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[a] 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,”[b]
and “every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him”;
and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.”[c]
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.”[c]
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.”
9 I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, 11 which said: “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.”
12 I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man,[d] dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. 15 His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.
17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
19 “Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later. 20 The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels[e] of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
a. Revelation 1:4 That is, the sevenfold Spirit
b. Revelation 1:7 Daniel 7:13
c. Revelation 1:7 Zech. 12:10
d. Revelation 1:13 See Daniel 7:13.
e. Revelation 1:20 Or messengers
I'm starting with the easy English this morning.... get a cup of coffee... this is long commentary.
Imagine what it would have been like, to live at the end of the first century. Your city is a part of the Roman Empire. You are a Christian. You are a member of a local church. There is only one church in your city. Your nearest church neighbour is over 40 miles away. There are good Roman roads. You could travel on your horse. You might reach your nearest neighbour in less than a day. Your leader is John the apostle. But the rulers have sent him away to another country. The reason was that he was a Christian. There are no large meetings where Christians worship together. There are no Christian books to encourage you. There is no New Testament to give you hope.
There have been many earthquakes in your country. There have been many local wars. You are afraid about many things. You wonder what will happen next.
Your neighbours do not like you. You are different from them. You have a different religion. Every day you are in danger. You turn to other religious groups for help. But there is no help from them. They do not agree with your religion. They even report you to the authorities. They say that you do not believe in God.
The rulers of the nations do not feel confident. They think that other people want to become leaders. They fear that another will take their place. They are jealous of any new religion. They see other people as a danger to their authority. They bring in new laws. The nation has become their religion. Their leader has become their god. Moreover he is the only one that you may worship. You ask yourself whether you may one day bow down to a strange god. It would be easy to do this. Some of your Christian brothers and sisters have already given up. They have turned away from Jesus Christ, their *Lord.
This is how it was with the 7 churches in Asia. The description of their situation is in the book of Revelation chapters 1 to 3. There was then a period of much persecution of Christians. The period was at the end of the first century.
There is an extra blessing. Those who read these letters will be happy people (Revelation 1:3). Those who hear them will be even happier. They will be even happier if they obey the words in the letters. There is a warning at the end of the book. It warns about anyone who might change the message. They must not add to it or take anything away from it (22:18-19).
The 7 churches were in Asia. It is the end of the first century. We have a description of their situation in Revelation chapters 1 to 3. It was a time of great trouble for Christians. Persecution had started 25 years earlier. It had begun in Rome. The Emperor Nero had persecuted them. The Emperor Domitian is now the ruler. The authorities in Rome hate the Christians. The rulers in Asia are also beginning to hate them. They have sent the apostle John to the little island called Patmos.
The 7 churches were:
- in Western Turkey. They occupied a wide area of over 200 square miles.
- among people who worshipped different gods. Their neighbours had many evil customs.
- in relationship with the apostle John.
- small groups of people. They lived in important cities. They had no church buildings.
- they had many earthquakes. There was a Jewish revolution against Rome in AD 66. In AD 70 the Romans had destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem. This affected the churches. Some of the members were Jews.
- always in trouble with the Jews. The Jews did not think that they were believers in the true God.
- in danger from the Roman Emperor Domitian. He was a dangerous man. He had a great opinion of himself. Therefore, he liked people to worship him. He wanted to be called lord and god.
- made to pay big taxes by the emperor.
- living with Christians who had stopped believing in Jesus.
- among false teachers. There were false prophets in the churches. There were sexual sins in the churches.
- hoping for the return of Jesus. But nothing seemed to be happening.
Those who receive the letters are the 7 churches of Christ. The first words of the book are ‘the revelation of Jesus Christ’. The book’s last two verses have in them the name of Jesus. The subject and meaning of revelation is Christ himself. The book is about Jesus Christ, who has risen from death. He has obtained victory over death. He is now in the place of great power in heaven. This book gives a clear view of him. It is first a revelation of the glory of Christ. This book is also about the course of human history. But that takes second place.
