So lately I’ve been encouraged to read the book of Revelation. During my first two trips through the book, the thing that stood out to me was the phrase, “the secret thing foretold by the prophets but revealed by Jesus.” This statement occurs twice in the Good News translation. The question then was: “What is the secret thing foretold by the prophets but revealed by Jesus?” After a couple of days ruminating on this question, I believe the answer is the whole of the new covenant.
Today, most Christians are taught the blood Jesus shed during His suffering and death on the cross cleanses them of their sin. I recently heard a well known pastor and radio teacher quote 2Corinthians 5:17, “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation, behold old things have passed away and all things are become new.” It was apparent through his teaching though, he didn’t believe this to be true. If you take an old car to the car wash and spend a few hours cleaning it up, you don’t then have a new car; you don’t have a new creation. You have an old car cleaned up.
If Christians have to go on repenting of the same sins after believing in Jesus, they have not become a new creation. The fact is: Jesus did not die for our sins on the cross; He died to fulfill the old covenant law. This fulfillment makes the old covenant null and void and creates a whole new man. Mankind is no longer held accountable to the standards of the old covenant with its Ten Commandments as the standard for righteousness. All things have become new. This truth is not widely accepted however, and most Christians are taught to repent of discretion against the law of the old covenant, the Ten Commandments. They are not viewed as new creations but washed up and cleansed old creations.
The fulfillment of the old covenant law is just the first piece of the secret thing however. It is the first piece of the new covenant. Most Christians believe their past sins are washed away through belief in Jesus’ death on the cross, but subsequent sins must be repented of, confessed, and are then washed away. The truth is Jesus took the whole old covenant away and where there is no law there can be no breaking of that law. Whom the Son has set free is free indeed but the new covenant is the secret thing proclaimed by the prophets and revealed by Jesus. Most people don’t know this secret.
On the other side of Jesus’ fulfillment of the old covenant is the establishment of a whole new covenant, with new commandments that must be kept in order to abide in Jesus’ love; but most Christians are completely unaware of Jesus’ commandments and the new covenant because it is a secret thing. It has been revealed; proclaimed by the scriptures from Genesis to Revelation and by Jesus, but kept secret by God. This is the only explanation for why Christians don’t live in Jesus’ love.
On my third trip through the book I saw that even though Jesus is unhappy with each of the seven churches, they are each represented by a golden lamp stand in His hand, even the one He threatens to vomit from His mouth. Further on I saw that Christians wash their robes in the blood of Jesus. Now, all mankind is clothed with Jesus’ righteousness as the first act of the new covenant. Jesus perfectly kept the old covenant law, then died under the penalty of disobedience of the law, that is how He redeemed mankind from the law. When Jesus established the new covenant, the first thing He did was to give all mankind His righteousness, the righteousness He earned by keeping the law. This is the white robe Christians wear.
In Revelation 7:13, one of the elders asked John, “What are these who are arrayed in white robes?” The answer is very enlightening. When John was unable to answer, the elder said, “These are they which came out of the great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” The question was not who these people were; the question was what these people were. The answer then is not therefore a reflection of who these people are but what they represent.
“These are they which came out of the great tribulation.” These people are a group which came out of the great tribulation by a single event. They are people robed with the righteousness of Christ but have washed those robes in the blood of the Lamb. Romans 4:16 states, “It is of faith that it might be by grace.” The, it, is the new covenant. All mankind receives the righteousness of the Christ as a free gift but only those who express faith, experience the grace. Jesus died on the cross as the Christ to redeem mankind from the old covenant law, which no man could keep, and the old covenant law pronounced a sentence of death on all who could not keep it.
After this, Jesus presented Himself to the Father, who sacrificed Jesus, and then raised Him from the dead. Jesus did not die on the cross as our Passover Lamb; He did not die for sin on the cross. Nowhere in the scripture is the Passover Lamb tortured and killed by violence but Jesus died a violent death on the cross. He did not die by violence when He presented Himself before God in heaven. Moreover, Jesus was not begotten by God in Mary’s womb. Jesus was a man when He died on the cross; He was not God. Jesus was begotten by God in heaven, after His blood poured out in a bowl.
So, the people in Revelation 7 are people clothed in Jesus’ righteousness through faith in Jesus’ death on the cross. These people have somehow learned the secret of God that the Lamb was sacrificed in heaven, and washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb through repentance. Before Jesus ascended into heaven, He issued three commandments to His Church. Disobedience of these three commandments is sin, and sin that soils the white robes Christians wear, but sin Jesus forgives if repentance is exercised and obedience is attempted.
None of the seven churches are chastised for sins against the old covenant law. They are not rebuked for tolerating adultery, or stealing, or coveting, or bearing false witness, or having other gods; they are rebuked for failing to hold to the doctrine of the apostles, those who received the three commandments of Jesus. These truths are the secret thing but that which is secret will be revealed.
Deuteronomy 29:29 states: “The secret things belong to our God but those things that are revealed belong to us and to our children.” In Mark 4:22, Jesus said, “For everything that is hidden will eventually be brought into the open and every secret will be brought to light.” God has a secret, but that secret will be revealed.
