THE REVELATION OF THE LAMB
(An open letter to all overcomers)
By Dan Luehrs
"These will wage war against the Lamb, and the
Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and
faithful." Rev 17:14 (NASU)
What strange language the book of Revelation uses
to describe the Great Overcomer, as a Lamb! We must remember that the book of
Revelation is written in symbolic language and its meaning is not literal. A
lambs nature is very pacifistic and non-aggressive, so how can a lambs nature
possibly overcome the bestial nature of the beast with a lions mouth and with
him are ten kings that are warring against the Lamb of God. The Lamb is also
His church that is at war with the bestial nature as was Saul in Acts 9:4 when
he was on the way to Damascus to kill and capture Christians. Now look at what
Jesus said to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" When the
devil is attacking us through people, they are attacking Jesus and nothing can
overcome Him if we will stand with Him in battle!
So how does the nature of a Lamb overcome all
this evil in the land, and in us? I will answer that with one word,
(Authority!) The same authority that overcame the bestial nature in Saul and
knocked him off his high horse and changed his name from Saul to Paul and made
him as an overcomer for all eternity has also made us overcomers if we too will
stand with Him, He will fight for us as He did for Israel. Listen to the words
of Moses in Exodus 14:13-14, “But Moses said to the people, "Do not fear!
Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you
today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them
again forever. "The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent."
When God overcomes our enemies for us, we will never see them again! Oh
hallelujah, I want to shout!
Jesus Himself said in John 16:33 that He has
already overcome the world so that we can live in peace through all of our
trials and tribulations. The Lamb is the Lord of lords and King of kings, and
those who are with Him are the called, chosen and faithful. Jesus the Lamb sits
on the throne of all authority and power and nothing can overcome that! We have
been invited by Jesus Himself to sit on the throne with Him, NOW, if we will
not give up, but overcome through His victory that has been given to us if we
will just believe by faith through our trials and tribulations that are making
us more and more like Jesus day by day.
When John the Revelator first saw the Lamb of God
on the throne he saw a Lamb standing, as if He was slain. “And I saw between
the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as
if slain…” Rev 5:6 (NASU). In other words, John saw a lamb with its throat slit
and blood coming from Him, meaning forgiveness and grace is found at the throne
for all who will receive it. This gives us many answers as to why and how the
Lamb could overcome all of His enemies. “And they overcame him because of the
blood of the Lamb…” Rev 12:11 (NASU). We overcome by the blood of the Lamb! His
blood alone overcomes the accuser of the brethren, which is the devil and our
flesh that is trying to overcome us with guilt, condemnation, lies, and
deception. We overcome because the Great Overcomer lives in us and His blood
covers us from all past and present sin if we will plead His blood and
forgiveness through repentance. We do not live in the days past of our sin and
failure, but in the present day of victory. Jesus said, today you will be with
me in paradise if we will receive His love and forgiveness and sit on the
throne of His authority over the enemy. That is where we are in our standing in
Him! We must get our eyes off of ourselves and others and keep them on Jesus
alone through worship, praise and thanksgiving daily even if we think we have
failed Him, He will turn it around for His glory.
If you will notice in Revelation 5:6 that the
overcomers are there with Jesus on the throne, for that is our standing in Him
because we now sit in heavenly places with Christ Jesus, which is the place of
rest and peace. “And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures)
and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain…” Rev 5:6 (NASU). Notice, Jesus is
in the middle of the overcomers just as He was first seen by John standing in
the middle of the seven lampstands (the Churches) as He is always with us standing
and overcoming. Notice, the overcomers that are with Jesus in Revelation 17:14,
“…And those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful.” The
faithful overcomers have taken on the same nature of the Lamb of God, having
become lambs themselves through their trials and sit on the throne of power and
all authority because they did not quit in their battles and have won the war!
Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing
on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His
name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads. Rev 14:1 (NASU)
Very clearly we can see Jesus the Lamb of God
standing again as an overcomer upon Mount Zion which is the highest place of
authority as King David did upon his throne. Does not the scriptures teach us
that the Messiah will sit on David’s throne forever?
There will be no end to the increase of His
government or of peace,
On the throne of David and over his kingdom,
To establish it and to uphold it with justice and
righteousness
From then on and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish
this.
Isa 9:7 (NASU)
Yes, forever and ever Jesus will reign, but not alone,
for He shares His throne with those who will not give up in their tribulation,
for it is through these trials that we are being proven and made overcomers in
this lifetime if we will not quit.
BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD
The next day he saw Jesus coming to
him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the
world! John 1:29 (NASU).
