Revelation 1:9-11 Outline

"I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, 'Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.'"

John's Commission

1. I, John,
1. Shock, not in gospel
1. Refers to himself as the "disciple whom Jesus [actually] loved"
2. Humble

Revelation 1:4-6 Sermon Notes

Notes on John MacArthur's sermon: Back to the Future, Part 2 (66-2)

I. Elements of Revelation
     A. Nature - Unveiling
     B. Theme - Christ
     C. Source - God
     D. Recipients - Christ's bondservants
     E. Character -Future prophecy
     F. Delivery - Supernatural
          1. Only book in the Bible conveyed by angels
          2. Most informative book about angels
     G. Human agent - John (I, John, 80+yrs, no mention of name in book of John)
II. Number Seven
     A. Number of completion - the book is finished, the Bible is finished, this is the end (of many things)
III. "the time is near" - often used in Scripture to mean "next, quickly, soon, following" not necessarily immediate (near and next, but it may be far enough off to cause many to doubt or scoff)
IV. "is, was, is to come" by ch. 16 "is, was" He has come

Revelation 1:1-3 Sermon Notes

Notes on John MacArthur's sermon: Back to the Future, Part 1 (66-1)

John's (Writer's) Introduction

I. Type of writing - "The revelation of Jesus Christ..."
     A. Many similarities to Olivet Discourse throughout book
     B. End times spoken about by Peter, John (elsewhere), James
II. Purpose - Apokalupsis
     A. Whenever used of person, means person becomes visible
     B. First used in Luke 2:28
     C. All of Scripture is a revelation, this is THE revelation OF JESUS CHRIST
     D. Despite complexity of book, it is about uncovering not veiling
     E. "A front-page story of the future of the world written by someone who was there"
III. Central Theme
     A. Revelation not FROM Jesus Christ, but ABOUT...
     B. First coming - humiliation, Second coming - glorification
     C. Christ is never seen humiliated or belittled
IV. Source
     A. Divine source - "... which God gave Him ..."
     B. What does Christ need God to give Him?
     C. Reward/inheritance of Christ
     D. Most wills or deeds are sealed or hidden, but this was given to Christ to us, we get to see it
V. Prophetic
     A. "... the things which must shortly take place ..."
     B. Gospels - what took place, Acts - history of church, Epistles - explanation of doctrine and its application (gospels/acts applied)
     C. Revelation is the future, prophecy of the future

Christ: The Preeminent One

      Well, we're back in Revelation 1:5 again. This time we are going look at Christ the “firstborn of the dead” and see Him as the Preeminent One. Some questions I am going cover are: Does this mean that Christ was the first to return from the dead? What is the significance of the firstborn? How does Christ fulfil the role of the firstborn? And, why is He called the firstborn of the dead? So with these thoughts in mind, let's dig in!

     First, what is the significance of the firstborn? As I answer this question, I am going to stick within the confines of biblical context. The Bible is best interpreted by the Bible, so let's see how God views the firstborn of men and animals elsewhere in Scripture, and then we will try to draw some parallels to Christ. Genesis, the initial book of the Bible, means “beginnings” and it contains the beginning of our references to the firstborn.

     Genesis 4:4 – “Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering.”

     Now, we all know the surrounding story, Cain brought his veggies and was rejected; however, like it says, the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering. Why? Let's flip forward through time and see God's instructions for the Israelites.

     Deuteronomy 15:19-23 – “19 All the firstborn males that are born of your herd and flock you shall dedicate to the LORD your God. You shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock.  20 You shall eat it, you and your household, before the LORD your God year by year at the place that the LORD will choose.  21 But if it has any blemish, if it is lame or blind or has any serious blemish whatever, you shall not sacrifice it to the LORD your God.  22 You shall eat it within your towns. The unclean and the clean alike may eat it, as though it were a gazelle or a deer.  23 Only you shall not eat its blood; you shall pour it out on the ground like water.”

