Nov ’10 | Blossom 10
(1) We have been studying the Book of Revelation in the past two issues. We had completed till the 16th verse of the book’s first chapter. Now let us continue our study under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
(2) Chapter 1 : Verses 17,18 – In the preceding four verses, John had been describing the appearance of Jesus in his vision. You might remember how we looked into the meaning behind his symbolic descriptions. The intensity of Jesus’ glory made John fall at his feet ‘as though dead’. John would not have expected to see such a glorious vision of Jesus. So such a sight must have shaken him to the core. Placing his right hand on John, Jesus calms him down saying ‘Do not be afraid’ and then speaks about himself. This was not for self-glorification. Rather it was to clearly identify himself to pacify the disturbed John and also to grant the Church many important truths. Jesus says He is ‘the First and the Last’. Proponents of the Trinity doctrine cite this statement of Jesus to imply that Yahweh God and Jesus are the same person. This is because Yahweh God also makes the same claim that He is ‘the first and the last’ (See Isaiah 44:6, 41:4, 48:12). What we need to understand is that two different beings do not become the same person if the same title is given to them. For instance, the Persian king Cyrus is called the ‘Messiah’ in the Book of Isaiah – ‘This is what the LORD says to his anointed, to Cyrus’ (Isa 45:1). In this verse, the word ‘anointed’ is a translation of the Hebrew word ‘mashiyach’ (Strong’s No: 04899). It is the same Hebrew word that is translated as ‘Messiah’ in Daniel 9:25,26 (KJV) where it’s used to denote Jesus. Would it be okay to consider Jesus and Cyrus as the same person just because the same title has been given to both of them? No, it would be absurd. We should always understand the meaning behind titles based on their context and usage. Therefore, even though ‘the First and the Last’ title has been used for both Jesus and God, we should understand it based on the context. How it refers to Yahweh God can be seen in Isaiah 44:6 – ‘This is what the LORD says – Israel’s King and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God.’ Isn’t the context of this verse abundantly clear? Yahweh God declares that He alone is God, the first and the last and apart from Him there is no other God. Isn’t this true? Is there any other God before or after Yahweh God? None. Therefore Yahweh God is indeed the the first and the last God. So based on what line of thinking does Jesus refer to himself as ‘the First and the Last’ in Rev 1:17? To figure that out, we need to study the context of that verse – ‘I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever!’ (Rev 1:17, 18). So Jesus is essentially saying that he alone is the one who died, was resurrected and is alive forever and ever. No one before him was resurrected after death. Even though in the coming Kingdom the people of the whole world are to be made alive after him, they are not going to do that on their own. Rather, wouldn’t they be made alive in Christ? Everyone died in Adam (one man) – ‘sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people’ (Rom 5:12, Also 1 Cor 15:22). Likewise everyone is to be made alive in Christ and not by their own self-justification – ‘For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.’ (1 Cor 15:22). Jesus attained resurrection by virtue of his own self-justification. No one before Jesus had done such a feat. And no one after him would do so. Truly, none could doubt the incomparable singularity of the resurrection of Jesus. Therefore, it is on this line of thought that Jesus declares himself as ‘the First and the Last’. Thus when we study the context, the scales fall away from our eyes and we get clarity. As a matter of fact, one of the goals of Scripture Study magazine is to stress the importance of Contextual Bible Study. Now let us continue our current study. Jesus says he holds ‘the keys of death and Hades’. The meaning of the Greek word Hades (Strong’s No: 86) is ‘grave’. Death is an event. And grave is the place where the dead are kept as per Jewish tradition. It is true that both the event of death and the grave (the resting place of the dead) are prisons where mankind has been incarcerated as a result of Adam’s sin. By his sacrifice on the cross, Jesus changed that imprisonment. But why are death and grave being depicted as separate things? If Jesus had said he held the key of death alone, then wouldn’t there be a question about the impact of Jesus’ crucifixion sacrifice on those who had died prior to that and had been in their graves? Death and the grave have been distinguished in this verse to cast out all such doubts. Yes, not only did Jesus turn death into life starting from his time. But he also won resurrection for all those who had died before his period (signified by the traditional Jewish grave). The keys that deliver mankind from the prisons of death and the grave are indeed with him (John 5:25-29). We will study more in detail about these keys when we look at the third chapter of this book.
(3) Verses 19,20 – Jesus asks John to ‘write’ i.e. record 3 things. Those being –
· what you have seen – Here Jesus essentially refers to the visions John had seen earlier in the first ten verses of the first chapter of the Book of Revelation and asks him to record them.
