Oct ’10 | Blossom 9
(1) We have been studying the Book of Revelation since the last issue. We had completed our study till the fifth verse of the book’s first chapter. Now let us continue our study under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
(2) Chapter 1: Verse 6 –In the preceding verse, John talks about Jesus. Continuing on that, he describes the honors we as Christ’s body are to attain because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and wishes him “glory and power forever and ever!”. Christ shed his own blood on the cross because of his deep love for us. Therefore we get forgiveness for our sins in his Name. Even though the people of the world would also get the same forgiveness, they would taste its benefit only in the next world. At that time, they would be resurrected in perfect bodies bereft of any inherent sin. So they would be ruled over with an iron fist & their transgressions would be dealt with immediate punishments. Whereas we right now are still in inherently sinful bodies and hence cannot achieve self justification by ourselves. Those who think otherwise are just deceiving themselves, says John in his epistle (1 John 1:8). Therefore we need forgiveness not just till the day of our baptism, but also for the days after that. As a matter of fact, we need it for our whole lives. It is a blessing to be able to receive such forgiveness by faith. The blood Christ shed on the cross won that blessing for us. It is indeed because of that we are able to serve God during the present times while remaining in our sinful bodies. Paul thanks God for this abundant grace when he writes to the Romans (Rom 7:25). John too says the same in this verse. Moreover we are deemed to be the body of Christ, partakers of the kingship and priesthood that he attained. That’s why the verse says Christ “hath made us kings and priests”. Since God considers us as the body of Christ now itself, Christ has truly already made us kings and priests. But it is our responsibility to make it sure. If we hold fast to our faith till the end by confirmation through our works of faith like gospel/church works, we would get to keep the kingship and priesthood that we have attained in Christ. Another point to be noted is that during the times of Old Testament, kingship and priesthood had been kept separate. The descendants of Judah had been kings and those of the Levites were priests. But in Christ these two responsibilities became one. That’s why the Bible compares Christ with Melchizedek who was both a king and priest (Gen 14:18). We too shine as kings and priests like Melchizedek and like Christ. How magnificent are our glories in Christ!
(3) Verse 7 – John pens this verse, subtly pointing to Biblical verses that had already been written beforehand about the Second Coming of Christ. The sign of Jesus – the Son of Man coming with the clouds was first prophesied in the Book of Daniel (Dan 7:13). Later, Jesus who knew that prophecy, uses the same sign when he talks about his coming (Matt 24:30, 26:64, Mark 13:26, 14:62). Like Daniel and Jesus, Paul too mentions the same sign of the clouds when he writes about the Second Coming of Christ (1 Thess 4:17). Following them, John uses the same sign in this verse when he talks about Christ’s Second Coming. From this, it becomes pretty clear that the sign of the clouds having been picked up from the Daniel prophecy does not imply real rain clouds but is only being used as a sign. Because if one reads the seventh chapter of Daniel, one would find that it talks about many such signs including strange creatures (Dan 7:4-20). That being the case, if we interpret the clouds as real and not as a sign, then wouldn’t we be arriving at an absurd conclusion that those strange beasts also are real? Therefore it’s obvious that the clouds are a sign in this verse too. Moreover in an issue of Grace, we studied in-depth about how clouds denote times of darkness and trouble and also about how that prophecy was neatly fulfilled around 1874 A.D when the Second Presence of Christ commenced (See Grace – Blossom 22:November 09, Paras 02,03). In the same issue, we also learned with evidence about how all the peoples of the earth have been mourning after 1874 A.D., as noted by John as well here (See Grace – Blossom 22:November 09, Paras 03). Apart from these, John also says in this verse that Jesus shall be seen by “even those who pierced him”. This has been taken from Zechariah 12:10. But Zechariah 12:10 is a verse about Yahweh God. There Yahweh God says He was pierced. But wasn’t Jesus the one pierced by a spear? (John 19:34). What we have to understand here is that the word “pierced” in this verse is not referring to Jesus being pierced by a spear. Because if we consider that to be the case, we have to be reminded of the fact that it was a Roman soldier who pierced Jesus. It was not the Jews. But Zech 12:10 clearly states that it’s the Jews who would do the piercing (Refer Zech 12: 8-11). How’s that possible? By handing over the Son of God – the Messiah sent by God – to be crucified to the cross, they spiritually disregarded and wounded – “pierced” – Jesus and the Father. That’s what is mentioned in both Zech 12:10 and this verse. There is another point to be noted. Zech 12:10 says that the Israelites, during the end of Armageddon, would repent and mourn realizing that they have wounded Yahweh God (Zech 12:9). Only then, their eyes are to see the Truth in Christ. From this, we realize that the time when “every eye” of the world shall see Christ, is also at the end of Armageddon. There are many more Old Testament prophecies serving as proof for that (Refer Jeremiah 16: 19-21; 23: 7-8, Zech Chapter 14). So it’s unambiguously clear that the end of Armageddon is the time when every eye shall sense Jesus. In an earlier issue of Grace we learnt with evidence that Christ’s Second Coming is a spiritual presence not discernible to the human eye and that the notion of eyes seeing him actually implies a spiritual sensing/perception (See Grace – Blossom 22:November 09). In that manner, when Armageddon ends, both the Jews and the peoples of the world would spiritually perceive Christ. Also Zech 12:10 talks about how the Jews would mourn then. We should not confuse this Jewish mourning with the mourning of the world mentioned in Rev 1:7 and Matt 24:30. They are different. The world mourns due to the worldwide difficulties experienced during the time of great trouble that began with the Second Presence of Christ (See Grace – Blossom 22:November 09, Para 03). But the Jews mourn after the War of Armageddon. That is, after they realize Christ is indeed the Messiah. Wouldn’t the Kingdom have come after Armageddon? Then what causes them to mourn then? The people of the world had not recognized the true God and His messenger Jesus Christ because of their ignorance and due to Satan blinding the eyes of their hearts. But the Jews had been God’s own chosen people. Even Jesus, as the Messiah, went first to them to preach the gospel. So even when they had received such magnificent blessings, they had done things against God and had cruelly handed over Christ to be crucified on the cross. They would think about all those acts and mourn in agony and repentance. It is that mourning Zech 12:10 talks about. At the same time, the mourning of “all the peoples of the earth” that John mentions in this verse, is the mourning that started due to the time of great trouble that began after Christ’s Second Presence in 1874 A.D. and that continues even today (See Grace – Blossom 22:November 09, Para 03). The eager expectation of John (and the churches of all times) was always towards the Second Presence of Christ described in this verse. So he prays God for the fulfillment of all these things at the end. Today his prayer has been fulfilled for the most part. We are indeed in the times of worldwide mourning due to the great trouble happening in the Second Presence of Christ. Very soon, every eye is to see Christ. Let us also pray like John saying “So shall it be! Amen”.
(4) Verse 8 – In this verse, John records the words spoken by Yahweh God in the vision (In our previous issue, didn’t we see that the phrase “”who is, and who was, and who is to come” refers to Yahweh God? See Scripture Study – Blossom 08:September 09, Para 09). It is to be noted that certain Bible versions like the KJV have the verse quoting the Lord saying He is “the beginning and the ending”. This phrase is not found in the most ancient Greek manuscripts. So this is a spurious text that was added later. The NIV/NASB editions do not have it. “The Almighty” God says “I am the Alpha and the Omega”. “Alpha” is the first alphabet of the Greek language. Like ‘A’ in English. And Greek’s last character is “Omega”. Like English’s ‘Z’. When people want to call themselves all in all, they say “I am A –Z here” in English. It’s in the same meaning that Yahweh God uses the phrase “I am the Alpha and the Omega”. There is no Greek language without the alphabet that start from “Alpha” and run till “Omega”. Likewise, without Yahweh God, not just this world but the whole universe would come to nothing. It is He who is the beginning for everything. Even if everything else ends, there is no end for Yahweh God. He is eternal. This is what this verse brings out.
