Monthly Archives: January 2015

Lesson 13 Of The Series – Parables Of Vengeance

Revelation Commentary, , , , ,

This lesson continues to show the “things which must shortly come to pass” of Revelation 1:1. These things were morally necessary. The saints expected to be avenged; Jesus had promised it; Paul predicted it; and in 2 Thessalonians, he told when it would happen.

Jesus’ Parables of Vengeance

Two references from the Gospels make it very clear that the saints expected to be avenged soon of the persecution they were experiencing at the hands of the Pharisaical Jews. One is the parable of the unjust judge in the context of the prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem: “Will not God bring about justice for His chosen ones, who cry out to Him day and night? Will He keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice quickly.” (See also Luke 18:3-8, NIV).

The other parable is that of the vineyard, Matthew 21:33-45. It clearly shows that Jesus intended to take the “vineyard,” the Kingdom of Israel, away from the Pharisees and give it to the Christian saints, the Church. He fulfilled this promise and in doing so, He took vengeance upon those wicked Pharisees.

Paul Predicted Vengeance For The Saints

Paul predicted that the saints to whom he wrote, as well as himself would be avenged by the revelation of Jesus Christ, executing wrath upon their enemies. In his letter to the Thessalonians Paul mentions the suffering of the churches in Judea at the hands of:

“The Jews, who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to all men…In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit….The wrath of God has come upon them at last,” 1 Thessalonians. 2:14-16, NIV.

But the saints will not be under that wrath: “For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,” 1 Thessalonians 5:9.

“When The Lord Jesus Is Revealed From Heaven”

That wrath is described in 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10, NIV: “God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with His powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of His power on the day He comes to be glorified in His holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you because you believed our testimony to you.”

Also see Luke 21:27-32, (NIV), in the context of His message concerning the destruction of Jerusalem: “(27) And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory…. Lift up your heads, because your redemption is near…. (32) Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away till all be fulfilled.” And so it was.

The Church Confirmed That These Things Were Fulfilled

The early Church believed that these Scriptures were true as evidenced by the fact that they accepted them into the Canon. Therefore, they must have seen the destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the remaining Jews as the fulfillment of their promised vindication, and must have believed that Jesus Christ was revealed from heaven in some publicly attested way such as was recorded by Josephus in the passage cited previously, (Wars 6.5.3).

Next Lesson: God Is Morally Obligated to Avenge His People, Continued.

Lesson 12 Of Series – To Avenge His People As Their Kinsman-Redeemer

Revelation Commentary, , , , ,

This lesson continues to show the “things which must shortly come to pass” of Revelation 1:1. These things were morally necessary.

To Avenge His People As Their Kinsman-Redeemer

According to the Law, the Kinsman-Redeemer was to slay the murderer: Numbers 35:19-34.  God, Himself, claimed to be the Kinsman-Redeemer of Israel: Deuteronomy 32:35-43, quoted in Romans 12:19: “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”

Because of the Jewish persecution and murders of the Christians and the crucifixion of Christ, it was morally necessary that God carry out His duties as the Kinsman-Redeemer of His people.

In the New Testament era the Jews were in dispersion throughout the Roman world. Although of only one racially identifiable tribe, Judah, they were sometimes called “the twelve tribes scattered abroad,” for scattered individuals of other tribes had joined themselves to them in the past. The Jewish trade-routes throughout the Roman Empire had produced flourishing communities of Jews and their synagogues. The wrath of God’s judgment came also upon these, for they too had persecuted the Christians in their synagogues.

Historically we know that there were Jewish uprisings against Rome in Alexandria and other major centers of Jewish populations. Rome put down these rebellions with terrible violence as the instrument of God’s wrath.

But the ultimate recipient of God’s wrath, the seventh bowl of the Book of Revelation, is Mystery Babylon: Revelation 16: 19b: “And God remembered great Babylon, to make her drain the cup of the fury of His wrath.”

