K-1. THE BOOK OF REVELATION CHAPTER 1. VERSE BY VERSE The Revelation of Jesus Christ to Saint John the Divine
Let us begin this study on the book of Revelation by reading the first three verses of chapter 1 with no comment added, and then we will go back and take a closer look at each verse where I will add emphasis and comments explaining these three verses.
CHAPTER 1
Rev. 1:1 “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John. Rev. 1:2 “Who bare record of word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all the things he saw.” Rev. 1:3 “Blessed is he that reads, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.”
Before we begin dissecting these verses let us take a close look at the word “Revelation”. According to the American Heritage Dictionary the word “Revelation” means something revealed (past tense), or the act of revealing (present tense). It especially means a dramatic disclosure or unveiling of something previously not known or realized, or understood.
Now in some translations the word “Apocalypse” is used in place of the word “Revelation”. And as you will see in a moment that this word means the same thing as reveal or the revelation. The word “reveal” can be broken down into two parts: RE- which means back, or back to a prior position or condition, and VEAL, which means veil or to cover. The word veil comes from weg in the appendix and means to weave a web, or curtain. In other words, reveal mean to uncover what has been covered. Likewise the word Apocalypse can be broken down into two parts: APO- which means reversal, and CALYPSE- which means to cover or veil. So simply put, both words Revelation and Apocalypse mean to uncover, to unveil, to make known, to show, or to give understanding to what has been covered or veiled. When I think of a web, a veil or a curtain I think of something shear that can be seen through, but not CLEARLY or easily seen through. And when I thought of this as I read the definition of the word "reveal" a couple of scriptures came into my mind. The first verse that I thought of or that came to my remembrance was 1 Corinthians 13:12, which says,
“For now we see through a glass darkly...”
Seeing through a glass darkly means not seeing something clearly. So not seeing something clearly that is written in the Bible would be like a in a riddle, or word puzzle. A riddle is something that we must ponder upon or meditate upon before we can see it's clear meaning. Then I thought of how things in the Old Testament are types and shadows of things to come. Then I thought that even through a veil or curtain a "figure" of a SHADOW can be discerned if LIGHT is present. Also I thought of how Jesus spoke in parables to let every one hear the message of truth with their physical ear, but only those who were truly seeking truth would be able to hear and understand with their heart or their spiritual ear. Jesus said he that has EARS to hear let him hear. This means to listen with our heart truly seeking the truth. Jesus also said take heed HOW you hear, which means basically the same thing. For you see when one listens with a wrong attitude, then they are not truly listening to HEAR and UNDERSTAND the truth. For example, if the HOW one hears is with the attitude, "Well that is not what I was taught by my church denomination", then that person is not having ears to HEAR. They already have a PRESET understanding so they will only interpret the word of God BY that preset belief of what they have previously been taught. This is NOT truly seeking the TRUTH of the WHOLE word of God. Seeking the truth means that we must lay aside any and all PRESET teaching of what we have previously been taught. Satan cannot keep us from SEEKING the truth or even hearing the truth with our physical ears, but he can DECEIVE us to believe something that is NOT the truth. This is why I teach my readers and seekers of the truth to carefully consider the WHOLE matter before you judge in yourself saying something like, "Oh I have heard that before" or "Well that is not what MY church denomination teaches." The truth of the matter is that there are many church denominations that have church doctrines that are NOT SOUND BIBLICAL teachings. Why do you think that there are so many different church denominations? It is because some errors were found by believers in some of their church denomination teachings, so then they formed a new church denomination correcting the errors they found, BUT left other errors or made some different errors. Then some believers in that new denomination found some errors in some of the teachings of this new church denomination and then formed yet another church denomination until many many DIFFERENT church denominations were formed. This is why we must all search the word of truth, the scriptures from the Bible ITSELF, for ourselves to see if what we are being taught by our church denomination, or on the Internet, or by books we read in order to see if what we are being taught is the TRUTH of the WHOLE word of Almighty God himself or if it contradicts the word of God. Just because it is a Christian book, a Christian website, a Christian radio station, a Christian Television broadcast, or a Christian church does NOT mean that they are teaching you the TRUTH of the WHOLE word of God. Now God himself does not hide the truth from us, as in, God does not KEEP truth from us, but rather he simply places a veil over it so we will have to dig and search out the truth with the leading of the Holy Spirit. In other words, where there is no LIGHT present from God through the leading and teaching of the Holy Spirit, then there is no TRUE understanding of the word of God. This is why I call some teachings that are not sound Biblical teachings MAN-MADE teachings. The Bible says that some will be ever learning but never coming to the knowledge of the truth. So then, with that being said let us now with an OPEN mind and heart begin this verse by verse study in the book of Revelation with verse number one by breaking it down into shorter segments. When you read the Bible ask questions in your mind about the meaning. This study is also a study on HOW to study the Bible showing you how I myself study the Bible. And one thing I do is break verses down into small segments like I am showing you here.
You can be assured that I will not leave any part of a verse out to try and hide something. Nor will I take any verse OUT of CONTEXT in order to try and support a teaching that is NOT a sound Biblical teaching. I do my best to present my readers with ALL the Biblical evidence and then I leave it to YOU to decide for yourself whether it is the truth. When I myself read the Bible I ask QUESTIONS to myself and to God. So then, the question here is this; "Is the book of Revelation a revelation OF Jesus Christ, as in, the revealing OF Jesus Christ himself, or does this mean that Almighty God gave a "REVELATION" TO his Son Jesus? Perhaps BOTH are meant to be seen. To answer this question soundly in a SOUND Biblical manner, then we need to know to whom the HIM is referring? So then, in order to understand this verse or any verse in the Bible for that matter, then you need to understand the subject and pronoun use. That is to say, you need to understand WHAT is being talked about and to whom is it directed while reading the context of each verse. Please notice that there are six pronouns used in this first verse and three subjects are being discussed. The first pronoun is HIM, so the question is, to whom is this first pronoun "HIM" referring? I believe this first pronoun "HIM" refers back to Jesus Christ, rather than to John the divine, who wrote down this revelation that Almighty God gave TO his Son Jesus, who then gave it to his servant John the divine to write down to give to us the church. With this in mind here is what I believe this verse is saying thus far; Almighty God gave unto his Son, Jesus Christ, a Revelation. Now comes to mind the question of why? Why did Almighty God give this revelation to his Son Jesus, the Christ? To answer this question let us read the next part of verse 1, which says, Rev. 1:1 “ ...to show unto HIS (his who? HIS) servants (God's servants, which in truth includes these servants to ALSO be the servants of God's SON as well. So show us WHAT?) things which must shortly come to pass;..."