     From this passage we learn that the firstborn animals among the clean species were to be offered to the Lord per His request. Note that the firstborn which was to be offered had to be perfect; also notice that only the firstborn of all the flock is mentioned. For the purpose of orgainization, to see the sequence of these verses and the one to follow, we can divide the passages of interest into three categories: 1) the superiority of the firstborn when used as an offering, 2) the rights and/or privileges and the importance of the firstborn, and, lastly, 3) Christ as the firstborn. We've just finished the first point, and now we are going to try to determine the rights and privileges associated with the firstborn, specifically a son.

     Genesis 25:29-34, 27:36 – 25:29 “Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted.  30 And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!” (Therefore his name was called Edom.)  31 Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright now.”  32 Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?”  33 Jacob said, “Swear to me now.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob.  34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.”
     Genesis 27:36 Esau said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me these two times. He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.”

     Here we see Esau sell his birthright to Jacob for food when he was “exhausted”, about at the end of his rope after working the fields. These verses come from two different periods of Esau's life. The first is from an earlier time of his life (a time when Isaac was not near death), and at that point he didn't realize the importance of the birthright, in fact the text says he despised it because he saw no need for it, Isaac his father wasn't going anywhere any time soon. Then we fast forward and see him more mature and nearing the death of Isaac, and he now regrets having given up the birthright. He actually accuses Jacob of having cheated him for it! Now, granted Jacob was rather manipulative, but Esau had still agreed to sell him his birthright for a bowl of soup earlier in his life. The important thing to keep in mind here is the importance of the birthright in ancient times. Esau was obviously very concerned – even resentful – toward Jacob as a result of having lost his birthright to his younger brother.

     Genesis 29:21-28 –  “ 21  Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife that I may go in to her, for my time is completed.”  22 So Laban gathered together all the people of the place and made a feast.  23 But in the evening he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and he went in to her.  24 (Laban gave his female servant Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her servant.)  25 And in the morning, behold, it was Leah! And Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?”  26 Laban said, “It is not so done in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn.  27 Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years.”  28 Jacob did so, and completed her week. Then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife.”

     In this passage, we begin to see the benefits or the rights of the firstborn. We just saw the importance, now we are starting to look at why the birthright and title or position of firstborn was important. One way to think of the birthright is as a preferred pass to a theme park. You just showed the pass to the attendant, hopped on the ride, and skipped the two hour waiting line. The birthright was somewhere along those lines in that the firstborn received the most attention and priority, he came first. In Genesis 29, Laban had promised to give Jacob Rachel, but he gave Jacob Leah instead. Why? Laban said it was because Leah was the firstborn and so the privilege of the first marriage was hers. The firstborn came first.
     ***One caution about using this specific passage (Genesis 29) in reference to the birthright is that here it refers to a girl receiving the birthright over another girl. For that time period the birthright had much more to do with the firstborn son than it did for any female, so this passage can't really be used too extensively. All I want to point out is that the first to be born was to be first in line.

     Deuteronomy 21:15-17 – “15 If a man has two wives, the one loved and the other unloved, and both the loved and the unloved have borne him children, and if the firstborn son belongs to the unloved,  16 then on the day when he assigns his possessions as an inheritance to his sons, he may not treat the son of the loved as the firstborn in preference to the son of the unloved, who is the firstborn,  17 but he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the unloved, by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the firstfruits of his strength. The right of the firstborn is his.”

     Here we are again able to see the privileges of the firstborn son as a result of his birthright. As part of Jewish law, the firstborn son was to receive a double portion of all that the father has. The right of the firstborn belonged to the firstborn who was said to be the firstfruits of the father's strength. That phrase “firstfruits of his strength” actually brings us into the next Scripture reference that we will be studying.

     Genesis 49:3 – “Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the firstfruits of my strength, preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power.”

