THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST
by Raymond McGough
INTRODUCTION
A notorious and difficult book to read because of its vivid symbolic language that is quite hard to understand and interpret but every disciple of Christ is commanded to read it and when they do they will receive a blessing by just reading it. I am not saying that you will understand all of it because I certainly can’t but you will receive a blessing from the contents of God’s Word the last book of the Bible. I have felt a longing or a desire to know more of God to know more of him in my heart, not head knowledge, heart knowledge, that when those who see me will not see me they will see God, and that is my prayer for all my brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. In answer to this desire I have for God he has led me by his Spirit to this extremely hard book to understand. I would like you to accompany me while we journey through this book and learn more of him who is God my God and your God.Ch 1:6 to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
CHAPTER 1
Verse 1: The Revelation of Jesus Christ’ which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things that must come shortly to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John. John is not speaking about a revelation of himself. This Revelation is about Jesus Christ. It comes from him and it is a Revelation that he received from God his Father. However; the whole book is about Jesus Christ from the opening page to its conclusion on the final page .To the seven churches is Christ’s critical look over his church 60 to 65 years later after his death and resurrection. We see him here as our glorified, exalted, and risen Lord seated with God his Father above the heavenlies.
Christ’s Revelation points to future happenings and occurrences regarding the coming tribulation period, the victorious triumph of God over evil, the return of Jesus Christ to earth to reign over the whole of the earth with the blessedness of the eternal kingdom of God. Revelation comes from the Greek Apocalypses meaning the disclosure of something that was previously hidden, in this case from the eyes of men. Now God chooses to reveal to the churches what is going to happen in the final age. These are the general contents of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. He now sends a messenger in the form of angels with the divine Revelation to his servant John. What an incredible scene is set before us so vivid in detail we see the exalted glorified risen Christ in heaven side by side with God his Father and then we see one of our Lord’s angel’s being sent to earth with the Revelation to give to his servant John. We see here the Immortal God with the earthly mortal man; such is the tremendous love of God towards man. This is the same love that he loves you and me with.
Verse 2: Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ , and of all things that he saw. John is writing down all the things he saw in the vision he received from God the Father through Jesus Christ’s angel. This is the evidence of things seen and heard by John and he is instructed to write it down for the seven churches that now represent the visible, invisible church of our Lord Jesus Christ from God. We belong to this church which is the
Verse 3: Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein for the time is at hand.
.
What a truly great God we have in our God who promises to bless the person who reads this book. By just reading this book you and I will receive a blessing. There are seven blessings to be found in this book of prophecy. Notice the phrase hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written therein: Hear and keep, hear what the Lord has to say to us from the contents of the Revelation of Jesus Christ and obey His instructions. Revelation is also a book of prophecy that tells you about what is going to happen in the future. The time is at hand simply means that our risen glorified exalted Lord the Lord Jesus Christ could come at any time are we ready to go? That’s the question we must ask ourselves.
Ch 1:4-8. John’s Revelation of Jesus Christ from Jesus Christ to the seven churches.
Verse 4: John to the seven churches which are in
The apostle and prophet John now opens this book of prophecy by stating who he is, John the prophet because that is his role in the writing of this oracle of prophecy from God. Even although he simply declares his name to be John to the seven churches which are in
The writer now goes on to speak to the seven churches.
. The grace and peace that is mentioned here by John is that which comes from God the Father and the Son. The writer now goes on to speak of the eternity of the eternal God we see this as we proceed to read further into the verse; is means now. Think of what John is saying here God is now! He is now! He is present! Listen to this. And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM
(Ex
The Word was with God and the Word was God: Zechariah the prophet describes the Son of God as a Living Stone and as the Lord of Hosts and this Living Stone has seven eyes again the perfect number meaning the fullness and perfection of divine insight along with the intelligence of great wisdom of one who is the Messiah, anointed Son of God, with complete omniscience: all seeing God who is your Lord and my God. The Living Stone who is quoted as the Lord of Hosts would remove iniquity from the land in a single day. This we know has already taken place in our dearly beloved Lord who has taken these iniquities of ours and had them nailed to his body upon a piece of rough wood, fashioned in the shape of a cross because of our sins and because of the unfathomable riches of his love and mercy that comes from him and his Father. Now this great Revelation that the risen glorified exalted Christ receives from God His Father He gives to his servant John. Let’s be sure of this it is the greatest Revelation of the mightiest magnitude that the glorified Christ reveals to His servant John.
What a wonderful God we have in our Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ who rewards his servant John by appointing him to be his prophet. I would like us to ponder over this for a moment John was an ordinary man there was nothing exceptional that could be seen in his character from a worldly standpoint. To the scribes and Pharisees he was nothing but an ignorant fisherman. But that’s just it; God does not choose the proud men and women of the world. He chooses the foolish things of this world. A proud man and woman will never be of any use to God.
John was a tremendous man of courage at the critical time in our Lord’s life only he went into the meeting with Jesus to see the high priest Caiaphas who was interrogating our Lord at his trial. Jesus remembered and this was the apostle’s reward to be a prophet for the end times. A man of flesh and bones left on the
Think of this when the Roman Emperor Domitian declared himself to be god he would have expected John to have fallen on his knees before him but he did not and that is why he found himself to be a prisoner on the
Verse 5: And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
John knew Jesus Christ to be the Son of God and was a witness to that fact along with the other eleven apostles and we who know Jesus Christ to be our Lord share the same witness and testimony with the apostles. All of us from the beginning of the New Testament who have accepted Jesus Christ as our living Lord and Saviour testify that he is God in his own right, and everything that God the Father is he is and all that he is the Father is. Christ the Son is the faithful witness to all that God His Father is to Him. Jesus himself spoke of this. The Gospel of John Ch 8:1ff. See please verse 18 of the same chapter. Nobody can dispute that! The devil tried and failed miserably this prophecy is about the end of him and his followers .The reward to the faithful saints in Christ. What a great day that will be for God’s people. Hallelujah!!! Christ is the first begotten of the dead. The great difficulty that we have with this is Christ as God can‘t die but John clearly believes that he did, he saw him die while being crucified on the cross.
