all-knowing

The Lamb who was Slain

~ pjwenzel ~ Leave a comment

Revelation 5:1-7

When we come to chapter five, we’re essentially coming to a continuation of the previous chapter. John has seen a vision of the heavenly throne room, and God is illustrating to Him what things are like from His perspective.

5:1 Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals.

Throughout chapter 4 there was a strong parallel to Ezekiel 1-2, and Daniel 7 as well. Now as we get into chapter five, the Ezekiel references fade a bit into the background, but in verse one, there remains a very strong allusion to the scroll mentioned in Ezekiel. Yet as well see momentarily, there are also Isaianic and Danielic references that come to the forefront.

The passage in Ezekiel we ought to take note of it this:

And when I looked, behold, a hand was stretched out to me, and behold, a scroll of a book was in it. [10] And he spread it before me. And it had writing on the front and on the back, and there were written on it words of lamentation and mourning and woe. (Ezekiel 2:9-10)

Note that like the passage before us, this is a scroll written on both sides. The scroll in Ezekiel has to do with judgment that is about to befall Isarel, but the scroll here in Revelation has both judgment and redemption concerns. Therefore it is probably best to think of the scroll as containing those plans which God has for the world. The destiny of mankind is the topic of this scroll.

Note that it is sealed with seven seals. In Roman society, legal wills were sealed with seven seals (noted by everyone from Walvood to Beale). The imagery suggests that, like in Roman times, once the will was opened two things would happen 1. The will would be executed and 2. The time for waiting to see the contents of the will would be at a conclusion.

In terms of this imagery and the idea of the sealed will, many theologians see a clear reference to Daniel where twice the “sealing up” of a vision is mentioned:

The vision of the evenings and the mornings that has been told is true, but seal up the vision, for it refers to many days from now.” (Daniel 8:26)

But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.” (Daniel 12:4)

I heard, but I did not understand. Then I said, “O my lord, what shall be the outcome of these things?” [9] He said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end. (Daniel 12:8-9)

The passages in Daniel 12 were written in the third year of the reign of Cyrus the Great. The people were back in the land, rebuilding of the temple had commenced, and yet things weren’t as they should be. The future that the prophets had promised with so much enthusiasm didn’t seem to be so glorious – at least not yet. It was a slow process – much like our own day, we wonder “when will Jesus come back and restore the earth”, well they likely wondered “when will the glory of Jerusalem return in the way prophesied? When will the line of David be restored to the throne?”[i]

Some see Isaiah 29 (verses 11-12 are instructive) as a background thought here as well. Consequently, Is. 29 is a parallel passage to some of Isaiah 6 – the portion that speaks of the people essentially not having ears to hear the word of God. The idea is that God has sealed the truth of this Revelation until the right time – the time of Jesus’ ministry. Thus, God has now allowed John to see and proclaim what Daniel was told to seal up, and what Isaiah bemoaned would never be seen or heard by the Israelites in his day because of their hardness of heart.[ii]

There is a possibility that the meaning of the scroll having been written on front and back has to do with 1. The fullness/completeness of the message and 2. The fact that when something was written front and back it was therefore not completely sealed off from all knowledge content-wise. That is to say that there was a portion of God’s revelation that was readable – some make the connection between this and the fact that Daniel (for instance) had to know what God had in mind, even if he didn’t share it with others. So in some sense at least one from among men knew God’s plan prior to the seal being opened. I’m not entirely sure how strong of an observation this is, but it made some sense in my mind – some of this is predicated upon the imagery of a scroll and not a codex being what is intended, I suppose.

5:2-4 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” [3] And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, [4] and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it.

Now I always found this interesting. Why would John be weeping about the scroll not being opened? It wasn’t until I put some study into this and realized that the scroll contains the future plans of God for both judgment and redemption that I began to understand the angst of the apostle.

Hermeneutical side note: If we are reading this literalistically, we’d get tripped up by the phrase “And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it.” Would not our immediate conclusion be that no one – including Jesus – was able to do this? The right way to read this is as a generalization/hyperbole on John’s part. We actually use this kind of language all the time. We say, “no one understands my point of view” or “no one on earth is good enough to marry my daughter” and so forth. When we don’t mean that not ever single person, rather it is a generalization and one that is usually limited to our own awareness of the situation. Now, no one that I have read from any camp sees this as an issue, but that’s because they don’t apply their own hermeneutic to it! Therefore we must be consistent in our understanding of grammar and literary forms and structures.

