Revelation 1:1
"The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John."
-- (King James Version)
"The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John."
-- (King James Version)
“The Revelation -- the unveiling, the taking the lid off of, and the revealing of -- Jesus Christ,
which GOD gave unto Him to show as a spectacle to His slaves, things which must occur with suddenness, haste, and brevity in swift and rapid succession;
and He marked it out, and made it
into a Sign,
sending (it) through the angel of Him to His slave, John.”
-- (Alternate Word Pictures with Reiterations, i.e., translation mine)
-- (Alternate Word Pictures with Reiterations, i.e., translation mine)
The word “revelation”
in the earliest manuscripts, found in the Greek, is (H)apokalupsis
in the above Revelation 1:1. The
breath mark of the modern translation is the mark of a backward apostrophe,
which to us translates as “a” or “the”.
The earliest Greek Christian manuscripts were written, as far as we
know, like the signs and statues of the `Roman Empire in which they were found,
in capital (Greek) letters. The word Apokalupsis
is rendered as Apocalypse in the English. The root of this is kalupsis, from the
Greek word of “kaluptein,” which means “to cover”. The prefix, “apo”, means “to take off
or away from”. Thus, “to take the lid
off or uncover.”
In the Old
Testament, the related word is Teman, which is associated with the Sabbath
covered dish called the Toemin.
This dish is prepared prior to the evening of the Sabbath’s
commencement, and gains its flavor as it continues to cook for the entire
Sabbath evening and next day. In Habbakuk
3:2, when GOD Almighty comes from Teman,
the Torah tells us in Deuteronomy 33:2 that this location is Sinai and
Mount Seir. In other words, from the
biblical perspective, which is Jerusalem’s perspective in the geographical
sense, the Revelation of GOD comes from the South and to the Right
Hand of Jerusalem, the same location in which Christ was crucified on March
23, 30 A.D. (during Passover from 9am – 3pm).
Therefore, the
Apocalypse or the Revelation is that which allows us to see what GOD is cooking
up in these last days, or that which is in store for man, while at the same
time granting us greater insight into who and what we are, through GOD our
Savior Jesus Christ. GOD shows this to
those who know his ways (such as the Sabbath, or the Sabbath Rest to which all
saints by faith enter through belief into Christ), and He signifies (semanen) this through his
angel. Semanen is a variation of
“semaino”, which is used in
John’s Gospel in the way of “making the indication clear,” even if the
understanding does not immediately follow (re: John 12:33, 18:32, 21:19).
The action of
the events of the Revelation must occur with speed, not the length of time from
the Revelation until the events themselves.
So when the events come to pass, there is “tachei”, (from “tachos”):
“A sense of dread of the swiftness - - the haste - - the suddenness or brevity
by which the events pass one after the other after the other.”
Jesus assures those of you who
will either be mistreated or die in the 7 years of the Tribulation and Great
Tribulation, that you will be avenged by the Almighty with great speed and
haste when He does go about that task (Luke 18:8).
So
from the very beginning of “Revelation”, we are given a very clear indication
of what to expect.
+++GOD is going
to take the lid off of those hidden things of the ages, and
reveal them to whosoever will accept and
believe on the LORD Jesus.
+++This
activity will cause a boiling over or a reaction by those desiring to
draw back into ignorance, those who do not wish to know the
Truth,
who wish no part of GOD’s rest or His plan for the ages.
+++ The
destruction of the wicked will come as swiftly and as suddenly as
that part of the stew dish that boils
over and drips down and drops into
the fire.
+++ The things
to follow, i.e. the 7 Churches, shall be for a sign: a fulfillment in
the now, and in the future age (i.e.,
over the next 2,000 years).
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Revelation
1:2
"Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw."
-- (KJV).
"Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw."
-- (KJV).
“Who bears witness and record of the Word of GOD,
and the witness and record of Jesus Christ,
as much as even he saw and was able to perceive.”
-- (AWPR)
-- (AWPR)
This book was
written by the Apostle John, the brother of James, and one of the three “sons
of Thunder”: Christ’s most inner circle, of whom Peter was after the allegory
of the Father, James of the Holy Spirit, and John after the manner of Christ
the Son Himself (as it were). According
to the third generation witness of Irenaeus, who learned from the bishop that
John ordained for Smyrna in circa February 70 A.D. (whom was called
Polycarp). Irenaeus tells us that it is the testimony of John himself and of
apostles and elders of the Church who knew the apostles, that the Revelation of
John preceded John’s stay in Ephesus as the head of the Church there – which
remained uninterrupted for 44 years until his death in ca. March, 98 A.D.
The difference
between Revelation, and the Gospel of John -- (written in ca. August 57 A.D.,
following the June 29 deaths of Peter and Paul in Rome) -- was that the Gospel
of John was scribed by the hand of Andrew as dictated by John in the presence
of other Apostles. The Gospel of John
therefore expresses a more educated Greek usage than the rough use of Koine
Greek in Revelation as written by the hand of John. Similar comparison can be made of Tertius,
who penned Paul’s letter to the Romans with that of Paul’s own letter to the
Galatians by his own hand.
John writes that
he “bears record” and “saw” the things which he will record in the Greek’s
aorist indicative active for these two parenthetical activities. When the Greek of these two parenthetically
are examined closely, we can see that this means that the Revelation is a
singular and non-continuous event; and that the book must be digested and
interpreted from the bias of it being a
believable and reliable true witness: as not only what was seen, but what we
can know intuitively as fact.
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Revelation 1:3
"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."
--(KJV)
"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."
--(KJV)
“The blessings
of the Heavenly Kingdom, he reading -- and those hearing -- the words of the
Prophecy, and keeping the things in it, having been written, for ‘the Time’ -- the
Period of Opportunity, -- is close (upon us).”
-- (AWPR)
-- (AWPR)
“The Time”
is an expression that was spoken of by the demons who wailed in lament upon the
Most High YHVeH Messiah, as they cried out as if unjustly and prematurely
visited, saying,
‘What have we to do with thee, Jesus, Son of the Most High, art thou
here to torment us before THE TIME?”
(Matthew 8:29 and Mark 5:7 combined).
That “Time” is the Day of YHVeH, when He will
judge the wicked upon the earth, and then the fallen ones of the spirit realm,
to cast them into the torments of the Last Judgment.
