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Revelation 1:1
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto
him, to shew unto his servants things which must
shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his
servant John:
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WORSHIP
MUSIC
This week’s worship leader is Carman. To view this music video, click below.
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CURRENT
EVENTS
Click here for your weekly
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WEEKLY
STUDY
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BIBLE
READING
One of our goals is to read through the Bible by the end of this
year. This week’s reading is…
The Book of Zephaniah
If you do not have a Bible, you can download a free copy of one by
clicking HERE!
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DISCIPLESHIP
TRAINING
Over the next few months, we will be studying
REVELATION REVISITED, a Layman’s Look at the
book of Revelation taught by Zander Dell Raines. The study text for this week is below.
The Greatest Adventure In The
Universe!!!
Revelation 1:1
The Revelation of Jesus
Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants
things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his
angel unto his servant John:
Now if you look at this page in your Bible my might
see several different things when looking at the title of this book of the
Bible. My Bible says "The Revelation of Jesus
Christ". Some older Bibles say "The
Revelation of Saint John, the Divine". This title is all right, I suppose
except for the fact that it’s not the revelation of
Also notice the progression of this revelation. The
revelation begins with God, the Father, who gives it to Jesus the Son. You can
see this taking place is Revelation 5:1-7. Then Jesus gives it to an angel, who
gives it to John. You see this taking place in Revelation, chapter 10:1-10.
Revelation 1:2
Who bare record of the
word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he
saw.
Here in verse 2 we see what this revelation is. It is
the written word of God. We also call this the Bible, or Holy Scriptures. The
Holy Scriptures Are inspired and inerrant. In the English language, I am
speaking of the Authorized King James Version of the Bible. Other versions can
be pretty good, but they have all been tainted, in one way or the other, by a
false line of biblical texts that Satan inspired many years ago, as a
substitute for the true word of God. Many of the things you will learn in this
class will only work with the Authorized King James Bible, because the other,
more modern versions, have changed God’s word!
The book of Revelation is not a deep, dark, mysterious
book. It is the last chapter in the Book. For instance, let’s say that you pick
up a novel in the bookstore. Then you open it up to the last chapter and it
says that John and Mary lived happily ever after. That might be good, but what
if Mary was not John’s wife, but the other woman? What if they conspired
together to kill John’s wife? I said all that to say this. If you read through
any book, where should you start?
Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
In any book, regardless of what subject it might be
on, it is generally accepted that you should start in the beginning. Thus it is with the Bible. Many young Christians will
immediately go to the back of the book because so many people speak about
Revelation. Once they get there, they see dragons, angels, and all manner of
strange beasts and are totally lost as to what all this means. The reason this
is confusing for them is because all of these images are explained in great
detail in the earlier parts of the Bible, the part they failed to read.
Revelation 1:19
Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things
which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;
There are three divisions to the book of Revelation,
which are all clearly given in the verb tenses used in this verse. These
verses, as all verses in the Bible, have at least two meanings. The first
meaning is literal. The second, and any subsequent meanings, are always
spiritual in nature. Every verse in the Bible speaks not only to those involved
but also to us who are reading the stories.
The first division of Revelation is "the things
thou hast seen". This is the past tense. This refers, for John, to
everything he had seen up to that point. This also refers to whoever is reading
the book and means everything that he has read up to that point in the Bible.
In other words, it refers to all the verses of the Bible that come before that
one.
The second division of Revelation is described in
"the things which are". This is the present tense. The second and
third chapters of Revelation are all set in the present tense. This part of the
book describes the seven letters to the seven churches. It refers to seven
literal churches that existed in John’s day. It also refers to the seven types
of churches which have existed down through the ages. Thirdly, it refers to the
different periods of church history, beginning in Jerusalem with Christ and the
Apostles, and coming all the way to the end of the church age, when the Day of
the Lord will begin.
The third division of Revelation is described in
"the things that shall be hereafter". This covers the rest of
Revelation. This describes in detail the period of time that Jesus Christ
called the Great Tribulation, in chapters 4-19. It also covers the period of
time the Old Testament prophets called the Day of the Lord in chapters 20-22.