So why is John so upset? Because no one can open the scroll, which is tantamount to saying that all of God’s plans for the future of the world cannot be achieved. Sinners who hate God and His children will go on persecuting them, and Christians will never be united to their Savior. This would indeed be a sad state of affairs.

Beale helpfully comments:

Once the seals are opened, the readers can understand the decretive nature of the book and, therefore, the purpose of history. They can discern that even their “sufferings are according to the will of God” and can be comforted by “entrusting their souls to him,” since he employs suffering to “perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish” them (1 Peter 4:19, 5:10). Despite the chaos and confusion of the world, there is an ordered eschatological plan, which cannot be thwarted and is, indeed, already being fulfilled.”[iii]

Lastly, just note the worldwide nature of the situation here. In the Isaiah 29 background, the author was speaking more specifically to the house of Israel, but Daniel 12 speaks to the entire world and deals with the consummation of world history. That isn’t to say that John didn’t have the Isaianic text in mind, but I point it out so that we can understand the contexts of each passage – only then are we able to see how they are transformed across the canon. But again, it is notable (according to Beale and others) that when you have read Daniel 7 and 12 you begin to see that the plans God has in this scroll are universal in nature. So there seems to be a specific aim in the Daniel passages that finding its teleos in Christ and is aimed at prophesying what John is seeing here, whereas the Isaianic passage had perhaps a dual role 1. To be fulfilled in their time by the invasion of Babylon and the captivity due to Israel’s disobedience and 2. To find even greater fulfillment in Christ in that it anticipates a day when One will come who will unseal the mysteries of God – not on the basis of the righteousness (or lack there of) of the people, but on His own righteousness and worthiness. He will soften the hardness of human hearts by supernatural work of the Spirit in the setting of a new covenant.[iv]

5:5-6 And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.” [6] And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

The elders end the weeping of John by pointing to the Lion of the tribe of Judah. In here there is a mini-Biblical theology of the conquering of Jesus. The key here is to think of the central idea of the conquering of Jesus. It begins with Genesis 49 as the background:

Judah is a lion’s cub; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down; he crouched as a lion and as a lioness; who dares rouse him? [10] The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. (Genesis 49:9-10)

Jesus is the seed of the woman who has sprouted from the tribe of Judah. This is then picked up in the prophets who call him the “root of David”

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. (Isaiah 11:1)

And…

In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious. (Isaiah 11:10)

Then of course the text we all are familiar with from Isaiah is it pertains to the Lamb:

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. [5] But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. [6] All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. [7] He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. (Isaiah 53:4-7)

Jeremiah combines the image of the tree branch and the lamb:

But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter. I did not know it was against me they devised schemes, saying, “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name be remembered no more.” (Jeremiah 11:19)

And…

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. (Jeremiah 23:5)[v]

And the very last prophet in a long line of OT prophets, John the Baptist finally beholds the Lord incarnate and proclaims what we now have come to call the Angus Dei:

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29)

All of these images are meant to bring to our minds the plotline of the Bible. God is in control of history and is moving it to a conclusion which centers around His Son. And His Son is worthy because of the redemption He achieved. Ironically, He died in order to live. He lost physically in order to conquer spiritually.

The atonement motif is especially vivid here, with the bloody sacrifice being portrayed in the imagery of the lamb.

It’s worth noting that the word “slain” here is in the perfect participle. So that in this sense He “continues to exist as a slaughtered Lamb” which “expresses an abiding condition as a results of the past act of being slain” (Beale).

Because of all of these things, and the great victory He has achieved on the cross, Jesus is worthy to execute and handle all of the events of judgment and redemption bound up in the scroll.

Horns and Eyes

Finally, the imagery here suggests characteristics which can only be appropriated to the Deity. The lamb is said to have 7 eyes and 7 horns. The 7 eyes are the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is the Member of the Trinity who appropriates the work of God’s redemption to individuals on earth. Jesus’ victory is appropriated to individuals, and that happens through spiritual renewal, through new spiritual life, the application of which comes from the Holy Spirit who is said to have fullness of knowledge – the 7 indicates fullness, and the eyes indicate the full knowledge of God.