The blessing of
the spiritual birth into eternal life awaits those, whosoever will, who will
accept and believe into YHVeH Messiah, Jesus the Christ, and believe into Him
as their Lord and Savior. The words of
this book contain a great Heavenly expectation and hope for those who are His,
for He has said,
And where I am, there also shall My servant
be.” (John 12:26)
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Revelation 1:4
"John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;"
-- (KJV).
"John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;"
-- (KJV).
“John, to the 7 Churches
which are the “called out ones” in
Asia:
Benevolent grace and favor with rejoicing to you,
and Shalom (Peace and wholeness to your mind, body, and spirit)
from the Being, and (He) who was
and who is coming to live and abide (amongst us), and from the 7 Spirits which
are in the countenance and before the Eye and Face (of the Father) -- in front
of His Throne.”
-- (AWPR).
-- (AWPR).
This verse is probably the first
verse written by John when he wrote to the 7 Churches of Asia. The previous three verses were probably added
by John later, as the copy of the Revelation was disseminated to the bishops of
other provinces beyond Asia during John’s lifetime. Irenaeus tells us that this activity was so,
( in his examination of the accuracy of the number 666 in regards to the man of
sin), as one particular copy of the Revelation of John that went out beyond
Asia had caused confusion when a copyist’s middle letter of 666 somehow became
smudged or obscured, so as to possibly read a 616. The reader had, at that time, the option of
either contacting any of the 7 addressed Asian Churches for verification, or
they could go to Ephesus and ask the Apostle John himself. That is, they could
ask the living source who saw the Apocalypse if he meant 666 or not (Irenaeus,
Against Heresies, 5.30.3).
The salutation
of John is rabbinic in nature, and brings not only a prophetical abstract
greeting from GOD like Isaiah 6:3, which saying is uttered by the chosen
4 four-faced Cherubim who surround GOD’s
Throne; but it also carries a two-fold new revelation: the testimony of the
Almighty as the subsumation of the past present and future tenses of the verb
“to be” in wider and more plain usage than in Exodus 3:14, for
example; and the insight that there are
a certain 7 Spirits which are standing
before the Throne of GOD.
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Revelation 1:5
"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"
-- (KJV).
"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"
-- (KJV).
“And
from Jesus Christ, the (One) who
has seen and can bring to light the Testimony, He who is able to win over and
persuade belief with confidence, He who is before the birth of Creation -- as
its Pre-eminent One from out of the dead and slain corpses, and the First and
Pre-eminent Ruler of the kings of the Earth, unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins
in his own blood .”
-- (AWPR)
-- (AWPR)
YHVeH Messiah, the faithful
martyr, who was crucified on March 26 of A.D. 30 on Pesach
(Passover Day), and died at the same time of the High Priest’s sacrifice at
3pm. At which time, YHVeH Messiah cried
out, the earth shook, and the 4 inch thick Temple veil was rent from top to
bottom as if by the invisible hands of GOD.
According to the Roman historian Thallus in circa 52 A.D., there
was criticism of the noon to 3pm darkness that affected Rome as well as Israel
on that Passover in A.D. 30 when Christ was crucified, to the effect
that what was experienced was a solar eclipse.
This happened, to Thallus’ discredit, when the moon was full and
opposite of any such possible alignment as Thallus later propagandized. A fourth century record which is said to
have been the papyrus of Pontius Pilate’s report to Rome from the period, says
that the moon was full and turned to blood, and the stars withheld their light
during this mid-day event. To which
reaction, Tertullian records in circa 200 A.D., how that Tiberius
Caesar, upon receiving this report, sought to make Christ into a Roman honored
deity, with statues and a temple erected to the risen Christ. But the senate, Tertullian records from the
court documents, rejected this because Christ had not been made known to them
previously, and since he was no longer about for them to inquire (when actually
it was their hatred for Tiberius), the senate would not grant their required
approval, and so infuriated Tiberius that he threatened the senators with death
if they dared persecute those who followed this Christ of Israel.
The word “firstborn”
of the dead, in the Greek is “prototokos”. Its use in Colossians 1:15 means not
only the very First in Pre-eminence, but also he that is “before the birth” of
all Creation; throwing back into the idea and concept of Micah 5:2,
“whose origins are of old, even everlasting (or eternal).” Thus, before the birth of all Creation, it
had been fore-ordained that YHVeH would leave Heaven from the Oneness He
eternally shared as being One GOD with LORD YHVeH and YHVeH SPIRIT, and come to
a new and physical extension of Himself as the (Alef) A- DAM, or in the Hebrew
Gematria, as “the GOD of Blood”, and collect a holy people unto Himself who
glorified Him out of their own free will and a pure heart, rather than another
people simply being pre-fabricated to do so as the Cherubim and Angels were.
Jesus is also
the “Archon” of all the kings of the earth. He has permanent status as the governor, the
first in pre-eminence of all the nations, which status is reserved to YHVeH
alone (e.g. Psalm 22:27-28). The
Caesars, who ruled as emperors in the First Century B.C./A.D., called
themselves as “first citizens” of the Roman Empire, and their use effected the
same connotation.
As for "unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins
in his own blood,” compare this with:
“For GOD so loved the world, that
He gave His only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting {eternal}
life.” (John 3:16)
“That which we have seen and heard
declare we unto you, that you also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship (is) with the
Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ…if we walk in the light, as He is in the
light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His
Son cleanses us from all sin.”
(I John 1:3-4, 7)
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Revelation 1:6
"And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen."
-- (KJV)
“To us, (His) love and joy (beyond human
description). And having washed us
entirely (from head to foot) from our sins and errors, as living persons in His
living blood, (He has) made us -- and continues to make us -- kings and priests
to the GOD and Father of Him. To Him is
the thought, the origin, and the expression of recognition of glory, and the
manifest power - might - and Dominion, into the Ages of the Ages, forever and
ever. Amen.”
-- (AWPR)
Genesis 35:11
“And GOD said unto him {Jacob, who
is also called Israel},
I (am) GOD Almighty: be fruitful
and multiply; a nation and a company of
nations shall be out of thee, and kings shall come out of thy
loins.”
