Thoughts on Revelation 22:11

“He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.”

For awhile I have had some various thoughts that tie into this verse and I would like to write a little about this.

There are 2 negative states which God confirms people in because of obstinacy in evil, and 2 positive states into which God confirms the faithful in good.

In a certain sense these 4 states can be linked with 1 Corinthians 6:20 “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.” Filthiness and righteousness have to do more with our glorifying or not glorifying God in our Body. I think it is abundantly apparent that in our time there is rampant immorality. Those who do not repent will eventually find themselves in a place where they will be confirmed in that evil and unable to change. I do not wish to write too much on righteousness and filthiness because I think these are well understood by most of my readership.

Injustice and Holiness have to do with the spirit. To some it may seem strange that injustice would be a sin of the spirit, but in Hebrews 12:22-24 one of the things mentioned as being at Mount Zion, which is every Christian’s goal, are the spirits of just men made perfect. Also our sense of justice is very much affected by who our god is. Justice is affected by our moral compass and will be in error to the extent that it is aligned to a wrong pole.

The Nazis considered all of their atrocities just, only because they considered their party to be the arbiter of all actions. The communists likewise could do all manner of evil and claim right because they followed their party. They even used the word “honest” in a very peculiar sense, to denote someone who agreed with the party, even if he flip-flopped with the party and was most dishonest in any normal sense of the word.

There are many different poles to which we can align ourselves. People align themselves to what their peers think, what is traditional, what a certain philosophy teaches, or even to a whatever a certain religious authority says (as the Jesuits do). There is, however, only one true pole, God and His Word. Holiness is being joined to God, and having our mind renewed so we see justice as He calls justice.

Many Christians are not like the Bereans who searched the Scriptures to see if what Paul preached was true. Perhaps this very trait is why they never had to receive epistles shortly after their founding as the Thessalonians did. The Apostle Paul had to counteract falsehood with the Thessalonians almost immediately, apparently some of the errors were found in a letter that was thought to have come from him (2 Thess. 2:2). People who do not search the Scriptures for themselves are easily deceived.

I am an avid fan of history and once was perusing a certain book on military mistakes in a book store. I don’t remember the title of the book, but I do remember the one small section I read. It was about the American bombers during World War II and how at that time they had missions go off course, and even some planes run out of fuel, because they did not do their own navigation. Often there would be around 20 bombers together in formation, the 2 lead bombers would be doing all the navigation. If something happened to both of those bombers, one instance of which was related in the book, then these bombers would have to figure out first where they were, and then try to make corrections. By the time one group which had lost its lead planes figured out where it was, it was too far off course to reach its intended target, and ended up deciding to bomb somewhere else. Another similar instance cost the lives of one bomber crew who ran out of fuel in North Africa, and ended up dying of thirst in the desert only to be found years later by oil workers.

As Christians we are to follow the leaders that God places over us, but not in a servile fashion. They set the course and direction God speaks to them. It is then our job to search scripture and listen to the voice of God so that we are sure we are heading in the right way. If our leader falls away, but we are anchored in God’s Word, we can carry on. However if we are relying on that leader for all our spiritual input, we will either follow him in his fall, or else wander aimlessly until we crash.

I have heard people when considering choices of action make their decisions based on how their denomination or fellowship will view it. This too is a false pole. While as Christians we need to be part of a body and the disapproval of others in that group could be because we are in error, we cannot escape individual responsibility for our actions. When we stand before God as individuals and He queries us concerning something we have done, we will not be excused merely because what we did was considered fine in the eyes of our denomination.

God’s call to the Levites was to let their Urim and Thummim be with the Holy One (Deut.33:8). In other words to let their judgments be in accordance with the Law and inner witness of the Spirit of God. This is the only true pole to which we must align ourselves, because this is the standard by which we will all be judged as we stand before God.

Unto Him be glory in the Church!