14. I Saw a Scroll

Let’s think carefully about John. John met Paul briefly no more than twice in his life. If John was sixteen when he met Jesus, then he was about twenty on the day of Pentecost at the birthing of the Church. BUT – John did not pick up a pen to write – ever – for another 66 years.

We can claim that John wrote nothing, not even any letters, because we can be certain that anything written by John would have been grabbed instantly and copied furiously and spread all over to the churches. It would not be wrong to assume that this 86-year-old man was arrested by the Romans in AD 96 because copies of his gospels, the one brief explanation of 1 John and his two short personal letters were being spread all over the empire in less than a year and were causing quite a stir.

Yet even as he was banished to hard labor in an underground mine on an isolated island in the Aegean Sea, John continued his new-found, and thus extraordinary task of writing. He wrote down the things he saw and heard in a series of visions and was somehow able to get those parchments back to the brethren at Ephesus.

John wrote nothing for 66 years, then wrote a whole bunch of stuff in one year.

Why? What was driving John’s heart that suddenly, seemingly out of the blue, an overwhelming urgency came upon him to do something he had never done before – to write?

In the mouth of two or three witnesses, let every word be established (2 Corinthians 13).
For twenty-five years, John had been sharing life together with Paul’s closest disciples. Inside of coming to know Paul’s gospel, inside of deep fellowship with a number of brothers and sisters who had actually heard and grasped that gospel, there came to John a deep, inner need to set forth a second witness, a confirmation of the real gospel as Paul taught it.

And that real gospel is that Christ Jesus IS inside of us and we ARE inside of Him and that the Church together is the fullness of Christ bodily.

But – John is very different from Paul. Paul was exuberant and spastic; John is deep and inward. Paul shot off extraordinary claims while hardly even thinking about the implications of his words – “Filled with all the fulness of God? Okay, Paul, calm down.” John sees everything from an entirely different way of seeing the world. John is about word, an inner word, a knowing of God. Paul is about the demonstration of a Spirit of life and power.

The true knowledge of Christ must come through both of those perspectives utterly entwined together.

And so John wrote, not as a copy of Paul and Paul’s gospel, but he wrote entirely of himself. For that reason, John’s gospel is a true second witness. John confirmed Paul in every way but did not “copy” him.

Here’s the thing. From writing the words “Inside the source was the Word and the Word was actively with God, and God was the Word” to writing the words, “Even so come, Lord Jesus,” was probably less than a year’s time.

John did not write three very different things. John wrote out from one burden and one focus in three different ways of seeing the same thing. And that one same thing John needed to confirm out from the urgency of God within him, was the full confirmation of the gospel according to Paul, the gospel of syn/sym, of IN, of all, and of allelon.

So, when John wrote his gospel, he understood Jesus in a way that none of the other disciples of Jesus ever understood their time with the Lord. When John wrote his epistles, he was expressing the same revelation of Jesus Christ, “You in Me and I in you,” that was the central word of his gospel. At the same time, although John did not know it, as he wrote his epistles, he was providing the foundational definitions of everything he was about to see in his vision.

John’s vision, then, is a third form of his confirmation as the second witness of Christ in that season. But what might that mean, that the book of Revelation is a third form of John’s confirmation of Paul’s gospel?

First, this is how heaven views the simple truths of Paul’s gospel. To our outer appearance, we see a man hanging bloody, bruised and naked, and hear Him say, “Father, forgive them.” To heaven’s understanding of substance, they see a King, the Word of God, striking down all who oppose Him with the word of His mouth. But in our view from earth and in their view from heaven, we are seeing the exact same happening.

In this view of Revelation, we see the extraordinary parallels between Romans 8 and Revelation 12.

But there is something more in John’s vision that a simple confirmation. Consider Paul’s over-the-top words – “filled with all the fulness of God” or “the Church which is… the fulness of Christ who fills all inside of all.”

These things are simply, flat-out, not believed. – So, how is the word of God of no effect?
And thus I assert with all absolute power, that every Word God speaks IS fulfilled in our lives on this earth and in this age, in all fullness, in everything God means inside those words.