· what is now – Jesus tells John to record the vision that John was seeing right then. It was indeed the glorious appearance of Jesus himself that commenced in Chapter 1:11.
· what will take place later – Jesus asks John to record all the visions that will occur before him after the present one.
Then Jesus proceeds to explain the mysteries of his own glorious appearance John was seeing then. Jesus says that the seven stars in his right hand were the angels of the seven churches and the seven golden lamp stands surrounding him were the seven churches. Even though the 11th verse of this chapter refers to these seven churches as the seven churches of the Asia Minor of those times, our readers might recall studying in the last two issues how they also represent the Churches of the Seven Time Periods (See Scripture Study – Blossom 08:Sep 10, Para 09; Blossom 09:Oct 10, Para 06). In that case, who are the seven angels of those churches? They being in the right hand of Jesus shows us that they are under his control. Seven angels under the control of Jesus, carrying God’s message to the seven churches. Doesn’t this sound like something we’ve already heard about? When we were studying Rev 1:4,5 verses, we saw the following about ‘seven spirits’ – Also, after they come under Jesus, they are called as “the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth” (Revelation 5:6)… Jesus said He would send the Holy Spirit to tend to the Church after He ascends to heaven (John 14:26)… Holy Spirit is not a person, but rather the power of God. But God’s power is manifested through His angels. They are the ones who fulfill His will… since these angels distribute the Holy Spirit to the nourishment of the Church, they are called as ‘spirits’. And they are seven in number as one per church for each of the churches of the seven periods (See Scripture Study – Blossom 08: Sep 10, Para 09). Yes, the seven angels of the seven churches mentioned here are those seven spirits indeed. Those seven angles at the right hand of Jesus – under his control – go ‘out into all the earth’ and sustain the seven churches, one angel per church. There is direct biblical evidence for this. Read this verse – ‘To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars’ (Rev 3:1). This verse has not been rendered accurately in the English translations. The Greek word that has been translated as ‘and’ in this verse is ‘kai’ (Strong’s No: 2532). One of its meanings is ‘even’. So the correct translation in this context is ‘the seven spirits even the seven stars’ (meaning seven spirits that are the seven stars). This can be confirmed further. The place where Jesus says he has the seven spirits and seven stars is at the commencement of the message to the church in Sardis. In the beginning of the messages for each one of the churches, Jesus introduces himself by mentioning some of the descriptive signs of his appearance (i.e. the verses Rev 1:12-20) in the vision we saw in the first chapter. Likewise here too, he says he has the seven spirits that are the seven stars thereby referring to one of those signs within Rev 1:12-20 – i.e. the seven stars of Rev 1:16. Moreover, in Rev 1:16, is there anything else in the hands of Jesus apart from the ‘seven stars’? None. Those seven stars are the seven spirits indeed. Therefore, it becomes clear that the seven spirits that stand before God’s throne are essentially the seven stars in the right hand of Jesus, representing the angels of the seven churches.
(4) Moreover, chances are very slim for these seven angels being human. Why so? We must keep in mind that these churches represent not just the churches of the seven cities of Asia Minor, but also the churches of the seven time periods. And some of those seven periods stretched across centuries. That being so, how can one man be an angel bearing Jesus’ message for a church of a time period that spans many centuries and of a geographical spread across the globe? Also, Jesus’ command to those seven angels was to deliver his message to the entire Church. For instance, let us say the lifetime of a church in one of those seven periods is 300 years. If so, the angel for that church would have to deliver the message intended for that church to each one of the Christians that lived in far corners of the world during those 300 years, not leaving out even one of them. Is this something that’s feasible for one man? Evidences prove that the gospel spread worldwide within the first century itself. In that case, how could one human messenger have delivered the gospel message worldwide during periods of churches when there was no television or radio? At the same time, this is indeed possible for a spiritual angelic messenger. It’s not just that. Doctrines taught by human preachers are certainly bound to have mistakes. During the course of the past 2000 years of Church history, we cannot point to even one single preacher whose doctrines were 100% error-free. Only the Bible is perfect and without error. Therefore, these seven angels represented by stars in the right hand of Jesus could not have been men that preached error-prone doctrines. It is our humble opinion that these seven angels were not human messengers but rather they are indeed the seven spirits standing before the throne of God in Rev 1:4. In any case, it is the message carried by each of these angels that should concern us more. It’s not important for us to be dogmatic about who these angels are. Rather, learning the fundamental Christian truths, doing works of faith, growing in Biblical knowledge, understanding prophecies as per their times and seasons – these are the things that are important. Regarding the nature or identities of these angels, every individual could stick to what he or she feels is right. It’s okay to have differences of opinion among us in this matter. We should not set aside a brother or sister due to this. As a matter of fact, unnecessary quarrels on topics like ‘which man is the angel!’ served only as stumbling blocks for many in the course of Church history. So let us be mature Christians who give higher importance to the messages delivered by those angels.