(5) Verse 9 – When John was writing this book in the A.D. 90’s, he would have been close to 100 years of age. Since all the other apostles who had been with Christ had died by then, John was the only apostle left alive in the A.D. 90’s. Even at such a time, John does not introduce himself with any special adjectives. His self introduction itself teaches us many lessons –
· Your brother – Leaving out proud facts that he was an Apostle who had personally been with Christ and that he was an elder person of advanced age, John humbly introduces himself as just a brother in Christ. Likewise Paul too was very humble (See Scripture Study – Blossom 05:June 09, Para 07). We may be elders or deacons. We may be of ripe age and have a lot of years of experience under our belt. But we should not be proud. Truly we should be seen humble like Paul and like John. It was the same lesson that Jesus taught his disciples before his death on the cross (John 13:5, See Grace – Blossom 14:Memorial 09, Para 04). At the same time, our humility must be real. It should neither be faked nor be just an outward disguise. From deep within our hearts, we should feel that we are just a brother in Christ and that we have no pride in anything apart from Christ. Therefore we should also realize that there is no one greater or lesser among the brethren in Christ. As a matter of fact, the Bible instructs us to consider other brethren to be better than us (Phil 2:3, Rom 12:3).
· Companion in the suffering that’s ours in Jesus – If we just go about claiming to follow Christ, but fail to do any of the works of faith – like gospel and church work – that we are called to do, then our faith is deemed useless and dead (James 2:20, See Grace – Blossom 24; January 10, Paras 05, 06). Our calling itself is to undergo sufferings for the gospel of Christ (2 Tim 1:8; Rom 1:15, 16; 15: 16, 20). In a manner reminding us of this calling, John introduces himself as a companion in the suffering that comes because of Christ. We too should never forget this. A life where we just try to reduce sinful behavior and build character is not sufficient at all. We have to suffer and experience harm for the sake of the gospel of Christ (See Grace – Blossom 10:December 08, Para 06). That is our calling.
· Companion in the kingdom that’s ours in Jesus – When we preach the gospel of Christ to the world, tough sufferings would definitely befall us. In order to not get bogged down by them, we need to keep ourselves reminded of the glorious blessings of the afterlife that we are making sure to attain by those very sufferings. Even Jesus did that when he was undergoing his trials (Matt 26: 63, 64; See Grace – Blossom 06:August 08, Para 12). Likewise John too recollects the fact that he is a companion to Christ not just in his sufferings but also in the forthcoming glories of his kingdom. Yes, our present sufferings for the sake of the gospel deliver us eternal glories in the forthcoming ages.
· Companion in the patient endurance that’s ours in Jesus – Patience is vital for a Church that waits for the Kingdom. Because this is not a race that we could win in a single day. Say, if we remain faithful for 30 years and go astray on the 31st, still we wouldn’t make it to our destination. Therefore victory is only for those who remain patient and steadfast in the narrow way till the end. John in particular must have realized this by his very own life experience. Because he was chosen by Christ at an age much younger than the other Apostles. And his race was still going on even after he was 90 years old. We too should patiently run daily towards our destination no matter how long it takes.
After introducing himself like that, John says he was on the island of Patmos. It was a small island (10 miles long and 6 miles wide) in the Aegean Sea portion of the 
Mediterranean. It’s the small dot the arrow is pointing to in the map to the right. It was south-west to the city of Ephesus. John gives two reasons for him being there –
· Because of the testimony of Jesus – Ancient kingdoms used many islands to house political prisoners. Unlike regular criminals, political prisoners were the ones who preached doctrines that were against or detested by the king. The idea was to isolate such prisoners in islands like Patmos so that they cannot continue to preach. John had been preaching the gospel in the city of Ephesus. So the Roman Emperor Domitian, who hated Christianity and persecuted Christians a lot, put John in prison on the Patmos Island in 95 A.D. That’s why John says he is in the island “because of the testimony of Jesus”. Domitian died in the year 96 A.D. Emperor Trajan who succeeded him set John free. Even during old age, John continued to suffer for the gospel. This shows us that we too should undergo suffering till death for the sake of the gospel.
