2. Interpreting John's Vision
Audio OnlyI have promised for years to create a list of the principles of God established throughout Scripture for the interpretation of visions like John’s. Now I must deliver. I have already mentioned most of these principles. At present, I do not have a full list before me. Rather, I will hammer out that list as we go forward. Then, when we have these principles clearly before us, we will arrange them into a suitable order.
Godly interpretation will always follow these principles, but we want to focus specifically on John’s vision, which is not monolithic, but rather is a series of visions tied together.
The Ruling Verses. The first principle always comes first, and that is, very simply, that the Ruling Verses rule. If Paul’s Gospel does not rule, then the one verse of darkness always will.
1. The Ruling Verses of Paul’s Gospel confirmed by John govern every purpose and every definition ascribed to a vision. The elements of a vision serve ONLY to enable us to know more clearly one or another reality of God coming through these ruling gospel verses.
Of truth, this is the EAGER Sword penetrating into the very heart of anyone imagining that they should approach the Word God speaks. Are you here to know the Father or are you here to manipulate God’s people for self-gain?
A Ruling Verse. That last statement points us directly to another principle of interpreting visions, and that is the role of the apostolic, or, we could say, the role of the fear of God. That principle comes later, however.
Consider – Christ lives inside of your heart through faith, but especially as it’s primary supporting verse, Christ written with Spirit ink upon our hearts of flesh. Now, every picture in these words from 2 Corinthians 3:3 - a letter of… written, not with ink, but with… – not on tablets of stone, but inside tablets of… – is a metaphor. God speaks with metaphors is principle #2 coming up.
One Verse from John’s Vision. Now, “Christ,” “Spirit,” and “heart” are not metaphors, but are out from the substance of God. Nonetheless, I am seeing now that – Christ “written” upon the heart – is a metaphor found at the core of every one of the Ruling Verses.
So, let’s take one verse from John’s vision, Revelation 5:1. – And I saw a scroll upon the right hand of the One sitting upon the throne. The scroll was written on both sides, within the curve as well as on the back, and it was sealed with seven seals. Two men approach this picture to interpret it.
Two Men Speak. The first man strides boldly out from the one verse to rule them all and in the darkness bind them. “This is easy,” he cries. “The words written on the scroll are words of cursing and woe, words expressing God’s hatred of humans upon the earth. And the seals are the sending forth of God’s wrath into our present world.” And all the people shout, “Yea and amen!”
The second man walks in quiet certainty out from the Ruling Verses of the Gospel. “This is the unveiling of Jesus, after all,” he says to those who will hear him. “Look at Christ Jesus written all through the hearts of His own ones.”
A Gathering unto Christ. The second man continues. “This is the parable. Jesus is already written upon the hearts of His Church, but no one can see Him because of the demons of the false gospel sitting upon His people.” And those who hear the second man gather together out from their intention to PROTECT the Church, and they speak with the Lord Jesus to BREAK OFF the seals that keep Jesus in His Church from being seen and known.
What happens to the Ruling Verses of the Gospel when the first man speaks? – They vanish as if they don’t exist. And what happens to the Ruling Verses with the second?
The Most Amazing Thing. What happens is this. – All the Ruling Verses of the Gospel, with all their many companion verses, and all the verses of the Bible, come singing into place, filled with overflowing joy and the revelation of God’s purpose and determination. And all cry with a loud voice, “Worthy are You to take the scroll and to break off its seals, because You were slain and You purchased to God inside Your blood a people out from every tribe and language, people and ethnicity.”
When we place the Ruling Verses of the Gospel as our knowing of everything, then the most amazing thing happens. – The Apocalypse becomes the Unveiling of Jesus Christ! – Who would have thought!
Metaphors – Exuberantly. Principle #2 is that God speaks to us with metaphors.
This is so basic. – Seven starving cows MEAN seven years of famine. They don’t mean seven starving cows. When God uses the metaphor of a Lamb, He does not mean that Jesus is really a barnyard animal in His final role. And when He uses the metaphor of the beast, He does not mean that a leopard animal thing will crawl out of the ocean, like some evolutionary beast, and take control. John’s vision is not ridiculous science fiction.
We know that our Father is exuberant with metaphors, casting them everywhere and mixing them up together.
Represents. Specifically, however, Jesus is very clear in His initial instructions to John exactly how the vision is to be interpreted, that is, as metaphors of the REAL.