Mystery Babylon Accountable For Deaths of the Martyrs

Chapters seventeen and eighteen of the Book of Revelation are devoted entirely to describing her destruction. Her identity is not left in doubt when considered in the light of Matthew 23:34-35. In Revelation 17:6 John sees that this woman, Mystery Babylon is: “drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.” This is a direct allusion to Matthew 23:34 where Jesus told Jerusalem that they were accountable for the blood of all the martyrs. It positively identifies her as apostate Judaism, represented by their religious capitol, Jerusalem. God has a moral obligation to avenge His people upon her.

In Revelation 18:20, while the world laments, heaven rejoices: “Rejoice over her, O heaven, O saints and apostles and prophets, for God has given judgment for you against her!” (RSV).

And again in 18:24: “And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been slain on earth,” – another direct allusion to Matthew 23:34-35.

The Rationale For God’s Judgments Against Jerusalem

Again in Revelation 19:2 the reason for her destruction is made explicit: “For His judgments are true and just; He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth [land] with her fornication, and He has avenged on her the blood of His servants,” (RSV).

Christ’s Garments Of Vengeance

In Revelation 19:11 our eyes are turned to the glorious appearing of Christ. In the context of the destruction of Jerusalem, this is the fulfillment of Matthew 24:30, (also 16:27-28). Note that Christ is clothed in “a robe dipped in blood,” (Revelation 19:13).

This is the “garments of vengeance” described in Isaiah 59:17b-18: “He put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped Himself in fury as a mantle. According to their deeds, so will He repay, wrath to His adversaries, requital to His enemies,” (RSV).

The vengeance of God in the Book of Revelation vindicates the faith of the saints based upon such Scriptures as Isaiah 63:1-6: “Who is this that comes from Edom, in crimsoned garments from Bozrah, He that is glorious in His apparel, marching in the greatness of His strength? ‘It is I, announcing vindication, mighty to save.’ Why is thy apparel red, and thy garments like his that treads in the wine press? ‘I have trodden the wine press alone, and from the peoples no one was with me; I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath; their lifeblood is sprinkled upon my garments, and I have stained all my raiment. For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and my year of redemption has come. I looked, but there was no one to help; I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold; so my own arm brought me victory, and my wrath upheld me. I trod down the peoples in my anger, I made them drunk in my wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth,’” (RSV).

Next Lesson: Lesson 13: Parables of Vengeance

Lesson 11 Of Series -To Fulfill The Promised Vengeance -Continued

Revelation Commentary, , , , , ,

In the previous lesson we saw how that the moral necessity to be fulfilled in the Book of Revelation was to include the vengeance for the martyred saints which God had promised, Luke 18:7-8. In the opening of the fifth seal, Revelation 6:9, the souls of the martyred saints cries out for this promised vengeance. And in the sixth and seventh seals, Revelation 6:12-17, the vengeance begins.

The Sixth and Seventh Seal

The sixth seal, Revelation 6:12-17 RSV, continues this promise of vengeance by proclaiming that “…the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand before it?”

The seventh seal, Revelation chapters 8- 11, consists of the seven trumpets.  After the sixth trumpet, an angel proclaims: “That there shall be no more delay, but that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God, as He announced to His servants the prophets, should be fulfilled,” (10:6b, 7, RSV).

When the seventh trumpet sounds, the promised vengeance will be completed. This is reminiscent of Ezekiel 12:25, performance of the predictions will not be delayed beyond the generation to which it was spoken.

The Seventh Trumpet

The seventh trumpet describes the translation of the fleshly kingdom into the kingdom of Christ. It opens with the scene in heaven and the proclamation: “The kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever,” (11:15 RSV).

This echoes Christ’s words from the Gospel of John 18:36: “My kingdom is not of this world.” The earthly, fleshly kingdom was fully translated into the greater, perfect kingdom of Christ.

This translation of the kingdom is accompanied by a time of wrath upon the earth, (11:18): “The nations raged, but thy wrath came.” God’s servants, prophets and saints, were rewarded by being avenged, while the destroyers themselves were destroyed. The true Temple was seen in heaven, along with the true Ark of the Covenant, (v. 19); the earthly copies were destroyed, and these symbols of the kingdom were translated into the heavens.

Vengeance Against Mystery Babylon and The Beast

Vengeance for the martyred saints would not be complete without the account of the wrath of God poured out upon the wicked city of Jerusalem. The theme of wrath resumes in 14:7: “…the hour of His judgment has come,” that fateful hour so long anticipated. The judgment is against Babylon, verse 8: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great, she who made all nations drink the wine of her impure passion,” (RSV).

