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Back to the Bible. Let it be our plea. God's Word alone, our authority, every word, every step in the name of Christ. Back to the Bible for the way of life.
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Welcome to this period of Bible study. We are thankful for every opportunity that we have to consider God's Word. And we hope that our efforts not only in this episode, but always, are faithful and clear. We want to do our very best to hold to God's standard, to proclaim His Word. And we want to do so in a way that is clear and understandable. And if at any point you see us falling short, especially in our faithfulness, but also in our clarity, we want you to reach out to us and let us know how we can be truer to the Scripture or how we can be more clear in how we explain. You can reach out to us@backtothebiblepodcast.com there you can find information about the program, you can listen to previous episodes, you can see other resources that we're trying to make available, and you can reach out to us, you can contact us through that website and ask questions or make comments or offer criticisms, whatever the need may be. We're continuing in our study of the Book of Revelation. And last time we began our consideration with an introduction, trying to provide an outline and trying to provide some keys as we read the book, keys that we will have to mention as we go through because we always want to be careful and know that we are reading and studying and considering this in the very best way. But also we were able to look at the first three verses, and what we learn in those first three verses are foundational to what we're going to see as we go. This is called the Revelation of Jesus Christ. He is the revealer, and he is the one about whom the revelation is going to be. Not only is he talking about himself, but he is going to show what he is going to do and what his role is going to be in all of this. And so what we are going to see in all of this is that John is going to be the one through whom this message is made known. And he was a witness. He could testify to the word of God. He was a witness of Jesus Christ, given what he had seen. And then John will write and he will say that the person is blessed who reads and hears and keeps the things that are written in this book. Now, both in verse one, things which must soon happen, and the end of verse three, for the time is near, those are essential. So we have this revelation from and about Jesus. It is going to demand a response. People are to hear it and to read it, and they will be blessed if they keep it. And these things were going to happen within a short time or soon. Those are important principles to remember. Let me also make mention that throughout the book of Revelation, there are references to those who are going to be blessed. I think we see that over and over in the book, and that's important. In chapter 14 and verse 13 he says, Blessed are those who die in the Lord from now on. In chapter 16 and verse 15, the text there says that there is a blessing for those who keep their garments clean, who stay awake and keep their garments clean. Beyond that, chapter 19. And in verse nine, the blessing there is on those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb, chapter 20 and verse 6, the blessing there is on those who verse 6 says, Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection. Of course, we'll talk more about what that means when the time comes. And Also in chapter 22 and verse 7, blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book. Chapter 22 and verse 14 is the last one, as far as I was able to see. Blessed are those who wash their robes so they may have authority to the tree of life and may enter into the gates of the city. So all that is to say is that we see a blessing promised throughout the book of Revelation, and for the most part, it is for those who respond appropriately to the person and the work of Jesus. Now, what I want to do is I want to pick up in verse four, because I really think that verses four through eight are essential in us having this introduction as we consider it here. And what we're going to see is we're going to see more foundational principles for understanding the book of Revelation. Look at verse four, John, to the seven churches that are in Asia, Grace to you and peace from the one who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth, to him who loves us and released us from our sins by his blood and and he has made us to be a kingdom priest to his God and Father. To him be the glory and might forever and ever. Amen. Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. Yes. Amen. I am the Alpha, and the Omega says the Lord God, who is and was and who is to come, the Almighty. So when we look at this, we need to emphasize again that this letter was addressed to the seven churches that are in Asia. Perhaps we should note that when it talks about Asia here, it's talking about Asia Minor, which would be for the most part what we would think of as the western part of what is today the nation of Turkey. We're going to see those churches in chapters two and three. Churches like Ephesus and Smyrna and Thyatira and Pergamos and others. And so it being addressed to those seven churches is fundamental to our understanding of the Book of Revelation. It is because they were receiving this message first and it had particular relevance to them. One commentator that I have appreciated on this, his name is Ray Summers. He wrote a commentary that is called Worthy is the Lamb. And he said the interval of time between the beginning of relief for the Christians and the final consummation of was not revealed to John. Neither he nor the other Christians needed to see that. They needed assurance of immediate relief and final complete victory. That is