Who is Jesus Now?
If we are going to cooperate with Jesus in our overcoming process, we must have an accurate view of who He is now and what He is doing. In the Gospels, we see who Jesus was when He walked on earth. He showed us the personality of God, His Father. Jesus showed us He was the Lamb of God who took your sin and mine, and who humbled Himself to suffer the criminal’s death on the cross you and I deserved.
The Apostle Paul had a revelation of what Jesus did for us, even though Paul never met Jesus in the flesh. We see those revelations in Paul’s epistles. Paul revealed to us the mysteries of the New Creation, of Christ in us, of our co-death and resurrection with Him, and of our position with Him, seated in heavenly places with Christ. In the Book of Revelation Jesus is looking for hurting people in order to turn them into overcomers and to complete His work accomplished at the Cross.
We are also going to explore the Book of Revelation during the course of this book to dig out some very important principles and perhaps even hidden messages therein. I believe that Revelation opens the curtain on the present activities of Jesus. I believe that as these chapters unfold you will begin to see that God left a trail in Revelation showing us the path we can walk on for the overcoming lifestyle. If you look carefully at this trail, you may see yourself on it in Revelation. Seeing yourself in God’s script of life can take away some of the fears associated with going through difficult times. Jesus wants you to know that you can trust Him through the difficulties. He wants you to know that He is working behind the scenes when things look impossible.
Jesus chose to reveal Himself in a very special way to John.
Notice in Revelation 1:1 it says, "The Revelation of Jesus Christ." I believe that God gave us this view of Jesus because we cannot see Him as He really is in any other way. Many walked with Him, many saw Him die, some saw Him resurrected, but no one has really seen Him as He is right now. He is a Warrior, a Judge, the Lamb, Almighty God, He is on the Throne, no being can stand up to Him, He is the Victor, a "terrifying sight" to His enemies, and He is active on your behalf. He is the soon coming King! John needed to know all this.
The vision that John was given of Jesus, as we will see in Revelation chapters 4 and 5, shows what Jesus was active in doing right after His resurrection and His ascension back to Heaven. As we will see, He was busy completing the removal of our curses and those of the entire world.
I believe that Jesus showed this vision to John to comfort him by bringing him faith and hope, to make sense of his crazy circumstances and to do the same for the churches to which he wrote this letter almost 2,000 years ago. He wants to do the same for you and me in our lives today when we see all the crazy things going on around us. It is a handbook for obtaining victory in our lives.
John’s condition may be similar to yours. The world, for John, was turned upside down as it may be for you. Just imagine, he had been living with Jesus for at least three years, he saw Him perform mighty miracles, he saw Him crucified, he saw Him resurrected. Certainly, after the resurrection he thought, "Now there is victory." He saw the Holy Spirit fall on mankind and the start of the church. He established churches and he saw people getting saved. All of a sudden, all of the original disciples were gone and some were crucified; Peter upside down, some were beheaded, others done away with by other means. He saw the world going into a wild spin.
Some historians say that John himself was almost killed by being boiled in oil, but that he survived. Now at this time he was taken prisoner and banished forever to the Isle of Patmos (definition: my killing- a rugged and bare island in the Aegean Sea). His daily chore included working a rock quarry and hauling rock up and down hills on his back. He must have thought, "Has the world gone crazy? Did I really know Jesus? Was He really God in the flesh like I wrote about in my Gospel book? Is the church doomed? Is my life wasted?" Then all of a sudden, BAM! Something appeared to him that he had never seen before.
"I came to be in the Spirit in the Lord's day and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, saying, I am the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last. Also, What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamos, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea. And I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands. And in the midst of the seven lampstands I saw One like the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the feet, and tied around the breast with a golden band. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow. And His eyes were like a flame of fire. And His feet were like burnished brass having been fired in a furnace. And His voice was like the sound of many waters. And He had seven stars in His right hand, and out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword. And His face was like the sun shining in its strength. And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying to me, ‘Do not fear, I am the First and the Last, and the Living One, and I became dead, and behold, I am alive for ever and ever, Amen. And I have the keys of hell and of death’" (Revelation 1:10-18). This is the Jesus that John saw, and is the way Satan sees Him, especially when we proclaim the Word against him.
Everyone needs to overcome.
In Chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation, Jesus is examining His church looking for overcomers, not only in history but right now. The seven churches in Asia mentioned in those chapters represent each type of condition that a believer can be in right now. Five of those churches, or types of believers, need to overcome lifestyle and attitude issues. Two of them need to overcome by resting in Jesus and trusting in the overcoming path. To each of the seven Jesus makes a wonderful promise to those who overcome. Notice Jesus spoke to seven churches, the perfect and complete number. I believe this means that we all have overcoming challenges, especially those that do not think that they do. "Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’ --and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked--" (Revelation 3:17). There is a spiritual picture of every believer embedded somewhere in Jesus’ message to these seven churches. You qualify! We will go into more detail about this in a later chapter.
