Christians should not fear this book
When I was a small girl, I can’t remember my exact age, but I was at least 7 or 8. A Sunday school teacher told me that we weren’t meant to understand the Book of Revelation and shouldn’t even bother reading it. That statement has stuck with me for a long time. Here I am, about to be 53 in a few days, and I can still remember it, and I can’t remember one other thing someone said to me at that age. This book has held some mystery to me because of it, I think. I’ve sat through a few Bible studies on it, but they turned out to be someone just trying to put a time frame on when and how Revelation’s events will take place. I do not give any creed to those sorts of claims.
I have read Revelation many times. This time I did something different before rereading it; I prayed for God’s wisdom. Never have I came away from reading the Revelation of Jesus Christ before and felt so at peace. My prayer is to share that peace with others.
As Christians, we should not avoid, be afraid of, or be anxious about the Book of Rev. If that Sunday school teacher were to say to me now, what was said to me long ago, I would answer and say, “What a blessing you missed because of fear.”
Introduction
VS. 1-3: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His servant John, who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.”
The Book of Revelation is Jesus Christ speaking to ALL of His followers, who believe in His Holy Name. Christians, it is for us. He tells us the ending. We have nothing to fear. Why would He have shown this vision to John and told him to testify to what he saw if He didn’t want us to read it or understand it?
Revelation (apocalypse) means revealing or unveiling. Jesus is the One doing the revealing, and John is the one writing down everything he sees. I wonder if John understood everything he saw? Could he, in his limited view of the world and the limited capabilities of humankind, understand how these words he wrote would play out in the future, or how much time would pass before the fulfillment of these promises would take place? I think not. How could He, without the knowledge of the internet or so many other inventions that would come?
The reading of the Revelation of Jesus Christ and the pondering of its’ message is meant to bring a unique and specific blessing, not worry or fear. This Revelation is not for the world, dear fellow Christians; it is for us to read and take notice of so that we may be blessed. Vs. 3, is the first of seven blessings in Rev. (Rev. 1:3; 14:13; 16:15; 19:9; 20:6; 22:7; 22:14). When Christians neglect this book, they miss the blessing.
Some people feel that only fanatics want to dig deep into Rev., but it is meant for any Christian, and John doesn’t say we have to understand it clearly to receive the blessing. Not only the reading of it but the hearing of it being read brings a blessing. This clearly says we should be reading, studying, and reading aloud so others can hear, the Revelation of Jesus Christ. We are told to “keep” the things written here. Where can words be kept except in our hearts and heads? How can we keep them there if we have not read them? If we understand the Book of Rev., it will change the way we live.
The ancient Greek phrase “en tachei” means quickly or suddenly coming to pass. The idea is not that the event may occur soon, but it will suddenly be when it does. Christians need to know and understand the Book of Revelation to be ready for what is to come.
Rev. is a Book that communicates through cues. Cues or signs meant for Christians to know and watch for. John described things he saw, so he could only use symbolic images to explain them. There is tremendous power in symbolic language. You could say something or someone is evil, but it portrays a far more vivid picture to say “a woman drunk with the blood of saints” (Rev. 17:6).
Though it is filled with symbolic language, Rev. is accessible to those who understand the first 65 Books of the Bible and especially the first 39 Books of the Old Testament. It is rooted in OT. It contains 500 allusions to the OT. 278 of the 404 verses in Rev. make some reference to the OT (that’s almost 70%). John knew he was writing Holy Scripture because he called it a “Revelation from God.” He knew it came from the Father through Jesus and not from any mere man. (vs.2)
The Revelation speaks to John’s day, and it speaks to church history. Yet, it has meaning for our personal lives in the here and now. It speaks with distinctness about the end times because of two key points drawn from 1:3.
First, this is a message Jesus sent to show His followers, so it isn’t a bunch of jibber-jabber. It has a promise of blessing, not confusion or fear. Second, John made it clear when he said, “things which must shortly take place,” so he definitely wrote about events that were future to him.
Vs.4-8: “John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from Him 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 He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father-to Him be the glory and the dominion 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. So it is to be. Amen. ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.'”
VS.4: “to the 7 churches, which are in Asia“- This was the Roman province of Asia, which is the western part of modern day Turkey.
“From Him who is and who was and who is to come”– This was a greeting from Jesus, God the Father, and it speaks to His eternal nature. It’s connected with the name Yahweh found in Ex. 6:3 & Ex. 17:15. It is never enough to say God is, or God was, or God is to come because He is all three at the same time. He has always been Lord over eternity. He ruled the past, He rules the present, and He will rule the future.
