58. The Unveiling

Covering Revelation Chapter 1:

We do not need an explanation of how we are to approach John’s vision, for we have that already in The Apocalypse Now, becoming a new study guide, “Writing the Jesus Secret.”

I have written the Flow of Gospel Word for John’s gospel and John’s letters at the same time. Thus I can say with emphasis that we enter Revelation ONLY out from John and 1 John together. The Vision can only be the Gospel. It cannot be some alternative or “old covenant” way of thinking. In our world today, Christians are presenting “the return of Jesus” as VIOLENCE. And that the violence of this wicked world is “preparing for His return.” This is anti-Christ, the false speaker, speaking against all that is of God, defaming and making a mockery of Jesus to all the world.

Our Purpose. Yes, I am angry at those who steal, who kill, and who destroy, all “in the name of Jesus” publicly proclaimed. And although that anger is essential to the Flow of Gospel Word coming through John’s vision, we must keep it limited inside of God. Revelation is the greatest portrayal of LOVE out from God through Jesus into our world. It is the completion of the Gospel. The rule of Revelation is Ruling Verse 4, 12:10-11, and it’s beauty is the Church bringing forth life, 12:1-5.

Our purpose in this study is to enter into the framework given to John’s vision by the Flow of Gospel Word, not to enlarge on the meaning of everything mentioned. In this first lesson, I want to see how Revelation is the Completion of that Flow of Gospel Word, not just from John, but from Old Testament Scripture through the Gospel into the Unveiling.

Defining the Unveiling. I am creating a study book that will place every Gospel Comment into our fifteen categories. That is, all Ruling Verse 1 comments from all New Testament books, and so on. I want to see how the Unveiling of Jesus Christ completes the flow of each one. I will begin here with two per slide, in a different order than normal, making them red, as they might appear in The Open Scroll. Let’s start with a definition of the Unveiling.

1:1 Definition: The unveiling is the “apocalypse,” that moment when the cover is taken off of the eyes and what is real and has always been True is now seen. This occurs for individuals personally, as well as for everyone at once. Jesus returned into His Church on the Day of Pentecost; we together are His actual body. Yet, as Jesus foretold, no one is aware of His coming because all remain blind. The Unveiling begins as we see Jesus as He is in ourselves and in one another.

Ruling Verses 1 & 2. R V 1: The key verse of the Old Testament is Genesis 1:26-28, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion.” The key words are image and subdue. To have dominion and to subdue requires Love out from God, synergeoing with God, for God is Love, not violence. It requires giving ourselves to God for the sake of others, symmorphosed with Jesus. The fulfillment of such an image of Love is Revelation 12:11 – for the sake of the Church.

R V 2: “Then the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord… into the inner sanctuary of the temple. – The glory of the Lord filled the house of God” (2 Chronicles 5:7-14). Christ dwells in our hearts through faith (the Ark into the sanctuary) – that we might be filled with all the fulness of God. – “Then the sanctuary of God… was opened (the unveiling), and the Ark of the Covenant was seen inside… the place of His dwelling.”

Covenant & Speak Christ. Covenant: This is the Covenant that I will make with the House of Israel after those days, says the Lord, I will place My laws in their through-minds, and upon their hearts I will inscribe them, and I will be God inside of them and they will be a people inside of Me (Hebrews 8:10 from Jeremiah 31:31-34). I will write upon Him My new Name and the name of My God and of the city of My God. – The One who sits upon the throne will tabernacle and dwell among them (Revelation 3:12 & 7:15).

Speak Christ: God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light (Genesis 1:3). – The Word is near you, inside of your mouth and inside of your heart. – For the heart persuades into just innocence and the mouth speaks the same word, speaking Christ into Salvation (Romans 10:8-10 from Deuteronomy 30:12-14). His voice was as the voice of many waters. – His name is called the Word of God (Revelation 1:15 & 19:13).