Exodus 19:5-6a
“Now therefore, if you will obey My Voice indeed, and keep My
Covenant, then you shall be a special treasure unto Me above all people: for all the Earth is Mine.
And you shall be unto
Me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.”
The Promise of
YHVeH to us, as believers who heed His Voice or Word or Messenger (whom is
Messiah), that we would be valued more highly than all the other inhabitants of
the earth. The Kingdom promise is
kingship (or dominion) and priesthood (a washing away of all impurity and
filth). To those who wish to be
destroyed as rebellious, they are less valued; and there comes a point in the
Tribulation and Great Tribulation when the LORD says of these who hate Him,
“And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men,
because they have sinned against YHVeH:
and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the
dung.” (Zephaniah 1:17)
When
we speak of GOD, we speak of ONE BEING made of a singular energy or dynamic or
substance. This is an allegory for us to
understand in our finite minds. That ONE
BEING called GOD manifests Himself as a Father, Mother, and Son, even though
GOD has NO sex to speak of, the physical form of sex (male / female) is simply
an outward sign or manifestation of the spiritual in the likeness of the
spiritual characteristic it is pre-designed to represent. To us, the nuclear family is the best
allegory of GOD to man’s finite understanding.
However, it would be after the manner of Adam and Eve and an only son,
made of the same substance, thinking the same thoughts, with same goals and
perspectives on every thing, but having three differing governing roles in the
Creation – Formation – and Governing of the Universe. Though man will never attain godhood, GOD is
willing to give man an exalted and privileged status in His Creation that can
be likened to such a co-existent state that is society limited and restricted
to this planet from which we came. The
Temple in Jerusalem is said, by the ancient rabbis, to have had the Ark of the
Covenant and GOD’s presence rest on the very spot where man began his
existence. That is, the rock on which
base the Holy of Holies lay: {eben
shethiyah, the three finger high foundation stone of drinking (found in the
feminine), though now – as then -- a hard solid base or rock from which the
waters will flow as it serves as the base for the literal Throne of GOD in the
Kingdom of GOD (Ezekiel 47:1ff., Revelation 22:1)}. This was not only the place of Abraham’s
offering up of his “only” son of miraculous conception; but the location where
our father Adam was first formed out of the ground. This is also where the Throne or Seat of the
Messiah shall rest during the Millennial Reign, showing His Dominion as the
Second Adam and as greater than the First Adam (which is why that location is
so important to GOD and us).
In
Gematria, Eben divided becomes Alef-BeN (GOD’s Son) SheTH-YaH (the Sixth [spirit] of YaH). Thus, man shares and inherits the 6 (six)
from GOD as after the likeness or characteristic of that particular Spirit of
the 7 Spirits of GOD who is the Third Person of the Trinity, for it was said of
Messiah the “Image of the Father” in Genesis 1:26:
“Let us make man in Our Image, after
Our likeness.”
And in Genesis
1:27 it says,
“So GOD created man in His Image,
in the Image of GOD created He him;
male and female created He them.”
For in Genesis
2:7,
“The LORD GOD formed man
of the dust of the ground,
and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life;
and man became a living soul.”
And Jeremiah in Lamentations
4:20, by the Spirit shows us that this One is our Messiah, and destined for
capture prior to the Cross, identifies Him as the origin of our souls, saying:
“ YHVeH Messiah, the breath of
our nostrils,
was taken in their pits, of whom we
said,
Under His shadow we shall live among the
nations.”
It is on this
basis, that we who have entered into Christ Jesus and his once and forever work
of atonement that knows no time or boundaries, become like YHVeH Messiah our
Creator, as kings and priests before the Father to the glory and good pleasure
of GOD. Amen.
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Revelation
1:7
"Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which
pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so,
Amen."
-- (KJV)
“Behold, he cometh with clouds;
and
every eye shall see Him, and they (also) which pierced Him: and all who are
human upon or below the Earth shall wail with deep and hysterical lament,
striking themselves, because of Him.
Even so, Amen.”
-- (AWPR)
The
word “clouds” in the Scripture has to do with people. Waters are also used as an allegory for
people in Scripture as well. The clouds
are not only literal in the physical sense, but also take on the spiritual as
well, since spiritual beings such as angels and cherubim will accompany Messiah
at His return to Earth. Further, for
“every eye” to see, or to have vision -
- even the blind, and those in hell beneath in the deepest chasms of the earth
- - it will have to be a spiritual manifestation that transcends all time and
space, to where all obstacles are removed from the line of vision or the
perception thereof by some means. The
Greek word for “eye” in the Revelation 1:7 is the same root word
from which we get Ophthalmology and Ophthalmologist from. Ophthalmos has to do NOT only with a
physical gazing, but with a mental perception and understanding of the
gaze. Its interaction with the heart
will cause many to not only wail (Gk.
Koptontai) but also, many will cut
themselves off or down by committing suicide in an attempt to escape the
anguish of the heart and soul, but will not be able to escape the anguish, even
in death. There will be nowhere to run
or to hide, for even hell shall become naked before YHVeH Messiah at His third and final return
in which His feet stand upon the Mount of Olives and it cleaves in two,
creating a valley traversing east to west through its midst (Zechariah 14:4). Even so, says John, let it so be. That is, AMEN!!!
In
the Tribulation and in the Great Tribulation also, one of the lies spread will
be the invisible and secret return of Messiah to Earth. They will say He is in the desert, in this
cave, or upon that mountain, or where ever.
Don’t believe it for a moment!
“Every eye”: that means the dead
AND the living will be made aware of His Coming in such a way, that no human
being shall ever forget this experience, even to the forevers of eternity. So hang on to Revelation 1:7, and do
not be deceived by the cunnings and crafty trickeries of the Enemy upon those
who have not known any better or been properly instructed in this matter. Now you know.
Be confident, and rest in Messiah and upon this verse.
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Revelation 1:8
"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."
-- KJV, AWPR
There
are several trains of thought going on here in this verse, all of them dynamic,
and all of them happening at once. If
you have ever seen the tape of an electro-encentrograph (EEG) that records the
various levels of your brain activity simultaneously on differing wave lengths,
you’ll see various wave patterns simultaneously occurring
Many
of the Christians to which this book was written in the near term, in A.D.
