DAY 355

VISION: SEEING CLEARLY

Micah 4 & 5 and Revelation 11:19 - 12

I can see clearly now the rain is gone.
I can see all obstacles in my way.
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind.
gonna be a bright (bright) bright (bright) sunshinin' day.
It's gonna be a bright (bright) bright (bright) sunshinin' day.

I doubt after this blog you will be singing this jingle, but I pray that my comments might help you see more clearly what you are reading today in Revelation. We have entered SCENE 4: THE DRAMA OF HISTORY—SEVEN VISIONS OF COSMIC CONFLICT.

Typing the number seven again reminds me that I still owe you a post on numbers, but let’s just pause and look at the title of Scene 4. It is a drama, a drama of history, and this drama consists of seven visions of conflict that take place at the spiritual level. This Scene will cover from 11:19 all the way to 15:14.

Today is we read the opening of the Scene, we meet the characters, and we are introduced to the plot. Let’s begin:

The opening: ¹⁹ Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail. Heaven here does not seem to be a place of perfection; there is an earthquake, and hail. This heaven is like the heaven we read about in Scene 2…in other words we are seeing the spiritual or cosmic realm. And the Temple is not so much a place as it represents the place where God dwells…and God dwells in this spiritual realm. 

The characters: A woman bearing a child, a red dragon with seven crowns and ten horns, and a child! Two of them are portents: a sign or warning that something, esp. something momentous or calamitous, is likely to happen. The woman and the red dragon are the portents. Several bible commentators can take you through the reasoning, but here is the end…the woman represents Israel (and then the church) and the dragon (with crowns to indicate earthly rule and horns to indicate power) is Satan and the child represents Christ…he comes not only from Mary, but indeed from Israel.

The plot: The text reveals the Archangel Michael and his troops fight the Evil Archangel and his. We read of Michael in Daniel, he is the heavenly champion of Israel. Said simply there is a heavenly battle between God’s army and Satan’s. We read that Satan is overthrown, and has not gotten the child. What is left for him to do? Torment the woman…the church. Yet the text clearly says that while he may be able to torment, that because of the Lamb, the people of the church can claim victory…and so we proclaim…death where is thy sting…death where is thy victory…consider before Revelation was written, St. Paul penned these words:

⁵⁰ I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. ⁵¹ Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, ⁵² in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. ⁵³ For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.⁵⁴ When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
⁵⁵ “O death, where is your victory?
    O death, where is your sting?”

⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷ But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.