When King Asa has relied on the Syrian king for help instead of God, a prophet told him this: “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars.” (2 Chronicles 16:9)

The point is that nothing is hidden from the eye of God. God’s eyes search the earth and He knows all. As it relates to the lamb who was slain, and there is an obvious redemptive tie. The Spirit only applies redemption to those whom God has foreordained to that end. Revelation knows nothing of man’s “free will” in matters of salvation or escape from judgment.

The horns on the lamb are indications of power – the fullness of power. This is OT imagery. A few examples should suffice.

When Moses blessed the tribe of Joseph he said:

A firstborn bull—he has majesty, and his horns are the horns of a wild ox; with them he shall gore the peoples, all of them, to the ends of the earth; they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.” (Deuteronomy 33:17)

When Ahab sought advice from prophets as to whether he’d be victorious in battle, we read of one prophet saying this:

And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made for himself horns of iron and said, “Thus says the LORD, ‘With these you shall push the Syrians until they are destroyed.’” (1 Kings 22:11)

The Psalmists says…

For you are the glory of their strength; by your favor our horn is exalted. (Psalm 89:17)

Of course the passages in Daniel 7 and 8 are replete with examples of this as well.

Summary of vss. 1-6

As the hymn says, “what shall we say to these great thing? To mysteries sublime, for if he is with us we can sing, now and for all time!”[vi]

Beale has two pages of wonderful conclusionary statements on these verses, but here is one of my favorite parts in which he is discussing the prominence of the “lamb” motif in this passage. What he is noticing is that Revelation 4 and 5 are parallel to Daniel 7, but the main difference seems to be that John substitutes the “son of man” title in these chapters for “lamb of God.” This is his conclusion:

…John is attempting to emphasize that it was in an ironic manner that Jesus began to fulfill the OT prophecies of the Messiah’s kingdom. Wherever the OT predicts the Messiah’s final victory and reign, John’s readers are to realize that these goals can begin to be achieved only by the suffering of the cross. That this is the intention of the juxtaposition of “Lion” and “Lamb” in 5:5-6 is discernible from the pattern elsewhere in the book: visions are placed directly after heavenly sayings in order to interpret them.[vii]

How does this apply to us? Beale says:

Consequently, the Lion conquers initially by suffering as a slain lamb. This juxtaposition implies that, in their struggle against the world, believers should remember that Christ also suffered at the hands of the world but triumphed over it. His destiny is to be theirs, if the persevere.[viii]

So there are two things I’d say that really impressed upon me as I studied this passage. 1. The imagery used here is meant to bring to mind the words and promises of God. All that was bound up in the Pentateuch was picked up and interpreted by the prophets, and found its “amen” in Christ the lamb who was slain. And 2. Because of His intercessory atoning work on our behalf, our sins have been forgiven, and because we have been united to Him through the baptism of the Spirit (Rom. 6), we share in His destiny – which we’ll see in chapters 6 onward is a good thing.

So often we hear the secular liberals of our time saying “you Christians are going to be on the wrong side of history” with regards to gay marriage or other social issues. But from what we read here, we’re on the right side of history. Our futures are tied to the one who has control over the future, and that is a very comforting thought indeed.

5:7 And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne.

Just another hermeneutical side note: we must not press imagery too far inter literalistic oblivion. For example, if everything must be exactly literal, then how in the world are we to picture a slain lamb (that was supposed to be a Lion) handling a scroll? Last time I looked lambs have hooves, which make it rather difficult for them to clutch parchment. You see my meaning.

Now the idea of the image here is that the lamb is approaching the throne of the Father and is taking the scroll from his hand. This image really conveys a boldness that only one with the right to be there would have. I don’t want to blow this too far out of proportion, but if I were to ever enter the throne room of Queen Elizabeth, I might stand there on the sideline as a spectator, but I wouldn’t have the right or position to approach the throne. But the Lamb in this picture does just that. He approaches and takes the scroll, because He Himself is royalty, and because He is worthy to do so.

In this picture we see the authority of the conquering Christ. He reaches out and grabs the scroll, thereby taking charge of world history. He alone decides the fates of men, and is the only name by which any man may be saved.

Footnotes

[i] My thoughts on this passage were formed in part by E.J. Young and Ian Duguid’s commentaries on Daniel12.

[ii] Admittedly Beale says that Is. 29 forms more of a background, but I can tell that he wants to have the parallel made. I see a real connection there between God’s providence over the progressive revelation of His plan and the hardness of man’s hearts. But I am not an OT scholar.

[iii] Beale, longer commentary, Pg. 342.