Now please notice that in this quote there are three dots... both before and after the quote, which means that these words were taken from the middle portion of a verse where both the first and last part of the verse was left out. Again I am doing this so we can focus on small sections of each verse. We have already covered the first section and we will get to the last section in a moment. Here is what we have so far. God gave unto his Son Jesus the Christ, the anointed one of God, a revelation to SHOW unto us, God's servants, which are the servants of Jesus as well. So what is this Revelation, which Almighty God, the Father, gave TO his Son Jesus Christ to give to us his servants? I believe it is several things. First of all, we see clearly from this verse that at least part of the revelation is the things which must shortly come to pass. I will explain this phrase in a moment. But secondly I ALSO believe the phrase "the revelation OF Jesus Christ" refers to the revelation that Almighty God, the Father, HAS a Son and his name is Jesus whom the Father ANOINTED with his very own self-same Holy Spirit to empower his Son Jesus to accomplish all the will of his God and Father, who sent or commissioned Jesus to accomplish. The word "SENT" means COMMISSIONED, which means the act of committing or giving authority and power to one in order to carry out a particular task. It means granting certain powers, as in, entrusting one with authority and power to perform the task so committed to them. So when you read in the Bible that God SENT his Son this does not dogmatically mean that the word sent must mean without fail that God sent his Son DOWN from heaven to the earth, but rather it means that God COMMISSIONED or empowered his Son Jesus to do all his God and Father's will. That is the LITERAL meaning of the word "SENT" in most instances. Whenever you see a blue link it is there for you to check out for yourself the literal meaning of the words. Again this particular Greek word translated as the word "sent" means to commission, to dispatch, to send out into the world where one is already in the world and not down from heaven into the earth. This link is to an online Interlinear Bible that gives a word for word literal translation, which I use in my studies. And thirdly I believe that the revelation is the revealing of Almighty God himself to mankind by commissioning his Son Jesus to show us the Father through the WORKS men saw Jesus do through the eternal Spirit, who dwelt in him. We will look at all of these thoughts or interpretations a little closer and in more detail in a moment and throughout this verse by verse study in the book of Revelation, but first, let's finish verse one.
Rev. 1:1 “...and he (again, he who?) sent and signified it (speaking of the Revelation that Almighty God gave to his Son Jesus) by his angel (who's angel? or who's MESSENGER, seeing that the word angel also means messenger) unto his servant John?"
In this section of this verse, I find two questions that need to be answered. The first question is; who sent and signified the revelation? And the next question is; by who's angel did he give this revelation to John? I believe the he, who sent and signified the revelation is referring to Almighty God, the Father, who gave this revelation TO his Son Jesus, the Christ. And likewise, the HIS angel is referring to the angel of the Lord God the Almighty who sent or gave the revelation TO in order his angel or messenger to then give this revelation to his servants. When you read the word "angel" it also can and many times does mean the messenger of Almighty God the Father as well. With all these things in mind let us see what this verse is saying by reading a paraphrasing of verse one in my own words. "Almighty God the Father gave unto his Son a revelation to show unto his servants (both the servants of the Father and his Son) things that are going to take place shortly, as in, they will occur quickly ONCE they BEGIN to come to pass, and God sent and signified this revelation by sending his very own angel or MESSENGER, (which I personally believe is referring to Almighty God's only begotten, Son Jesus Christ, to reveal or unveil the revelation that his God and Father gave to his Son to reveal or) to show unto John a servant of God."
Please understand that I am NOT saying that Jesus is an ANGELIC being, as in, a literal angel, but rather that the word TRANSLATED as "angel" in the King James Versions LITERALLY means MESSENGER. Now the word "signified" here means to make known, a sign of. Jesus was a "sign" given to mankind to make known the Father. During the FIRST coming Jesus gave us a MESSAGE from God to show us the Father as the only Potentate and at his second coming Jesus will show the WORLD who is the ONLY Almighty God the Father of all. Please read 1 Timothy 6:13-16. "I give you charge in the sight of God, who quickens all things (or who gives LIFE to all things), AND before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession; 14. That you keep this commandment (or teaching) without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: 15. Which in his times (speaking of both the FIRST and SECOND comings of Jesus) he (Jesus) shall show, WHO is the blessed and ONLY Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; 16. WHO ONLY has immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom NO man has seen, NOR CAN SEE: to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen."
Almighty God the Father is SPIRIT, who is INVISIBLE and no man has seen nor can see. So the WHO that Jesus came to show us is the FATHER, who ONLY has always possessed eternal life or immortality in himself and who ONLY is the Potentate, which means sovereign over all, or the only ALMIGHTY God. Jesus was GIVEN eternal life BY his God and Father only AFTER he became obedient to do all his God and Father's will even to suffer and die on the cross for the sins of the world. Our FAITH is in Jesus, as being the CHRIST, the SON OF the living God, who suffered and died on the cross for our sins. Please know and understand that Jesus died not ONLY our sins but the sins of the WHOLE world, so that WHOSOEVER believes in Jesus should not perish. But rather, we who believe in Jesus as the atonement for our sins shall be given eternal life in the world to come. And believing is God's SON is the SIGN that we believe in the ONE TRUE and ONLY Almighty God the Father AND that we are in a covenant relationship with the one true God because of his SON Jesus. Our faith is our REST in Jesus as our Savior which is the SIGN of the NEW covenant that we belong to the one true God and his Son Jesus. The SIGN of keeping the OLD Covenant was resting on the seventh day of the week. Again the word "angel" is the Greek word "angelos" which means angel, or MESSENGER. This word can refer to a human messenger or a supernatural class of being that serve God called angels, as in, angelic beings, who are not human nor divine in nature as we view Almighty God as being divine. The American Heritage Dictionary defines messenger as one who is charged with transmitting a message. The word message means something sent, or to send, a communication. Jesus, the Son of God, was the MESSENGER sent or commissioned by Almighty God to give the revelation he received from his Father to his servant John. So when you see the word angel replace it with the word messenger or one who is sent or commissioned to communicate a message from Almighty God to mankind. So again, when I say that I believe the word "ANGEL" here is referring to Jesus I do NOT mean that Jesus is an angelic being. Clearly, the word of God teaches us that the spoken word or saying of God took on the nature of man and not the nature of the angels and was given the name of Jesus, which we will take a closer look at in a moment. Jesus or more precisely the spoken word of God was made a little LOWER than the ANGELS or angelic beings. Jesus was NOT a LITERAL angelic being. This is a FALSE teaching. Please read the study "IS JESUS MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL?" The point that I want you to see is that in reality, we are all angels, as in, we are all MESSENGERS, or beings that serve God. We are sent or commissioned by God to communicate the MESSAGE of God's love to the world. For God so LOVED the world that he gave his only begotten Son so that whosoever believes in his Son should not perish and be given eternal life in the world to come. Jesus was sent or commissioned by God to reveal who Almighty God the Father is. Jesus said if you have seen me, then you have seen the Father. Jesus did not mean that he himself is the Father, but rather Jesus was speaking of the works people saw him do were the works of his God and Father dwelling IN him. However, this is not all that God wants to reveal to us. God desires the world to know that he has a Son and more importantly that his Son's name is JESUS, who suffered and died on the cross for THEM. God desires the world to HEAR the gospel to KNOW that God loves them so much that he gave his only begotten Son, Jesus, to be their SAVIOR as well as our savior. The name Jesus means YAHWEH SAVES or SAVIOR OF YAHWEH. It also means the SALVATION OF YAHWEH, meaning that Yahweh chose the MEANS by which he would save mankind to be his SON Jesus, the Lamb that was slain in the mind and plan of Yahweh before Almighty God the Father ever created the world. And God also chose before the foundation of the world that salvation is obtained by the foolishness of preaching to save all who BELIEVE in his Son Jesus to follow and obey the gospel of Jesus Christ unto the end. You see, God desires that all men should come to the knowledge of the truth that Jesus is the only name given among men that men MUST be saved thereby. And God desires for all of mankind to know the truth that no man can come unto God the Father except they come through his SON Jesus. So, in essence, the REVELATION of Jesus Christ is also "the revealing" to mankind or the revelation that God has a SON and that God sent or COMMISSIONED his very own only begotten Son to go out into the world to redeem the world from sin by being crucified as an INNOCENT MAN without sin. In other words, Almighty God himself has chosen to save mankind BY or THROUGH the death and resurrection of his Son Jesus, the Christ, or Jesus, the ANOINTED one of Almighty God the Father. Think of the word revelation as an announcement, an announcement of a God's SON to the world. Luke 2:10-12 says,
“And the angel (messenger, which in this case was an angelic being) said unto them, Fear not; for behold (look and see, in other words, pay attention), I bring you good tidings (good news) of great joy, which shall be unto all people. 11. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a SAVIOR, which is Christ the Lord. (In Isaiah 9:6 we learn that first a CHILD is BORN, and then a SON is given. And Psalm 2:7 teaches us that THIS DAY in which Jesus was begotten as God's SON was when Jesus was resurrected from the dead and highly exalted by the Father.) 12. And THIS (this one who is BORN of the VIRGIN) shall be a SIGN unto you; You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.”