The very first time that we see
Jesus called the Lamb of God was by John the Baptist when Jesus came to be
baptized by him. We all must behold or take notice of the Lamb of God if we too
are to become like Him, having a lamb's nature. But how can the Lamb’s
peaceable nature possibly take on a wild beast nature and expect to win over
it? One word again, (Yielded) to the Father, we must learn how to yield our
spirit and flesh unto the will and purposes of God. There is nothing that can
overcome the grace of God and once we know this we can be at rest and peace in
the bosom of the Father knowing that He has our back and will take care of us
and our needs. All around us there are demons and people who hate us for no
reason because they hate the life of Jesus that is in us and only hope for our
downfall. But as we yield ourselves to Jesus every day in His presence He will
give us the grace to know what and where we are to be and what we need to do
and say. These are great difficult and glorious days just before us, for we
have been chosen to live in these times and have been prepared and equipped to
prosper and bless the nations. However, most people will not yield their heart
to Jesus so the wrath of the Lamb will come upon them.
THE WRATH OF THE LAMB
And they said to the mountains and to the rocks,
"Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne,
and from the wrath of the Lamb… Rev 6:16 (NASU)
Some thirty times the book of Revelation speaks
of the Lamb and throughout this book it is the primary name given to Jesus,
only one time is He spoken of as the Lion of the tribe of Judea. This alone
speaks volumes to us as how and what the Lord wants us to know Him by. Yet most
Bible teachers teach that Jesus is coming back as a lion and not as a lamb
because they only see the book of Revelation as the wrath of God with judgment
and death to billions of people. However, how much wrath does a Lamb have, may
I ask you? None! God’s wrath was poured out upon Jesus when He was on the cross
as the Lamb of God that takes away all the sin of the world. His wrath will be
poured out on the man of sin that is keeping the church and the nations in
bondage to sin. It is His blood that will judge and set all of creation
free!
OUR PROGRESSION INTO HIS IMAGE AS THE
LAMB
The book of Revelation is a book of progression
into the mature likeness of Jesus. This is why it is called the unveiling of
Jesus Christ, He is not quickly revealed to us, but as we seek His face we go
from glory to glory and if we are not seeing Him as the Lamb of God, the One
Who is meek and mild, we are just not seeing Him. If we are seeing the book of
Revelation as nothing but the wrath of God, again we are not seeing or
understanding God in the clear teaching of this book. He is progressively being
revealed little by little to us by the Holy Spirit in us. The book of
Revelation is the revealing of Jesus in and through us one step at a time just
as we progressed through our school years as children. Once we learned each
class level and got our progression reports we were advanced to a higher grade
levels up to the twelfth grade. The same is true of our spiritual progress in
Christ, once we learn what we need to learn on each level of truth we too will
reach the top and graduate into the full likeness of Jesus. I personally think
we will be advancing throughout eternity and learning more and more of Him. But
I must say that I think most Christians spiritually on this earth do not
advance much past grade school because they do not see the need to suffer in
life to grow in truth because they see no value in it, yet they will choose to
suffer for many things that are not eternal which is a wasted life.
When we are born into our human body our parents
want to see us grow and progress into adulthood, first as a child, then a
teenager. Nobody, I mean nobody goes from a babyhood into adulthood without
going through the progressive steps of growing. With human growth comes much
pain and suffering, not just in the physical body as we have growing pains, but
also in heart and spirit which causes us to grow mentally and spiritually. It
is written of Jesus and John the Baptist that they grew strong in spirit. “And
the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace
of God was upon Him” Luke 2:40 (NKJV). The Scriptures tell us that Jesus
learned obedience through the things that He suffered. In other words, He grew
strong in spirit and matured through the things that He suffered in the Fathers
will for His life.
How about Paul, “But the Lord said to him,
"Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the
Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must
suffer for My name's sake" Acts 9:15-16 (NASU). Paul was called to suffer
for the name of Jesus even as we are! What does that mean for us? Just as we
suffered in the body to grow naturally we will also suffer to grow into the full
likeness of Jesus. Is this not the goal of our Father for every Christian to
grow up and come into the full maturity of Jesus even as we were born again?
Until we all attain the unity of the faith, and
of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the
stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. Eph 4:13 (NASU)
We are called to bear His name, which is the
likeness of Jesus, His name is His character. Several times in the book of
Revelation Jesus tells us that we will have His name if we will overcome. “They
will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads” Rev 22:4 (NASU).
Three times in one verse He tells us that we will have His name in Revelation
3:12 and then again in 14:1. This is the promise of us having His very
likeness, the maturity of Jesus, but it all will come with a price through our
suffering for His name. Christians do not want to hear this; they just want it
given to them as the free gift of salvation and the gift of the Holy Spirit’s
infilling. But Jesus said that we are to buy from Him gold (the nature of God),
meaning for us to pay the price of following Him through our sufferings. There
are reasons for our suffering and we must trust Him in our times of trials that
He knows what we need to grow into His likeness. These tribulations are
doorways for us to go farther into the Fathers heart.
IT IS FINISHED
Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine,
He said, "It is finished!" And He bowed His
head and gave up His spirit. John 19:30 (NASU)
There is much speculation as to what Jesus meant
when He said, "It is finished!" It is true that the work of
redemption was complete for all mankind, forever. Yet it goes much deeper than
we can even comprehend with our mind and I will try to explain the best I can
with what I am seeing as present truth right now. As I see it, the Father gave
the Revelation of Jesus Christ to Jesus because that is what the Father is, the
person of Jesus Christ. (See Rev. 1:1). The Father showed the Son when He was
at a young age His very heart and Jesus lived it out through His lifetime on
earth to bring about the will of the Father, even to His death on the cross and
the resurrection from the dead and the glories to follow. Yet not just for
Himself alone, but also His bride (the church) would share in that glory with
Him whom He would redeem with His own blood.
The book of Revelation is just that, the
revealing of the Fathers heart! Did not Jesus say, “If you have seen Me you
have seen the Father?” This was the calling of Jesus and He finished it, praise
to His name! Now, what I am about to say may jolt you a bit out of your comfort
zone. Most people think that the book of Revelation is something that is yet to
be fulfilled in the end-times, but as I see it, it already has been fulfilled
and all we have to do is walk it out in our lifetime. All His promises are yes
and amen. Meaning, they are already done and all we have to do is receive them
by faith! “… And this He said although [His] works had been completed and
prepared [and waiting for all who would believe] from the foundation of the
world” Heb 4:3 (AMP). The question is do you believe? If the answer is yes,
then all we have to do is walk it out by faith each and every day. The book of
Revelation is to be experienced through the person of Jesus Christ daily and
not just read as another book.
Most Christians are waiting for the end-times to
come to pass so that they can go to heaven, when Jesus already has made a way
for us to daily abide in His presence, which is heaven on earth now. We do not
have to wait to die to go there, we now sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus
right here if we can see it, we can have it! The book of Revelation is complete
because it is the person of Jesus Christ Who has finished His work and sat down
at the right hand of the Father forever. As I see it, the four gospels
fulfill the Feast of Passover completely to the T with the death
and resurrection of the Lamb of God. Jesus our Passover Lamb has been
sacrificed and all we need to do is eat of the Lamb and drink His blood and we
have fulfilled this covenant with the Father and have eternal life through the
experiencing of the Son of God in our life. The book of Acts and all the
epistles are the fulfillment of the Feast of Pentecost.
The book of Acts and the books that follow are the manifestation of the
promised infilling of the Holy Spirit into the hearts and lives of those who
have followed the Lamb and have eaten of Him and are baptized with the Holy
Spirit's power to follow the Lamb wherever He leads us. The Holy Spirit will
always lead us to more of Jesus, which is, the Revelation or the unveiling of
Jesus Christ! The last book of the Bible is called The Revelation of
Jesus Christ, this book alone is the fulfillment of the Feast of
Tabernacles. This book reveals Who and What Jesus really is, Yahweh
God, the Almighty! "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God,
"who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." Rev 1:8
(NASU). Not only does this book reveal Jesus as God, but it also reveals His
true church (the Ecclesia) as the Bride of Christ, which is a city, the New
Jerusalem that comes down out of heaven fulfilling the Feast of Tabernacles,
which is tabernacling with God throughout eternity. “And I heard a loud voice
from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and
He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be
among them” Rev 21:3 (NASU). With the fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles
in and through His people the church will become like Jesus and are to manifest
His likeness in the earth fulfilling the promise of the coming Sons of God who
are made in His likeness to change the world and all of the universe.