(5) Chapter 2 : Verse 1 – Jesus starts to give out his message to the seven churches. As we mentioned earlier, at the beginning of the message for each church, he introduces himself with some of the descriptive signs of his appearance (in the verses Rev 1:12-20) in the vision of the first chapter. In that manner, he begins his message for the church in Ephesus by mentioning himself standing as the head of the Church (‘who walks among the seven golden lampstands’) and the angels of the churches being under his control (‘who holds the seven stars in his right hand’). The church referred to as Ephesus in this verse has two imports as we have seen before. Firstly, it refers to the church in the Asia Minor city of Ephesus at that time. Secondly it represents the church of the first time period. We need to study these two implications separately. First let us look at the church in city of Ephesus of that time. In those days, the city of Ephesus was a famous trade port and a center of commerce. It also served as the capital of the Asian region under Roman rule. Moreover it was a city very important to Christians during the first century – Paul preached there for around three years (Acts 18:19–21; 19, 1 Cor 16:8). Some even believe that he could have been the one who founded the church there (Acts 18:19-21). Timothy too served at Ephesus (1 Tim 1:3). There is historical proof indicating that Apostle John too did gospel work there. Furthermore, at least 4 books of the New Testament essentially went first to the Ephesus church, those being – ‘Ephesians’, ‘1 & 2 Timothy’ and the ‘Book of Revelation’. Even more, some experts believe that the gospel book of John and his three epistles were actually written from Ephesus. Paul’s first book for the Corinthians was also penned at Ephesus indeed (1 Cor 16:8). Thus, Ephesus shined as a very significant city for first century Christians.
(6) At the same time, we have to study this church’s representative meaning as well. Before doing so, we need to realize that Jesus’ message for the church of a certain time is indicative of the wholesome Christian societal environment of that period including both the good and the bad. Therefore, he points out not just the righteousness in the Christian societies of each of those times, but also the wickedness among them. The church of the first period signified by the Ephesus church ran from 95 A.D. till 202 A.D. Why? The church of the first period could not have begun before 95 A.D. As the book of Revelation itself was written in 95 A.D., it was only during that year Jesus’ messages for the churches came out. So his messages apply only for the churches of the times after that. Otherwise, wouldn’t Jesus’ message for the church of the first period be useless? That being so, how do we know that the first church lasted till 202 A.D.? To figure that out, we need to study the messages given to the churches and compare them with history. In Jesus’ message to the first church, no distinguished persecutions/sufferings have been mentioned (Rev 2:2-6). But the message for the second church highlights suffering and persecution (Rev 2:9,10). 202 A.D. was the year the Roman Empire launched a great persecution against Christians. It is actually true that persecution has always been there in history of the Church since her establishment in 33 A.D. In the same manner, even before 202 A.D. many Roman Emperors persecuted Christians. But that persecution intensified during the reign of Septimius who ascended the Roman throne in 193 A.D. Especially in 202 A.D., he banned preaching/embracing Christianity across the entire Roman Empire. That was the first official empire-wide ban against Christians under Roman rule. Many experts believe that a great persecution came upon Christians as a result of this ban and it was far-reaching and widespread as well. That’s why we say the second church commences that year with the first church lasting from 95 A.D. – 202 A.D. Also as we saw earlier, the angel for the First Church and for the typical church in Ephesus is one of the seven spirits in the right hand of Jesus. It is he who would have delivered Jesus’ message by various means to each member of the Ephesian and the First Period Church.