God chose to save the world through FAITH in his only begotten Son, and he wants to REVEAL, this truth to all of mankind, the Revelation OF Jesus as being, the Christ, the ANOINTED of the Father commission by Almighty God to bring in a NEW COVENANT to the children of Israel and the house of Judah. Jesus came out of the house of Judah and the church came out of Jesus.
But we ALSO see in this verse that God wants to reveal to us THINGS that must SHORTLY come to pass, which he gave to his MESSENGER Jesus to SHOW unto John, who then wrote down what he both saw and what he heard to show unto US the church who is commissioned to show ALL of mankind the judgments that are coming on the world. So then, from this phrase of Revelation 1:1 above I see two questions, which are; What THINGS are going to be shown to us to show unto the world in this REVELATION given TO Jesus Christ, and WHAT is meant by the phrase "SHORTLY come to pass?" In other words a Christian, who is a preterist dogmatically demands that since this verse says "SHORTLY", then it must without fail mean SOON, as in, the days of the early church, which is why they dogmatically demand that the prophecy in Matthew 24 has already been fulfilled seeing that 2000 years later is NOT "shortly come to pass". But you see dear children of God, this is not the only meaning of the Greek word translated as shortly, which we will get to in a moment. But first also know that there are some Christians, who teach that the second coming of Jesus is yet future. The word "preterist" simply means PAST in fulfilment and the word "futurist" means yet to be fulfilled in the future. And there are other Christians, which are a partial preterist, who believe some things have already been fulfilled but yet some things are yet to be fulfilled, such as, the second coming of Jesus. Now in truth, some "futurists" are TOO dogmatic is saying that ALL is yet to be fulfilled. What I mean by this is that the truth is somewhere in the middle where some things have been fulfilled, BUT have a DUAL fulfilment meaning that some things have been fulfilled in history where PART of that prophecy is yet to be fulfilled in the future.
But what does the word of truth ITSELF teach us? Now the word "shortly" comes from two Greek words "EN" having the Strong's number (1722) and "TACHOS" having the Strong's number (5034). When you look up a word from the Bible in a Bible concordance mated with that particular translation you will find numbers after the English word you just looked up just like you would in a dictionary. Next, you scroll down to the VERSE in which the word appears that you want to know the meaning in the Greek or Hebrew because sometimes the "English" word has different Greek words from which it was TRANSLATED. In other words, several verses may have the SAME English word, but the GREEK or Hebrew word that the English word was translated from may be a DIFFERENT Greek or Hebrew word. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew and the New Testament was written in Greek. And since we are studying the Book of Revelation, which is in the New Testament, then the Strong's numbers will be under the Greek section in the back of the concordance. So after you find the verse, then you will look that Strong's number for that verse up in the back of the concordance in the section under Greek New Testament. Strong's number means that a man named Strong wrote that concordance and numbered all the words for easy referencing. A big thanks to Mr Strong. Again the book of Revelation is in the New Testament. So the original text was written in Greek. So then, the first Greek word "EN", as in, "spatially" or referring to occupying space, an area, means in, inside, at among, and with; and this same Greek word "EN", as in, "logically", means by means of, with, because of, and also this same Greek word "EN", as in, speaking of "TIME" means during or while. And the Greek word "TACHOS" means quickly, swiftly, momentarily, shortly, fast and soon. So to me, I see these combinations of Greek words that have been translated as "SHORTLY" as having different meanings. In other words, John could have been saying that these things must come to pass SOON, as in, any day now, or John could have meant that when these things BEGIN to come to pass, or WHILE or DURING the TIME when they are coming to pass, then Jesus would be REVEALED from heaven quickly, as in, a SHORT space of time. In other words. DURING or WHILE these things are coming to pass they will all take place in a short period of time, namely 3 1/2 years. But when the phrase, "Behold I come quickly" is referring to the second coming of Jesus, as in, the rapture or our CHANGE, then our change will take place QUICKLY, as in, a twinkling of an eye. Please read 1 Corinthians 15:50-53, which teaches us that the first portion of the second coming of Jesus, called the rapture of the church, will be in a MOMENT and in a TWINKLING of an eye. In other words, QUICKLY, as in, SO FAST if you blinked you would miss it. So then, shortly in this setting means QUICKLY or very fast as opposed to SOON.
You see my dear brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ, the second coming of Jesus where our Lord is coming "SHORTLY" to me is speaking of the QUICKNESS or the RAPIDNESS of our CHANGE that takes place when he comes. I want you to take a look at the end of the book of Revelation in chapter 22 that has almost the exact same wording as it does here in verse 1 of chapter 1. Please read Revelation 22:6,7 which says, I could go on and make an entire Bible study from this one verse of scripture showing you, the reader and seeker of the truth, the errors of the reasoning of those who hold to the teachings of preterism, but that is not the purpose of this particular study of the book of Revelation, which is a verse by verse study. So then, for those of you, who desire to have a deeper understanding from the WHOLE word of God of WHY the view of the second coming of Jesus from the standpoint of the preterist is in error and therefore a false teaching, then please read the study called "WHAT IS PRETERISM?" and all the related studies. But for now, let's continue with verse two.
Rev.1:2 "Who bare record of the word of God, AND of the testimony of Jesus Christ, AND of all things that he saw."