[iv] Alex Motyer’s commentary on Isaiah has proven somewhat helpful here in understanding the background of this passage. Is. 29 really parallels Is. 6 post-call of Isaiah. In that passage the people are said to have ears that won’t hear and feet that won’t obey etc. And that Isaiah is being sent to them even though they won’t listen because they have hardened hearts. It is a mission of judgment, one might say. So even though these passages don’t form a direct prediction-to-fulfillment in the same way Daniel 12 does, they do provide the background against which the plotline is unfolding. And they (Is. 29 verses) give us an understanding for a fuller context in which the sealing up of God’s plans for His people was occurring. His people weren’t ready for the unsealing of His promises. And the world wasn’t ready either. Only when Christ came did these plans get really inaugurated – as Churchill once stated about a turning point in WWII, it wasn’t the beginning of the end, but only the end of the beginning. I don’t know if that is precisely accurate here, but Christ did inaugurate a new covenant with major consequences for humanity, solving a lot of the issues that Is. 29 was bemoaning (people’s hardness of heart + one worthy to bring God’s promises to consummation). That’s a long way around explaining some of the background thought that is built in to these images.

[v] Zechariah also says, “Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men who are a sign: behold, I will bring my servant the Branch” (Zechariah 3:8).

[vi] These Great Things, a hymn from ‘Glory to the Holy One’ by R.C. Sproul and Jeff. L.

[vii] Beale, longer commentary, pg. 353.

[viii] Beale, longer commentary, pg. 353.

The Earth Remade and Christian Mission

~ pjwenzel ~ 3 Comments

Sunday I took a departure from the Gospel of John and prepared a devotional for both Sunday AM and Sunday PM that looks at Isaiah 66.  This isn’t a sermon, so its not as lengthy as one might expect my notes to be on this kind of passage, but I hope its an encouragement to you.  If you’re a Christian you can take comfort in a passage like this where your place in the larger scope in God’s redemptive tapestry is evident.  From front to back, the Bible proclaims the centrality of God’s glory and our mission to bring Him glory and worship.  Here is just one more passage that points to these truths.

A New Heavens and a New Earth

Isaiah 66:17-24

Our text comes from the final verses of the book of Isaiah.  This is not meant to be a sermon, but rather a short lesson to stir up your minds to worship God as you leave this place.  The goal of this lesson is to show that from first to last, from Pentateuch to Prophets to Gospels and General Epistles, God’s purposes and plans have not changed.  They are being fulfilled even now in the church, and will be consummated upon Christ’s second coming.  

The context for our passage is that in the final chapters of Isaiah’s writing (particularly 65-66, though the entire section from 40 onward is markedly different than 1-39) we are learning about what will occur during the interim of the Anointed One’s two advents, as well as some things which will occur upon His final return and kingdom consummation…The notion of “kingdom” and “mission” looms heavy here, but the overarching thrust of the passage is that the end and goal of all things is the glory of God.

As we walk through the passage, I want you to notice FIVE points of importance to our discussion this evening:

  1. The centrality of worship and the glory of God
  2. The mission of God’s people
  3. The scope of God’s kingdom and our mission
  4. The justice of God
  5. The renewal of all creation, and revelation of God’s glory

Alec Motyer sums up the passage this way, “…this final section spans the first and second comings of the Lord Jesus Christ: his purpose for the world (18), his means of carrying it out (19-21), the sign set among the nations, the remnant sent to evangelize them (19) and the gathering of his people to ‘Jerusalem’ (20) with Gentiles in full membership (21). Jerusalem is not the literal city but the city of Galatians 4:25-26; Hebrews 12:22; Revelations 21. Exactly so but for Isaiah, not privileged as we with hindsight, it was a vision of staggering proportions.”

First of all, this is a passage that tells us of the purposes of God for His people and all of creation.  Central to those purposes is that God’s glory is His primary concern.  His glory and fame and our worship of Him make up the main theme not only of this passage, but also of all redemptive history.  God desires worship from every tribe tongue and nation (vs. 18-20).  Furthermore, the central end (teleos) of all history is that God will receive glory. In fact, we were created for this end, as was all of creation.  Therefore it makes sense that the mission of His people, and the end goal of all things is, “they shall come and shall see my glory” (vs. 18) and that “all flesh shall come to worship before me” (vs. 23).  This is not an isolated bullet point, but the truth that permeates this entire passage.