(7) Verses 2,3 – Let us first look at the meaning of these verses in the context of the Ephesian church. It is clear from these verses that the Ephesian church was a healthy church in 95 A.D. Jesus extols the deeds and hard work of the Ephesians regarding the gospel and their persevering endurance of the hardships that had come upon them as a result of it. We too should be like that. A church is not just a crowd that gathers a few days during the week to study the Bible. It is the calling of every church to plan and work hard for the sake of spreading the gospel and to face the resulting trials together. Let us do some soul-searching whether our church is like that. If we are, then Jesus, the Head of the Churches would praise our church too. Furthermore, the Ephesian church did not tolerate the wicked amidst her. This is important. It’s critical for the church to rebuke the brothers within the church who are conspicuously falling away (1 Cor 5:1-13, See Grace – Blossom 01:Feb 08, Para 07). Otherwise, the true Church of Christ would lose her distinguished nature and become like yet another ordinary worldly gathering. Therefore, like the Ephesians, we too should be people who ‘cannot tolerate’ the wicked amongst us. Rather we should rebuke those who play politics for the sake of power or boldly sin without any remorse. And as Paul says, we should also not hesitate to expel those who unrepentantly persist in their sins even after multiple reprimands (1 Cor 5:13). We are not a superficial social gathering that’s supposed to be chitty-chatty and cordial with everyone without distinguishing between those who deliberately sin and those who do not. The true brothers of the wrongdoers are actually those who are strong enough to rebuke them and cause them to repent to the right path. Moreover, the Ephesian church tested those who falsely claimed to be apostles and set them aside as liars. Maybe the elders of the Ephesian church had been alert because around 60 A.D. Apostle Paul had warned especially them that savage wolves would come in among them. He had also preached the same in Ephesus for 3 years (Acts 20:28-31). We too should accept anything that is taught by any preacher in our church only after testing it Biblically. That preacher may even be our own church’s elder. But anything said should be accepted only after testing. As the Ephesian church endured hardships and persevered in her untiring gospel efforts, Jesus praises her wholeheartedly.
(8) Next we shall study the church of the first time period from 95 A.D. – 202 A.D. signified by the Ephesus church. Like Jesus says here, historically the church of the period from 95 A.D. – 202 A.D. too was a church that did a lot of works of faith and a church that neither tolerated the wicked nor accepted any false apostles. History bears witness to the rapid spreading of the gospel due to the works of faith of the church during this time. The Christian Church started spreading worldwide within a few years of her establishment in 33 A.D., the year of Jesus’ crucifixion. But as the early Christians were Jews, many continued to live in Judea itself. It is true that during the Roman-Jewish war of 66 A.D. – 73 A.D. a lot of them remembered Jesus’ ‘Flee Judea’ warning and fled to many places like Bella. But after 73 A.D. most of them returned (Luke 21:20,21, Matt 24:15,16 & See Grace – Blossom 32: Aug 10, Para 09). But during the years 132 A.D. – 135 A.D. that fall within the time period of the First Church, there was another Roman-Jewish war that is referred to as the Bar Kokhba Revolt. That also resulted in a Roman victory. When it ended, the Roman Empire banned the Jews including Jewish Christians from even entering Jerusalem. Due to that, many Jewish Christians were scattered to a lot of different places. This caused the gospel to spread considerably during this time. Moreover, the church of this time struggled and fought against many wrong doctrines including the teachings of ‘Gnostic’ Christian preachers (Gnosticism) who were false apostles. As a matter of fact, many experts are of the opinion that in 95 A.D. John wrote his gospel book and epistles just to counter and refute false teachings like ‘Gnosticism’ (See 1 John 2:18, 22). Thus, the First Church was not seduced by erroneous doctrines. So, the church of the first time period from 95 A.D. – 202 A.D. was a healthy church indeed.
(9) Verses 4,5 6 – First, let us look at the explanation that applies to the Ephesian church. Even though, that church was healthy in many aspects, she had forsaken the love that she had at first and Jesus viewed this as a shortcoming. From the epistle that Paul wrote to the Ephesian church in the A.D. 60’s, we come to know that her faith was strong at that time (Eph 1:15,16). But now in 95 A.D., she has forsaken the love she had at first. What does that mean? Doesn’t Jesus himself explain that here? Forsaking the love she had at first means essentially not doing ‘the things she did at first’. The Ephesian church was not doing gospel work as much as she had done during the initial years. Maybe her early vigor in faith might have been weakened as considerable time had passed by then. Moreover people who had served her during her early years like Paul and Timothy had died before 95 A.D. Maybe their deaths had a negative impact on the Ephesian church. Jesus warns them that he would send them into truth-less darkness (‘I will remove your lampstand from its place’) if they did not realize their fallen state and repent. Yes, if we continue to remain not performing any works of the gospel, in a matter of time our faith would be deemed as dead indeed. This serves as a warning for our churches and us. During the initial days that we come into the Truth, a vigorous faith is seen in us. That same vigor should be maintained till our deaths. Let us ask ourself if we have that still. Moreover, sometimes a Church Elder or a great preacher that we respect a lot might die or part ways from us. That should not affect our faithfulness. Sometimes an elder or a preacher well-respected by us might even stumble and go the wrong way. Even then we should neither stumble nor let our faithfulness weaken. At no point of time should our faith be dependent on men. Our works of faith should always increase, not decrease. Otherwise there is no doubt that divine judgment would come upon us. Jesus then praises the Ephesians for hating the practices of the Nicolaitans which he also hates. Who were those Nicolaitans? To know that, we need to look at church history. Nicolaitans were a sect that taught wrong doctrines during the first two centuries. There is an unsettled opinion among scholars that the founder of this sect was Nicolas, one of the 7 appointed by the Apostles of the Jerusalem Church to manage food distribution (Acts 6:5). It is said that the Nicolaitans practiced many inappropriate things like polygamy. Jesus commends the Ephesians for expelling them. A teaching may be worldly wise. But if it’s against the Bible, we should not let it tempt us, but our duty is to hate it and set it aside. The Ephesian church of those times did exactly that.
