K-1 THE BOOK OF REVELATION CHAPTER 1.

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VERSE BY VERSE

The Apocalypse!

The Revelation of Jesus Christ to Saint John the Divine.

Prophecies of the End of the World and Coming of Jesus!

Let us begin this study on the book of Revelation by reading the first three verses of chapter 1 with no comment added, and then we will go back and take a closer look at each verse where I will add emphasis and comments explaining these three verses.

CHAPTER 1.

Revelation 1:1. “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him to show unto his servants, things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John.

Revelation 1:2. “Who bare record of word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all the things he saw.”

Revelation 1:3. “Blessed is he that reads, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.”

 

Before we begin dissecting these verses let us take a close look at the word “Revelation”. 

According to the American Heritage Dictionary, the word “Revelation” means something revealed, or the act of revealing. It especially means a dramatic disclosure or unveiling of something previously not known or realized, or not understood.

Now in some translations the word “Apocalypse” is used in place of the word “Revelation”. And as you will see in a moment, the Greek word means the same thing as to REVEAL or the revelation. The word “reveal” can be broken down into two parts: RE- which means back, or back to a prior position or condition, and VEAL, which means veil or to cover. The word veil comes from “weg” in the appendix and means to weave a web, or curtain. In other words, reveal mean to uncover what has been covered.

Likewise, the word Apocalypse can be broken down into two parts: APO- which means reversal, and CALYPSE- which means to cover or veil. So simply put, both words Revelation and Apocalypse mean to uncover, to unveil, to make known, to show, or to give understanding to what has been covered or veiled.

When I think of a web, a veil or a curtain, I think of something shear that can be seen through, but not CLEARLY or easily seen through. And when I thought of this as I read the definition of the word “reveal”, then a couple of Scriptures came into my mind. The first verse that I thought of or that came to my remembrance was 1 Corinthians 13:12.

 

1 Corinthians 13:12a. 

 

“For now, we see through a glass darkly…”

 

Now, seeing through a glass darkly means not seeing something clearly. So not seeing something clearly that is written in the Bible would be like a in a riddle, or word puzzle. A riddle is something that we must ponder upon or meditate upon before we can see its clear meaning.

Then I thought of how things in the Old Testament are types and shadows of things to come. Then I thought that even through a veil or curtain a “figure” appears as a SHADOW that can be discerned if LIGHT is present. 

Also, I thought of how Jesus spoke in parables to let everyone hear the message of truth with their physical ear, but only those who were truly seeking truth would be able to hear and understand with their heart or their spiritual ear. Jesus said he that has EARS to hear let him hear. 

This means to listen with our heart by truly seeking the truth. Jesus also said take heed HOW you hear, which means basically the same thing. For you see, when one listens with a wrong attitude, then they are not truly listening to HEAR and UNDERSTAND the truth. 

For example, if the HOW one hears is with the attitude, “Well that is not what I was taught by my church denomination”, then that person is not having ears to HEAR.

They already have a PRESET understanding so they will only interpret the word of God BY that preset belief of what they have previously been taught. This is NOT truly seeking the TRUTH of the WHOLE word of God. Seeking the truth means that we must lay aside any and all PRESET teaching of what we have previously been taught.

So then, Satan cannot keep us from SEEKING the truth or even hearing the truth with our physical ears. But Satan can DECEIVE us to believe something that is NOT the truth while we are seeking the TRUTH. 

This is why I teach my readers and seekers of the truth to carefully consider the WHOLE matter before you judge in yourself saying something like, “Oh I have heard that before” or “Well that is not what MY church denomination teaches.” 

The truth of the matter is that there are many church denominations that have church doctrines that are NOT SOUND BIBLICAL teachings. Why do you think that there are so many different church denominations? 

It is because some errors were found by believers in some of their church denomination teachings, so then they formed a new church denomination correcting the errors they found. BUT they left other errors or made some different errors.

Then some believers in that new denomination found some errors in some of the teachings of this new church denomination and then formed yet another church denomination until many, many, DIFFERENT church denominations were formed.

This is why we must all search the word of truth, the Scriptures from the Bible ITSELF, for ourselves to see if what we are being taught by our church denomination, or on the Internet, or by books we read in order to see if what we are being taught is the TRUTH of the WHOLE word of Almighty God Himself or if it contradicts the word of God. Just because it is a Christian book, a Christian website, a Christian radio station, a Christian Television broadcast, or a Christian church, does NOT mean that they are teaching you the TRUTH of the WHOLE word of Almighty God. 

Now, God Himself does not hide the truth from us, as in, God does not KEEP truth from us, but rather He simply places a veil over it so we will have to dig and search out the truth with the leading of the Holy Spirit. 

In other words, where there is no LIGHT present from God through the leading and teaching of the Holy Spirit, then there is no TRUE understanding of the word of God. This is why I call some teachings that are not sound Biblical teachings are called MAN-MADE teachings. The Bible in 2 Timothy 3:7, says that some will be ever learning, but never coming to the knowledge of the truth.

So then, with that being said let us now with an OPEN mind and heart begin this verse-by-verse study in the book of Revelation with verse number one by breaking it down into shorter segments. When you read the Bible ask questions in your mind about the meaning. Otherwise, one tends to read right over things that are important to understand.

This study is also a study on HOW to study the Bible by showing you how I myself study the Bible. And one thing that I do is I break verses down into small segments like I am showing you here.

 

Revelation 1:1a.  “The Revelation of JESUS CHRIST, which God gave unto HIM…”

 

First of all, please notice the three DOTS…” at the end of this quote from the Bible and the lower-case letter “a” after the Scripture reference. This means that the writer has only quoted PART of a verse of Scripture. When the three or four dots appear at the end of a quote from the Bible, then only the FIRST part of the verse has been quoted and you need to take a close look for yourself at the WHOLE verse. 

For you see, sometimes the author does not want you to see the other part of the verse. I myself almost all of the time quote the WHOLE verse, but in this study, we are doing a verse by verse study where we dissect each verse into smaller part. This is done in order to FOCUS on small sections of each verse at a time.

You can be assured that I will not leave any part of a verse out to try and hide something. Nor will I take any verse OUT of CONTEXT in order to try and support a teaching that is NOT a sound Biblical teaching. I do my best to present my readers with ALL of the Biblical evidence. And then, I leave it to YOU to decide for yourself whether it is the truth.

When I myself read the Bible, I ask QUESTIONS to myself and to God. So then, the question here is this; “Is the book of Revelation a revelation OF Jesus Christ, as in, the revealing OF Jesus Christ himself? Or does this mean that Almighty God gave a “REVELATION” TO His Son Jesus? 

Perhaps BOTH are meant to be seen. To answer this question soundly in a SOUND Biblical manner, then we need to know to whom the pronoun HIM is referring? 

So then, in order to understand this verse or any verse in the Bible for that matter, then you need to understand the subject and pronoun use. That is to say, you need to understand WHAT is being talked about and to whom is it directed while reading the context of each verse. 

Please notice that there are six pronouns used in this first verse and three subjects are being discussed. The first pronoun is “HIM”. So then, the question is to whom is this first pronoun “HIM” referring? 

I believe this first pronoun “HIM” refers back to Jesus Christ, rather than referring to the Apostle John called the divine, who wrote down this revelation that Almighty God gave TO His Son Jesus. 

And then, Jesus is ONE of the voices speaking to his servant John, the divine, telling John to write down what he saw and heard. And then, John sent letters to the seven churches in Asian, which was later written down as the Book of Revelation and give to us, the church of today. 

With this in mind here is what I believe this verse is saying thus far. Almighty God gave unto His Son, Jesus Christ, a Revelation. Now comes to mind the question of why? Why did Almighty God give this revelation to His Son Jesus, the Christ? To answer this question let us read the next part of verse 1.

 

Revelation 1:1b. “…to show unto HIS servants, (God’s servants, which in truth includes these servants to ALSO be the servants of God’s SON as well. So then, what did Almighty God show Jesus to show the servants of God and His Son Jesus?) things which must shortly come to pass…”

 

Now please notice that in this quote there are three dots… both before and after the quote, and the lower case “b” after the Scripture reference. This means that these words were taken from the middle portion of a verse where both the first and last part of the verse was left out. 

Again, I am doing this so we can focus on small sections of each verse. Plus, I am teaching you the purpose of three dots and the lower case letters.

We have already covered the first section and we will get to the last section in a moment. 

Here is what we have so far. God gave unto His Son, Jesus the Christ, the anointed one of God, a revelation to SHOW unto us, God’s servants, which are also the servants of our Lord Jesus as well. 

So then, what is this Revelation which Almighty God, the Father, gave TO His Son Jesus Christ to give to us his servants? I believe it is several things. First of all, we see clearly from this verse that at least part of the revelation is CONCERNING the things which must shortly come to pass. I will explain this phrase in a moment. 

But, as I said earlier, both meanings could be INTENDED to be understood. So, I ALSO believe that the phrase “the revelation OF Jesus Christ” refers to the revelation that Almighty God, the Father, HAS a Son and his name is Jesus. 

