“Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.”
(Revelation 1:3)
John declares that the one who takes to heart the words of the prophecy will be blessed. The message of Revelation, as it unfolds, is not designed to provide fodder for intellectual speculation about the end times but is rather a series of commands addressed to the present-day lives of all who read it.
Prophecy in the OT generally had two time references: it was a forth-telling of God's word for His people in the present, and a foretelling of events to happen in the future. Those who read in those who hear and obey it's message will be blessed.
The reason those who hear the prophetic words must heed them is now given: for the time is near. Here John echoes the words of Jesus in Mark 1:15, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand," where "at hand" has the meaning of "about to arrive" or "is now arriving." The two clauses are parallel: the time Jesus spoke of is now fulfilled and the kingdom has arrived.
John views the death and resurrection of Christ as inaugurating the long-awaited kingdom of the end times that the OT books (such as Daniel) predicted and that will continue to exist throughout the church age. He sees the end-time kingdom of Daniel as having arrived in the person of Jesus Christ. His prophetic words will speak into the heart of the present, not simply the distant future. To claim to have benefited from Christ's past redemptive work entails an acknowledgement to submit to Him as Lord in the present.
(G.K. Beale)
No comments:
Post a Comment