VS5: “To Him who loved us”– I think this is a beautiful and perfect title for Jesus because it points back to the cross. We should be secure in His love, not based on our present circumstances, but based on the ultimate demonstration of love at the cross. He washed us clean with His own blood. There is no greater proof of love than that. He loved us first, in all of our sinfulness. He loved us first and “released us from our sins by His blood.”
VS6: Not only did He wash away our sins, but made us “kings and priests to His God and Father.” In the OT, it was forbidden to join kings and priests’ offices (2 Chron:26:16-23). Under the New Covenant, we can be like Jesus because He is both King and High Priest (Luke 1:31-33; Heb. 4:14). “To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever.” To acknowledge the dominion of Jesus is to let Him truly rule over us.
“Again, if we truly say, ‘To Him be glory and dominion,’ then we must give Him dominion over ourselves. Each man is a little empire of three kingdoms- body, soul, and spirit- and it should be a united kingdom. Make Christ king of it all. Do not allow any branch of those three kingdoms to set up for itself a distinct rule; put them all under the sway of your one King.” (Spurgeon)
VS.7: “He is coming with clouds” – This will be literally true. When Jesus left this earth, He was taken up into a cloud (Acts 1:9-11). It’s also figurative because multitudes of believers are called clouds in a figurative way (Heb. 12:1). Clouds are commonly associated with Jesus’ presence and glory (Ex. 13:21-22; 16:10; 19:9; 24:15-18). Shekinah-“cloud of glory.” God’s people are His cloud, His Shekinah, His glory.
John didn’t need this vision because he already knew “He is coming with clouds,” Dan. 7:13-14 told him, and Jesus’ own words Matt. 26:64.
“And every eye will see Him.” The whole world will know. Again, John already knew this because he heard Jesus speak Matt. 24:26-27. There will be no need to rely upon others’ tales; every eye will see for themselves. This is something John couldn’t comprehend or even imagine in his day. How can it be possible, every eye, in every nook and cranny of the earth, to simultaneously see Jesus returning? In 2020, we can better understand because of the internet.
“Even they who pierced Him”– It was not the Jews alone that pierced Him, but John had in mind the revelation of Jesus to His own people because this is an allusion to Zech. 12:10. By the time Jesus reveals Himself to His people, the Jewish nation will have turned to Him as their Savior (Matt.23:29; Rom. 11:25-26).
“All the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him”– When Jesus returns, it won’t only be the Jewish people who mourn because of their previous rejection of Him. From all tribes of the earth, everyone will look at his scars and mourn what we did to Him.
VS.8: “I am the Alpha and the Omega”– Jesus introduced Himself. After all, it is The Revelation of Jesus Christ. Alpha was the first letter of the ancient Greek alphabet, and Omega was the last. Jesus says, ” I am the A to the Z,” the beginning to the end. He is both the beginning and the end. He also has authority over everything in between. He directs all of human history and even our individual lives.
“Who is and was and who is to come”– this phrase speaks the idea behind the OT name for the Triune God, Yahweh. Micah 5:2 expressed it this way, “Whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.” and Heb. 13:8 says it like this, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”
“The Almighty”– Almighty was translated from the ancient Greek word Pantokrator. Its literal meaning is “the one who has his hand on everything.” By calling Himself, Almighty, Jesus is telling us He is in control of everything. The word almighty is used 10 times in the NT; nine are in the Book of Rev., Gen.17:1 is the other. This tells me Jesus thinks we must understand that He is in control and “has His hand on everything.” Right now, in 2020, everything seems to be spiraling out of control all around us. It’s times like these, fellow Christians that we must keep faith in The Almighty.
Revelation of Christ
VS.9: “I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.”
Patmos was a rocky, desolate Greek island about 10 miles long and 6 miles wide. It was rich in marble, and most of the prisoners were forced laborers in the marble quarries. The ancient Christian historian Eusebius says John was exiled here due to anti-Christian persecution under the Roman emperor Domitian. (Church History, III. 18, 20 – from the Nicean and Post Nicean Fathers Series 2, Volume 1, pages 148-149)
Patmos made a great prison without bars because it was desolate, barren, uninhibited, and seldom visited. He was put there by his punishers to silence him. It didn’t work. Neither seas, nor alps, nor ages can sever the bonds by which Christians are united to each other or their God. Nothing can separate us from our God.
VS.10 & 11: “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, saying, ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,‘ and, ‘What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.'”
“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day”: I wonder, does this have the same implication as walking in the Spirit as Paul talked about in Gal. 5:16, or is there more implied here? Paul was talking about walking in the spirit as opposed to walking in the flesh. To be in the Spirit seems to have more meaning.