Ruling Verses 3 & 10. R V 3: And the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters. – I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh and they will prophesy (Genesis 1:2 & Joel 2:28). As the Scripture has said, rivers of living water shall flow out from your belly. – You shall receive power after the Devoted Spirit comes upon you, and you will be My witnesses. – I will give to My two witnesses, and they will prophesy. The witness of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy.

R V 10: And they shall make an ark of acacia wood… And you shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and out… And you shall put into the ark the Testimony which I will give you. “You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold… You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark… And there I will meet with you (Exodus 25). – In that day, you will KNOW. – I saw [Jesus] inside the midst of the lampstands [His Church]. – And the Ark of the Covenant was seen inside… the place of His dwelling.”

Ruling Verse 4 & Bringing Forth Life. R V 4: “Subdue” (Genesis 1:28). “Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord… For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The Lord will fight for you” (Exodus 14:13-14). “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it” (Numbers 13:30). – Now is come Salvation… – And they overcame the accuser for the sake of the Church.

Life: Therefore a man shall… be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh (Genesis 2:24). The way of a man with a maid (Proverbs 30:19). Flesh of His flesh, one flesh with Him. – I am speaking of Christ and the Church (Ephesians 5:30-32). The seven stars and the seven lampstands. – To him I will give to eat of the Tree of Life. – And she brought forth a son, a manchild, who was seized into God and into His throne.

Ruling Verses 5 & 6. R V 5: You shall take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel… So Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord on his two shoulders as a memorial (Exodus 28:9-12). “Here am I, look at Me, I and the children whom God has given Me” (Isaiah 8:18). Christ in you, the hope of glory – Christ our Life (Colossians 1:27 & 3:4). I will write upon Him My new name. – And I saw a scroll… written on both sides.

R V 6: He shall kill the goat of the sin offering… bring its blood inside the veil… and sprinkle it on the mercy seat… So he shall make atonement… Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of …Israel… The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land (Leviticus 16). Inside the blood of Jesus consecrating for us a newly sacrificed as well as a living way through the veil… – And they overcame by the Blood of the Lamb.

Ruling Verses 7 & 8. R V 7: Stand still and SEE the Salvation of God. – The just shall live through faith (Habakkuk 2:4). So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it (Isaiah 55:11). We are part of Christ IF we are confident that we are part of Christ. – Here is the steadfastness, the patient endurance of the devoted ones.

R V 8: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. – You shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord (Deuteronomy 6:5 & Leviticus 19:18). God was inside of Christ reconciling the world to Himself. – Love one another in exactly the same way that I love you. – And they have not loved their souls unto death – for the sake of the Church. – They follow the Lamb wherever He goes. – Whosoever will may freely come.

Kingdom & Ruling Verse 9. Kingdom: Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on… the foal of a donkey (Zechariah 9:9). Himself ekenosen, He Himself called an invisible God into visibility… In appearance as a human, He humbled Himself (Philippians 2:7-8). …has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign into the unfolding of the ages. – Now has come the Kingdom of our God.

RV 9: Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers—they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing—and they cried, “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!” (Judges 7:20). You will receive power when the Spirit comes upon you, and you will be My witnesses (Acts 2:8). I will give to My two witnesses, and they will prophesy [Me]. They overcame by the Word of their testimony. (This is one direction of several for RV 9.)

The Form for God through Jesus. The Form for God through Jesus: He shall build a house for My name, and he shall be My son, and I will be his Father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever (1 Chronicles 22:10). Sacrifice and offering you have not desired, but a body you have fitted together for me… Behold, I have come, in the scroll of the book it is written of me, to do that which You desire, O God” (Psalm 40:6-8).

Inside of Whom the whole building, being fitted together, is increasing into a temple, devoted inside the Lord. Inside of Jesus, you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God inside the sphere of Spirit (Ephesians 2:21-22). Look and see, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will tabernacle with them, and they will be His peoples, and God Himself, their God, will be with them.

