The Themes of Revelation
As many readers are aware by now, this ministry has come to focus much on the import of the Book of Revelation for this time. The magnified intensity of conditions on earth have forced us to seek for more of the Lord through that Book as it is the only book that gives us a way to comprehend the spiritual powers at work behind what is going on in real time. Previously common ways to perceive what is happening here below just can’t cope anymore, leaving us in the dust.
To the spiritually “unsaturated,” Revelation is just a jumble of disjointed symbols and events. But to the spiritually immersed, it is actually a tapestry of interwoven themes that tell one progressive story meant to be discerned and applied across all generations for understanding precisely the kind of conditions now in force on the eve of the fully manifested fiery glory of our risen Lord.
The Theme of Kingdom Glory
Revelation opens in glory with a blazing presentation of the risen Jesus to John, and ends in a presentation of Christ’s same glory in conjunction with His people wherein He lights our eternal city. Everything in between is an expression of how that glory moves from initial appearance to fully-orbed manifestation in terms of its effects on the earth—specifically in respect to exposing, contesting and overcoming the powers of darkness seated within the bowels of this earth.
In this development, we are brought to see how Christ’s glory first releases exposure of the darkness through opening of seals, to how His glory confronts those developmental powers by releasing angelic war trumpets, to how His glory finally overcomes to destroy those powers at their climax through bowls of wrath and a last conflagration signaling the end of earth’s purpose as a mere stage for all this. Earth is then replaced by a new heavens and earth able to host the now fully developed, revealed glory of Christ in oneness with His redeemed from throughout first-earth history.
What we have just described is the overarching theme of the Revelation. It is the theme of Glory developed over contest with darkness by which Glory is brought to full, complete creational manifestation.
- Prefigured in John’s Gospel
This complete theme of Revelation is encapsulated in the opening verses of John’s gospel when he says,
1:4 In Him … was the Light of mankind. 5 And the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it....9 This was the true Light that, coming into the world, enlightens every person....14...and we saw His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Can we see that verse 5 alone captures the complete drama of Revelation? When verse 9 further says Christ’s glory “enlightens every person,” it prefigures Revelation’s statement that “every eye shall see Him.” It is saying all mankind must and will come to terms with Christ’s glory. It is a statement of accountability as much or more than a statement of salvation (seeing that most will not be saved). Then verse 14 captures John’s initial encounter with that glory in Revelation 1.
- The Kingdom is the Glory
This same overarching theme of revealed glory is the meaning of the “kingdom coming to earth” in the Lord’s Prayer. Why? Because when Jesus said, “there are some…here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God,” it is exactly that revealed glory they were then given to see! Jesus thus ended His prayer saying, “For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever.” The glory is the kingdom, and the kingdom is the glory. The power is the kingdom too, as heaven’s voices say it,
“…The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever....because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign.” Rev. 11:15, 17
So we see that the overarching theme of Revelation’s glory was already prefigured in Christ’s incarnation. What the open of John’s gospel sees as a seed comes to full blown fruitful exposition in Revelation. And wherever Jesus is speaking of glory in the gospel of John, He is envisioning the totality of this Self-presentation with its development throughout the Book of Revelation. This is why the concept of the “glory of God” is otherwise so prominent throughout the rest of the scriptures. Wherever it is used, that phrase is ultimately pointing to this development outlined at the core of Revelation.
Themes within the Theme
Inside Revelation’s master theme of glory exposure, contest and triumph are numerous interwoven subthemes that contribute to the unfolding of the master glory theme. Perceiving these subthemes is key to unlocking the meaningful connection of different signs and events described throughout Revelation that appear disjointed. The sign-events John sees are like “alphabet letters” which alone mean nothing to us, but when properly connected, form subthematic “words” that can be understood and make perfect sense in explaining how the master theme of developing glory is carried out.
When the various “letters” of the sign-events are connected across the book to form “word” concepts, we find our ability to comprehend the language of Revelation greatly enhanced. Complexity becomes simplified. In truth, there are but a manageable number of key subthemes throughout the Book to which the numerous events can be reduced.
To appreciate this, we need to understand that Revelation is not depicting just a linear string of events and time frames. It is depicting rather a repetitive cycle of a number of overlapping developmental events in which different signs across the book portray the same event, but from a different phase in that event’s development. God uses numerous different pictures, types, shadows, and signs to all describe the same thing at a different point or from a different angle of outworking.
We already see this in the parables. Every time Jesus said, “To what then shall I liken the kingdom,” He would come up with a different parable. Some parables were similar, others different from one another. But they were all describing the same kingdom from one viewpoint or another. So it is throughout Revelation (except that the signs and depictions are spiritually real, not merely metaphoric).
The Theme of the “Little Book”
It is not possible in this one article to draw out all the key subthemes in Revelation and present the developmental connection of the various sign events that form each one. But one in particular has captured my attention for some time. It is the theme of the “little book” that originates in chapter 10. Let’s take a look at this one, and then watch how it is outworked by what follows.
