November 15, 2013 – Revelations 5 – 6

Revelations has always confused me (how many times has that statement been said) in its use of time. There all the writing s out there predicting the end of the world or trying to determine when Revelation takes place, but Christ has said you will not know the hour, so Revelation cannot predict the end. And, there is no time in Heaven, it is outside of time. A million years is as one second and a second is as a million years. I do not understand it either, but being outside of time means God is present for every moment at once.

But there is an order to things in Heaven. Even if it is not time as we know it, there is some form of chronology. One thing has to happen before another, and after that, this happens. In this Heavenly vision we see the scroll that cannot be opened until the Lamb that appears slain comes. All of Heaven cries out and John weeps before the Lamb comes. The Lamb is obviously Jesus (there might not be a more obviously identifiable vision). So, John went back in time, in the vision, because the scroll could not be opened at the beginning (before Christ’s sacrifice) and then he sees the Lamb slain (after Christ sacrifice. Time just works different in Heaven, but there is an order to things.

3 of the horsemen bring war or death, but he first one brings more victories. I was not sure what that meant. Whose victories does he bring. The second horseman takes away peace, so the first one’s victories, I don’t think, necessarily mean victories in war. I just mention above that you cannot fit Revelation into actual time, but after Christ death, the early Church, over its first 300 years, went from a handful in Israel to spread throughout the known world. The early Church, right after Christ death, the first seal, could be the victories won in converting so many.