The Book of Revelation
Chapter 1, Part 1
“The Revealing of Jesus”
We live in exciting days!
The period of time that the Bible describes more than any other period in all human history, are the days that you and I live in. All of the Bible is about just one subject: Jesus. Who He is, Why He exists, What He Created, How His creation fell, How in His love He redeemed it, and How He will come again to remove those who love Him from the earth and then judge the world for its rebellion of Him.
Hebrews 10:7
Then Jesus said, “Behold, I have come – In the volume of the book it is written of Me – To do Your will, O God.”
Jesus condemned the Scribes and the Pharisees, because they had failed to recognize Him when He came and attribute the Old Testament scriptures to all the works that Jesus performed.
Jesus told the Scribes and Pharisees:
John 5:39
You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.
It is important to remember that all Scripture, all Prophecy, every word that is in the Bible, Every text of the Book of Revelation, is about the person of Jesus Christ.
Revelation 19:10
For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
The Book of Revelation is about Who Jesus is today, what He looks like, what He is about to accomplish, and how He is going to bring the Kingdom of God to the earth and reign supreme over every government, all kingdoms and every society of man.
When Jesus returns physically to the earth at the end of the seven year Tribulation, it will not be as the suffering and dying servant, as the Lamb of God, but as the victorious, mighty Lord of the universe, King of all Kings, and Lord of all Lords, ready to execute judgment and Righteousness.
I don’t know what you are searching for in your life. In fact I am not sure that most of the people on earth really know what they are searching for.
- All that we know is that there is something missing in our lives. We know it from the day that we are born, and we pursue it till the day that we die.
- The Bible says that what you and I are searching for is “The Living God”.
Psalms 84:2
My soul longs, yes, even faints For the courts of the LORD; My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
And yet, from one generation to the next, most of us miss Him. Even though He has made Himself clearly know to us through His Word, Men do not find Him, because they are not searching for Him.
- There are however, some who have discovered that deep in their heart, as they have searched the very recesses of their soul, there is a knowledge that a Creator does exist.
- Along with the longing of our heart to know Him, we discover that we can find Him and know who He is, as we discover Jesus in the Bible, is the One that we have all searched and longed for.
The world is headed for what the Bible calls “Perilous Times”. Days in which the “hearts of men will fail them over the fear of the things that are coming upon the earth”.
Just as the Bible said:
- In the Last Days, Israel would come back into her own land and become a nation and a people again.
- The nations of the world would be trying to unite themselves into one world government, One religion, One monetary system, One kingdom.
- The hearts of God’s own people, would be growing progressively colder and less interesting in living a life set apart and dedicated to the Lord.
- There would be great signs in the earth that the end is near: Cataclysmic natural disasters, in various places, increasing in severity and frequency.
- There would be an evil that would pervade over the entire earth, that would be identical to the evil that was present on the earth during the time of Noah, when God destroyed the earth by a great earth-wide flood.
- Knowledge of Prophecy would increase as Daniel was told by the angel Gabriel. Men would understand things that were written thousands of years ago, that they had never in the history of man, know before.
- Then, Just as the world seemed bent on total destruction, Jesus would remove from the earth, all those who had fallen in Love with Him. Those who were living for Him and were expecting Him to come at any moment, suddenly and dramatically, He would remove them from the earth.
- Then, a period of time so fierce, so violent, so murderous and destructive, that “Unless those days were shortened to just 7 years, not one human being would survive”.
This is the topic of the Book of Revelation.
- The Word “Revelation” is from the Greek word “Apocalypse” = unveiling.
- There are Over 800 Old Testament references in 404 verses of the Book of Revelation!
- In the process of studying the Book of Revelation you will gain a good working knowledge of the rest of the Bible.
The Holy Spirit, who is the true author of the Bible, assumes that you have already read the other 65 Books of the Bible, before you get to the Book of Revelation.
