It's All About Jesus

The Book of Revelation has always confounded me.  In my early Christian life, I was exposed to Dispensational Pre-Millennialism, or the Left Behind scenario.  And I always thought, "This is hokey.  This makes no sense."  For a time, I rarely read Revelation, and I avoided studying the End Times issue.

Likewise, the Old Testament is abundant in history, in people, in teachings, and I often found it confusing and overwhelming.  But because it's history, I kept reading it and studying it.

And over time, I've come to understand that the Old Testament is "all about Jesus."  In Genesis, the Lord promises that a seed of Adam will crush Satan's head.  Later, the Lord promises to Abraham that from his line all nations on earth will be blessed. 

Over and over, the Old Testament accounts reveal the Lord working in a situation so that both the nation of Israel is protected, and the line of Christ is preserved.  It's God fulfilling His promise to send a Messiah, one born from the tribe of Judah, a king descended from David.

Recently, I heard a sermon on Revelation 12.

[A woman] was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth...And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. Revelation 12:2, 12:4

The pastor said something like, "Ever since the promise was given, Israel has been a pregnant woman waiting for the birth of the Messiah.  And the devil [the dragon] has been waiting to devour the Messiah.  And that's how we can understand all of the Old Testament." 

In the Old Testament, Israel was always waiting for the Messiah to be born, and Satan was always trying to destroy Israel, to destroy even the hope of a Messiah.  

And there it is, the gospel and all of the Old Testament in Revelation!  Maybe I'm just fanatical, but that excites me.  

And as if that wasn't enough, the sermon continued with a description of God's throne room as described in Job, the throne room where Satan accuses people.  And that was compared with Revelation 12, and the picture of Satan being throne out of heaven, where he can no longer stand and accuse men.  Satan can no longer accuse because Jesus has defeated him.

...And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.  And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God."  Revelation 12:7-10

Again, I'd never connected those two accounts - the throne room as described in Job, and Satan thrown down from heaven as described in Revelation.

There's always something intellectually satisfying when Bible passages are clarified.   But the real excitement for me is in the big picture.  It's a picture of a God whose love is never changing, a God who keeps His promises, who reconciles man to Himself, who saves even me.  

And His Word, His truth, is always and continually proclaiming that salvation...to me and for me.  It's all about Jesus!