John didn’t say he was walking in the Spirit but that he was IN the Spirit. I believe he was carried beyond normal sense, into a state where God could reveal Revelation’s contents supernaturally. There are four references to John being in the Spirit in the book of Rev.: Rev. 1-10; 4:2; 17:3; 21:10.
“On the Lord’s Day”: This is not the same term used for The Day of the Lord in the Old Testament. It’s not even the same idea. The Book of Rev. will deal with the idea of The Day of the Lord, but this is not the place it’s done.
“I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet”: Jesus didn’t whisper His message to John. He made it loud and clear. Trumpets are sounded to get your attention. He wanted to call in every wandering thought from John’s head and for John to bring his thoughts and attention solely on Him.
“What you see, write in a book.”: John wasn’t supposed to watch only, but to write what he saw in a book. Was he allowed to take notes? That’s a lot to have to recall from memory. Maybe that’s why Jesus made sure he was paying attention with no distractions. But John is told to write eleven more times in the book of Rev., so maybe he was taking notes, or maybe he wasn’t, and Jesus had to keep telling him. It could be that he didn’t really want to tell anyone what he saw. Who would believe such a tale? But He did write, and many believe the words he wrote.
Focus Solely on Jesus and His Word
I have never been given anything as big as a vision, but when I focus my thoughts and attention on Jesus, I see things more clearly. Speaking to Jesus has its benefits. Listening to Jesus is what brings a change in me. Many blessings can come from fellow Christians’ advice, friendship, fellowship, and counsel, but without consulting the advice and counsel of Jesus, first and foremost, I have made some pretty bad choices in my life.
We must always know that the voice we are focusing on, listening to, and taking to heart is undoubtedly the voice of Jesus. Even if the advice is coming from a well-meaning fellow Christian, if it is not what God wants you to hear, it can cause you to choose poorly. The fault can’t be put on the ones giving advice but the one who is taking advice from the wrong place. That’s why it is so important to read and know God’s Word. Sometimes God’s voice is a whisper, sometimes it is a trumpet, but those who know Him will recognize His voice.
“When he has brought all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.” John 10:4
“Cease, my sons, to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge” Proverbs 19:27
“Send it to the seven churches which are in Asia”: Interestingly, the Apostle Paul also wrote to the seven churches: Rome, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Colosse, Philippi, and Thessalonica. Why seven churches? Many believe it’s because, in the Bible, the number seven often represents completeness, and these letters- and all of the Book of Revelation- are written to the complete church, not only these seven.
I think this theory makes the most sense. Paul wrote to seven churches. John wrote to seven churches. The church is the complete body of Christ. Seven represents completeness. These books were not written for just one period in the history of time. They were written to be handed down from generation to generation, for all of the church to have and read until Jesus returns. They aren’t, and never were meant to be, only relevant to the churches that received the letters. They were written for me, for you, your children, your grandchildren, and all generations of the church to come.
The Lampstands
VS. 12&13: “Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band.”
John knew and remembered Jesus from when he walked with and followed Him during His earthly ministry. I wonder what he thought he would see when he turned to the voice that spoke with him? Did he think Jesus would be the same? His voice was louder, so we know He sounded different. But when John turned, it wasn’t Jesus he first saw; it was seven golden lampstands. It took a minute before he saw Jesus because he had to count the lampstands and note that they were golden.
I think it’s important to learn a little more about the lampstands since they were what John saw first, and he felt it important to note they were there, and Jesus stood in the midst of them. They were seven separate lampstands. In Ex. 25:31-37, a golden lampstand stood in the tabernacle and the temple. It was one lampstand with seven lamps on it. That was the Old Covenant. God had but one church of the Jews. Here, in the New Covenant, it is seven individual lampstands. God has many among the Gentiles.
The light doesn’t come from the lampstand. It comes from the oil lamp on the stand. The stand’s job is to make the light more visible. Like the church, we don’t produce the light; we are not the light; our sole job is to display the light, to make the light more visible.
“A lamp is not light in itself, it is only the instrument of dispensing light, and it must receive both oil and fire before it can dispense any; so no church has in itself either grace or glory, it must receive all from Christ its head, else it can dispense neither light nor life.” (Clarke)
“And in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man”: John sees Jesus in the midst of the candlesticks and He was clothed with a garment down to the foot and on His chest was a golden band.
When Jesus left this earth, it confused people, believers, and non-believers alike; they didn’t understand why He didn’t use His power and authority to fight and win against those that persecuted Him. When He comes back, He is going to own it. Even the clothes He wears will proclaim His power.