It was Paul, however, who introduced the concept of “the fullness of times.” Peter called it “the opportune time or season.” Let me define “the fullness of times.” The “fullness of times” is a specific dispensation of time inside the in-part church age, but at the end of that age. The “fullness of times” is when God has a people who believe in Jesus in the knowing that God is and does what He speaks. The “fullness of times” is every word God speaks in His Covenant with us, written upon the pages of our Bibles, fully believed, fully known, fully expressed – BEFORE our bodies are swallowed up by life.

And so a large part of the purpose of John’s vision is to set forth the setting and the time wherein that which has been hidden from the ages is now made known through a people who believe in Jesus. Another word for this reality is “the Apocalypse,” that is, “the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

BUT – that’s not how most Christians read John’s vision. Most Christians see it this way. – First John wrote a powerful version of the ministry of Christ that set forth a God of inward relationship with us as humans. “You in Me and I in you.” “That they may KNOW You.” And so on. Then John wrote the same truths, except this time, in an explanatory form (the epistles). Then, they imagine that John threw all that out and wrote a vision taking the reader all the way back to the Old Testament and the law, back to the cursing of a Christ-less order, back to everything external and outward – as the fullness of Christ, His revelation – and NOT the Church, which is His body, the fulness of Jesus who fills all inside of all.

That line does not exist. Revelation is all about destruction, old Israel, and ‘the Antichrist’!
We are quite safe in calling such darkness false.

The problem is this. The false outward reversion to Old Testament seeing is so woven into the fabric of the “Christian” mind that weaving into its place a visionary version of Paul’s gospel of Christ our life is a daunting task. Yet the more I look at the book of Revelation, the more I see Christ Jesus as the only life we are written all through it. There’s a reason why I do. It’s because I’m looking for Him and nothing else.

There’s a reason why so many see an “Old Testament” fulfillment as the summation of God in the earth. It’s because they are not looking for Jesus as He is.

Now, I am saying all of this in order to completely recast our understanding of two chapters in John’s vision, Chapters 5 and 6, the Scroll and the removal of the seals, from outward and Old Testament seeing to the burning intentions and determination of God.

And I am doing this because the word “Give thanks,” has just tripled in size in my understanding. And that is after increasing its importance year by year as I have written of “Christ Our Life.”

Let me suggest that giving thanks in and for all things is a pretty good idea.

Now, Revelation 12:10-11 is the ruling verse of John’s vision. We understand that in two ways. First, that everything in the vision from start to finish is intended to cause us to know the full meaning of Revelation 12:10-11. And second, that we use Revelation 12:10-11 as our defining verse as we seek to understand every other part of the vision.

The fourth most important verse is the primary action that is God, that is, to subdue or to overcome, and specifically that action that opposes all that contradicts the Word God speaks, showing that every single individual accusation is entirely and utterly without merit.

Christ is made fully known in the victory over all that speaks against Him in proving that when God speaks, He is always telling the truth.

I am asserting in this letter, however, that the Scroll seen by John in the hand of the One sitting upon the throne, is more important to us than most of the other symbols in John’s vision.

And I saw a scroll upon the right hand of the One sitting upon the throne,having been written from within and from behind, having been sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?” (Revelation 5:1-2).

If you would allow me, I would like to completely re-write your understanding of these two chapters, this scroll and the removal of that which keeps it bound.

What is the scroll? And what is written on it?

First, this is the scroll in the hand of the One sitting upon the throne, not the little scroll in the hand of the angel in Chapter 10. Thus, we do not follow that path in determining what this scroll is and what is written on it.

Rather, we look to Jesus.

Then I said, “Behold, I have come, in the scroll of the book it is written of me, to do that which You desire, O God” (Hebrews 10:7). – And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1). – Clearly you are a letter of Christ… written with Spirit ink upon the tablets of your fleshy heart (2 Corinthians 3:3 – modified). – And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself (Luke 24:27).

Yet we bring all of this into our present knowledge of Jesus as He is.

Before I talk about what that means and what on earth giving thanks has to do with all of this, let me recast your understanding of the opening of the seals. The seals keep the scroll bound and closed. The seals prevent everyone from reading into their hearts what is written there. Here is another expression of those same seals.