In chapter 10, John sees an angel come down from heaven with a little book which he is then instructed to eat. He enjoys the taste of the book, but it makes him sick to his stomach. Immediately on this, he is instructed as follows:
10:11 And they said to me, “You must prophesy again concerning many peoples, nations, languages, and kings.”
Now the fact that John has been given a “little book” within the overall book of Revelation that he was charged to write says that the little book is a subsidiary revelation God ordained to be “digested” and then proclaimed with prophetic power during the latter unfolding end times. This angelic visitation in fact occurs near the end of the 6th trumpet on approach to the seventh (and last) trumpet that reveals God’s glorified manchild people taken to heaven.
So the little book is a unique message of end time revelation within the overall Revelation. Other teachers of sonship have already come to see this and have been expositing it for many years. Brother Earls for instance has a lengthy prophetic exposition of the little book which you can read here. The overall class of sonship-oriented teaching the last few generations demonstrates some fulfilment of this Revelation 10 prophecy.
But now we want to trace this prophecy as a subtheme further carried out in Revelation. There are in fact several sign events following, all of which express the executing of this little book.
On approach, we first want to note that prophecy itself is a grand subtheme of the Book of Revelation. John repeatedly encounters angels who prophesy and give revelation to John. That prophesying is also referred to as the “testimony of Jesus.” Throughout Revelation, “prophecy” and “testimony” are treated as one and the same reality. All prophecy is testimony of Jesus and all testimony to Jesus is prophecy. It is within this grand subtheme that the particular subtheme of the little book appears.
John’s Reed
So what happens immediately after John eats the book? The next thing is he is given a “rod” to measure the temple. This occurs past the chapter break into chapter 11. Unfortunately, chapter breaks do us great disservice because they present psychological walls that separate presentations meant to be connected within the same prophetic flow of events. (I strongly exhort anyone reading Revelation to throw out the chapter divisions! They are not from God and you will not “lose your share in the Holy City” by removing them!)
In fact, the events of chapter 11 all carry through the subtheme of the message of the little book, which is the unique end time message and revelation reserved to God’s last generation people. First, we see the rod (that is, a “reed like to a rod”) given to John. It is for the purpose of “measuring” God’s temple.
The rod throughout scripture is an instrument of discipline, protection, guidance, divine presence and comfort, all under the umbrella of authority. Not only so, but the rod is also the expression of the Word of God. (Mic. 6:9 actually says “Hear the rod!” God also likens His Word to an almond branch (reed, rod (Jer. 1:11-12)).) Understand that this is the same rod of prophetic authority also assigned to the overcomers of Thyatira by which they are to rule the nations (2:27), which we will shortly see again.So what are we seeing in John’s receiving the reed? This is the immediate first charge given John to fulfil his commission to prophesy from out of the little book he just ate. Where the prophetic word is presented in chapter 10 as a little book, in chapter 11 it is expressed as a rod of authority for measuring the temple of God’s people. Those are the people who can still profit from it.
But John is told not to measure (apply the rod) to the outer court people, because they have been given over to be trampled by the world for 42 months (i.e., for the tribulation period, another repetitive subtheme). In other words, these are the church people who are no longer correctable by the prophetic word of authority, having stopped their ears to prophetic truth. They can no longer “hear the rod.” And so, without authority under the rod, they thus have no protection or comfort by it either.
This is our very first example of how a revelational subtheme is prophetically traced from one sign event to another. It is two events, but the same reality.
The Two Witnesses
Now, we move to the immediate third sign event that carries this same subtheme forward. It is the raising up of the “two witnesses”:
11:3 And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.
This is directly connected to John’s prophetic rod ministry to the church (the temple). The book of end time corrective revelation John first ate is next applied to the church, but then immediately expands out to the rest of the world through the two (companies of) witnesses. Grasp the developmental nature of all. It reminds us of Peter’s word that judgment begins at the house of God, and then the world.
The worldwide nature that this corrective end time message assumes through these witnesses is made clear by what finally happens to them:
11:9 Those from the peoples, tribes, languages, and nations will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not allow their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb. 10 And those who live on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who live on the earth.
See that the peoples, tribes, languages and nations are all arrayed against these witnesses. This is not just the people of Jerusalem. It shows us that the two witnesses are not just the two specifically martyred in Jerusalem, but embrace two vast companies able to exert fiery prophetic authority throughout the world. (One of those divisions of companies is the distinction between Jewish-origined and gentile-origined saints.)
See also that these are the same peoples, nations, languages, and kings concerning which John was originally told he must prophesy. Grasp the continuity here. This is one entire subtheme. So then, what does it mean that John was told he must prophesy to these, then he prophesies to measure the church, but then it is “two witnesses” who actually prophesy this same end time word to the nations that John was commissioned to do?
It means two things. First it means that John’s commission becomes delegated to others. This is what happened with God’s commission to Elijah, which was ultimately delegated to Elisha. But past that, it intimates that John is actually one of the two end time witnesses! (To this very end, brother Earls has prophetically written. Please see his prophecy on The Two Witnesses.)
Now, all of this is occurring within that already cited period of 42 months. The church is being measured unto protective correction, and the world is being convicted unto torment. And it all extends from the little book that tasted sweet on first reception, but turns to bitterness in course of executing its uncompromising authority. As sweet as justice is to the heart’s desire, it is painful to execute.
The Manchild
But there is yet more to the little book. Its theme still continues through a fourth sign-event, even into the blowing of the next and last trumpet. For it is not only given to John via the rod for the church, and to the two witnesses against the world, but it is given also to a special company of saints to be literally born to glory from out of the church at the beginning of this same period of great tribulation:
12:5 And she gave birth to a Son, a male, who is going to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her Child was caught up to God and to His throne. 6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for 1,260 days.
The outworking of the little book crosses a “trumpet line.” Unlike chapter markers, trumpet lines are legitimate markers between events and emphases. John is given his little book near the end of the sixth trumpet. But that trumpet’s effects continue through the blowing of the seventh trumpet, which overlaps the continuous blowing of all the preceding trumpets.
It is upon the seventh trumpet that John immediately sees this new sign-event, that of the woman, dragon and manchild. The birthing to heaven of the manchild happens at the start of the same aforecited 42 month (here, 1260 day) period when the two witnesses begin their ministry cited under the 6th trumpet. That time period is a critical anchoring point repeatedly referenced in Revelation.
Thematically understood, what we note about the manchild is his possession of the same rod of authority (originally spoken to the overcomers of Thyatira) that John received from the angels upon eating the little book. Further, not only do John and the two witnesses ingest the little book, but it is ingested within the womb of the church by the hidden overcomers who are separately qualified to rise to heaven where they participate in executing that same prophetic power from above the veil! Same rod, same message, same little book.
Grasp the picture, then, as it grows. The little book begins with a single man disciplining the church, but then proceeds against the entire world by two vast companies of saints, but also is simultaneously taken above to be exercised from heaven. This puts the devil and his angels into a pincer squeeze between God’s prophetic authority through saints on earth, and through glorified saints in heaven.
(If you read chapter 12 carefully, you will understand that it is the risen glorified overcomers who, by their rod in consort with archangel Michael’s company, now have the edge to precipitate the battle to finally evict satan from all further access to the courts of heaven, confining him to the earth!)
Observe in all how tracing a prophetic concept thematically through its varying overlapping sign-events gives us the full rich understanding of what is happening when, where and with whom.
The Three Angels
There remains yet a fifth sign-event through which we are able to trace the theme of the little book. Throughout the aforecited period in which we have already seen the power of the little book at work through the two witnesses, and in heaven through the risen manchild people, we are given in chapter 14 one more portrayal of its execution. This iteration actually gives us the very contents of the book! Here is what we read:
14:6 And I saw another angel flying in midheaven with an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation, tribe, language, and people; 7 and he said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; worship Him who made the heaven and the earth, and sea and springs of waters.”
8 And another angel, a second one, followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality.”
9 Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”
Please notice the key phrase in verse 6, “every nation, tribe, language, and people.” This phrase is our direct connect back to the two witnesses and to John’s commission stemming from eating the little book. These angelic proclamations occur within the exact same time period as the ministry of John to those same “peoples, nations, languages, and kings” of chapter10 and of the two witnesses to the “peoples, tribes, languages, and nations” of chapter 11. These are not different messages. They are all the same message presented from different overlapping viewpoints, all derived directly from John’s little book experience. It means that John and the two witness companies throughout the earth are conveying this same everlasting gospel, the pronouncement against the world Babylonian religious-commercial metropolis, and the warning against submitting to worship the worldwide beast system matrix.
To allay confusion, we should understand that in Revelation, the ministry of heavenly angels and human messengers intertwine, and that many heavenly angels are in fact redeemed humans. As the one heavenly angel said to John, “I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brothers the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God!” (22:19). Therefore it is unnecessary to haggle over parsing whether a human or an angel said or did something, and thus ask how could they be the same thing? From behind the veil, it is clear that angels and humans work hand in hand.
Conclusion
As the Lord leads and enables, we will look at similar themes within Revelation that paint a holistic rather than disjointed picture of what our present end time is about and where God is ultimately taking all of us. The more fully we can connect the dots to form the whole, the more stable our perspective will be for orienting us toward the eternal, and for protecting us from falling into all the lures of ungrounded earthly-minded prophets and intercessors who only purport to have the answer to “What is God doing?”
Jude 24 Now to Him who is able to protect you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory, blameless with great joy, 25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and now and forever. Amen.
Chris Anderson
First Love Ministry
- a ministry of Anglemar Fellowship
http://www.firstloveministry.org11/24
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