Jesus is looking for overcomers.
Overcoming is the bottom line message to each of these seven churches. Jesus was showing each one of the churches back then, and each one of us right now, that there are certain things in our lives that we need to line up with God’s plan, so that we may become overcomers. We need to clean up our ways because before we overcome we will be in intense war. As soldiers, we need "clean rifles, shinny boots," and obedient spirits. The message in Revelation continues and shows us that things will get bad, then they will get worse, and then they will seem intolerable. It will look like evil is winning. We don’t know if we can hang on any longer, then suddenly, Jesus comes on the scene and delivers us. We overcome! The rewards of overcoming include a closer relationship with God, more of His character in our lives, more of His provisions for temporal needs, and spiritual authority to go rescue others who need to overcome.
We will be accessing the Book of Revelation quite a bit in future chapters because I feel that it has a path embedding in it for overcoming afflictions and curses in our lives and in our families lives. I believe that its companion book Daniel also has the same hidden message.
I would like to make one comment here about some of the ways we will be looking at the Book of Revelation. I believe that the Book of Revelation is the sum total of human history and not limited to end time history. I did not say it was not end time history. I just said it was not limited to that. I believe that God never intended for us to make date lines on exactly how this world will end and exactly how Jesus will return. I believe we can learn a lot in the Book of Revelation about those things, but I don’t think it is only about those things. Is it about end times, is it about your life, or is it about history? Is it about church history or world history? Yes! We will go into more detail about this in later chapters. When we explore Revelation we need to appreciate the fact that it is written in a language that is from a culture far different than most cultures in the world today, especially the Western culture.
Some references you may want to investigate regarding this line of thinking are:
E Quake, author Jack Hayford, Thomas Nelson Publishers - Nashville, 1999, and The Revelation of John, (tape series), Mark Rutland, Global Servants - Orange City, Fl.
I believe that when God inspired His Word He inserted much more than is on the surface. Take for example the fractal concept. A fractal is a geometric pattern that is repeated at ever-smaller scales to produce irregular shapes and surfaces. A good example of fractal is a fern. The branch of a fern when viewed is made up of a multitude of miniature fern branches, and when one of those miniature branches is viewed you will see that it is also made up of smaller miniature fern branches, and so on, until the capabilities of the naked eye are exhausted. I believe that the fractal concept is a good example of the multifaceted nature of Scripture, especially the Book of Revelation.
One more example to demonstrate what I mean is the mosaic concept. I viewed a picture once that from a distance was a picture of Jesus. As I drew closer it started to become obvious that this picture was made up of a series of little dots. As I drew even closer I observed that the dots were indeed photos of human faces. Was is a picture of Jesus? Was it a picture of millions of people? Yes!
I believe that Revelation represents your human history, or a script on how Jesus expects you to handle the difficult and "end time events" in your life. I also believe it represents all of human history, the history of the Church and some insights and prophesies about end times history. I believe it majors on eliminating the curse from your life and from this world. Jesus became a curse for you at the Cross, however in order to appropriate all of those benefits, we must go through overcoming. I believe that God gives us the opportunity to fast forward into Kingdom living right now. His time dimensions are not limited by our realm of time. I am not however proposing that applying Revelation to your life today in any way replaces the traditional way of looking at its end times prophecies.
So much of Scripture is like a multi-faceted jewel.
If you continue to examine Scripture just from one angle, its full beauty will escape your eye. I submit that the Book of Revelation is written so that we may see that past, present and future, depending upon how God wants to reveal it to us at a specific moment in time. It is prophetic interpretation, prophetic application, and prophetic revelation. (Reference from the Mark Rutland tapes series mentioned on the previous page.)
Does the Book of Revelation talk about financial disasters in future tribulation? Do those same prophecies refer to what is going on all over the world right now? Yes to both. Do those same prophecies refer to what is going on in your life right now? Perhaps they do. There are multiple disasters described in the Book of Revelation, some having to do with sickness, some with finances, some with persecution, and many others. Perhaps you can find your self in one or many of those right now. I believe that is a valid way to apply those Scriptures without violating the idea of applying those Scriptures to future cataclysmic events.
The word overcome is used eleven times in Revelation. The first seven times it is for the churches, and you and me. The next two times, Chapter 11:7 and 13:7, the bad guys overcome the good guys. The next time, Chapter 17:14, Jesus, The Lamb, overcomes the bad guys. The last time is in Chapter 21:7 when Jesus tells us, "He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son" (Revelation 21:7).