But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away (2 Corinthians 3:14-16).

We know, of course, that Nicene theology became this same veil keeping God’s people from seeing Christ written upon their hearts.

So, let’s look at the removal of the first seal. We are talking about the Lamb who is worthy breaking and casting off the first thing that keeps God’s people from knowing Christ written all through the pathways of their hearts.

And I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living things saying, as a voice of thunder, “Come!” And I looked and behold a white horse and the one sitting upon it having a bow; and a crown was given to him and he went forth overcoming and that he might overcome (Revelation 6:1).

The first thing that prevents God’s people from knowing Jesus as every Word God speaks written all through their own hearts now is the image of the super-Christ, the above-you Christ, the caricature of the Jesus of the gospels as a being of superior virtue, dispensing miracles everywhere he goes, an unreachable image.

Let me translate this into my knowledge of spiritual warfare. What we are seeing, in Jesus’ action of removing this first binding seal, is that He through us is casting a powerful demon of ignorance from off the Church of Jesus Christ, the demon of the arrogant “Christ.”

You see, these are the “four horsemen of the apocalypse,” and everyone imagines that their removal is a bad thing. Uh – no! Their removal brings the knowledge of Jesus Sent into us one step closer to all who belong to Him. – And the call to “Come” is not being spoken to the demonic blockage that prevents the scroll from being known, but rather, to what is written inside the scroll.

Okay. I’m looking at Symmorphy V: Life, Lesson 27.2 The Anti-Design. And I’m going back and forth between these seven seals and the “seven” action points that I drew out from the “the one verse to rule them all,” the words of the serpent in the garden, at the time I wrote that lesson.

Of course, in studying further into the serpent’s rule, as we did in Designed by Word, we gained a much clearer understanding of what the serpent’s main action points really are.

Let me give you the short points from the first version.

1. Interpret the Bible with your human intellect.
2. See god as a “moral” being, knowing good and evil.
3. Split salvation into all good and all evil.
4. Do not presume that god is speaking of you.
5. When you see “god,” know just how low and despicable you really are.
6. Worship a “god” and a “Jesus” of superior outward appearance.
7. Work hard, that is, try to make yourself “better.”

As I consider these points now, I realize that if I used the removal of the seven seals from the Lamb’s scroll as the means by which I would spell out the “seven action points of the serpent’s words,” I would be completely in line with what we learned in Designed by Word.

Look at the removal of the fifth seal. Here we have a bunch of dead Christians in heaven, sitting inside of the atonement of Christ, refusing to give thanks and completely ignorant of entering into the Holiest. They refuse to give thanks because they prefer to imagine themselves as “low and despicable.” By so imagining, they continue to be free to lust after the image of the “super-Christ” still remaining in their imaginations even after they have lost their physical bodies.

It is clear that losing one’s flesh does not remove unthankfulness from the Christian’s heart.

Removing the seals that bind is the same thing as the apokalupsis, removing the cover that hides the Lord Jesus Christ, already fully present but entirely unknown. And notice that the scroll is written inside and out. That is the same as the Bible, a surface word on the outside that everyone reads and takes to themselves, believing that they are sufficient in themselves to “know” what God means and to “do” what God wants. They take the words of the Bible as mental ideas and not as the Lord Jesus inside their hearts.

BUT – the scroll is written on the inside much more.

And what is the first thing you will read as the scroll is opened to your eyes? You will read the story of your own soul, you, in all that you are, there utterly inside of Him.

Let’s come at this wondrous revelation of us inside of Jesus and Jesus inside of us from the viewpoint of the two large notches by which “give thanks” has increased in my understanding the last few days.

First, consider the implications found in these words. – That inside of the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, every heavenly knee, every earthly knee, and every under-earthly knee and every tongue should speak the same thing, that of the Lord Jesus Christ, penetrating into the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:10-11).

Typically, the translators move the words around to come up with what makes sense to them, “that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”

Yet they all picture despicable humans and evil demons groveling before their image of the “super-Christ,” lying through their teeth just before God throws them back into hell, that their false words, extracted by violence, are God’s gift to the honor of Jesus.

