Revelation 1:9-20: John’s Vision of Christ (and a brief discussion on the tribulation and the rapture to boot!) (Part 3)

Alright, so after John’s introduction in 1:1-8, one thing is clear: God rules, and Christ is king—so don’t despair, even though you might be suffering persecution for your faith.

Now it has to be made clear that the Apostle John knows what he’s talking about, and he reminds the churches of this in 1:9, when he tells them that he shares in the tribulation, the kingdom, and the patient endurance in Jesus. Remember, John wrote this while in exile on the island of Patmos—he was living through the patient endurance in the face of tribulation.

Now is the as good a time as any to clarify something that will be helpful to understand, not only the rest of Revelation, but also why the popular dispensationalist/Left Behind Series interpretation of the “End Times” is wrong. In dispensationalist theology, there is this idea of a future 7-year tribulation period that will precede the second coming of Christ. Depending if you are “pre-trib,” “mid-trib,” or “post-trib,” you might have been taught that the rapture will happen either before, in the middle, or at the end of this tribulation period in which the Antichrist will rule the world, claim to be God, and bring hell on earth to any and all Christians who refuse to get with his program.

I Thessalonians 4:16-17—Not About A Rapture
Needless to say, there are many things wrong with that view. One of which is the very idea of the rapture. This idea is based on I Thessalonians 4:16-17: “For the Lord himself will descend  from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.”

Dispensationalism reads that phrase “caught up” and teaches that Paul is talking about the rapture of believers right before the coming tribulation. Ask yourself, though, does Paul mention any “7-year tribulation period” here? No. In fact, no one until John Nelson Darby in the 19^th century ever read this passage as referring to the rapture.

What Paul is talking about in I Thessalonians 4 is this: he is addressing a situation in the church of Thessalonica in which some were worried because some of them had died and Christ had not come again yet. If you read the larger context of I Thessalonians 4:13-18, this is pretty clear. Paul is encouraging them not to worry: Christ rose from the dead, and He will come again, and when He does, any Christian who has died will rise from the dead as well.

The imagery Paul is giving here is that of Christ coming to earth to reign, much in the same way a conquering king comes home after the war: the people of the city would go out to great their king and to be with him to celebrate his victory. Paul here is say, “When Christ comes back to reign as king of the whole world, don’t worry—those who have died will resurrect and go out to welcome Him as king…and we’ll go along with them to celebrate with Christ our king!”  He then says, “Encourage one another with these words” (4:18).

Simply put, there’s no indication of some kind of “rapture” away of Christians from earth, and there’s certainly no mention of any kind of 7-year tribulation. This passage is all about Christ’s second coming, the resurrection of the dead, and how Christians will welcome Him as king of the world. It is about the second coming, not any kind of rapture. If you thought that the two were the same thing, you couldn’t be further from the truth.

Think of it this way: the Bible clearly teaches about the second coming of Christ—that’s biblical. It says nothing about a rapture—that was made up by John Nelson Darby.

Side Note
I always find it fascinating that, as I was growing up, it was simply understood within the Evangelical community that groups like the Mormons or the Jehovah’s Witnesses were “cults” because they taught some pretty bizarre stuff. Now, it’s true–they do. What’s more, they both got their start in the 19th century, when their leaders (i.e. Joseph Smith and Charles Taze Russell) claimed to have special insight into the Scripture and started teaching something that had never been taught in Church history. Again, that’s true.

What’s ironic is that Evangelicals fail to see adherence to dispensationalism is basically the same thing: John Nelson Darby just came up with it in the 19th century, and it took root within Evangelicalism with the Scofield Bible. Then, in the 20th century, the young earth creationist movement has followed a similar pattern.

My point is simple: I think we need to see Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Evangelicals who are devoted to either dispensationalism or young earth creationism in a similar light. I’m not about to say “They’re all going to hell!”–but think we need to see all of these movements started roughly around the same time, and all teach things that the first 1850 years of Church history never held to. In any way, it’s something to think about.

The Difference Between Tribulation and Wrath
Here’s another thing that dispensationalism gets wrong, and that is crucial to understanding not only Revelation, but the entire New Testament. Dispensationalism understands “tribulation” as THE Tribulation—meaning that future 7-year period they believe Christ will rapture His followers out of so they don’t suffer. It then understands all the “crazy stuff” that happens in Revelation as what will happen during THE Tribulation.

That’s just wrong.

The Greek word that is often translated as either “tribulation” (or sometimes “suffering” or “persecution”) is θλῖψις (pronounced “thlipsis”). This word is used throughout the New Testament, and when it is used, it is almost always used to describe what Christians should expect to go through. In other words, in the 1^st century Church, one thing was almost certain: if you put your faith in Christ and follow Him, you will suffer persecution and go through tribulation…because you are to pick up your cross and follow Christ. You imitate Christ in His sufferings, and you have the hope that you will always imitate Christ in His resurrection as well.

Simply put, “thilpsis” describes what Christians should expect to go through, not something God will rescue them from.

By contrast, there are two Greek words that are translated as “wrath”– θυμὸς (pronounced “thumos”) and ὀργή (pronounced “orgay”). Whereas “tribulation” denotes what Christians go through, “wrath” denotes God’s judgment on evildoers, those who inflict “tribulation” on His people. Therefore, all that “crazy stuff” in Revelation (i.e. the seven bowls of God’s wrath) doesn’t happen to Christians; it happens to evildoers.

Simply put, Christians are saved from God’s “thumos”/“orgay;” but they should expect to endure “thlipsis.”

Ironically, when dispensationalism claims Christians are saved from “tribulation,” they’re mistaking “wrath” for “tribulation,” and evidently think they’re just synonyms.

They’re not—they’re very different, and understanding the difference is vitally important if you are going to understand both Revelation and the New Testament as a whole.

Now for the Bulk of Revelation 1:9-20: John’s Vision of Christ
The key thing to get from 1:9-20 is John’s vision of Christ. He explains he was on Patmos when he was called to write the book of Revelation. The first thing he describes is his vision of Christ, whom he refers to as “the Son of Man.” Remember, this is a reference to the “Son of Man” from Daniel 7 who ascends to heaven and who rules all—and it is none other than Jesus.

John’s description of Christ sounds odd, containing the following elements:

1. He is walking among seven golden lampstands
2. A golden sash is around his chest
3. His hair is white like wool, like snow
4. His eyes are like flames of fire
5. His feet are like burnished bronze from a furnace
6. He has a voice like the rushing of many waters
7. He is holding seven stars in his right hand
8. A sharp double-edged sword is coming from his mouth
9. His face is shining like the sun

The significance of the whole thing is not to describe how Jesus literally looks like. It denotes his glory and majesty. The sword coming out of his mouth denotes God’s prophetic word.

Christ then calls Himself the First and the Last and the Living One. He was dead, but is now alive forever; He even has the keys of Death and Hades. All of this drives home one obvious point: Christ has conquered death itself.

Therefore, when someone like that appears to you in a vision and tells you to write down what He reveals to you…you’re going to do it! And that is just what John proceeds to do: write Revelation to the seven churches in Asia Minor—that is the significance of the seven golden lampstands and the seven stars in Christ’s right hand. Those churches are “lights to the world” and are safe in Christ’s hands.

A Look Ahead
This description of Christ leads into chapters 2-3, where John relates seven specific messages, one to each church. As we will see next time, the description of Christ here in chapter 1 is used as the basis for how He is described in each message to the seven churches. But that’s for next time…