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KINGDOM BIBLE STUDIES
"Teaching the things concerning the kingdom of
God..."
Part 256
THE EPILOGUE
(continued)
“For
I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God
shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: and if any man
shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take
away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the
things which are written in this book” (Rev. 22:18-19).
The
warning against adding to or taking away from the words of this book is often
misunderstood as a reference to the entire Bible. This misunderstanding occurs because these
words from the book of Revelation stand also at the end of the New Testament
canon of scripture. One brother said
that many years ago when he was a young man away in school, living in a dorm,
he would write letters to various people and he always
filled them with scripture quotations.
Before mailing each letter he would proof it four or five times to make certain that every
i was dotted and every t was crossed, every colon,
semi-colon, comma, and period was in its proper place, and every word was
spelled correctly — because he didn’t want to add to or take away from even one
jot or tittle, lest God would add to him the plagues of the book of Revelation,
or take away from him his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy
city, and from the blessings conferred in
the book. Years later, when the Lord visited him and began to open to his
understanding the true message of the kingdom of God, he saw clearly that that
was not what the Lord Jesus was talking about!
Precisely
because of misunderstandings like this we have
Our
Experientially
entering into the Revelation of Jesus Christ is the
only way that leads to life, perfection, and glory. That is how our name or nature becomes
inscribed in the “book” of the “Life of
the Lamb.” Only by failing or refusing
to yield and submit to the full and complete operation of the life of God within ourselves
can our part in the “book of His life” be taken away from us. John describes in this book all the stages of
growth and development in Christ and all the states of being through which God
brings us on our way to perfection.
Anyone who would produce other processes different from these would need
to be corrected or suffer loss. If we subtract
(take away) from the dealings and movings of God
in o
If,
on the other hand, we add to the
words of the prophecy of this book, that is, if we add to the operation of the
Spirit within our own human works, fleshly efforts, carnal methods, religious
traditions, rituals, ceremonies, rules, laws, or any other thing not born of the
Spirit, God will have to add unto us the
plagues of this book, that is, the corrective judgments, strippings, purgings, and processings necessary to purge the error out of us, break
our carnality, and deliver us from ourselves.
God doesn’t need our help! As we
have said a thousand times, these are not external events; they are spiritual realities. So it is
something far deeper than mere theories and conjectures about the meanings of
the symbols. It’s more than the literal words of this book, for the words are
merely the symbol, the surface, the letter.
The reality is found in what the Revelation of Christ does in the spiritual dimension of our lives!
It is right there that we either add to or take away from the prophecy. The Lord has left no room for doubt that only
as the things written in this book are fully appropriated, made 100% reality
within our lives, only then can we truly lay hold upon divine, incorruptible
life! If we try to cut corners, shorten
the process, escape some aspect of the dealings, by-pass the processings, or substitute some other method and climb up
some other way, we will surely rob ourselves of His perfection, life, and glory
and incur even severer dealings in the process.
That is the mystery!
This
is truly wonderful, because it means that if we are not experientially in the
revelation process, if we are not personally experiencing and living these
prophetic words and moving in the direction of greater unfoldment in harmony with them, then we are
either adding to them or subtracting from them.
There is no other way for us to go!
This is the goal, the revelation.
This last book of the Bible brings us to the place where we become the revelation, each one
attaining as we yield under the mighty hand of God. We sometimes speak of having the courage of
our convictions, but what we need to have is the
courage of our revelation. We must have
the courage to recognize the revelation — the unveiling of Christ — taking
place within us, to accept it and be it. If we depart from this God-ordained process
within ourselves, then we shut ourselves off from the tree of life.
The
book of Revelation is undoubtedly the hardest book in the Bible to
understand. However, I also believe that
once you grasp by the spirit of
Even
though the book is puzzling to the natural man and bewildering to the carnal
mind, yet the apostle wrote with blessed assurance to the enChristed
these words of divine surety, “Blessed
is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at
hand” (Rev. 1:3). That is one of the
most amazing things about this wonderful book — it is the only book in the Bible
that promises a unique blessing or happiness to all those who will read it, and
who truly hear what it is saying, and
to those who keep, or have fulfilled within themselves, the things that the
book has to say. The message is clear —
if one reads this book and is not richly
blessed and made extremely happy — then
he failed to truly hear its message
in the Spirit and by the Spirit! There
are many other books of the scriptures that are much easier to understand, but
they don’t contain that promise! This
book promises you before you begin that if you read, and hear, and keep what you hear YOU WILL BE
BLESSED! Immediately that gives me a
clue to what this book is about.
