Revelation 1:1-3

Jesus, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet saying, write in a book what you see. Send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamum, to Thyatira, to Sardis, Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.

Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me and having turned I saw seven golden lampstands and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like the Son of Man clothed in a robe reaching to the feet and girded across the chest with a golden sash.

His head and his hair were white like wool, like snow, and his eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze when it has been made to glow in a furnace. And his voice was like the sound of many waters.

In his right hand he held seven stars and out of his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword and his face was like the sun shining in its strength. When I saw him I fell at his feet like a dead man and he placed his right hand on me saying, do not be afraid I am the first and the last and the living one.

I was dead and behold I am alive forevermore and I have the keys of death and Hades. Therefore, write the things which you have seen and the things which are and the things which are about to take place after these things.

As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw my right hand and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the seven angels of the seven churches and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

Hey that last part right there you wish you had explanation like that through the whole book but we're not going to. And I'll even say that ain't as clear as we think when we get there. First and foremost as we begin to walk through each one of these texts we've had people here that have when we come to different conclusions on a text we've had somebody here that a man every five words you said and then we come to a conclusion that they disagree with that Christian brothers and sisters can't disagree on this man decided he was going to part fellowship with us because of it.

So I want you to know you can disagree with me and we can show Christian charity to one another but we who we can't disagree with is the apostles. If we disagree with the apostle we're wrong. Okay so let's understand that as we walk through this you can disagree with me and you can say Mike I don't agree with your conclusion and I can say fine but understand when when John speaks when John says he sees something he's not describing something that he didn't see when he says he saw locusts coming up out of a pit that's what John saw he didn't see something else with not the ability to to to describe it that's what he saw now it's our responsibility at that point to figure out our conclusion.

Okay and we will have disagreements and probably how we come to these conclusions and if y 'all want to stop me and say Mike that needs to be clarified how you came to that conclusion or if you can say I disagree I think it's this let's do that I'm open to that because first of all this is this book's not a puzzle are there puzzling passages you better believe it and like I said before I'll say it again that we should have an expectation that I should give you a clear understanding of how I understand the text.

But hey you should expect at some point to say hey I don't know because there are passages in here that we can just say I don't know there uh there's a passage here when we get to he says uh seven thunders spoke and he told John don't write it down.

Well how do we know what he's talking about. We don't know because he told John don't write it down. I mean I would imagine John would be like this would have been a good time Lord to uh to write this down so that people have understanding that he tells them to uh to seal it up.

And that's not often in this book that something is told to seal it up. When we get there we'll talk about the significance of it. So verse one the revelation of Jesus Christ right off the beginning. This ain't about the beast.

This ain't about the antichrist. This ain't about no other person as the focal picture of this book other than Jesus Christ. This is an unveiling. Remember the word revelation means. And uh it's the apocalypse.

It's the unveiling. The taking away of the covering is actually what it means. And if you uh well hey take your bible and to flip over to Daniel real quick. Daniel chapter 2 30. Yeah. Well uh Daniel chapter 2 verse 28 this is remember that's when uh Nebuchadnezzar had a crazy dream he couldn't sleep.

Then he forgot to dream and he told he's gonna kill everybody if somebody didn't come tell him what the dream was. And the interpretation. So um those of you that were in this the Daniel study complete may remember me making a reference to this.

It says however there is a god in heaven who reveals mysteries. Hey that word reveal in the in the greek the old greek and the septuagint is the word apocalypsis. So he's saying look i'm i'm good. There's a god in heaven who unveils mysteries who reveals those things.

And he has made known to you Nebuchadnezzar what will take place in the latter days. This was your dream and the vision that was in your mind where you were lying on your bed. As for you oh king while your uh bed on your thoughts turned to what would take place in the future.

And he meaning god who reveals mysteries. There's that word again apocalypsis three times he uses this in these three verses and he to make known what will take place. But as for me this mystery has not been revealed apocalypsis again in the greek to me for any wisdom residing in me more than any other living man.

But for the purpose of making the interpretation known to the king that you may understand the thoughts in your mind. So even back Daniel was told these visions he was told towards the end of the book.

