1 The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,
There are 2 things here that will help set up the entire book with the right mindset. First is you can see the separation of God and Jesus. This is important going forward because of the battle between the trinitarian and non-trinitarian churches. We will see the first evidence of this divide in chapter 8 and also when we address the sea beast of chapter 13 which is a continuation of the prophecy in Daniel 7. Keep these verses in mind when you are confronted with the trinitarian mindset.
The second thing that sets up this entire book is the words of "soon take place" This phrase proves that the fulfillment of this prophecy started immediately in the first century, and has been continuously fulfilled since then. We have 2 references at the beginning of this book and three at the end, so this phrase cannot be ignored. All we need to do is trust that God is speaking truth when he gives prophecy, and he will reveal the evidence of the fulfillment. This goes not only for Revelation, but also for the many Old Testament and Apocrypha prophecies that are waiting for their fulfillment. Once you learn the meaning of prophetic imagery, you -yourself- can go and read Old testament prophecy to discern the ones that are yet to be fulfilled.
2 who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. 3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. 4 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, 5 and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood 6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
The prophecy is from God, and the angel was a witness to John receiving this vision. The use of 2 or more witnesses is important to the validity of prophecy.
God is the source of grace and peace, HE was, is and is to come, HE is seated on the throne in the presence of the seven angels. Jesus is the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, he has been given authority by God to rule over the kings of the earth. Jesus has freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us a kingdom, we are priests to God. Jesus is coming with the clouds.
In Matthew 28:18 it shows that Jesus was granted all authority of heaven and earth. In biblehub you can click on parallel and see on the right side all the verses that are connected to this verse. If you are on your phone just scroll to the end. Here are a few of the verses that show how Jesus was granted authority over all things and all people. We see again in Philippians 2:10 that every knee will bow.
Jesus is a priest to God and has made us a part of that priesthood to God as well. See in 1 Peter 2:4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. 8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Verse 7 has the same language repeated in 2 other prophecies, one is in Zechariah 12:10 And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. This prophecy goes from chapter 10 to chapter 13 and it is prophesying the coming of the messiah.
This phrase is also fulfilled in Matthew 24:30 At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect out from the four winds, and to one end of the heavens to the other. There are 2 concepts in these verses that need interpreted correctly the gathering of the elect, which is the diaspora, and the coming on the cloud.
To get understanding on the diaspora, we need to look at one word that is admittedly mis-translated. Go to Matthew 24, click on verse 31, then click Strong's. From there scroll down to the word FROM and click on Strong's 575. We can read here that this word "from" should be translated "out from and to" giving this verse the meaning ...he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect out from there and to the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. This interpretation is verified in Luke's description starting in chapter 21:20. “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it. Luke continues the description of the diaspora until verse 28.
The disciples questioned Jesus about the signs of his coming and of the end of the age. These are 2 different events, his coming was fulfilled in 70 AD and the end of the age will be fulfilled at the resurrection. The evidence for the two prophecies are on the blog post Resurrection or the Rapture. Explanation of the fulfillment of the prophecy of his coming, the siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD, is explained in the blog post Be Certain of the Rapture.
When we say Jesus is coming on the clouds this is a phrase of warfare. Lets look at Isaiah 19:1-4 ...This is the burden against Egypt: Behold, the LORD rides on a swift cloud; He is coming to Egypt. The idols of Egypt will tremble before Him, and the hearts of the Egyptians will melt within them. And I will stir up Egyptian against Egyptian. This swift cloud of judgement against Egypt was warfare, and specifically, civil war. See Benson's commentary in biblehub that explains the civil war that Isaiah prophesies. Benson wrote his commentary in the mid 1800s so the vocabulary is a bit different.
We have many clouds in the bible. Some are good, such as a cloud of witnesses, and others bring destruction, like a great white cloud of hail. We can click on the Topical icon and see several references of both. Here under the heading judgement and revelation ..."Clouds can symbolize judgment and revelation. In prophetic literature, clouds often accompany divine judgment. For instance, in Ezekiel 30:3, a day of judgment is described as "a day of clouds, a time of doom for the nations." We can then click on this reference and read the verse in context. Now we see a more descriptive verse to explain cloud, in verse 4 A sword will come against Egypt, and there will be anguish in Cush when the slain fall in Egypt, its wealth is taken away, and its foundations are torn down.…Egypt will be cut down by the sword of war. We see that Jesus comes on a cloud of war as well in chapter 14. Use this process in defining prophetic language you don't understand. If God has used the phrase before, the meaning will stay consistent in all books of prophecy.
It's important to keep delving into this concept of Jesus coming on the clouds, most commonly thought of as the second coming of Jesus. This narrative is not the reality of what Revelation is saying. Instead, we see the coming of Jesus refers to several events.