Who is the "who" that bare record or wrote down what he saw as a record for US, the servants of God? I believe that the who in this verse refers back to John in verse 1. Now I want to draw your attention to WHAT John bare record of. First, he bore record of the WORD of God or the WORDS spoken by Almighty God himself. Secondly, he bore record of the TESTIMONY of Jesus or the words that Jesus testified to John. And thirdly he bore record of all of the things that he SAW. In other words, what many Christians and even Bible scholars MISS is that there are TWO VOICES, who are speaking to John. And these TWO VOICES are the voice of Almighty God the Father, the FIRST voice as of a TRUMPET, AND the second voice is the voice of God's SON Jesus as the voice of many waters. Now later on in the Book of Revelation, we will see other voices speaking to John, which we will cover when we get there. So then, one of the things that I myself gleam from this verse is that Almighty God himself spoke to John, as well as, Jesus spoke to John. In other words, you will find that there were at least two persons or beings, who spoke to John in this book of Revelation here in chapter 1. Again later you will see that others spoke to John as well, but for now, I want you to see that BOTH Almighty God the Father, AND his Son Jesus spoke to John in this book of Revelation here in chapter 1, which we are presently studying verse by verse.
To gain the FULLNESS of God's word it is needful to discern the difference between Almighty God the Father and his Son Jesus. I know that most of us have been taught the doctrine of the Trinity, which states that God is a triune being. The doctrine of the Trinity states that there are three persons in a trinity Godhead, but only ONE God, which the doctrine of the Trinity goes on to state as being three distinctly different persons, who are God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. This doctrine of the Trinity also states that these three separate and distinct beings in this trinity Godhead all are one and the selfsame God. Therefore according to the doctrine of the Trinity, many are taught that when we see the name Jesus in scripture, then we as Christians are to conclude that Jesus is God, as in, Jesus is the ALMIGHTY God himself. In other words, the doctrine of the Trinity states that these three persons are all the ONE true God, in that, they are EQUAL in every way where none is neither greater than nor less than the other. And that Almighty God the Father and his Son Jesus are co ETERNAL meaning that both the Father and the Son had NO BEGINNING and have ALWAYS existed AS Father and SON as two separate distinctly different immortal divine eternal beings or persons, but yet still ONE God.
However, I myself believe what the Bible ITSELF teaches us, speaking of the WHOLE word of God, and not just verses that are taken OUT of context. And the Bible ITSELF teaches us something quite different than what the "DOCTRINE" of the Trinity teaches us, but in order to see this truth, then you need to discern that there is a difference between Almighty God the Father and Jesus his Son. We will discuss this more in depth later on in this study as we come upon the verses that clearly show us a distinction between Almighty God the Father and his Son Jesus. If you would like to know more about this subject please read the study "THE DEITY OF JESUS AND THE TRINITY". along with the many related studies I have on this subject of "WHO IS JESUS?". I want you to know that I do indeed believe that Jesus is God, but I personally do NOT believe that Jesus is the ALMIGHTY God himself. Again this is a very deep and broad subject and I have written many studies on this topic if you would like to hear the WHOLE word of God on this matter, but for now let's continue with verse two, which again says,
Rev 1:2 " WHO (speaking of John) bare record of the WORD of GOD (referring to the words that Almighty God himself spoke to John) AND of the TESTIMONY of JESUS CHRIST (referring to that which was spoken to John by Jesus, the Christ), and all of the things that he (speaking of John) SAW."
The word "testimony" here means a declaration or affirmation of a fact or truth and comes from the word "textis" which means witness. In verse 5 we find that Jesus Christ is the faithful WITNESS. The word witness also carries the meaning of being a MARTYR for Jesus and the truth of God's word. Thirdly we see that John recorded all that he SAW. In summation verse two tells us that John recorded what he heard God Almighty himself say (who bare record of the WORD of GOD). Also, we see that John heard another VOICE, which he also bear record of what he heard this SECOND VOICE say. First, we KNOW beyond any shadow of a doubt that BOTH Almighty God the Father AND Jesus, the SON of God, spoke to John, because of the conjunction AND for the TESTIMONY of Jesus Christ. But later on, we will see that John speaks of the FIRST VOICE which he heard having a DIFFERENT sound than the second voice when he turned to see the one speaking as a trumpet. Then finally we see John recording all that he SAW. So John recorded both what he HEARD and what he SAW.
Revelation 1:3 tells us THREE things we must DO in ordered to be BLESSED.
Rev 1:3
"Blessed is he (who is the "HE" that is BLESSED? It is the "he", as in, WHOSOEVER of any human being) that READS AND HEARS (as in, he or she who reads AND understands. The word translated as hear or hears also carries the meaning of true understanding of) the words of this prophecy, AND KEEPS (or receives and BELIEVES) those things which are written therein: for (or because) the time is at hand."
So then, in order for one to be blessed, he or she must first read the word of God for themselves or hear, as in, LISTEN to the word of God spoken to them by someone else, then secondly they must receive God's word, that is to say, they must HEAR God's word, as in, they must understand and believe the word of God that they have read or heard from someone else, then thirdly they must KEEP the word that is written, or act upon what they now believe. This means that we are to OBEY the words of Jesus, which were REVEALED to him by Almighty God the Father to give the John to give to US to give to the world. We are the LIGHT of the world so do not hide your light.
In other words, we must without fail, be a doer of the word and not just be a hearer only deceiving our own self. We need to KEEP Gods word hidden in our hearts that we might not sin against him, for the time is at hand. What time? And what does the phrase “is at hand” mean? I believe “the time” refers to the great and notable DAY of the Lord, which begins AT the second coming of Jesus. And the phrase "is at hand" means that the day of the Lord is near or about to take place, so hear and understand and KEEP God's word in your heart. To say this another way, when we SEE these things in the book of Revelation BEGIN to start taking place, then we are to be all the MORE ready because this will be a time of great tribulation or affliction by persecution knowing that our Lord's coming is drawing near. Also, the "time is at hand" means beginning from the present day tribulation and persecution would continue through the entire church age as the BEGINNING of SORROWS spoken by Jesus in Matthew 24. "And when these things BEGIN to come to PASS, THEN look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption (or your DELIVERANCE) draws nigh."
The reader must keep in mind that God's word is like a jigsaw puzzle that has MORE than just ONE piece or one verse of scripture that paints the picture of what God is teaching us in his word. Very often in the studies that I write, I will use the phrase the WHOLE word of God. And what I mean by this is that any verse, when taken OUT of CONTEXT and viewed ALONE and APART for the WHOLE word of God, may SEEM to say something that it is NOT TRULY saying when that verse is correctly interpreted in the LIGHT of the REST of God's word having NO contradictions to any other part of God's word. In other words, there are MANY pieces of the puzzle that must be put together PROPERLY in order to see the BIG picture or the TRUTH that Almighty God has INTENDED for us to see. With that being said I want to draw your attention to what God is teaching us in 2 Peter 3:8, which teaches us that our concept of TIME is NOT the SAME as it is to Almighty God.