How do we understand this? Jesus after all as the perfect man died because of his supernatural birth conceived through the Holy Ghost meaning no earthly man was involved, his blood was perfect and pure .So as God and man the blood that poured from him, as well as from a man, was from one who is God. He and only he, Jesus Christ the Son of God, could meet the criteria of the perfection of the sacrificial lamb that God his Father is looking for to atone for the sin of mankind. Marvellous and wonderful as this is my heart continues to marvel at the fact that because he is God he knew that he would come and do this. Nobody compelled him to come he came voluntarily on his own free will because he loves us and continues to do so. The great apostle Paul affirms and confirms this declaration of what John writes concerning the Revelation of Jesus Christ that had been afforded to him by our risen glorified Lord. See please Colossians Ch 1:18 he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the first born from the dead; that in all things he might have the pre-eminence.
Verse 6: And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
John continues by describing our Lord as the Prince of earthly kings not only is he the Prince of the kings of the earth he is their King too. After all he created them as he did you and me. But these kings of the earth would be made to bow before him and confess that he is Lord over all.cf Ch.17:14 Now comes an incredible and awesome concept that He who is God is both man, and God. The Godman as a number of biblical theologians and scholars have coined the phrase, the Godman.who has washed us in his own blood and made us clean. Washed from sin. On this weighty subject the writer to the book of Hebrews had this to say “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your own conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” Heb Ch 9:14.
As if it was not enough to shed his precious blood for those of us who believe and obey He has by the shedding of this precious blood made us kings and priests. How awesome is this? What an incredible God we have in God’s only begotten Son our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ here in his risen, exalted, glorified awesome majesty, but appearing to the prophet John in his angel with a message of Revelation of redemption for the whole world Christian and non Christian .A great and incredible God who loves us so much and continues to do so.
We can see that in the next part of verse six. He who is God because of his tremendous love that he holds in his heart towards the creation that he himself with his Father created including mere mortals like you and me has done this on our behalf .Why should he do this for selfish and unappreciative finite creatures like ourselves? In my own earthly wisdom I am speechless. I can only quote what God Himself has to say on this crucially important point He loves all of us that is why He created us so that He could enjoy our company can you imagine that? So unbelievable to the human mind but it is believable with God the Spirit’s help. I would also like to say that what is on view here in this passage is the Holy Trinity the one triune God working with each other in perfect peace and harmony loving one another three different individual persons one God the Godhead bodily. The very first disciple to recognize the true identity of Jesus the man from Nazareth as the anointed Son of God the Messiah speaking on the same subject mentioned in this verse had this to say, “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ” cf I Pet Ch2:5.We who are truly born again in the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ are a spiritual house, a holy priesthood unto God his Father.
Verse7: Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindred’s of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.
In the first two chapters of the book of Acts we see Jesus in his risen exalted glorified body ascending into heaven with clouds. Now we see Him coming back with clouds. This though is after the Rapture and the people who had been left upon the earth would see this terrifying vision before their very eyes because they belonged to this world and they were afraid of what they saw and they had good reason to be! I would like to suggest that in this passage we have a very rich doctrinal content. The doctrine of Christology the knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord. .The doctrine of theology the knowledge of God our Father. The doctrine of the Holy Spirit and the knowledge of the Spirit of God. We have in this too the doctrine of the trinity the knowledge of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit together. All of this together. What a tremendous thrill and challenge for all of the saints of God. But even more conclusively is the challenge of the doctrine of Eschatology the knowledge of the Last Things. We are all in the end times and it is very important we listen to what God’s Spirit has to say to each of us from this very critical book the final and last Word of God the Father as revealed to our risen Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ who in turn gave it to his servant John who revealed the Revelation of Jesus Christ to his church which is all the saints of God, past, present, and future including all born again Christians of to-day and the future. Praise God! At this juncture, “Behold, He is coming with clouds,” points to the judgment of Christ. Zechariah, the prophet prophesied of this in the contents of his book; Zech:
Who does John mean by the expression “even they?” By the very use of this grammatical clause he is isolating a certain group of individuals for blame that is attached only to them. The whole of mankind is to blame but there is a special blame upon those who sought the death penalty for Jesus Christ our glorified risen Lord and obtained it. Jesus himself apportioned this blame towards them. I believe the two prominent individuals that he had in mind was Caiaphas the high priest and Annas his father-in-law and all the Jews that took their side at that time, to-day, and the future while remaining unrepentant over their actions. This was a particular murderous, heinous, criminal act that even broke Jewish Law. Annas and Caiaphas were well aware of this and by their own actions condemned themselves as did those who agreed with them on the actions taken. God is a righteous God and He will take action against those who have known Him and now deliberately rebel and sin against Him habitually exactly the case against Caiaphas and Annas and those who agree with them. This is a very grave warning to all of us who love the Lord not to fall away because it is very easy to do so in the kind of world we find ourselves living in .Everyone of us are to be judged the Christians first and then the world so in the context of that we must ponder very seriously and think very deeply over the words Jesus used in his answer to the question asked of him by Pilate and think of the implications it brings to our hearts and minds concerning our manner and attitude in respect to our spiritual walk with Jesus Christ our risen Glorified Lord. He has done much for us and expects much in return because when it comes down to it the choice of what we will do largely belongs to you and me. Listen to the answer Jesus gives to Pilate in response to his question. Cp Jn.Ch.19:11. “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.” Christ knows the motivation of our hearts before we know of it, particularly the Jews, when they will see their Messianic King the Lord Jesus Christ coming with clouds towards them suddenly realising that He is indeed their Messiah the one who had been promised to them in ancient times gone by! Everyone shall wail when they see him because then they will know what they have done and there will be no excuse. They know, even so let it be so. Amen.