But don’t worry, in this in-depth Study of Revelation, you will be brought to almost every single Book in the Bible and gain a good working knowledge of the entire Bible, through this study of the Book of Revelation
Revelation 1
1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants – things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John,
The Revelation of Jesus Christ
- The purpose of the Book of Revelation is that you might know who Jesus really is.
- Jesus said “In the volume of the book is written of me”
Psalms 40:7
7 Then I said, “Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me. NKJV
John 5:39
39 You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. NKJV
“Which God gave Jesus to show His servants.”
- Who are the servants of Jesus? Those who love Him. Those who have made Him Lord and Savior of their life.
John 15:15
No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.
Things which must shortly come to place.
- Every generation that has accepted Jesus, has expected that the Rapture would happen at any moment.
- Paul said that those who are watching and waiting for Jesus to come, those who have this hope in them, “Purify themselves!”
- We have the advantage today of being the final generation just before Jesus comes for His church. Why are we certain that we are different from other generations that were also certain that Jesus would come at any moment?
- Israel back in her own land again. Jesus could not come for His church until Israel was again back in their own land, according to Ezekiel 37.
“And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John”
- Jesus sent this Book and “Signified it”.
- “Sign – ified”, that is Jesus sent this Book of Revelation by the use of Signs.
- The Book of Revelation is Written in Code, with the answer to those codes found in the rest of the Bible.
Stars
Lampstands
Alpha and Omega
Horns
White Stone
Rod of Iron
White Garments
7 Seals
A Bow
A Crown
Fiery Red Horse
A Great Sword
A Black Horse
A Pair of Scales
If you have a good working knowledge of the Bible already, then the different types and symbols found in Revelation will be very familiar to you.
2 who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw.
The Word of God
John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:14
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth
Revelation 19:13
He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.
- “The Word of God” is who Jesus is, this is one of His many titles.
- “Word” is from the Greek word “Logos”. The Logos in the Greek language is the expression of the mind. Jesus is the express image of what God is, what God would say, What God would do.
John 14:8-9
8 Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.”
9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father.”
Jesus told the Pharisees that He existed before Abraham.
John 8:58
Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”
Genesis 17:1
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless.”
Jesus was saying that the same I Am in the “Burning Bush” with Moses, was Jesus
Exodus 3:13-14
13 Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you’, and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”
14 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, “I AM has sent me to you.’ “
To All Things He Saw
- John is writing to us from the unique position as that of an “Eye Witness”
- In a court of law, there is no greater, more valuable, or of greater credibility than that of an Eye witness. Someone that can say “I was there, I saw what happened, I heard what the person said, I saw what He did.”
Dr. Simon Greenleaf was a noted royal professor of law a Harvard university in the mid 1800′s.
- Dr. Greenleaf wrote a famous work entitled “A treatise on the law of evidence” which is still considered to be the greatest authority on evidence in the legal procedure.
- In 1846, while still a professor at Harvard, Dr. Greenleaf an atheist, was challenged by one of his students to try and disprove the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
- After an intensive study of the historical record, he wrote “an examination of the four gospels by the rules of evidence administered in the courts of justice”.
- He examines from a legal aspect the internal evidence of the scriptures about the life of Jesus.
- Dr. Greenleaf’s conclusion is that the man Jesus Christ did live and die upon a Roman cross and was raised from the dead. Dr. Greenleaf learned this from the historical record.
- He is known today as one of the greatest legal minds the world has ever known and became a believer in Jesus Christ after examining the evidence.
- Remember when you are studying Revelation that what you are reading, was written by a man who was there when these things happened.
Revelation 1
3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.
- The Book of Revelation is the only book in the Bible that has a special promise built in for the one who “Reads it and Does the things written in it”; YOU WILL BE BLESSED!
- No other book in existence can make this claim, that Revelation makes: To bless those that read, hear, and keep the things taught in the Book of Revelation.
- The Book of Revelation is not a “Sealed Book” that is impossible to understand and the Lord told Daniel his prophecies were.
Daniel 8:26
26 “And the vision of the evenings and mornings Which was told is true; Therefore seal up the vision, For it refers to many days in the future.” NKJV
Daniel 12:4-9
4 “But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.”