Okay, we are looking at something utterly, utterly different.

The Words written inside the scroll are first, the Pro-Knowing of God, all of God’s thoughts that are substance inside of God but having been spoken into creation as the Lord Jesus Christ, the One in-between the Father and every created thing, bringing them both together.

These are also the Words that are Jesus Sent written all through our hearts.

So, what does it mean that every single human and every single angel will speak that same word that is Christ? It means that each one will give thanks, not as a one-time superficial action, but each one will give thanks concerning every moment of their lives and every state of being by which they existed.

The rebellion is, “God, I hate the way You made me.” The return is, “God, I love the way you made me and every circumstance through which You shared Yourself with me.”

Let’s pick a candidate – Charles Manson. Paul is claiming that the day will come when Charles Manson will give thanks for every moment of his life, connecting himself with the Lord Jesus all the way through the times of his existence.

You see this has to be. God spoke Jesus – hence all things exist. The serpent said to humans, “God lied. Jesus is false.” God silences all accusation against Jesus by proving Jesus faithful and true. Hence, Charles Manson gives thanks for every moment of his existence.

Look at the last seal being removed. I finally know exactly what that means.

And when He opened the seventh seal, there was silence inside of heaven for about half an hour (Revelation 8:1). – That every mouth might be closed, and the entire cosmos brought under judgment before God (Romans 3:19) – same thing!

I’m telling you. John’s vision is just his confirmation of Paul’s gospel in a third form.

The opening of the seventh and final seal, revealing Christ written all through all, is the closing of the mouth of all accusation against the Word God speaks. From this moment on, “Did God indeed say,” no longer enters anyone’s mind. Jesus IS every word God speaks, not the ideas of the human mind.

But just as God cannot cease from speaking, neither can any human created just like God. And thus we know that accusation is replaced by good words, by giving thanks, the full acknowledgement that every moment has always been one seamless story of Christ.
And yet giving thanks has become far more meaningful to me, even than that.

Here’s the thing. We do not go from the words on the pages of the Bible, and especially the obscure and cryptic symbolism of Revelation to knowing Jesus as He is. In complete contrast, first knowing Jesus as His, we then look at the symbols of John’s vision to understand more fully what He really is inside of us.

In other words, no one reading the words written on the outside of the scroll can “predict” from them what is written inside the scroll, but those living inside the words written inside the scroll, are able to use the outer form of the words on the outside of the scroll to better understand the place where they live.

In other words, you can’t get from the tree of knowledge to the tree of life. There is no path from one to the other. Either we are already inside of Jesus by faith, or we ain’t.

So, let’s go back inside the scroll, knowing that we are written only there and that every word written inside of that scroll is found inside of “In that day you shall know that I am inside of the Father and you inside of Me and I inside of you.”

And now I finally understand what the Greek words, tithemi psuche, really mean. I have translated those words in two ways, keeping the common “laid-down life,” but also adding as its equal, “set-forth soul.” In the JSV, I am translating psuche as “soul” in every instance.

Now I understand that “laid-down life” can have some meaning, but only inside the far larger and more important “set-forth soul.” The problem with “laying down your life” is the concept of cessation. The phrase cannot mean cessation.

Let me explain. As I pointed out in an earlier letter, as Paul argued in Galatians 3, obeying the law is a good idea in outward things, but never in all the history of the creation has obeying the law ever taken anyone out of death and into life. There is no law given that can produce life.

You can stop demanding that other people do things your way, and that is a wonderful and worthwhile thing. But there is no life in it. Simply ceasing the pain that you cause other people does not bring you into the relationship that is LIFE inside of God. And thus, you are not really doing anything for anyone by your “cessation,” including yourself.

“Setting forth your souls” for one another, however, is a living reality taking place entirely inside of God inside of us.

It looks like we need another letter to explore again the wondrous meaning of the eucharist before we can come back around to the scroll and its seals and the massive consequences reverberating out into the false order of the world as Jesus through us breaks from off our brethren those things that have kept them from KNOWING the Jesus of their hearts.