In Revelation 2:5 he comes to remove a lampstand. In Revelation 2:16 he says he will come to war against them. In Revelation 3:3 his coming is like a thief, which is repeated in Revelation 16:15. We know from John 10:10 that a thief comes to steal, kill and destroy which is fulfilled when Jesus comes on the cloud with a sword in Revelation 14. Another coming of Jesus is in Revelation 3:20, where he comes to the door to knock. This is during our church age, so we need to dig into this meaning so we aren't deceived. The parable of the wedding feast starting with Luke 12:35 lets us know what this coming of Jesus will look like. If we don't recognize him when he comes this way, we will miss out. I will cover that parable in detail in the Laodicean Church.
Since the coming of Jesus does not look like the narrative, it might help clarify if we know the purpose of his coming. In Luke 12:49 he says “I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! 50 I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished! 51 Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. In Matthew 10:34-37 it speaks again of the sword of his coming. Verse 34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. 37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Here is another reference to the siege of Jerusalem of 70 AD in Malachi 3. These verses show how God will send his messenger to execute justice... verse 1 “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord. This verse also mirrors the verse of refined gold in the Laodicean church age so we need to be prepared for these events, and cast off the lie of the rapture and Jesus' "second coming."
9 I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet 11 saying, “Write what you see in a book 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.” 12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15 his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.
We will start with the title, son of man. Ezekiel is called son of man many times when God spoke to him, for example lets read chapter 2:1 And he said to me, “Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you...and verse 8 “But you, son of man, hear what I say to you. Son of man is the title of a prophet.
Back to verse 13, we see the prophet clothed with a long robe and a golden sash. The messenger angels are also wearing this type of sash in revelation 15:6 and out of the sanctuary came the seven angels with the seven plagues, clothed in pure, bright linen, with golden sashes around their chests. These messenger angels have access to the throne of God and go out ministering judgement.
In verse 14 we can look to biblehub topical for wool for a description. The imagery of wool is further employed in the book of Revelation, where the hair of the glorified Christ is described as "white like wool, as white as snow" (Revelation 1:14). This description emphasizes the purity, wisdom, and eternal nature of Christ, drawing a parallel between the whiteness of wool and divine holiness.
We see Jesus has eyes like a flame of fire, so lets look at biblehub topical for eye...The eye is frequently used to convey moral and spiritual truths. Jesus emphasizes the importance of the eye in spiritual matters in Matthew 6:22-23 : "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of dark. In Revelation, not only are the eyes full of light, they are burning bright with fire.
Isaiah 52 shows the purpose of feet in verse 7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”
In verse 15 we will go again to the topical and look up bronze. In the construction of the Tabernacle, bronze was extensively used. Exodus 27:1-6 details the making of the altar of burnt offering, which was overlaid with bronze. The bronze altar was central to the sacrificial system, symbolizing judgment and atonement. The laver, used by the priests for washing, was also made of bronze. When the word says that Jesus is the fulfillment of the law, this is one example. The law is just a shadow but the substance is Jesus. He fulfills the qualities of the bronze alter with his atoning sacrifice, and the laver because he washes us clean.
The voice of many waters is shown in Psalm 29:3 The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord, over many waters. 4 The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty. and again in Job 37:1 “At this also my heart trembles and leaps out of its place. 2 Keep listening to the thunder of his voice and the rumbling that comes from his mouth. The voice of Jesus now imparts the same fear and trembling as almighty God. We should heed his warnings and follow his teachings with utmost awe and respect.
Ecclesiastes 10:2 it explains right and left. A wise man’s heart inclines him to the right, but a fool’s heart to the left. Jesus has the seven stars which in verse 20 he says are the angels of the seven churches. We know that Jesus is the right hand of God in Psalm 20, now Jesus holds the churches in his hand. The saving power of God will be sent to the church through Jesus. We as the body of Christ are to lead others to repentance.
The sharp two-edged sword is the word that divides our heart and soul and exposes the lie versus the truth, the holy versus the wicked, as described in Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
In Exodus 34:29-30 it explains why the face of Moses radiated light. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. The brightness of Jesus' face is that of the sun in full strength.
17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. 19 Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. 20 As for the mystery of the seven stars that 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.
Jesus is the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep in 1 Corinthians 15:20. and he is the last chance for redemption as shown in the parable in Matthew 21:33 “Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. 34 When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. 35 And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. 37 Finally he sent his son...
In verse 18 Jesus has the keys to Death and Hades. Hades is the Greek version of the Hebrew Sheol, and it is the place of the dead. In Ecclesiastes 9:10 Solomon specifically says that we go to Sheol. The book of Enoch explains there is a place for the wicked and a place for the righteous, called Paradise. Jesus spoke of this paradise while on the cross. He now has the keys to death and to Sheol, and when he unlocks the grave, we will be let out. In John 5:28-29 Jesus says Do not be amazed at this, for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear His voice / and come out—those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. And again in Daniel Daniel 12:2 And many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, but others to shame and everlasting contempt.
And finally, we learn the mystery of the lampstands. The lampstands are the churches, and the stars are the angels of the churches. Jesus walks among the churches and holds the stars in his hands. They are the redeemed and are described as angels in Luke 20:36 For they can't die any more, for they are like the angels, and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. Jesus reveals to John how mighty he is and that he has a purpose to bring judgement to the wicked. Jesus is mighty and fearsome, continuing his work to redeem mankind.
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