The second thing we notice here is the mission of God’s people.  In verse 19 we read that God will “send survivors to the nations” who will “declare my glory among the nations. And they shall bring all your brothers from all the nations, as an offering to the Lord…” As Peter Gentry says, “This text in Isaiah comes close to the Great Commission in Matthew 28.”  Motyer says this “is the clearest Old Testament statement of the theme of missionary outreach.”  Hundreds of years before the Great Commission, God had already expressed to Isaiah a plan to send us out to the nations as His Ambassadors (2 Corinthians) who would bring back converts to the Lord – literally turning people toward the Lord in repentance in order to bring Him glory.

He does this by setting “a sign among them.”  This sign is likely either meant to be the cross of Christ (Motyer, Gentry), the gospel of Christ, or the Spirit of Christ (Calvin), which indwells all believers. This work, this mission of bringing people back to the Lord will be our “grain offering” to the Lord (vs. 20).  What is likely in mind is the grain offering or the offering of “first fruits” (Motyer), which is appropriate because as James says, “Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures” (James 1:18 ESV – see also Rom. 8:23).

In fact Paul says in Romans 12, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Rom. 12:1).  So we see why we were created, and now we see the purpose of our mission as well – to spread the good news of the Gospel to people all over the world in order to bring glory to God.  This is our spiritual act of worship, to obey the Lord in the spreading of His glorious message.

The third thing we see is that the scope of the mission is worldwide.  Remember the context of when God is speaking to Isaiah – this is 700+ years prior to the birth of Christ. Going to reach the nations with the message of God’s kingdom wasn’t exactly on the minds of the Jews right now.  If I had to guess, I’d say they were most concerned about fending off the Assyrians from invasion.

This isn’t because the Jews were unaware of the scope of God’s redemptive plan, but rather they simply had forgotten it, or refused to believe it. As Motyer says, “they (the Jews) knew that the promise that was first their unique privilege was destined to be the privilege of all the earth.”Here are two places in the Pentetech where God’s plans for the nations were mentioned:

  • First in Numbers 14:21 God is speaking through Moses and talking about judgement the Jews will receive for disobedience, and almost as a “throw away” line He mentions that one day the entire earth will be “filled with (His) glory!”  That “glory” comes first in the person of Christ, second in the spreading of His gospel, and finally in the consummation of His kingdom.
  • Secondly, God had promised Abraham in Genesis 22:17-18 that He would bless the nations through His seed. “I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”  There is a clear tie-in with vs. 20 “your brothers from all the nations” and vs. 22 “your offspring.”  This is a clear reference to the spiritual seed of Abraham – that’s you and me!

Now as we continue to see the worldwide scope of this glory-spreading that we do, we read in verse 19 of a list of cities.  The list is indicative of the worldwide nature of the mission, and the fact that nothing will block the message from achieving its end.  As Alec Motyer says, “The place-names are intended to be impressionistic rather than literal, creating a sense of world outreach.” All the nations will receive this message (vs. 19) and it will cross all bounds of communication, technology, travel method, or means (vs. 20).  As Motyer says, “No distance or difficulty will stand in the way of bringing the brother’s home; every transport will be put under contribution.”

So this plan is expansive in scope, and its blessing will initially be carried to the nations by us, the church, His chosen people who are spreading the message of the gospel of peace.  As John Calvin rightly says of this passage, “The time when he (Abraham) became ‘the father of many nations’ was when God adopted the Gentiles, and joined them to himself by a covenant, that they might follow the faith of Abraham. And thus we see the reason why the Prophet (Isaiah) gives the name of ‘brethren’ of the Jews to us, who formerly were aliens from the Church of God.”

This is clearly articulated by John in his gospel when explaining the prediction of Caiaphas regarding Jesus, “He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad” (John 11:51-52).

But Isaiah takes it a step further!  Not only will the Gentiles be adopted into the family of God as “brothers”, but in vs. 21 we read that God will take some of them for priests and Levites!  How sacrilegious would this have been to Isaiah’s audience!  And this group of Levites and priests are those saved by the blood of the lamb.  Listen to what Peter says

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (1 Peter 2:9-10).

That is your mission to “proclaim the excellencies” of God. Truly “Now Israel as a royal priesthood includes Gentiles; the context puts an emphasis on honor, privilege, absorbing the riches of the nations, and nearness to Yahweh” (Gentry).