Robes down to the feet were only worn by those who didn’t have to work much, so they were a picture of great status and authority. The golden bands are garments of the high priest (Ex. 29.5). Ex. 39:3 says the high priests only had threads of gold worked into their bands. Jesus’ will be solid gold. One of the Old Testament priests’ duties was to tend to the golden lampstand in the tabernacle. Every day they had to fill the oil, clean the soot, and trim the wicks. They had to care for them so they would continually burn before God. When John first saw Jesus, this is what He was doing, tending to His lampstands, His Church.
One Like the Son of Man
We read in Dan. 7:13-14, “I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days (a biblical name for God), and they brought Him near Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed.” Son of Man sounds like a humble title but reading this passage of Daniel tells us it is not a humble title.
John’s Description of Jesus
VS. 14-16: “His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters; He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength.”
This is not the Jesus John remembered. Do you think his mouth dropped, and he could only stand in awe of what he saw? His hair was white as snow: This speaks of old age, wisdom, and timelessness.
The phrase white as snow emphasizes the idea of purity (Is. 1:18). Dan. 7:9 connects Him to the Ancient of Days, “I watched till thrones were put in place, and the Ancient of Days was seated; His garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head was like pure wool….”
His eyes were like a flame of fire: Fire is often associated with judgment in Scripture. (Matt.5:22; 2 Pet. 3:7) So, with Jesus’ return will come judgment.
His feet were like fine brass as if refined in a furnace: Since fire is connected with judgment, this speaks of someone who has been through the fires of judgment and has come out with a refined purity. Jesus has been through the refiner’s fire. Brass is a strong metal, the strongest known in the ancient world. So the brass feet are an emblem of Jesus’ stability and permanence.
His voice as the sound of many waters: His voice had power and majesty like a mighty waterfall.
He holds in His right hand seven stars. The seven stars represent the seven leaders of the seven churches from Rev. 1:11. He holds His whole church securely in his right hand.
Out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword: His word is powerful; it is His weapon and ours as well. (Eph. 6:17) His face was like the sun shining in its strength: The sun shining in all its strength is hard to look upon. Jesus has the same glory as in His transfiguration, in Matthew 17:2.
“What do you see in Christ’s right hand? Seven stars; yet how insignificant they appear when you get a sight of His face! They are stars, and there are seven of them; but who can see seven stars, or, for the matter of that, seventy thousand stars, when the sun shineth in His strength? How sweet it is, when the Lord Himself is so present in a congregation that the preacher, whoever he may be, is altogether forgotten! I pray you, dear friends, when you go to a place of worship, always try to see the Lord’s face rather than look at the stars in His hand; look at the sun, and you will forget the stars.” (Spurgeon)
This is the only physical description of Jesus given to us in the Bible. The only other that comes close is Is. 53.2: “He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.” The Jesus that John saw is the real Jesus. He lives and reigns in heaven today.
John’s Fear and Jesus’ Assurance
VS. 17-18: “And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid his right hand on me, saying to me, ‘Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.”
John was an apostle who knew Jesus on this earth, he spent three years walking and talking with Jesus, day and night, but he was obviously not prepared to see Jesus in His heavenly glory. He was so ill-prepared that he fell at His feet as though dead. Did he pass out cold? I probably would have. But also, at this moment, he must have realized what a miracle it was that Jesus could hide His glory and magnificence while He walked this earth. Jesus, in His great compassion, laid his right hand on John and comforted him, and told him not to be afraid. Then he tells John again who He is; the First and the Last, He who lives and was dead and is alive forevermore, and He holds the keys to Hades and Death. Only Jesus has the authority over life or death.
Another Command to Write
VS.19-20: “Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this. 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 which you saw are the seven churches.”
John is to write about the past, present, and future. Jesus wanted John to write the things which he saw. He wanted John to describe to us the way He appeared in all His glory. Jesus wants us to know He is not weak. The things which are: The things of John’s present day, regarding the seven churches which are in Asia. The things which will take place after this: The things that will happen after the letters to the seven churches, the things of the last days.
The things that you have seen: Revelation chapter 1. The things which are: Revelation chapters 2 & 3. The things which will take place after this: Revelation Chapters 4-22. Jesus gave John the writing structure of the Book of Revelation.
In the last verse of chapter 1, Jesus explains His own images to John. Each church had its own angel. Aggelos is the ancient Greek word translated angel. Its literal meaning is a messenger. The exact interpretation is unclear, but we know that these angels are the representatives of each congregation somehow. And what we can be certain of is that Jesus has them securely in His right hand, a place of strength and safety. Even the problem churches that we will read about in the next chapters are safely in His right hand.
When Jesus returns, even though He will come with fire of judgment and a sharp double-edged sword, we should not be afraid if we know Him.