As I stated before, I believe there were three times given to mankind. There was the time between Adam and Moses where there was no law of God on the earth, the time between Moses and Jesus’ death on the cross where the old covenant law was in force, and the time between Jesus’ resurrection and now when the new covenant law has ruled. This time runs out around 2027 and these last few years are called the time of Jacob’s trouble and the great tribulation. It is also the time when God’s secrets will be revealed and thousands upon thousands of Christians will wash their robes of righteousness in the blood of the Lamb. The church today does not see or recognize the Lamb. What they see and recognize is the Christ.
The people of Revelation 7:13 are the raptured. While the word, rapture, is not found in the scriptures, the words caught up are, and the word, rapture, means, caught up. Paul speaks of this event in 1Thessalonians 4:16-17. “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.”
Paul, himself, was caught up, as he recounts in 2Corinthians 12:2-4, “I knew a man about thirteen years ago. This man was caught up to the third heaven and heard things he was not permitted to speak.” In other words, Paul heard secrets, things he was not permitted to tell. So in 1Thessalonians 4:16, what is it Paul is not telling us? Paul tells us Jesus descends from heaven with three things, He descends with a loud command, He descends with the voice of an archangel, and He descends with the trumpet call of God.
What is this loud command? In the eleventh chapter of John we find the story of the raising of Lazarus from the dead, and in verse 43, Jesus cries with a loud voice, “Lazarus come forth,” and Lazarus appears at the mouth of the tomb, still wrapped in grave clothes. Does Jesus descend with a loud command to call the dead in Christ back to life? Now, remember, in Revelation 7:13, John is shown a great company of people and is asked “What are these who are arrayed in white robes?” The question is: “What are these?” The answer is: the raptured.
This group of people represents an event. They are people arrayed in white robes but they are also people who have realized to wear the robe of Christ is not sufficient for eternal life. They have washed their robes. Ever since the death of John and even before, the gospel that has been preached has not been the gospel of the new covenant. Notice Jesus’ words to the church of Ephesus, “Nevertheless, I have somewhat against you because you have left your first love.” What is this first love? Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments,” and 1John 5:3 states, “This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.” We live in the new covenant age, the last time, the time of the kingdom of heaven. The commandments of the kingdom of heaven are different from the commandments of the last age, or kingdom of God.
Maybe it would help to define a covenant. A covenant is a contract, in this case between God and mankind. If we consider again the three times of mankind, during the first time there was no contract between God and man. During the second time, there was a contract between the Jewish Nation and the Father God, which was the kingdom of God but all mankind fell under that contract. During this last time, the contract has been between Jesus and the entire population of earth. The Father God issued the commandments of the kingdom of God. Jesus issued a different set of commandments to rule the kingdom of heaven, which is the last time. Jesus delivered all mankind from the law of His Father, making all mankind a new creation, one not beholden to the Father’s law, but mankind must keep Jesus’ commandments to gain eternal life.
The old covenant law contained a curse of death on anyone who did not keep it perfectly, so Jesus had to redeem mankind from the curse of death before He could offer mankind eternal life. If you are trying to keep the Ten Commandments, you are attempting to live in the wrong time, under the wrong covenant. Jesus died on the cross to redeem mankind from the law. After this he established a new covenant with mankind to offer eternal life to whosoever will but if the new covenant is not preached, no one can hear and without hearing it is impossible to believe because faith comes by hearing. The only thing that has been preached for these 1900 years has been Jesus’ death on the cross. The early church abandoned the new covenant to live under the old.
This is the voice of the archangel. The voice of the archangel is instruction. What did Gabriel give Daniel when he appeared to him: instruction. Faith, or the ability to believe, comes by hearing and hearing by God’s Word. Before the believers in Christ can know and understand to wear the robe of Jesus’ righteousness is insufficient for salvation, before they can know and understand that Jesus’ blood was poured out in heaven, after He had presented Himself before the Father and was sacrificed for mankind’s sin, they must hear that message preached and taught. Then, in order to take up residence in the kingdom of heaven, they must keep Jesus’ commandments, which are: to keep yourself saturated with the Holy Spirit, preach this gospel, and disciple the converts.
It certainly appears that Jesus gives all believers in the Christ a second opportunity to believe on the Lord. After all, these are God’s people, people who belong to His Father, and represented by golden lamp stands in his hand. He descends from heaven with a loud voice and commands, dead in Christ, arise! Paul does not tell us there is a space of about three years between the dead in Christ arising and we which remain being caught up together with them in the air; he simply says, “After that,” but the voice of the archangel takes time. Someone has to tell the believers in Christ they need to believe on the Lord in order to gain everlasting life and believers in the Christ must keep Jesus’ commandments in order to establish citizenship in the kingdom of heaven.