53 (following the Ephesian uproar),
were Hellenized peoples. That is, the
Ephesians were immersed in Greek culture, in Greek language, in Greek history,
and in Greek based bias. To the Greek,
all relevant history began with a man called Prometheus. His daughter Ceres, was married to Pharaoh
Osiris of Egypt, and became known as Isis.
Her eldest son was called Horus, but worshipped also by the Greeks as
Apollo. Her grand-daughter, possibly
Nefertiti (if Egyptian history can be accurately traced), was worshipped as
Artemis, or Diana of the Ephesians.
Ephesus is one of the 7 cities with the presence of Christ’s Church, to
which congregation this Revelation was (in the near term) addressed.
According to the
ancient Greeks, Ceres (alias Isis and
alias IO), is called the origin of all Greek history and of life. The mysticism was in that by calling
Ceres (or Isis) IO, one drew a
line like so /, and then placed the circle of eternity in front of it like
so: /O. This the ancient Greeks called IO,
identifying it as Artemis, and said “all history or life begins here”, because
that, after it had been a thriving satellite of the Hyksos of Egypt and was
destroyed by a tidal cataclysm when the Jews departed Egypt under Moses; only a
few generations later, the marriage of Ceres to Osiris allowed Egypt to pour
money like water into the backwater devastated hill-country, and raise it
culturally and militarily into world prominence.
The
Zealots of the Jews put forth the superman theory based on the IO, as it were,
of Abraham. It was as if all history
began only in this superman of faith, the man of the promise, whom GOD called
his friend, and gave him a name that would appear to grant future dominion over
the nations (i.e., the Gentiles).
Through the influence of Greek history and mythology following the
Alexandrian conquests, the doctrine was accepted that through Abraham the promise
was given, and through Moses the contract was confirmed, but that the
beginnings of eternity or IO was started in Abraham, even as the Greeks such a
beginning in Isis. They looked away from
their GOD and worshipped the name of their ancestor like the nations who
deified their own ancestors as well.
In
the above verse of Revelation 1:8, we see, that by stating that He is
the Alpha and Omega, the Almighty is telling us that He is the True Origin of
Time and eternity, the extreme beginning and extreme ending. The use of arche (beginning) and telos (ending) in the Greek,
fortifies that very concept.
Thus, the LORD exalts Himself above every deity, idol, man, or woman
that seeks to be called (or just plain is called) “an origin”: whether through man’s own folly or foolish
deception, or by any other means.
The
use of Kurios for “LORD” in the Greek, is defined here as being the same
as “YHVeH”, the actual tetragrammaton name of the LORD in the Hebrew. The name of YHVeH subsumes all three tenses
of the verb “to be” in the Hebrew: was
(hayah), is (hoveh), and will be (yiheyeh).
The name YaH is masculine, and taken by both the Father and the
Son. It is combined with VeH, which is
feminine, which is taken by the Holy Spirit.
Thus, when man found his origin in GOD, GOD first created the masculine,
and then the feminine. Why? Because that is the representation of the
NAME of GOD, and GOD said He would make man in His Image, in the One we call
YaH (masc.) – VeH (femn.); whom we believers know as “YHVeH
Messiah, the breath of our nostrils” (Lamentations 4:20): i.e., our
Creator, the Almighty.
The
Alpha in Hebrew is an “alef” (א), and the Omega in Hebrew is the “tav” (ת). Together they form the Hebrew, “eth” or “ath”
(את). When preceding a Abraham, such as “ath”
Abraham in Exodus 2:24, the translation transitions from being “with” into “He
remembered His Covenant, it is with” (cf. Rashi’s Torah Commentary on
Exodus 2:24, Genesis 4:1). The Alef
- Tav then identifies He who is after the form of the High Priest Melchizedek
of Salem (Genesis 14:18), that YHVeH is “He who remembers His Covenant
with”; whether it be Abraham or Isaac or Jacob or King David or you or me. It is He, YHVeH, the Alpha and the Omega, the
Alef and the Tav, who witnesses and seals our Covenant with Him; and this is
done by our faith and trust into Him, through His perfect work on the Cross,
atoning for our sins with His blood. And
by His stripes, we are healed.
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Revelation
1:9
-- (KJV).
“I, John,
who am also your brother and
companion in tribulation, and in the
Kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ,
was on the island that is called
Patmos, for the word of GOD, and for the
testimony of Jesus Christ.”
-- (AWPR).
John
tells the brethren to whom he writes that he is a fellow believer who also
endures the tribulation to which they suffer also. The word “tribulation” here is Thlipsis,
which is a great emotional and mental oppression or persecution, a sense of
walls squeezing in or a millstone grinding down. It has nothing to do with chains, which is “desmos”
in the Greek. Nowhere does John say that
he is a prisoner, or that he was necessarily harmed outwardly. However, the internal stress and the outside
pressures placed on him made him feel as if he were being squeezed out of
measure, or “thlipsis”.
The
tradition is that following the Ephesian Uproar, John was condemned and thrown
as a sacrifice to Diana of the Ephesians into a vat of some sort which
contained boiling oil for his testimony of Jesus Christ and the Word of
GOD. Seeing that John was miraculously unharmed and
almost bathing in the oil, he was extracted and banned by the Governor of Asia
from Asia for as long as the Governor lived.
Needless to say, within two months, the Governor was dead (for Irenaeus
tells us that not even a season, which is three months, distanced John from
Paul over the Church of Ephesus). And
so, it was in this interim period, in September 53, with the future of
his ministry and direction uncertain, that John was compelled and directed by
the LORD to direct his focus back into Asia, and all the major churches
there.
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Revelation 1:10
"I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet," -- (KJV)
“I was in the Spirit in
the LORD’s Day,
and heard from a looking back (as though a very familiar sound from out of the past),
behind me, a Great Voice, as it were a trumpet (blast),”
By
saying he was in the Spirit, John is saying he was deep in prayer. As a Kohen, and it being a high holy day, he
would have been reciting the ritual Temple Prayers of the High Priest. The question, in regards to us, is which Holy
Day prayers was he reciting.