The mystery of the seven stars which you saw upon My right hand and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angel messengers of the seven church assemblies; and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. A star represents an angel/messenger/ministry. And the lampstand IS THE CHURCH. Seven is also a metaphor, representing completion, the whole thing in every generation and in every part of the earth.
Search the Scriptures! This takes us to the third principle of interpreting visions.
3. What God means by His metaphors is recorded upon the pages of the Bible.
It’s easy to know what God means by any metaphor. Simply take that metaphor in John’s vision and write out, by hand, every verse in the Bible containing it. Then, use the simple principles of definition, and determine God’s meaning from the context. And when you do that, you will find yourself writing many verses from Genesis, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Zechariah. But far more from John and 1 John.
A Layout of Verses. Let’s try that process briefly.
You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the Testimony that I will give you. And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat (Exodus 25). – In mercy the throne will be established; and One will sit on it in truth, in the tabernacle of David (Isaiah 16:5).
Then I heard Him speaking to me from the temple…, “Son of man, this is the place of My throne… (Ezekiel 43:6) – We should come with bold speaking to the throne of grace and favor (Hebrews 4:16).
Arriving at a Definition. I will give him, immediately and ongoing, to sit with Me inside of My throne, just exactly as I also… sat down with My Father inside of His throne (Revelation 3:21). – I saw a throne set inside of heaven and One sitting upon the throne (Revelation 4:2).
Christ lives inside of your hearts through faith (Ephesians 3:17). John SAW Christ Jesus seated upon my heart, the Mercy Seat of God. – My heart is good; my heart is filled with Jesus.
Before continuing, however, we must bring in our fourth principle, something already mentioned.
Apostolic Anointing. Principle #4. The apostolic must always come first. Yet, as our fourth principle of interpretation, we are not just speaking of an apostolic word, but also of the anointing, that is, the flow of an apostolic interpretation. We are speaking of the fear of God.
You have put to the proof those claiming to be apostles but are not, and you have found them fake (Revelation 2:2). The word apostle is “sent one.” Someone who is sent carries ONLY the purposes and determination of the One who sent him. An apostle is one who cares about God.
The Anointing Teaches Us. The flow of the anointing is central to John’s vision and to the Unveiling of Jesus Christ. Let’s list briefly a few of the signs of a true Anointing and sending.
The Anointing teaches us:
1. To humble ourselves with Father beneath of others.
2. To place the Father’s Heart and Desire as the entire motivation of our lives.
3. To tremble at God’s word and to exalt His word above all.
4. To believe that God is telling us the truth in all, and that all Word is fulfilled in our lives on this earth.
5. To set our hearts upon the Church as the Victory and the Unveiling of Jesus Christ.
Fakery. Here are some signs of those who are fake. They teach you –
1. To see a God of superiority, arrogance, and contempt.
2. To be motivated to escape hell and go to heaven someday.
3. To fixate on a “theological” interpretation of the Bible.
4. To place the big verses of the gospel “into heaven” after you die, for they cannot happen here.
5. To set your hope on God taking us out of this low place of fleshy weakness.
Oh, and they never can see “Christ lives inside your heart through faith” anywhere in the book of Revelation. Rather, they interpret John’s vision by all that opposes the gospel.
The Devoted Spirit. That brings us to the fifth and sixth principles of interpreting visions and dreams and especially Revelation. These are both having to do with the Devoted Spirit, but it is important to underline each as a different principle.
5. It is the Devoted Spirit who is the teacher, and He uses every verse, chapter, and metaphor in the Bible inside of His resting upon all flesh, in order somehow to show Christ in such a way and at the level of which people are able to hear and receive Him.
6. It is always Christ Jesus of whom the Spirit is teaching at anytime or in any place, from Christ as Savior to Christ as Life. This (revelation of Christ now) is that (metaphor.)
Correct Interpretations. Consider Principle 5. Here is a Baptist pastor who loves Jesus and cares for his people. In his limited relationship with the Devoted Spirit, he finds a verse in Revelation that speaks to him of Jesus’ love for us and he shares the truth with his congregation. That pastor is interpreting that verse 100% as the Spirit intends through him, that Christ might be known at the level that these precious saints can know Him.
Then here’s me, using that same verse to instruct and guide us in our engagement of war for the sake of the Church, a totally different “interpretation.”
