Revelation 1 17-19

Rev 17And when I saw him, I fell at hisfeet as dead. And he laid his righthand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:  18I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive forevermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.  19Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, andthe things which shall be hereafter;  




Malachi 4:2  "But unto you that fear my Name , shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings."  John saw the glory of God in the face of Jesus and fell at Jesus' feet.  In addition, with the great catch in Galilee, Peter saw who Jesus really was and fell at his feet.  Guess you just can't (and don't want to) help yourself, PTL!!!  I know I'll be falling in reverence!  


Then, Christ touches John and tells John not to be afraid, and who he is.   If the Lord appeared to me, yes, I would be afraid.  But, He is our conformer and our protector.  As we know, God is is the first and the last (alpha and omega).  He that liveth, was here, walked on earth with us as Jesus Christ, then Christ was crucified, & rose from the grave to be alive forever, eternity.   Ironsides, in his book "Lectures on the Revelation", says death is the body without the spirit.  That the body goes to the grave and the spirit goes to the unseen world.  Hades is the condition of the spirit without the body.  And Christ just said, he has the keys to it!  Both to death and Hades (Hell).


Verse 19 Jesus gives John direction, the first chapter and the first division of Revelation- things he has seen.  Then, "the things that are" in the next two chapters with the remains from chapter 4 to the end.


Blessings to all,
Calabash

Revelation 1:16

Rev1:16And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword and his countenance was as the sunshineth in his strength. (KJV)


The seven stars:
The seven stars in Christ right hand are representive of the seven angels of he seven churches.  Angels in the greek are translated as "messengers".  Some believe this is a direct representation of the ministers God appointed to lead the local congregations.  A different view is that it is actuially an angel sent to look over that church.  Meaning all churches have guardian angels?   Matt. 18:10 Christ indicates that the little children have guardian angels so.....why not?


Out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword:
We find in Hebrews 4:12 that the Word of God is "sharper than any two-edged sword."  As the words of Christ are spoken on judgement day, there will be NO defense.  2 Thess. 2:8 "The Lord will slay the wicked with the breath of his mouth."


Countenance was as the sunshineth in his strength:
This is referring to the divine nature of Christ.   See Matt. 17:2, this passage reminds us of the description of Christ when on the Mount of Transfiguration.  Judges 5:31 tells us that, "...his friends shall be like the sun as he rises in his might."  The verse starts with the fact that the enemies of God shall parish!  His strength causes the shining!  Oh what a day it will be.  If your not right with God......I am begging you, get right now.  (Write me on my e-mail and we can talk!)  


Blessings on all till next time,


Calabash

Revelation 1:15

Rev 1:15 "And his feet like unto fine brass,as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. (KJV)




In the Old Testament, brass is a symbol of judgment, i.e. the brazen altar before the tabernacle which the fire of God's judgment was burning.  Brass can withstand fire.  We read it is His feet that are like brass.  This would be because His ways are always righteous.  Things that are unholy will be "stamped out" with judgment.  The brass may also stand for strength, being a strong metal, and comparing it with the steadfastness of our God.  


If you have ever heard the ocean, or a class 5 rapid,  you understand the "voice as the sound of many waters".  You know the power and the sound of the water.  It is the hearing of His voice, and believing in His word that you have life!  There are ways to describe the voice of God, this is one, another is the gentle whisper.  In the context of the book of Revelation and it's meaning, the booming sound of a powerful, oceanic, strong voice would seem to warn that judgment is coming and that mighty voice will be calling His children home.


Will be going a faster, thank you for you continued following.


Blessings to all,


Calabash

Revelation 1:13 (the remainder of) & 14

Rev 1:13...clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle."

The garment mentioned is down to the foot, not a short knee length.  The length here is significant, it is the length of priestly garments.  the Jews see this length of robe as a high priest with full access to God.

The girdle is signifies service.  Our Lord Jesus remains in service to us while at the right hand of God.  He continues to save us, give us strength, make intersession for us, He is our physician, and our way that we can go boldly in the throne room of grace. Plus much, much more if we will only accept Him.
In Daniel 10:5, Daniel tell of the girt of gold as being on a messenger from God.  This will apply here as well, Christ will be our messenger from God of events yet to come.  The gold informs us this is a man of royalty, a King, being righteous and holy.

Rev 1:14 "His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;"

Daniel 7:9 uses this description as the Ancient of Days.  This being Jesus in Rev. Chapter 1, the like wool white hair would signify the eternal existence of Christ.  the fact there is an additional description "as white as snow" would signify the purity of Christ, the sinlessness.

Rev 1:14 ..."and his eyes were as a flame of fire;"
There are many mentions of Christ's eyes in the new testament, and how they were eyes that you couldn't forget.  Mark 3:34; 10:23: 11:11, Luke 22:61 are examples of the mentioning of His eyes.


Christ is still in our service as we should be in service for Him.  He is always there for us and always watching.


Until next time,
Blessings to all!

Calabash

Revelation 1:12 and some of 13

Here we find that John actually turned to see the voice that was coming from behind him. This starts the first of John's visions. John sees seven golden lamp stands.  There are three mentions in the old Testament of golden lamp stands.