Consider a verse you know so well but perhaps don’t know at all. John 3:16 states: “For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” According to this verse, you must believe on the only begotten Son in order to gain everlasting life. Jesus was not begotten of God though in Mary’s womb; Jesus was not God when he died on the cross. God cannot die. So when was Jesus begotten of God? The church of the last two thousand years has believed in the wrong Jesus to gain everlasting life.
This is the message that must be preached and believed by those robed in white. It takes time to hear the message, repent, and preach it and disciple the converts. Belief in the Christ does not make one a citizen of the kingdom of heaven. One must keep the commandments of the kingdom of heaven in order to be a citizen of the kingdom of heaven. Joel tells us there will be a great revival at the end, that the glory of God will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. Jesus descends from heaven with a loud command but He also descends with the voice of an archangel, the voice of instruction, and with a trumpet call. The trumpet is the call to repentance. In other words, Jesus calls the newly resurrected dead in Christ to repent of their sins against the new covenant law; He calls them to wash their soiled robes of white in the blood of the Lamb.
All throughout the last time the church has rejected the call of the new covenant and has sought to live under the old covenant; it has used the blood Jesus shed at the cross to try to cleanse of sin but that’s not the blood that does it. It takes faith in different blood. Jesus has called believers to live under the new covenant for 2,000 years. For 1,600 of those years the everyday common folk were dependent on church leaders to know how to walk and it was church leaders that led the church astray. For the last 400 years Bibles have been printed in the language of the people but people continue to follow the leaders of the church and fail to see a difference between the new and old covenant. Somebody has to preach the truth.
It is the book of Daniel that sets Jacob’s trouble at seven years but those seven years are divided in half. The book of revelation is not written in such a way as to be understood by the natural man; it is a book to be spiritually discerned. It is a book filled with the secrets of God; the hidden things. I don’t believe the book is written in chronological order. God has a purpose and His purpose is revealed by His timetable, thus, some things are revealed early but happen later and some things are revealed later but happen earlier.
Believers in Christ are given an opportunity to understand Jesus was not begotten by God in Mary’s womb but are simultaneously judged for failure to believe and failure to keep Jesus’ commandments. The tribulation period is a result of Jesus’ judgment on mankind for unbelief. This revealed message will spread like wildfire across the globe but Satan will not gleefully give up the ground he has taken and a great war will be waged between the revival and the established church and Satan. Believers on the Lord will be raptured out at some point because God has not appointed His children unto wrath. Judgment will turn into wrath about half way through the great tribulation.
Seven more trumpets of God sound after the raptured are found in heaven. Each trumpet calls for repentance and judgment on unbelief. Even under God’s wrath, which starts after the seven trumpets, people turn and repent and are eternally saved but they are fewer in number. All the way to the end of the age, there will be people of God on the earth. God will save His people. After the seven trumpets have sounded the wrath of God is poured out in earnest, not to destroy mankind, but in an effort to cause mankind to repent and live forever in the presence of God but as in the days of the Pharaoh of Egypt, the people who are left will harden their hearts against God.
As these events play out, remember, Jesus gave Himself to His tormentors and took the curse of the law in His own body on the cross. He died as a man, suffering as an innocent for the guilt of all mankind, then He offered Himself before the Father, who laid His body across an altar and slit His throat and caught His blood in a bowl as it drained from His body, then the Father infused Jesus’ lifeless body with His own life, the Father begat Jesus as a Son. All this Jesus did for mankind willingly and without compulsion. He deserves our highest praise and deepest honor for He was God Almighty and took on manhood to rescue mankind from the curse of the law. He presented His own blood, His own life, on the altar of heaven to pay for mankind’s sin. God’s wrath on mankind for disobedience is completely justified. The cup of God’s wrath on the disobedient is no deeper than the cup of suffering Jesus drank for us.
Even though Jesus was God, equal to the Father, He humbled Himself, thought it not robbery to be God, but took on manhood, with all the limitations and embarrassments of the human condition. He further humbled Himself before those who ridiculed and dishonored Him. He allowed His body to be beaten; His beard plucked, and submitted Himself to the cruelty of the cross and the death that followed. He didn’t stop there however. He presented Himself to God as the perfect sacrifice for sin and looked in God’s eyes as His blood poured from His body.
Now you might think, big deal, He knew God would raise Him from the dead, but do you realize Jesus still exists in a human body but no blood courses through His veins? The life is in the blood. The life Jesus now lives; He lives because God sustains Him. God begat Jesus: infused His own life into Jesus. Though Jesus was once God, equal to the Father in every way, He is now dependent on the Father for the very life within Him. This is why the Father highly exalted Jesus, giving Him a name above every other name, placing Jesus on His own throne, with His own power and authority, and making Him ruler over all. Those who disrespect this Jesus and His commandments deserve everything God gives and more.
In Revelation 19:14, the raptured return to earth with Jesus as conquering and occupying armies on white horses and Jesus sets up His kingdom on the earth and those who return with Jesus rule and reign with Christ a thousand years. The overwhelming theme of the book is suddenly. Through the book of Revelation, we have a behind the scenes glimpse of what happens on the earth but the people of earth will have no warning.