Verse 8: I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
As the Son of God like his Father He is eternal with no beginning and no ending continuing to exist side by side with God his Father in eternity. Therefore; he says of Himself “I am ALPHA and OMEGA, the beginning and the ending.” What a colossal affirmation and confirmation of His deity. Straight from his own tongue and mouth audible so everyone can hear his voice. No mistake! The voice of the King! The words Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek Alphabet. God who began human history as we know it will also bring it to an end. He is the beginning and the ending of the whole of the universe. After all it was He who made it, totally incredible to the human mind but not to those who have been redeemed in the blood of the Lamb. No wonder He is called the Alpha and the Omega. Christ the King of kings is from everlasting to everlasting the eternal Sovereign Lord. My God and your God, He who is the living one raised from the dead ascended exalted majestically glorified by God his Father who is our Father, the Saviour our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Glory. Breath taking!!! When this immediately occurs, Christ will overturn evil and become the divine victorious conqueror over evil and will come and rule his new kingdom. Cf. Isaiah Ch: 41:4 “Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the Lord, the first, and with the last; I am He.” Is it any wonder that this great godly man and prophet the prophet Isaiah was known as the Evangelical Prophet of the Old Testament? A godly reputation of which by those that had seriously erred would be envious and jealous of.
A great voice and vision. Revelation. Ch.1:9-20
Rev 1:9 I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called
John addressing the seven churches begins by introducing himself in verse 9 I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, He writes to those who know and love him. The apostle is reminding his brethren of the fact that the trial he is going through is to strengthen their faith in the gospel of Christ .There are times of trials and testing for every true believer in Christ to see where our trust lies. None of us know what shape and form these trials will take but they will come that’s a certainty. I am quite sure of that the saints to whom John is writing too are also suffering for their faith in Christ. Therefore; we should not be surprised when we suffer because of our faith in Christ. When you and I were called to be disciples we were called to take up a cross because that is the road of discipleship. Many of us are suffering because of our faithfulness to Christ our Risen Lord but take heart this book was written to show us the great rewards that lie in front of us .One of them is the Rapture that comes before the fulfilment of the prophecies of this book. I would like you to think on this Christ who was and is both God and man while being a man took the cross before us allowed himself to be beaten almost to death, nailed to a wooden cross, and hung upon that cross until his earthly life expired. Allowed himself to be taken control of by earthly mortals that He himself had created. Absolutely astonishing! So can we expect to be given an easy ride? We who are the Disciples of Christ have a cross to carry, and do you know what? Christ our Lord will help us to carry it - A wonderful God.
I would like to take a quote from the New Spirit Filled Life Bible and read what it has to say on this verse. Page 1818. John experiences with his readers the tribulation or persecution on account of their faith, with patient endurance, which is steadfast courage under unjust suffering. However, attendant to the trials involved in the Christian life is the glory of the kingdom to come end of quote. Who was it that was enabling them to overcome these present trials and a very oppressive persecution? Jesus Christ our Lord The secret of overcoming the devil and his followers lies in the person of Jesus Christ as it always is. A point that John and his brethren were well aware of they had discovered this for them. Hallelujah! Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
I would like us to think again on this term or expression tribulation. I stress the point that what is on view here is the tribulations that the prophet John was suffering because of his faith and testimony in Christ with his fellow saints in the Lord. John speaking to the churches continues I was in the island that is called
In verse 10.At this moment in time God the Holy Spirit was speaking to John’s spirit making him aware of the presence of God! God knows our hearts and minds he also knows if we are seriously seeking after him. Only when we do so will he reveal Himself to us. Obedience and a willing heart to what the Holy Spirit reveals to us that which is of God and from God. This we have already seen in the life of John the apostle and prophet reading of his devotion and obedience towards Jesus Christ his glorified Lord and King as well as of his love of which he showed towards Christ’s church. When you and I are truly devoted towards God and we love Him in the way He commands us too, and being obedient to the manner that He would have us live, then, and only then will we feel His glorious presence. Without God the Holy Spirit being in my life and controlling me I can’t live a victorious spiritual Christian life. The same applies to all my Christian brothers and sisters in Christ otherwise known as saints of the
To know Him as He knows me the very essence the secret of how I am to be enabled to live my life in a manner pleasing to God my Saviour Jesus Christ my risen glorified Lord. Amen. Let it be so. Again, John repeats himself “I was in the spirit on the Lord’s Day,” we find this expression occurring on numerous occasions as we read through the contents of Revelation. What does our author mean us to understand in his use of this phrase? A time of rest to cease from one’s labours for the first day of the week in order to come into the house of the Lord to rest in His peace bringing worship into His glorious presence. Unlike us in the west
A message of corporate worship of all of God’s people gathering together in one place in order to offer up praise and worship to God in the way He had ordained it to be. God uniting all of his people together into one gathering together as one in their act of worship towards Him who are God over all. See please Mtt: 12:1, Ex20:10; Deut: 5:14; However; God had already commanded that every seventh day of the week should be put aside from work in order to rest and to come and worship Him before the law was given to the Jews so all of God’s people are to do this.Gen2:3, So how does God want us to understand this from his servant John’s perspective? As God’s people those who have been born again are the body of Christ the Church commonly known as the bride of Christ. Therefore; that being the case we do not belong to ourselves we belong to Christ. We are one body we have one baptism one faith one Lord and we are all one together. The love of God the Father as manifested towards us in and through his Son our Lord Jesus Christ through God the Holy Spirit unites us in His love and compassion when we come together to worship Him as one body of his people then we feel the very presence of God in all of His greatness. It is in such a gathering of God’s people that God is able to speak to them through the preaching of His word from the word written in order to build them up in their holy Christian faith centred in and through Jesus Christ our risen glorified Lord. It is through the pastor mostly that God speaks to you and I in the building up of our faith in Jesus Christ he ministers to us, a word of exhortation when needed, encourages us, motivates us to live our lives as pleasing to the Lord and his life must be exactly the same a life of obedience to our risen glorified Lord which is exactly the same for all of us. John’s life exemplifies this he is a chosen vessel of the Lord with a special anointing of God’s Spirit to enable him to do the work of a prophet the work of God as we can see from this passage.