The
trumpet blast was the sound similar to that of the Temple Mount, as if John
were standing upon its opening. This
trumpet was situated in the Temple Mount’s southwest corner. It seemed as if something long ago and far
away, was suddenly brought up close and in the present on the isle of Patmos,
hundreds of miles away in the Aegean. The blast was as though John were
suddenly, once again, upon the mount with the priesthood, preparing with his
father for eventual high office, even the office of the high priest of Israel
itself. The trump behind John was
something of great familiarity to John, in the same exact pitch, in the same
exact way, as it was done in Jerusalem.
This blast permeated John’s entire being, being so loud, he wasn’t sure
if he heard it so much with the ears as he felt it course through his mind and
soul, resonating and jarring him as if suddenly into a place where everything
became surreal.
There
are two days to which the Christian might call the LORD’s Day. One is Firstfruits, which is in the
Spring, and comes either in March or April.
The second is Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year, which usually occurs
in September. It would appear that the
context of this message will be exclusively to the latter, Rosh HaShanah,
because the Revelation is part of the on-going ministry of Jesus Christ which
had already concluded the Spring Festival ministry of Messiah as found in Leviticus
23. YHVeH Messiah had already been
sacrificed on Pesach (Passover), March 23, 30 A.D. at 3pm in the
afternoon (which requirement in Exodus 12:6 reads and “you shall kill it
between the evenings” – that is, between 3 pm and sunset).
Now
sunset is known by the Jews as “Shkias HaChamah”, at which point the sun
sets below the horizon, and yet its light in the sky is still visible. The next day, which begins as evening and
morning (by their reckoning), does not begin until the appearance of three
small stars in the night sky or “Tzias
HaKochavim”. This ends one day and
begins another as according to the rabbinical reckoning. Now, between the evenings should not be
confused with “Bain HaShmoshos”, which means “between suns”. That is the length of time a man has from
sunset to make it home, or to his synagogue before the three stars appear and
the next day or a Sabbath day begins.
When the rabbinic Jews reckon a day, they always reckon 12 hours in a
day, never more and never less. This
will make the hour vary throughout the year as being anywhere from 48 minutes
to 72 minutes, depending on the length of the day’s sunlight.
The
sacrifice of Messiah on Passover precedes the sunset. The Resurrection on Firstfruits (Leviticus 23:10 ff.) becomes the
sunset. And the pouring out of the Holy
Spirit on Shavuot, or Pentecost (Lev. 23:15 ff.), is the time of the
appearance of the revelation of the three small stars in the night sky,
representing the sign of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. However, in the cited verse of Revelation
above, the speaking of a great voice as it were a trumpet blasting, such as
being immediately in front of a lighthouse foghorn, speaks exclusively of a
post-Passover event. The sounding of a
blasting trumpet growing louder and louder and tongues of fire was a Shavuot
(May/June) event in Exodus 19:6 ff.
However, it is Rosh HaShanah which signals the return of GOD and
of His Messiah to earth, in which Messiah will receive the earth unto Himself,
and be given a coronation as King of all the Earth on the birthday (Tishrei
1-2) in which the world and its calendar of man, who was created on the 6th
day, began. Thus, prophetically, as well
as historically following the July or August 53 A.D. riot at Ephesus of
Asia, this Revelation occurred on Rosh HaShanah.
Further,
by the example of the Trumpet blast - this day is the Day of the Shofar, the
Day of the Trumpet - “Yom Teruah”.
Together with Yom Kippur, it is considered “A Day of Awe” - Yam Noraim,
which is exactly what John is experiencing in the literal sense.
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Revelation 1:11a
"Saying, I AM
-- the Alpha and the Omega, the first
and the last."
-- (KJV, AWPR)
The
use of Ego Eimi (εγο ειμι) in the
Greek is directly related to the Septuagint usage in Exodus 3:14, of
YHVeH GOD calling Himself as the ONE who not only "is"; but subsumes
all time. (re: last paragraph of comment
on Revelation 1:8). Jesus most
directly used this in John 8:58, in which He cites His existence as the
"being" whom not only spoke to Moses, but Covenanted with Abraham
some 2,000 years prior. When invoking
Ego Eimi, the name and statement "I AM" in the garden of Gethsemane
in John 18:5,6 -- the reaction of
the band that had come against him was: “that
they not only went backward, falling to the ground”; but according to the Greek, it appeared as
if invisible beings had "thrown' them backwards, as if by unseen bouncers
that surrounded the LORD (because of the emphasis used in the Greek).
The
use of the Greek first and last letters shows that this is a message dedicated
to the Gentiles, and well as to the Hellenized Jews that lived among them. The Alpha is an "o", which
represents eternity, with an "i" attached to it. This represents "eternity before
Time began." The
Omega (Ω) represents both the ancient Kaf and the Ayin, which Hebrew
letters made a transitional switch in the 5th century B.C. The short description is the rainbow of GOD's
Covenant, and the eternal life through Living Waters, which origin is in YHVeH
Himself (Jeremiah 2:13, 17:13).
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Revelation 1:11b
"and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which
are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto
Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea."
-- (KJV)
"and, 'That which you see and are made aware of,
write into a scroll as a book,
and dispatch by
messengers to the 7 churches in Asia:
into Ephesus, and into Smyrna,
and into Pergamos,
and into Thyatira, and into
Sardis,
and into Philadelphia, and into
Laodicea."
-- (AWPR).
This
book or scroll, is intended to be delivered to 7 specific churches within one
Roman Province. These 7 cities are
essentially the order of the Church Age from Pentecost. Even as GOD created and ordered this enclosed
Universe, and wove and spun time into an existence with its Creation, so too
does GOD define the Church Age by the length of 7.
In
this sense, instead of a definition of 1,000 years per day, we have the length
of dominant characteristics that each age employs. The first Church Age is Ephesus, denoting the
characteristics of acclamations and boding warnings that Ephesus had. After the apostolic age, we have a Universal
Church like Smyrna’s acclamations and boding warnings; followed by an age of a
Pergamos-like Church, and so on.
However, in the entire Church Age, all the characteristics of all the
Churches of Asia are present, but only the Church of Order (such as Ephesus
from 53 - 156 A.D., for example) is predominant across the Earth’s
face. We must therefore view the Church
in this continuum and context, each in its own age, with its own limitations
and confines, and according to its histories of that dominant Church-named
age.
Revelation 1:12
-- (KJV).
