Questions We Should Be Asking

 I have asked a lot of questions of the book of the Revelation.

 

I have been asked by others to explain various parts of the Revelation.

 

I’m sitting here in the dark this unbelievably cold Monday morning (-19°F wind chill) with my feet by the space heater and my hands around a mug of coffee, thinking about what questions I don’t ask of the Revelation – and what questions I’ve never been asked about this book.

 

“Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near” (1:3). Why don’t we read this book publicly if the blessing goes to reading and hearing? How can we “heed the things which are written in it”? What does this book ask of us? I fear our main motivation in coming to this book is to get information about events that we perceive to be threatening to us (and our safety, prosperity, and status quo) – we come to it to find what we need to prepare for that which we fear, rather than coming to it seeking to be what we are called to be in Christ.

 

“I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus” (1:9). Have I ever been anywhere even remotely unpleasant because of “the word of God and the testimony of Jesus”? Why not? If, “in Jesus,” John the Revelator said there was “tribulation and kingdom and perseverance,” do I live as if that was the norm for Christianity in this life? Do the books I read teach this? The songs I listen to and sing? The teachers and preachers I hear? Why not? What’s different about John’s Christianity and mine?

 

“I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false” (2:2). How should we “put to the test those who call themselves apostles”?

 

“…you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary” (2:3). What if I do grow “weary”? How can I be like the Ephesians, who were commended because they did not grow tired in the race?

 

“But I have this against you, that you have left your first love” (2:4). What “love” takes priority over what Jesus calls “first” in our lives?

 

“Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life” (2:10). How can I prepare to be so “tested” and “faithful” in such “tribulation”?

 

“But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality” (2:14; see also 2:20). What would “the teaching of Balaam” look like in a 21st-century context? What are some manifestations of this today? Are we tolerating what the church in Pergamum tolerated?

 

“…I will give to each one of you according to your deeds” (2:23). How does this fit with a Gospel of grace through faith apart from works?

 

“He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end…” (2:26). How do we keep Jesus’ “deeds”?

 

“I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God. So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent” (3:1-3). How do we obey these commands to revive ourselves?

 

“I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. Because you say, ‘I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,’ and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see” (3:15-18). Am I driven by a clearly-seen and desperate need for Christ in all things? Or do I broadcast a self-sufficiency with a little Jesus added for appearance’s sake?

 

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, Who was and Who is and Who is to come…worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created…worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth…worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing…to Him Who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever…Amen” (4:8,11; 5:9-10,12-14). Do I sing and pray like they do in heaven? Am I moved by what so powerfully moves them? Why not?

 

“When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained” (6:9). Again, I ask: is my life any more difficult in this world because of “the word of God” or because of “the testimony”? Why not?

 

“Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar, and threw it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake” (8:1-5). If heaven weaponized my prayers, would the earth shake, or would I just get more comfortable? What earth-shaking prayers have I prayed today, this week, this year?

 

“The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts” (9:20-21). In what areas of my life do I refuse to repent? What idols do I treasure?

 

“And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death” (12:11). With what weapons do I fight and resist in this world? How can I fight and resist like these overcomers?

 

“So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus” (12:17). Would the dragon even notice me? Is my chief identity that I “keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus”? Or is anything like this description way down on the list of self-identifiers?

 

“And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast” (13:3). Am I “amazed” and attracted to the same things as “the whole earth”? Are my affections any different?

 

“These are the ones who have…kept themselves chaste. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb. And no lie was found in their mouth; they are blameless” (14:4-5). Have I made this character study as high a priority as deciphering “666”? Why not?

 

“Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame” (16:15). What does it say about my heart and priorities that I am more curious about “Armageddon” than the promise and call of this beatitude?

 

“Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready. It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints” (19:7-8). Shouldn’t we be deep in the Word, desiring to become masters of understanding and living this text? How can we live this text and obey it? Isn’t this more important than current politics and events, more valuable to our souls than speculative timelines or a seeking of signs?

 

“I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God” (20:4). Again, how has the “testimony of Jesus” and “the word of God” caused even a slight dissonance to my life in this world? Isn’t answering that question more important than convincing you my millennial position is correct?

 

There are many other questions we should be asking of the Revelation. Questions about our souls, our lives, our churches, our worship, our witness before a world that hates the Jesus of the Bible. Rather than asking “when,” maybe we should instead respond to the Revelation with a question of “how.” How are we to live faithfully right now in our lives in light of the Revelation? No matter what the headlines say, how does the Revelation say I should follow Jesus? Oh, my soul! Why have I spent so much time on the other stuff of the Revelation to the exclusion of a brokenness and hunger to live out the descriptions of normal, daily, true discipleship? How have I divided brethren and not adequately fed the sheep by ignoring these things? Lord, help. Help me ask the questions I should ask of your Revelation.