He was told to seal it up for the time was not at hand because it was going to be in latter days. So the very things that the the sequence of the unfolding of each empire had been revealed to Daniel. And you're getting to the last empire which would be significant in the book of revelation.

Because now the kingdom of messiah has come and that has actually been inaugurated through his death burial resurrection and exaltation it says. And the revelation of jesus christ which god gave him to show his bond servants.

So here it is. God gave this revelation to jesus for a specific purpose to show it to who. Well yeah bond service. Let me back up. I should have clarified this too. There's no book in the bible written to you.

Zero. You know contrary to popular belief zilch is every book in the bible written for you. You better believe it. So this was actually seven letters written to seven churches with seven specific problems to deal with.

So yes are we to uh as he relates it to his bond servants. It was is then relayed to us. And in our time to how do we understand it. And how can we apply it. But it was given to christ. So we have a chain of revelation coming from god to jesus.

That is the same way it came when jesus showed up uh as the the messianic figure when he began his messianic ministry. If you go back and you read john i think it's john chapter 5 you'll see a chat. I think it's verse 19.

And verse 30 jesus says hey i didn't come to say my own words. I didn't come to do my own my own will. I came to do him who sent me. And the only thing i say is what he tells me. And then he says i think it's in verse 30 he says and not only do i do that i don't do anything on my own initiative.

I only do what god tells me. And what are we saying here. The same thing we're seeing that god is giving jesus a revelation to give to his bond servants. And then he's going to give it to his bond servants through another person which would be john.

And that ain't john r cash. That ain't little john. That ain't big john. That's john the apostle. That's who it is. And it says he was going to show it to his bond servants. That word bond servants is actually the greek word doulos.

I think it should be translated slave. Uh i would say i don't think there needs to be any more translations of the bible. Okay zero too many as there is makes it convoluted. But i will say the there are a couple of things with the legacy standard bible that they did do was take the word and that was offensive at the time when english language the english bible was being presented and and made it actual slave.

Because that's what it should be. When we think of slave we think of chattel slavery. Do we not. You know it was not a bad thing to be a slave to a good master in middle eastern time matter of fact if you if if i was a slave of a master if my master treated me harshly you know that other people would not do business with that man.

Because if he'll treat his own property that way what will he do to you who you have no benefit. That's how it was looked at. That's why a man that would treat his his uh household slaves with um with disdain or disrespect was was looked down upon because of that.

I mean what a what a great thing to be called a slave of the lord jesus christ. Did we not have a good master. Is our master not benevolent. I mean andy said it last week we we don't have to worry about food clothing anything just as god takes care of the the birds in the air.

He is going to take care of us now. There are exceptions to that at times i mean that's not real comforting right now to those who have just been flooded out and everything i had has been taken. Um there was a guy came out and said well you know it said that there's no uh king david says there.

He's never seen the righteous forsaken or the seed begging bread. Let me tell you understand something that was in david's time under david's reign. That was the case. That's not how it is that those people have gone through a very terrible thing.

But they're as believers they're continually trusting in the lord. That's the they're supposed to continually to trust. So here it is. He's given this to show his bond servants the things which must soon take place now.

Soon take place doesn't mean 2 000 years. It only 1 500 years. It means this is a it's fixing to take place. I heard one man one time preaching through this. He said well from god's perspective this would be take soon take place.

You know a thousand years as a day to him. That's nonsense. This book was not written to god this was written to his bond servants. So if it says hey this is going to soon take place how should they have understood it soon.

Yeah soon. If i said hey i'm on my way to your house i'll be there soon. You should probably expect here shortly. You know if i live on the on the other side of the the country and i says hey man i'll meet your house soon.

You should be there in a couple of days. Okay. So we should uh expect what's going to soon take place mean this is about to happen. And then it says and he sent and communicated it by his angel to his bond servant john.

Does anybody else translate. How many translations we got in here. Uh king james i know i'm pretty sure i know what yours says is it was the esv saying for community. Mine says communicated says he sent and communicated it.

The last section of verse one. He made it known. No. Okay. Made known communicated. Anybody else have something different than that. I know what the king james says. Andy yours new king james says signify.