The Ruling Verses Rule. The Scriptures chosen are representative of many, in the Old Testament, in the Gospel, and in Revelation. Thus we expect to see these fifteen categories expressed throughout John’s vision. More than that, we interpret every time these things appear in Revelation as the Completion of that word, “the Source and the Completion.”

God is neither magical nor is He a maker of science fiction movies, as most seem to imply. God speaks out from Himself and He speaks the Truth. The Book of Revelation CANNOT be anything other than the Gospel of Jesus Christ fulfilled in His Church right here on this earth, right now in this age, in all glory and power. The Ruling Verses rule. And thus the Spirit leads us into Revelation 1:1 with power and Truth.

Introducing the Unveiling. (Chapter 1) • 1 The Unveiling, the Apocalypse of Jesus Christ, which God gave to Him to show His servants what must happen immediately. • And Jesus signed the Unveiling, having sent it through His angel to His servant, John, 2 who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, of all that he saw. • 3 Benefited and enlarged is the one knowing the Unveiling for certain and those who hear the words of the prophecy, watching over to guard the things written inside of it; because the time is near.

We have a good working definition of the Unveiling. In fact, the many times John says “I saw” and “I heard” are expressions of the Unveiling, seeing the Gospel unfold for real. The “words of the prophecy” and the “things written inside” are pointing to the opening of the scroll, which “time is near” – “must happen immediately.”

What Is Unveiled? In verse 2, John inserts himself as a witness of Christ into the meaning of the Apocalypse, thus placing the terms witness and testify as our side of the equation.

I see now that Revelation 1:1-3 is very large and critical to the unfolding of John’s vision. There is far more here than we have ever seen or even can yet see. The word “Unveiling” is repeated three times. First, God gives the Unveiling. Second, Jesus signs the Unveiling. And third, we KNOW the Unveiling for certain. God gives, Jesus signs, and we know. Yet the Unveiling is not  something in itself, for it is a negative, that is, the removal of that which hides. So what is the real thing given, signed, and known? – It is the Word God speaks written upon our hearts.

The Lamb Slain, but now Alive. “Jesus signed the Unveiling” is an extraordinary statement, meaning far more than we can see right now. He signed it with His own Blood. The Blood, the Lamb Slain, is central. The signature of Jesus is the same as “By this we know Love.”

1:1 Covenant: God gives Himself, that is His nature and existence. God gives Jesus’ made visible to all, to us as our own. Jesus signs this giving as the Lamb slain, but now alive, the signature of His Blood – By this we KNOW Love.

3 Covenant: The Covenant, the giving of God signed by Jesus with His Blood, His very Life given to us, is ours as we KNOW for certain that Jesus makes us to be just like Himself, that we are His Body, Jesus made visible to all forever.

We will not expand on “witness/testimony” until later.

An Outline of the Vision. We have posited that the visions John recorded in Revelation follow his own spiral way of thinking, covering the same topics several times. This is not necessarily at a “deeper level” each time, but rather as a wider reach and further clarity of expression. Chapter 1 is the introduction that positions everything. Then I see five “spirals,” each of which should be viewed as a whole.

Chapters 2-3 are the impartation of Christ Jesus into us. Chapters 3-10 are the opening of the Scroll, the first great meaning of the Unveiling. Chapters 11-14 are a further expression of the same thing, but this time as the travail of bringing forth life. Chapters 15-18 are a side-step, one might say, to bring resolution to God’s pain. Finally, Chapters 19-22 are the arising of the Church in her glory.

A Further Definition. 4 • Grace to you and peace, from Him who is existing and who has always existed and is always continuously and actively coming; and from the seven Spirits who are inside the presence of His throne; • 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first of many just like Himself out from the dead, preeminent over the kings of the earth. • To the one continuously and actively loving us, who releases us out from our sins inside of His blood.

