Contrasts of Finality [part one] ...

We have only ever known the events preceding the end of all things, of life as we know it.  For 4,000 years the people of this world waited in anticipation of the first coming of the Messiah.  All they ever knew were the events that preceded His first coming.  Many slept before that great day of our salvation arrived, before God became man, and showed the world what it means to love each other.  So now, we live on the other side of the coming of the Messiah, on the precipice of the end.  We are on the brink of the abyss, staring over its edge into the unknown.  But the reason for revelation is to demystify what is coming, to remove the fear, to maintain the peace of Christ.  John was given these beautiful Revelations of Jesus Christ in order that we see our salvation plainly, understand the attacks of the enemy in order to avoid deception, and know with surety, the outcome of the coming battles as well as the end of this war between good and evil.

All of the Revelations given to John thus far pointed to the events now about to unfold.  Every love-soaked message, every warning, every admonition, every prediction, was designed to lead mankind to the foot of the cross, to find our salvation based in Jesus Christ alone.  In the end, there are only 2 sides, a final contrast between good and evil as reflected in the people who walk the earth.  There is NO middle ground.  There are not 50 shades of gray, nor any other variety.  There are not many paths to God, there is only one.  There is only the blackness of infinite depth that comes packaged in the slavery of self-love.  And there remains its contrast: the bright white light of freedom to love others that is the basis of perfection, harmony with God, and comes in the form of our salvation brought about solely by Jesus Christ.  These 2 contrasting ways of life are all that exist in the end.

Those who bear the mark of the third beast, are content to compel the conscience of others.  They live to exert control.  They are wholly blind to the hate that lives within them, to the bloodlust they are so free to express.  They have deceived themselves into thinking that to kill those who do not share their majority view, is to do the work of God Himself.  But in truth, in Christ, they do not serve truth, nor Christ.  They serve only the dragon, who has only ever sought to compel the minds, hearts, and deeds of mankind in his self-based-service.  By contrast, God has only ever offered a choice to accept His love or not.  To be a true choice, what is selected by mankind must be respected, it must be allowed.  Those who have chosen to find salvation through Jesus Christ alone, MUST find it, or God is not God.  Those who have chosen to seek salvation in themselves in any way, or to seek salvation not at all, are to be allowed to have that choice respected in finality for all time.

What changes about our world at the end of all things, is not the choice, or the results of that choice – it is the finality of that choice.  For 6,000 years, God has waited patiently.  He has tolerated our lives steeped in evil, in order to see us redeemed from them.  He has longed for us to choose the freedom He offers.  He has put up with our refusal to come to Him.  He has shielded us from the pain our choices cause, protected us while we spit in His face, denied His victories, claimed credit for His deeds.  He has faithfully loved us, while we were anything but faithful in return.  He has acted as a loving parent trying so desperately to protect an erring child from the path of self-destruction they have chosen to embrace.  But patience has its limit, time for evil is not infinite, and evil is unrelenting.  Should time be allowed to progress forever, evil would consume every living thing it touches, till none remain.  Ironically, it is not God who forces the end of all things to be.  It is mankind.

When once the compulsion of the conscience upon pain of death is embraced by mankind the world over, mankind will have forced the finality of his own decision.  In effect, our decisions will be written in blood one way or the other.  For those who believe, and who define their identity in following Jesus Christ alone, we write our decision in the blood of Christ.  For those who refuse, they write their decision in the blood of the saints.  Whether Cain, or Abel, whether saved by Christ, or lost to self, the finality of our choice MUST be respected, or it is not a choice at all.