I believe that Almighty God, the Father, wants us to KNOW that He ANOINTED His human Son with His very own self-same Holy Spirit to empower the Son of MAN, Jesus, to accomplish all the will of his God and Father, who sent or commissioned Jesus to accomplish. Jesus CHRIST means Jesus ANOINTED and Jesus the Messiah, of Jesus the ANOINTED to be the Messiah. 

And for that reason,  of God wanting to REVEAL or to UNVEIL Jesus ANOINTED, I am going to spend a lot of time sharing my VIEW of Jesus, which is a Biblical Unitarian understanding of Jesus being the HUMAN Son of God.

I will show you step by step WHY this is the TRUE Jesus that the Bible ITSELF teaches us in SIMPLICITY. After I explain the Biblical view of Jesus, according to the whole word of God, then we will continue Revelation chapter 1, verse by verse.

The word “SENT” means COMMISSIONED, which means the act of committing or giving authority and power to one in order to carry out a particular task. It means granting certain powers, as in, entrusting one with authority and power to perform the task so committed to them. 

So, when you read in the Bible that God SENT His Son this does NOT dogmatically mean that the word sent must mean without fail that God sent His Son DOWN from heaven to the earth. But rather, it means that God COMMISSIONED or empowered His Son Jesus to do all his God and Father’s will.

That is the LITERAL meaning of the word “SENT” in most instances. Whenever you see a blue link, it is there for you to check out for yourself. And in this case, the link is to an online interlinear translation from the Textus Receptus, which gives the literal meaning of the words.

Again, this particular Greek word translated as the word “sent” means to commission, to dispatch, to send out into the world where one is already in the world. The word sent does not dogmatically mean God sent His pre-existing Son down from heaven into the earth. That meaning is read into the Scriptures. Again, the link above is to an online Interlinear Bible that gives a word for word literal translation from the Textus Receptus, which I use in my studies along with many other translations of the Bible.

I do not advise Christians to become a King James ONLY Christian, even though I prefer the KJV over any other translation. I have found that even though the  KJV is bias toward the doctrine of the Trinity is some verses, you can still SEE other meanings in those verses that are not Trinitarain meanings.

And thirdly, I believe that the revelation is the revealing of Almighty God Himself to mankind by commissioning His Son Jesus to show us the Father through the WORKS men saw Jesus do through the eternal Spirit, who dwelt in him. 

We will look at all of these thoughts or interpretations a little closer and in more detail in a moment and throughout this verse by verse study in the book of Revelation. But first, let’s finish verse one.

 

Revelation 1:1c. “…and he (Again, he who?) sent and signified it (Speaking of the Revelation that Almighty God gave to His Son Jesus) by his angel (So then who is angel? Or more correctly translated, who is MESSENGER, seeing that the word Greek word translated as angel also means messenger) unto his servant John?”

 

In this section of this verse, I find two questions that need to be answered. The first question is, “Who sent and signified the revelation?” And the next question is, “By who’s angel did He give this revelation to John?” 

Again, the Greek word translated as “angel” also means MESSENGER and Jesus is a Prophet, servant, and messenger of Almighty God. But Jesus is also more than those things.

So, I believe the pronoun he, as the one who sent and signified the revelation is referring to Almighty God, the Father. I believe that Almighty God gave this revelation TO His now GLORIFIED Son, Jesus, the Christ. And thus, to me, the pronoun or phrase “HIS angel” is referring His Son Jesus as being the Messenger of Almighty God gave the revelation TO messenger Jesus. And then, Jesus gave this revelation to His servants, the servants of Almighty God and His now glorified Son Jesus by giving it to John first.

When you read the word “angel” in English you might not always keep in mind that you are reading a “translation” of the Bible. And the Greek word translated as angel can also mean messenger. And many times it does mean the messenger of Almighty God the Father as well. 

With all these things in mind, let us see what this verse is saying by reading a paraphrasing of verse one in my own words.

 

Revelation 1:1 from my own paraphrased version.

 

“Almighty God the Father gave unto His Son a revelation to show unto his servants (Speaking of both the servants of the Father and His glorified Son) things that are going to take place shortly, as in, they will occur QUICKLY ONCE they BEGIN to come to pass, and God sent and signified this revelation by sending His very own MESSENGER, (Which again, I personally believe is referring to Almighty God’s only begotten, Son Jesus Christ, to reveal or unveil the revelation that his God and Father gave to His Son to reveal or) to show unto John a servant of God.”

 

Please understand that I am NOT saying that Jesus is an ANGELIC being, as in, a literal angel. But rather, I am saying that the word TRANSLATED as “angel” in the King James Versions LITERALLY means MESSENGER.

Nor am I dogmatically demanding that this is the only possible meaning. Jesus could have sent an angel, as in, an angelic being to his servant John. But to me, the TWO different voices in heaven seem to be speaking directly to John in most verses. And when another angel is speaking, the verses specify that another angel is giving the message.

Now, the word “signified” here means to make known, a sign of something. And Jesus was a “sign” given to mankind to make known the Father. 

During the FIRST coming, Jesus gave us a MESSAGE from God to show us the Father as the only Potentate. And at his second coming, Jesus will show the WORLD who is the ONLY Almighty God the Father of all by ruling FOR Yahweh in the NAME OF Yahweh for 1000 years.

 

Please read 1 Timothy 6:13-16.

 

“I give you charge in the sight of God, who quickens all things, (Or in the sight of God, who gives LIFE to all things) AND before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession;

14.  That you keep this commandment (Or teaching. The word commandment does not always mean commandment. And in this case it mean to keep this teaching) without spot, nit able to be rebuked, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: 

15.  Which in his times (Speaking of both the FIRST and SECOND comings of Jesus) he (Jesus) shall show, WHO is the blessed and ONLY Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;  

16.  WHO ONLY has immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom NO man has seen, NOR CAN SEE: to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen.”

 

Now, Almighty God the Father Himself is a SPIRIT, who is INVISIBLE.  And thus, no man has seen nor can see Almighty God the Father unless the Father reveals Himself. 

So then, the pronoun “WHO” that Jesus came to show us is the FATHER, who ONLY has always possessed eternal life or immortality in Himself. And who also in the ONLY Potentate, which means sovereign over all, or the only ALMIGHTY God. 

Now, Jesus was GIVEN eternal life BY his God and Father only AFTER he became obedient to do all his God and Father’s will even to suffer and die on the cross for the sins of the world. And the Son of MAN, Jesus, was GIVEN all power and authority to rule as God, for God, in the NAME of God during the world to come over the earth.

And, as Christians, our FAITH is in Jesus, as being the CHRIST, the SON OF the Living God, who suffered and died on the cross for our sins. Please know and understand that Jesus died not ONLY our sins but the sins of the WHOLE world, so that WHOSOEVER believes in Jesus should not perish. 

And thus, we who believe in Jesus as the atonement for our sins, believe that we shall be given eternal life in the world to come to rule and reign with Jesus over the earth for 1000 years during the world to come.

So then, believing in God’s SON is the SIGN that we ALSO believe in the ONE TRUE and ONLY Almighty God, the Father. We believe that we are in a covenant relationship with the one true God under His NEW Covenant established in the shed blood of His human SON, Jesus. 

Our faith is our REST in Jesus as our Savior which is the SIGN of the NEW covenant that we belong to the one true God and His Son Jesus. The SIGN of keeping the OLD Covenant was resting on the seventh day of the week. 

Again the word “angel” is the Greek word “angelos” which means angel, or MESSENGER. This word can refer to a human messenger or a supernatural class of being that serve God called angels, as in, angelic beings, who are not human nor divine in nature as we view Almighty God as being divine. 

In other words, the angels were GIVEN the divine nature of immortality. Whereas, Almighty God has always possessed immortality in Himself who is the SOURCE of all life. The American Heritage Dictionary defines messenger as one who is charged with transmitting a message. The word message means something sent, or to send, a communication.

Jesus, the Son of God, was the MESSENGER sent or commissioned by Almighty God to give the revelation he received from his Father to his servant John. So when you see the word angel replace it with the word messenger or one who is sent or commissioned to communicate a message from Almighty God to mankind. 

So again, when I say that I believe the word “ANGEL” here is referring to Jesus, I do NOT mean that Jesus is an angelic being. Clearly, the word of God teaches us that the spoken word or saying of God took on the nature of man and not the nature of the angels. In other words, the word was made flesh and the human son of Mary was given the name of Jesus. We will take a closer look at why I say this in a moment. 

Jesus, or more precisely, the spoken word of God was made flesh and that flesh was a little LOWER than the ANGELS or angelic beings. And thus, Jesus was NEVER a LITERAL angelic being. So then, to say that Jesus is the Angel of the LORD or that Jesus is the angel Michale is a FALSE teaching. Please read the study IS JESUS MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL? Also, please read the study V-5 Is the Angel of the Lord in the Old Testament Jesus?

But for now, the point that I want you to see is that in reality, we are all angels, as in, we are all MESSENGERS, or beings that serve God. We are sent or commissioned by God to communicate the MESSAGE of God’s love to the world. For God so LOVED the world that He RECEIVED His only begotten Son. And God did that so that whosoever believes in the NAME of His only begotten Son should not perish and be given eternal life in the world to come.