In fact, as if to help us who are slow of hearing, this section even begins
with the same catch word "hereafter", as we see in…
Revelation 4:1
After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in
heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking
with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew
thee things which must be hereafter.
Numbers are important in the Bible. One of the most
important numbers is 7. In fact, the book of Revelation is the book of 7
sevens. The first of these sevens we see in….
Revelation 1:3
Blessed is he that readeth,
and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are
written therein: for the time is at hand.
We see 9 statements similar to this in Matthew 4, at
the beginning of the sermon on the mount. We call these the Beatitudes. Most
folks don’t realize that there are also 7 beatitudes in Revelation. The are given in Revelation 1:3 (he that readeth), 14:13 (the dead in the Lord), 16:15 (he that watcheth) , 19:9 (they which are
called), 20:6 (he that hath part), 22:7 (he that keepeth),
and 22:14 (they that do).
The second set of sevens is 7 visions of Christ. They
are found in chapters 1 (Son of Man), 5 (The Lamb), 12 (The Man-Child), 14 (The
Reaper), 19 (The Word), 21 (The Light), and 22 (The Lord).
Our third set of sevens is the 7 letters to the 7
churches. They are given in Revelation chapters 2 and 3 and are addressed to
the churches at Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea..
The fourth set of sevens is the 7 seals of the book.
These seals are given in Revelation 5 through 8. They consist of the White
Horse (6:1-2), Red Horse (6:3-4), Black Horse (6:5-6), Pale Horse (6:7-8),
Altar in Heaven (6:9-11), Wrath of the Lamb (6:12-17), and Silence in Heaven
(8:1-6).
Next are the 7 general visions which stretch from
chapters 4 through 22. They include the Throne Room (4 & 5), 144,000 (7
& 14), the Mighty Angel (10 & 11), the Woman and the Beasts (12 &
13), Mystery Babylon (17 & 18), the Marriage Supper (19 & 20), and the
New Heaven and the New Earth (21 & 22).
The sixth set of sevens is the 7 trumpets. They are
described in chapters 8 through 11. They consist of the Burning Hail (8:7), the
Great Mountain (8:8), Wormwood (8:9-11), the Sun Darkened (8:12-13), the
Bottomless Pit (9:1-12), the Angels Loosed (9:13-21), and the Temple Opened
(11:15-19).
Our last set is the 7 vials. These are all contained
in Revelation chapter 16. They include the Noisome Sores (16:2), the Sea Turned
to Blood (16:3), the Rivers Turned to Blood (16:4-7), the Sun Scorches the
Earth (16:8-9), the Sun Turns Dark (16:10-11), the Euphrates River Dries up
(16:12-16), and the Voice from the Temple (16:17-21).
Please note that the first of the seven Blessings is
just for reading this Book. Revelation is not some deep, dark, mysterious book.
It is the last book of the Bible. Therefore people who
are confused about this book have not studied the 65 books that come before
this one.
For instance, in Revelation 1:1, the Apostle John says
that these things must shortly come to pass. This is similar to the message
that John the Baptist and Jesus gave when they preached "Repent, the
Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.". These messages were given out nearly 2,000
years ago, yet they have not yet come to pass. Did God make a mistake when He
said these things? The answer to this is found in neither the gospels or
Revelation but in…
II Peter 3:8
But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that
one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
Here we see that, to God, 1,000 years is the same as a
day. Therefore, to God, these words were only written a couple of days ago.
This also brings us to another interesting biblical phenomena. This is the fact
that the cross divides all of time.
What year is this? Right now
it is the year 1997. However, which 1997 is it? You do realize that it was 1997
once before in history. In fact, when it was 1997 before, the Old Testament
Abraham was probably a newborn baby? The 1997 that was long ago was 1997 BC. The
1997 that is today is AD 1997.
Let me make the following statement without any sort
of apology. I truly believe that the earth is only around 6,000 years old. The
physical universe that we are living in today was created around 4000 BC. Jesus
was born about 4,000 years later in AD 1.