     “Few and evil” had been the days of Israel's (or Jacob's) life, he was very near to death and he knew it. In light of his impending cessation, he called all of his sons together to either bless or curse each of them (rabbit trail, I find it interesting that the blessings or curses of the men of this time period were prophetic in nature, not just well-wishing). Reuben, his firstborn, was the first to be blessed. Israel started off by establishing that Reuben is, in fact, his firstborn. He then gave us some insight as to what that meant to the people in that culture, Reuben was the might of Israel. Israel was old, he was passing the baton to Reuben who had the right to possess it, he was to carry on where his father left off. Reuben was to take the place of his father, he was to be the personage of authority among his brothers. He was his father's might. The third name he used for Reuben was – after firstborn and might – firstfruit. The firstfruit of an OT farmer was not the first ripe ear of corn, but the ear of corn that was better than any other in the field, the one that was reserved separate from the rest. It was not first in chronology, but first in quality and chosen before the rest. Reuben was Israel's firstfruit, he was the chosen son, the one who possessed the greatest authority and power. Coincidentally, those are the only two adjectives used here to describe Reuben and to tell us what the firstborn was like, the rest are predicate nominatives (nouns usually after the verb which rename the subject). Reuben was “preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power”; that's a key phrase, so keep your finger on that thought as we move forward.

     Now, we've looked into the OT in order to create a backdrop against which to portray Christ, the firstborn from the dead. Now, we are going look more closely at how what we've learned so far relates to Christ. The first reference we'll look at, OT again I know, is Psalm 89. Most of this psalm is a Messianic prophecy, most of it was written about Christ but before His incarnation; out of the whole segment that deals with Christ, we are just going to hone in on two verses.

     Psalm 89:19 - “Of old you spoke in a vision to your godly one, and said: 'I have granted help to one who is mighty; I have exalted one chosen from the people.'”
     Psalm 89:27 - “And I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.”

     At this point we are going to make the transition from learning about the firstborn in that culture to learning exactly how all this info we've been looking at actually increases our understanding of the phrase “firstborn from the dead”, how it relates to Christ. Here we see the recurrence of the word “mighty” (well “might” before, but you get the idea) and this is one word that is associated with the firstborn. We also see Christ the firstborn being exalted from the people, He is again the One chosen before the rest. Then Christ is actually called the firstborn. Note that God the Father is going to make Christ the firstborn, although a Jehovah's Witness would claim that Christ was born before the world was created, that He was a son of God. If God is here saying that He is will make Christ the firstborn, then firstborn must mean something else than born first, and it does. In this Scripture passage the title firstborn is meant as first chosen, preeminent in dignity and power. This is borne out in the following description of Christ, He is the “highest of the kings of the earth.”

     Colossians 1:15-20 – "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities all things were created through and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”

     The first phrase to note is that Christ is the “firstborn of all creation”. This does not mean that He was born before creation, rather that He was the most important in creation. Again, we see this emphasized in the following sentence. Why is He the most important of all creation, or of everything that is? “For by him all things were created, … all things were created through and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” Christ is the most prominent of all creation because He made it through His own power, He made it for Himself, and then – even now – He holds it all together! How could Christ be reduced to anything less than the firstborn, or most significant, of all creation?!

     Then Paul takes it even further, Christ is not only the firstborn of all creation, He is the head of the body, or the church. Christ is above all creation AND He is both the leader and focal point of His body, the church. Paul is so in awe of Christ's glory that he can't stop with this! Christ is above creation (the physical life), He is above the church (the spiritual life), and now he points out that Christ is above the dead too! Christ is both the beginning of life and the firstborn from the dead. His was the Great Resurrection from the dead. This was the last conquerable domain (physical & spiritual life, now physical death), for there is no overcoming the second or spiritual death. Christ overcame death so that “in everything he might be preeminent”, this was the final area for Christ to defeat.