Jesus was sent or commissioned by God to reveal who Almighty God the Father is. Jesus said if you have seen me, then you have seen the Father. Jesus did NOT mean that he himself is the Father, but rather, Jesus was speaking of the works people saw him do were the works of his God and Father dwelling in him.

However, this is not all that God wants to reveal to us. God desires the world to know that he has a Son and more importantly that His Son’s name is JESUS, who suffered and died on the cross for THEM. God desires the world to HEAR the TRUE gospel of Jesus ANOINTED to KNOW that God loves them so much that he RECEIVED His only begotten Son, Jesus, to be their SAVIOR as well as our Savior.

The name Jesus means YAHWEH SAVES or SAVIOR OF YAHWEH. It also means the SALVATION OF YAHWEH, meaning that Yahweh chose the MEANS by which he would save mankind to be His SON Jesus, the Lamb that was slain in the mind and plan of Yahweh before Almighty God the Father ever created the world. And God also chose before the foundation of the world that salvation is obtained by the foolishness of preaching to save all who BELIEVE in his Son Jesus to follow and obey the gospel of Jesus Christ unto the end.           

You see, God desires that all men should come to the knowledge of the truth that Jesus is the only name given among men that men MUST be saved thereby. And God desires for all of mankind to know the truth that no man can come unto God the Father except they come through His SON Jesus. So, in essence, the REVELATION of Jesus Christ is also “the revealing” to mankind or the revelation that God has a SON and that God sent or COMMISSIONED His very own only begotten Son to go out into the world to redeem the world from sin by being crucified as an INNOCENT MAN without sin. In other words, Almighty God Himself has chosen to save mankind BY or THROUGH the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus, the Christ, or Jesus, the ANOINTED one of Almighty God the Father.

Think of the word revelation as an announcement, an announcement of a God’s SON to the world. 

 

Luke 2:10-12.

 

“And the angel (Or the messenger, which in this case was an angelic being) said unto them, Fear not; for behold, (Or look and see, in other words, pay attention) I bring you good tidings (Or good news, the Gospel) of great joy, which shall be unto all people.

11. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a SAVIOR, which is Christ the Lord. (In Isaiah 9:6 we learn that first a CHILD is BORN, and then a SON is given. And Psalm 2:7 teaches us that THIS DAY in which Jesus was begotten as God’s SON was when Jesus was resurrected from the dead and highly exalted by the Father)

12. And THIS (Or and this one who is BORN of the VIRGIN) shall be a SIGN unto you; You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.”

 

God chose to save the world through FAITH in His only begotten Son, and he wants to REVEAL, this truth to all of mankind, the Revelation OF Jesus as being, the Christ, the ANOINTED of the Father commission by Almighty God to bring in a NEW COVENANT to the children of Israel and the house of Judah. Jesus came out of the house of Judah and the church came out of Jesus. 

To me, the Jews, and the Muslims can understand the TRUE Jesus that the Bible ITSELF teaches us in simplicity.

With that being said, let us continue with verse 1 in chapter 1 of the Book of Revelation. 

We ALSO see in verse 1 that God wants to reveal to us THINGS that must SHORTLY come to pass, which He gave to His MESSENGER Jesus to SHOW unto John, who then wrote down what he both saw and what he heard to show unto us, the church, who is commissioned to show ALL of mankind the judgments that are coming on the world. 

So then, from this phrase of Revelation 1:1 above I see two questions, which are; What THINGS are going to be shown to us to show unto the world in this REVELATION given TO Jesus Christ, and WHAT is meant by the phrase “SHORTLY come to pass?” 

Now there are some Christians, who teach what is called the preterist point of view, who say that this phrase “must SHORTLY come to pass” means that the THINGS written in the book of Revelation have already taken place and that Jesus has already come in 70 AD, when the Roman army made Jerusalem desolate and destroyed the holy temple of God just as Jesus foretold in Matthew chapter 24. 

In other words a Christian, who is a preterist dogmatically demands that since this verse says “SHORTLY”, then it must without fail mean SOON, as in, the days of the early church, which is why they dogmatically demand that the prophecy in Matthew 24 has already been fulfilled seeing that 2000 years later is NOT “shortly come to pass”. But you see dear children of God, this is not the only meaning of the Greek word translated as shortly, which we will get to in a moment.

But first also know that there are some Christians, who teach that the second coming of Jesus is yet future. The word “preterist” simply means PAST in fulfilment and the word “futurist” means yet to be fulfilled in the future. And there are other Christians, which are a partial preterist, who believe some things have already been fulfilled but yet some things are yet to be fulfilled, such as, the second coming of Jesus. 

Now in truth, some “futurists” are TOO dogmatic is saying that ALL is yet to be fulfilled. What I mean by this is that the truth is somewhere in the middle where some things have been fulfilled, BUT have a DUAL fulfilment meaning that some things have been fulfilled in history where PART of that prophecy is yet to be fulfilled in the future.

Once again the preterists, especially the FULL preterists, put a lot of emphasis upon this one word “SHORTLY” to support their line of reasoning that these things would come to pass SOON, as in, the lifetime of the first apostles of Jesus in John’s day and SHORTLY after, but well within the very early church and most certainly by 70 AD.

But what does the word of truth ITSELF teach us?

Now the word “shortly” comes from two Greek words “EN” having the Strong’s number (1722) and “TACHOS” having the Strong’s number (5034). 

When you look up a word from the Bible in a Bible concordance mated with that particular translation you will find numbers after the English word you just looked up just like you would in a dictionary. 

Next, you scroll down to the VERSE in which the word appears that you want to know the meaning in the Greek or Hebrew because sometimes the “English” word has different Greek words from which it was TRANSLATED. 

In other words, several verses may have the SAME English word, but the GREEK or Hebrew word that the English word was translated from may be a DIFFERENT Greek or Hebrew word. 

The Old Testament was written in Hebrew and the New Testament was written in Greek. And since we are studying the Book of Revelation, which is in the New Testament, then the Strong’s numbers will be under the Greek section in the back of the concordance. 

So, after you find the verse, then you will look that Strong’s number for that verse up in the back of the concordance in the section under Greek New Testament. Strong’s number means that a man named Strong wrote that concordance and numbered all the words for easy referencing. A big thanks to Mr Strong. Again, the book of Revelation is in the New Testament. So the original text was written in Greek. 

So then, the first Greek word “EN”, as in, “spatially” or referring to occupying space, an area, means in, inside, at among, and with. 

And this same Greek word “EN”, as in, “logically”, means by means of, with, because of, and also this same Greek word “EN”, as in, speaking of “TIME” means during or while. And the Greek word “TACHOS” means quickly, swiftly, momentarily, shortly, fast and soon.

So then, to me, I see these combinations of Greek words that have been translated as “SHORTLY” as having different meanings. In other words, John could have been saying that these things must come to pass SOON, as in, any day now, or John could have meant that when these things BEGIN to come to pass, or WHILE or DURING the TIME when they are coming to pass, then Jesus would be REVEALED from heaven quickly, as in, a SHORT space of time. 

In other words. DURING or WHILE these things are coming to pass they will all take place in a short period of time, namely 3 1/2 years. But when the phrase, “Behold I come quickly” is referring to the second coming of Jesus, as in, the rapture or our CHANGE, then our change will take place QUICKLY, as in, a twinkling of an eye.

Please read 1 Corinthians 15:50-53, which teaches us that the first portion of the second coming of Jesus, called the rapture of the church, will be in a MOMENT and in a TWINKLING of an eye. 

In other words, QUICKLY, as in, SO FAST if you blinked you would miss it. So then, shortly in this setting means QUICKLY or very fast as opposed to SOON.

 

1 Corinthians 15:50-53.

 

“Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither does corruption inherit incorruption (In other words, in order for us to go into the kingdom of God we are going to need NEW spiritual IMMORTAL bodies that do not die and decay like these flesh and blood bodies we now have, which is just one of many reasons of WHY I myself do NOT believe in the preterist point of view, because none of us actually have immortal bodies as yet. Therefore, the second coming of Jesus must, without fail, be yet in the FUTURE)

51. Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, (Meaning we shall not all die. In other words, there will be BELIEVERS here on the earth that are alive when Jesus comes again. So then, we shall not all die during the time of great tribulation and many of us will remain alive unto the second coming of Jesus) but we shall ALL be CHANGED,

52. In a MOMENT, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be CHANGED.

53. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal (Or this flesh and blood body we now have that dies, decays, and see corruption) must put on immortality. “

 

Speaking of our obtaining ETERNAL LIFE in the world to come. First, the “ALL” of who shall be changed refers to both the dead in Jesus Christ and those CHRISTIANS, who survive and remain alive unto the second coming of Jesus. 

The “ALL”, who shall be CHANGED, does NOT mean every single human being who remains alive at the second coming of Jesus. NOR does it mean ONLY the Christians who remain ALIVE at the second coming of Jesus. But rather. it means ALL who are found faithful in Jesus Christ meaning BOTH the dead in Christ and the Christians who are live through the great tribulation without dying. 