The judgment of the ‘beast,’ (that is, unredeemed flesh and the fleshly claim to covenant relationship without the spirit), and the reaping of the land, (Gk. Ge, Hebrew ’eretz), corresponds to the historical events of the wars in Judea which immediately preceded the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD. The land was reaped and cast into “the wine press of the wrath of God,” (v. 19), “…the wine press was trodden outside the city,” the outlying cities and villages of Judea.

The Song Of Moses

The theme of wrath builds until in chapter 15 the seven “bowls” fill up the full measure of God’s wrath. As a corollary, the overcoming saints in heaven sing “The Song of Moses,” Deuteronomy 32, and “The Song of the Lamb.” To complete this scene, one must read and include Deuteronomy 32 as a part of this text. It is a song about justice and judgment. It deals directly with God’s judgment upon Israel because of their fall into sin and idolatry, as foretold by Moses. After the indictment for sin, the theme is set forth which became so important to the early Christians suffering persecution from the Jews: “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” (See also Rom. 12:19; Heb. 10:30, etc.)

In the “Song of Moses” the fallen ones are no longer Israel: “They have acted corruptly toward Him, to their shame, they are no longer His children, but a warped and crooked generation,” (NIV Deut. 32:5).

Note also that Jesus used similar terms “faithless and perverse generation” as found in Luke 9:41 and Matthew 17:17, no doubt with this reference in mind. Romans 11:28: “As regards the gospel they are enemies of God.” The fleshly nation had become God’s adversary, but even so, God still had some persecuted servants in the midst of them: “For the Lord will vindicate His people and have compassion on His servants, (Deut. 32:36).

“Praise His people, O you nations; for He avenges the blood of His servants and takes vengeance on His adversaries and makes expiation (or atonement) for the land of His people,” (RSV v. 43).

Time For Decision

These conditions had prevailed from the time of Christ’s ministry to the fall of Jerusalem. The nation as a whole had ceased to be His children. Furthermore, He had taken to Himself a nation “who were no people,” the Gentile believers, to provoke the Jews to jealousy. This was also predicted in the Song of Moses, (Deut. 32:21; see also Rom. 10:19).

The contents of the seven bowls are God’s wrath, but it is the promised wrath of the moral imperative and His justice is repeatedly praised; for example: “For men have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink. It is their due!” (Revelation 16:6 RSV).

Consecutive Periods of Judgment

The first bowl is poured out upon the ‘land’ (or ‘earth,’ fulfilled historically upon the land of Judea, but to be further fulfilled upon any nation that forgets God. The theme of wrath builds toward its climax in the seventh bowl. In the seventh bowl the cities of ‘the nations’ fell, (16:19). The twelve tribes were sometimes called ‘the nations.’

Next Lesson: To Avenge His People As Their Kinsman-Redeemer

Lesson 10 Of Series – To Fulfill The Promised Vengeance

Revelation Commentary, , , , ,

The Promised Vengeance

At the time of the writing of the Book of Revelation, another piece of unfinished business which God was morally obligated to fulfill was that of vengeance. He had promised:

  • (A) To avenge the breaking of His Covenant;
  • (B) To avenge His saints and martyrs, both as their God and as their Kinsman-Redeemer; and:
  • (C) To avenge the shedding of innocent blood and to cleanse the land from defilement

(A) To Avenge The Breaking Of His Covenant

The passage in Leviticus 26:14-46  describes the penalty for the national sin of breaking the Covenant. The penalty was to be exacted through sword, famine, pestilence, wild beasts, destruction, desolation, and dispersion. The Babylonian captivity had come because Israel had broken the Covenant, yet God in His mercy used it to rebuke and chasten His erring children rather than executing His full measure of divine wrath.

At the time of the writing of the Book of Revelation, fleshly Israel was again in full disobedience except for those in Christ. The penalty for breaking the Covenant was therefore due and it was morally imperative that God fulfill the wrath promised. The Book shows these penalties being executed. The pattern of sevens in the Book may be a reminder of the oath of the Covenant, reflecting the seven-times-over nature of the penalty that was promised in Leviticus 26:18, 21, 24, 28. (See “The Number Seven in the Bible” Commentary on 1:4.)