So then, when Almighty God says in his WORD that these things must come to pass SHORTLY you must NOT be IGNORANT of the TRUTH that just a single day is as a THOUSAND YEARS to God and equally so a thousand years is as just ONE day to God. So do NOT be DECEIVED by those, who place so must EMPHASIS on the SOON coming of our Lord which IS at hand or near to being fulfilled, because according to the WHOLE word of God the second coming of Jesus it is NOT NIGH even at the DOOR and will NOT come UNTIL two things happen first. Please read the study "THE RAPTURE: WHO IS THE HINDERER?" for the in-depth answer of what two things must happen first before Jesus returns. But for now the early church was going through much heavy persecution, affliction, and tribulation and they THOUGHT that Jesus was coming SOON. But Paul corrected their misunderstanding in 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 and chapter 2 teaches us to be not troubled or shaken in mind that the day of our Lord's coming and our being gathered together is at hand. Then Paul says that the coming of Jesus will not come UNTIL two things happen first. And those two things are a great apostasy and the revealing of the antichrist. This agrees with Luke 21 and Matthew 24 saying that when we SEE the abomination of desolation then there shall be great tribulation. So when we SEE Jerusalem surrounded by armies making all-out war against Israel, then we know that the prophecies are BEGINNING to come to pass and our redemption is near at hand. You see dear child of God, there are yet some SIGNS that need to be fulfilled first before we KNOW and look up for our redemption draws nigh and then SHORTLY Jesus will sound the LAST trumpet and the dead in Christ shall rise FIRST and then we which are alive and remain unto his coming shall be CHANGED in a MOMENT and a twinkling of an eye with the newly resurrected dead in Christ and be caught up TOGETHER to meet our Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. We will talk about this more in depth later and for those who desire a deeper understanding on what I just said please read the studies called "THE GREAT TRIBULATION", "THE SECOND COMING OF JESUS", "THE IMMINENT RETURN OF JESUS", and the all the other related studies on the rapture of the church and the great tribulation versus the wrath of God. But for now let's continue this study by reading verses four, five and six of Revelation chapter 1. Rev. 1:4 “JOHN to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; Rev. 1:5 “And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us in his own blood, Rev. 1:6 “ And has made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”
The first part of this verse in Rev.1:4 tells us that John is the one who is speaking or writing these words that he both heard and saw. And here in this verse, we see that John is writing TO the seven churches which are IN ASIA. In other words, John is the narrator of what he has both heard and seen. The seven churches in Asia were indeed literal seven churches, but they also represent ALL believers in Jesus and not just those literal seven churches alone.
Rev. 4:1 "JOHN (who is writing or speaking these words that he both sees and hears) TO the seven churches, which are IN ASIA:..."
Remember in verse 2 we learned that John was recording from three sources, what he heard from Almighty God the Father, what he heard from Jesus the Son of God, and the things which John SAW. We also see in the first part of this verse that John is writing these words TO the SEVEN churches, which are IN ASIA. So again, does this mean that without a doubt that this WORD of Almighty God has NOTHING whatsoever to do with US, who are in the church or the body of Christ today and ONLY refers to the seven actual literal physical churches in Asia that were in John's day? Absolutely NOT! Now, of course, some who teach FULL preterism, will say that the Bible prophecy is NOT written to US personally, but rather the Bible teaches us about God and ALL the prophecy was written to the people in the day of Jesus and the EARLY church ONLY. Do NOT be DECEIVED my dear brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ, for the WHOLE word of TRUTH is in fact written to WHOSOEVER BELIEVES. You would not even be a believer if this Holy Bible was not written to YOU. The TRUTH of the matter is that these words of Almighty God written in the book of Revelation are, in fact, written to YOU and I and to whomsoever BELIEVES. Yes, John was writing to the seven churches that were IN ASIA, but John is ALSO writing these very SAME words to US the church of TODAY as well, otherwise you might as well throw the Bible away if you TRULY believe that it was written to ONLY those Christians of that day up to 70 AD and everything has already been fulfilled as full preterism falsely teaches.
"Grace be unto you, and peace, from HIM (him who? HIM) which is, and which was, and which is to come;"
This phrase is from source #1, so who is the HIM which is, which was, and which is to come? Let's keep reading to find out.
"AND from the seven Spirits which are before HIS throne (the pronoun "HIS" is referring back to the HIM who was, and is, and is to come THRONE. In other words, the HIM who sits upon the THRONE is the same one who is described as the HIM who is, and who was, and who is to come. To say this another way you will see very soon that the throne BELONGS TO Almighty God the Father.);"
Greeting from source #2 is the seven Spirits, which we will look at later. But for now, let us focus on who the HIM is. So again who is the HIS throne? Whose throne? Again we must keep reading to find this out as well because all we know for sure at this point is that it is the HIM who was, and is, and is to come that sits on the THRONE. Let us continue reading with verse 5, which says,
"AND from JESUS CHRIST, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten from the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood."
The conjunction "AND" here is our first clue that the HIM, who is and was and is to come is NOT referring to Jesus Christ as the one sitting on the THRONE. Yes, we know that Jesus ALSO was GRANTED to sit on his FATHER's throne for OVERCOMING the enemy to all his God and Father's will. So I am NOT saying that Jesus does not sit on the throne of Almighty God, but rather I am simply showing you HOW to correctly determine the pronoun use by following the CONTEXT all the way through so there is no doubt as to who the "him" and the "his" are referring to in these verses. To sum it all up John sends greetings of grace and peace to the seven churches which are in Asia from THREE sources where number one is; HIM which is, and which was, and which is to come; number two from the seven Spirits which are before HIS throne; and finally number three from Jesus Christ the Son of Almighty God. So then, from this verse, we clearly see the THREE sources. We see HIM that sits upon the THRONE, which we will learn later is THE ALMIGHTY God, the Father. We also see the seven Spirits, which are before the throne of Almighty God the Father, which I will explain later why there are SEVEN Spirits rather than ONE Spirit. And we also see Jesus, the SON OF Almighty God the Father. And it is ALL THREE who send this greeting to us, the church, by the way of John writing down what he both saw and heard. This phase "which is, which was, and which is to come" and a similar phrase thereof is found five times in the book of Revelation. (Rev. 1:4, Rev. 1:8, Rev. 4:8, Rev. 11:17, Rev. 16:5) The first time this phrase is found is in Rev 1:4, which is the passage we just read. In this passage of scripture, it appears at first to be referring to Jesus Christ as the one which is, which was, and which is to come. However, upon closer examination, I personally find without a doubt that all of these five different but very similar phrases are referring to Almighty God the Father himself. And I am sure that you will see this also as we continue this study in the book of Revelation verse by verse. Let's finish examining verse 6 and, then continue reading verses 7 and eight.
Revelation 1 verse 6 says,
"And has made us kings and priests unto God (speaking of Almighty God) and HIS Father (whose Father?): to HIM (to him who?) be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen."