The DEAD in Jesus will FIRST be resurrected from the dead. And THEN, we who have survived and remained ALIVE through the time of great tribulation will be CHANGED TOGETHER WITH the just resurrected dead in Jesus Christ at his coming again to RESTORE the kingdom to Israel. 

And then, we who believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, will ALL be CAUGHT UP into the CLOUDS in the AIR to MEET Jesus in the AIR over the place called Armageddon.

For you see, Armageddon is the place where the WRATH of God will be poured out on the armies making all-out war against Israel to try to wipe the Jews off of the face of the earth, according to Psalm 83:1-18.

You see my dear brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ, the second coming of Jesus where our Lord is coming “SHORTLY” speaks of the QUICKNESS or the RAPIDNESS of our CHANGE that takes place when Jesus comes. And that is why we are warned to be READY for his coming. 

I want you to take a look at the end of the book of Revelation in chapter 22 that has almost the exact same wording as it does here in verse 1 of chapter 1 in the Book of Revelation. 

 

Please read Revelation 22:6,7.

 

“And he (Referring to an angel or messenger. Which again, I personally believe is Jesus) said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets (Speaking of Almighty God) sent HIS angel (Or Almighty God’s MESSENGER just like we saw in verse 1) to show unto HIS servants the things which must SHORTLY be done. (As you can see, we have almost the exact same wording as we just read in Revelation 1:1. But what I want to point out to you are the words of Jesus that immediately follow this statement of “must SHORTLY be done” or must SHORTLY come to pass in the next verse)

Revelation 22:7. Behold, I (Referring to Jesus as being the one who is speaking these words to John, behold or take a close look, as in, make sure you SEE or understand that I) come QUICKLY: (As in, I am coming in a MOMENT of time like the twinkling of an eye, or a flash of lightning. Jesus said I come as LIGHTNING that flashes from the east to the west. So then, the phrase in Revelation 1:1, “must SHORTLY come to pass” does NOT have to dogmatically mean “must SOON come to pass” as Preterist Christians insist) blessed is he that keeps the sayings of the prophecy of this book.”

 

Now, I could go on and make an entire Bible study from this one verse of Scripture in Revelation 1:1 showing you, the reader and seeker of the truth, the errors of the reasoning of those who hold to the teachings of preterism. But that is not the purpose of this particular study of the book of Revelation, which is meant to be a verse-by-verse study that just briefly explains a possible meaning of each verse of Scripture.

So then, for those of you, who desire to have a deeper understanding from the WHOLE word of God of WHY the view of the second coming of Jesus from the standpoint of the preterist is in ERROR, and therefore a false teaching, then please read the study called WHAT IS PRETERISM? And also read all of the related studies under that subject heading. But for now, let us continue with verse two or Revelation chapter 1.

 

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.”

 

Who is the pronoun “who” referring to that bare record or wrote down what he saw as a record for us, the servants of God? I believe that the pronoun “who” in this verse refers back to John in verse 1. For you see, John heard TWO separate voices speaking to him. The FIRST voice was the voice of Almighty God who sits upon the throne, And the second voice is the Son of man, Jesus, the Lamb who was found worthy.

So then, John recorded the word of God, the voice of the Almighty and the testimony of Jesus, the voice of the one like the Son of man. 

Now again, I want to draw your attention to WHAT John bare record of. First, he bore record of the WORD of God, or the WORDS spoken by Almighty God Himself. Secondly, John bore record of the TESTIMONY of Jesus or the words that Jesus testified to John. And thirdly John bore record of all of the things that he SAW.

In other words, what many Christians and even Bible scholars MISS is that there are TWO VOICES, who are speaking to John. 

And these TWO VOICES are the voice of Almighty God the Father, the FIRST voice as of a TRUMPET, AND the second voice is the voice of God’s SON Jesus, as the voice of many waters. 

Now later on in the Book of Revelation, we will see other voices speaking to John, which we will cover when we get there.

So then, one of the things that I myself gleam from this verse is that Almighty God Himself spoke to John, as well as, Jesus ALSO spoke to John. 

In other words, you will find that there were at least two persons or beings, who spoke to John in this book of Revelation here in chapter 1. 

Again, later you will see that others spoke to John as well. But for now, I want you to see that BOTH Almighty God the Father, AND His Son Jesus spoke to John in this book of Revelation here in chapter 1, which we are presently studying verse by verse.

In my opinion, in order to gain the FULLNESS of God’s word, then it is needful to discern the difference between Almighty God the Father and His Son Jesus. I know that many of us have been taught the doctrine of the Trinity, which states that God is a triune being. 

The doctrine of the Trinity states that there are three persons in a Trinity Godhead, but yet the three are only ONE God. And the doctrine of the Trinity goes on to state as being three distinctly different persons, who are God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. This doctrine of the Trinity also states that these three separate and distinct beings in this Trinity Godhead all are one and the selfsame God. 

Therefore, according to the doctrine of the Trinity, many are taught that when we see the name Jesus in the Scriptures, then we as Christians are to conclude that Jesus is God, as in, Jesus is the ALMIGHTY God Himself.

But, I myself do not see an Almighty God having Almighty God over Himself. I mean, How can Jesus be the Almighty God when the God OF Jesus is the Almighty God? So then, I myself believe that the Son of MAN, Jesus was highly exalted to be MADE a Lord, a God, and a King under and subject to his God after the cross and resurrection, according to Acts 2:36 and many other verses of Scripture. 

               But yet, the doctrine of the Trinity states that these three persons are all the ONE true God, in that, they are EQUAL in every way where none is neither greater than nor less than the other. 

And that Almighty God the Father and His Son Jesus are co ETERNAL, meaning that both the Father and the Son had NO BEGINNING and have ALWAYS existed AS Father and SON as two separate distinctly different immortal divine eternal beings or persons, but yet still ONE God in three separate persons.

However, again, I myself believe what the Bible ITSELF teaches us, speaking of the WHOLE word of God, and not just verses that are taken OUT of context. And the Bible ITSELF teaches us something quite different than what the “DOCTRINE” of the Trinity teaches us. 

But in order to see this truth, then you need to discern that there is a difference between Almighty God the Father and Jesus His Son. We will discuss this more in-depth later on in this study as we come upon the verses that clearly show us a distinction between Almighty God the Father and His Son Jesus. 

If you would like to know more about this subject please read the study THE DEITY OF JESUS AND THE TRINITY. along with the many related studies I have on this subject of WHO IS JESUS?. 

I want you to know that I do indeed believe that Jesus is God who is ONE in AGREEMENT with his God, but I personally do NOT believe that Jesus is the ALMIGHTY God Himself. 

Again, this is a very deep and broad subject and I have written many studies on this topic if you would like to hear the WHOLE word of God on this matter. But for now, let is continue with verse two in Revelation chapter 1.

 

Revelation 1:2. “WHO (Speaking of John) bare record of the WORD of GOD (Referring to the words that Almighty God Himself spoke to John) AND of the TESTIMONY of JESUS CHRIST, (Referring to that which was spoken to John by Jesus, the Christ or Jesus ANOINTED) and all of the things that he (Speaking of John) SAW.”

 

The word “testimony” here means a declaration or affirmation of a fact or truth. And it comes from the word “textis”, which means witness. Then in verse 5, we find that Jesus Christ is the faithful WITNESS. The word witness also carries the meaning of being a MARTYR for the sake of Jesus and for the sake of the truth of God’s word. Thirdly, we see that John recorded all that he SAW.

In summation. Revelation 1:2 tells us that John recorded what he heard God Almighty Himself say, by John saying he bore record of the WORD of GOD. 

Also, we see that John heard another VOICE, which he also bore record of what he heard this SECOND VOICE say, which is the voice of Jesus.

Then John bore record of what he SAW.

So again, first of all, we KNOW beyond any shadow of a doubt that BOTH Almighty God the Father AND Jesus, the SON of God, spoke to John, because of the conjunction AND for the TESTIMONY of Jesus Christ. But later on, we will see that John speaks of “the FIRST VOICE”, which he heard having a DIFFERENT sound than the second voice when he turned to see the one speaking as a trumpet. Then finally, we see John recording all that he SAW. So then, John recorded both what he HEARD and what he SAW, but there was more than just ONE being speaking to John. Let us move on to verse 3.

Revelation 1:3 tells us THREE things we must DO in ordered to be BLESSED.

 

Revelation 1:3. “Blessed is he (Again, ask yourself who is the pronoun “HE” referring to that is BLESSED? The common sense answer is that the pronoun “he” is WHOSOEVER of any human being) that READS AND HEARS (As in, he or she who reads AND understands. The word translated as hear or hears also carries the meaning of true understanding of) the words of this prophecy AND KEEPS (Or receives and BELIEVES) those things which are written therein: for (Or because) the time is at hand.”

 

So then, in order for one to be blessed, he or she must first read the word of God for themselves or hear, as in, LISTEN to the word of God spoken to them by someone else.

Then secondly, they must receive God’s word. That is to say, they must HEAR God’s word, as in, they must understand and believe the word of God that they have read or heard from someone else. 

Then thirdly, they must KEEP the word that is written, or act upon what they now believe. And that means that we are to OBEY the words of Jesus, which were REVEALED to him by Almighty God the Father to give the John to give to us to give to the world. We are the LIGHT of the world so do not hide your light.