8 Although I heard, I did not understand. Then I said, “My lord, what shall be the end of these things?”
9 And he said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. NKJV
“For the time is near “
- Every generation has expected the soon return of Jesus for His church.
- A constant daily expectation of Jesus’ soon return, should cause you to purify your life so that you will be ready when Jesus returns.
1 John 3:2-3
2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
When the doctrine of the soon return of Jesus is not a constant for the believer, it opens the door for that person to begin to fall away and be lost.
Matthew 24:48-51
48 But if that evil servant says in his heart, “My master is delaying his coming,”
49 and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards,
50 the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of,
51 and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
We look at the passing of time differently than those who dwell in eternity.
- In Eternity, everything happens in a single moment.
- Everything just Exists, it always has, it always will. (the Lord Said “I AM”.)
2 Peter 3:8
But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
We say, “Man it has been 2,000 years since Jesus promised to return for us, that is a long time, why did He say “The Time is Near?’ “
Where a Thousand Years is like a day, it hasn’t been that long, just 2 days since He promised to come for us.
- It is only here, on earth, that time seems to pass slowly in regards to the Lords promise to come for us
4 John, to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne,
Why just to 7 churches?
- There were many other churches in Asia than just these 7.
- There were as many as 100 churches in Asia at this time, so why were only seven chosen?
There are 3 primary reasons that Jesus chose these 7 churches:
- 1These seven churches, have all of the good and bad qualities that make up Jesus’ church today. We will discover all the good and bad qualities that we need to watch for and watch out for in these last days.
- There were also seven periods of church’s history, from the birth of the church at Pentecost, up to the present day.
- Ephesus: 30 A.D. to 300 A.D.
- Smyrna: 100 A.D. to 313 A.D
- Pergamos: from 314 A.D. to 590 A.D.
- Thyatira: from 590 A.D. to 1517 A.D.
- Sardis: 1517 A.D. to 1700 A.D.
- Philadelphia: 1700 A.D. to 1900 A.D.
- Laodicea: 1900 A.D. to the present time.
These seven churches were also seven literal churches that existed at the time John wrote this in the Book of Revelation. These are Real Churches, with real struggles, real problems, and real victories.
These seven churches are in a circular postal route that this letter could be delivered to on a single trip.
In the Bible, the number 7 always symbolizes “Completeness”.
- The number 7 is used in the Book of Revelation 54 times, always to represent the completeness of something.
The Principle of 6 and 1 is a theme that is repeated over and over in the entire Bible, because it is pointing to something prophetic that will happen in the last days.
- 6 years Israel could plant and harvest their land, on the 7th year they were to let it rest.
- All slaves in Israel had to be freed on the 7th year.
- At Jericho, for 6 days they marched around the city, on the 7th day they marched around the city 7 times.
- Naaman was told to dip 7 times in the Jordan river to cure his Leprosy. (2 Kings 5;14)
- Joseph was told by God that in Egypt they would have 7 years of plenty, then 7 years of famine. (Genesis 41)
- Nebuchadnezzar was made mentally incapacitated for 7 years by the Lord, for not acknowledging that He is God.; (Daniel 4:32)
- There are 7 “Beatitudes” in Matthew chapter 5.
- There are 7 petitions given by Jesus in the Lord’s prayer.
- There are 7 parables in Matthew chapter 13;
- There are 7 things that Jesus said from the Cross…
- In the Book of Revelation there are 7 Churches.
This is not an accident, it is evidence of a supernatural design that proves that the author of the Bible has a message that He is seeking to get across, and that He Himself comes from outside of time and Space.
Even in the world the number 7 is used to illustrate completeness.
- There are 7 days in a week.
- There are 7 Notes to a musical scale.
- There are said to be 7 Wonders of the World
Why does Jesus choose just 7 churches here in the book of Revelation? It is not an accident.
