The Time Is Near
What kind of images come to your
mind when you hear the word “revelation” or “prophecy”? For the last few days I
felt like the burden of ministry was too heavy for me. I got tired and weary.
My spirit became dull and almost fell asleep. No desire to read the Bible or to
pray. In my wilderness I cried out to God, “Father, help me!” All of sudden,
for some reason, one particular individual came to my mind. That was Pastor
Gil, who was one of the Korean Christian leaders during the Japanese Colonial
Rule. During that time Christians were severely persecuted. In order to endure
those persecutions, Pastor Gil read the Book of Revelation more than 10,000
times. He did hold on to the word. God’s promises were what kept him going. After
reflecting on his life and affliction, I reluctantly opened my Bible and began
to read the Book of Revelation. As I was reading, I experienced that the word
did wake me up, revive my soul, and bring new hope and encouragement to my
heart.
In today’s passage, verse 3 says,
“The time is near.” Here the Greek word for “time” is Kairos. The ancient Greeks had two words for time: Chronos and Kairos. Chronos refers to
chronological time, while Kairos
indicates a time of crisis or a decisive moment. As a pastor, I sense that now
is Kairos for our church. My prayer
is that as we study the Book of Revelation together as a church, we may hear
what the Spirit says to our church and obey.
The Purpose of Revelation
As we begin to explore Revelation,
the first question we ought to ask is this: “What is the purpose of revelation?” “Why did God give Revelation to
John and other believers?” “Why does God give Revelation to us today?” The
purpose of Revelation is to open the eyes
of our hearts and to see our life with an eternal, heavenly perspective. So
if we read and understand the Book of Revelation properly, we see that we are at war with Satan. We see that we have the final victory in
Jesus. We see that our willingness to
suffer for Christ is the path to that final victory. We see that even in the midst of tragedy and suffering God is
sovereign – he is still in control and will fulfill his promises. This heavenly
perspective gives us hope and power to face life’s challenges.
Between Two Worlds
Today’s scripture, Revelation
1:1-3, is an introduction or prologue to the entire book. Today as we begin our
journey through the book of Revelation, it is very important to understand a battle between good and evil, a tension
between two worlds – God’s kingdom and Satan’s kingdom.
In the beginning God created the
heavens and the earth. God created man and woman in his own image. He blessed
them and let them rule over every living creature as God’s stewards. And God
said it was very good. That’s how God’s kingdom began. But then, when Adam
sinned, sin entered the world. Satan established his kingdom and continued to
expand it. The Bible describes Satan as “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31),
“the god of this world” (2 Co 4:4), “the ruler of the power of the air” (Eph
2:2). God is always sovereign. Not a single sparrow can fall to the ground
without God’s permission (Matt 10:29). This world is still God’s kingdom. But sadly,
at the same time, Satan practically rules this fallen world. That’s why he said
to Jesus, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has
been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to” (Luke 4:6). So there
is a tension between two kingdoms.
In ancient Israel when you waged
war with another country, you must send a messenger first. The mission of the
messenger was to declare war and to offer its people terms of peace. If the
enemy country accepted your terms of peace and surrendered to you, then they
would serve you and work for you (cf. Dt 20:10). If not, you would have a war
with them and destroy them. Based on this context, we must understand John the
Baptist as a messenger of God’s kingdom. As Jesus was coming to restore his
kingdom, he sent John before him. And John declared war and announced that
God’s kingdom was near. And the terms of peace were to repent. Many people
accepted the terms of peace. They came out to John, confessed their sins, and
were baptized. But there were many others, including Pharisees and Sadducees,
who refused to repent. The messenger John warned them, “You brood of vipers!
Bear fruit worthy of repentance… Even now the axe is laid to the root of the
trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and
thrown into the fire” (Matt 3:10). Then he declared Jesus the Lord and Savior
of the kingdom, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John
1:29)
We used to live in sin and followed
our sinful nature. We followed the devil (Eph 2:2-3). Once we belonged to
Satan’s kingdom. But Jesus came to rescue us. On the cross he purchased us with
his own blood and triumphed over Satan. He conquered the death, the last enemy,
and destroyed Satan’s kingdom when he rose from the dead. And now we belong to
God’s kingdom. If you like to play chess, this analogy might be helpful. The
sacrificial move of Christ at the cross puts the devil in checkmate; the devil
continues to play the game of rebellion, but his defeat is assured.[1]
Although we still struggle and are in the middle of a fierce battle, the Book
of Revelation assures that God is with us
and will faithfully bring us through final victory.
You Are Not Home Yet
An old missionary couple had been working
in Africa for years, and they were returning to New York City to retire. They
had no pension; their health was broken; they were old now and afraid. They
discovered they were booked on the same ship as President Teddy Roosevelt, who
was returning from one of his big-game hunting expeditions. When the ship
docked in New York, a band was waiting to greet the President. The mayor and
other dignitaries were there, but no one noticed this missionary couple. They
slipped off the ship and found a cheap flat on the East side. That night, the
missionary’s spirit broke. He poured out his heart to the Lord. He said, “Lord,
I can’t take this. You are not treating us fairly. The President received this
tremendous homecoming, but no one met us as we returned home.” But when he
finished it, God simply said, “My son, you’re not home yet!”[2]
Yes, we are not home yet! The
revelation of Jesus Christ is both encouragement and warning. On the one hand,
revelation opens the eyes of our hearts to see things from God’s perspective. It
encourages us to hold to the glorious promises of God and persevere. But on the
other hand, revelation also challenges our complacency, especially if we live
like we are already home. It says “Wake up! Arise! You are not home yet! Set
your hearts and minds on things above, not on things on earth!”
How can we get this heavenly
perspective? One of the ways to cultivate God’s perspective is to hear the word and do the word. Today’s
scripture, verse 3, says, “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this
prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it,
for the time is near.” The message of Revelation is not designed to merely satisfy
our intellectual speculation about the end times, but it is given for us to
obey what it says. My prayer is that God will give us desire to hear the word
and do the word, so that we may be encouraged, awakened, corrected, prepared
for Kairos, God’s time. Amen.
[1]
G. K. Beale, Revelation: A Shorter
Commentary (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.), 15-16.
[2] Ray Stedman, Talking To My Father (Barbour & Co. 1997).
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