exactly what was given to them. The purpose of this book was not to give a timeline to Ephesus or to the Smyrna's or even to the Laodiceans or, or whoever. The point of it was not to give a timeline of what might be called end time events or of apocalyptic things. The point of this was to give a message to these churches in order to provide assurance in the face of the difficulties, challenges that they are and were about to face. And so when we see that this was written to those churches, we see that in verse four. But we also see it in verse 11, where those churches are specifically named. It should shape our reading of the Book of Revelation much like it would approach, would shape our approach to the book of Colossians or first and second Timothy and Titus. It's not that there is no value for us, there absolutely is value for us all. All scripture is inspired of God and is profitable for teaching and instruction in righteousness, correction. All of those things are true. But we understand more clearly what God is trying to communicate to us when we understand the people who were reading it the first time to the best of our ability. The fact that it was written to them is a key element for us to understand. Now notice here that as John begins to write to them in verse four with this introduction, he pleads for wishes, for hopes, for grace and peace. Now the Apostle Paul, in all of his letters that we know are his, opens up with this petition for. For grace and peace. Grace is a word that summarizes all of the things that God has done for his people, the gift that he has given in Christ, in His word, in his grand scheme of redemption, all of that. And peace is the word that summarizes all of the benefits that come from that grace, reconciliation and forgiveness and righteousness, all of those things that come. Now, this grace and this peace would come from. He mentions the One who is and who was and who is to come. Maybe we can hear the language of the Old Testament. I am in that was is is to come. And also there is a reference to the seven spirits. Now, that might be confusing, but it seems to be that this is an apocalyptic style writing reference to the Holy Spirit. We are going to see throughout the book of Revelation, as perhaps you've seen throughout scripture, that 7 very often is a perfect number. It is a complete number. It is almost always tied to and identified with God. And as a result of that, the Spirit, the Holy Spirit here is identified as seven spirits. In fact, depending on the translation that you use, it will capitalize the word spirit there, because that's indicating that the translators believe that this in fact does refer to the Holy Spirit. Now, that might seem out of sorts, except for the fact that we have the reference to the one who is and was and is to come. Immediately after this, in verse five, we have the reference to Jesus Christ. And so what would fit with the Father, the I am and Christ? What would fit the Spirit would fit there. Now look at how Jesus is described. He is described as the faithful witness. I take it to be that the idea there is that he is the one that we can reliably depend on to testify, to make known to us, God, God, that he is the one who through his work, is able to communicate to us about the Father. We have not seen the Father, but we've seen Jesus, at least in the pages of Scripture. And so we know what God is like from the testimony that Jesus gives. He is also called the firstborn from the dead. Now, the idea of him being the firstborn from the dead could have reference to the fact that he was the first that was resurrected. Now, when I say first to be resurrected, somebody might say, well, what about other people who were raised from the dead? Lazarus, even within the life of Jesus, or the widow at Nain's Son. And I think we can call those a resurrection. But they were, in really one sense, they were resuscitations. And what I mean by that is they were actually dead. I Don't want to minimize that. But they were not going to be raised, never to die again. Jesus was the first who was raised from the dead, never having to face death again. Lazarus was going to have to die again. The widow at Nain's Son was going to die again. All of the stories of resurrection, they're going to die again, but not Jesus. But I wonder, and I think we can see this later on in chapter one, that the idea of him being the firstborn from the dead may not even be connected to it may not even be tied to the idea of him being first as in chronological order. Rather, what I would say is I think that we're probably talking about status, not order. In Psalm 89, 27, the Father God speaking about the king, and this is, of course, a poetic reflection about the promises that were made to David. Talking about the king said, I also shall make him my firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. So you can see that parallel there. I'm going to make him my firstborn. Well, that doesn't have to do with chronology, that doesn't have to do with birth order, but it does have to do with place. Because he says, I'm going to make him my firstborn, and describes that as making the highest king of the earth. That's significant because sometimes when Jesus is referenced as the firstborn, like Colossians chapter one in verse 15, it's not about him being the firstborn or the first one made or something like that. It's about his preeminence. It's about his position over creation, that he is as high as you can be here. Perhaps he's talking about the fact that he rules over death, that he has conquered it and defeated it. You see there in the next phrase, the ruler of the kings of the earth, Jesus sits at the right hand of God at the highest place in the cosmos. So I want you to think about this picture here that we have of Jesus. He is the one who faithfully and reliably testifies to us about