You can go the London Museum of Natural History and
see a beautiful collage that covers a wall. It was painted with the consent of
the English scientific community around AD 1900 and shows in great detail how
that the entire world began with Adam and Eve around 4,000 BC. In fact most of the world believed that fact until about a
century ago, when a man named Charles Darwin started a false teaching called
Darwinian evolution. The rest, as they say, is history. More specifically it is
as the Apostle Paul told Timothy.
I Timothy 6:20-21
O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust,
avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so
called: Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with
thee. Amen.
The New Testament period has lasted nearly 2,000
years. The Old Testament period covered exactly 4,000 Years. What does BC mean?
BC means before Christ. What Does AD Mean? AD stands Anno Domini, a Latin term
that means "the year of the Lord". This phrase first appears in …
Isaiah 61:1-2
The spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the
Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to
bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening
of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the
Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
After Jesus is baptized, he is led by the Holy Spirit
into the wilderness for forty days. After he has been tempted by Satan during
this time, he returns to his hometown of Nazareth to preach his first sermon.
The text he uses for this first sermon is the one we just read in Isaiah, as
Luke, the beloved physician, explains in…
Luke 4:17-21
And there was delivered unto him the book of the
prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it
was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to
preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to
preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to
set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the
acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to
the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue
were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This
day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.
Please note that Jesus does not finish the verse as it
appears in Isaiah. He made it clear that He had come the first time to proclaim
the year of the Lord only. The Day of the Lord is a 1,000-year long day that is
explained in great detail in Revelation and it occurs when He comes the second
time. God has much to do before we get to the Day of the Lord.
Revelation 1-3 covers the entire Church Age of the New
Testament Period of time!. As we have already
mentioned, this is a period of approximately 2,000 years that we are currently
living in. Revelation 4-19 deals with the next period of time in God’s
timetable. To do this, we need to follow the biblical injunction concerning
testimony of any matter of importance.
Matthew 18:16
But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one
or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be
established.
To learn more about the matter at hand, we need to go
back and visit with a certain Old Testament character. Thus
our first witness in this matter will be the prophet Daniel.
Daniel 9:27
And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one
week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the
oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it
desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon
the desolate.
If you study the entire book of Daniel closely, you
will learn that Daniel is speaking here of a week, not of 7 days, but a period
of 7 years, and the event that God calls an abomination that makes it desolate
happens in the middle of this week. Some biblical scholars believe that this
event actually took place in history around 100 BC, when the Greek conqueror,
Antiochus Epiphanes, sacrificed a pig on the altar in Jerusalem.
However our second witness, Jesus Christ in Matthew 24 which
was written around AD 33, says that this event was still future over a century
after Antiochus’ death, in….
Matthew 24:15
When ye therefore shall see the abomination of
desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
Jesus said that this event was still future in His
day. Therefore there are some other Bible scholars who
believe that this event might have taken place when the Roman General Titus
destroyed Jerusalem around AD 70. At that time, it is believed that one million
Jews were slain in and around Jerusalem. While this was a terrible slaughter,
Jesus is very specific about what happens during the time of this abomination.
Matthew 24:21
For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not
since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
If God is speaking of the AD 70 conquest, then He made
a mistake. You see, while one million Jews being killed is a terrible tragedy,
in the past century, we saw over six million Jews killed by the Nazis during
World War II. Put plainly, whatever Jesus is talking about is not only worse
than what Titus did in AD 70, but it will also be worse than what Hitler did
during World War II. Put simply, we ain’t see nothing yet!
Our third witness is the Apostle John, in the book of
Revelation, written around AD 100, 30 years after Titus’ conquest of Jerusalem.
His testimony concerning this period of time comes directly from the book of
Revelation. Revelation 11 twice mentions a period of 3 1/2 Years. Revelation 12
twice mentions a second period of 3 1/2 Years. If we put these two statements
in a mathematical formula, it would be 3 ˝ + 3 ˝ = 7 years. As we mentioned
earlier, Revelation chapters 4-19 are entirely given to covering this seven
year period, that was first described by Daniel, which Jesus called the Great
Tribulation.