What Do We Seek? In the first place, it MEANT, by the Spirit, exactly what the Baptist pastor taught. And in the second place, it MEANT, by the same Spirit, exactly what God is teaching us. We do not then claim that the word can mean anything. In each instance it is Christ who is being revealed.
That brings us to principle #6, that Christ Jesus is the one who is being revealed.
Now, this is a very large and most critical principle, one that includes a number of important things. First, what do we hope to find in a study of Revelation? Most who study this book do not seek what I seek.
Jesus as Father through Us. As Brother Sam said, “We do not seek for what God did through Christ 2000 years ago, but we seek to know what God is doing and about to do through Christ inside of us now.”
We are seeking, not Jesus as the Way, nor Jesus as the Truth, nor Jesus as the Life. We possess Jesus in those ways already in all. We are seeking JESUS as the REVELATION of the Father through us, His Church. Yet for us, we are seeking for something even more. We are seeking to KNOW this Jesus as He moves through us in power FOR THE SAKE of His Church.
Finding the Lord Jesus. People seek for all sorts of things in Revelation, things that are “as crap to me,” as Paul said. They find what they seek.
Yet, to our utter amazement, we find the Lord Jesus Christ revealed through every chapter and verse of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. – Who would have thought! We find what we seek.
Let’s now look at this seeking and finding Christ from a different perspective. God has given us NO prophetic Scripture so that we could “predict the future,” for the ages unfold out from our Life.
This Now Is That Word. Here is Paul’s list of reasons for a prophetic word. Prophesying is speaking [Christ] to other humans for edification, encouragement, and comfort (1 Corinthians 12:3). “Predict their future” is not in the list; neither can such a thing be found inside of a Kingdom coming out from Father and us sharing life together.
Then, here is Peter’s statement on the Day of Pentecost. This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel (Acts 2:16). – THIS visible outpouring of Christ is THAT prophetic word spoken by the prophet.
The Moment of Actuality. Do you see what just happened? Prior to that moment there had existed only endless intellectual discussion concerning Joel’s prophecy, all of which led NO ONE to see the Lord Jesus Christ filling His Church by His Spirit. Then, in the moment of actuality, an Apostle, moving in the Anointing and driven by the determination of the Father, reaches for Joel’s prophetic word and finds it to be the perfect road map to show everyone what this wondrous reality of the revelation of Jesus Christ is all about. As Peter looked around himself, there was such a knowing leaping up inside of him from the outpoured Spirit seizing hold of the same knowing arising out from the Scriptures.
Turning Mind-Games. Peter sought for Christ Jesus in his experience with the Church, and he sought for the same unveiling of Christ in the words of prophecy. Peter found what he sought.
God does NOT play mind-games with His people, but He does turn the mind-games played by manipulators back upon themselves, as David said. In other words, God has filled His Bible with stumbling stones and rocks of offence designed to entrap into nonsense those who are not seeking to know Christ Jesus. – This from Revelation 13. Here is wisdom. The one having understanding, let him count the number of the beast. A wise man said, “I don’t understand a thing.” But all the fools rush into God’s trap.
The Fulness of Times. Principle #7 is the relationship between Today in every place and in every generation and “the fulness of times.”
Because all Word is God speaking Christ, every Word God speaks is true TODAY towards every person and every assembly of believers through all the centuries in every place. Yet God also has a short dispensation of time in which He requires that all things become visible as they really are. The Bible word for that action is the Apocalypse. The completion of the beast in our day, for instance, does not take away from the fact that every believer in Jesus has faced the same beast in their day and locale.
As a Lightning Bolt. We have one more principle of interpretation applied especially to John’s vision, a principle drawn out from each of the prior principles and tying them all together.
I have shared of those times when God made use of Sam Fife’s faith and the authority of his words to come into me out from the heavens as a lightning bolt of power-filled Word. This happened a number of times, but especially in the October 1978 Bowens Mill convention. Here is the greatest of those WORDS. – A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: and she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
The Entrance of Life. I was twenty one years old. In that moment God Himself entered into me and opened my heart with power to see and to know His Church in her hour of greatest need. I have never left that heavenly vision, but it has been the director of all my thoughts and ways from then until now.
Principle #8. Revelation, the Bible, God – is all about the LIFE of the knowledge of God entering into the knowledge of all out from the travail of the Church in her hour of greatest need.