Believe it or not. I love the new american standard. Communicate is is really not a good way because the word actually is simona or simena. And it actually means to signify or to show in signs and images.

So for our literal interpretation guys that is not even what it's saying. It's saying look god gave this message. He gave it to jesus. He's going to give it to john. Who's going to give it to the to his bond servants.

And as that revelation has been passed down it is to be interpreted in signs and images. So there goes your little interpretation of the book right out the window we understand how to interpret the book.

And the first verse. We don't do it literally. He says hey he didn't say hey he gave it him. So they would understand that what i'm about to tell you is going to actually be literal. No. It's communicated in signs and images.

So when we say see uh a beast coming out of the sea with uh ten whole uh uh seven heads and ten horns. Should we understand godzilla to be coming up out of the ocean. Should we. No because it's not literal it's figurative.

And he did it by his angel to his bond servant john. Uh flip over to the last chapter and it's uh he says i john and the one who heard and saw these things. And when i heard it and saw it i fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed me these things.

And he said to me do not do that for i'm a fellow servant of yours and your brother and the prophets and those who heed the words of this book. So here it is. I mean here's the here's the it starts with god it goes to jesus.

Then after we get the seven letters then that revelation is in the past to an angel and then it gets to john. That's how the revelation gets to john. Once we leave the seven letters jesus is not speaking to him anymore as a matter of fact it says he goes to the throne room in heaven and then he he engages this revelation with an angel which if you look at old testament hebrew revelation how did the revelation come to to the men.

It came from god to the angel of the whom most of us believe was jesus pre-incarnated. And then it came to the prophet. Think about on mount sinai i think it's in the book of hebrews it talks about how that when got when moses was given the law.

When you're reading through exodus you don't realize that that's what has taken place. But you know that law was mediated by through the through angels. It was a mediator. I mean even at that time moses was told you can't see me although it does talk about him being able to talk face to face with god.

I think there was an actual communication where he spoke and god spoke back. But the law was mediated to him through the angels. So this is how it comes. And then when it comes to john obviously he sends it out to the seven churches and he said that he by his angel to his bond servant john.

So you have it going from john the the the the head bond servant. That sounds weird but it's going to come to him and he's going to send it out to the other bond servants to the other slaves who testified to the word of god and to the testimony of jesus christ.

The word testified there is the word martyria and it is meaning to give testimony to speak. We're going to see the word to make witness to bear witness to testify. We're going to see that several times as we come through the book of revelation.

And sometimes it just means to bear witness to something. But at other times when it talks about the souls of those who have been beheaded around the altar we would understand them as to be what martyria martyrs.

But you'd understand that that reading what the word martyr from our perspective was not the perspective of the of the first century person we're reading back into it. That's how they got their name martyr.

A person was made testimony of what they had seen and heard. And we're going to talk about some of this as we get to the seven churches because one of them antipas actually makes a testimony of who christ is or whatever and he is killed we would say that he was a martyr.

But that's not how they understood it. In the first century you had you had two two types of people that would stand before magistrates or even before an emperor because i do believe that paul was uh martyred for his testimony before nero.

I believe that uh peter was martyred before nero before his testimony. So they would stand before whoever this person is city magistrate local whatever. And they would make they would bear witness to what they had seen.

Think about paul he was bearing witness to what he was eyewitness of the risen lord. Eyewitness was peter an eyewitness. Yes. Was all the other 12 disciples that. Yes they had to be ready to be apostles.

Yeah. Um yes. For to be a capital a apostle. Yes. Yeah. Capital a. But you had others that would come along gotta remember jesus appeared. Um and i know we might have a little disagreement. Um on i believe at galilee when he says i'm going to galilee and he met them on the mountain.

Um uh i believe that as they made their way from from jerusalem when he says i'll meet you at the mountain on galilee i believe as they made their way um they told people that there isn't christ. And i believe when they got to that mountain whatever that mountain was in galilee that he met i believe there was a large group of people that were there.

Because if you remember in corinthians it says that he appeared to over 500 at one time. Look i'm just making a logical deduction. You can disagree with me. Hey there was no other place where jesus could have appeared to 500 people without the base of a mountain.