The closing chapters of Revelation concern the period
called the Day Of The Lord. From Isaiah 2 to Malachi
4, the Bible refers to "the day of the Lord" over 600 times. As we
have previously observed, II Peter 3:8 explains that this day is actually 1,000
years long. Revelation 20 states that this day is 1,000 years long no less than
6 times. Revelation chapters 20 through 22 are entirely given to covering this
1,000-year long day.
The purposes of this Revelation study are to learn the
books of the Bible (See Bible Song above.) and read the Bible through (See
Bible reading schedule above). Where should we begin reading the Bible? Jewish
Believers usually begin In Genesis 1:1 which starts with "In the
beginning".
When I first began to read through the Bible, I really
enjoyed the book of Genesis, with its stories of the creation, fall of man, the
flood, and the beginning of the nation of Israel. The first part of Exodus was
also very interesting, as we saw God free Israel from their Egyptian slavery.
However, when I hit Exodus 21, with the building of the tabernacle, I began to
get lost. When I got to Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and Numbers, with all those
sacrifices and laws, I became totally confused. While I finally made it through
to the New Testament, I must admit that my first reading of the Bible was a
struggle.
Then I heard a preacher speak of how the Old Testament
is a Jewish book, which the New Testament is a Gentile book, and we are
Gentiles. Interestingly enough, the New Testament also has a book that starts
with the same phrase that Genesis begins with.
John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God.
Gentile Believers, like you and me, can also begin In
John 1:1 which also starts with "In the beginning". In this way, we
will begin with the story of Jesus, following by the events of Acts and the
letters to the churches, finishing the New Testament with Revelation. In this
way, many of the New Testament pictures are still fresh in our mind when we
begin the Old Testament, as much of the New Testament explains the reason for
the Old Testament laws. The best part of reading this way to me is that we end
with the first three gospels; Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In this way, when we
read the Bible, we begin with Jesus in John and we end with Jesus in the first
three gospels!
Finally we need to analyze our reason for doing this study of
Revelation. First of all, it is to determine just exactly who we are. What
exactly does it mean to be a Christian? What exactly does it mean to be a
member of the body Of Christ? What exactly does it mean to be a member of our
local church?
Most importantly of all, however, is to study
Revelation to determine just exactly who the Bible says Jesus is. He is the
Lord of the creation. He is the seed of the woman. He is the master of the
flood, and the only-begotten son. He is the I AM of the exodus, and the
righteous judge of the earth. He is the glory of the temple, and the king of
kings. He will finally bring about the destruction of the wicked and end the
captivity of the righteous. He brings the proclamation of salvation to the
Gentiles. He is the Messiah. His name is Jesus Christ of Nazareth, and that's
what the Bible is all about! Above all else, I want you to learn that Jesus is
the hero of this Book!!!
Overview
Next Class-Revelation 1
Genesis 1:1
Revelation 19:10 1-Read John through Romans.
II Peter 3:8
Isaiah 61:1-2
Luke 4:17-20 2-Study Revelation 1.
Daniel 9:27
Matthew 24:15
Matthew 24:21 3-What Do The
Candles And Stars Represent?
John 1:1
THE PAST THE PRESENT
|
…….the things
which thou hast……. |
….seen, the things which are, and.… H |
|
C
| |
| Year Of The
Lord E |
|
R 4,000
Years | |
| 2,000 Years R |
|
E -------------------| |
|------------------- E |
|
A BC = Before Christ
| |
| AD = Anno Domini A |
|
T | |
|
F |
|
I Daniel
Malachi | |
| Jesus John T |
|
O 4000 BC 500 BC 400 BC | |
| AD 33 AD 100 Today E |
|
N Genesis-Malachi
| |
| Matthew Revelation 3 R
|
THE HEREAFTER
|
Great
Tribulation |
Day Of The Lord |
|
7 Years |
1,000 Years |
|
3 ˝ years | 3 ˝ years |
|
|
Revelation 4-19 |
Revelation 20-22 |
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