“He who testifies to these things says,
‘Surely I am coming quickly’. Amen.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” Rev. 22:20
As I sat before a blazing fire at the end of a chilly winter in the Appalachians contemplating the first verses of The Revelation of Christ, I clearly imaged the ancient John standing on a bluff, overlooking the glorious azure blue of a Greek sea surrounding his tiny island exile, sure of no escape.
He stands there, shaking. A gnarled walking stick in his left hand as the brisk sea winds blow through his ragged grey hair. His mind drifts as he stares long and hard at that salty water; remembering that the temple was burned to the ground years ago with most everyone he loved and taught scattered from Jerusalem, and many martyred under that lunatic, demonic Nero.
“And here I am,” began his whispered conversation into the gusts, “exiled but miraculously alive, because I’ve kept Your Word and Your testimony.”[1]
“Lord, I am old, and left alone of the brother apostles, wondering where You are, Jesus. What is my destiny now?” He begins quietly sobbing as only old men do. “I miss you, Friend. You know my heart. Remember the sweet times when we were young and full of Your vision and strength? What happened?”
John felt the wind caressing his face clearing his hair from his face, the sharp sting of an impending storm blowing…or was something else in the wind? John begins to wail as he stands in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day with his thin, trembling arms uplifted in worship. Suddenly, he hears a loud voice behind him booming with the force of a warfare trumpet.
As the very words came, it blew his hair forward enclosing his face still facing the sea. The breath of the Trumpet was now speaking. He froze. That familiar Voice was saying words he had long known: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last.” Then the new directions: “What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches, which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”
Ever so slowly, John turned his body to see The Voice that was speaking to him, only to confront an open visual sensation of seven golden lamp stands where Christ stood in the midst, clothed with a garment adorned by a solid gold band around His upper chest. The robe fluttered with power, traveling down to His feet that shimmered as fine brass refined by the furnace of victory.
Even more startling, compared to the humble Jesus he knew so well, as the son of man, He stood tall in His heavenly role as Son of God. At once, John looked to His face for confirmation but now, His entire head with once curling brown hair, shone as shockingly white like the cleanest wool—more like icy, untrampled snow—but His eyes! They blazed like flames of hottest fire and pierced John’s eyes causing him to cast his gaze downward, protecting them.
The blaring of the trumpet voice became softened as the sound of many waters flowed gently over John’s spirit. Ahh, this was more familiar. John was calmed enough to refocus on the mysterious seven stars in His right hand, when unexpectedly, a sharp two-edged sword[2] appeared out of Christ’s mouth that affected His whole countenance to effervesce brighter than earth’s sun shining in its full strength. John immediately knew The Voice was the source of God’s words cutting and dividing truth from falsehoods, so profoundly evident on earth.
Personally, by just reading of John’s induction into the final tasks of his life, I was stopped right there, as an anointing filled my already warm room, pen upraised in hand. This scene brought the excitement to continue the prophetic story of Jesus merged into the human story of Revelation Warriors as bared by His revelation. I was the more enthused to discover many of the hidden treasures lying in plain sight that rested within its pages and pass them on to readers and fellow saints of our generation.
As I prepared this for writing a year ago, the preponderance of a code of Sevens formed a pattern that sprang out. Then I began searching for them everywhere, even in the Old Covenant[3] where we find it repeated in the New Testament; e. g., the seven-fold praise of YHWH,[4] the Seven Spirits of God before His throne,[5] the seven thunders, and many more unlikely groups of sevens outlined in Appendix C.
The Revelation’s Code of Sevens has a force that is final and unquestionable. These are the punctuation marks that begin and end events, complete vivid descriptions, and reveal a posture of the finality of God’s architecture and purposes for this planet. We get a good dose of the spiritual over-world and underworld, too, making it clearer just how very much our Lord worked on all this from before creation…but still mysterious.
These details are awesome in the true meaning of that word. As Jesus told John, fainted dead away at His feet after seeing His glory and placing His right hand of life on him, admonished him:
“Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hell and of Death. Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this.”
Do not be fearful, intimidated, or passive about reading The Revelation of Jesus Christ. It is a love letter to us, full of grace. It completes our history so we may live the cycle of this present life, then return with Him to the restored Paradise[6] that Adam and Eve once lived. Paradise is again found in these prophetic visions and revelations.
[1] Revelation 1:9-20
[2] Hebrews 4:12. Paul spoke of the two-edged sword as God’s Word. Christ identified Himself again, years beyond giving it to Paul.
[3] The Old Testament has over 800 allusions to the last things of earth with 404 verses in the New Testament on this topic. See www.KHouse.TV for the work of Dr. Charles W. (Chuck) Missler.
[4] Rev. 5:13-14; Rev. 7:12; 1 Chronicles 29:10-11 by David; 1 Timothy 1:17
[5] Rev. 1:4; Rev. 3:1; 4:5; 5:6
[6] Luke 23:43; 2 Corinthians 12:4; Rev. 2:7; Genesis 2:9 with Rev. 22:2-5