1:19 Write the things which thou hast seen and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;
Speaking of “keys,” before us, in v19, is the key to interpreting the whole of the Revelation. As we have earlier seen, traditional methods of interpretation of Revelation generally follow one of four types: Preterit, which interprets the book in a first century setting, and see its fulfillment within the lifetime of the apostles; Historic, which sees the book as describing the mystery of God as it unfolds from the church’s beginning, to, and including, the end of history; Futuristic, being the view that places all the visions of the book which come after 4:1, after the departure of the church from the earth; and the Idealic, this view sees the prophecies and visions as having no particular fulfillment, but as being symbolic pictures of timeless truths, such as the triumph of good over evil.
“Write the things which thou hast seen.” ～ It seems that if this verse is considered, it would show itself to be the blueprint for the book of Revelation itself. Notice that John was told to write the things he had (past tense) seen. Now, while it is tempting to limit this “hast seen” to the vision of Christ in the midst of the candlesticks, the verse itself does not allow it, because the next command was to write “the things which are.” One gets the definite sense that it is events, both heavenly and earthly, in the realm of the human continuum that are in view here. In that the scope of human history is made up of past, present, and future, we may expect the Apocalypse to contain an overlay of history spanning the entire scope of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. John has already informed us that he was “in the Spirit.” Now, when one operates in the Spirit, he/she is not bound to time and space. What the Seer was about to write would not come through his five senses to his soul. Instead it would be communicated spiritually. That is to say, his spirit would transcend the limitations of body and soul, and swim in the Spirit of the Eternal. And, in that God is the Eternal One, there is no time with Him—there is only NOW. For the Revelator to be IN the Spirit of God enabled him to move into future events and record (in symbolic language) what he saw there. To this end, Christ instructed John to not only write what he had seen (had already occurred), and what was presently taking place, both in the heavenly and earthly realms, but also, the things which shall be hereafter.
Having this “key” to unlock the mysteries of the book, we may proceed with the assurance that some of what we are about to read has already happened, even before John wrote of it. Some things we read were in fact taking place as he recorded them, while much of what we will be reading was to transpire in John’s future.
The students of the Revelation must keep constantly before them the fact that the book was written as resistance literature, for the purpose of strengthening the Church, which was in the throes of persecution from the kingdom of the beast; and is, therefore, written covertly. That is to say, things are not what they appear. But within the text are the “keys” for understanding the symbols: as John wrote in 13:18, “Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding…” That was the very point. The Revelation (unveiling) was not for everyone to understand. Therefore, it was written cryptically. This is a mystery of the kingdom. And Christ, who is the Revealer here, had told His disciples that He taught in parables, “Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.” (Matt 13:11)
“Things which shall be hereafter.” ～ Moreover, a modern student of the Apocalypse must also be a student of Church and world history. Why? Because, while the “things which shall be hereafter” would be John’s future, it does not follow that those events must be in our future—who live 2000 years beyond John’s time. The student of New Testament prophecy, may, and should, use the same method used by students of Old Testament prophecy, in determining which messianic prophecies relate to Christ’s first advent, and which have the second coming in view. This method is rather simple: match the prophecy with the event. The same process may be applied to the prophecies of the book of Revelation. The Church today is far too egocentric. It is a Church that sees itself as the center of all biblical prophecy, and seems to think that all prophetic scripture is focused on it. A bit more of a sharing spirit should prevail. If so, we would admit that, including the first century A.D., there have been two millennia of church history in which some of those things which were in the “after this” (NKJV) of John, may be in our “before this.”
Apostolically Speaking,
☩ Jerry L Hayes
☩ Jerry L Hayes
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