If
the panorama of events that unfold within these pages is mere external events, historical events, or future literal world events, then how, pray tell me, can those who read and hear keep or fulfill
Some
people’s interpretation of the Revelation says that the church disappears from
the earth at the beginning of chapter four, and that after the church is out of
the way — “raptured” — the rest of the book happens to that unfortunate world
of unbelievers left on the earth. If
that be the case, I’m not interested. I
have heard that all my life and most of the people that preached it are now
dead and none of it happened in their
lifetime. So how could any of them, and
the millions who lived before them throughout the church age, have kept the sayings of this book? How could I keep or fulfill any of the
things, much less all of the things,
written in the book if the vast majority happen to other people while I’m
sitting on a cloud eating prime rib or dancing on the streets of gold beyond
the blue? I’m not concerned with events
that transpire on the earth when I’m gone, however I would leave here. I cannot
keep any of those things! The knowledge of those things would be of no
benefit to me, nor would they serve any purpose to me, nor to any man that has
lived from John’s day until now. Therefore, the message of the book of
Revelation cannot be centered in world events at the end of the age, nor can it
concern events that transpire after the saints have flown away to that bright
glory world above. It cannot have to do
with the world and its masses of unregenerate men. It can only concern saints who are able to read what it says, hear with the spiritual ear, and become glad partakers of the blessed realities it proclaims. The book was not addressed to the national
Now
honestly, if this book is entirely about an age that has not yet dawned, do you
think that the poor persecuted Christians in
The
book of Revelation is a book that is written for kings and priests. It is not intended for the world to
understand, nor will it be understood by carnal Christians. To be a king-priest doesn’t mean that we will
walk around in splendid robes and all who meet us on the street will bow their
heads and genuflect, acknowledging that we are great and mighty ones. God isn’t interested in recognition! At the very outset the book is addressed to a
particular class of people: “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave
unto Him, to show unto His servants things
which must shortly come to pass” (Rev. 1:1).
The term “servants” here does not mean servants as contrasted with sons,
but sons who are servants as was our
Lord Jesus Christ. There has
The
main thrust of the book of Revelation is directed to the overcomers and the overcomers are the kings and priests that rule
and reign in the
If
you read the book of Revelation and the book begins to speak to you, that is a good
Much
of the book is rooted in the symbology of the Old Testament. You find there the temple, the sacrifices,
the worshippers, the sea of glass, the ark of the covenant,
The
visions of the book of Revelation are very systematic and each of the keys to
the book testifies of itself. The idea
that we are kings and priests suggests that our ministry is to bring people out
of an old world into a new world. Noah
was commissioned by God to bring his family out of an old world into a new world. He established a new age and a new order in
the earth. When we come to the book of
Revelation there is so much that looks like judgment, retribution, and
destruction poured out in apocalyptic and cataclysmic fury upon the earth — the
grass, the trees, the rivers, the seas, the mountains, the valleys, the cities,
the nations and peoples — but these are mere figures for the passing away of a realm of life, a sphere of existence,
the system, order, society, and institutions of the fleshly mind and the Adamic
life. Ultimately the judgments of
God must be experienced within us, or they accomplish nothing purposeful or
redemptive in o
Vast
multitudes of believers are still looking for Armageddon over in the
God
makes war because He loves us. Because
He has a
Can
we not see by this that if the judgments of the book of Revelation are merely
God’s method of punishing and destroying the wicked people and godless nations
and corrupt systems of earth, then they are not redemptive at all and have
little bearing on the glory that is to follow.
Even the sweet little Christians that long to make heaven their home are
for the most part immature, unperfected, and filled with carnality and
corruption. If this were not the case
all the churches today would be perfect in every way! There would be no sin in the camp, no
preacher running off with his secretary, no strife resulting in ugly church
splits, etc. But once the understanding
dawns that in order to reign with Christ in His
kingdom all the things in this book must be kept,
that is, experientially fulfilled
within by those who read and hear the prophecy of the book, then we know
with divine certainty that the great purpose in the judgments is to prepare our
hearts for the revelation of His glory in us.
The judgments do not merely make
way for the city of
Multiplied
thousands of elect saints in this hour have received the call to sonship and
been appointed to be kings and priests in God’s New Day — but before that there
are mighty conflicts, the Lamb warring against the beast! The Lamb nature birthed within by the washing
of regeneration now declares war on the beastly character of the carnal mind
and the flesh nature. This is the
supreme message of the Revelation! It is
the story of God’s dealings with sons (and ultimately with all His
people) to bring them to perfection in maturity, to the very throne of the
universe as overcomers in Christ. How do
I know this? I know this because the
subject of the book is KINGSHIP AND PRIESTHOOD!
I know it because the book is addressed to the SERVANTS OF GOD and sent
to the
It
is the mind of man that keeps the world in continual
turmoil. It seethes and bubbles and
boils and erupts like a vast cauldron and the
The
world must be
The
great truth that is wide open to our understanding is this: No trial that we
pass through is merely a trial — it is a battle with God! Some day you will understand that if you are
truly called to sonship. The only
problem we have is our problem with God.
If there was no issue of our will and
our ways versus God’s will and God’s ways, the
test would cease to be a test for there would be no need to prove us, no controversy or conflict, no
doubt or hesitation, no question of the outcome. The issue in which we are tested would not
even exist — swallowed up in the blessedness of a full and unfailing
obedience. There are areas of our lives
where we still obey God because of the threat of punishment or of reaping what
we sow. That is the fruit of the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil! In those
areas we are yet under law, untransformed in mind and heart, not acting out of divine nature. There remains a struggle between our will
and God’s will, between our way and God’s way.