Verse 6 is speaking of Jesus Christ, who has made us kings and priests unto his God and Father. Also notice that John, who is recording what he heard and saw emphasizes that God Almighty is the Father of Jesus Christ, so this truth must be of importance because we see it over and over throughout the New Testament writings. In other words, I firmly do NOT agree with the false teaching of ONENESS or modalism, which falsely teaches that Jesus IS ALMIGHTY God the FATHER himself and Almighty God the FATHER IS Jesus as in one and the self-same being. In other words, the man-made doctrine of ONENESS teaches that there is only ONE God who manifests himself as the Son and then back again as the Father. And their line of reasoning is much like a human father is ALSO a SON, and BOTH father and son are the SAME exact person at the same time but manifests himself differently when portraying his ROLE as the father than when he does when portraying his ROLE as a son. To say this another way, according to ONENESS believers when God is acting as Father he has authority as the Father. And then when God is acting as the Son he is not acting as the Father, but as a Son who is under his Father. To oneness believers the is ONE being who manifests himself back and forth in different forms being the Father and the Son at the same time. When I have talked to oneness believers they have told me that I will be surprised when I get to heaven to see ONLY ONE sitting on the throne, because to THEM Jesus IS the FATHER HIMSELF. Anyway, this is blatantly obvious to me as another FALSE teaching simply, because the TRUTH of this DISTINCTION between Almighty God and his SON Jesus is not properly being discerned by those, who teach these false doctrines of men. I mean how do the oneness believers explain John the Baptist having heard the voice of the Father from heaven when Jesus was standing right in front of him. Jesus did not use ventriloquism to project his voice as if it were coming down from heaven.
Now if the distinction is kept between God the Father AND his Son Jesus the Christ is maintained throughout the scriptures then many other truths will be revealed as well. But if this distinction is not discerned and maintained, then some truth will not be as easily seen. Please keep reading and you will see want I mean. I believe the "HIM" in this verse is referring to Almighty God the Father, rather than his Son Jesus Christ in the last part of verse 6 when it says,
"...to HIM be the glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen."
Why do I say this? Well, throughout the gospels Jesus always gave glory to his Father and never excepted glory to himself, so why start now? Jesus is worshipped. Jesus is honored. And Jesus is praised. But it is all done TO the glory OF the Father. Also, it will become clearer that Almighty God, who sits upon the throne, is the one who receives glory throughout the book of Revelation as you will clearly see as we continue reading the entire context from which this verse is found and then compare it with the other references that contain this phrase
"...which is, which was, and which is to come."
So let's continue reading. Rev. 1:7 "Behold, he comes with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindred of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen." Rev. 1:8 " I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, says the Lord, which is, which was, and which is to come, the Almighty."
Here again is this same phrase "which is, which was, and which is to come". This is the second time we find this phrase "which is, which was, and which is to come", which this time we CLEARLY see that it is speaking of THE ALMIGHTY as the ONE, who was, and is, and is to come. And again this phrase at first appears to be referring to Jesus, because in verse 7 the HIM, who they pierced is obviously speaking of Jesus, and also we know from other verses in the Bible that Jesus is coming again a second time with clouds of glory. Also when we see the words Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end we think of Jesus, because of what we have been previously TAUGHT.
Verse 7 says,
"Behold he comes with clouds;"
Who is the HE that is coming with clouds? Well, I don't know about you, but I have always been taught that it is Jesus, who is coming again with great clouds of glory. And certainly, the next part of this verse supports this truth because we know without a doubt that it was Jesus, who was pierced with a sword in his side by the Roman soldier to see if he was already dead on the cross so that it would be fulfilled that none of his bones was broken. You see it was the custom of the Roman soldiers to break the legs of those being crucified to make absolutely sure that they were dead before they were taken down off the cross. So obviously, some Christians make the assumption that since verse 7 is referring to Jesus, then verse 8 must ALSO be referring to Jesus. Therefore some Christians jump to a wrong conclusion by concluding that Jesus is THE ALMIGHTY God, and thus the FATHER, simply because of FALSELY assuming that Jesus is the LORD that is speaking in this verse saying "I am the Alpha and the Omega. This is why it is important to keep the scriptures in the context of which they are found and read the ENTIRE context and then COMPARE scripture with other scripture. So then, let's keep reading verses 9 through verse 15. But first let me point out that verse 7 ENDS with an AMEN, which indicates to us that the next verse begins a NEW thought, and or a NEW speaker. Now let us compare scripture with scripture to allow the Bible to interpret itself. Rev. 1:9 "I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle of Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ." Rev. 1:10 " I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet," Rev. 1:11 "Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and what you see, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodecia. Rev. 1:12 "And I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; Rev. 1:13 "And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son on man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle." Rev. 1:14 " His head and his hairs were white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;" Rev. 1:15 "And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters."
Here is ANOTHER one of the reasons WHY I myself personally believe that verse 8 is referring to God Almighty, the FATHER, rather than Jesus his Son, even though when on the surface it APPEARS to be referring to Jesus because of the previous verse 7. Also, some argue that Jesus IS THE ALMIGHTY himself because their Bible has these words in RED letters, which is supposed to indicate that Jesus is the one who is speaking. I will explain more on this later, but for now, I want you to notice that in these verses (Rev. 1:9-15) which we just read that John heard from TWO distinct and DIFFERENT voices. The FIRST voice John heard was the voice of Almighty God himself. That is to say, the first voice is that of Almighty God the Father, THE ALMIGHTY God and only MOST HIGH God. And the SECOND voice that John heard was the voice of Jesus Christ, the SON OF God, the Son of man, our brother and fellow servant, who OBEYED and KEPT the word of Almighty God the Father just like we are commanded to keep God's word given to us by Jesus in the NEW Testament under the NEW covenant.
Please notice in verse 10 that John hears a great voice BEHIND him. Also, notice that this voice is described as a great voice as of a trumpet. Now notice that when John HEARD this first voice that was as a great voice as of a trumpet that John turned to SEE who the voice was coming from, BUT when John turned to SEE who was speaking he saw someone with a DIFFERENT voice, who later in this passage of scripture we clearly see as being Jesus the Son OF Almighty God the Father.
Look at the last part of verse 15, which says,
"And HIS voice as the sound of many waters."
Notice that John makes a distinction between the TWO voices by calling this second voice HIS voice and then goes on to give us a DIFFERENT description of what this SECOND voice sounds like, which is as the SOUND of many waters. This second voice can be clearly seen as the voice of the one, who was like unto the SON of MAN in verse 13. Jesus referred to himself over 80 times as being the son of man. Please see the study "JESUS THE SON OF MAN!" for an in-depth study of the humanity of Jesus and why Jesus needed to be the Son of MAN. So this second voice as the sound of many waters is clearly the voice of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who is also called the Son of man. Did you know that in the King James Version of the Bible that Jesus is called the Son of MAN twice as many times as he is called the Son of God? You can read the above study for all the verses but for now, let us continue with verse 15 to learn that there is a SECOND voice. Let us jump ahead to Rev. 4:1 for a moment to shed a little more light on WHY I personally believe John is recording TWO distinct and completely DIFFERENT voices from TWO distinct and completely different persons here in the book of Revelation. Rev. 4:1 "After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the FIRST VOICE which I heard was as it were of a TRUMPET talking with me; which said, come up hither, and I will show you things which must be hereafter."