The fourth thing we note here is justice and righteousness of God.  God’s reign is like God’s plan for blessing – they both extend to more than simply Jews.  God is the sovereign ruler of all nations and people, and at the consummation of our Lord’s kingdom He will judge every nation and every person ever born on this planet.  He has the right to judge every man and every woman because He is the Creator, but more than that, He judges in perfect righteousness because of His omniscience. 

This is what is assumed by verse 18 when He states, “I know their works and their thoughts, and the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues.”  This verse follows a statement in verse 17, which describes what Jesus would later call “the tares” in the church – the pretenders. Jesus promised that all things that are hidden would eventually be brought into the light (Luke 8:17), and that includes those who “sanctify and purify themselves” (vs. 17) and spend their days in the church, while their hearts are far from God. Here He declares, they “shall come to an end together.”

John Oswalt rightly says, “Those who are depending on mechanical rituals and physical membership in the elect people are not the servants of God about whom Isaiah spoke so eloquently in chapters 41-46. They are nothing more than the rebels who were described with equal eloquence in chapter 1. It is those who gladly keep God’s covenant, whether they be Jews or Gentiles, who are God’s true servants.”

We do not do the judging – we do the worship (vs. 18, vs. 23).  God is the One who does the judging. God is able to judge all men (vs. 24) because He can rightly and righteously judge based on His omniscience.  Calvin says, “The Lord here testifies that he sees and observes their works, and that one day he will actually manifest that none can be concealed from his eyes.” Not only is He omniscient, but because He is perfectly holy, he will rightly judge according to his own character.  The warning is that “there is a cemetery beside the city (of Jerusalem)” (Moyter).  The hope of the gospel message (vs. 19-20) resides alongside the absolute reality of eternal punishment for those who reject this message (vs. 24).

Finally, God will finish the work He began.  Upon this great consummation He will reveal to us His glory (vs. 18) – a glory mediated now through the person of Jesus and His gospel of peace (John 1:14) will one day be manifested for all to see.

We read here that upon His return He will renew the heavens and the earth (vs. 22) – a completely new creation which He began inside you and will consummate physically throughout the entire earth when He comes back.

How do we know He will do this?  Well, as Peter Gentry says, “His name and his offspring are preserved because now God has joined Jews and non-Jews into one family. The new world involves two things: a new place and a new people. Verse 22 shows that both of these are certain because they are in God’s mind; he can actually see them before him.”  His promises are sealed by the trueness of His own character – He sees it, He knows it, therefore it’s a done deal.

Oswalt brilliantly sums up:

God has re-created his world, and sin can never stain it again. The tragedies of the old world, which called into question the very faithfulness of God, are gone. God had promised to Abraham a name and seed, children, but the sin of Israel and the rapacity of the world rulers made it seem as if even God could not keep his promises. Nonetheless, God is greater that human sin and human pride and is able to keep his promises. The old heavens and earth had been called to witness the justice of God in punishing his people (1:2); they had also been called to burst into song over the redemption of those people made possible by the work of the Servant (44:23; 49:13). Now the eternity of the new heavens and earth stands as a testimony to the eternity of God’s promises.

So Jesus is the light to which men are drawn or repulsed in blindness (John 3:19-21), and His gospel message is a glorious message that either blinds or softens.  As Matt Chandler says, “The gospel is such power that it necessitates reaction…The heart of the hearer of the gospel must move, either toward Christ or away from him” (The Explicit Gospel).

Paul tells us, “In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor. 4:4).  This is the message that is going out to all the nations. But this message, this glory, which is going out to all the nations right now, will be most fully revealed upon the consummation of the kingdom when Christ returns, for as John says, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).

In conclusion, we ought to be encouraged and awed by God’s plan for us and by the scope of His plan for human history, for it far outstrips our own perspective.  Yet the role we as Christians play is enormously important. We are chosen people, priests to God, and are sent on a mission to proclaim the “excellencies” of Him who called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light – a light that will one day cover all creation (Num. 14) and transform us into the likeness of His beloved Son (2 Cor. 3:18).  Until that time, we have a “missionary obligation” as a church: “to create a magnetic community” (Motyer) that reflects that glory of Christ and turns people toward the glory of God, and shares a saving message of the hope of the gospel (Motyer), without which those who reject it will perish in eternal fire and torment (vs. 24).

This passage makes clear the linear nature of history to which all things are driving; the urgency of our mission could not be more apparent.