Patmos is an island. On it, there are many rocks. There is not much plant life. It is eight miles long and five miles wide. It is 40 miles away from the main land of Asia. It is about 65 miles from Ephesus. John was probably not a prisoner. One of the rulers in Asia had sent him there (1:1). John had a special relationship with the 7 churches. But he was alone. He could not visit his friends. He knew that persecution was increasing. It affected all the believers in Asia. So he writes to them. He wants to help them to be strong. God brings a message to John. The message is for the Christians in the 7 churches. The message is in the Book of Revelation.
There is a description of John’s work in the first five verses in this chapter. He uses three different words. The first is revelation (apocalypse). It takes the cover off what was secret earlier. The second word is prophecy. This is in verse 3. Then, in verse 4, he refers to his work as a letter. We find all three descriptions in the book of Revelation
God did not make the revelation directly to John. He sent it through his angel. This gives the teaching of this book an extraordinary authority. John told everything that he saw. Jesus Christ told him the truth. This truth is the word of God. This means that it is the message from God (verse 2). It is a witness to the truth from Jesus Christ.
This commentary on the first chapter is from enduringword.com.
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.
Keep those things which are written in it: The Book of Revelation gives us much more than information for prophetic speculation. It gives us things to keep. If we understand the Book of Revelation, it will change the way we live.
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.
This wasn’t a supernatural vision of Jesus’ return. That supernatural vision will come later. This description is based from John’s understanding of Old Testament promises of the Messiah’s return and Jesus’ own words about His return. For example, John knew that Jesus was coming because Jesus said He was coming. Jesus said, I will come again and receive you to Myself (John 14:3).
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.
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.”
On the Lord’s Day: When is the Lord’s Day? Among the pagans of the Roman Empire, the first day of each month was called “Emperors Day” in honor of the Roman Emperor. Perhaps Christians proclaimed their allegiance to Jesus by honoring the first day of the week as their own Lord’s Day.
This is not the same term used for The Day of the Lord in the Old Testament, nor is it the same idea. The Book of Revelation will deal with the idea of The Day of the Lord, but it doesn’t do it here.
His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength: The glory of Jesus is so great, so shining, that it is hard to even look upon Him. Jesus has the same glory as in His transfiguration, when His face shone like the sun (Matthew 17:2).
When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead: John was overwhelmed by this awesome vision, even though he was an apostle who knew Jesus on this earth. Even the three years John spent with Jesus on this earth did not really prepare him to see Jesus in His heavenly glory. At this moment, John knew what a miracle it was that Jesus could shield His glory and authority while He walked this earth.
Yesterday I told hubby I am going to start Revelation today. His reply was "that's nice". I've been telling him about my daily posts. He's kind enough to listen but he's not at all thrilled with religion these days. After all, the thumpers in our neighborhood are really rude these days. In these days, the church has a horrible black eye because the "Christian Conservatives" are beating their chests, excluding anyone who doesn't live and vote in the manner they see fit.... while charging people, who don't have a meal to set in front of their children, a low low price of $39.99 for a book to tell them to "be calm and have peace".
In the days when John was writing this book... the world was in turmoil. The commentary says there was a Jewish Rebellion against Rome that caused the Romans to destroy the temple in Jerusalem. Nero started a lie that the Christians were cannibals who ate their own babies and he also spread the lie that they had wild orgies. The next emperor, Domitian thought he was the best thing to hit the universe and he wanted everyone to be loyal only to him.
John says he had a vision. In this vision.... John said an Angel was assigned to him as an interpreter. John said in this vision he saw his friend Jesus. Jesus was glowing... like He did when Moses and Elijah met with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. John was so overwhelmed.... he passed out. Jesus put His hand on John.... and told him not to be afraid.
Big Brother had His glow on.....