· Because of the word of God – There was another reason for John being at Patmos Island. All the happenings in the lives of the Church i.e. us, happen with God’s permission indeed. God brought John to this island for the purpose of giving him this prophetic book. This was convenient actually. Since John was old, they would not have had him harshly locked up all the time. Also it would not have been possible for them to make him work hard at the stone cutting mines of Patmos Island like they did with the other prisoners. As we read this book, it becomes clear to us that John had some amount of freedom there since escape was not a possibility due to it being an island and also John being of advanced age. So he had considerable degree of privacy there. On the other hand, if he had been at Ephesus there would have always been a crowd around him since he was an important preacher and also the only remaining Apostle of Christ. But it was not the case in Patmos Island. Moreover if one receded to the nooks and corners of the island, there would not have been much people around. Therefore it was a place very apt for John to carefully record intricate prophecies that would prove to be immensely critical to the Church. That’s why God had brought him there “because of the word of God”. Imprisonment is a tough experience indeed. But there was divine will even in that. In an earlier issue of Scripture Study we saw that God’s will was there even in the imprisonment of Paul at Rome as it resulted in the gospel spreading worldwide (See Scripture Study – Blossom 05:June 10, Para 04). Yes, the sufferings that we undergo in our Christian lives would definitely have a good outcome or a lesson behind them. It may be to spread the gospel. Or to help our spiritual growth. Sometimes God permits them to make us realize a mistake we did and thereby teach us a lesson. Only if we discern the reason behind God permitting those sufferings, would we able to overcome them.
(6) Verses 10,11 – In this verse, John mentions “the Lord’s Day”. That may either refer to the day God chose to give these important prophecies to John. Or it may refer to a Sunday. Because Christ had risen from the dead on a Sunday, since the first century, Christians had been gathering on Sundays and had been referring to Sunday as “the Lord’s Day”. There is historical proof for this. The important thing to be noted is, John says “I was in the Spirit” on that day. Even all the other books of the Bible were indeed written by servants of God filled with the Holy Spirit. Like them, John was filled with the Holy Spirit on the Lord’s Day. At that time, he hears “a loud voice like a trumpet” behind him. During ancient times, important news or information would be announced after sounding a loud trumpet to attract the attention of the people first so that they would listen carefully. Even God has used this approach many times in the Old Testament. In that manner, this important news from God begins with a sound of the trumpet attracting John’s attention. John has not yet turned around towards the direction of the sound. Before we look into the 11th verse, we need to know this – In some versions of the Bible (like the KJV) this verse has the phrases “Saying, I am Alpha and Omega” and “which are in Asia”. Those two portions are not found in the ancient Greek manuscripts of the New Testament. Hence they are spurious texts. They have been removed in the latest versions like NIV. The loud voice asks John to write on a scroll what he was about to see and to send it to the seven churches in seven particular cities (Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea). As the map given below shows, all these seven cities were near Patmos Island in the region known during those times as Asia Minor
(present day Turkey). In the same region of Asia Minor, there were many other churches too including the Colossian Church which was just about 100 miles from Ephesus. Then why have only these seven churches been mentioned? It’s because in the Bible seven is a number that signifies fullness and those seven churches do not just represent the churches of their own times, but also represent the churches of seven time periods. Do recollect our study on that topic in the previous issue of Scripture Study (See Scripture Study – Blossom 08:September 10, Para 09). It’s not just that. Let us consider the sequence in which these churches have been listed in this verse. If a person embarking on a journey to these seven churches from Patmos Island follows that sequence in his trip, he or she would reach them one by one on a clear path without any need for backtracking. The map on the right shows that path. Thus the order of the
churches in the verse has been given in such a manner that it represents a straight & clear path that passes through them one by one starting from Ephesus. Thus we can know that the churches of the seven time periods signified by them would be chronologically in order starting from the church of the time of John. So we should study keeping in mind that the message given to John was not only for the churches of those seven cities, but also for the churches of the seven time periods.