I know now that it was God saying to me, “Son, will you be one of ‘they.’” And my answer was and is, “Yes, Lord.”
A Seed Bringing Forth Many. Or we could say it this way. The Seed of Life, planted in us through John’s gospel and shaped as Christ in us through John’s letters, becomes the Child born inside of God and inside of His throne, sending forth that same life to all.
Or we could say it this way. If a grain of wheat planted into the ground should not die, it remains alone. If it should die, however, it bears much fruit. The grain of wheat is the seed of Christ planted into our earth, every word God speaks, the Lord Jesus. Jesus then becomes the plant, that is, He now looks like me and us together. Then He brings forth many just like Himself – and her child is seized into God and into His throne.
John’s Vision and Mine. John’s vision is FIRST, and in all, the Completion of God’s central metaphor of the reproduction of Life. Those who seek to know the meaning of that Completion find the Unveiling of Christ all through the Apocalypse. Those who do not know or make use of God’s metaphor of the reproduction of Life find only what C.J. Sansom asserted should never have been written.
The planting of the Seed of God into the womb of the Church – John’s gospel. The development of the child inside the womb – John’s letters. The birthing of that child into the knowledge of all – John’s vision and mine.
Principles for Interpretation. I think we’ll keep our list in the order it came out.
1. The Ruling Verses rule everything in any dream or vision.
2. God speaks to us through an exuberant use of metaphors.
3. Everything God means by any metaphor is found through the Scriptures and is known by context clues.
4. The flow of the Apostolic anointing guides all and separates away those who care not for God’s Heart.
5. The Devoted Spirit is the teacher making use of the Word to show Christ in personal and relevant ways.
6. The Spirit always teaches only Christ Jesus our life. We find what we seek.
Eight and Two.
7. Every Word God speaks applies to all everywhere, but comes to its completion in the fulness of times.
8. John’s vision is all about the bringing forth of LIFE – the knowledge of God into the knowledge of all.
But let’s also add the two anti principles of interpretation, for they will be relevant throughout our study.
Anti-1. Let’s find every way we can to connect John’s vision to the covenant of death, to the tree of death, to a world of destruction, to a universe of good and evil forever.
Anti-2. Let’s stand hostile against any attempt to find the Life of Jesus REVEALED through His Church in Revelation.
Reading for Next Time. The next lesson is titled “Applying John’s Vision.” For that lesson, read Revelation Chapters 16-22 in the JSV. I hope to have all of it in the semi-final version before you read it, but if not, read the rough version, ignoring all the typos. Read it with the same things in mind as before.
And I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having been prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of the throne, saying: “Look and see, the tabernacle of God is with men…” – And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!”
Let’s Pray Together. I find myself in the travail of the Spirit over many days. We are seized in the determination of God for His purposes. The last thing I want is to come up with any “clever” use of Revelation. What we must have is the exact purposes of God for us through this study. Our place in the completion of the age requires that the weapons of our warfare be mighty. Let’s pray for a wide-open Door of God through us, that we might know God’s intentions in all.
“God, our Father, we are seized in Your determination. We give ourselves utterly to You that You might possess all the desire of Your Heart in our world.
“Because we live always inside of Your fear, Oh God, we are never afraid to hear You speak mighty things to us, that we might open to You the doors of human authority into Your Church.
“God, give us understanding to know how the ruling verses of Your gospel direct every part of John’s vision into LIFE. God, direct us by Your Spirit to find Your meaning for every metaphor in the Apocalypse, that we might be the revelation of Jesus Christ against the darkness. Oh Devoted Spirit, teach us all things of Christ Jesus through us now into Your Church. We seek to know Christ alone in the unfolding of the Age of Tabernacles out from our shared life with God.
“Give us that sharp and eager sword of a gospel of Life, that cuts through the darkness to expose the falseness of death that has been placed upon Your word. Give us the certainty of faith that we might stand firm inside all the Words of Life, Christ written upon our hearts, now seen and read by all.
“And God, our Father, we ask that You would bring forth Life through us, not for ourselves, but for Your precious Church, millions of believers in Jesus all across the earth. We see our brethren, Oh God, sleepwalking into death, unaware of the great evil bearing down on them, imagining a false “escape.” Cause us to be those who protect Your Church in her hour of greatest need. Let it be so; it is so.”