1. The lamp stands here are mentioned as seven separate lamp stands, or some bibles state as candlesticks.  That would indicate that they are not like the ones in the tabernacle as they were seven-branched. (Exo 25:31-37)
2.  Recall Solomon's temple, in it there was to be five golden candlesticks on right and five on the left. (1Kings 7:49)
3. The third came from Zechariah 4:2 in his vision of the golden candlestick with a bowl on top of it.

William Barclay mentions all three in his book, "The Revelation of John" Vol.1 and makes mention that John see visions similar to the old Testament visions in which God has previously revealed himself.  Then Mr. Barclay suggests that the lesson here is in order to discover new revelation, we must first learn the revelation God has already given us.  Awesome thought!

In the holy place, Christ is represented by the seven branched candlestick, the Spirit of God by the lamps upon it.  However, while Christ is away in Heaven we, His people, are to be the lights for Him here in this world.  The seven lamp stands are also representative of the seven churches (see prior blog concerning Rev 1:4), representing a possible picture of the Church's history until our Savior comes again.

Moving on to verse 13, John sees a figure in the the midst of the circular arrangement of the candlesticks, "...One like unto the Son of Man,...".  Son of Man, a title Jesus frequently applied to himself, and is used for the Messiah in Daniel 7:13 in addition to being mentioned like this in  all four of the Gospels.

We will further discuss the appearance in the next blog, until then, ask yourself, Am I truly a light for Him while we wait for his return?

Blessings on all,

Calabash

Revelation 1: 9,10 & 11

This verse starts off with John telling us where he is, Patmos, and that he was exiled there.  This was his punishment for preaching Christ and Christ risen.  (Oh how easy we have it today to speak and yet, so many of us are afraid of what others may think of us.)  Here John is shut away from all fellow Christians and yet, God continued to use him for His glory and WOW how God utilized him. 

John speaks to us as a brother and companion in tribulation.   Not of the tribulation to come that will last seven years but, of the tribulation he is experiencing now as a disciple.  Being a believer does not exempt us from trouble, it does exempt us from the sever years of tribulation yet to come, as it is for Israel and the unbelieving Gentiles (see Rom 5:9: 1 Thess. 1:10; 5:9; Rev. 3:10).

John is "in the Spirit on the Lord's day".  This is the first use of "the Lord's day" in the new  testament.  Interesting passage here, The Sabbath is to be observant of God for creation of the world.  The Lord's Day is for commemorates the raising of Jesus from the Dead.

John was "in the Spirit", he was allowing the Holy Spirit to consume him, to take him to a place of peace, a place of clarity, a place of connection to listen to our Father.  All of us should be able to go to our special inner Spirit to be "in the Spirit" with our Father to talk and listen to what He has to say to us and for us to just "be" with Him.  Patmos was not a place of calmness or quiet, there was no Christian fellowship or meeting hall for John, but it didn't matter, he took the Bible with him and was with the Father frequently, as should we-always, not just on Sunday.

John says, "I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet,"  The comparison of the voice to a loud trumpet gives us a clear vision of the Lords voice to a clear, crisp booming sound of a trumpet call.  The identification came, of the "...Alpha (Greek letter, first in the alphabet) and the Omega (Greek letter, last in the alphabet), signifies the beginning and the end.  This followed by the instructions to see, wright and then to send to the seven churches.

What an amazing command from our Father.

Blessings to all,
Calabash

Revelation 1:5-8

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, 6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen 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. 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)

Verse 5 we find a description of our Jesus Christ:

 Faithful witness-

wit·ness (w t n s) n. 1. a. One who can give a firsthand account of something seen, heard, or experienced: a witness to the accident. b. One who furnishes evidence.

Here, Christ is Gods witness, by definition, he can give "firsthand account".  He has seen, heard or experienced what is being written here. He is unique in that  He had first-hand knowledge about God. 

John 3:11 Jesus confirms this by saying to Pilate, "For I have come into the world, to bear witness  to the truth"

First-born (begotten)of the dead-
The word first-born is prototokos. It has two meanings:
 1. Literal- first-born.  In relation to Revelation, it would mean Jesus was crucified and resurrected, thus having victory over death and being first born of the dead.  But,you may say Jesus was the not first raised from the dead and you would be correct. The difference being,they experienced death again. Resurrection in Christ name continues today.  As a matter of fact, there are many raised from the dead recently in Brazil (see healingherald.org/2011/01/16-flood-victims-raised-from-the-dead-in-brazil/).  2.  First-born was to be the one who inherits.  Prototokos, here means one with power and honor, one who occupies the first place.
Both seem to apply in this verse.

The prince of the kings of the earth-
Jewish scholars translate this as a description of the coming Messiah, stemming from Psalms 89:27

Then John breaks into adoration, praise and worship, overcome with the Glory of God and his promises.
He mentions in verse six, "And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father;". The mention of making us kings and priests is for us who believe, we are sons of God by faith, therefore, we will be made kings and priests!  See Exodus 19:6 where it says, "You shall be to me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation"

John then continues with the praise and worship mentioning the coming of Christ again.  This guarantee accords with 317 other promises of His return and is mentioned more frequently than any other subject, with the exception of salvation.

The words in verse eight are words used by Jesus to John to identify Him with the
"I AM" of scripture.  Putting Him in the completeness with God and an official affirmation by Jesus of His deity.


Blessings to all,

-Calabash