Unmasking Revelation

A Study of Revelation to Reveal Its Positive Message that Jesus Wins and Satan Loses

Sam Chess

• Publisher: Morgan James Faith
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9780800799120
• eBook ISBN: 9781642796018
• Subtopic: Biblical Studies

The Book of Revelation was meant to ignite awe and worship.

There is a special blessing promised to all who read and obey the words of Revelation (1:3). Yet many Christians slam their Bible shut before reading because they find the end times prophecy to be confusing, weird, and even scary.

Revelation was never meant to be feared or skipped over. In Unmasking Revelation, Sam Chess walks through how Jesus left first century Christians with the hope of His return, and how the letter of Revelation was given as a guide to how it all would end. Jesus was going to victoriously win and satan, and death, and hell, and even the curse of sin itself (22:3) would be purged off this planet!

Through Unmasking Revelation, the difficult parts of Revelation become understandable, and the weird and frightening are "unmasked" to simply unfold the storyline of Jesus' (and Christians') final triumphant victory.

The Revelation of Jesus Christ

PART I

REVELATION 1–3:

Unveiling What Jesus Is “Up to Now”

It now becomes our task—to ask ourselves not only what this book said to the Early Church, but what does it say to me? We already know, for certain, the same facts that John himself discovered:

• •The book of Revelation deals not only with what is coming at the End of Times, but also with what Jesus is doing (wanting to do) in His Church today—“the things that are now happening.” That must apply just as much to me today as it did Ethan in the First Century.

Once we grasp that truth, we become ready to study the full “Unveiling” of Revelation. And it’s also still just as true that: God blesses the one who reads the words of this prophecy to the church, and He blesses me when I listen to its message and when I obey what it says.

• •Please notice this often-overlooked fact: The command to “obey” what Revelation says can’t apply to Chapters 5–22 because they reveal what is “yet to come” in our future. We can’t obey what hasn’t happened yet, right? So, the things we are to obey must be found in Chapters 1–3. Yes?

So we must not fail to study the opening chapters and as we dig through them, we each need to ask ourselves: “Am I walking in a unique, special blessing promised by Jesus because I am obeying the words of Revelation 1:3—What is happening in my life and in my local church right now that matches the words of Jesus’ Unveiling?”

• •And one more great point: The chapters of Revelation that reveal the things that will happen (5–18) cover a period of only about seven years. The chapters that reveal what Jesus is doing right now (1–4) cover more than 1,900 years—and they contain letters that Jesus personally dictated, and then on through the seven churches in Asia, to every Christian on the planet!

That “obey” statement on the previous pages is an eye-brow raiser to many Christians. If the “blessing” connected with Revelation comes from reading and obeying its words, which parts should I be obeying, and how should that be affecting my life right now?

The default Christian answer on what Jesus is doing now is that he “has gone to heaven to prepare a place for us,” and “he is interceding for the Saints.” So, what’s this newly-minted “vocation” of Jesus “walking among the lamp-stands” in Revelation 1–3, and how should that be influencing my life?

Whenever we think of meeting Jesus in heaven, our minds automatically picture a long-haired, white-robed, Middle Eastern man in flip flops holding out his nail-scarred hands. When you one day meet Jesus in heaven, what does Revelation 1 say he will look like?

1

Jesus Is “Walking” Among the Churches

Nearly 2,000 years have passed since Jesus was crucified, resurrected, and ascended to Heaven. So just what has Jesus been up to? (Preparing us a place? Yes!) But Paul tells us that He is also “sitting at the right hand of the Father making intercession for the Saints” (Romans 8:34). What does that even mean? Obviously, Jesus is not spending his time sitting on a small throne beside the Father’s big throne. That has to be an “idiomatic” way of saying that Jesus is occupying “the seat of honor, power, and influence.”

• •From that “seat,” He is “making intercession” for us as our Divine Defense Attorney, pleading our case before the Throne of God and assuring Him (and us) that His sacrifice for us—is fully sufficient to cleanse us from all our sins!