In other words, we must without fail, be a doer of the word and not just be a hearer only deceiving our own self. We need to KEEP Gods word hidden in our hearts that we might not sin against him, for the time is at hand. 

What time? And what does the phrase “is at hand” mean? I believe “the time” refers to the great and notable DAY of the Lord, which begins at the second coming of Jesus. And the phrase “is at hand” means that the day of the Lord is near or about to take place. So then, hear and understand and KEEP God’s word in your heart that God will do what He said He will do in His word. 

To say this another way, when we SEE these things in the book of Revelation BEGIN to start taking place, then we are to be all the MORE ready for the return of Jesus. For you see, there will be a time of great tribulation or affliction by persecution before his return that will grow worse and worse and the day approaches. So then, seeing that increased time of trouble let’s us know that our Lord’s coming is drawing near.

Also, the phrase the “time is at hand” means that starting from the beginning of the present day tribulation and persecution in the first century continuing through the entire church age as the BEGINNING of SORROWS spoken by Jesus in Matthew 24.

Now some, like those who teach preterism, might say that I am contradicting myself by now saying that the coming of Jesus is NEAR or close at hand and earlier in this study I said that the word “shortly” means QUICKLY as is a moment of time so fast that if you blink you will miss it. 

If you remember I said that this word, which is translated as “SHORTLY” means both that Jesus is coming SOON and QUICKLY when we begin to SEE these things coming to pass. 

 

Please read Luke 21:28.

 

“And when these things BEGIN to come to PASS, THEN look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption (Or your DELIVERANCE) draws nigh.”

 

The reader must keep in mind that God’s word is like a jigsaw puzzle that has MORE than just ONE piece or one verse of Scripture that paints the picture of what God is teaching us in His word. 

Very often in the studies that I write, I will use the phrase the WHOLE word of God. And what I mean by this is that any verse, when taken OUT of CONTEXT and viewed ALONE and APART for the WHOLE word of God, may SEEM to say something that it is NOT TRULY saying when that verse is correctly interpreted in the LIGHT of the REST of God’s word having NO contradictions to any other part of God’s word.

In other words, there are MANY pieces of the puzzle that must be put together PROPERLY in order to see the BIG picture or the TRUTH that Almighty God has INTENDED for us to see.

With that being said, I want to draw your attention to what God is teaching us in 2 Peter 3:8, which teaches us that our concept of TIME is NOT the SAME as it is to Almighty God.

 

2 Peter 3:8.

              “But, beloved, be NOT IGNORANT of this ONE THING, (In other words, this is VITALLY important that you UNDERSTAND) that ONE day is with the Lord AS a thousand years, and a thousand years AS one day.”

 

So then, when Almighty God says in His WORD that these things must come to pass SHORTLY you must NOT be IGNORANT of the TRUTH that just a single day is as a THOUSAND YEARS to God. And equally so, a thousand years is as just ONE day to God. So do NOT be DECEIVED by those, who place so must EMPHASIS on the SOON coming of our Lord which is at hand or near to being fulfilled. For you see, according to the WHOLE word of God, the second coming of Jesus it is NOT NIGH even at the DOOR and will NOT come UNTIL two things happen first. 

Please read the study THE RAPTURE: WHO IS THE HINDERER? And in that in-depth is the answer of what two things must happen first before Jesus returns. 

But for now, the early church was going through much heavy persecution, affliction, and tribulation. And thus, they THOUGHT that Jesus was coming SOON. But Paul corrected their misunderstanding in 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 and chapter 2. 

In those two chapters, Paul teaches us to be not troubled or shaken in mind that the day of our Lord’s coming and our being gathered together is at hand. Then Paul says that the coming of Jesus will not come UNTIL two things happen first. 

And those two things are a great apostasy and the revealing of the antichrist. This agrees with Luke 21 and Matthew 24 saying that when we SEE the abomination of desolation then there shall be great tribulation. 

So then, when we SEE Jerusalem surrounded by armies making all-out war against Israel, then we can know that the prophecies are BEGINNING to come to pass and our redemption is near at hand. Namely, the coming of Jesus will be 1260 days or three and one half years from the time the war against Israel starts. And I believe that the “all out” united Islamic war to TRY to wipe the Jews off the face of the earth will begin in the springtime of the year.

You see dear child of God, there are yet some SIGNS that need to be fulfilled first before we can KNOW for sure and look up for our redemption draws nigh. And then, SHORTLY, when we BEGIN to see the SIGNS, Jesus will sound the LAST trumpet. 

And at the last trumpet, the dead in Christ shall rise FIRST, and then we which are alive and remain unto his coming shall be CHANGED in a MOMENT and a twinkling of an eye with the newly resurrected dead in Christ. And then TOGETHER we shall be caught up to meet our Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. 

We will talk about this more in depth later and for those who desire a deeper understanding on what I just said please read the studies called THE GREAT TRIBULATION, THE SECOND COMING OF JESUS, THE IMMINENT RETURN OF JESUS. And also read all of the other related studies on the rapture of the church and the great tribulation versus the wrath of God. 

But for now, let is continue this study by reading verses four, five and six of Revelation chapter 1, because they all go together.

 

Revelation 1:4. “JOHN to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from Him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before His throne;

Revelation 1:5. “And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us in his own blood,

Revelation 1:6. “And has made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”

 

The first part of this verse in Rev.1:4 tells us that John is the one who is speaking or writing these words that he both heard and saw. 

And here in this verse, we see that John is writing TO the seven churches which are in ASIA. In other words, John is the narrator of what he has both heard and seen. 

The seven churches in Asia were indeed literal seven churches, but they also represent ALL believers in Jesus and not just those literal seven churches alone.

 

Revelation 1:4b. “JOHN (Who is writing or speaking these words that he both sees and hears) TO the seven churches, which are in ASIA…”     

 

Remember in verse 2 we learned that John was recording from three sources, what he heard from Almighty God the Father, what he heard from Jesus the Son of God, and the things which John SAW. 

We also see in the first part of this verse that John is writing these words TO the SEVEN churches, which are in ASIA. 

So again, does this mean that without a doubt that this WORD of Almighty God has NOTHING whatsoever to do with us, who are in the church or the body of Christ today and ONLY refers to the seven actual literal physical churches in Asia that were in John’s day? Absolutely NOT! 

But yet, some Christians who teach FULL preterism, will say that the Bible prophecy is NOT written to us personally. But rather, THEY argue that the Bible teaches us about God and that ALL of the prophecy was written to the people in the day of Jesus and the EARLY church ONLY. 

                Do NOT be DECEIVED my dear brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ by full Preterist Christians, for the WHOLE word of TRUTH is in fact written to WHOSOEVER BELIEVES in EVERY generation to the COMING of Jesus. 

For you see, full Preterist Christians would not even be a believer if this Holy Bible was not written to WHOSOEVER believes. 

The TRUTH of the matter is that these words of Almighty God written in the book of Revelation are, in fact, written to YOU and I and to whomsoever BELIEVES. 

Yes, John was writing to the seven churches that were IN ASIA, but John is ALSO writing these very SAME words to us, the church of TODAY, as well. Otherwise, you might as well throw the Bible away if you TRULY believe that it was written to ONLY those Christians of that day up to 70 AD. And thus, everything has already been fulfilled as full preterism falsely teaches.

Now, I also want you to notice in the latter part of verse 4 and the first part of verse 5, John records a greeting from three sources as well.

 

“Grace be unto you, and peace, from HIM (Him who? HIM) which is, and which was, and which is to come;” 

 

This phrase is from source #1. So then, who is the HIM which is, which was, and which is to come? Let us keep reading to find out for SURE, according to the WHOLE word of Almighty God.

 

“AND from the seven Spirits which are before HIS throne.”

 

The pronoun “HIS” is referring back to the HIM who was, and is, and is to come. So then, whose throne was Jesus seated upon? In other words, the HIM who sits upon the THRONE is the same one who is described as the HIM who is, and who was, and who is to come. 

To say this another way, you will see very soon that the throne BELONGS to Almighty God the Father.

So then, the greeting from source #1 is from Almighty God the Father, the who that was, and is, and is to come.

And greeting from source #2 is from the seven Spirits, which we will look at later. But for now, let us focus on who the HIM truly is si that we do not error. 

So again, who is the HIS throne? Whose throne? Again, we must keep reading to find this out as well. For you see, all we know for sure at this point is that it is the HIM who was, and is, and is to come that sits on the THRONE. And both the Father and Jesus are on the THRONE. 

Let us continue reading with verse 5.

 

“AND from JESUS CHRIST, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten from the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood.”

 

So then, the source of the third greeting is from Jesus Christ. The conjunction “AND” here is our first clue that the HIM, who is and was and is to come is NOT referring to Jesus Christ as the one sitting on the THRONE. 

Yes, we know that Jesus ALSO was GRANTED to sit on his FATHER’s throne for OVERCOMING the enemy to all of his God and Father’s will. So I am NOT saying that Jesus does not sit on the throne of Almighty God. 

But rather, I am simply showing you HOW to correctly determine the pronoun use by following the CONTEXT all the way through so there is no doubt as to who the pronouns “him” and “his” are referring to in these verses.