(10) Next let us study the explanation that applies to the church of the first time period (95 A.D. – 202 A.D.) that the Ephesian church represents. It is true that the church of that time had forsaken the love she had at first. Here ‘at first’ refers to the period from the year of Christ’s crucifixion i.e. 33 A.D. till 95 A.D. The works of gospel performed by the church during those years were magnificent. As a matter of fact, there is historical proof for worldwide dissemination of the gospel even before 95 A.D. Apostle Thomas went as far as India and China to preach the gospel. We know about the evangelical works of Paul. And it was not just the Apostles. Many in the early Church worked with vigor and energy. The presence of Christ’s Apostles and the gifts of the Holy Spirit greatly motivated the Church. But sometime after 95 A.D., John, the only remaining Apostle of Christ then, died. Moreover, the gifts of the Holy Spirit too disappeared after a while (See Grace – Blossom 08:Oct 08, Paras 05,06). As a result, the faith of First Church was dampened. This church indeed worked hard to spread the gospel. But this was the time that saw her resolve and works of faith scale down, resulting in Christianity that had begun as a seismic movement of love, now starting to lose its momentum. Whom do the Nicolaitans of the typical Ephesian church signify in the message for the First Church? The Greek word Nikolaités (Strong’s No: 3531) means ‘one who controls people’. In that manner, church elders and some preachers of this time tried to exercise control over the churches. Jesus taught that anyone who wanted to be the greatest should humbly serve everyone. But instead these men wanted to ‘lord over’ the churches (1 Pet 5:2,3). Politics and power struggles started to rear their ugly heads inside the church. This is signified by the Nicolaitans practices in the message to the first church. But as Christ says, those kinds of people could not influence or corrupt the members of the First Church as they were alert and resisted them. But later day churches gradually came under the control of such priests. Even Jesus points that out in his message to the Third Church (Rev 2:15). Finally, the dominance of the Nicolaitans solidified with the establishment of the power center of the Papacy. Even today we should never support anyone who wants to lord over the church like the Nicolaitans. When we elect church elders or choose people for church posts, we should always pick those who exhibit many of the qualities that the Bible extols, like humility and politeness (See Scripture Study – Blossom 01:Feb 10, Para 05).
(11) Verse 7 – Finally Jesus says that he who has an ear, let him hear the message of the Holy Spirit delivered by the angel, who is one of the seven spirits. He further adds that he would give the right to eat of the tree of life (that is eternal life), which is in the Paradise of God (symbolizing the forthcoming Kingdom of Heaven) to the one who hears. There is a point to be noted here. The message of Jesus applies to the entire Ephesian Church and also the First Period Church. But to hear the message and take heed to it lies in the individual’s hands alone. That’s why Jesus says he who has an ear, let him hear. To elaborate further, the angel appointed for the Ephesian Church and the First church of the period from 95 A.D. – 202 A.D. would have made each one of the church members realize Christ’s message individually. Only those who took heed to that message and walked the righteous narrow way would receive eternal life in the forthcoming paradise of the Kingdom of Heaven. Yes, the church and the brethren may be around us. But in the end, our race is essentially an individual race. Divine judgment comes person by person. So no matter which church we go to, it is indeed the church/gospel works of faith that we do that confirm our faith. When we do gospel work, it is good to be associated with our church and do it together. That’s much desirable too. But it’s wrong to take an attitude of doing such work only if/when the church does it. No matter how our church be, we ourselves should be those who have an ear and act as role models that motivate even a church that might be failing in its duty and thus serve the Heavenly Father. Amen!
–To be continued in the next issue–