This voice described here in Rev. 4:1 is referred to as the FIRST voice that John heard implying that John had to hear at least one other voice, or a SECOND voice, because the mere meaning of the word FIRST demands that there be at least a SECOND if not a third and so forth. Also notice that John describes this FIRST voice in Rev. 4:1 the same exact way as in Rev.1:10, which is as a voice as it were of a TRUMPET. So then, to WHOM does this FIRST voice, as of a TRUMPET belong?
Well if you keep reading the CONTEXT it will become blatantly CLEAR that this FIRST voice, as of a trumpet, is the voice of the Lord God THE ALMIGHTY that sits on the throne, which is, and which was, and which is to come and who says I the LORD am the Alpha and the Omega. And thus you will also see that this FIRST voice is NOT the voice of Jesus, the SON OF Almighty God the Father in Revelation 1:8, which some Christians dogmatically demand is Jesus HIMSELF saying that he is THE ALMIGHTY in order to try and support their man-made teaching of oneness and the Trinity. Read Rev. 4:2, Rev. 4:8,9. Rev. 5:1, and Rev. 5:6,7, and then put them all together. This is what is known as keeping this verse in question in the context of where it is found and then comparing scripture with scripture to see if the INTERPRETATION that you arrived at does not contradict any other part of the WHOLE word of God. Rev. 4:2 "And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a THRONE was set in heaven, and ONE sat on the throne." Who is the ONE that is sitting on the throne? Rev. 4:8,9 "...Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. And when those beasts give GLORY and honor and thanks to HIM that SAT on the THRONE, who lives for ever and ever." Notice that this verse clearly states that it is the Lord God Almighty, who is the ONE who is sitting on the throne. And again we see this same phrase "which was, and is, and is to come", who we now know is without a doubt speaking of the LORD GOD THE ALMIGHTY, which we also know spoke the words, "I am Alpha and Omega". But we do not KNOW without a doubt AS YET that this FIRST voice is NOT Jesus, the Son OF Almighty God the Father. However, if we tie all these verses together along with the verses that follow, then we will CLEARLY see that Jesus is NOT ALMIGHTY God, who the Bible itself always clearly identifies as being the FATHER. And again even the man-made "DOCTRINE" of the Trinity also plainly states that Jesus is NOT the FATHER and the FATHER is NOT the SON. Rev. 5:1 " AND I saw in the right hand of HIM (speaking of Almighty God, the Father, himself) that SAT upon the THRONE a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals." Rev. 5:6,7 "And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a LAMB as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And HE (referring to the Lamb that was slain, Jesus Christ, the Son of Almighty God the Father) came and TOOK the book OUT OF the right hand of HIM (where the HIM here is speaking of Almighty God the Father himself) that SAT upon the THRONE."
It seems apparent to me that if John who was told to record what he both heard and saw, then we ought to pay attention to what John wrote down. Also it seems to me that if John saw the importance of maintaining a CLEAR distinction between Almighty God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ, then we too should as well keep them separate as two distinct beings and NOT by traditions and doctrine of men FALSELY teach that Jesus IS THE ALMIGHTY God the FATHER as does the FALSE doctrine of ONENESS or modalism. Trinity believers argue that they do NOT teach that Jesus is the FATHER, but rather teach that Jesus is THE ALMIGHTY God. But the Bible ITSELF always clearly identifies Almighty God as being the FATHER. This is NOT just my opinion because throughout the New Testament you will find that the early church maintained a clear distinction between God the Father and Jesus his Son. If you would like to study this topic more in-depth I have written a study devoted entirely to WH is Jesus then please read "THE DEITY OF JESUS AND THE TRINITY" along with "JESUS THE SON OF MAN!", and "IS JESUS ALMIGHTY GOD?" as well as many, many other studies exposing the errors of interpretation by those who teach the doctrine of the Trinity. But for now, so as not to get off too deep on another subject, let's go back and continue this verse by verse study on the book of Revelation. Let's pick it back up with Rev. 1:11, which says,
Rev 1:11 "Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What you SEE, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea."
In my Bible, these words of Jesus are written in RED, which I said earlier that in some translations and Bible the letters in RED are put there by the TRANSLATORS to indicate that Jesus is the one who is speaking. But as you have already seen by keeping the verse in question in the context of where it is found and then comparing scripture with scripture it is made clear to us that the TRANSLATORS made a MISTAKE in verse 8 by putting those letter is red. We also see that verse 11 is written in RED, so, therefore, one might obviously conclude that because verse 11 is written in RED letters, then it MUST be Jesus who is speaking because we were TAUGHT that the RED letters mean that Jesus is speaking according to the TRANSLATORS.
However, based on what we just learned we can clearly see from the SCRIPTURES, the one who is speaking in verse 11, is Almighty God the Father and NOT Jesus Christ as we were led to believe by the RED letters. So then, verse 11 is Almighty God himself telling John to write down in a book what he sees and then send it to the seven churches that are in Asia. Also in verse 11, we are given by name these seven churches. Now I myself personally believe that these are seven literal churches that were present in John's day. You can Google this yourself and see on a map of that time in history the name of these seven churches which are in Asia, which is now known as Turkey on a modern map. I also personally believe that the characteristics that each of these seven churches possessed can be traced through different periods of history. And I also personally believe that some if not all of these characteristics of these seven churches which were in Asia are found to be present in the many different churches or the many different denominations of the church of today. We will study this more in-depth as we cover each of the seven churches. Also, know that the time is at hand was again also for the literal seven church in Asia as well so that they would hold fast to their faith unto the end.
In Rev.1:12 we see John turning to SEE the voice that spoke to him which sounded like a great voice like a trumpet, but instead, John SEES seven golden candlesticks. We don't have to speculate on what these seven golden candlesticks represent because we are plainly told this in Rev.1:20
Rev 1:20 "...and the seven golden candlesticks which you saw ARE the seven churches."
In Rev. 1:13 we see one like unto the Son of man standing in the midst, that is to say, in the middle of, or among the seven golden candlesticks. So this figurative language is saying to us that Jesus is standing in the midst of the seven churches. The last part of verse 13 and in verses 14 and 15 we are given a description of this Son of man. You might find it interesting to compare this description with the one found in Danial 10:5,6. Again I myself personally believe who this person John is describing is Jesus, the Son of man, the Son of God, and Daniel seems to be describing the SAME person as well. Let us read Daniel 10:5,6 first before we continue on with Revelation 1:14,15. Daniel 10:5,6 "Then I (Daniel) lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a certain MAN clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz: 6. His body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in color to polished brass, and the VOICE of his words like the voice of a MULTITUDE."
In verse 15 we are told that John hears this OTHER voice which John distinguishes as being a DIFFERENT voice by using the words, " HIS voice". Now we have already determined was the SECOND voice that John heard and described as a voice of MANY WATERS. And we have also concluded that this voice is the voice of Jesus the Son of MAN. I am going to jump ahead for a moment in the book of Revelation again to show you that the word "WATERS" or "MANY WATERS" is sometimes used as a symbol meaning a MULTITUDE or many people, which matches perfectly with this passage of scripture in the book of Daniel. Please read Revelation 17:15, which teaches us that many waters could be read as " a great multitude", which again I find interesting when I compare it with Daniel 10:6 "...and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude." Rev. 17:15 "And he said unto me, The WATERS which you saw, where the whore sits, ARE peoples, and MULTITUDES, and nations, and tongues."