Notice; however, that John is always obedient to the Spirit of God within his spirit. The Spirit of God indwells all of our spirits. He is in your spirit He is in my spirit without God the Holy Spirit it would be impossible to please God .I would like you to take heart from what we see here in this great man of God because just like you and I he was a human being but he was devoted to God and this was his secret of godly living. John is conscious of the presence of God he is aware of the divine presence he hears the voice of God sees visions and dreams for the end times.
Since the birth of our Lord we have been living in these end times. My point is that like John. You and I must desire to know more about God, not intellectually although that is important but as a person someone who wants to know us because He Himself made you and me. He is not something that is abstract or a principle. God is a person. A great person there is nobody like Him .Do you know that God wants you to know Him just as John the prophet knew Him and still knows Him. Words fail me to express this incredible idea that God seeks to know us in an intimate loving compassionate merciful fashion as that of a Father which He is. Even greater than that He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and the great Father of all earthly fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters, especially those who have been born of the Spirit. A great and awesome God of immense proportions of splendour and glory radiating throughout the whole of the universe that He Himself made. A God that continues to love you and me without measure. John continues to write, and I heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet. A trumpet blast heralds in the King as he comes forward to receive what is rightfully his. The whole earth is his including all that is on and in it. In total everything. Jesus Christ now rides in with the clouds as the great conquering glorious King over all that is evil. We can see this in the occurrence of the rapture which has already taken place. A fact that can be gleaned from Revelation Ch4:1. Our glorious exalted risen Lord has already taken the true believers of his church to be with Him in heaven. The faithful of Christ’s church has now been raptured. Now we see the catching up of Christ’s true church. What do I mean by this only that at some period in the future Jesus Christ is going to come for every true believer of his church? He will come in the air or sky and both he and they will be caught up together in the clouds. The dead in Christ will be raised to life first and will be taken up and we who are still alive will join them with our glorious risen exalted Christ caught up in the sky with them together as one body of the risen glorified Lord. But to be part of this select body of Christ you and I have to meet the responsibilities of having the free gift of salvation given to us by Jesus Christ’s crucifixion, death, resurrection and ascension to heaven by being his faithful disciple. The faithfulness of our discipleship. We are all called to carry a cross in the life we live for the joy set before us. Nobody can carry this cross in their own strength only the Comforter can help us to do that. All said and done God has given you and me the means of being able to please Him in this life down here. There is no excuse. The means is the help of God the Holy Spirit who is available to all of God’s people. You do not want to be left on the earth when the great and terrible day of the Lord arrives. Certainly not! I must be obedient to what pleases my risen Lord because He loves me and as my risen Lord he will guide me home to live with him and his Father including in this will be all my brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. What a great day that will be. A new Kingdom .Even if we should die before these two great events the rapture and the following tribulation we will be raised with the godly and the ungodly to face judgment. The case against us is if we continue in our rebellion towards him habitual sin He will cut Himself off from such because we refused to accept his love and mercy as manifested in his only begotten Son Jesus Christ our risen glorified Lord. However; that is the negative side the positives are we have been redeemed in the precious blood of His Son the risen resurrected Lord our glorious Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus our glorified Lord repeats to John who He is exactly not for John’s sake but for those to whom He writes through his servant John spelling it out to the seven churches that where He is concerned He is the absolute authority over them and as the seven churches it now represents the wider church of which we are members of the body of Christ we are the Bride He is the Groom. So it is imperative we listen to what He has to say to the seven churches. Even although it was written in a different era the message is for the whole of the church age. We are no different to them and they are no different to us. What Christ has to say to them He says to us!!! I AM that is precisely what Jesus is saying here. Past present and future. Continuing to be. He is what he always is He cannot be any different to himself because He is God. This is what it means for our risen Lord the glorious Christ to be named the Alpha and Omega because that’s who He is eternally. He’s everything you need and I need. Grace so extraordinarily, given to us who merit nothing, love that asks of us nothing in return, only that we serve Him with glad hearts. Write to the seven churches that are located in Asia Minor John is instructed. He is to write a book describing all that he sees and hears from the glorious revelation from the risen exalted Lord who is the beginning and the end. As I have said the seven churches spoken of here is indicative of the whole of the church age including the present age and the future. It has much to do with you and me and how we respond to what God the Holy Spirit would have us do, and our relationship towards God our Father and our Lord the risen Christ the Son of the Father is dependant on us making the right choices on whether we get closer to God or move further away the choice is ours. God will continue to love us because that intrinsically is His very nature. We can move away if we so desire but there will be a terrible price to pay in the long term. As we read further into the early chapters of Revelation we will see that by looking at what has happened to these churches in the present day that we find ourselves living in will be a very real warning to all of us who are the saints of God to keep our hearts and minds continually fixed on the mind and heart of Jesus Christ our Saviour the Lord the living God
Our risen Lord is the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, that is to say, He was before the beginning and He is after the last of the end meaning He is eternal the eternal God. As such he instructs John to write to the seven churches to remind them of the fact of his absolute authority over them. They each represent the condition of his one church visible and invisible of every age universal worldwide of which He is Lord. Including the local churches. Jesus Christ is your Lord and He is my Lord
12 The prophet turned to see what direction the voice had come from that was speaking to him. Once he had turned he saw seven golden candlesticks.However; these are stands that hold oil lamps.All of them stand for the seven churches.Zech.ch.4.2.