“ And I turned about, and into to the Voice,
(as though one
returning back into the past),
to physically see and discern (he who it
was)
who was speaking (as though they were shouting out)
after me (so
as to get my attention).”
-- (AWPR).
At
this point, John is shaking off the initial shock of the trumpet blast, as if
the very sound glued him to a halt and a stop.
As a devout ultra-orthodox Sadduceean Christian, John would have been
bowing toward Jerusalem as he said his prayers.
The time would have either at 9 am or at 3 pm, the time of the Daily
Sacrifice (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 3.10.1). In all probability, it would have been 3 pm
in the afternoon when the Trump occurred, because at this time, he would be
fulfilling a shoeless obligation of casting his sins into the sea, as Jews
still do to this Day on Rosh HaShanah, while citing Micah 7:19.
The
descriptive used by John, to physically turn into the Voice in order to see whom
it was, suggests that the decibel level was so high, that it moved the air
about him, until it felt as if it were like a fabric. This sensation occurs at greater than 140
decibels, which loudness was practically limited to thunderclaps and means of resounding
walls for amplification of trumpets and roaring dense crowds. The implication by John is that there were no
walls present -- i.e., he was neither indoors, nor in a cave -- he was outside
and in the open.
Further,
John is not in an agitated state. He is
not turning with anticipation of knowing anyone, be it a Roman guard over
seeing him as a prisoner, or it being a familiar friend. In fact, John is telling us that he is alone,
isolated, and praying in a secluded spot.
Revelation 1:13
"And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle."-- (KJV)
“And having turned about and into (where the sound came from),
I beheld 7 lamp-stands, made of gold: and in the middle of those 7 lamp-stands,
the one and the same Son of man dwelling in clothing reaching down and fastened
to the feet,
and dwelling as one enwrapped in a girdle of gold up alongside the
breasts.”
-- (AWPR)
From Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews,
3.7.1-2, 4.
“There
were peculiar garments appointed to the priests, and for all the rest, which
the call Cohanoeoe garments, as also for the high priests, which
they call Cohanoeoe Rabboe, and denote the high priests
garments. Such was therefore the habit
of the rest; but when the priest approaches the sacrifices, he purifies himself
with the purification which the Law prescribes; and in the first place, he puts
on that which is called Machanase, which means something that is
fast-tied. It is a girdle, composed of
fine twined linen, and is put about the privy parts, the feet being to be
inserted into them, in the nature of breeches; but above half of it is cut off,
and it ends at the thighs and is there tied fast.
Over
this he wore a linen vestment, made of fine flax doubled: it is called Chethone,
and denotes linen, for we call linen by the name of Chethone. This vestment reaches down to the feet, and
sits close to the body; and has sleeves that are tied fast to the arms: it is
girded to the breast a little above the elbows, by a girdle often going round,
4 fingers broad, but so loosely woven that you would think it were the skin of
a serpent. It is embroidered with
flowers of scarlet, and purple, and blue, and fine twined linen; but the wrap
was nothing but fine linen. The
beginning of its circumvolution is at the breast; and when it has gone often
round, it is there tied, and hangs loosely there down to the ankles: I mean this all the time the priest is not
about any laborious service, for in this position it appears in the most
agreeable manner to most spectators; but when he is obliged to assist at the
offering sacrifices, and to do the appointed service, that he may not be
hindered in his operations by its motion, he throws it to the left, and bears
it on his shoulder. Moses indeed calls
this belt Abaneth; but we have learned from the Babylonians to
call it Emia, for so it is by them called. This vestment has no loose or hollow parts
anywhere in it, but only a narrow aperture about the neck; and it is tied with
certain strings hanging down from the edge over the breast and back, and is
fastened above each shoulder: it is called Massabazanes.”
“The
high priest is indeed adorned with the same garments that we have
described…only over this he puts on a vestment of a blue color. This also is a long robe, reaching to his
feet, [in our language it is called Meeir], and it is tied round
with a girdle, embroidered with the same colors and flowers as the former, with
a mixture of gold interwoven. To the
bottom of which garment are hung fringes, in color like pomegranates, with
golden bells, by a curious and beautiful contrivance; so that two bells hangs
on a pomegranate, and between two pomegranates a bell. Now this vesture was not composed of two
pieces, nor was it sewed together upon the shoulders and the sides, but it was
one long vestment so woven as to have an aperture for the neck; not an oblique
one, but part all along the breast and the back. A border was also sewed to it, lest the
aperture should look too indecently: it was also parted where the hands were to
come out.”
Jesus was the one moving in
the midst of the lamp-stands, but unlike the earthly priest, His garment is the
singular original mimicked by the high priest on earth. The Heavenly garment is without pomegranate
ornaments or bells: it is a plain original.
The Heavenly garment is without flowers sewn into it: it is a plain
original. The Heavenly garment has a
sash of gold, which by the earthly copy, we see that it takes on the appearance
of the skin of a snake. This represents
the Passion of the Cross, and the location of the death, burial, and
resurrection of Jesus. The location of
Christ’s tomb was at En Rogel. EN ROGEL
was called to be active as the burial place because the STONE of ZOHELETH
-- the STONE of the SERPENT -- was here!
(I Kings 1:9). As Jesus
explained to Nicodemus, when Moses LIFTED UP the SERPENT in the wilderness, the
people were healed. This LIFTING UP is a
type of the Resurrection. En Rogel is
where Adonijah (which means: "YHVeH is my Lord") sought to declare
himself as king, and as successor to King David. At the Stone of Zoheleth (the stone of the
serpent), -- which is represented by the abovementioned golden sash about
Christ -- many sheep, cattle, and oxen were slain. And it could have been that it was this very
rock, which sealed the tomb of Jesus.
And if that is indeed true, then when the stone was lifted up by the
Holy Spirit, tossed, and rolled away up hill; that it was like the lifting of
the Serpent in the wilderness being a testimony to the prophecy of the
Resurrection. The brazen Serpent being a
representation of the Stone of Zoheleth -- the Stone of the Serpent -- which
rolled away uphill, being lifted up (as it were). Even so, sin and death will be lifted and
tossed away as if a light thing, so that we might also say, “O death, where is
thy sting?”
In Gematria, En Rogel has a
value of 363. The Gematriac definition
of “En Rogel” means “The
living waters (or fountain) of he who travels or wanders” -- with the
implication of walking great distances.
