READ THE BIBLE WITH AMANDA GRACE BIBLE STUDY NOTES: REVELATION CHAPTER 1

 

Revelation Chapter 1:

Revelation there appear to be 2 parts, the view of events from heaven, and then the latter part of revelation the view of these same events from earth. This we will get into more as we go on this amazing study together!

Revelation Chapter 1 is a general preface to the entire book of revelation, it is as well our introduction to such an incredible vision as given to John the revelator on the island of Patmos

Now how did John end up on the island of patmos?

John, the Disciple of Jesus, was banished to Patmos during the latter years of his life. When Rome had exiled John to Patmos, he was the last remaining member of the Twelve Disciples of Jesus Christ. John was born 6 A.D. His life appears on the Bible Timeline Chart between then and 100 AD.  He was a close follower of Christ who was also called the Disciple that Jesus loved.

Some parts of John's life are not clear and historical sources claim that he was a leader of the church at Ephesus. Eventually, he was captured in a persecution campaign by the Roman Emperor Domitian. John was ultimately sentenced to Patmos (Revelation 1:9). Patmos was a small, rocky and barren area where many criminals of Rome were sent to serve out their prison terms in harsh conditions. There were mines on the island that the criminals were forced to work. John was sent to the island for the same reasons because the early Christians were considered a strange cult group who were known for causing trouble within the Empire. After John had arrived, he began to have visions that were written into the Book of Revelation of the Bible.

Some historians and scholars claim that John died while on Patmos and others say that he was freed from the island before his death. No one is certain when or where he died, but many people do agree that he was not executed like the other apostles. (amazingbibletimelines.com)

So After John is banished to patmos in the latter part of his life, patmos was like their last resort they had attempted other punishments that failed, he begins being taken up in the Spirit and having these incredible visions of the end times and end days of this earth. He was the last living member of the original 12 disciples. There has been some debate but the general consensus is that John was not executed

Now the English word revelation is a translation of the Greek word apokalypsus. This is where the word apocalypse comes from in English. This word carries two meanings to it. First, it speaks of a catastrophic or destructive ending, secondly it refers to the unveiling of a mystery. This makes sense as we will see many times in John’s recorded visions you will hear an angel talk about revealing to him a mystery. This coincides with the English word Revelation which means to unveil or reveal.

There is a very strong connection between Old testament books of the Bible and the Book of Revelation

1 Corinthians is where one of these connections occur:

1 Corinthians 10:1-12 (complete jewish bible) For, brothers, I don’t want you to miss the significance of what happened to our fathers. All of them were guided by the pillar of cloud, and they all passed through the sea, ² and in connection with the cloud and with the sea they all immersed themselves into Moshe, ³ also they all ate the same food from the Spirit, ⁴ and they all drank the same drink from the Spirit — for they drank from a Spirit-sent Rock which followed them, and that Rock was the Messiah. ⁵ Yet with the majority of them God was not pleased, so their bodies were strewn across the desert.

⁶ Now these things took place as prefigurative historical events, warning us not to set our hearts on evil things as they did. ⁷ Don’t be idolaters, as some of them were — as the Tanakh puts it, “The people sat down to eat and drink, then got up to indulge in revelry.”^[a] 8 And let us not engage in sexual immorality, as some of them did, with the consequence that 23,000 died in a single day. ⁹ And let us not put the Messiah to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by snakes. ¹⁰ And don’t grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the Destroying Angel.

¹¹ These things happened to them as prefigurative historical events, and they were written down as a warning to us who are living in the acharit-hayamim. ¹² Therefore, let anyone who thinks he is standing up be careful not to fall!

Acharit-hayamim in most English translated bibles translates to THE END OF THE AGE. Today we have adopted an alternative term we refer to as THE END TIMES.

So what Paul is saying is the things that were written in the Old testament that happened to “Our Fathers” were recorded as a warning not as much for them as For us who are living in the end of the age

As you can tell by paul’s writings he thought he was living in the end times, that it was upon him and that generation, thinking Yeshua was at any moment going to come riding in on the clouds. The world would end as paul knew it, ushering in a new age of ruling and reigning with Christ. It appears Paul wanted to very much see Christ become king on the earth.

Paul made a direct connection to the Old testament with End times teaching that the end times is the fulfillment of the Old testament prophecies. The book of revelation which is mostly about the End times events to come is also about the fulfillment of the purposes and prophecies of the Old Testament

The book of revelation in itself reads like a foreign language to many. People find it intimidating, confusing, hard to understand. Well, we are going to change that hopefully Glory to God!