The man Jesus is our mediator between God and mankind. Jesus is our VOICE our ACCESS to the Father. So then, MANY WATERS would be the same as MANY MULTITUDES or many people, the WHOSOEVER of mankind who BELIEVE in God's Son Jesus. Again before we get too far off the subject let's get back on track and continue this verse by verse study by reading Rev.1:16-20 and then take each verse one by one to discover what the word of God is teaching us.
Rev. 1:16 "And he had in his right hand seven stars; and out of his mouth went a sharp two edged sword; and his countenance was as the sun shines in his strength." Rev. 1:17 "And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:" Rev. 1:18 "I am he that lives, that was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and I have the keys of hell and of death." Rev. 1:19 "Write these things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter; Rev. 1:20 "The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in MY right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels (messengers) of the seven churches; and the seven candlesticks which you saw are the seven churches."
In verse 16 we see another clue that points to this SECOND voice as being Jesus by the phrase,
"and out of HIS mouth went a sharp two edged sword."
Now compare this verse 16 with Rev.19:15, which says,
"And out of HIS mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations..."
We know this verse here in chapter 19 is referring to Jesus, because of verse 13 and verse 16 of Revelation chapter 19, which tell us this:
Rev. 19:13
"And HE was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called the Word of God."
Jesus is called the word of God in John 1:14. And Rev.19:16 goes on to say,
"And HE has on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords."
The LAMB is called the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings in Rev. 17:14, which says, Now we know that the LAMB that was slain is speaking of Jesus, therefore we draw all these other conclusions by comparing scripture with scripture. With that being said let us get back to chapter 1. The opening phase in Rev.1:17 sounds a lot like Daniel 10:9, which I will place for you side by side or over and under right together so that you can compare them together.
"...I am the first and the last". This could mean that Jesus is the FIRST and the LAST man to DIE for the sins of the people. This could mean that Jesus is the first and the last whom God would highly exalt to sit and rule FOR Yahweh at his right side. In other words, it is not sound Biblical teaching to dogmatically demand that since Jesus said the same or very similar words that Almighty God says that this proves that Jesus is Almighty God himself. We, as God's representatives, speak God's word but that does not make us to be Almighty God. Jesus spoke what his God and Father TOLD him to speak. I personally believe that Jesus is the FIRST and the LAST to be highly exalted to sit on the throne of Almighty God to rule and reign over the kingdom of God for Yahweh as the arm of the Lord for a 1000 years while God RESTS for this SEVENTH 1000 year long DAY of the Lord. God said that with another he would not share his glory meaning that the ONLY one God prophesied to share his glory was with his Son Jesus. Again this is a study in and of itself, but I do explain some more of my thoughts on this in the studies relating to Jesus such as "REVELATION 1:17 I AM THE FIRST AND THE LAST!". But for now, let us continue with the next verse in Revelation chapter 1. In Rev. 1:18 we see that Jesus died and now is alive forevermore and that he holds the keys to hell and death. In other words, the keys symbolize that Jesus possesses all authority over hell and death. To say this another way, all authority has been COMMITTED to Jesus to judge who will be given the right to partake of the tree of life in the world to come and who will perish. Rev. 1:18 "I am he that lives, that was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and I have the keys of hell and of death." To ME, the one who is speaking is clearly Jesus, who is the FIRSTBORN from the dead of many brethren. We know from other verses in the Bible that Jesus went into the heart of the earth to preach the gospel to the dead of the Old Testament so that they could be SAVED by the ONLY NAME under heaven given among men whereby they MUST be SAVED. And here in Rev. 1:18 we see that while Jesus was down in the belly of the earth he conquered death and the grave and rose victoriously with the KEYS of hell and death. And eventually in chapter 20 we will see the DEATH will be destroyed at the END of the 1000 year reign of Jesus. In verse 19 we see Jesus telling John to write down everything that he has already seen up to this point, to also write down everything that is happening in the present, and as well to write down everything that he sees that will take place in the future. Rev. 1:19 "Write these things which you have seen, AND the things which ARE, AND the things which SHALL BE hereafter; In other words, there will be SOME things that are written in the book of Revelation which is ALREADY PAST history. This is important to understand when we get deeper into the book of Revelation to learn WHO the beast is and WHAT the MARK of the beast is. AND also there will be SOME things written that were PRESENT and PAST HISTORY in John's day. AND there will be many things in the book of Revelation that are YET FUTURE. Then in verse 20, we see Jesus giving us the meaning of the symbols John saw earlier. Rev. 1:20 "The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in MY right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars ARE the angels (or the messengers) of the seven churches; and the seven candlesticks which you saw ARE the seven churches."
As we read through the book of Revelation you will see other places where the Bible will interpret itself just as it has interpreted FOR us the MYSTERY of the seven stars BEING the angels or the messengers of the seven churches and the seven golden candlesticks BEING the seven churches. The angels or the messengers of the seven churches could be referring to the Pastors and teachers that God has set in the churches to equip the saints for ministry. Or it could literally be speaking of Angelic beings that are assigned to be ministering spirits of those of us, who are to be the heirs of salvation as we are told in Hebrews 1:13,14 which says, "But to which of the ANGELS said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool? 14. Are THEY (speaking of the ANGELIC beings) not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?"
Or the angels could be each and every one of us as being MESSENGERS of the gospel of Jesus Christ, because as you will soon see each letter that John writes to each church opens speaking to that INDIVIDUAL church, but each letter always ends speaking to the CHURCHES plural, as in, John speak to ALL the seven churches as a WHOLE in each of the seven letters. Please keep in mind that there are several LITERAL churches that were IN ASIA who were all of the ONE body of Jesus Christ, just as there are MANY different churches of church denominations who are ALL part of the ONE TRUE church. I had some atheist or Christians mocking me about the rapture of the church says, "WHICH church? There are SEVEN churches so WHICH church is going to be raptured?" The SEVEN churches should be understood as seven CONGREGATIONS of the ONE church of Jesus Christ. If you believe in Jesus as the atonement for your sins then you are a part of the ONE body of Jesus Christ which is the ONE true church, Please read the study "WHAT IS THE ONE TRUE CHURCH?". This concludes chapter one, which brings us to chapter 2 and chapter 3 of the book of Revelation where we find the letters that John wrote to the seven churches which are in Asia. Now while chapters 2 and three go together I am going to keep them as CHAPTERS for easy referencing. Originally I had or still do have this study and one HUGE study all together in one study, but it became too long to fit on a single page on my website. Also, some of my readers let me know that it was very difficult to scroll down and read, plus they were losing their place. I am now separating this study into chapters. This may take some time so I will LEAVE up the original study until I get all the chapters posted. Click on REVELATION CHAPTER 2 to continue reading. Your brother in our Lord Jesus Christ, Mark. |
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