God. He is the one who rules even over death. Death could not hold him, he conquered it. And that he sits in the highest place in the cosmos as the king over all the kings of the earth. But notice how else he's described to him who loves us and released us from our sins by his blood. Do you see how compelling of a figure Jesus is? He is as high and exalted, holy and worthy of praise and loyalty. And he is the one who, in his love for us, freed us, released Us saved us from his sins by his blood. It would almost seem contradictory to think of somebody so high and exalted being willing to give themselves up for someone else. And yet that's exactly what he did. But it wasn't just that he loved us and released us from our sins, but he has made us to be a kingdom. We are his people. We are citizens under his rule and under his reign. And he's made us to be priests to God. We have an opportunity, a privilege to come into the presence of the Father that we can draw near because of what Jesus, our king and our Savior, has done, and so rightly so. To him be the glory and the might forever and ever. Amen. Verse 7. Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. Yes, Amen. This language here, and we'll talk more about Daniel 7 in just a bit. But this language ties us to Daniel, chapter seven, where Daniel sees one like the son of man, coming in the clouds into the presence of the ancient of days. And what we have here is a description of Jesus coming into his place of rule and authority. But I also think that as you look through the prophets, you will see this idea of coming with the clouds as a predictor of judgment. Now, I don't know that what John is talking about here is specifically the final judgment, but it would certainly be a preview of that. And what I mean by that is, in this case, this is going to be the answer to the concerns of the churches that Jesus is speaking to that John is writing this letter to. This is going to be the answer to their concern. There is coming a day where Jesus will come in the clouds and every eye will see him and even the ones who pierced him. Yes, Amen. John says that needs to be noted. And this is what the Lord says. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first letter of the Greek Alphabet and the last. I am the beginning and the end. He says, who is and who was and who is to come? The Almighty. And so we have this introduction to that tells us what this is going to be about. Who is the one who's going to be writing it down, who it is that is going to be receiving this letter. And we are set for this Revelation. Now we come to chapter one, verse nine, and we'll pick up reading there. And I think we will read all the way down through verse 20, through the end of the chapter. Here we have I, John, your brother and fellow Partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Christ. Jesus was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the witness of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day. And I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, saying, write in a scroll what you see and and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea. Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands. And in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe, reaching to the feet and girded across his chest with a golden sash. And his head and his hair were white like wool, like snow. And his eyes were like a flame of fire, and his feet were like burnished bronze when it has been made to glow in a furnace. And his voice was like the sound of many waters. And having in his right hand seven stars and a sharp two edged sword which comes out of his mouth. And his face was like the sun shining in its power. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. And he placed his right hand on me, saying, do not fear, I am the first and the last and the living one. And I was dead. And behold, I am alive forever and ever. And I have the keys of death and of Hades. Therefore, write the things which you have seen and the things which are and the things which take place after these things. As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches. And the seven lampstands are the seven churches. Now, what we have here is John and is identifying with the brothers and sisters in these churches, in these congregations that he is writing to. He is somebody who is not writing to them. And I think we will see this, that they are suffering and that there will be suffering on the horizon. He is not writing to them as someone who is immune from this or who is protected from this. He is a fellow partaker and participant in the tribulation and in the kingdom and in the perseverance which are in Christ Jesus. He is having to experience and endure precisely what they are having to experience and endure. Now, he was on the island called Patmos, and we know that he was an exile there. He had been cut off of human society. Because of his dedication to the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus. And the text tells us that he was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day. Now, take it to be that being in the spirit is. He is receiving this revelation from God and on the Lord's Day. Most commentators take that to mean on the first day of the week, on Sunday. It is certainly possible that we are referring to something else with regards to the Lord's Day, but we would not know what that is. He says that he heard a loud voice like a trumpet. I think the idea of his voice being like a trumpet is that it cut through, that it was very clear, it was resonant, and it calls John's attention. And so the voice cutting through like a trumpet says, write in a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches. Now, that's an important phrase there, because this is not just going to be what John hears. It's not just going to be