And so those people saw the risen lord too. Could they have been the little a apostles that went out and testified. Yes. But you're right capital a apostles would only been the 12 and then uh the one that was added.

Um you say something. Yeah. Wasn't judas already killed himself. Yeah. Yeah. But you had someone replace him. Yeah. But afterwards. Yeah. Yeah afterwards after had seen the risen. Yeah risen christ. So yes.

Um the apostles specifically had to be someone that had testimony. Hey and every one of them except for john if you know anything about their martyrdom died for the testimony of christ. I mean some of them were skint.

Some of them were uh beat to death. Some of them were drowned. I mean it would just because of their testimony because they were testifying of what they did. Therefore they were martyred for what they did now john.

On the other hand we're not exactly sure what took place with john in the sense of how he died. We know this from tertullian. He made testimony to whomever he he spoke to whether it was the people in ephesus the magistrates and the city magistrates whether it was in ephesus that he made testimony and was condemned to be dropped in boiling oil.

He was dropped in boiling oil. And it says history or tradition says he came out completely unharmed. I mean imagine that you're looking at boiling oil and this guy drops in there and he comes out. And you know um some people believe that's how we ended up in patmas.

Okay here it is because ephesus. And i'll draw a map when we get to that point. Um off the coast of ephesus would have been patmas. And they said okay he is exiled there. There's a difference in going to a prison camp and going to um being exiled.

Uh patmas was um getting a little ahead of myself. But patmas was not um a was not alcatraz. Because i i was gonna say pappy on it. Some of y 'all probably don't even know what i'm talking about. Um that was a movie.

Um yeah it was not a it was not a uh a penal. What's that. It wasn't a prison. No it wasn't a matter of fact. It wasn't even a penal colony. It was a very small uh island off the coast india gnc off the coast of ephesus.

And it was not a place where prisoners were sent. Um that's why it makes it difficult to to say okay when it talks about him being there for the testimony was he there because he was exiled. Um was john there to uh do some type of evangelistic outreach.

There was john there to get the revelation. So i mean i can go ahead and let you cat out of the bag. I'm not convinced that john was there in exile. Just gonna let you know. I'm not convinced of that.

We know that john got there for the purpose of getting the revelation that we do know. And um there was a gymnasium in that place. There was temples there to worship other gods there. So it was an actual community.

Um but we'll talk more about that when we get there. So it was given to to john and was communicating signs and images. The testimony of to the testimony of jesus christ. Oh let me back up. Uh because of the testimony there was those that like in john's case john dropped in boiling oil and lived.

He would not have been a martyr. He would have been called uh one that was a confessor. Okay so you had those that would be martyred. You would have those that endured martyrdom and did not die then would be called a confessor.

But later in church history as um you would have those that would uh under uh extreme persecution they would uh they would turn back. It was called lapse. And later in church history you would have which would call the lapse issue where you would have after persecution had quit people would want to then come back into the church and you had church churches going dude you're not coming back here.

You're a traitor. And you had a lot of division on should we let that person back in or should we not understandably imagine somebody coming in here hauling off your wife or your your husband or son or daughter and then they're they're martyred um because of their faith.

And then the guy next to that person says i know i'll recant so he can live. There would be there would be some contention there. Um so that was a great dispute in the early church of how you let him back in.

How do you deal with that. And i don't even i don't think keith mind i don't know what the standard uh procedure was to bring him back in. I mean you're supposed to hey if a guy repents bring him back in.

But they didn't see it quite that way. So you had confessors. You had a huge division in the church huge division. Yeah one of the earliest sentences in the church was yeah from yeah the lapse. Yeah um so you had those.

That's not the case with john. He was a confessor. John um professed the lord jesus christ whatever whoever was a local magistrate somewhere else whatever it was he he did not die based on tertullian.

Um he wrote in 200 and um he was then either exiled which some people believe that's how he got there or he was let loose. Um so i believe that john wasn't killed because he was very influential. Um sometimes it was better to not kill a man who seems to be immortal than to hey we're gonna try to kill him again.

And what if this doesn't happen. You know. And ultimately he was immortal until god was done with him. Um it said blessed is he who reads. And those who hear the words of the prophecy and heed the things which are written in it.