These two verses are a repeat of verses 1-3. First the Father, second, Jesus Christ, and third, you and me. Except this time, it’s a further definition of each, of the Father who gives, of Jesus who signs, and of us who KNOW for certain. The Spirit means – this is how we are to perceive the Father, the Lord Jesus, and ourselves through every part of the vision.

God Must Be Defined. I have asked the questions “What is God, what is man, what is Christ, and what is salvation” many times, seeking to place before our eyes what God actually says. Now I see that defining God is of utmost criticality, for God WANTS us to KNOW Him above all, that is, to live.

Definition: Defining God is critical to us, for God WANTS us to know Him. God, this God who gives to us the Unveiling, the seeing that Jesus is revealed through us, is always all, always now, and yet personally REAL in every local gathering.

5 Definition: Jesus, the One who seals, is always making us to be just like Himself, yet always retaining devotion and honor.

5 Definition: You and me, the ones who KNOW the Unveiling for certain, are utterly released from all disconnection from God, that we might be about our Father’s business.

A Problem to Solve. • 7 Behold He comes now with clouds, and every eye will see Him, including those who pierced Him, and all the races of the earth will strike against Him.

“Comes now with clouds” is another way to say, “Comes now inside of and as His Church, His visible body, the fullness of Christ who fills all inside of all” (adding 1 Corinthians 12:12-14 and Ephesians 1:23). “Every eye will see Him,” that is, the Apocalypse, yes, but only a first portion of the full Unveiling. The Greek word is not “mourn,” but “strike against.” He comes – as He is, but not yet received.

You know what, John is setting out the great problem of the Unveiling, that Jesus is even yet not received. Thus solving that problem is a central theme of the rest of the vision.

Solving the Problem. And the central answer to solving the problem is the utter giving of Love found in Revelation 12:11.

Definition: The Unveiling of Jesus Christ through us, His body, Jesus already all here now, presents the same significant problem God has faced from the beginning. – He came unto His own, but His own received Him not. – They hate Me for no reason whatsoever (John 1:11 & 15:25). Humans can’t stand God manifest in the flesh.

7 Definition: The Ruling Verse of Revelation, Revelation 12:11, is God’s answer to His problem, that when people see Christians on this earth, they fail to see Jesus revealed. God’s answer is the fulfillment of 1 John 3:16, By this we know Love – and we also. God’s answer is a ministry who loves the Church so much that they prevail with God for her sake.

Seeing the Flow and the Way. • 8 I am the A and the Z, the Source and the Completion, says the Lord God, the One who is and who always is and who is continuously and actively coming, the One who holds and carries all, the All-Carrying, All-Sustaining One.

In these words, we do not seek an expression proving “God the Father” and “God the Son.” Rather, we see the Flow, that God the Father is coming always through His Son into us, being and doing what He is. These definitions are not God just being expressive through John’s pen. Rather, they are the key things for us to know as we find ourselves as the heart and meaning of the Unveiling.

The “A and the Z” is another way to say verse 17, “the always first and the always final,” shown to us by the Jordan River.

Defining God through Jesus. Jesus is the first One to arise out from death, Jesus is the last one to enter the land, for He must carry the last little one all the way through. Yet Joshua (also Jesus) was in the middle of that passage – and the Ark (also Jesus) stood firm. Indeed, it was the Ark that came up last. The Source and the Completion. Genesis is the source, “Let there be Light,” and Revelation is the Completion – see Lesson 36, “Confidence to Completion,” Ruling Verse Seven.

8 Definition: In order for us to be the Unveiling of Jesus Christ, we must know God as Jesus knows the Father. God, the One who sustains and carries all, is continuously and actively coming through us into our world. God is the Source of all, and out from Him all things He speaks are already Complete. God comes through Jesus and through us.

Jesus – in His Church! • 12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me and having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands. • 13 Inside of the midst of the lampstands, I saw One resembling the Son of man, having been enclothed to the feet, and girded about at the chest with a golden sash.

As with verse seven, we define this next portion of the vision ONLY out from 1 Corinthians 12:12-14 and its companion, Ephesians 1:23. Those verses RULE. “Inside of the midst of the lampstands” means inside of His Church. And the plurality of the lampstands means both locally and universally. Of truth, we are not yet at the fulfillment of Ephesians 2:19-22 and 3:17-19, Father God filling His House. This is the impartation of Jesus to us, the building of the House, for this description of Jesus is repeated to each of the seven churches.

Defining “The Lampstands.” 12 Definition: The lampstand represents the Church as a whole; whereas “seven lampstands” signify that the same reality is True in every local Church. “Where two or three of you are gathered together, there I am in the midst of you” (Matthew 18:20). Christ IS a many-membered body. – The Church, His body, the fulness of Christ who fills all inside of all. The Church in her glory is JESUS unveiled.

13 The Form for Jesus (Ruling Verse 11): “Inside of the midst of the lampstands” means that Jesus is found inside of His Church. This description of Jesus is as His Body, His outward visible form to heaven and earth. The Unveiling is when everyone sees that He is. Also, this is a description of our togetherness as believers in Christ Community, for it is only together that loving one another takes place.

The Jesus Inside. This vision of Jesus in His Church, each point, is of great importance, for we are talking about the formation of those who cast down the accuser for the sake of their brethren, of those who bring resolution to the Father’s pain. These are the things of Himself that Jesus inside of us is imparting to us, making us to be just like Himself. We begin with His garments, first His robe and then His golden sash.

12-13 Covenant: Every item mentioned in these verses is the unveiling of Jesus through us, His Church. More than that, these then become the impartation of Jesus to us as overcomers.

13 Definition: The robe represents Jesus’ Priestly Authority and the golden sash His Royal Apostolic Authority. As we put the Lord Jesus Christ upon ourselves, so the One who is Sent by God into us and who carries us into God is now seen by all creation.

The Body of Christ. • 14 His head and His hairs were white as if wool, white as snow; and His eyes resembled a flame of fire. • 15 His feet were like fine bronze having been refined inside a furnace; and His voice was as the voice of many waters. • 16 He was holding in His right hand seven stars, and an eager two-edged sword was presently being spoken forth out from His mouth. His face was like the sun, shining in its power.

Let’s list the clothing and body parts being referenced first: (1) robe, (2) sash, (3) head, (4) hair, (5) eyes, (6) feet, (7) voice, (8) right hand, (9) mouth, and (10) face. There is an impartation of Jesus to each one of us, yes, but there is also an impartation to our togetherness.

From Head to Feet. Where two or three of you are gathered together inside of My Name, there I am in the midst of you (Matthew 18:20). – Our desire, then, is to see these things on both sides of the impartation, as Jesus, as each of us, and as us together. In fact, we never separate between these three, for the Flow is continuous, and with the Father inside that Flow.

14 Ruling Verse 5: The head places Jesus as Lord in union with each of us and the hair is the anointing of the Spirit we share with Him. This intimate union of Jesus with us is utterly pure.

14 Ruling Verse 6: The eyes of Fire are the judgment and true perception of God, for we are inside of God, seeing all things as the Father sees.

15 Ruling Verse 7: The feet of Jesus are we who walk upon the earth. We walk as the proving of Christ Jesus faithful and True.

From Voice to Face. 15 Covenant: The voice of Jesus is Covenant, the Source of all word. That Voice is our many voices together as the witnesses of Christ, as the Word of our Testimony.

16 Ruling Verse 9: The right hand of Jesus represents His authority and the seven stars are His ministry whom He sends into His Church, now able to impart Jesus to many.

16 Kingdom: The sword in Jesus’ mouth bringing all into submission to God is, “Father, forgive them,” words that split all wide open and bring all to silence. The cleansing away of all sin is the first action of the Kingdom.

16 Ruling Verse 1: The face of Jesus is His unveiling, the glory of God made visible now upon our faces, as we are symmorphosed with the image of His Son, having become like Jesus.

