First published on Tuesday, December 7, 2010
These comments are based on Revelation 4
The Apostle John was the last surviving of the Original Twelve Apostles. He lived out his life and died a natural death on the Island of Patmos. Apparently, it takes old men appropriately to receive the most profound prophetic messages from God. Daniel, as I understand it, was quite old when he received prophecies in the Old Testament. In fact, Daniel, is the John of the Old Testament. The two served the same function during both periods. It will be interesting to see them when they first meet, at Christ's return.
John words, I think, were insufficient to describe what he was seeing: a door in the sky, rainbows, thrones, crowns of gold, shining white garments . . .
I think that he used the best words he could to describe these visions. An eagle, a lion, a calf, a human face. I do not necessarily believe that he was seeing these things, literally. But he used the best words he could find, to describe them.
Now, to these 24 elders: I like to think they are the twelve patriarchs of Israel (Jacobs sons), and the Twelve Apostles. John had entered into eternity. While these 24 men had not been resurrected in our timeline, yet in the eternal realm, they live, for eternity has no chronology. It is a single place and point in time, an ever-present Now.
John might have scanned the group of men, and seen himself sitting among them. We have tantalizing questions:
* Was Judas in the group? Or did Matthias make this august assemblage? Perhaps Paul was among them?
* They are represented as kings that throw their crowns at the foot of the Almighty. When will they be crowned? Are they made kings at their resurrection, at Christ's return? Is there some big ceremony where we can witness this?
* Or maybe I am completely off here. Perhaps we can identify 24 major national groups in world history, that may be represented by these 24 elders. But since the term "elder" is used, I am more prone to ascribe the term to Hebrew and Church leaders.
They sing this hymn, so often used as a proof text for the Trinity:
Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God, ruler of all,
The Was, and the Is and the Shall Be.
In this case, why can't we just stay with the context? If the context of the passage provides a sufficient explanation, there is no need to harmonize with cryptic scriptural connections found in other parts of the Bible. So that . . .
Holy is the Was
Holy is the Is, and,
Holy is the Shall Be.
God is Holy thrice over, because He occupies the past, present, and future, all at the same time.
If we can so glimpse eternity through the eyes of John, and understand that it is with us already (as is Christ's Kingdom, which we are building), then what are we worried about?
John words, I think, were insufficient to describe what he was seeing: a door in the sky, rainbows, thrones, crowns of gold, shining white garments . . .
I think that he used the best words he could to describe these visions. An eagle, a lion, a calf, a human face. I do not necessarily believe that he was seeing these things, literally. But he used the best words he could find, to describe them.
Now, to these 24 elders: I like to think they are the twelve patriarchs of Israel (Jacobs sons), and the Twelve Apostles. John had entered into eternity. While these 24 men had not been resurrected in our timeline, yet in the eternal realm, they live, for eternity has no chronology. It is a single place and point in time, an ever-present Now.
John might have scanned the group of men, and seen himself sitting among them. We have tantalizing questions:
* Was Judas in the group? Or did Matthias make this august assemblage? Perhaps Paul was among them?
* They are represented as kings that throw their crowns at the foot of the Almighty. When will they be crowned? Are they made kings at their resurrection, at Christ's return? Is there some big ceremony where we can witness this?
* Or maybe I am completely off here. Perhaps we can identify 24 major national groups in world history, that may be represented by these 24 elders. But since the term "elder" is used, I am more prone to ascribe the term to Hebrew and Church leaders.
They sing this hymn, so often used as a proof text for the Trinity:
Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God, ruler of all,
The Was, and the Is and the Shall Be.
In this case, why can't we just stay with the context? If the context of the passage provides a sufficient explanation, there is no need to harmonize with cryptic scriptural connections found in other parts of the Bible. So that . . .
Holy is the Was
Holy is the Is, and,
Holy is the Shall Be.
God is Holy thrice over, because He occupies the past, present, and future, all at the same time.
If we can so glimpse eternity through the eyes of John, and understand that it is with us already (as is Christ's Kingdom, which we are building), then what are we worried about?
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