I
tell you, my beloved, the Lamb will make war with us! Don’t worry about the Lamb making war with
As
you read the book of Revelation with the illumination of the Spirit it will
speak to you within yourself. You will
find yourself experientially in one of the seven churches, with its
characteristics either positive or negative; or you will see yourself in the
seals, or in the vials of wrath; you will discover yourself in the glory of the
bride or in the shame and judgment of the great whore; you will lie in bed with
the wicked Jezebel, or stand with the 144,000 virgins upon mount Zion; you will
be refined in the blazing inferno of the lake of fire and brimstone, or you
will drink deeply of the river of the water of life; your flesh (nature) will be
served up as food for the vultures, or you will be clothed in fine linen, pure
and white, and sing the song of Moses and the Lamb. Ah, yes!
You are there, my friend, in
every verse and every line. Only the
Spirit of God can show us these things, and finish the work, that we may become THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST IN
THE EARTH!
EVEN SO COME, LORD JESUS!
“He
which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen.
Even so come, Lord Jesus. The
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
Amen” (Rev. 22:20-21).
And
so it is, as we come to the end of the book, we hear for the last time the
voice of our Beloved saying, “Surely I come quickly.” John could only give one
whole-hearted response, “Amen.
Even so come, Lord Jesus!” He
is not “coming” because the work is finished — He is reminding us that the work
can only be accomplished by His coming within us. In faithfulness He will come, and come,
and continue to come until all things are made new in us and everywhere. We have seen the panorama of events —
awesome, stirring, frightening at times, and inspiring, hopeful, challenging,
and filled with joy unspeakable at other times — all combining to fulfill their
purpose and bring to an end the old creation, that
there might be a “new heaven, and new
earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” His
promise is to come and accomplish
this. To which John responds with
expectation and joy, “AMEN!” So be it!
Let it all happen! We present
ourselves as candidates, for the end result is so desirable
and glorious, we do gladly yield o
“Amen”
is the word Jesus used when He spoke a deep mystery or revelation which He
would impress upon His hearers. The word
is often translated in our King James Bible as “verily.” “Verily, verily, I say unto you.” It is “Amen, amen, I say unto you.” It is the word used by pious Jews in Jesus’
day when they responded to the synagogue prayers. It means, among other things, “It is so!” or
“So let it be!” It is an expression of faith confessing that God is in control
and will bring it to pass. It is the
glad surrender of a son to the Father, offering himself that God may fulfill it
all in and through him. “Amen” is more
than a word — it is a person. How wonderful are the words of our Lord
early in the Revelation when He says, “These
are the words of the Amen” (Rev. 3:14).
The word also means more than “It is so” or “So be it.” When
one makes a statement or promise and adds “Amen,” he is saying “I’ll
back it up; everything I’ve said, I’ll be faithful to.” In Bible days people didn’t usually make
written contracts; they made oral agreements.
When they completed the
agreement, they would say to each other, “I’ll keep my side of the
bargain.” It was like an affirmation or
an oath. The parties involved knew that
they must be faithful to their oral contract and carry out all the things they
had agreed to do. They pledged their
very word and nature to it. So, “Amen”
means a commitment. It means, “I’ll be
faithful to this.”
Jesus
is the Amen! This can mean nothing other than the fact
that our Lord Jesus Christ Himself is the fulfillment of all that is
written in the Revelation! As it is also
written, “For all the promises of God in
Him are Yea, and in Him Amen,
unto the glory of God by us” (II Cor. 1:20).
If we are ever to lay hold upon and appropriate the promises of God in
our very own experience it will only be in
Christ that we will experience them, for the promises are in Him, and in Him they are Yea and Amen, for HE is the “Amen,” the “So be
it!” Christ is made unto us
When
the Lord Jesus calls Himself the Amen, it means that He is the divine “Yes” to
all God’s will and purpose, and to the
prayers of God’s elect as they pray according to His will. When the revelation of God speaks within you
it is the spirit of Christ in your heart that witnesses, “Amen!” The spirit of Christ loves to do within you
that for which He indwells you — to accomplish God’s will on earth. When you step forward to do God’s will and to
become God’s will Christ within you is the Amen — not the word, but the
CONCLUSION
Almost
two thousand years ago, John, the son of Zebedee, apostle, prophet, seer,
author, lover of God and servant of Jesus Christ, passed from this life to
stand with the “great cloud of witnesses” in the heavens of God’s Spirit. How he died or where he was buried no man
knows for sure. I saw what was supposedly his tomb near
We
bring our study to a close. Have you
ever read a book that held you enthralled?
Now and then a volume falls into my own hands which is so captivating
that I am loathe to lay it aside even at the hour when I should be asleep. Sometimes, after finishing a book, I have
leafed fondly through its pages, dipping into its chapters here and there as
though an unsatisfied thirst was still calling for fresh draughts from its
springs of truth. Something like that is
my feeling today. Incredible as it
seems, we have been more than twenty years expounding from these visions of
John! Yet I have a strange feeling of loneliness as though parting from an old
friend or leaving some rare
J. PRESTON EBY
- End
of series
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