You need the help and insight of the Old Testament for Revelation to make sense in a way that people have not experienced. We also need the Counselor, The Holy Spirit to help us understand this book and it’s events because we are living in the End Times, make no mistake about that!

Revelation truly is the final historical recorded words that will ever be given worldwide to the Body of believers by means of Divine inspiration. Much of Revelation is futuristic with mysteries that unfold.

Now as we open Revelation 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must ^[a]shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John.

This is a very profound opening as these words are not just divinely inspired BUT Divinely Given! It appears that Christians tend to be focused more on the New testament than the Old. What I say is we need the Old testament just as much for without the Old testament the New testament could of never came to be. Christian theologians like to classify the New Testament as “divinely inspired”

Now what does divinely inspired mean? It means that even though the New testament were thoughts written down and transcribed by humans, the author was led by the Holy Spirit or influenced by God in some way to be able to write down such thoughts. Now the exception to this rule in the New Testament are the words spoken by Jesus Christ, Yeshua, himself while he walked the earth, there was no divine to human transcription. Jesus spoke it and it was directly from the mouth of the Son of God. Therefore the words of Jesus hold a level divine authority that “divinely inspired” does not.

Now how does revelation come into play with all this? The words of revelation are of the same level of divine authority as the words spoken by Yeshua because we are told blatantly in revelation 1:1 “this is the revelation that God gave to Yeshua the Messiah’ that was then given directly to John.

This is what also sets apart the Old Testament Prophets who were given direct divine oracles, not passing along their own thoughts, inspired or not.

So John in the book of revelation is in the same category as the Old Testament Prophets

Because he is used as a human messenger who is giving directives from Almighty God. Yes Revelation is directly from Almighty God

Now there is a chain of command here in Revelation 1 that has 5 levels to it:

God the Father gives the revelation to his son Jesus, who gives it to the specific messenger angels for this assignment, who then give it to John, and John finally transcribes it and gives it to all of us.

This is VERY significant tying right back to the Hebrew Alphabet, Hebrew being what the Old testament was written in, that is tied to all of this. The number 5 associates to the Hebrew letter HEI

What does HEI mean: Hei represents divine revelation, the breath of the Creator (Psalm 33:6 – By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host.) The world was created with the utterance of the Hei.

Hei also means BEHOLD! That something VERY important is about to be revealed!

So even through the 5 step chain of command it is confirming tying back to the Hebrew alphabet that this indeed is DIVINE Revelation through and through! And the announcement of a very important reveal on God’s part.

If we look throughout the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we discover a pattern of Jesus being subservient to God the Father, doing what God the Father tells Him to do:

John 12:49 For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.

John 8:28 Then Jesus said to them, “When you lift^[a] up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things

John 5:19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.

Even in the Our Father in Matthew 6, Jesus is directing us back to the Father, that the Father is first!:

Our Father in heaven,

Hallowed be Your name.

 Your kingdom come.

Your will be done

On earth as it is in heaven.

In the New Testament Jesus is spoken of as sitting at the right hand of the Father, not in God the Father’s throne, but sitting at His right hand. Jesus answers to God the Father.

Revelation 1:2  who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw. John being one of the original 12 disciples, heard the Gospel Directly from the mouth of Jesus, Yeshua, himself! The Word and Jesus are connected, he is the Word became Flesh:

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Revelation 1:3  Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.

FOR THE TIME IS NEAR: There is somewhat of an urgency to this. If I saw what John saw, yes I would feel extreme urgency to warn others

So there is some kind of blessing, which is conditional, yes there is a condition in this. Blessed is he who reads AND those who hear the words of this prophecy and KEEP those things which are written in it. This is why we NEED to UNDERSTAND the book of Revelation and all the meat this book contains

This blessing happens to be the first of 7 blessings in Revelation directed toward the reader of this book, John always assuming that the reader is a believer.

The other blessings can be Found in Revelation chapters 14, 16, 19, 20 and there are 2 in chapter 22.

So this is a hear-obey dynamic, in Hebrew the word SHEMA which means “hear and obey.” So what is being conveyed is to read or listen to the words of this book without obeying what you have read and heard is pretty much useless when it comes to receiving this promised blessing first spoken of in Revelation 1.

Today we have a real crisis in the Church and the world with actually OBEYING God’s Word. Many will READ the Word, However far less will actually OBEY what the Word of God says. 