I mean some Christians see the words, who it to COME, and immediately, they assume these words are speaking of Jesus simply because Jesus is coming again. But they fail to consider the rest of God’s word that says, God will BRING his first begotten into the world again and say to the angels, let all of the angels worship him.

To sum it all up John sends greetings of grace and peace to the seven churches which are in Asia from THREE sources where number one is; HIM which is, and which was, and which is to come. 

Number two is from the seven Spirits which are before HIS throne. 

And finally, greeting number three from Jesus Christ, the Son of Almighty God. 

So then, from this verse, we clearly see the THREE sources. We see HIM that sits upon the THRONE, which we will learn later for SURE is THE ALMIGHTY God, the Father.

We also see the seven Spirits, which are before the throne of Almighty God the Father, which I will explain later why there are SEVEN Spirits rather than only ONE Spirit. 

And we also see Jesus, the SON OF Almighty God the Father. And it is ALL THREE who send this greeting to us, the church, by way of John writing down what he both saw and heard.

This phase “which is, which was, and which is to come” and a similar phrase thereof is found five times in the book of Revelation. It is found in Revelation 1:4, Revelation 1:8, Revelation 4:8, Revelation 11:17, and Revelation 16:5. 

And the first time this phrase is found is in Rev 1:4, which is the passage we just read. In this passage of Scripture, it appears at first that it might be referring to Jesus Christ as the one which is, which was, and which is to come. 

However, upon closer examination, I personally find without a doubt that all of these five different, but very similar phrases, are referring to Almighty God the Father Himself. And I am sure that you will see this also as we continue this study in the book of Revelation verse by verse. Let us finish examining verse 6 and, then continue reading Revelation 1:7,8.

 

Revelation 1 verse 6 says.

 

“And has made us kings and priests unto God (Speaking of Almighty God) and HIS Father: (Whose Father?) to HIM (To him who?) be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”

 

Ask yourself who these pronouns are referring to.

To me, verse 6 is speaking of Jesus Christ, who has made us kings and priests unto his God and Father. 

Also notice that John, who is recording what he heard and saw, emphasizes that God Almighty is the Father of Jesus Christ. So then, this truth that the Father is the God of Jesus must be of importance because we see it over and over throughout the New Testament writings. 

In other words, I firmly do NOT agree with the false teaching of ONENESS or modalism, which falsely teaches that Jesus is ALMIGHTY God the FATHER Himself and Almighty God the FATHER is His Son, Jesus, as in, the Father and Jesus are one and the self-same being. 

In other words, the man-made doctrine of ONENESS teaches that there is only ONE God who manifests Himself as the Son and then back again as the Father. And their line of reasoning is much like a human father is ALSO a SON, and BOTH father and son are the SAME exact person at the same time. But the same person manifests himself differently when portraying his ROLE as the father than when he does when portraying his ROLE as a son. 

To say this another way, according to ONENESS believers, when God is acting as Father, he has authority as the Father. And then, when God is acting as the Son, He is not acting as the Father, but as a Son who is under his Father. So then, to oneness believers there is only ONE being of God who manifests Himself back and forth in different forms being the Father and the Son at the same time. 

And when I have talked to oneness believers, they have told me that I will be surprised when I get to heaven to see ONLY ONE sitting on the throne, because to THEM Jesus is the FATHER HIMSELF. And thus, Jesus is Almighty God Himself.

Anyway, to ME, this “modalistic” theory is blatantly obvious as being another FALSE teaching. It is obviously false simply because the TRUTH of the DISTINCTION between Almighty God and His SON Jesus. And this distinction of the Son from the Father is not properly being discerned by those, who teach this false doctrine of man that argues that Jesus is one and the self-same BEING as the Father. 

I mean how do the oneness believers explain John the Baptist having heard the voice of the Father from heaven when Jesus was standing right in front of him. Jesus did not use ventriloquism to project his voice as if it were coming down from heaven.

Now if and when the distinction is kept between God the Father AND His Son Jesus the Christ is maintained throughout the Scriptures then many other truths will be revealed as well. 

But if this distinction is not discerned and maintained, then some truth will not be as easily seen. Please keep reading and you will see want I mean. I believe the pronoun “HIM” in the last part of this verse is ALSO referring to Almighty God the Father, rather than His Son Jesus Christ.

 

Revelation 1:6b. “…to HIM be the glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”

 

Why do I say this? Well, throughout the gospels Jesus always gave glory to his Father and never excepted glory to himself, so why start now? 

Yes, Jesus is worshiped. Jesus is honored. And Jesus is praised. But it is all done TO the glory OF the Father. Also, it will become clearer that Almighty God, who sits upon the throne, is the one who receives glory throughout the book of Revelation as well. 

Ass you will clearly see as we continue reading the entire context from which this verse is found and then compare it with the other references that contain this phrase that is found five times, all in the Book of Revelation.  

 

           “…which is, which was, and which is to come.”

 

So, let us continue reading with verses 7 and 8.

 

Revelation 1:7. “Behold, he comes with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindred of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.”

               Revelation 1:8. “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, says the Lord, which is, which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.”

 

               Here again in verse 8 is this same phrase “which is, which was, and which is to come:. This is the second time we find this phrase “which is, which was, and which is to come”. And this time, we CLEARLY see that it is speaking of THE ALMIGHTY as the ONE, who was, and is, and is to come.

And again, this phrase at first appears to be referring to Jesus, because in some Bibles the words are in red ink. And the words in red ink are supposed to be the words of Jesus.

Also, in verse 7, the pronoun HIM, who they pierced is obviously speaking of Jesus. And we know from other verses in the Bible that Jesus is coming again a second time with clouds of glory. 

And we also know that the words Jesus speaks are the words of the Father. So, when we see the words “I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end” we automatically think of Jesus. And that is because of what we have been previously TAUGHT.
              However, if you will bear with me and hear the WHOLE matter, then you will CLEARLY see that this phrase, “which is, which was, and which is to come”, that refers back to the one who is SPEAKING, which is the LORD, THE ALMIGHTY, who ALSO says of Himself, “I am Alpha and Omega”. And therefore, the one saying “I am Alpha and Omega is NOT ALWAYS referring to Jesus, the SON OF the Almighty God the FATHER. 

And just because Almighty God puts His words into the mouth of Jesus to speak does not PROVE that Jesus is Almighty God Himself.

Let us take these verses piece by piece and soon you will see what I am talking about.     

Verse 7a says.

 

“Behold he comes with clouds…”

 

Who is the pronoun “HE” referring to that is coming with clouds? Well, I don’t know about you, but to me, it is Jesus, who is coming again with great clouds of glory. And certainly, the next part of this verse supports this truth as well. 

For you see, we know without a doubt that it was Jesus, whose hands and feets were pierced. And it was also Jesus, who was pierced with a sword in his side by the Roman soldier to see if he was already dead on the cross so that it would be fulfilled that none of his bones was broken. 

You see it was the custom of the Roman soldiers to break the legs of those being crucified to make absolutely sure that they were dead before they were taken down off the cross.

               So obviously, some Christians make the assumption that since verse 7 is referring to Jesus, then verse 8 must ALSO be referring to Jesus. Therefore, some Christians jump to a wrong conclusion by concluding that Jesus is THE ALMIGHTY God Himself. 

And other Christians wrongly conclude that if Jesus is Almighty God Himself, then Jesus MUST be the FATHER. And all of these assumptions are simply because of FALSELY assuming that Jesus is the Almighty Himself that is speaking in this verse saying, “I am the Alpha and the Omega”. 

They never TRULY consider that Jesus says what the Father TELLS him to say. But rather, they ASSUME that if the Father says “I am the Alpha and the Omega” and Jesus says “I am the Alpha and the Omega”, then Jesus MUST be the Father.

               This is why it is important to keep the Scriptures in the context of which they are found and read the ENTIRE context and then COMPARE Scripture with other Scripture. 

So then, let us keep reading verses 9 through verse 15. But first, let me point out that verse 7 ENDS with an AMEN, which indicates to us that the next verse begins a NEW thought, and or a NEW speaker. 

Now let us compare Scripture with Scripture to allow the Bible to interpret itself.

 

Revelation 1:9. “I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle of Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.?

Revelation 1:10. “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,”

Revelation 1:11. “Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and what you see, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodecia.”

Revelation 1:12. “And I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;”

Revelation 1:13. “And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son on man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.”

Revelation 1:14. “His head and his hairs were white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;”

Revelation 1:15. “And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.”

 

Here in these verses, we see ANOTHER reason for WHY verse 8 is referring to God Almighty, the FATHER, rather than referring to Jesus His Son.

So, even though when on the surface verse 8 APPEARS to be referring to Jesus because of the previous verse 7, there is more sound Biblical evidence provoking that assumption is in error. 

Also, some ASSUME that Jesus is THE ALMIGHTY Himself because their Bible has these words in RED letters, which is supposed to indicate that Jesus is the one who is speaking. I will explain more on this later, but for now, know and understand that we are reading a “translation” of the Bible. And Bible translators make errors occasionally.