13 While John was looking he saw in the midst of these seven candle sticks one like the Son of man. The Son of Man. Jesus Christ while on earth was often talking to the crowds and his apostles as one who was the son of man in an earthly sense because he was identifying himself with mankind. But this was his title in the Old Testament that was still to come true while he was still on the earth as an ordinary man because that is how the crowds viewed him as did the religious and political leaders of his day. Now in heaven it is a title that is peculiarly his through his suffering of pain and death an ignomious one at that of crucifixion on a cross. Jesus becomes the Christ the anointed Son of God no longer Jesus of Nazareth as he was commonly known. Through his pain and death and resurrection he is exalted and glorified the perfect man because he came through death as he had too in order to save those of humanity who are his even although it is not God‘s will that any should perish.
Daniel the prophet saw this in a vision 530 years before Christ came into the world as a man. A vision God had given him.Cf Dan.ch.7:13 and ch.10:16.Our Risen Glorified Lord is in these passages described as king,priest,and judge of his churches or church you and I.
14. Ff. . In the rest of the verse in the description of our Lord as the Son of man he is described as having eyes like a flame of fire. He is described as having eyes like lamps of fire in Daniel. Dan ch10:6.Like his father he is a fire. A consuming fire consuming all that is before Him that has not been covered by his blood. The blood he shed on the cross at Calvary was for the whole of mankind but be aware of the terrible and dreadful reprisals for those who do not accept his shed blood in order to cover their sin and rebellion his fiery furnace will consume such rebels. Seek the Lord while he is to be found in the year of grace and jubilee.
We are all living in the end times which began at our Lord’s first coming the time awaits his second coming but before that there will be the Rapture when the glorified Christ will come for his church.
A fiery furnace has such an intense heat that it can burn all that lies before it totally destroying whatever it is or it can purify making it perfect. God the Holy Spirit does the exact same for those of us who belong to our risen Lord. John continues to describe the Son of man’s appearance\ in verse 16.He had in his right hand seven stars. These seven stars represent the angels assigned to help the churches to overcome evil in its spiritual warfare or the pastors of these churches. Now we come to a frightening and dreaded vision of what appeared to be coming out of the mouth of the Lord. A sharp two edged sword. I have no idea of what must have been going through the mind of John when he saw this awesome vision before him. One of shock and horror mixed with admiration coupled with the love he held in his heart for his Lord. The sword has two purposes it cuts away the sin of the church by bringing in the grace of God or cut it off altogether from the
When Isaiah speaks of the Lord in chapter 41 and at the Lord, the first, and with the last; I am he. The prophet was speaking of our Lord Jesus Christ. He himself was not aware of the fact that he was doing so because the promised Messiah was still to come and the title of being the first and the last is for one who is to come.
Jesus Christ now as both man and God when applying God. He underlines the eternal deity that belongs to Him exclusively as the Son of God.
The first man without sin to conquer death. Jesus is speaking of his perfect humanity. A human being who knew no sin and as a human did not commit any sin of any kind. When speaking to John this was the logic behind his reasoning with him. I am he that liveth, and was dead; Jesus as the eternal God can’t die but as a man he could and did. However; when he died as a man it was a new beginning for Jesus. He is now the risen glorified exalted new man who is alive for evermore. The first fruits of his brethren which are us who are his people. He is now the Christ the Anointed Son of God. God’s Messiah. While on earth he was known to the majority apart from his eleven apostles as Jesus of Nazareth, but now He is Jesus the Christ glorified in heaven. Man and God in one person our risen glorified Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus is God and man. As the first born a perfect man rising from the ashes of the dead given the keys of the doors to hell and death. Those who do not bow to his authority will go through these doors. What a dreadful and awesome bleak future awaits them. Set before them is everlasting anguish and torment.
19 things…seen…are…shall be. Here we have an outline of the book of Revelation:a,the things John saw ch.1;b,the things that are now chs.2-3;c,the things that will take place in the future [i.e;events preceding and following Christ’s coming to earth,chs.4-22.] Page 2055 of the LIFE in the SPIRIT STUDY Bible KJV.