Matthew 7:13-14 Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. ^14 [a]Because narrow is the gate and ^[b]difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

While the Old testament has a predominant theme of rules or law, the New testament we see a theme of free Grace, saved by Grace. What happens is Grace becomes so top heavy that it pushes out obedience more and more and isolates it from a believers life. Especially when grace is preached as a get out of jail free card where the believer can go on their merry way doing whatever they want in the world because its “covered” Obedience has been given a negative connotation by many lukewarm churches. However to receive this special blessing in revelation, the last book of the NEW Testament, it requires obedience on the part of the believer. Obeying the Lord is demonstrating our love for Him. Jesus, Yeshua, demonstrated His love for Almighty God by OBEYING what the father told Him to do. It is reverence for Authority, the headship of Almighty God, something a good part of the Church has completely forgotten about.

Revelation 1:4-5 John, to the seven churches which 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 from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth.

To Him who ^[a]loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood

So this is instructions for believers whose location is at 7 different congregations across the continent of Asia

7 represents the biblical number of completion and perfection, it also carries a finality to it

The 7^th letter of the Hebrew Alphabet is Zayin: Just as its literal meaning is complex, the spiritual meaning of the Hebrew letter Zayin is significant, as well. The letter has the numerical value of seven,  which has much significance, including the fact that the Sabbath is the seventh and holiest day of the week, and according to Biblical law, the land is meant to lie fallow every seventh year according to a law called “shmita.” As Ziyan is the first letter of the word “zahor” (זכור), meaning to remember, and this is one of two basic commandments of the Sabbath, there seems to be a very strong link between the seventh letter in the Hebrew alphabet and the day of rest! (hebrewtoday.com)

You will see that the book of Revelation is just full of the number 7 as we go along in our studies.

Revelation has a theme of the finality of God’s coming judgment’s upon the earth and all its inhabitants. We also see it speak of the end of time, space, history, life as we know it on earth.

Matthew 5:17-19 ¹⁷ “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. ¹⁸ For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one ^[a]jot or one ^[b]tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. ¹⁹ Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

So it is significant that John is writing to 7 different congregations of believers across Asia to convey to them something VERY significant..Their spiritual conditions as seen by God Almighty, from His point of view. These churches were living in the end times.

In Greek the word Ekklesia: a gathering of citizens called out from their homes to a public area, an assembly. So it is ok to translate Ekklesia to congregation, BUT not to church, Ekklesia does not mean church. Church as wadded in there and it does not give a proper view. This is a congregation of believers.

Now there were more than 7 congregations of believers in Asia. As far as can be interpreted, they met in people’s homes or even in a synagogue. There has been great debate amongst scholars pertaining to the nature of these 7 letters. So what is this debate?

1.      Some say these letters are just symbolic of what goes on in all congregations and are not actual LETTERS but more examples.

2.      Some say the 7 lettters represent 7 stages of church development

Ultimately both of these ideas is that none of these represent actual letters that are dealing with real issues or spiritual conditions of these 7 named congregations.

However in the Scripture John NEVER says ever that these letters are merely symbolic or that these have to do with stages in church development. So this is VERY literal. 7 letters to 7 different congregations across Asia addressing 7 different spiritual conditions within each congregation.

These letters are of the highest importance because they are directed by God Himself and carry the highest Divine Authority. These letters contain a lot of insight that we as the body can learn from today as we live in the End times. What is in these letters must be taken an applied in obedience, because in order to receive this special blessing in Revelation 1 we MUST OBEY.

Revelation1:4-5 “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 from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth.’

John does something very significant here: he offers greetings to these 7 congregations on behalf of 3 different Spiritual entities:

1.      Him who is and who was and who is to come

2.      from the seven Spirits who are before His throne

3.      from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth.’

Again we see John drawing these very distinct lines between Father, Holy Spirit, and Son, in this specific order

Ok lets look at the first, God the Father, who is and who was and who is to come

Well well this talks about God the FATHER who is to come. This is correct in the Greek. So this causes us to stop and think here, because unless there was an error in the Greek manuscripts of this book, this challenges the notion that it is not Jesus but God the Father who is coming!

Zechariah 14:1-5 The Day of the Lord

14 Behold, the day of the Lord is coming,

And your ^[a]spoil will be divided in your midst.

² For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem;

The city shall be taken,

The houses ^[b]rifled,

And the women ravished.

Half of the city shall go into captivity,

But the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city.

³ Then the Lord will go forth

And fight against those nations,

As He fights in the day of battle.

⁴ And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives,

Which faces Jerusalem on the east.

