Writing in about 95 AD, perhaps ten years after he authored his gospel account, the Apostle John may have been the last living apostle of Jesus. The Lord had told the Apostle Peter earlier that he had special plans for John in spreading the gospel. As John writes, he has been exiled to the hot, rocky, arid island of Patmos, where he will surely die. But first, the Lord’s plan for him is revealed:
“The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blesses are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near” (Rev 1:1-3).
The Old Testament Book of Daniel is a prophecy of the very end days. But the events leading up to that end were not revealed to Daniel. If you can, take a fly through Daniel to recollect what the end days looks like. But notice also the absence of the events that must precede the apocalyptic vision of Daniel. God will now reveal to John what God had kept veiled until John was given this vision on Patmos.
This is a big moment in our study.
Surely, this is the culmination, the unveiling of our desire to be in perfect unity first with Jesus, and then in the truth of How Grace Shall Reign, through the perfect unity with each other that Jesus prayed for in John 17!
“John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth” (Rev 1:4-5a).
Grace Shall Reign through the peace we receive from the eternal Father God and from his Son Jesus Christ. This is what we have been pursuing for more than seven years in these blogs:
“To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye shall see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. ’I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty’” (Rev 1:5b-8).
Question: does the timing of Jesus’ return revolve around how long it takes us to fulfill Jesus’ prayer for perfect unity in John 17:23? Is this why the timing of his return is veiled in mystery?
It seems that there are two critical prophesies that have not yet been fulfilled (in the sense of “already but not yet”) – Jesus prayer for perfect unity right before he left us, and John’s vision on Patmos of the timing of Jesus’ return to us.
Perhaps the mystery is not so mysterious?
The Cycle of Perfect Unity hypothesis had led us this far. What a journey it has been!
Now buckle up for John’s vision of Jesus’ return in Part 2!