     Now, Paul doesn't just say “He is the beginning, and His was the resurrection, that in everything he might be preeminent”, he says “the firstborn from the dead”. Christ was not just any old widow's son or Lazarus to return from the dead, He was the firstborn, the Preeminent One! Christ's return from and conquest of death is far more critical and impacting than any other resurrection, “for in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” Christ's resurrection was His signet seal, the outward manifestation of the reality of his claim to the ability to revive dead sinners and bring them into peace with God by the blood of his cross. None other can touch the supreme importance of Christ's resurrection, He is the firstborn of the dead.

Christ: The Faithful Witness

      Revelation 1:5 - “Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.” Those are three characteristics of Christ, He's the witness, the firstborn, and the ruler. From these three titles, we can see a foreshadowing of three major roles that Christ will play throughout the book of Revelation. First, He is the faithful witness. When we look at Revelation from a legal angle, we will see that Christ is the Judge. Second, we see that Christ is the firstborn of the dead. Christ is the most important person to ever come back from the dead. He is the Firstborn. Lastly, He is the ruler of kings on earth. Not only will He conquer the earth, but He will rule with a rod of iron and on high for all eternity. I'm going to split these three up into separate posts, right now I'll focus on Christ the faithful witness.

      If you were to look at the phrase “faithful witness” in Gk., it would be martys ho pistos. This phrase is most commonly translated “faithful witness”, and amazingly it means just that. If you want, you can add in all the synonyms or other possible English transliterations and it would read something like this: the “true, sure, trustworthy, believable, worthy of credit” person “who has information or knowledge of something, and hence... can give information, bring to light, or confirm something” (The Complete Word Study Dictionary New Testament, p. 947, 1164). Nonetheless, this is not a phrase whose meaning grows much with an understanding of the original language. The more important area to look at in order to see the phrase's significance is its context, so I am going to endeavor to interpret this in light of the rest of the book of Revelation.

      There are two other places in Revelation that show Christ in a similar light, chapter 3 verse 14 and 19:11. Revelation 3:14 is the beginning of Christ's letter to Laodicea, one of the seven churches, it's His introduction to the church. When Christ speaks to each of the churches, He always includes an introduction that relates to what He says to the corresponding church. Laodicea is no different. Christ opens His letter to them in this way, “The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation.” He then goes on to rebuke the Laodiceans because they were riding the fence, so to speak. They were neither cold nor hot, neither rejecting the Lord nor following and obeying Him.

      Now we must ask, why does Christ introduce Himself to the Laodiceans as the faithful and true witness? The answer is because the Laodiceans were blinded, deluded, as to what their true spiritual condition was. Christ therefore manifests Himself as not only the faithful but also the true witness. So we see, first, that Christ is true. John 14:6, He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Then we see that Christ is faithful, He holds fast to the truth, He is credible, believable, trustworthy; He is true and He remains true to truth. Lastly, He is the witness. He has a knowledge of the truth, He is preserving that truth, and now we see Him able to “bring to light” or “confirm" that truth. Applied here we see that Christ is able to bring to light the true spiritual state of the lame Laodiceans. They think that they are rich, prosperous, and need nothing; Christ contradicts that by stating that they do not realize it but they are really wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. He then goes on to explain to them how to remedy their problems. Nonetheless, the point has been made: Christ is the truth, He remains true (or faithful) to the truth, and He testifies (or witnesses) to that truth.

      The other reference we're going to look at is Revelation 19:11. This time, Christ is not writing to His church, but He is returning to the world. It says, “Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges [the world] and makes war.” Do you see the repeated phrase? Christ is “faithful and true”, we now know what that means. Lets press on to the next part, “in righteousness he judges [the world].” First off, righteousness?, how is Christ judging righteously? As the faithful and true witness, He is able to judge righteously because He knows all the facts and bears witness to the truth.

     Do you remember, when we went through Jude, the character study we did on God as the Judge? There were three major points: God knows the context (the people and events involved), God makes a decision, and God reinforces His ruling (consequential punishment or reward). Now, we've taken a look at the first part, Christ knows the truth and bears witness to it. Now we see Him judge the world with righteousness and He is able to do this because He knows the truth. No judge can judge rightly if his judgment is based on error, but since Christ's judgment is based on the truth to which He bears witness, His judgment is righteous. Then, to wrap this up, the last part of the quote is “and make war”, there we see Christ reinforce His ruling. He's got the truth, He keeps the truth, He makes His ruling righteously, and now He wars on the wicked.