Jesus is revealed from the beginning of Genesis to the last
page of the book of Revelation. In the gospels He is the Lamb, in the book of
Acts He is the promised Holy Spirit, and in the book of Revelation He is the
manifestation of Jesus Christ in His Bride. In Moses’s tabernacle there were
three courts, the outer court, the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies. This was
pointing to Jesus as the sacrificial Lamb on the outer court altar becoming our
Passover Lamb. In the Holy Place Jesus was the bread of presence and the Light
of the lampstand. But in the Holy of Holies He was and is the glory of God. Do
you see the progression of these courts into the glory of the Father? This is
why we are going on a progressive walk in the spirit. First we know Jesus as
the Passover Lamb, then we progress to Pentecost and know Him as our light and
bread. Then we are ready and prepared to progress into Him through the
Revelation of Jesus Christ where we learn to wait on Him and trust Him through
our sufferings. This is the progression of our spiritual lives as we grow daily
in our understanding of Him as our Passover Lamb, to having more of the Holy
Spirit's presence and power in our lives tabernacling in God daily. This is the
fulfillment of the three feasts of the Lord unto the day we receive our
glorified bodies so that we can receive more of Him throughout eternity where
our relationship with Him and others will grow forever. The Feast of
Tabernacle is here now if we will enter into it through the Revelation of Jesus
Christ, He wants to tabernacle with us daily if we will just take time and
spend it with Him we will grow in His likeness, for it is a progression.
Twice in the first three verses of chapter 1,
John the Revelator was told that this book was now to come to pass quickly.
John was told by the angel when writing it, “And he said to me, "Do not
seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near” Rev 22:10
(NASU). This book is not a futuristic book that we are waiting for it to come
to pass, we are now living it out every day of our lives, we just do not know
it or understand what is happening in our lives as we mature as Christians.
Instead of rejoicing in our trials and tribulations we moan and complain trying
to get out from under the pressure of all our problems when it is these very
things that are setting us free of our old self and making us more like Jesus.
As I said before, our lives in the natural are a progression into adulthood and
so is the book of Revelation in our lives if we will pursue to understand it as
the book of life that brings us more of Jesus if we will seek Him with all our
hearts.
To put this in a nutshell, The Revelation of
Jesus Christ is something that is worked out in us as we progress toward
maturity in Christ. For instance, the book starts out with seven churches that
are very immature and are needing to grow up into the likeness of Jesus. Jesus
looks at each of these churches with His eyes of fire and tells them how they
are doing, good and bad, but the plumbline that Jesus is using is Himself, and
He tells them what they must do to come up higher into the realms of God. In
Revelation 1:19 Jesus tells John to write what will take place after these
things. The book starts with the seven churches and ends with the one church
that has become the bride of Christ, the city of God being made into the very
likeness of Jesus. Well, how did this happen, did God just snap His fingers?
No, He brought the church through great tribulation and purified them, for He
will have a church without spot or wrinkle!
…These are they which came out of great
tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of
the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and
night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.
Rev 7:14-15 (KJV)
This verse again is the fulfillment of the Feast
of Tabernacles with God dwelling in His people. I think one of the greatest
regrets of those who have died and are in heaven is that they did not seek God
more with their time on earth and that they did not rejoice in their suffering
as God was trying to do a greater work within them, but they pushed Him away in
the time of their suffering.
As I see it, the city of God, the New Jerusalem
is already here and we are now a part of it because Hebrews 12:22 says that we
have already come to the city and are citizens of it. With the city coming down
from heaven to earth, does not the book of Hebrews also tell us that we are
surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses that have gone before us and they are
cheering us on not to quit, but keep climbing higher into the full likeness of
Jesus, becoming the mature Sons of God. If you are waiting for the futuristic
events of the book of Revelation you will be waiting a long time because they
are not going to happen in chronological order as some books and movies have
said it will. These are from the carnal mind and not from the Spirit of God.
There are many different realms of the spirit all
around us right now just as there are many different signals all around us like
radio, TV, cell phones, and WIFI signals. We choose each day when we get up and
go through our day which of these realms we will live in for that day or
moment. If we choose to be depressed and negative that day, that is where we
will spend it, but if we choose to live in the presence of the living God there
are no limits as to how high we can go into His love, joy, and likeness.
Then He said to me, "It is done. I am the Alpha
and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts
from the spring of the water of life without cost. "He who overcomes will
inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. Rev 21:6-7
(NASU)
As I have already shared on the “Finished” work
of Christ on the cross we see again in the last verses of the Bible, “It is
done.” However, when I looked this word up in the Greek it does not mean (to be
finished or completed) at all as we may think, and as to its meaning I was
shocked to see how they could get this interpreted so wrong not having the
faith to write it as it says in the Greek because they simply could not see it
or understand its application to themselves. I am no Greek scholar but I can
read English fairly well and when I look this one word up, “Done” it simply
means something totally different to my amazement.