The Living One. 17 • “Do not fear; I am the always first and the always final. • 18 I am the living One, and, although I was dead, look and see, I am living into the unfolding of the ages, • and I possess the keys of death and of hades.

Jesus now speaks, out from His Church, as He continues to define Himself. Again, these definitions He is giving are critical for the impartation (transubstantiation) and our being made like Him (metamorphosis). Every one of these bullet points is defined for us by the crossing of the Jordan in the book of Joshua.

Verse 18 is God’s definition of “the Lamb Slain.” “Was dead” does include sin already so far gone that God cannot remember what it was, but much more, it is that One who has already carried us through death into God and into Life.

The Path of Deliverance. 17 Definition: Jesus as the first and the final is pictured for us by the crossing of the Jordan in Joshua 3-4. Jesus is the first to arise out from death into life, yet He is also the last, coming as the Ark having brought the last little one safely through.

18 Definition: Verse 18 is a first definition of “the Lamb slain,” yet alive again. That Lamb inside our hearts, revealed now through us, is the central meaning of John’s vision. “Was dead” means that sin is so far gone that God does not know what it might be. “The unfolding ages” means that same giving of God through us now as our every next step.

17-18 Ruling Verse 9: The “keys of death and of hades” are for the unlocking of the doors, that all creation might leave the stupidity of lostness inside of hostility against God and enter into glorious liberty. Verses 17-18 are the path of deliverance.

The Mystery of the Man and the Maid. 20 • 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.

Jesus is expressing two important things in this verse. First, He is giving us a model as to how we are to interpret every symbol given in the vision. Again, this explanation is well-developed in the opening lessons of The Apocalypse Now. The second thing Jesus presents is the theme of the entire Vision, the ministry of Christ to the Church, the mystery of the man and the maid. In lesson 60, “The First Great Deliverance,” I will have the space to expand on Agar’s question, the mystery of the man and the maid, the central theme of The Apocalypse.

Back to the Outline. We have already set out an outline of where John’s Vision is taking us, but I want to add to our understanding. Two things are drawn across every part of Revelation, the stars and the lampstand, that is, the ministry of Christ and the Church. Through most of the book, the emphasis is on the preparation of the ministry, Christ Jesus imparting Himself to us. The final part is a description of that glorious Church coming out from heaven and arising upon the earth.

Part 2, the opening of the Scroll, and part 3, the bringing forth of Life, are two very different approaches to the same thing, that is, to the Unveiling. Written and birthed. Unsealed and travail. Study and war. Read by all and known by all. We must draw these two great metaphors together through our study.

The Covenant Fulfilled. This pattern places two defining verses for the Unveiling.

It is fully made visible that you ARE a letter of Christ, with us under your service, having already been written, not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God – not on tablets of stone, but inside tablets of hearts of flesh (2 Corinthians 3:3).

It is necessary for you to be conceived from above. – You have been conceived from above, not out from perishable seed, but out from imperishable Seed, through the living and abiding Word of God (John 3:7 and 1 Peter 1:23).

Yet before those two come into the picture, Chapters 2-3 are an expression of – already symmorphosed with the image of His Son – are being metamorphosed into His same image – will be made just like Him as we see Him as He is. The Covenant fulfilled.

The Resolution of God. 20 Definition: Verse 20 is Jesus giving us the model for interpreting everything in Revelation. The symbols and metaphors are all speaking of the Gospel, of Christ and the Church.

20 Ruling Verse 4 & Life: John’s vision is about the ministry of Christ who give themselves for the sake of the Church, that she might bring forth the knowledge of God into all.

As we enter this study, we place ourselves into the same Pro-Determination of God as we did with Hebrews. At the same time, we no longer see these things as “future,” for indeed we are now in the final dispensation of this age. Revelation is the resolution of God’s great dilemma, the human assault against Him for no reason whatsoever. The Resolution of God is Revelation 12:11, you and me giving ourselves to the Father for the sake of His Church.