March 18: REVELATION’S SIXTH BEATITUDE
“Behold, I am coming quickly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.” Revelation 22:7
Jesus speaks these words to emphasize the essential nature of being ready for His arrival. Our current era, the time of the end (Daniel 8:17), is marked with gross corruption of planet earth along with deterioration of her inhabitants spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally, socially, and morally. Jesus’s rescue operation will happen quickly, like a “surgical strike”, to borrow a military term. The time of the end will be marked with Satan’s most intense tactics to gain followers through deception. Thus, preparedness is of the essence. For those who have died in Christ, the time between their deaths and His coming will seem as a split second, or as the twinkling of an eye (1 Corinthians 15:52).
Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.” This is number six of the seven Beatitudes of Revelation.* What does it mean to keep God’s word? This alludes to grasping and holding on to the truths that are presented. It is much more than merely being acquainted with the words of the prophecy of this book. Let us revisit the Beatitude of the prologue: Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near (1:3). To keep translates into actions in accordance with faith. Symbolized by a tree (7:1), a person bearing spiritual fruit is a healthy tree. But knowledge of the truth without a heart change – right information without heart transformation – causes an individual to become harsh, critical, and legalistic.
Today, there is a strong tendency among Christians to discount the idea of prophecy as well as prophetic fulfillments already proven in the historical record. This is, at least in part, due to Jesus’s warning about false prophets (Matthew 24:24). And ignorance of history doesn’t help. In the Old Testament there were numerous false prophets who were accepted while the true ones were rejected and persecuted. In the three lists of spiritual gifts in the New Testament, the only spiritual gift that appears on all three lists is that of prophecy (see Romans 12:6-8; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11; 12:28). Also, prophecy and its understanding are predicted in the Word and greatly encouraged (see Joel 2:28; Amos 3:8; Acts 2:17-18; 1 Corinthians 14:1, 22, 39; Revelation 10:11; 19:10).
If something is important to the Lord, it should certainly be important to you and me. The points of Revelation are based and built upon details provided throughout the Scriptures. Its purpose is to comfort and prepare God’s people for the last-day trials they will face in the fallen world. Many would have us believe its purpose is to satisfy curiosity about the future. Sadly, this aspect is so often over-emphasized, that it obscures and overshadows the essential need for character development, so vitally necessary in order to prepare for death or Jesus’s return – whichever comes first. Be wary of professed Christians who manifest the spirit of sceptics and scoffers, who are prophesied to …come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of Creation.” (2 Peter 3:34)
*1:3; 14:13; 16:15; 19:9; 20:6; 22:7; 22:14