Chapter ONE!

Hey my wonderful girls!  I'm going to get faster at posting updates!!

Alrighty girls, to recap what we discussed about chapter one, let’s start with the author.  As we have talked about, John is the author of Revelation.  John says so himself in the first verse.  This John is supposed to be the same John that was a disciple of Jesus, the beloved disciple, and the son of Zebedee.  It was probably written in the early 90s, which would be during the reign of Domitian (A.D. 81-96); during this time, Christians were very threatened by Rome and there was heavy persecution in many places. 

 

John tells us that this is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, and that God gave the revelation to Jesus who gave it to an angel who gave it to John.  Jesus is the mediator between God and men, so the message is given to Jesus to give to the churches.  Public readings in the churches in encouraged here; in fact, there is an incredible blessing for those who read the book of Revelation.  It is the only book in the whole Bible that begins and ends with a blessing for those who will read it.  And yet, it is one of the most unread!  When Jesus says the time is near, he doesn’t necessarily mean right away, but that when the events start to take place, they will happen quickly.

 

Revelation shows us the gap between God and man.  God is holy, which means set apart.  He is beyond us and too complex for us to figure out.  In our world, we like to lift up people and praise people for their “good” deeds.  However, there is no possible comparison between God and man.  At the end, we will see God’s wrath poured out and He is so powerful against a powerless people who, until the very end, go on thinking that they are powerful.

 

The greeting is written to the seven churches that are in Asia, and as we talked about, these churches would be in modern day Turkey.  John is writing the letter BUT we know that the message is from God.  In verses 4 and 5 it says from Him who was, and is, and is to come, which can either be used to refer to Jesus or to God the Father.  Here, in verse 4, it is probably God the Father since the beginning of verse 5 says and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness.  Sometimes this phrase is also showing unity in the trinity because the same names are described in the same way for all of the Godhead.  Also in verse 4, there are the seven spirits before the throne, which is probably referring to the Holy Spirit.  (You could also see Zechariah 4:2).  When John writes to the churches, he doesn’t use all of the official titles like we see Paul does at times; he writes to the churches like someone who is known and whose position is recognized. 

 

Jesus has some special titles here in Revelation 1.  The first was that Jesus Christ is the faithful witness.  We talked about what a witness is in group; according to John 18:37, a witness is someone who testifies to the truth.  So we know that Jesus is coming to testify to the truth that God has given Him.  We know from John 1 that Jesus is the Word, so it is He who brings us the Words of God.  Jesus Christ is the firstborn from the dead, the first to receive a resurrection body that is immortal.  It talks about Jesus being the firstborn over all creation in Colossians 1:15.  And we know that Jesus, who is the ruler of the kings on the earth, has been glorified by the Father, as we learned in Philippians 2 last semester. 

 

John also sums up the gospel when he talks about Jesus being Him who has loved us and freed us from our sins by His blood.  Jesus has made us a kingdom of priests; Revelation talks about how we will join God in an everlasting kingdom.  Israel (Exodus 19:6) and the Church (1 Peter 2:9) will minister before God forever.  Priests were the only ones who could come into the presence of God in the holy of holies.  Now, through Jesus, we can all come before God and confess our sins through our mediator, Jesus Christ. 

 

Now, Jesus is coming.  John is saying look!  Here comes Jesus!  It’s all about His return; every knee will bow (remember when we looked at Philippians 2), and everyone will call Him Lord.  When God says He is the alpha and the omega, He is saying again that He was, and is, and is to come.  He is EVERYTHING. 

 

John was on the island of Patmos.  Patmos is a small island in the Aegean Sea and was a penal island, so they sent prisoners there.  The whole island is about 10 miles long and 6 miles wide.  It’s a volcanic island and is rocky all over—they would have the prisoners there work in the mines.  John says he was there because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus, so we know that John was there for telling people about Jesus.  They tried to shut him down for spreading the gospel.  However, God will honor John because he did not do anything wrong but is being persecuted for honoring the Lord.

 

He says that on the Lord’s day, which we discussed was the first day of the week when the Churches would celebrate Jesus’ resurrection and maybe communion, but some say it’s a day set apart because of this vision) he was in the Spirit.  We see this same idea in Acts 10:10, where it talks about a young man falling into a trance.  It’s a lot like something that Ezekiel experienced as well, when the Spirit would come upon him and carry him from place to place.  He is not experiencing the average physical world but is in a different state and taken to see things in the invisible world (taken supernaturally). 

 

While he is in the state of spiritual ecstasy, he hears this super loud voice behind him.  He says it’s like a trumpet.  I don’t know if you’ve ever heard a trumpet being blown right behind you…but it’s LOUD.  We talked about how different the picture of Christ is in this chapter.  John says he sees one like a son of man, which is a name given to Christ in the gospels.  However, he’s not the same picture of Jesus that we always saw in Sunday school when we were little; He’s in a glorified state in Revelation.  He has been raised from the dead and has defeated death so He is glorified in appearance.  His eyes are blazing, His hair is pure, pure white, He is dressed with a white robe and golden sash, his feet are glowing, and His voice is like rushing waters.  His face is so brilliant that it is shining like the sun; this is a lot like when Saul was on the road to Damascus and he saw a great light.  When he calls out and asks who he is, Jesus answers.  Jesus also has a sharp sword coming out of His mouth, which is a sign of authority and judgment, like in Hebrews 4:25 (which is what the whole Revelation is!). 

 

John is so scared of Him when he sees Him, John falls down and plays dead…Jesus has to tell Him that He doesn’t have to be scared.  John is seeing Jesus very differently than before.  And it’s not unusual for people to fall down before God; Abraham fell face down, and in Judges Minoa and his wife see and angel and fall down.  When the glory of the Lord fills the temple during the dedication of the temple, it knocks people down.  Our reaction to Jesus is important!  We have to think about truly worshiping Him!

 

Jesus has power over death; He has gained authority over physical death and spiritual death.  He also has authority over the churches.  The seven golden lampstands are the seven churches and the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches.  We talked about how the seven angels could be messengers to the churches; perhaps they are even the pastors of the churches, and that the seven lampstands represent the seven churches that are supposed to be shedding light and illuminating truth for Jesus. 

 

Finally, in this chapter, John says that Jesus tells him that he is to write what he sees and hears and send it out to the churches.  He’s telling John that he needs to make this message of what is to become known to the churches.  And this is not just for those seven churches; it is an eternal message to those who choose to follow God.  Let’s be mindful of this different picture of Jesus and who we are to stand in awe of while reading this book.