Overview.
Right now Jesus is alive and active as our great High Priest as shown in the Book of Revelation. We will cover bits and pieces of Revelation as this book progresses. Here is a broad overview.
First Jesus reveals to John (chapter 1) who He is. Then he lets John and you and me know who we are. In chapters 2-3 He is looking for overcomers. He is asking all kinds of believers to get serious with their relationship with Him so that they may overcome the horrific terror that is coming into their lives. In chapters 4-5 Jesus says "Come up here and see circumstances from my point of view." As we come up we see the Throne, the Lamb and the Scroll. The Scroll is the curse of the entire human race and for you and for me personally (Zechariah 5:3). Jesus unrolls the Scroll one seal at a time confirming the price paid for our bondage to sin and curses. We will go into more detail about the Scroll in the next chapter.
From chapter 6 on as the seals (and then the trumpets and bowls) are loosed, horrible things happen. They happen because Jesus is removing our curse and the curse of the world. We are told to hang on, take His seal and not to be conformed to the world. Before they take place we see how Jesus puts a seal on us so that we will not be harmed.
We see that even though horrible things may look like they are coming into our lives, in reality Jesus, the Lamb has absorbed their true evil, and we get the privilege of converting them into blessings. In chapters 17-19 we see the world system defeated and Jesus returning. While we are in the overcoming process, the world system diminishes in our personal lives and the Kingdom of God and its reality is magnified. In chapter 19 Jesus comes on His white horse. He will return to earth, but He will also return for your personal deliverance.
Moving into chapters 20-22 we see the picture of spiritual authority given to those who have stood the overcoming process, standing in the face of affliction and adversity. We are given the picture of demons being disengaged from the earthly tasks just because we went through the overcoming process. In the last chapters we see how that authority manifests itself in ministry and intimacy with God. We will see how our overcoming brings the Kingdom of God to earth. "Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10).
This sounds like our receiving blessings are part of a process of removing our curses. Perhaps in a way we are under both a curse and a blessing and there is the tension of converting the curse to a blessing. We are under curses because of our own sin and the sin of our forefathers, all the way back to Adam. We are under a blessing because Jesus took our curse on Himself and gave us blessings. That was finished at the Cross, and we cannot add to that work. I submit however that we must choose, and in choosing we begin to walk through a process called overcoming. I have seen and heard of people coming out from the results of a curse in an instant, instant deliverance. That is great! I have also witnessed people, including myself, that have had to walk through the process that is prescribed in the Book of Revelation, with all of the bombs going off in my life.
"I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live" Deuteronomy 30:19). It is your choice.
Having said that about Revelation, we would do well to understand the seasons of human history and that we are indeed nearing some period of the end. Israel became a nation in 1948 after almost 2,000 years of being without a country. They experienced key wars in 1967 and 1973. At the present time, the entire world, with the exception of America (I hope we will maintain this) is against Israel, including the majority in the United Nations. I believe that God is going to do something very special with and in Israel, and that it is the world’s time clock.
I believe that the terrorism that started in Israel in September 2000 was also a key date. I have believed for many years that we are in some kind of "near the end of history" season. I began writing this book in February 2001. At the time of this writing it is now September 2001. On September 11th, airliners filled with passengers and hijacked by terrorists bombed and destroyed the New York World Trade Center. I believe that world history will never be the same again. I believe that this horrible event ticked off one more minute in the time clock of this world, as we know it before Jesus returns. I do not believe that we will enjoy world peace unless there is an interlude often spoken of in end time prophecy, an interlude of false peace.
Who is Jesus now?
"The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: ‘Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!’" Revelation 4:8). One of the definitions of the word holy I have heard is that is means nothing lacking nothing missing. Jesus is at the Throne of God having achieved a perfect triumph over your enemies and His. He is perfectly empowered to transfer that triumph to you and to me through the overcoming process. He lacks nothing. He is not only the eternal God, the creator, but He is the judge who loves you, longing to judge you free from your generational curses, bondages and afflictions.
Who is Jesus now? He has the Scroll of world history and your history in His hand. As He unseals it inevitably bad things happen, both to the world and in your life. However it is all about turning your curse, and the curse of the world, the curse of the entire Adamic race into a New Creation. You are invited to participate.
Here are Jesus’ seven promises for the seven types of overcomers.
"He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God" (Revelation 2:7).
"He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death’" (Revelation 2:11).
"And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations-- ‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’ --as I also have received from My Father; and I will give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches" (Revelation 2:26-29).
"He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels" (Revelation 3:5).
"He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. And I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name" (Revelation 3:12).
"To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne" (Revelation 3:21).
Larry Chkoreff October 2001