Redeeming the Nations
The Book of Revelation presents images that do not conform to popular expectations about how God works. His goals in subjugating His enemies and judging the nations differ radically from traditional ideas and human “wisdom.” Just as his contemporaries did not understand Jesus, so we struggle to understand the “Slain Lamb” and his reign from the Throne of God.
In the vision of the “Rider on a white horse,”
for example, the figure’s robe is “sprinkled with blood” BEFORE
he engages in “combat” with the “Beast from the Sea” and its allies. Whose
blood was it, and how did it get there?
[Photo by Joshua Woroniecki on Unsplash] |
His only weapon is the great “sword” that “proceeds out of his mouth,” namely, the “Word of God.” Rather than a bloodstained blade hanging from his belt, on his thigh is written the phrase, “King of kings and Lord of lords.”
Jesus is the “Word of God” sent to “judge
and make war in righteousness,” NOT rage. Members of his “army”
are “clothed with fine linen, white and
pure” with no weapon in sight. His “sword” is used “to SHEPHERD the nations,” not to crush them.
His campaign appears to result in the destruction
of the “nations” and the “Kings of the Earth.” However, both
groups reappear in New Jerusalem where the “nations” walk in the Lamb’s
light, and the “Kings of the Earth bring
their glory into” the city.
Rather than the aftermath of a great
slaughter, a life-giving river flows from the Throne. It is bordered on either
side by the “Tree of Life,” and “its leaves are for the healing of the nations” - (Revelation
21:24-26, 22:1-4).
Jesus is the “Ruler of the Kings of the Earth”
who redeemed the saints and made them a “Kingdom of Priests.” This statement uses past tense verbs to
describe things achieved already through his Death and Resurrection. His “saints”
are reigning with him, and they do so as “priests,” not conquerors. They
mediate his light to a dark world, and they “overcome” and reign in the
same manner as he did - (Revelation 1:4-6, 3:21, 12:11).
RULER OF NATIONS
If Jesus is the “Ruler of the Kings of
the Earth,” what kind of king would he be if he allowed Satan to deceive
and conquer the “nations” for all time? What kind of shepherd allows predatory
beasts to slaughter his sheep? - (Revelation 12:5, 19:15).
The term “nation” is fluid in its
application. It is used both negatively and positively. For example, the “Beast
from the Sea” is granted authority over men from every “nation, people,
tongue, and tribe.”
Far more often, it is the “Lamb” who purchases “men from every nation, people, tribe and tongue.” He is the Shepherd-King who reigns lovingly over his redeemed people, and they belong to him - (Revelation 5:6-10, 7:9-17, 13:7-10).
At times, the
“nations” are victimized by the “Dragon” and his vassals. “Babylon”
is condemned because “she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of
her fornication.” She, “by her sorceries, deceived all the nations.”
It is Satan who “deceives all the nations,” but how can Jesus “shepherd
the nations” if he allows the Devil to keep his ill-gotten gains? - (Revelation
14:8, 18:3, 18:23, 20:3-8).
In the end,
both the “nations” and their “kings” are found in the Holy City, “New
Jerusalem,” where they give honor and glory to the “Lamb” and the
One who “sits on the Throne.” This happy result is predicted in the Book:
- (Revelation 15:4) - “Who shall in any way not be put in fear, O Lord, and glorify your name, alone, full of lovingkindness; because all the nations will come and do homage before you because your righteous deeds were made manifest?”
This is
fulfilled in “New Jerusalem” - “The nations of them which are saved will
walk in the light of it, and the Kings of the Earth do bring their glory and
honor into it…And they will bring the glory and honor of the nations into it”
- (Revelation 21:24-22:4).
This is not
to say that the “Lamb” has no human enemies. There are men whose “names
are not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.” Unrepentant sinners find
themselves cast into the “Lake of Fire,” but this impenitent group is
identified as the “Inhabitants of the Earth” rather than the “nations.”
Its members will face the final “Hour of Trial, which is going to come…to
try the Inhabitants of the Earth.”
The “Lamb”
has four “cosmic” enemies that oppose him at every turn - the “Dragon,”
the “Beast from the Sea,” the “False Prophet,” and “the Great
Whore, Babylon.” Human beings that ally with the “Dragon” and give
their allegiance to his “Beast” have their names excluded from the “Book
of Life.”
The martyrs
that John saw “underneath the altar” when the Fifth Seal was opened pleaded
with God to avenge their blood on the “Inhabitants of the Earth,” not
the “nations” - (Revelation 3:10, 6:9-11, 8:7-13).
This wicked
group is composed of unrepentant men who submit to the “Beast,” pay
homage to its “image,” and embrace its “Mark” and “Number,”
666. They are identified as those “whose names were not written in the Book
of Life from the foundation of the world.” Despite everything, they refuse
to “repent of their idolatries.”
This group
does not represent all humanity, only those men who consciously oppose the “Lamb”
and reject the redemption offered by him. The “Inhabitants of the Earth”
are never presented in a positive light, and no member of the group is found in
the “City of New Jerusalem” - (Revelation 3:10, 6:10, 8:13, 11:10).
[Photo by Johannes Plenio on Unsplash] |
Thus, “New Jerusalem” will not be the home of a tiny “remnant” that makes it to the city by the “skin of their teeth.” It will be inhabited by a multitude of men from “every nation and tribe and people and tongue,” one so vast that “no one can number them.” It is the “Inhabitants of the Earth” who will become a small remnant, not the “nations.” The Slain Lamb will be satisfied with nothing less than a fully populated city - (Revelation 7:9-17).
Finally, the
“Lamb” does not redeem the “nations” by military conquest, but
through the perseverance, priestly service, and testimony of his “saints.”
They overcome the Devil by “the blood of the Lamb, the word of their
testimony, and because they loved not their lives even unto death.”
RELATED POSTS:
- The Era of Salvation - (The Gospel of the Kingdom announced by Jesus of Nazareth offers salvation and life to men and women of every nation and people)
- The Sign of the End - (According to Jesus. the End will not come until this Gospel of the Kingdom of God has been proclaimed to all nations – Matthew 24:14)
- Redemption, not Abandonment - (Salvation includes the bodily resurrection and the New Creation that will take place at the arrival of Jesus)
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