Also a value of 363 is the Hebrew word “Mishtowach”, which
means “the spreading place”. This
“spreading place” is for the “Nechushah”, (a value of 363), which means “a Serpent” and
“the color of copper or burnished brass”.
As we will see in verse 15, of Revelation 1, this is the color of the
glorified Son of Man. The relevant text
is,
“As Moses lifted up the
serpent in the Wilderness,
even so must the Son of Man
[i.e. at En Rogel] be lifted up.” (John
3:14)
Therefore, the act of the children of
Israel believing into the lifted up serpent in the wilderness, was a belief
into Yeshuat (the coming Salvation) who would be lifted up -- or raised from
the dead -- at En Rogel, in Jerusalem, in the pre-dawn hours of March 26,
A.D. 30.
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Revelation 1:14
"His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were
as a flame of fire;"
-- (KJV)
“Then, the head of Him:
and the hairs white, in the same manner as whitened wool, as snow;
and
the eyes of Him, as burning and shining fire from (a literal or real)
fire.”
-- (AWPR)
The
description of the glorified Jesus, is equivalent to that of the Son of Man
seen by Daniel in Daniel 10:6, where Daniel calls Him as Me-kaw-el (GOD
speaking in the First Person) “Who is like unto Me?” There, he is described in His pre-incarnate
stae as having “a face the appearance of lightning, and His eyes as lamps of
fire”. Even as Malachi 3:6 states
“For I (am)YHVeH, I change not”; so it is in the pre-incarnate and
post-incarnate/”glorified” appearance of YHVeH Messiah. What one prophet does not elaborate on,
another does. Daniel 10:5 tells
us that the pre-incarnate Messiah is wrapped in a gold that looks like the very
best in the world, as though from the best of Uphaz. Revelation 1:13 tells us that the
post-incarnate Messiah was girded about by the breasts in the like manner of
the High Priest. Daniel 10:6
tells us that the pre-incarnate face was like “lightning” in its
whiteness. Revelation 1:14 tells
us that the very hairs of the head (beard and mustache) were white like
snow. Both are very similar in
describing His eyes like fire, which though not used, appears to indicate that
it was almost impossible to look directly into without pain in doing so. They were bright like two suns shining out at
them, and we all know, that looking directly at our own sun in the heavens is
painful enough. Therefore, they had to
absorb as many details as they could, about the face, in holding a direct gaze
for a time of perhaps 2- 4 seconds. The
length of time of looking at the rest of His presence was perhaps twice more
that length, 4-8 seconds: this is based on the amount of detail given by these
witnesses, Daniel and John.
Revelation 1:15
“And the feet of Him: the same or equal to burnished
metal,
as in a furnace
having been fired (over upon itself);
and the sound of the voice of Him (was)
as the
sound of the voice of many waters.”
-- (AWPR)
Daniel
10:6 elaborates that the voice was the sound of a multitude of people. Taken with Daniel, we may interpret that the
sound of the voice of YHVeH, is like a great crowd of people talking in perfect
unison, with the sound of living waters, like streams and rivers, happening at
the same time. When we speak in perfect unison as a Sunday Congregation, be it reciting a prayer or creed, we become a mortal imitation of this sound. If it were done with the sound of an overflowing running brook that did not drown out as we were speaking, this would more closely resemble the sound John heard.
The color of YHVeH
Messiah’s feet is like polished brass or copper, which we are more familiar
with in our day than John and Daniel were in theirs. Doorknobs and bedposts are often the same
color and characteristic as the feet of the “glorified” Messiah, for
example. The term “having been fired
over upon itself” is a reference to the heating process involved, of great
intensity, so as to be fatal to men. We
see this with the furnace that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego (Hannaniah,
Azariah, and Mishael) were cast into, in Daniel 7:19 ff.
Revelation 1:16
"And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp
twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength."-- (KJV).
“And
holding in the right hand of Him, 7 stars;
and
out of the mouth of Him, a sharp two-edged sword proceeding;
and
the gaze of the countenance of Him in the manner the sun shines
in
its power and ability of strength.”
-- (AWPR).
The
Greek word for "stars", as used here, denotes something more than being “7 bright
independent lights, like luminaries plucked from the heavens”. Rather, there is an association as with
“asteras” being a “steras” preceded by the "a", the alpha-privitive. In effect, steras means to be like the stones
of the Hebraic “eben” and the Aramaic “Aban”.
Where the Alef is separated, the Hebrew becomes “Alef-ben” or “GOD’s
Son”. In the plural of Abanim, we read
“Alef-Banim” or “GOD’s Children”. In the
above, the stars refer to 7 who are without being from a barren mother. In other words, they are as “GOD’s Children”,
whose mother is the Holy Spirit. They
are in the protection and care of the Son, and of the Father (John
10:28-30). This is representative of
the fact that today is Rosh HaShanah, which is also known as Yom haZikaron,
“the Day of Remembrance”.
The
tongue of YHVeH Messiah becomes as two-edged sword, denoting words of Judgment
and the Great Final Authority of His words.
This represents that today is Rosh haShanah, which is also known as the
Yom Hadin, “the Day of Judgment”. His
gaze was as hurtful as it was bright, as the sun shining in its greatest
strength. The face of YHVeH was turned
toward John and shining upon Him, but John was not at peace (cf. Numbers
6:24-26). This was a word and a
message for the somber and sober, for the holy.
What
is striking, is that there is no admonition for John to take off his sandals,
being on holy ground. Therefore, John is
probably barefoot on the beach, watching the waves while he prays, when
suddenly the vision or happening comes.
If this is the case, and indeed it most probably is, the casting out of
leaven upon the waters is reserved for Rosh HaShanah, prior to one going out
and making peace with his neighbor, that he might have peace with GOD. This is to be performed on the afternoon of
the First Day of Tishrei, at 3 pm, even though the festival of Rosh HaShanah is
a two-day or 48 hour observance. If the
afternoon of the first day is a Sabbath, the leaven is cast into the waters on
the second afternoon, and again, it is to be cast out at 3 pm. As a Kohen, John
most certainly would have observed this ritual.