For once again we have another in two verses i mean three verses. We have two time statements for the time is near. Once again if i call you on the phone and i say hey i'm near which is you'd be expecting here shortly knocking at the door.

And this is one of those uh seven beatitudes that we uh we i wrote last week on the board. And so i think i did. Um blessed is he who reads. Well why should a person be happy if he reads it. That is a legitimate question why he is hearing the words of god conveyed to john.

We look i think every one of us in this room is happy that we have this in our hand. Okay i do i so i don't want to um minimize that. But i really don't think we have it to the extent that they did in the sense of when when that courier walked into ephesus which i believe he had seven letters in his hands.

Okay i don't think this was one letter to seven churches. And i'll tell you why. Because seven letters to seven churches. I believe there was a there was an original copy john. And then john made six other copies and then they went to each one seven letters to seven churches.

Not one letter to seven churches. When that courier walked into the church of ephesus and he says i have a letter from john. I don't even think they had to go. John who. Yeah it'd be like today if we were uh if we said hey we're gonna go see uh we're gonna go see.

Um that god billy preach but he's dead now. But who would you think. Who would you think see didn't have to say anything. So when that person walked in and says hey i've got a letter from john i bet they couldn't get the people in wherever they were meeting somebody's house wherever they were made.

They couldn't get them together fast enough to go. John hat was at padmas. He sent us a letter. Some people believe that he was one of the pastors there before he was exiled even after it said he was come back.

And we'll talk about that later. Um uh hey we've got some correspondence from john probably could not get him together fast enough. And like i said last week um the old greek was written in uh all capitals.

No spacing no punctuation. Just text. I mean you better be skilled in reading. So blessed is the one who reads. Could everybody have read the greek then. Of course not. Not everybody was educated. But what could they do.

They could hear. So blessed is the one who would stand up there and read. Imagine him reading that for the first time. I don't think he hopped up there and just started reading. I would imagine he said hey man you have to give me a minute.

I gotta i gotta read this. So you're talking about i didn't have chapters then. But you're talking about uh 404 verses uh 20 21 uh 22 chapters. And he's going to read that for the first time. Imagine what's going on in his mind.

Man this might be a little weird. This might be a little weird. So he prepared himself to stand up in the assembly and read it. Blessed is the one who reads it because he's reading the very words of god.

And then blessed is the one who hears those words and hears the and not only hears the words but hears the words of what. What is this. This is a prophecy. Does a prophecy ever stop being a prophecy. No prophecy is always prophecy.

Whether it's fulfilled or not. Even we look back in the time of daniel those some of those prophetic things were fulfilled. But it doesn't exhaust the fact that it's still prophecy. And it stills to be looked at as prophecy.

So even as this book is being read and some of it would completely be fulfilled we still look at it as legitimate prophecy to be understood one. The tenacity of god's word is going to be fulfilled. God's word is going to be fulfilled.

So as he's proclaiming this prophecy um knowledge is going to be fulfilled. But it says at the very end there. It's not this near. This is going to happen. Um near. And this will take place very soon as you get to the end of the book.

What does he say. The time is at hand. The time is at hand. The time is at hand. So blessed is the one who not only reads it he hears the words of this prophecy. And then there's a word there mike does your uh king james say obey or say heed.

He keeps those things. Keep. Okay. So what's yours saying. Andy. Keep esd keep. I would say each one of those means obey. Obey. You should obey what he is saying. Man. That means there is some moral component to this book.

There's actually not only you're going to hear these things that need to be understood. And i do believe that. Hey there was some explanation by the reader to kind of what was going on. Hey imagine the first reader at the first church in emphasis to read this letter.

Did god have to give that man some understanding. Because he is actually going to have to give an exposition of this at some point. Hey it wasn't like he stood up. He read it y 'all heard it. All we're gonna put this we're gonna put up this letter until next year.

No i believe that it was an ongoing thing that they continually read. Um just like we do today. Imagine that being the first letter that they had got from john in a long time they probably spent many many many days trying to understand it and then and heeding it meaning it's to be obeyed.

What parts of the book think about it. Just we hadn't even started it. So he's already said whatever's in it to be obeyed. What did god tell the people when he gave them the law. They never even heard what the law was.