That is powerful, and very important! But Revelation 1–3 unveils even more of what Jesus is “up to.” John describes a brand-new snapshot of how Jesus appeared to him in his “island unveiling:”

Revelation 1:12–17: “When I turned to see who was speaking to me, I saw seven gold lamp-stands. And standing in the middle of the lamp-stands was someone like the Son of Man. [Daniel 7:13] He was wearing a long robe with a gold sash across his chest. His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow. And his eyes were like flames of fire. His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice thundered like mighty ocean waves. He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp two-edged sword came from his mouth. And his face was like the sun in all its brilliance. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as if I were dead.”

John knew Jesus as well as any human being on Earth, so why would he “fall at His feet as if dead” when seeing Him again? Because Jesus was no longer the Teacher from Nazareth, who walked the roads of Galilee, on his way to becoming our Suffering Savior! Now, He is very clearly the Divine King of the Universe!

Jesus now vs. Jesus then

The change is so mind-numbing that John is shocked! John’s leftover view of a bruised, battered, and crucified Savior” shuffling along in a bloodied white robe is clearly not what Jesus looks like anymore. He was such a startling figure that when John saw him, in his vision, it was too much to bear and he hit the ground—hard!

• •Truth is, if Jesus walked in on any of us at this moment, we would not be standing chatting with him—even if you are an unbeliever—you would be on your face in awe and worship!
  Revelation 1:17–18: “But he [Jesus, my friend, my cousin, the Messiah, the Savior of the World], laid his right hand on me and said, ‘Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last. I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave.’”

John had more of the Middle Eastern oriental mindset than most of us and was better prepared to understand parables and symbolism than modern Westerners—but even he did not understand what he was seeing. So, Jesus explained it to him.

Revelation 1:19–20: “‘Write down what you have seen—both the things that are now happening and the things that will happen. This is the meaning of the mystery of the seven stars you saw in my right hand and the seven gold lamp-stands: The seven stars are the messengers [angels- ἄγγελοι] of the seven churches, and the seven lamp-stands are the seven churches.’”’

The “reality” behind the “symbolic” is supposed to be clear. It shows us exactly what Jesus is doing right now: He is “moving among the churches” which, as we will soon see in Revelation Chapters 2 and 3, is His present, all-consuming focus. The period of time between John’s vision and the final beginning of the End Times is all about Jesus getting His Church ready for heaven! It was in the First Century—it’s still just as true today!

Take a minute to read these opening three chapters from Jesus’ perspective. He had lived His human life here on Earth, raised up 12 disciples, poured into them everything He could about who the Father was, and about what it meant to follow Him. Then He died, rose again, and commissioned His disciples to go out and finish what He began! He then ascended back to Heaven. (“Going to prepare a place for us” John 14:3.)

Fast-forward some 50 years. The young Church, in spite of the persecution, has grown and spread across the known world. All the rest of the New Testament had been written in some form and was being circulated through the Church. Jesus has this one chance to speak directly back into the life of a Church that had been birthed through the efforts of His disciples. That’s the context of the “seven letters” in Revelation 2 and 3, and that makes what Jesus has to say in these letters very important.

So why is Jesus “moving among” the Churches?

The “letters” make it clear that Jesus is consumed with how His Church is functioning. Apparently, His whole focus is to “serve” the churches; encouraging right behavior and exposing sinful behavior. He points out where the churches are missing the mark and exhorts them. He compliments those who are headed in the right direction and encourages them to shift up a gear. He warns those who have slipped a gear or two—that they are in spiritual danger. That is what Jesus is doing right now! That is where Jesus says He is investing huge amounts of His efforts. (So, doesn’t it make sense that if “Jesus’ Church” and our association with it—is not a big priority to us—that is kind of a big deal considering that it is an all-consuming priority to Jesus?!)

The entire New Testament is all about forming people into local “Church” bodies, from Jesus’ great “I will build my Church” speech in Caesarea Philippi—right to this very moment!

That is the entire backdrop of the book of Acts and all the Epistles! And now here, the first three chapters of Jesus’ “Unveiling” are about Him “moving among those churches,” adjusting their behavior, and making promises for their (and our...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Prologue
• Introduction
• Part I: The Revelation of Jesus Christ
• Part II: The Revelation of Jesus Christ
• Part III: The Revelation of Jesus Christ
• Part IV: The Revelation of Jesus Christ
• Epilogue
• Special Acknowledgement
• Acknowledgements
• Answers to End-of-Chapter Questions
• Scripture By Chapter Index
• Scripture By Book Index
• About the Author