      I've finished covering this characteristic of Christ, at least as far as I'm going to take it, but I haven't done the application part, or the instructions from this for us the believers. That's in the works, and I'll either update this post and add it in or just create a new post. Until then...

Readers and Listeners

     "The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near."

     Well, last night we saw an introduction to the glory of Christ and the mindset for studying Revelation that John presents us with. Tonight we'll begin to look at lessons for Christians in Revelation. Now that we've grabbed a glimpse of Christ's glory, let's look at what we are to do with such a wonderful knowledge.

     From the text above, we can see that there are two types of people being addressed: readers and hearers. There is blessing in store for both those who read or teach Revelation to others, and there is also a blessing for those who hear, learn from, and keep the words of this book. In the Greek, "reads" (anaginosko) originally meant to "perceive accurately" (The Complete Word Study Dictionary New Testament, p.145) but over time its morphology changed to mean simply "reads". As a teacher, we can see that as we teach the Word of God, we must handle it rightly. The word did start out meaning "perceive", for then we could perceive what is not there. Rather, we are to "perceive accurately", we must be intimately acquainted with the book of Revelation and so that we can teach it as the pure Word of God. We must be sure that what we teach is true to what is contained in the book of Revelation and God's revealed character because teachers must watch over the souls of those that they teach as those who will have to give an accounting (Heb. 13:17).

     Just as the teachers must perceive accurately, so also must the hearers hear accurately. The hearers are not blessed people if they allow the information to go in one ear and then just fall out of the other. They are blessed if they "understand" or "comprehend" what is being said ("", p.114). They must be actively involved, listening, processing the truths that the teachers bring. Then, not only should they be aware of the teaching that they are hearing, they must apply those verities. The Greek word is tereo, and it's the same word used in Jude 1:21 where we see Christ able to keep us from stumbling. Although it is the same word, there are two different meanings or flavors of the word. Both usages mean "to keep an eye on, watch, and hence to guard, keep, obey" ("", p.1380), and they are derived from the Gk. word teros which basically means a prison guard, an officer of prisoners. Although it is the same word, there are two different flavors or varieties of the word. Jude uses the word in the broader sense, like the warden being officially responsible for keeping the prisoner in his cell. John, here in Revelation, is more specific in his use, the hearers are simply to "watch, observe attentively, keep the eyes fixed upon" ("", p.1380). I say simply but just as the reader is responsible for accuracy of transmission, the hearer is responsible for accuracy of reception. Latin, the sister language of Greek, has a similar verb, tereo (identical spelling), it means "to have" the reader has got "to have it" they need to obtain an understanding of the text. They must not only understand and comprehend what is being said, they have to also focus and pay attention minutely. Both are responsible in each their own area, and both will be blessed for their efforts.

     Lord, help us to grow, to be accurate teachers and attentive listeners as we realize the importance of this closing book of the Bible. It is not a book to be trifled with, please give us both an understanding and wisdom of Your ways.

Apokalupsis

     Usually when I study through a book of the Bible, I will spend a couple of weeks on the survey part of studying. That would be when I try to really get a grasp of what all the different sections or segments of the book are and, more importantly, see how they relate to one another. For this study through Revelation though, I am not going to focus nearly as much time on this aspect of Bible study as I could/would/should. If I were studying through Revelation to master -- to the best of my abilities -- the concepts and events that it contains, I would linger over this area of digging into the Word much longer. However, even though I should do this if I were to thoroughly understand and interpret Revelation as it is possible for me to do and as I really wish I could be doing, that is not my purpose in studying (see "Purpose" tab at top for an explanation). Therefore, I feel it is more needful right now for me to take a topical approach to Revelation that greatly redirects my focus of study. So, with that said, I am now going to dive into the text praying that the Lord would enlighten my eyes to see first His glory and also our instructions.