And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two,

From east to west,

Making a very large valley;

Half of the mountain shall move toward the north

And half of it toward the south.

⁵ Then you shall flee through My mountain valley,

For the mountain valley shall reach to Azal.

Yes, you shall flee

As you fled from the earthquake

In the days of Uzziah king of Judah.

Thus the Lord my God will come,

And all the saints with ^[c]You.

Now we think that Lord means Jesus, HOWEVER, when the original Hebrew is examined there is a fascinating Discovery. The original Hebrew says YEHOVAH, God Himself, his formal name given to Moses on Mt Sinai. Yehovah, God the Father. Therefore it appears it is YEHOVAH, God the Father, who is coming, who will set His foot on the Mt of Olives and splitting it. It is Yehovah, God the Father, who will go out to Armageddon and fight the nations. It is Yehovah who will be King and rule over all the earth. However in Christian theology they have appeared to assign all of this to Jesus.

Now let us back this up with the Old Testament because revelation is indeed a fulfillment of Old Testament Prophecy

1 chronicles 14:13-16 ¹³ Then the Philistines once again made a raid on the valley. ¹⁴ Therefore David inquired again of God, and God said to him, “You shall not go up after them; circle around them, and come upon them in front of the mulberry trees. ¹⁵ And it shall be, when you hear a sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, then you shall go out to battle, for God has gone out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines.” ¹⁶ So David did as God commanded him, and they drove back the army of the Philistines from 

FOR GOD HAS GONE OUT BEFORE YOU!

Deuteronomy 3:22 ²² You must not fear them, for the Lord your God Himself fights for you

Joshua 4:23-24 ²³ for the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed over, ²⁴ that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God ^[c]forever.”

Joshua 5:13-14 ¹³ And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, “Are You for us or for our adversaries?”

¹⁴ So He said, “No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.”

In ALL these instances it was the Lord God Himself who went before His people, who lead His people into battle it was YEHOVAH who fought for His people

This is something for us to seriously consider and pray about, that it is Yehovah, God the Father who will be touching down on this earth

Joel 2:31-32 The sun shall be turned into darkness,

And the moon into blood,

Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.

³² And it shall come to pass

That whoever calls on the name of the Lord

Shall be ^[a]saved.

For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be ^[b]deliverance,

As the Lord has said,

Among the remnant whom the Lord calls.

John when he transcribed revelation did not know Christian Doctrines because they did not yet exist! So in some way not defined, while Christ was surely returning, in some other way God the Father was also returning in the End Times. Zechariah 14, Joel 2 both give proof of this

Man made doctrines at times can be misleading, can confuse, and can steer us away from what the original text truly meant. That is why it is so important for us to examine both the Old and New Testament, and the original Greek and Hebrew Text. Along with the temperature of the day in which the scripture is written, will help us gain a much better understanding of the Word of God. We also need the help of the Holy Spirit, who is the counselor to give us insight and better understanding

So this mystery of Yehovah coming back as well, we will not understand that full mystery perhaps until the time is upon us.

John, Zechariah, and Joel all verify that both the Father and Yeshua are coming back. We do not know in what manner/form God The Father, Yehovah, is coming however according to these books he is coming in one form or another.

THE SEVEN SPIRITS

In Greek the translation is literal “the seven spirits”. Some think this refers to the 7 high ranking angels who serve before the Throne of God (in judaism they believe it is the archangels)

Now the term itself “seven spirits” are present in other books of the Bible:

Isaiah 11:1-2 There shall come forth a ^[a]Rod from the ^[b]stem of Jesse,

And a Branch shall ^[c]grow out of his roots.

² The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him,

The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,

The Spirit of counsel and might,

The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.

Psalm 104:4 ⁴ Who makes His angels spirits,

His ^[a]ministers a flame of fire.

The 7 fold Spirits, its characteristics as so described, goes with the work of the Holy Spirit the Ruach Hakodesh, in Genesis the Ruach Elohim the Spirit of God

Revelation 1:5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth.

Jesus, yeshua, was not the first to ever be raised from the dead, However, as the firstborn son, who had a special place of authority within the Jewish family. Yeshua was the witness to God’s saving Grace offered humanity as the most precious and costly ransom ever paid, the price: God’s one and only begotten son

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

We were bought with a VERY costly price, purchased by the blood of Jesus which in turn reconciled us back to the Father. When Jesus, Yeshua, said “it is FINISHED” Jesus was victorious, the enemy was defeated and we had a way a legal way to God our Father.