(7) Verses 12,13,14,15,16 – John turns around towards the direction of the voice. And he sees someone like a son of man. That’s Jesus indeed. But this was only a vision. Jesus is like the Father after his resurrection. So he cannot be seen with human eyes (See Grace – Blossom 22:November 09, Para 05). Rev 1:20 says that the seven lamp stands mentioned in this verse are a sign. So that also confirms this as a vision. In Rev 1:20, the seven lamp stands are said to signify the churches of the seven cities mentioned in the earlier verse. From this too, we sense that those seven churches have symbolic meaning. If not, why such importance is given to the churches of only those seven particular cities? Only because they denote the whole Church spread across seven time periods Jesus stands among them as the Head of the Church. He holds seven stars in his right hand. Rev 1:20 explains them as the angels of the seven churches. We will study them when we look at Rev 1:20. Also, these verses beautifully bring out the characteristics of the risen Jesus through symbols –
· Dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest – A robe is full body clothing. To hold it tight, people would tie a sash below the chest. In the Bible, robe and golden sash usually signify justice (Job 29:14, Isa 11:5; 61:10, Jude 1:23). Unjust state is considered as nakedness (2 Cor 5:3). Christ was sinless from beginning but after he suffered at the cross and won, his pure robe of justice became tightly secured around his chest with a golden sash so that it never falls away and lasts eternal.
· head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow – Whose head and hair would commonly be white? Old people. They would usually be wise due to their broad experiences. Christ’s 33 years of earthly life experiences made his wisdom wholesome. This is signified by his head and hair being pure white. Infact, the same sign is used to describe even God the Father (Dan 7:9).
· eyes were like blazing fire – Fire usually denotes judgment in the Bible (Psa 21:9). Likewise, the eyes of Christ are intently gazing upon our activities. So even though we cannot attain self-justification, we should refrain from unrepentant bold sins and remain in Christ doing good deeds of gospel/church works. In that case, Christ’s final judgment would be in our favor.
· feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace – Bronze is melted in furnace and refined. Likewise when on earth, Jesus was refined and he learnt obedience (Heb 5:8). That’s why his feet are described as bronze-like.
· voice was like the sound of rushing waters – The Bible compares the voice of God Himself to the roar of rushing waters (Eze 43:2). Rushing waters stay on their course roaring past obstacles on the way. They cannot be diverted or stopped. That powerful and majestic are the voice of God and Christ. When someone speaks, it would be for a purpose. So when God and Christ speak, that particular purpose would roar past the obstacles like rushing waters and be fulfilled.
· Out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword – Double-edged sword signifies the word of God (Heb 4:12). Jesus is not just the Son of God and the Messiah. He is also the chief archangel who carries the word of God (Heb 1:1,2). Since Christ and the Father are of one mind, when Christ speaks, it becomes the word of God. This is why the voice of Jesus is as powerful as that of God Himself.
· face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance – Since the sun shines light on earth, it signifies Truth/ Justice. Its brilliance represents power/glory. Likewise, Christ is the all-powerful glorious Savior of the world who renders it Truth & Justice. Sun is also used in the Bible to signify Yahweh God (Psa 84:11).
(8) We noticed that many of the signs used to describe the risen Jesus have also been used in the Bible to depict God Himself. From this, we know that now Christ truly is in a state like the Father. We too are to attain such a state if we win our race. Yes, dressed in the robe of justice secured with the golden sash, having received the wisdom signified by white head and hair, eyes blazing like fire to judge the subjects of the 1000 year reign, with a voice powerful like rushing waters, having the double-edged sword of the word of God in our mouths as our minds become one with God, and glorious like the sun, we will shine the light of Truth and Justice upon the world! But before we attain these glories, our feet shall be refined in a furnace like Christ’s were. As a matter of fact, only God alone does not need this refining. That’s why this sign alone is never used in the Bible with regards to God. This is one of the major differences between Jesus and the Father. Indeed, our feet shall also be refined in the furnace. If they conquer the trials and come out as glowing bronze, eternal glories are surely reserved for us!
–To be continued in the next issue–