Through Eyes of Fire

I have spent more time writing out word studies of the book of Revelation beyond any other portion of the Bible. Before I turned thirty, God had delivered me from the sickness of using my brain to force His words into some scheme of application to the political events of this world. I do not do that to His Word; rather, I take each word God speaks into my heart as Christ my only life and there I hold that word, allowing it to rest and then, to bring forth the life of Christ that is in it by the timing and hand of my Father.

Through Eyes of Fire is my attempt to use the metaphors and symbols John saw in his vision on Patmos to address the elements of the closing out of this age of human folly as God really says. In it I define the beast of Revelation 13 as well as many other symbols in the vision. I do not see anything in John's vision as a reversion back to Old Testament thinking. Rather, John's vision is simply the truth of his gospel and letters in a third form.

Although many people like to study different takes on the “endtimes,” my interest is only in the revelation of Jesus Christ through us now upon this earth. There are many powerful understandings that developed in me as I wrote these letters. Reading into audio the prayer found in “Sealed in the Midst of the Storm,” on top of all my speaking of Christ coming before, changed my life and experience with God more than anything thus far. This is an important book.

Introduction

John’s vision on Patmos has mesmerized Christians since it was written. Thousands of earnest scholars have convinced themselves that they alone have figured out the meanings hidden there. But John’s vision seems to speak of dark and terrible things. Much violence has been perpetrated upon this earth because of things people imagined they read in it. Christians have murdered Christians all because of the horrors of Revelation.

Some say it should never have been written.

Why did God give this vision to John; why is it found in our Bibles? Why do so few people find the precious Lord Jesus inside of His Revelation?

We desire to know Jesus as He really is, to be just like Him. How, in the midst of all the clamor, can we know Him inside His Revelation? How can we find our own place inside of Him? We know our place in God as we see all things out from Jesus’ eyes, out from eyes of fire.

The Revelation of Jesus Christ that God gave to John by vision on the Isle of Patmos is a book in which so very few find Him because they do not seek for Him there. Instead, so many turn John’s vision away from the salvation of Christ and onto the horrors of human and political thinking in this world.

In this study of John’s vision, I seek to know Christ revealed as Savior and as Salvation – in and through us, His body, setting all creation free. What are my credentials? I have none. I am just a brother who has walked with God and His people, seeking to know Him, for 38 years of adult life. I have known His glory; I have fellowshipped with His sufferings. I have no backing; I represent no group.

Have I found the secret to unlock the book of Revelation for these last days? No, definitely not, mainly because I’m not looking for any such thing. But I do find Jesus all through John’s vision, just as I find Him all through myself. I find Jesus because He is the only One I seek.

You see, I have a problem, a big problem. I want to be with Jesus as He stands in His glory upon this earth. I want Him to place His arms around my shoulders and say, “This is Daniel; he is with Me.” I want Jesus to reveal His glory in me. But I am so incapable and weak. I have always failed at walking in “perfect obedience.” I have always failed at everything. Yet the very thought of being found anywhere else in that moment than at His side, His glory revealed through me, any notion of, “Oh dear, that might have been me,” I cannot consider.

I cannot be, I will not be, I am not anywhere else.

So, in my weakness, in my desire, in my agony of heart, I have done something quite desperate. You will read about it in Chapter 10: “Christ, God’s Story.” I have boldly entered into the Holiest Place in Heaven, I have willfully seated myself upon the chair that is there. I have turned myself around. I see out, now, from that throne, I see all things through eyes of fire. I do so entirely by faith. I do so because no other possibility can exist for me.

This is not a book for the timid before God. Oh, if you are timid before men, you’ll be fine. But only those who dare to enter into God’s heart, who will to see out from His eyes alone, should spend time with this book.

~~~
This book was written fairly much in the order in which you see it here. As I wrote the first few chapters, I had no idea that it would turn into an exploration of the Apocalypse of Jesus Christ given to John on Patmos. It is true that I have always wanted to write an explanation of the book of Revelation, but I have long known the deadly consequences of intellectual interpretation.

We cannot see the Revelation of Jesus Christ without knowing Christ as He really is.

Each chapter is a letter sent out across the Internet to a small number of readers. Thus some chapters were written in response to things they shared or questions they asked. Through all that I write, there is a continual progression, an unfolding, a growing knowledge of this Jesus who lives as me, this God who fills me with all of Himself. Thus things I cannot see in earlier letters, I suddenly see in later letters as my eyes open to see Jesus as He really is.

I see through His eyes alone. (I say that by faith.) I see through eyes of fire.
God has an incredible purpose inside all the darkness of this world. That purpose is the Revelation of Jesus Christ.