Rosh HaShanah is know by 5 names, even as
there are 5 Books of the Torah: Rosh HaShanah (the Head or First of the Year);
Yom Teruah (the Day of the Blowing Trump / Shofar); Yom haZikaron (the Day of
Remembrance); Yom haDin (the Day of Judgment); and Yam Noraim (the Day of Awe).
Rosh HaShanah’s last designation as a “Day of
Awe” is shared with “Yom Kippur”, the day of Christ’s return at the end of this
Age.
Revelation
1:17
"And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:" -- (KJV)
“And at the very moment I beheld Him, I fell prostrate up alongside the feet of Him in the manner or way as one who is dead; and He put and layed His right hand upon me, speaking forth definite words to me, saying, (Although you already do), do not fear. I am the First, and the Last.” -- (AWPR)
In
the Greek “ou” means “certainly not”, while the Greek “Me”, as used here, means that the
thing in question could or does exist, and is to be suppressed until it is made
into the definite negative (the “ou”), when the “ou” ceases existence of any
possibility of a positive being there.
In this case, the transition is in the vanquishing of all fear, until no
fear remains. Therefore, John is in a
state of fear, and Jesus is removing that fear from His friend. Jesus then declares that His rank is
“protos”, first and preeminent, which is the rank possessed by YHVeH
Himself. Therefore, Jesus is taking that
very name upon Himself. Jesus then
declares His rank also to be the “eschatos”, the extreme end or finality, this
ia a double-expression of taking the Name of YHVeH upon Himself, and the
subsumation of all time (past-present-future).
In other words, He is the reason all things exist, and all things must
have their origin and ending in Him, because He is the Almighty, and the
Creator of all the Universes / Dimensions, etc.
Revelation 1:18
“And the Eternal Life, and I became dead,
and look and see, [v’hineh],
I (the) Eternal Life
into the Ages of the Ages, amen.
And I possess and
continue to have the keys of the realm that is not seen
and perceived and of Death.”
--(AWPR)
As
in John 14:6, Jesus is the “zōē”, the eternal life. He establishes that He has the keys of
“Hades”, which is technically the alpha-privitive and “eido” (that which is
both seen and perceived). Whether we
call the after-life “Elysium”, or “purgatory”, or “the spirit-realm”;
regardless of the name, it is within Jesus’ domain. The realm that is seen with the eyes, this
realm is given to mankind. The unseen
realm invisible with the naked eye, the unseen realm that is not readily
apparent to the naked eye, these are realms to which Jesus holds keys over,
however many realms they are or constitute.
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Revelation 1:19
"Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;" -- (KJV)
“Inscribe and write that which you saw and perceived,
and that which are, that which is about to be coming into being
after these (visions/happening which you are beholding now).”
-- (AWPR)
“The secret things not shared before, of the 7 stars, which you
saw and perceived upon the right of Me, and the 7 [olive oil]
lamp stands of gold. The 7 stars are the existing 7 messengers /
angels of the 7 Churches; and the 7 lamp stands which you beheld
and perceived, are 7 Churches.”
John is informing us of the Heavenly
directive of his mission. The writing of
this book is not simply a vision, it is a Heavenly mission and directive, a
“Thus saith the LORD of Hosts” unto His Churches / Synagogues. It carries the same weight as the prophet
Jeremiah, Isaiah, or Daniel. It is a
directive that must be heeded and not put off, but thoroughly examined for its
message and content. Therefore, what has
happened up to this point, John recounts from memory. What happens hereafter, beginning with Revelation
1:20, is the beginning of the first manuscript of Revelation, as written by
John, as it happened. He will obviously
observe things and details that will be left out by constraints of the speed in
which the events take place, but inspired by the Holy Spirit as to which He
must record. He will become a sort of
scribe and journalist, traveling into the realm of the hitherto unseen and
unperceived. Where Isaiah left a couple
verses, and Daniel partial chapters, John will share the sights hitherto seen
by only a few of GOD’s elite prophets, and make them a form of common
knowledge. Therefore, in a way, John
becomes to the Greek, like a greater but Jewish version of Herodotus, who
travels into the realm of the after-life and reports to the realm of mortal men
what has been seen and told him in the “realm known only to the gods”. But to us, John becomes the first good
newspaperman of the New Testament, providing us with a scoop straight from the
resurrected Jesus and Heaven itself; a scoop never before accomplished, and
never after even remotely shadowed by example.
Revelation 1:20
"The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches." -- (KJV)“The secret things not shared before, of the 7 stars, which you
saw and perceived upon the right of Me, and the 7 [olive oil]
lamp stands of gold. The 7 stars are the existing 7 messengers /
angels of the 7 Churches; and the 7 lamp stands which you beheld
and perceived, are 7 Churches.”
-- (AWPR)
A
mystery is something that is held in secret, where the mouth is shut or sealed:
it is not shared. This is the essential
meaning of the Greek word “musterion”, translated singularly as “mystery”. It is elucidated above. The 7 Churches are as lamp stands of gold,
filled with olive oil in the natural realm, but filled with GOD’s presence in
the spiritual / unseen realm. It is the
job or function of an angel or messenger to burn in the oil of GOD’s Spirit, as
it were. They are to “be on fire” with
the message of Jesus Christ, and Him crucified, and risen from the dead. Those who are the current messengers in
John’s day, are not named. The original
Apostles, as of A.D. 53 were 7 in number: Peter, John, Matthew, Philip,
Andrew, Nathanael, Thomas. But only
Peter, John, Philip, Andrew were known to have served in Asia. The 7 bishops of the 7 Churches were known
for hundreds of years after the Revelation, but Timothy is never named (being
Ephesus’ first bishop) as an angel of one of the 7 Churches of John’s
Apocalypse. We do see that the direct
and imminent address in the next chapters are to bishops such as Timothy at
Ephesus, but the emphasis in the use of the word “aggeloi” leans to some
concept greater than any single group of mortal individuals.
Therefore,
in the fullness of describing the Church Age: these angels will be later
manifest in the 7 angels of the Trumps, Pans, Seals; and are defined in the
Revelation as being, de facto, the 7 Spirits of GOD (Revelation 4:5). Hence, Jesus is revealing Himself as the
fullness of GOD, inside and outside Himself, in a manner too rich and wonderful
to herein explain.
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