The Goodness And The Severity Of God

In reference to this passage in Leviticus, it was morally imperative that God fulfill His Covenant while at the same time, He was morally obligated to forgive the repentant who confessed their sins, (26:40); and, when their “uncircumcised hearts are humbled,” (26:41, see also Rom. 2:28-29), then He would reinstate them into His Covenant, (v. 45). In the destruction of Jerusalem vengeance was accomplished and in the Revelation of Jesus Christ reinstatement into the New Jerusalem was possible. Since Christ was made the New Covenant, (Isa. 42:6-7), when Judaism rejected Him, if for no other reason, they had broken both the Old and the New Covenants. That put them on equal footing with the Gentiles; there was no difference. Salvation for all depended upon God’s mercy in Christ.

To Avenge His Covenant People As Promised

Vengeance is a major theme of the Book of Revelation and shows that God has fulfilled this aspect of His Covenant. In Revelation 6:9-11, the opening of the fifth seal reveals the souls of the slain martyrs as they cry out to be avenged. This vengeance is promised as soon as their number is completed. From here the tension builds throughout the seals and the trumpets.  The climax comes and the vengeance is completed in the destruction of Mystery Babylon, the fallen city of Jerusalem, chapters 17 and 18. Following this, the saints rejoice in triumphal praise to God for vengeance has been executed, (Revelation 18:20, 24; 19:1-3).

Jerusalem Had Become the “Mystery Babylon”

Revelation 18:24 corresponds to Christ’s prediction in Matthew 23:29-36 of vengeance against Jerusalem for “all the righteous blood shed on earth,” (v. 35), when the full number of martyrs should be accomplished. That Christ’s prophecy was spoken directly against Jerusalem is clear from verse 37a: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent unto you!”

Christ foretold that many of these martyrs were to be the Christians sent by Himself. Addressing Jerusalem He said: “I send you prophets, and wise men, and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from town to town,” (v. 34 RSV).

This vengeance was not to be delayed beyond the lifetime of the generation that heard Christ predict it, (v. 36). So the complete number of martyrs for which fleshly Judaism was held responsible was to be fulfilled within “this generation” of time.

Next Lesson: The Sixth and Seventh Seals

Biblical Instruction on How to Protest

Teaching

First: How To Submit To Civil Authority:*

Rom 13:1: Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.

Rom 13:2: Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.

Rom 13:3: For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same.

Rom 13:4: For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.

Rom 13:5: Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake.

Rom 13:6: For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing.

Rom 13:7: Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.

Rom 13:8: Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.

Rom 13:9: For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,”fn “You shall not covet,”fn and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”fn

Rom 13:10: Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Rom 13:11: And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.

Rom 13:12: The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.

Rom 13:13: Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy.

Rom 13:14: But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.

Second: When Not To Submit to Civil Authorities:*

Acts 4:1: “Now as they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them,
(2) being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.”
(3) And they laid hands on them, and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening.
(4)However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.
(5)And it came to pass, on the next day, that their rulers, elders, and scribes,
(6)as well as Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the family of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem.”
(7)And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, “By what power or by what name have you done this?”
(8)Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel:
(9)”If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well,
(10)”let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole.
(11)”This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’
(12)”Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
(13) Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.
(14)And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.
(15)But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves,
(16)saying, “What shall we do to these men? For, indeed, that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.”(17)”But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them, that from now on they speak to no man in this name.”
(18)So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.
(19)But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge.
(20)For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”
(21)So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way of punishing them, because of the people, since they all glorified God for what had been done.
(22)For the man was over forty years old on whom this miracle of healing had been performed.
(23)And being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.
(24)So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said: “Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them,(25)”who by the mouth of Your servant David have said: ‘Why did the nations rage, And the people plot vain things?
(26)”The kings of the earth took their stand, And the rulers were gathered together Against the LORD and against His Christ.
(27)”For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together
(28)”to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done.
(29)”Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word,
(30)”by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.”
(31)And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.

* Quoted from New King James Version.