- Jesus’ Church is born the day of Pentecost, just 63 years after this, more than 100 churches existed.
- Why wasn’t the church at Rome included in Jesus’ letter? Why not the churches in, Jerusalem, Antioch, Colosse, Philippi, Galatia, Iconium, Lystra, Derbe, Miletus, Hierapolis, or Troas included in Jesus’ Letter?
- Because these seven churches contained the Good and Bad qualities that Jesus wanted to us to illustrate the common strengths and weaknesses all true churches can have.
- All of the good and bad qualities of these 7 churches Jesus wrote to, could be applied to most churches throughout all of church’s history.
“Grace to you and peace”
- These two greetings were the same greetings that Paul often used at the beginning of most of His letters.
- “Grace” was the Greek word: “Charis”
- “Peace” was the Hebrew word “Shalom”
- It is not by accident that the Holy Spirit places Grace before Peace. No person can know what genuine Peace is until they have first known what the Grace of God is.
- Grace is discovered by a knowledge that Jesus has paid the complete price for your sins, and makes you totally perfect in Righteousness when you place all of your hope upon Him.
- Grace is “Unmerited Favor”. Through what Jesus has done on the Cross, as amazing as it sounds, God has forgiven you of every sin you will have ever committed, throughout your entire lifetime. When you accept Jesus as Your Lord and Savior, You become perfect in His sight.
- By its very nature, Grace is Getting what you do not deserve, and Mercy is Not getting what you do deserve.
- We deserved Hell, We received Heaven. We receive this Unmerited favor Only because we believe Jesus paid the price of Redemption for us.
- After you know and understand this truth, then you will have genuine peace in your life. Peace not with the absence of conflict, but peace in the midst of and in spite of anything else that might be going on around you.
“From Him who is and who was and who is to come”
- If I make the statement “I Is”, besides it being extremely poor grammar, what am I saying? That I exist in the present.
- If I say “I Was”, I am declaring that in past history I also existed.
- “Who is to come” is a much bolder statement because it declares that I will be here in the future.
Only God can say that He exists in the past, present and future. Here in the Book of Revelation, Jesus is declaring to you that He is the eternal God, creator of the Universe.
- Many critics of the Bible claim that Jesus never claimed Himself to be God. The fact that Jesus claimed many times to be God, is established over and over in the Bible.
- If there was any doubt that Jesus was claiming to be God, we can look to the reaction of the Scribes and Pharisees.
John 8:58-59
58 Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”
59 Then they(Pharisees) took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.
- Why were the Pharisees about to stone Jesus to death? Because He was claiming to be the Great “I AM”, the God of the universe!
- Jesus is also claiming that in the burning bush that spoke to Moses, that was Jesus also.
John 10:31-33
31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him.
32 Jesus answered them, “Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?”
33 The Jews answered Him, saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.”
“and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne,”
- The fullness of the Holy Spirit is contained in Jesus.
- The description of “The Completeness” of the Spirit is described by 7 attributes in Isaiah 11.
- Remember, the Bible uses the number 7 to describe “Completeness” or “Perfection”.
Isaiah 11:2
1. The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, 2. The Spirit of wisdom and 3. understanding, 4 The Spirit of counsel and 5 might, 6 The Spirit of knowledge and 7 of the fear of the LORD.
5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood,
“and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness”
- One day Phillip asked Jesus; “Show us the father, and it is sufficient for us.”
- Jesus told Philip; “He who has seen me has seen the Father.”
John 14:8-9
8 Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.”
9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father.”
- Jesus is the exact representation of God, because He is God!
- If you want to know what God looks like, if you want to know how God feels about you. If you want to hear the Words of God, then look at, and listen to Jesus.
- Jesus is the faithful witness of what God is like.
The firstborn from the dead
- “Firstborn”, does not mean that Jesus is a created being, It is “Firstborn” in order of importance.
- Colossians chapter one describes what “Firstborn” really means:
Colossians 1:15-18
15 Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
16 For by Jesus all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.
17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
The word “Firstborn” is from the Greek word “Protokos” meaning “First in importance”.
