Revelation Pieces - Who we are!

Revelation Pieces – Who we are
Seeing the main elements of the Apocalypse
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Sometimes in the winter I like to put puzzles together. There are complicated puzzles with 1,000 pieces, less complicated with 500 pieces, and easy puzzles for children with 5 or 10 pieces. Let’s consider three puzzles all the same size with the same image. One has 1,000 pieces, one has 500 pieces, and one has 5 pieces. The puzzle pieces will be larger the fewer pieces you have.

Engrossing myself in the study of the book of Revelation seemed at first like a puzzle with thousands of pieces. How did they all fit together, I wondered? As I spent more time analyzing the parts, the number of pieces kept decreasing as the size of each piece expanded.

Currently, five puzzle pieces have emerged that I have been able to put together. Everything in the book of Revelation seems to fit into these five pieces. At the outset of this study, the thousands of pieces had many names making it look like there were more pieces, but now I only see five pieces, each having many names and descriptions. You may see more.

Here are the five pieces I found. They are parts in the grand theatre of Yahweh’s cosmos:

The Trinity – God the Father the Almighty, Yeshua (Jesus) the Lamb and King, and the Spirit;
The Throne in the courtroom
The Creation – His flourishing creation now and in the future
God’s People – us
The opposition – The kingdoms of this world and all who give allegiance to them
The New Jerusalem – The New Creation, the New Heaven and Earth, the Restored Eden, the Place Yeshua has prepared for us, our Final Home, His people with Him in their midst (7:17; 21:10-11)

In this list, I gave you examples of the many terms used for one piece or part. For this writing, I would like to expand on one of the five pieces – God’s People – us. The people of God are labeled in many ways throughout the New Testament. I have written about our names and descriptions with the Who I Am Journal Collection of art cards and the Roadmap to Revelation bookmark and writing. The descriptions God has given us are numerous. In the book of Revelation, they are more specific. It is encouraging and comforting for us to understand the terms in the book of Revelation that apply to us.

Before I share this list of our descriptions, we need to have a clear definition of what makes a person His child. Please read John 1:12-13 and John 3:3. These words of Yeshua tell us plainly that we become His when we receive Him. Upon our sincere reception of Him, He gives us the Holy Spirit and we are born anew. It is that simple. There are no hoops to jump through, no works to perform. His Spirit moves in us, and we want to do His will. Sometimes, we fail and fall, but when the Spirit comes to live in us, the desire of our heart is to walk in His ways and we have a knowing that we belong to Him (1 John 2:20).

So, there are two types of people in the world – those who have received Yeshua and those who have not. We who have received Him, share His love so others may come to know Him, but there are still two types of people. We are defined as those whose sins are covered by the blood of the Lamb and who live in His forgiveness by His Spirit. (Revelation 1:5)

The book of Revelation reassures us to rest in His finished work, to be courageous, and to not fear or strive but trust that we are complete in Him when we received Him!

So, with this definition (and knowing we cannot earn our salvation or status in heaven), we can look at the descriptions of His people in the book of Revelation and be confident they belong to us. It is difficult sometimes for us to own these names, but we can rejoice and thank Him for His exceeding and lavish kindness toward us in calling us His own. Along with the first-century, Asia Minor Jewish Christians, this is who we are:

Bond-servants – servants of the Lamb; all creation submits to their loving Creator (1:1; 7:3; 22:3)
The Called-Forth – the church, the ekklesi’a (1:4)
Kingdom priests to Yeshua’s Father (1:6; 1 Peter 2:5,9)
24 Elders who represent our position of continual worship before the Throne (4:4,10)
144,000 Elders, Worshippers – a symbolic number meaning too numerous to count (5:11; 7:15; 14:1)
Sealed – we are part of a great multitude from every tribe standing before the Lamb clothed in white robes (His righteousness) before His throne with His seal on our foreheads waving palm branches in praise to the King! (5:11; 7:3-16; 19:1-6; Ephesian 1:13; 2 Corinthians 1:21)
Martyrs – (6:9-11; 20:4-6) The martyrs represent the faithful witnesses unto death (all who live in truth despite the consequences to them personally). Martyr comes from the Greek marturia meaning witness. Death as a result of witness to the Lamb is the ultimate sacrifice; we all suffer to varying degrees because of our witness. We cry out, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood…?” (6:10) The conflicts we face as a result of our witness are common to all who mourn over the ravages of the opposing kingdom. We are not worthy because of what we do; rather, our allegiance and witness is our participation in Yahweh’s Kingdom of Shalom.
Survivors of the tribulation by the blood of the Lamb, guided by the Shepherd. The tribulation is not a one-time event, but it is our life until that day when we are caught up together with Him. Yeshua said, “In this world you will have tribulation but be courageous for I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) His Spirit in us is courageous and overcoming! (7:14,17; 22:14)
Saints – holy ones; set apart ones (8:3)
Accused yet Persevering Overcomers by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony (12:10-11; 13:10; 14:12; 21:7)
Recorded and Accounted for – Our names are written in The Lamb’s Book of Life! (13:8)
Marked – The Lamb’s Name and the Father’s Name are written on our foreheads (14:1-4; 22:4)
Victorious – (15:2)
His Ready Bride – His blood and the Spirit has made us ready. The fine linen of our robes symbolizes the Spirit’s purity flowing through us into righteous acts. (19:7; 21:9)
Invited – (19:9)
Thirsty – for the Living Water of Life (21:6; 22:17)
Beautiful Gem Stones – (21:14; 21:19-20; 1 Peter 2:4-5)

“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13)