So then, let us focus on what the CONTEXT is teaching us. I want you to notice that in these verses in Revelation 1:9-15, which we just read, we see that John heard from TWO distinct and DIFFERENT voices. 

The FIRST voice John heard was the voice of Almighty God Himself. That is to say, the first voice is that of Almighty God the Father, THE ALMIGHTY and only MOST HIGH God, the God of Gods. 

And the SECOND voice that John heard was the voice of Jesus Christ, the SON OF God, the Son of MAN, our brother and fellow servant, who OBEYED and KEPT the word of his God and Father. In other words, Jesus kept the word of his God and Father just like we are commanded to keep God’s word given to us by Jesus in the NEW Testament under the NEW covenant.

Please notice in verse 10 that John hears a great voice BEHIND him. Also, notice that this voice is described as a great voice as of a trumpet. 

Now notice that when John HEARD this first voice that was as a great voice as of a trumpet that John turned to SEE who the voice was coming from. 

BUT when John turned to SEE who was speaking he saw someone with a DIFFERENT voice. And later in this passage of Scripture, we clearly see that thus different voice belongs to Jesus, the Son OF Almighty God the Father.

Look at the last part of verse 15.

 

            “And HIS voice as the sound of many waters.”

 

                 Notice that John makes a distinction between the TWO voices by calling this second voice HIS voice. And then, John goes on to give us a DIFFERENT description of what this SECOND voice sounds like, which is as the SOUND of many waters. 

This second voice can be clearly seen as the voice of the one, who was like unto the SON of MAN in verse 13. Jesus referred to himself over 80 times as being the son of man. For an in-depth study of the humanity of Jesus and why Jesus needed to be the Son of MAN, please see the study JESUS THE SON OF MAN! 

So then, this second voice as the sound of many waters is clearly the voice of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who is also called the Son of man. Did you know that in the King James Version of the Bible that Jesus is called the Son of MAN twice as many times as he is called the Son of God? You can read the above study for all the verses but for now, let us continue with verse 15 to learn that there is a SECOND voice.
                  Again, who is the FIRST voice? I myself believe without a doubt that the first voice, which is a great voice as the sound of a trumpet, is, in fact, the voice of Almighty God the Father Himself. And here is yet another reason for why I believe this.

                   Let us jump ahead to Revelation 4:1 for a moment in order to shed a little more light on WHY I personally believe John is recording TWO distinct and completely DIFFERENT voices from TWO distinct and completely different persons here in the book of Revelation.

 

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 show you things which must be hereafter.”

 

This voice described here in Revelation 4:1 is referred to as the FIRST voice that John heard. And the use of the word FIRST voice is implying that John had to hear at least one other voice, or a SECOND voice. For you see, the mere meaning of the word FIRST demands that there be at least a SECOND, if not a third and so forth. 

Also, notice that John describes this FIRST voice in Revelation 4:1 in the SAME EXACT way as he does in Revelation 1:10, which is as a voice as it were of a TRUMPET. So then, to WHOM does this FIRST voice, as of a TRUMPET belong?

Well, if you keep reading the CONTEXT it will become blatantly CLEAR that this FIRST voice, as of a trumpet, is the voice of the Lord God THE ALMIGHTY that sits on the throne, which is, and which was, and which is to come and who says I the LORD am the Alpha and the Omega. 

And thus, you will also see that this FIRST voice is NOT the voice of Jesus, the SON OF Almighty God the Father in Revelation 1:8, which some Christians dogmatically demand is Jesus HIMSELF saying that he is THE ALMIGHTY in order to try and support their man-made teaching of oneness and the Trinity. 

                 Let us jump ahead again and  go ahead and read Revelation 4:2, Revelation 4:8,9, Revelation 5:1, and Revelation 5:6,7, and then put them all together. This is what is known as keeping this verse in question in the CONTEXT of where it is found and then comparing Scripture with Scripture to see if the INTERPRETATION that you arrived at does not contradict any other part of the WHOLE word of God.

 

Revelation 4:2.

 

“And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a THRONE was set in heaven, and ONE sat on the throne.”

 

Who is the ONE being in ONE person that is sitting on the throne? John did NOT say, and TWO sat on the throne. Remember in Revelation 1:5 that Jesus is called the PRINCE of the kings of the earth. In other words, Jesus is not yet ruling as the King over the earth.

 

Revelation 4:8,9b. 

 

“…Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. And when those beasts give GLORY and honor and thanks to HIM that SAT on the THRONE, who lives for ever and ever.”

 

Notice that this verse clearly states that it is the Lord God Almighty, who is the ONE who is sitting on the throne. 

And again, we see this same phrase “which was, and is, and is to come”, who we now know is without a doubt speaking of the LORD GOD THE ALMIGHTY, which we also know spoke the words, “I am Alpha and Omega” in Revelation 1:8. 

But we do not KNOW without a doubt AS YET that this FIRST voice is NOT Jesus, the Son OF Almighty God the Father. 

               However, if we tie all these verses together along with the verses that follow, then we will CLEARLY see that Jesus is NOT ALMIGHTY God, who the Bible itself always clearly identifies as being the FATHER alone. 

And again, even the man-made “DOCTRINE” of the Trinity also plainly states that Jesus is NOT the FATHER, and the FATHER is NOT the SON.

 

               Revelation 5:1.

 

“AND I saw in the right hand of HIM (Speaking of Almighty God, the Father, Himself) that SAT upon the THRONE a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.”

 

And here are the verses that unlock the TRUTH that Jesus is NOT Almighty God Himself.

 

Revelation 5:6,7.

 

“And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a LAMB as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And HE (Referring to the Lamb that was slain, Jesus Christ, the Son of Almighty God the Father) came and TOOK the book OUT OF the right hand of HIM (Where the pronoun “HIM” here is speaking of Almighty God the Father Himself) that SAT upon the THRONE.”

 

It seems blatantly obvious to me that if John who was told to record what he both heard and saw, then we ought to pay attention to what John wrote down. Also, it is clear to me that if John saw the importance of maintaining a CLEAR distinction between Almighty God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ, then we too should ALSO keep them separate as two distinct and separate beings. 

In other words, we should NOT allow church traditions and doctrine of men to be above what the Bible ITSELF actually teaches. 

And to me, it is obvious that it is church TRADITION that FALSELY teach that Jesus is THE ALMIGHTY God the FATHER Himself and NOT the Bible itself that teaches the doctrine of the Trinity. 

And it is also obvious to me that the doctrine of ONENESS or modalism is a FALSE man-made doctrine that has become church TRADITION is some church denominations such as the Oneness Pentecostal church denomination. 

Trinity believers argue that they do NOT teach that Jesus is the FATHER, but rather, they teach that Jesus is THE ALMIGHTY God. 

But the Bible ITSELF always clearly identifies Almighty God as being the FATHER. This is NOT just my opinion. For you see, throughout the New Testament you will find that the early church maintained a clear distinction between God the Father and Jesus His Son. 

If you would like to study this topic more in-depth I have written a study devoted entirely to WHO is Jesus then please read the study called THE DEITY OF JESUS AND THE TRINITY along with JESUS THE SON OF MAN!, and IS JESUS ALMIGHTY GOD? as well as many, many other studies exposing the errors of interpretation by those who teach the doctrine of the Trinity. 

But for now, so as not to get off too deep on another subject, let’s go back and continue this verse by verse study on the book of Revelation. Let us pick it back up with Revelation 1:11.

 

Revelation 1:11. “Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What you SEE, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.”

 

In my Bible, these words of Jesus are written in RED, which I said earlier that in some translations and Bible the letters in RED are put there by the TRANSLATORS to indicate that Jesus is the one who is speaking. 

But, as you have already seen by keeping the verse in question in the context of where it is found and then comparing Scripture with Scripture, it is made clear to us that the TRANSLATORS made a MISTAKE in verse 8 by putting those letter is red. 

We also see that verse 11 is written in RED. So, therefore, one might obviously conclude that because verse 11 is written in RED letters, then it MUST be Jesus who is speaking, simply because we were TAUGHT that the RED letters mean that Jesus is speaking, according to the TRANSLATORS.

However, based on what we just learned, we can clearly see from the SCRIPTURES, the one who is speaking in verse 11, is Almighty God the Father and NOT Jesus Christ as we were MISLED to believe by the RED letters. 

So then, verse 11 is Almighty God Himself telling John to write down in a book what he sees and then send it to the seven churches that are in Asia. 

Also, in verse 11, we are given by name these seven churches. Now, I myself personally believe that these are seven literal churches that were present in John’s day. 

You can Google this yourself and see on a map of that time in history the name of these seven churches which are in Asia, which is now known as Turkey on a modern map. 

I also personally believe that the characteristics that each of these seven churches possessed can be traced through different periods of history. 

And I also personally believe that some if not all of these characteristics of these seven churches which were in Asia are found to be present in the many different churches or the many different denominations of the church of today. 

We will study this more in-depth as we cover each of the seven churches. Also, know that the time is at hand was again also for the literal seven church in Asia as well so that they would hold fast to their faith unto the end. 

In Revelation 1:12, we see John turning to SEE the voice that spoke to him which sounded like a great voice like a trumpet. 

