seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Revelation 1:1 The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2 who testifies to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.
4 John,
To the seven churches in the province of Asia:
Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.
7 “Look, he is coming with the clouds,”
and “every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him”;
and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.”
So shall it be! Amen.
and “every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him”;
and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.”
So shall it be! Amen.
8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.
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Here's the link to the commentary I read. Please go read it in full.
The Revelation of Jesus Christ: The ancient Greek word translated Revelation is apokalupsis (apocalypse). The word simply means “a revealing, an unveiling.” The Book of Revelation is the Revelation of Jesus Christ in the sense that it belongs to Him, He is the one doing the revealing. It is also Jesus’ Revelation in the sense that He is the object revealed; Jesus is the person revealed by the book.
From the outset, we are given the most important truth about the Book of Revelation. This book shows us the Antichrist, it shows us God’s judgment, it shows us calamity on the earth, and it shows us Mystery Babylon in vivid detail. Most of all, it is the Revelation of Jesus Christ to us. If we catch everything else, but miss Jesus in the book, we miss the Book of Revelation.
How we need a revelation of Jesus! “The great fault of many professors is that Christ is to them a character upon paper; certainly more than a myth, but yet a person of the dim past, an historical personage who lived many years ago, and did most admirable deeds, by the which we are saved, but who is far from being a living, present, bright reality.” (Spurgeon)
Which God gave Him to show His servants: This is an important reason why God gave this Revelation of Jesus Christ. He gave it to show His servants. God gave this revelation that it might be shown, not hidden. This is an apocalypse — a revelation, not apocrypha (something hidden).
Things which must shortly take place: This describes when the events of this book will take place — they will happen shortly, and they must happen shortly. This means that the Book of Revelation is a book of predictive prophecy. It speaks of things that will happen in the future — at least future from the time of its writing.
Shortly take place: Short and near are relative terms, and this is God’s timetable, not man’s. Yet for 2000 years, history has been on the brink of the consummation of all things, running parallel to the edge, not running towards a distant brink.
Shortly is the ancient Greek phrase en tachei, which means “‘quickly or suddenly coming to pass,’ indicating rapidity of execution after the beginning takes place. The idea is not that the event may occur soon, but that when it does, it will be sudden.” (Walvoord)
He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John: This describes how the message is delivered in the Book of Revelation. It is a book of signs: the angel sign-ified this message to John. It is a book that communicates in signs.
Blessed is he who reads… and keep those things which are written in it: This promise gives more reasons to know John believed this book was Holy Scripture. First, the words he who reads and those who hear show that this book was intended to be read publicly, just as other books of accepted Scripture. Second, the promise of blessing itself shows that John regarded this book as Holy Scripture. In the Jewish world, such a blessing could never be pronounced on a merely human book.
To the seven churches which are in Asia: This letter was originally addressed to these seven selected churches of Asia. This was the Roman province of Asia, which is the western part of modern day Turkey.
From Him who is and who was and who is to come: John brought a greeting from God the Father, who is described with this title. Him who is and who was and who is to come speaks to the eternal nature of God. It has the idea of a timeless Being, and is connected with the name Yahweh found in the Old Testament (Exodus 6:3, Exodus 17:15).
From the seven Spirits who are before His throne: John brought a greeting from God the Holy Spirit, who is described with this title. The seven Spirits who are before His throne speaks to the perfection and completion of the Holy Spirit. John used an Old Testament description of the Holy Spirit
From Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth: John brought a greeting from God the Son, who is described by who He is and by what He has done.
And has made us kings and priests to His God and Father: This is status Jesus gives to those whom He loved in His work on the cross and who are washed… in His own blood. It would have been enough just to love them and cleanse them. But He goes far beyond, and makes us kings and priests to His God and Father. This is more than Adam ever was. Even in the innocence of Eden we never read of Adam among the kings and priests of God. This is worth praising Jesus about.
To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever: In light of all that Jesus did for us, it is right to praise Him. We should honor Him with all glory and dominion forever and ever. When we say this, we aren’t giving Jesus glory and dominion. We are simply recognizing that He has it, and honoring Him for it.
Amen: This word — in the ancient Greek language, brought over from the Hebrew of the Old Testament — simply means “Yes.” It isn’t a wish that it may be so, but it is an affirmation that, through God, it will be so. Jesus will be praised.
Behold, He is coming: This is a command to look — to check it out. John moved from praising Jesus to describing His return. He wants us to behold the coming of Jesus. Jesus said that we should watch and wait for His coming (Matthew 24:42). It is something to keep before the eye of our mind, to behold.
And every eye will see Him: When Jesus comes, it won’t be a secret coming. Everyone will know. At His first coming, Jesus was somewhat obscure. During His earthly ministry, He never made front-page news in Rome. But when Jesus comes again, every eye will see Him. The whole world will know.
Even they who pierced Him: When Jesus comes, it will be a particularly meaningful revelation for the Jewish people. Of course, it was not the Jews alone who pierced Him. But we know John had in mind the revelation of Jesus to His own people because this is an allusion to Zechariah 12:10.
All the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him: When Jesus comes, it won’t be only the Jewish people who mourn because of their previous rejection of Jesus. Since there will be people saved from all the tribes of the earth (Revelation 7:9), everyone will have a part in this mourning. We will all look at His scars and say “We did this to Him.”
I am the Alpha and the Omega: In many translations, and in “Red-Letter” editions, these words are in red. This shows that the translators believed that these were the words of Jesus. John was finished with his introduction, and now Jesus introduced Himself. After all, it is His revelation (the Revelation of Jesus Christ, Revelation 1:1), so it isn’t strange that He introduces it.
The Almighty: This word Almighty translates the ancient Greek word pantokrater, which literally means “the one who has his hand on everything.” It speaks of the great sovereign control of Jesus over everything — past, present, and future.
This great word Almighty is used ten times in the New Testament, and nine of the ten times are in the Book of Revelation. This book has a striking emphasis on God’s sovereignty, the understanding that He has His hand on everything.
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Well, here we are... the Book of Revelation. We started in the Book of Daniel, where we learned Jesus would come, leave, and then come again. We read the Gospel according to John, who was Jesus' best human friend. We also read letters written by John about the state of the "church" after Jesus left. And now.... Now we are at the Book of Revelation. This is indeed the End Times Prophecy in the Bible.
According to the commentary, in a part I left out.... there is a description of the four basic approaches humans have used to understand Revelation.
- The Preterist View
- The Historicist View
- The Poetic View
- The Futurist View
This is addressed to the Seven Churches of Asia. It's interesting that the Seven Churches seem to encompass what is going on in Christian Churches today, all around the world. You'll see!
Now, please note verse 3. John thought Jesus would return in John's lifetime. Jesus didn't live in earth time. Jesus lives in God time.
God's been around for forever. If God had a cake for every year since He became God, the heat from the candles would be so big it would burn up all the Galaxies and all of the Universes, as if it were spontaneous combustion... IMHO.
So, God doesn't do "time". God can look back... look out... and look forward. Jesus is the same.
Jesus is not bound to the timeclock! He'll be back! He's going to show up just as He said, and those who are around to see it will be either ecstatic or devastated!
There won't be time to "get right with Jesus". The expression on our individual faces will say it all... IMHO.
Jesus has been in meetings since He took His body out of that sealed tomb and left earth. He'll be back as soon as the meetings and the seal popping has begun. What takes a few hours in Heaven may take a few thousand years on earth.
There won't be time to "get right with Jesus". The expression on our individual faces will say it all... IMHO.
He'll be back. He said He would.
Here we go... End Times Prophecy!