Can you remember what they said. That's right. Hey man they went into a covenant with god and they never even knew what god was going to tell them to do. And they just said whatever it is tell him we'll do it.

Matter of fact they didn't even want to talk to god. They sent moses up there to do it. They were so trembling. What's that they were afraid. Yeah i think i would be too if mount sinai was shaken and there was lightning and thunder and peels of thunder up there.

I don't know i probably would have been scared too. You know. Um we often go hey um we'd done things differently. I don't know. I know i was never scared of anything or anyone in my life till i got saved.

I had no doubt. I remember i was right with my mom and some of you know the story i was riding with my mom i was on my way to see her and my dad. And uh was converted. And um she said are you okay. I said uh mom i'm i'm scared.

She said i've never heard you say that 28 years of your life. I said i'm afraid that god will kill me if i fail this this christianity stuff. Obviously i didn't know anything about the keeping of the holy spirit.

Dude i was new i didn't know anything about it. So i can imagine imagine seeing a not not just the the the conviction of the holy spirit in your life. Imagine seeing an actual manifestation of theophany and seeing the mount sinai shake.

You've just seen all of these plagues that god had uh had put on his enemies seeing the firstborn. And then he delivers you out you come through and you walk through the red sea and you look back and there's nothing but bloated bodies behind you.

I think uh when you get to mount sinai and you say hey man whatever he tells us to do you go up there and talk to him. I think we probably all would have been a little scared too. I've been a little scared too.

And he says for these uh and he that which is written in it not just what's going to be spoken but you're going to be able to go back. This is going to be written down so that you can for for for generations to come and to go back and to be examined.

You know that is what is so great about our bible is that we can look at it we can examine it. We can continually go back through it and it's not changed. Same thing for this book. This book's not going to change now we might come to some different conclusions on how but it meant what it meant when it was written to its original audience.

Its first time. Those seven churches uh we got about five minutes. I don't want to go into the.

Next section. Um got any questions. Yes sir um i i would miss last week but um did uh did you did you talk on um why why just these seven churches. Like because i would imagine there was probably like a church at jerusalem and those sort of things.

Well great question. And if you're reading.

If if you're reading your if you read through revelation yeah that should have been one of your first questions. If it's not that i'm not saying um you're stupid. I'm saying you're right. It should be uh one.

The church in jerusalem was very influential. Go back and listen to uh andy's um thing on the uh on the academy on axe it was very influential. Um uh although they didn't do paul any good at times i think we all would agree with that.

Um but at this point the church in jerusalem was no one. This is my conclusion. Okay uh the church in jerusalem was no longer that influential anymore. The judgment of god was at the door of jerusalem.

And if those men remembered the words of jesus when you see the army start surrounding what are they supposed to do. Head to the hills. Head to the hills. Head to the hills. Head to the hills. So that church would not have been there at at the time.

I would say once the siege started you had that siege originally started early before uh nero's. Um before nero killed himself. But then after nero killed himself wars broke out all over the empire. Um when we get to one of its mortal heads wound.

Okay and one of its heads had a mortal wound. I understand that. And y 'all will forget by the time we get there. So i'll i'll tell you now i think it was but the the killing of nero one of those heads he had been him killing himself that threw all of the roman empire in chaos.

So you had in that time you had uh nero killed himself. Uh galba immediately took power. Okay he got killed then after him otho came up right under him. Had galba killed otho takes over. So you have him then vitalius kills him.

Okay. So he he takes over. Well you've had in in 18 months you had five emperors. You had nero. You had uh galba otha vitalius. And then you're fixing to have vespasian. Vespasian was looked as a very good leader.

And he was benevolent to um you know they didn't want to destroy jerusalem just to let you know that they did not want to do that. Um they were very benevolent. They instituted they uh the senate put him in as being the emperor while he was in alexandria.

But he happens in alexandria because he was trying to save the corn and grain silos from all the stuff that had broke out from the war. So when he did that then he goes back to rome. He begins to bring peace to the empire crushing then jerusalem and all of so i see when it looked like the roman empire was about to fall and by every historian edward gibbons any of them.