20 Our Risen Glorified Lord now explains the mystery behind seven stars and the seven golden candle sticks which are actually seven lamps. Seven stars are seven angels for the seven churches. The seven golden candlesticks or lamps are the seven churches. Each of them describes the condition of the visible, invisible church of our Lord Jesus Christ world wide past, present, and future. We are members of the body of our Lord Jesus Christ his church universal, visible, and invisible. He is the head of the body which is His church. A people called out to serve Him not denominations.
The Risen Glorified Christ’s Instructions to the Seven Churches
Instructions to the church at Ephesus.2:1-7
1 John reminds the believers in
John is speaking about the son of man his Lord and our Lord but as the son of man I believe there is something really significant of what Christ as the Son of man is trying to say to us through his servant the prophet. The golden candlesticks are the churches which is you and me and Jesus Christ who had become like one of us now the perfect man is ruling over us because of his work upon the cross on our behalf has the authority as the Son of man and Son of God to make decisions over us individually whether we like it or not that is his brief .Of course he loves us and by his grace we have received freely salvation but we have a responsibility to love him in return and be obedient to his calling upon our lives. He suffered more than any other man even up to the point of death no one can accuse him of not knowing of an earthly existence and of the worse kind. You and I have to take on board what he has to say to each of us and put it into practice.
2 Jesus recommends them and gives them encouragement for what they are doing he knows of their works as he does with us their labour and ours. Patience too. Taking nothing to do with evil company. We are to leave our former friends and associates perhaps even family if what they say and do is to entice us back to our former way of life. The church at
The danger is that it still exists. There are churches who follow this line of thought. How can anyone who holds this type of concept have any meaningful relationship with God for them he may as well be dead. According to them he is powerless and is not able to affect anything.
3Underlining what has been said in the previous verse
4 No wonder our Lord says to them you have left your first love. None of them have a meaningful relationship with God as He intended it to be.
There are many of our brothers and sisters who believe they have a relationship with God and to a certain extent they do but they do not have a real close relationship with him in which they can speak to him and he to them they still believe he is there. Can you imagine praying to God every night with out waiting for him to answer you and you do this for years how frustrating.Many,many of God’s people still do this and they need our prayers as we need theirs. I was like that for decades even after I had been to a
Notice the phrase thy works he still blesses them see verse 2.But there is no increase Jesus still gives the ability to do it the tragedy was there was no power behind it. God gave me the ability t0 preach and teach and I had been a pastor and the Spirit of God was with me in my former years after college but there was never any end product. Those who heard me preach and teach saw God the Holy Spirit manifesting Himself in me and even when I gave the praise and glory to God I still did not fully understand those were my earlier formative years after I had graduated.
I had taken Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour some forty years past and had received adult baptism but in a lot of ways I still remained as an infant I believe that there are those who are reading this will fall into this catergory.Like I was they have given their lives to Jesus Christ and make no mistake He is indeed their Lord and like me they think they know him but only in part as indeed the Christians to whom John writes to in Ephesus.
Its never too late ask Jesus to reveal Himself to you in a very personal way you can pray for this wherever you are. He will speak to you in his still small quiet voice manifest himself to you in dreams and visions and even send angels to you to minister to your needs. All you have to do is love him with your whole life because then you will truly have an intimate knowledge of the love of Jesus Christ for you and the wonderment of that which passes all earthly things including earthly wisdom. Do not rely on the me but on God the Holy Spirit who rests inside of you and you will do God’s work in and through Him. The key is knowing him the Lord Jesus Christ as the love of your life. Not intellectual wisdom that you give mental consent to although that is important but more importantly to love him with your spirit that is deep down inside of you and with all of your heart for who he is. When you do this you will find that nothing that happens in our earthly journey is of any real consequence. We desire and look forward to the day when we go to be with our risen Lord who loves us so much. In the meantime we can enjoy our relationship with him and he with us as we do the work he has sent us to do. We must not fall into the way of the saints at
5 Jesus Christ is always the good shepherd full of compassion, mercy, and love towards his people. Time after time he gives his people the opportunity to repent from their actions because he is a merciful and loving God. In substance he says to these saints in the church at Ephesus come back to me. Show repentance towards me and do the works I have given to you and be obedient to what I say. Obedience to the still small voice! Obedience in love directly towards our Redeemer the Lord Jesus Christ. Unswerving love from our hearts towards Him nothing less will do.
Unless true repentance is seen the Lord will remove the local church from his kingdom when he removes the golden candlestick from it. The seven churches of which the church at Ephesus was one no longer exist as they were in what is now modern day Turkey. Turkey is a Islamic state.
Ephesus still exists as a tourist attraction when my wife and I were on holiday in Turkey we took a bus tour to go and see it nobody lives there anymore and its probably been like that for hundreds of years. How sad and a real warning not to let our love grow cold towards our Saviour and Lord the Lord Jesus Christ.
6.You cannot engage in nor practice sexual immorality as taught by the Nicolaitans with the view that our Christian freedom covered such acts.
The N.T.quite clearly states that such people who practice this habitually will not enter the Kingdom Of God.(1.Cor.6:9-10)Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God ?Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor affeminate,nor abusers of themselves with mankind.10Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners,shall inherit the Kingdom of God.