The word “Done” in this verse literally means,
(To become or coming into being). In other words the verse should read, “I have
become!” I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. Then Jesus
says, “He who overcomes will inherit these things.” What things? To sit with
Him on His throne and “become” with Him Alpha and the Omega! Before you throw
this page out as false doctrine, read what John the Revelator said in 1 John
3:2 which was written after the book of Revelation, because he also saw what we
are called to be and become if we will believe and overcome in our lifetime.
“Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall
be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall
see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself,
even as he is pure” 1 John 3:2-3 (KJV). This is what we are progressing to, His
very likeness, the person of Jesus Christ, the Lamb, who is the Almighty! God’s
Sons become just like Him, but Jesus went on to say in Revelation 21:8, “But
for the cowardly and unbelieving… their part will
be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second
death." Listen to what Jesus is saying here, “The cowardly and
unbelieving” are those who cannot and will not receive and believe that they
too are called to such a high position in Christ and will have to go through
more processing in the lake of fire to be purified so that they too can walk
with Jesus in His likeness.
I
know this is a lot to take in and you might be saying in your heart, I just
won’t believe it, Jesus did not earn His name and title, for He always was! Yet
Hebrews tells us that Jesus inherited His name and title through His obedience
just as we must. “When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the
right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much better than the
angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they” Heb 1:4 (NASU).
Again the Bible teaches us something different then we may think. “Being found
in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of
death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and
bestowed on Him the name which is above every name” Phil 2:8-9 (NASU). It was
because of His obedience that He overcame and sat down at the right hand of His
Father and was given a name and authority above all names. Jesus tells us in
Revelation that if we overcome we too will sit with Him on His throne. Now if
God the Father is not a respecter of persons and did that for Him, He will do
it for anyone that will follow His Son into the likeness of a Lamb which is
humble and meek. Jesus has been given the highest name and His name has
already been given to us and all we need to do is walk it out by faith, for it
is our faith that overcomes the world!
BABYLON IS FALLEN
After these things I saw another angel coming
down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illumined with his
glory. And he cried out with a mighty voice, saying, "Fallen, fallen is
Babylon the great! Rev 18:1-2 (NASU)
Before I close this, I want to share with you how
the Lord revealed these things to me. Just as there are two women found in the
book of Revelation. One being called, “…BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF
HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH" Rev 17:5 (NASU). And the
other woman called, “The bride, the wife of the Lamb.” This is the church of
the living God. Just as there are two spiritual women on the earth there are
two spiritual cities that we could be living in and out of. The first city that
most people live out of and trade with is Babylon, meaning a city of confusion
because it is worldly and demonic. But the second is of God and the people
there have all been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb from the city of Babylon.
We must come to understand that these cities are in the hearts of people that
abide by their rules and laws and are governed by worldly spiritual powers or
by the Holy Spirit. It is either one or the other.
In Revelation 18:1 a great angel or messenger
comes out of the spirit realm having great authority and the earth was
illuminated with his glory. I believe this messenger of light and truth is
Jesus Christ Himself to bring destruction to the worldly city of Babylon and
speaks the death judgment to the ruling principalities and power that are
there. He says, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!” This is the death
nail that does in the evil powers. However, most people would just see this in
the world, but not in their own heart and miss out on a great blessing in their
life. When the Lord says something like it is FINISHED, all we have to do is
receive it by faith. Babylon is fallen, believe for your own life, it is a done
deal! “I heard another voice from heaven, saying, "Come out of her, my
people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her
plagues” Rev 18:4 (NASU).
Just as I stated before, we are living in the
times of the book of Revelation or shall I say, the book is living in us! We do
not have to wait for the book to come to pass, we can ask this messenger of
great light to shine the truth of His word and glory into our own hearts so
that we will have the grace to come out of great Babylon so that we are not
destroyed by her plagues. The world's power of deception is only growing
stronger and stronger each day, but so can the reality of the New Jerusalem
grow in our hearts day by day. Jerusalem means, (the city of peace) and we can
tell which city we are living right now by how much peace and joy we have in
our hearts. Most of the world and I think many in the church are fearful and
worried about their lives and the world around them as to what may come
tomorrow. They have no peace whatsoever and have to live off drugs and alcohol
to make it through their day. If that is you there is hope, you must turn away
from the world and sell out to Jesus completely and ask the Prince of Peace to fill
your heart and come to Him daily and hourly if we are going to make it through
these trying days. The only true peace in the world is the Prince of Peace. We
can live the rest of our life with Babylon fallen in our lives having no
authority whatsoever over us.
Pray with me, we ask you to come Lord Jesus and
set us free from all the tentacles of Babylon and set us safely in the New
Jerusalem with the cloud of witnesses and the four living beings. Amen!
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