The plagues that John has only recently described were poured out, only AFTER this choice was made.  Evil has suffered the judgments of God, only AFTER evil determined it would never change its mind, it would never choose to be reconciled to God.  And the destruction that evil has embraced is now seen poured out into the world.  The evil woman, the Jezebel, the mother of harlots, and great whore of blending self into the process of our salvation has been judged of God.  She is to be slain.  Babylon, that great city, that government who should have been the light of the world, whose wealth made all rich; has used its power and might to bring destruction through the threat of commerce to the entire globe.  The false prophet, the impersonator of all deities, the dragon has now marshalled his forces to war against the returning lamb.  The contrast is made evident again.  Those who await the return of Love, hide from hate, choosing not to confront it, or kill it, or even to hurt it.  Those who think themselves as pure, and in blind zeal follow their false god, seek to kill any who dissent.  They seek no redemption of their foes, only their extermination.

The contrasts of finality are set.  Evil stands armed, ready, and desiring to kill those who would gently oppose it.  The righteous are buried in the love of Christ, they care for each other, and reflect such deep sorrow for those who WILL not seek love evermore.  The saved seek life.  The lost seek death.  The finality of their choices must be respected to be considered choices at all.  It is in this final scene, that John reveals the contrast of the second coming of Christ.  Believers have only ever longed to see this day.  Many will report, will consider, will think, that they long for it.  But they will be disappointed.  The Pharisees too, did nothing but devote their entire lives to the study of the word.  They lived every day reading, debating, and trying to deepen their understanding of scriptures, of the law, and of God’s will.  They too longed for the Messiah.  They just longed for different kind of savior. 

But when the Messiah appeared, He brought with Him a return to the simple, humble, message of love and service to others.  And the inflated ego of the Pharisees would not accept it.  They had mastered the law and the scriptures, and were wholly ignorant of the love behind them both.  They had put their trust for salvation in the power of self, in the mastery of what “they” learned from scriptures.  They needed no dependence on something outside of themselves to be saved, and thus they were comfortable with murdering the Giver of the law, and the scriptures they devoted their lived to study.  So at the end, history repeats.  Many Christians now stand armed and ready to slay all those who will not yield their conscience to the views of the majority.  They bear the name of Christ, and live the hate of the dragon.

But for those who love others, the end of pain is thing of celebration.  The finality of the triumph of love is a moment all have waited for.  So against this backdrop John continues to reveal what transpires in chapter 19 and very 1 saying … “And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God:”  The first fruits of His salvation, those who were raised from the dead at His crucifixion and returned to God as the first fruits of humanity now praise the Lord their God and our God.  They cry out to honor Him, for He alone is worthy of glory.  He alone has shown the definition of glory in unselfish love to others.  He alone is worthy of honor and power, for His love is more powerful than all the evil that ever has existed.  And His salvation is His gift to us.

John continues in verse 2 … “For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. [verse 3] And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever.”  There is a respect for finality in the praising statements the first fruits offer.  The judgments of God, His stamp of approval or denial have been made known as to the all the false doctrines of the churches who claim His name, and serve the dragon.  Those who sought to find salvation in themselves, whether alone, or in part, have found only the results of evil’s punishments poured out on their doomed efforts.  The many true followers who they killed in the name of a saving God, are avenged in the plain declaration of God’s disapproval of their actions.  The finality of this question is to be made clear, and permanent.  The phrase John uses is “her smoke rose up for ever and ever”.  The results of God’s judgments are final, there will be no additional discussions, no revisions, no edits, no opinions.  The matter has been judged, and the results are to be eternal, for ever and ever.

Notice here, it is not the torment of the whore that is to be eternal.  She is not to be tortured forever.  These texts reveal she is already dead, burnt, and gone.  It is her smoke, the after-effects of her destruction, her lack of existence, and the memory of her error, that is to last forever.  She does not stay in a state of perpetual dying.  She does not get to live on, whether in agony, or through adapting to pain, to live a tortured existence constantly bemoaning her state.  Eternal life, even in agony, is NOT her fate.  But she is to die.  And she is to remain dead.  The memory of her evil choices lives on the smoke, but not her consciousness, nor her body.  The dead know not anything.  She will sleep the sleep of non-existence, neither sharing the joy of love, nor the agony of dying.  It is a contrast in finality.

