark 1:15). But because of his coming and the new order it represents, the old garment of Israel cannot simply be mended in order to adapt to it; the old-wineskin constraints of Israel and its temple-based worship will not be able to contain its glories: new wineskins will be needed (Matt. 9:16–17). Though Jesus focuses his earthly ministry on Israel (Matt. 10:6; 15:24), he warns his disciples that Israel will ultimately reject it (Matt. 16:21; 20:18) by persecuting them (Matt. 10:16–17; 23:34–37) until he comes in judgment (Matt. 10:23; 17:22; 20:18; 24:2, 16, 30–34). Because they did not recognize their Messiah and his message (Matt. 23:38; Luke 19:42, 44), they will be judged and the kingdom will be given to the gentiles (Matt. 8:10–12; Luke 19:41–44; 21:20–24).

Many of Jesus’s last actions and parables are given in Jerusalem and concern Israel’s rejecting him and her consequent judgment. The Lord’s cleansing of the temple was an acted-out prophecy (called “prophetic theater” by Biblical scholars) of the overthrow of the temple which had become a den of robbers (Matt. 21:12–13), as was his cursing of the barren fig tree, which represented Israel (Matt. 21:18–20). Mark even interweaves the temple cleansing and the fig tree cursing to show their connection (Mark 11:11–24). The parable of the landowner shows God repeatedly reaching out to Israel through the prophets, only finally to be rejected when they kill his son (Matt. 21:33–45). Because of this, “the kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and be given to a nation producing the fruit of it” (Matt. 21:43).

God’s calling Israel to himself is likened to a marriage feast invitation which was rejected, resulting in the king’s wrath destroying their city (Matt. 22:1–14). Christ strongly denounces the Pharisees as those who continue the rebellion of their fathers of old (Matt. 23:1–32). This will result in their persecuting his followers and their soon-coming judgment in A.D. 70 (Matt. 23:33–36). As a result of this final word to Israel, Jesus laments their rejection (Matt. 23:37), forsakes the temple, leaving it “desolate” (Matt. 23:38; 24:1), then prophesies the temple’s destruction (Matt. 24:2) and Jerusalem’s desolation (Matt. 24:16ff; Luke 21:20–24) in that first century generation (Matt. 24:34). As a result of Israel’s unfaithfulness and rejection, Christ gives a great commission that will lead to the baptizing and discipling of “the nations” (Matt. 28:18–20).

John’s Gospel informs us that Christ came to his own people, who did not receive him (John 1:11). In fact, they were of “their father the devil” (John 8:44; Rev. 2:9; 3:9) and rejected him in favor of Caesar (John 19:12, 15). As a consequence, the time was coming in which the temple would no longer be needed (John 4:21, 23; cp. Matt. 12:6), resulting in abundant blessings for the whole world of men (John 3:17; 12:31–32).

In Acts, we trace the movement of the gospel from Jerusalem to the uttermost parts of the world of that day (Acts 1:8). Though the apostolic church initially wins converts from Israel (Acts 2:41; 4:4; 6:7), it must eventually turn from there and go to the gentiles (Acts 13:46; 18:6). We discover the reason for this as Acts is virtually a record of the relentless Jewish persecution of Christianity (Acts 4:1–3, 15–18; 5:17–18, 27–33, 40; 6:12–15; 7:54–60; 8:1; 9:1–4, 13, 21, 23, 29; 12:1–3; 13:45–50; 14:2–5, 19; 17:5–8, 13; 18:6, 12, 17; 20:3, 19; 21:11, 27–32; 22:3–5, 22–23; 23:12, 20–21; 24:5–9, 27; 25:2–15; 25:24; 26:21; 28:17–29). The apostolic church repeatedly declares Israel responsible for the death of Christ (Acts 2:22–23, 36; 3:13–15a; 4:10; 5:28, 30; 7:52; 10:39; 13:27–29; Acts 26:10).

Though I will not take the space necessary for tracing these themes into other portions of the New Testament, I will briefly note that the old covenant is passing away and the new covenant is replacing it (2 Cor. 3; Heb. 8:13; 12:22–29). In Revelation, John picks up on these themes and present them in a dramatic judicial format. New covenant Christianity is the new approach to God; Israel has been rejected as the favored people of God.

Gentry, K.L., Jr. (2010) The Book of Revelation Made Easy: You Can Understand Bible Prophecy. Second Edition. Powder Springs, GA: American Vision, pp. 139–143.