     The book of Revelation starts off with "The revelation...". The Greek word for revelation is apokalupsis, it's a noun that is derived from the Greek verb apokalupto. Both words are very similar in meaning, they've got to be since one derived from the other. The verb apokalupto can be further broken down into two parts: apo which means "from" and kalupto which means "to cover, conceal". If you put these two words together, you get "from cover, concealment" or in other words to unveil or expose something which was previously hidden, covered up, or concealed. We are getting a chance to look at and understand something which was before hidden from us, we had no knowledge of it. It would be like living in a house for twenty years, and then being shown a secret room that had remained, up until that time, in secrecy. That is basically what is going on in the book of Revelation.

     When Revelation was delivered to the churches it was, for them, the unveiling of something new. They, like the owners of the house in the example above, were familiar with the setting -- Jesus, Paul, Peter, and Jude had all written about Christ's Second Coming -- but yet this was something new. If you were to look at the chronology of the authorship of the N.T. books, you would see that the books which John wrote are unique. They are unique because all five of them (Revelation, John, John, John, and,uh, John) were written roughly 15-20 years after the rest of the N.T. canon had been completed. The believers at the time were familiar with other end times references that Paul, and especially Peter and Jude, had made, but Revelation was different.

     There are two main areas in which Revelation stands out from the crowd. First off, it's just plain huge compared to the other areas of Scripture which deal with eschatology (the study of end times). I mean, Peter only devoted a chapter to it, and Jude's only got one chapter to work with, so he was only able to devote a matter of verses. Paul's writings on the subject were more spread out and so were Jesus', but even if they were all brought together, they still wouldn't amount to a whole lot more than maybe a chapter or two. Revelation on the other hand, dedicates a whopping 19 chapters to this topic!

     Not only is Revelation set apart by its sheer size, but it is also different in subject matter and focus. This is where the Greek words above come into play. Peter and Jude wrote along the same lines, even overlapping at times, and their purpose was to show believers the end of false teachers, how dangerous they were, how to identify and expose them, and how to counteract and eliminate their venomous influence on the church (2 Pet. 3:10, Jude 14-15). Christ and Paul were at another corner of the end times triangle, their references to the end times had mainly to do with using those times to encourage and drive believers to a higher spiritual standard of living. To live life with a goal in mind, of finishing the race well, of completing their God-given courses (See Matt. 10:22, 24:4-14; Rom. 6:21; 1 Cor. 1:7, 4:5).

     Revelation, on the other hand, occupies the third corner, it is separate. Peter and Jude showed the judgment of God in the end times, Christ and Paul showed how we ought to live in light of the coming end times, but Revelation shows Christ glorified by the end times. You see, there is a difference in who is being related to the end times, Peter/Jude have the false teachers and Christ/Paul have believers. Revelation, though, uses the end times as a huge arrow pointing upward at the glory -- the expression of the sum of all Christ's attributes -- of the Lamb once slaughtered for our sake but now and for evermore enthroned on high at God's right hand.

     Remember back at the beginning of this post, the first two English (one Greek) words of this book? They were "The revelation", now we will complete this phrase: "The revelation of Jesus Christ". Back to apokalupsis, the noun form. We saw that it's from the verb apokalupto, you know, the movement from obscurity to manifestation. Apokalupsis isn't the only word used in the N.T. in reference to Christ's Second Coming, there are two others: epiphaneia and parousia. Ephiphaneia means simply to appear, to have an appearance; Paul is the only person in the N.T. to use this word to describe Christ's Second Coming. The second word parousia means to come, to arrive. It usually refers to a specific coming, it isn't a very general word, it's got a specific meaning when it is used. Of these three words which have been used to refer to the Second Coming, apokalupsis is the most profound and carries with it the greatest weight. It not only means to arrive or appear, it means to arrive or appear and then understand the significance of that appearance and coming. The significance of this word being in its noun form though is the fact that the noun form makes it definitive. Revelation is not just a record of the end time events, but it is an understanding of Christ's glory in His Second Coming, part of which is shown through those events. That is the main reason they are there, not only for our understanding of what is to come, but to show the glory of Christ. Applied here it not only means to know that Christ is going to make an appearance or to know what the events surrounding His return will be, but to see all of these things through glasses tinted with Christ's glory. We must not become so bogged down in the details of what, where, when, why, and how that we miss the Who. The purpose of the book of Revelation is to show us the events encircling the return of Christ in such a light as to shine forth the splendor of His glory.