John continues in verse 4 … “And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia.”  Here again the 24 elders, the representatives of our world that sit closest to God and witness His work for our salvation, praise Him who gives freely to all the redeemed.  In addition, the 4 beasts, or representatives of the other creations of our God, the other sentient life around the universe we know so little of, also praise Him.  Notice how they humble themselves, by lowering themselves, in effect falling to the ground.  When we see the love of God through the lens of perfection, even after millennia, it overwhelms us, and causes us to prostrate ourselves before the glory of His love.  We will never fully understand it, forever learning more of its depths, and trying better to reflect it.  The time of the redemption of mankind is not just a cause for human celebration, it is one for universal celebration.  There is no “prodigal’s brother” in this story, only servants of the King who are glad to throw a celebration at the redemption of he who was lost and is found.

John continues in verse 5 … “And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great.”  We do not know the source of this voice.  Perhaps it is the voice of the Holy Spirit, perhaps the voice of the archangel.  Both the cause of celebration is to be universal, both in our world, and in all the other unfallen worlds across the galaxies.  The response comes quickly as John continues in verse 6 … “And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.”  The response echoes across the universe, it sounds like rushing water, like thunder, in its declaration of praise and thanksgiving.  It is likely many voices in one accord, all echo the praise our God deserves.

John continues in verse 7 … “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. [verse 8] And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.”  Here John recalls the analogy of the wedding feast Jesus spoke of so long ago.  Five foolish virgins and five wise who took the extra precautions to be ready with extra oil – in this case he focuses attention on the bride herself, the church of Christ, the true followers of Jesus.  There are they who love.  These are they who cannot imagine breaking His laws of love, nor choosing to follow another, nor identifying themselves as anything other than followers of Jesus Christ.  These do not kill.  They love.  These do not compel.  They invite and accept.  These do not condemn, they focus on redemption.  These have made themselves ready in the acceptance of the salvation that comes from Jesus Christ alone.  Notice how John carefully uses the words “to her was granted”.  This shows that the fine linen, that is clean and white, and represents the righteousness of the saints IS A GIFT!!  It is “granted” to her, it is given to her.  It is not something she earned, performed services for, or bought with her wealth.  It is a gift, granted to her from her Husband.

The angel continues to speak to John in verse 9 … “And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.”  All who are redeemed are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.  In addition all who witness the redemption of fallen mankind from around the universe may well enjoy that invitation too.  We are not the exclusive creations of our God.  We share His love with our fellow created beings.  And perhaps on that long awaited day, we will share a feast with more species than the ones we recognize today.  John’s joy in the reaction to this scene of so great joy overwhelms him as he continues in verse 10 … “And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”  John is so thankful he is ready to worship the bearer of so good news, but the angel is quick to correct him.  The angels of heaven know, that only God is worthy of worship. 

This angel identifies himself in such simple yet profound language.  He refers to himself as a “fellow servant”.  He too works His part in the mission of our redemption, in SERVICE to others.  In identifying with John he reminds him gently that these revelations are part of his mission in the redemption of mankind.  He then identifies himself secondarily as “of thy brethren”.  The angel considers himself to be part of our family.  He accepts us, even with all our undeserved nature, faults, and history; as a part of his closest kin.  He adopts us into his family without reservation, limitations, or preconditions – sound familiar?  It should.  It is the nature of the love of God reflected through this one of his creations.  He then points out to John, that the testimony of Jesus Christ is the Spirit of Prophecy.  Jesus testified while here of what was to come.  He spoke of what He alone could know was going to take place.  All through this book of revelations, Jesus has revealed Himself and our salvation to John through each and every prophecy. 

The scene in heaven is set to joy, a stark contrast to what lay below it.  The finality of the judgment of God is to be celebrated and lamented.  The contrasts have only begun, more was to unfold in just a few moments …