God hates the lie that we can enjoy the immorality of the world whatever it is and still go into his Kingdom. Certainly not! An unforgivable heresy. To hate what God hates is the character of himself in those who are his people and who love him.(Ps.139:21.)Do not I hate them. O Lord,. that hate thee? And am not I grieved with those who rise up against thee? cf (Prov.8:13)
7. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches,To listen to what God the Holy Spirit would have to say to you and me .Only He can help us to please the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Once you have heard what the Spirit has commanded you to go and do whatever it is you then go and do it.Jesus spoke on this very important subject.( Mk.7:16) If any one has ears to hear,let him hear.The responsibility of listening to what God would say to each of us and being obedient to the voice of the Spirit lies very much with us no one else.The Risen Glorified Christ makes this quite clear to John as He reiterates these words in this verse to the apostle and now a prophet.The gospel of the Kingdom of God lies very much with you and me infact we are responsible to meet this challenge by living it out in our lives through every breath of life that God would give to us aided and abetted in God the Holy Spirit who abides within our own spirit and body. He and only he can help us to overcome our fleshly immorality. To him who overcomes underlines the point of overcoming but we have not been left to do this on our own God the Holy Spirit is our helper. All of the saints of God are overcomers but there will be those who will overcome everything that the devil will throw against them.Persecution, oppression, ridicule, murder.inprisonment, expulsion, and when they do this the world will see the fruits of their faith. The chief cornerstone of revelation.
The risen Lord promises to them who 0vercome the promise that he will give to them the fruit of the tree 0f life so that they can eat from it. Spiritual food to sustain them throughout all eternity. Immortality for all who believe and who are obedient to our Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ. I marvel at this its beyond human comprehension that Jesus Christ the Son of God and of man should die for a hell deserving rebellious sinner like me and wash me in his precious blood cleanse me from sin as if I had never sinned the blood that poured from his broken body that hung from the cross for my sake and was raised to life by God his Father. An incredible weight of debt that I owe to my risen glorified Lord and yet because of the love he pours out on me he does not see it that way.
Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone of revelation he it is through his Spirit helps and enables us to overcome impossible and overwhelming odds. Is anything to difficult for the Lord.
Even greater and majestic if that were at all possible to our own tiny worldly intellects although Christ is changing them to his own mind set and is continuing the process is the fact that we will be set in the midst of the paradise of God. An awesome statement of the great love which God the Father gives to his people through his Son Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour the perfect man and glorious sovereign ruler over all things. You and I who are the disciples of Jesus Christ belong to these people. How magnificent and wonderful that the risen Lord should love us.
Paradise is the Persian word for garden. Taking this into consideration what we then have on view is the garden of God which is indeed a heavenly paradise. Suggesting perhaps the Garden of Eden in which God and man once enjoyed a beautiful soft hearted and tender relationship with each other before the fall of man. But will be enjoyed again once the Kingdom of God is established upon a new heaven and a new earth. After all we have done and said God will do this for us who were guilty of rebellion and sin against him who have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour. As an earthly mortal do I really understand this with the whole of my heart and my being and appreciate with the deepest gratitude that runs down into my soul all that my Lord has done and continues to do for you and I because of the love and mercy he extends to us. My mortality stops me from understanding that which is immortal to love him I have to say yes he demands my devotion my life and my adoration. Who else can give eternal life? Not only for that but because of who he is. Amen
The visible and invisible church of Christ persecuted.2:8-11
(8) John is now instructed to write to the angel of the church of Smyrna. The circumstances there were completely different to those in Ephesus. In the world in which we live it is openly hostile to our Lord because the devil thinks it is his domain and to a certain extent for the moment that is the case but God is still breaking down his strongholds through his people.
Smyrna was a very beautiful city with tremendous wealth and richly run commercial businesses bringing in prosperity to the city the biggest part of the population was however Jewish.
In contrast the Christians of Smyrna were very poor and under great persecution from the citizens of the city.
Notice how our Lord describes himself in the next part of the verse to his beloved saints in Smyrna. He is the First and the Last in other words he continues to be who he has been with no beginning and no end as the eternal God but as the perfect man he is the first and the last existing forever . There was no one like him before and no one like him since. Who was dead, and came to life. The risen glorified Christ is and was and is truly man. He now continues to live in eternity as one like the Son of man
A man such as we and because of that he can enter all of our experiences. Had he been left with the dead as a man then there would have been no point in his coming God is dead as a man would mean there would be no one to intercede on our behalf how dreadful that would be for us! There would be no eternal life only death physical and spiritual for all. You are shocked Christian that I should even think like this before writing it down. I ask you why not? Could it be that we have all slipped into a lethargic mind set and have become dull of hearing and we really do not get excited about these things anymore we have heard it all before. Same old thing.
We have been listening to this for years and the Christians before us in total over two thousand years and Christ has still not come for us. Caught you!
Our ingratitude lack of appreciation selfishness and self centredness no reverence and no respect totally incapable of knowing and realising who God is if this is our mind set then we may as well be dead because we soon will be.
Why do I write like this because it is a wake up call not only for you it is for me also. To be a Christian in these end times is very exciting for the true disciples of Christ our Lord and he is very much in control of the whole situation and you never know exactly what is about to unfold. I tell my own soul get excited about this now. I want to see men, women, and children coming into the Kingdom of God and my God can do it.
All praise honour and glory be to our God who is God in the highest over all to him we give our lives freely in devotion,humility,and love which is our reasonable sacrificial service in which we give gladly.
I am glad to say that our Lord is very much alive because he says of himself at the end of the verse he came to life. More than man but peculiar man as man and God who loves and cherishes us so much so that he as man gave his very life for us so that we could be set free from ourselves and this world at great cost to himself. Brothers and sisters He is with us all of the time in this life and the next. Hallelujah!
We have to put this passage in context in the time and place historically speaking to the first Christians that it was intended for.
There is a great importance and a crucial imperative behind what He says of himself to these saints in the city of Smyrna
Like us they serve the living God. But what do I mean by this only that our bodies are temporary and they are wasting away and no matter how old we get we want to hang on to them even when the Lord has given to us the life span he wants us to live to in this life to do the work he has given us. I am not saying we should want death but we should not fear it.