what John is told to write down. It is going to be visions. It is going to be what John sees. Now, what we want to do, this is important as we read through the book of Revelation, we want to understand what it is that John sees. Now, what John sees and what that means and what the lesson is is not necessarily the same thing. But I don't think we can learn the lesson until we see what John sees. That's what he's doing. He's writing down what he is seeing. And that's going to communicate something. I think that points to the very idea of what it means, that it's a revelation. You know, the word behind revelation, and we may have mentioned this before, but the word behind revelation is the word from which we get apocalypse. And when you think about apocalypse, you think about the end times. But really the idea of the word apocalypse here is an unveiling or an uncovering. We're pulling back the curtain to see the operation behind the scenes in the cosmos. And so what we have here is the voice is telling John to write down what it is that he sees and send that to the churches. So when he turns and he sees, first he sees seven lampstands. Now, we've just read that, so we know what those seven lampstands are. There are seven churches. Now, let me ask you this. What does John see? Well, he sees seven lampstands. But what he sees and what it means are two different things. Do you see that? And so he sees these seven lampstands. And in the middle of those seven lampstands, there is one described, one Like a Son of man. That is a direct reference to Daniel, chapter 7, Daniel 7 and verse 13. Daniel said, I kept looking in the night, visions and behold with the clouds of heaven. One like a Son of man. I mean, it's as if John just copied and pasted that into Revelation 1, isn't it? He's wanting to call our attention to the figure that he sees and connect him to Daniel 7, 13 and 14. Now I want you to remember that in Daniel 7, 13 and 14 we have the vision of the Son of Man coming up into the presence of the Ancient of Days, sitting down at his right hand and being given dominion and peoples and nations so that they would serve him and that his kingdom would never be destroyed. Now, who are we talking about? Of course, we're talking about Jesus. And then I want you to think about the way that Jesus is described here. Think about, first of all, his clothing is this robe that reaches to his feet. One commentator pointed out that perhaps this is an idea of his priestly place, this robe and this sash that goes across his chest. But he also has hair and his head like wool and like snow. And his feet, his eyes like the flame of fire. Feet like burnished bronze. You have all of these images. A couple of verses earlier in Daniel chapter seven, you have this description. I kept looking until the thrones were set up, until the Ancient of Days was seated. His clothing was like white snow and the hair of his head like pure wool. His throne ablaze with fire, its wheels were a burning fire. The language is not exactly the same, but. But do you see all of those connections? I think that what John is communicating here in Revelation 1 is that the connection between Jesus and the Ancient of Days is a lot closer than just the Son of Man coming into his presence, but they share an identity in some meaningful way. Now, I think these images, these pictures here indicate that Jesus, who he is seeing is pure and that he has a piercing look, that he can see the thoughts and intents of the heart, that his feet are not like the creature that Nebuchadnezzar saw in Daniel Chapter two, that were, you know, clay and iron mixed together. No, they are like burnished bronze. And his voice is like the sound of many waters, strong and powerful. And in his hand, his right hand, his hand with which he is ready to go to work, he is holding seven stars. Now we will see that those seven stars are messengers. They are angels that are going to be sent out. And he has a sharp two edged sword coming out of his mouth. This is his Word, it pierces, it cuts, it divides. And his face is radiant like the sun in shining power. I think we have here picture of Jesus as someone who is authoritative, powerful, holy and mighty. Now we see these images in daniel7 and I think that this image would have been compelling to John's readers because they might be wondering about the position and the status of Jesus and what he is communicating to them in is that he is glorious and he is powerful. And John responds to that by falling at his feet like he's dead. And just imagine this here is this awesome, awe inspiring image and he reaches with his right hand and says, don't be afraid. Why? Because if you're on his side, there's no need to fear. Now if you're opposed to him, lots of reasons to be afraid. But why don't you have to fear? Because he's the first and the last, connecting himself to what the Lord said at the beginning of chapter one. Remember, he's the living one. He was dead, but now he's alive. He has the keys of death and Hades. If you are on his side and he has the keys of death and Hades, what have you to fear? Nothing. Nothing. So he's going to write. John is called to write about the things that he sees about the things which are the way things really are behind the curtains. And he's going to write about the things that are going to take place and we know they'll take place soon. So he's got these seven messengers, these seven stars in his right hand and those seven lampstands are the seven churches. And he's going to be sending those messengers out. What will he have to say? Lord willing, we'll look at that next time. But until then, we bid you a pleasant good day.
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Back to the Bible. Let it be our plea. God's word alone, our authority, every word, every step in the name of Christ back to the Bible for the way of life.