Opus 2025-086: The Last Word

Christians who are informed, who believe, and who study their Bible, would agree that the book of Revelation is the last scripture written historically.  Does that make any difference?

Where am I coming from?  My friend, who is into eschatology, thinks he has the end times figured out, or at least he’s a lot closer than I am.  Of course he’s closer because it’s a big issue to him.  I am concerned about the end times in the same way that I am concerned about our country’s balance of trade.  There’s nothing I can do about it.  It will effect me in some way.   I may have a lot of opinions.  I might voice opinions, but in the scheme of things there are more important concerns.

But what do we do with someone who reads you Isaiah 60 and makes a big point about how this fits into the book of Revelation somewhere and is really important.  Then when you look at the book of Revelation, you can’t see how it could possibly fit in because there are contrary statements.  For instance, Isaiah talks about sacrifices, and implies that there is a temple.  The final chapter of Revelation when the New Jerusalem descends from heaven very clearly states that there is no temple.  How can Isaiah be forecasting a temple being built in Jerusalem when there will be no temple in Jerusalem?

When we have different scriptures that we have to synchronize, I think it’s important when they were written.  John has given us the final word in the book of Revelation.  It was written when he was in exile on Patmos.  It is the latest scripture that is accepted by the church.  That being the case, I think it would have precedence over things that went before it.  So when Isaiah says one thing and Revelation says the other, it needs to be worked out in favor of Revelation, not Isaiah.

Another thing you see here is the statement in the book of Revelation, which talks about being judged by what we do, by our actions, or using that forbidden word, by our “works”.  The Old Testament is also full of this kind of statement.  Jesus made statements like that.  Sandwiched in between you have Paul talking about grace and faith and downplaying works.  Who has the final Word?  To me that’s a two pronged answer.  Jesus would be at the top of the heap, after all, He is God incarnate.  Revelation would be up there very high also because it was the final word.  That doesn’t mean we discard Paul.  It means that we interpret it all together, but don’t make Paul the final word.

Welcome to the happy world of understanding what God is telling us through the word.

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