Verse 15 in the original Greek language would read: “Jesus is the exact representation of what the invisible God is like, He is the first in importance over all creation”.
- If there was any doubt about this, the following two verses clarify this fact.
- Verse 16: “By Jesus all things were created.”
- In order for Jesus to be the Creator of all things, He Himself must have existed before all things.
- You cannot be the creator of everything unless you existed before everything.
- Verse 17 further clarifies this fact: “He is before all things.”
The reason that this is so important, is that in all of the cult churches that exist today, they make Jesus “A Created being”, the “Brother of Michael the Archangel”, or “The Brother of Lucifer”, or some other created being that “Became A god”.
- The Book of Revelation is crystal clear in that it describes Jesus as “The Creator Himself”
- Jesus is unique among every other religious leader or founder of any church or religion in that He alone claims to be The Creator/God of the Universe.
- Then He proved that He is, by raising Himself from the Dead.
Ezekiel 37:13
Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves.
This is Jesus speaking from the Old Testament book of Ezekiel, that when He raised everyone from their graves, either to eternal life with Him, or eternal punishment in hell, then they will know that He Is The Lord.
Hebrews 1:2
(God) has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;
“and the ruler over the kings of the earth.”
Romans 13:1-2
1 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.
2 Therefore whoever resists the authority, resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.
Jesus claimed that He is the King of all Kings and the Lord of All Lords, that all governments and authorities are placed where He wants them to be, and that only He controls them and only He can give them power to exist or bring them to nothing.
- When Jesus came the first time, He was coming as “The Lamb that takes away the sins of the world”.
- In that respect, Jesus laid aside some of His Glory and Power, so that He could take on the role of a “Servant”.
Philippians 2:5-11
5 “Christ Jesus,
6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it something to be understood, to be equal with God,
7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.
8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,
11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
When Jesus was asked when He would be returning to earth, Jesus said that “He did not know, only the Father knew.”
Matthew 24:36
“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.”
You might say, well this proves that Jesus is not equal to the Father, Jesus is not God. He said so by His own admission that He didn’t know the day of His return, only the Father knew.
Remember Philippians 2:
Philippians 2:7-8
7 but Jesus made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.
8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
Jesus set aside the power that He formerly held as God of the Universe and Creator, that of
- Omniscience: As God, Jesus knew all things, there is not anything that He didn’t know.
- Omnipresence: As God, Jesus, before He took the body of a man, could be everywhere at the same time. As a man, in a physical human body, Jesus could only be one place at a time.
John 16:7
Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you
When Jesus was Crucified, rose from the dead and then ascended back to heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit to take up residence inside every believer in Jesus. In this way, Jesus was able to be with all of us at the same time.
- Omnipotence: In some ways, Jesus still exhibited this power as God, more than any other in that He:
- Calmed the wind and the seas.
- Commanded Demons to come out of people and they obeyed Him.
- Healed every sickness and disease by a command or a touch.
- Raised the Dead by just a command.
Jesus was God when He walked the earth, but He had willingly set aside many of His powers and privileges as God, because He was coming to us to be our Servant, and pay for our sins.
But here in the Book of Revelation, we see Jesus as is Today:
- And the ruler over the kings of the earth.
- King of Kings: Jesus is called “King of Kings and Lord of Lords” in the New Testament. This title was given to Him because He is God, and because He became the Savior of the whole world.
- Judge: Jesus has been given by the Father, the title of Judge of the Universe, because He was obedient in giving His life for us.
- All are subject to Him: All things in the universe are being made subject to Him.
- The Head of His Church: Jesus is the head of His Church.
Revelation 17:14,16
14 These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.
16 And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
Romans 2:16
in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel
Colossians 1:18
And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
Hebrews 2:5,8
5 For He has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels.
8 You have put all things in subjection under Jesus feet. For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him.
LIsten to Rob’s complete MP3 Audio Commentary on Revelation at: www.thewordmp3.com