     As I grow through the reading of God's Word and through fervent prayer, I ask that you would join me as I travel through this book and that we would be able to join with those in heaven singing praise to Christ:

19:6b-7a - "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory..."

Breakdown: Christ in Revelation

     Sometimes it's good when you're intently working on something to take a break and later revisit it with fresh eyes. Looking back over yesterday's divisions, something else stood out to me: there are three main divisions which show different aspects of Christ.

1-5 - Christ's Body
6-18 - Christ's Judgment
19-22 - Christ's Glory

     After finding these groups, I looked to see what other groupings were found by others. Irving Jensen, in his book Jensen's Survey of the New Testament gave these groupings which are along the same general lines as mine, but more specific, and therefore of more use to me:

1:1-8 - Christ Communicating
1:9-3:22 - Christ in the Church: The Living One
4:1-16:21 - Christ in the Cosmos: The Redeemer
17:1-21:8 - Christ in Conquest: The Warrior
21:9-22:5 - Christ in the Consummation: The Lamb
22:6-21 - Christ Challenging

     As I study, I will be trying to learn more about Christ based on these groupings. They will also serve as launching points for my studies on how believers are to live in light of these truths.

Beginning to Survey

     Now that I've gone through and created the chapter titles for each chapter of Revelation, I am going to try and group the chapters based on their general content.

Letters to the Church (1-3)
Worship of the Elders (4-5)
Judgments of the Seals (6-8:5)
Seven Trumpets (8:6-11)
The Dragon, the Two Beasts, and the Lamb (12-13)
Seven Bowls (15-16)
The Prostitute, the Beast, and Babylon (17-18)
The End of Judgment and the New Life of Believers (19-22)

Chapter Titles 17-22

     Yay!! Today is the end of reading through Revelation and formulating chapter titles. Now that we've begun to get familiar with the text, we'll start trying to identify movements in the book. Oh, yeah, here's the rest of the titles:

17. Prostitute and Her Beast
18. Babylon Thrown Down
19. The Rider of the White Horse
20. The Devil's End
21. New Heaven, Earth, and Jerusalem
22. Jesus Comes

Chapter Titles 12-16

     Found time to read through another five chapters today, the seven bowls and the trumpets from yesterday sure make the end times a bitter/sweet time.

12. Dragon and Woman
13. Two Beasts
14. Three Angels and Harvest
15. Seven Angels Given Seven Bowls
16. Seven Angels Pour Seven Bowls

Chapter Titles 4-11

     Today I was able to read through a pretty good chunk of the text and here's what I came up with:

4. The Four Beasts
5. The Lamb
6. 6/7 Seals
7. The Great Multitude
8. 7th Seal and 4/7 Trumpets
9. 5th and 6th Trumpets
10. 7th Trumpet and Little Scroll
11. The Two Witnesses

Chapter Titles 1-3

     As I begin to actually dig into the text of Scripture, in the study of an entire book, my first order of business is to read through the entire book and make a chapter title for each chapter. To do this I try to pick out what the key theme or subject of the chapter is (or the major one if there are many), sum it up in about three words -- the shorter the better, no more than five usually, exact biblical words or phrases preferred -- and then write the summary down as a reminder of what is going on in each of the chapters. Today I read through the first three chapters of Revelation.

1. Jesus

2. Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira

3. Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea