Rev. 20
I wonder what it means to reign with Christ, as John wrote about here. Reign over what? And to what end? I have a feeling reigning doesn’t mean quite what we tend to think about when we hear the word. I say that because we are a physical minded people yet pretty much everything in the Bible has a deeper, spiritual meaning beyond the physical that we more easily see. Also, I know that God’s kingdom is an upside-down kingdom. It doesn’t make sense that He would teach us to do things differently, only to turn that back around at the end. What could that deeper spiritual implication be with this, though? The only thing that comes to mind is peace, both with God and with each other. That unity that we struggle so much with in this life will finally be possible.
Rev. 21
People talk about the city in heaven with streets of gold and jasper walls. However, the angel described this New Jerusalem as, “the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” (Rev. 21:9b). The Bible also speaks of the Church as being the bride of Christ. So I’m wondering if this New Jerusalem that John saw in his vision is not so much a picture of where we will live in eternity but, rather, is representative of us as a body of believers. Perhaps it is we, not a city, who will be transformed. We will be beautiful, resplendent, pure, and valuable. We will be transparent, with nothing unclean in us and will be unified with God.
Rev. 22
This final chapter mentions more than once, “the words of the prophecy of this book.” It gives both promises and warnings – blessings and curses, if you will – with regard to keeping them. This compares directly with the blessings and curses pronounced from the mountain tops prior to entering the Promised Land in the Old Testament. Then, it was the words of the written Law. Now, it is “the words of the prophecy of this book“. But what does that statement mean? What exactly is it we are supposed to keep? It is certainly no written law. And the prophesied events aren’t anything we control. So what is it?
Honestly, I think “the words of the prophecy of this book” refers to Jesus. The book is, after all, the Revelation of Jesus Christ. He is the prophecy. He is also the word of God. And He is the New Covenant; the ‘real’ covenant – the true object that all the former things merely represented. Thus, blessed is the one who keeps Jesus as his truth and salvation. Don’t seal Him up, but know Him and make Him known. And do not add to or take away from Him because, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12).