As we read further into the passage it will become clearer to us and to the saints of Smyrna the reason why our risen Lord introduced himself in the way that he did.
I had said previously the God whom we worship is very much alive.
In order to meet our physical deaths in whatever shape and form that may take we must know the reality of the risen glorified Christ in our earthly lives we must know him as a real living person how else are we going to overcome the temptations, trials, and the testing of our faith in this life when it is not at the point of death.
Naturally our flesh shrinks at the very thought of death we all want to live on forever without tasting physical death. We would all like to think that we can pass from this life to our heavenly abode while we are in our sleep but that will not be the case.
Why am I talking like this well in the case of the saints who lived in the city of Smyrna many of them I believe had already been put to death because of their faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. They would never die for something they did not know or someone they did not know that would be quite insane. What then compelled them to actually allow themselves to be tortured and be put to death in the name of Jesus? This is actually happening to day in different parts of the world and we are expected to do the same. What!.......When we have a personal intimate relationship with Jesus Christ our Lord and we are walking with him every day and we know him as the living God then we need not worry about these things
(9)Jesus speaks with love, sympathy, and compassion to the Christians in Smyrna encouraging them to continue to be faithful to him. I know your works, tribulation.and poverty. They had nothing literally nothing. No food no money no new clothes and yet this is the church that he loves and is pleased with not my words they are his our Lord’s words and the word poverty I believe in reality means that at times they were actually starving persecuted because of their belief and individually personal and collectively a trust in their risen glorified Lord as the King of kings and Lord of lords. An unswerving loyalty and an unshaken belief.
When God’s people have all that they need they become less dependent on him and so the relationship begins to suffer and they become independent and more dependant upon themselves and their own efforts. God is taken out of the picture. Not intentionally. It happens.
Works and tribulation .They were able to do the works he was asking them to do because he was doing it through them .Each of these dear saints had a vibrant living relationship with the risen glorified Christ. He was first in their lives everything else paled into insignificance. Christ the hope of glory first and foremost.
Before I can do anything Christ must come first otherwise it will fail. My heart and my mind including my spirit must belong to the risen Lord unreservedly. He loves me and has given everything of Himself for my freedom including his brutal death upon the cross. Jesus Christ wants me to know Him as He knows me in as much He believes is good for my spirit so that I will not become puffed up with pride.
When I say the Lord of glory must be first it is exactly what He means it to be. Very difficult. You and I still live in the flesh and there is a war that is raging within us our old nature is trying its best to take control of our spirits to try and stop us from living Spirit filled lives and this will continue until we are called home to glory
A wonderful example of this is the saints who belonged to the church of Smyrna they had learnt to submit to God the Holy Spirit with the whole of their lives and I am not saying it was easy but they done it proof that it can be done.
The very truth of their witness and testimony to the love they showed to their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and for those around them including their enemies prompted our Saviour to say to them. But you are rich. Certainly not the riches of this world because they had nothing. It reminds me of the man who was absolutely obsessed with gathering riches for himself when he had gathered everything and thought he was going to live a life of ease it was then time for his soul to appear before God. Had he turned to God and had given everything of himself it could have been a different story.
It is not what a man possesses that makes him who he is he is that already. You could have everything and still be the most miserable person there is totally concentrated upon yourself and obviously you do not need to be rich to be like that. Focus upon Christ and let Him take control as these early Christians did. The rich will not get into heaven if they trust in that more than God.
So what did our Lord mean when he said you are rich when everything in their earthly lives contradicted what he had just said. They had been given riches in heaven incorruptible because of their love and obedience towards him for eternity. The riches that Christ is speaking of here is contained in one phrase the crown of life
Imagine when you and I step into the Kingdom of heaven and we have proved ourselves worthy of it our risen Lord says to each of us well done good and faithful servant because you have proved to be faithful right up to the end of your earthly life I reward you with the crown of life.
Continuing to speak to the saints at Smyrna Jesus says to them…..and I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not. Blasphemy is a very serious charge and carries with it the death penalty of one’s own soul.
To attribute the miraculous work of God the Holy Spirit to the devil is the unpardonable sin for which there is no forgiveness.
Not my words the words of the risen Lord. Listen to them. (Matt.12:31) Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men,but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. A very clear and precise warning to those who ignore the voice of the Spirit continuously and by so doing harden their hearts so completely that they are no longer able to hear the Spirit’s voice.
So wicked are these Jews and because of that our risen Lord describes them as a Synagogue of Satan. It is because of their great wickedness that they have fallen into the hands of the Devil.
The devil will do anything to stop us from being faithful to God. When things go against us when we are being obedient to God our trust in God is being tested. Jesus warns these saints that because of their obedience to him some of them will be thrown into prison and be put to the test to see whether they loved him or not. They would suffer tribulation for ten days Ten days are symbolic for a season. A number of them would meet a brutal and physical death at the hands of their captors. This is what is meant by the words be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life.
To live a life for Christ is exactly what it means not when it suits us must be whole hearted or not at all. We have to be all that he was and for some it could mean martyrdom a narrow road that leads to eternal life. But He has given each of us the precious gift of God the Holy Spirit to live lives obedient and pleasing to God. The alternative is no alternative to die and go and live with the devil in the fiery furnace for eternity. Not much of a choice.
(11) Again a warning that we all must at all times listen to what the Spirit would say to us he and only He will enable us to be overcomers and avoid the second death from which there is no coming back.