But instead of see the one with the voice as of a trumpet, John SEES seven golden candlesticks. We don’t have to speculate on what these seven golden candlesticks represent, because we are plainly told this in Revelation 1:20.

 

Revelation 1:20b.

 

“…and the seven golden candlesticks which you saw ARE the seven churches.”

 

In Revelation 1:13, we see one like unto the Son of man standing in the midst, that is to say, in the middle of, or among the seven golden candlesticks. 

So then, this figurative language is saying to us that Jesus is standing in the midst of the seven churches. And in the last part of verse 13 continuing into verse 14, and verse 15, we are given a description of this Son of man. 

You might find it interesting to compare this description with the one found in Danial 10:5,6. Again, I myself personally believe who this person John is describing is Jesus, the Son of man, the Son of God, and Daniel seems to be describing the SAME person as well. 

Let us go ahead and read Daniel 10:5,6 first before we continue on with Revelation 1:14,15.

 

Daniel 10:5,6.

 

“Then I (Daniel) lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a certain MAN clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz:

Daniel 10:6. His body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in color to polished brass, and the VOICE of his words like the voice of a MULTITUDE.”

 

In Revelation 1:15, we are told that John hears this OTHER voice which John distinguishes as being a DIFFERENT voice by using the words, “HIS voice”. 

Now, we have already determined was the SECOND voice that John heard and described as a voice of MANY WATERS. And we have also concluded that this voice is the voice of Jesus, the Son of MAN. 

I am going to jump ahead for a moment in the book of Revelation again to show you that the word “WATERS” or “MANY WATERS” is sometimes used as a symbolic or prophetic meaning of a MULTITUDE or many people. And this matches perfectly with this passage of Scripture in the book of Daniel. 

Please read Revelation 17:15, which teaches us that many waters could be read as “a great multitude”, which again I find interesting when I compare it with Daniel 10:6 “…and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude.”

           

 Revelation 17:15. 

 

“And he said unto me, The WATERS which you saw, where the whore sits, ARE peoples, and MULTITUDES, and nations, and tongues.”

 

The man Jesus is our mediator between God and mankind. Jesus is our VOICE, our ACCESS to the Father. So then, the VOICE of MANY WATERS would be the same as the VOICE of MANY MULTITUDES or the MEDIATOR of many people. In other words, WHOSOEVER of mankind who BELIEVES in God’s Son Jesus, then Jesus becomes their VOICE to mediated between them and God. 

Again, before we get too far off the subject, let us get back on track and continue this verse by verse study by reading Revelation 1:16-20. And then, we will take each verse one by one to discover what the word of God is teaching us.

 

              Revelation 1:16. “And he had in his right hand seven stars; and out of his mouth went a sharp two edged sword; and his countenance was as the sun shines in his strength.”

             Revelation 1:17. “And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:”

             Revelation 1:18. “I am he that lives, that was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and I have the keys of hell and of death.”

             Revelation 1:19. “Write these things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter.”

             Revelation 1:20. “The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in MY right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels (Messengers) of the seven churches; and the seven candlesticks which you saw are the seven churches.”

 

In verse 16b, we see another clue that points to this SECOND voice as being Jesus by the following phrase.

 

“…and out of HIS mouth went a sharp two edged sword…”

 

Now compare this phrase in verse 16b with Revelation 19:15.

 

Revelation 19:15a.

 

“And out of HIS mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations…”

 

We know that this verse here in chapter 19 is referring to Jesus, because the context in Revelation 19:13-16. I will just quote verses 13 and 16.

 

Revelation 19:13.

 

“And HE was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name (Or his attributes or his character) is called the Word of God.”

 

Jesus is called the word of God made flesh in John 1:14. 

 

Revelation 19:16.

 

“And HE has on his vesture and on his thigh a name (Or title) written, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.”

 

And the LAMB, who we know is Jesus, is called the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings in Revelation 17:14.

 

Revelation 17:14.

 

“These shall make war with the LAMB, and the LAMB shall overcome them: for HE (Speaking of the LAMB that was slain) is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.”

 

Now, all Christians know that the LAMB that was slain is speaking of Jesus. Therefore, we draw all these other conclusions by comparing Scripture with Scripture to see that all of the verses AGREE with each other. 

In other words, is one interprets a verse of Scripture, then their “interpretation of that verse of Scripture muts AGREE with all of the verses of Scripture in the Bible. With that being said, let us get back to chapter 1. 

The opening phase in Revelation 1:17 sounds a lot like Daniel 10:9, which I will place for you side by side or over and under right together so that you can compare them together.

 

Revelation 1:17a.

 

“And when I saw HIM, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not…”

 

Daniel 10:9-12. 

 

“Yet heard I the voice of his words: and when I heard the voice of his words, then was I in a deep sleep on my face, and my face toward the ground.
          Daniel 10:10. And, behold, an hand touched me, which set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands.
        Daniel 10:11. And he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto you, and stand upright: for unto you am I now sent. And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling.
          Daniel 10:12. Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that you did set your heart to understand , and to chasten yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I am come for your words.”

 

Now, please do not misunderstand what I am saying. I am NOT saying that the one who TOUCHED Daniel was Jesus way back in history before Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary because clearly, the one who TOUCHED Jesus is indeed an ANGELIC BEING. We are told the name of the other angelic as being Michael, one of the archangels. And Michael came to help this angel get through to answer Daniel’s prayer. 

But, you can see how wrong ASSUMPTIONS can made and then those wrong assumption lead to devloping FALSE doctrines such as the Jehovah’s Witness and the Mormons FALSELY teaching that Jesus was an ANGELIC being that Almighty God sent to become the Son of man.

Also, in verse 17 of Revelation chapter 1, Jesus says the following of himself.

 

“…I am the first and the last”.

 

This could mean that Jesus is the FIRST and the LAST man to DIE for the sins of the people. This could mean that Jesus is the first and the last whom God would highly exalt to sit and rule FOR Yahweh at His right side. This could mean that Jesus spoke what God put into his mouth to speak.

In other words, it is NOT sound Biblical teaching to dogmatically demand that since Jesus said the same or very similar words that Almighty God says that this proves that Jesus is Almighty God Himself. 

For you see, we are God’s representatives, who speak God’s word, but that does not make us to be Almighty God Himself. Jesus spoke what his God and Father TOLD him to speak.

I personally believe that Jesus is the FIRST and the LAST to be highly exalted to sit on the throne of Almighty God to rule and reign over the kingdom of God for Yahweh as the arm of the Lord for 1000 years. And God will REST in His WORKMANSHIP of Jesus to rule in RIGHTEOUSNESS during that SEVENTH 1000 year long DAY of the Lord, the TRUE Sabbath of Yahweh. 

God said that with another he would not share His glory meaning that the ONLY one God prophesied to share His glory was with His Son Jesus. Again, this is a study in and of itself, but I do explain some more of my thoughts on this in the studies relating to Jesus such as REVELATION 1:17 I AM THE FIRST AND THE LAST! But for now, let us continue with the next verse in Revelation chapter 1.

             In Revelation 1:18, we see that Jesus died and now is alive forevermore and that he holds the keys to hell and death. In other words, the keys symbolize that Jesus possesses all authority over hell and death. To say this another way, all authority has been COMMITTED to Jesus to judge who will be given the right to partake of the tree of life in the world to come and who will perish.

 

Revelation 1:18. “I am he that lives, that was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and I have the keys of hell and of death.”

 

To ME, the one who is speaking is clearly Jesus, who is the FIRSTBORN from the dead of many brethren. We know from other verses in the Bible that Jesus went into the heart of the earth to preach the gospel to the dead who died in the Old Testament times. And Jesus did that so that they could also be SAVED by the ONLY NAME under heaven given among men whereby they MUST be SAVED. 

And here in Revelation 1:18, we see that while Jesus was down in the belly of the earth, he conquered death and the grave and rose victoriously with the KEYS of hell and death. And eventually in chapter 20, we will see that DEATH will be destroyed at the END of the 1000 year reign of Jesus.

And in verse 19, we see Jesus telling John to write down everything that he has already seen up to this point, to also write down everything that is happening in the present, and as well to write down everything that he sees that will take place in the future.

 

Revelation 1:19. “Write these things which you have seen, AND the things which ARE, AND the things which SHALL BE hereafter.”

 

In other words, there will be SOME things that are written in the book of Revelation which are ALREADY PAST history. This is important to understand when we get deeper into the book of Revelation to learn WHO the beast is and WHAT the MARK of the beast is. 

AND also, there will be SOME things written that were PRESENT and PAST HISTORY in John’s day. 

AND there will be many things in the book of Revelation that are YET FUTURE.

Then in verse 20, we see Jesus giving us the meaning of the symbols John saw earlier.

 

Revelation 1:20. “The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in MY right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars ARE the angels (Or the messengers) of the seven churches; and the seven candlesticks which you saw ARE the seven churches.”

 

As we read through the book of Revelation, you will see other places where the Bible will interpret itself just as it has interpreted FOR us the MYSTERY of the seven stars BEING the angels or the messengers of the seven churches. And the seven golden candlesticks BEING the seven churches. 

The angels or the messengers of the seven churches could be referring to the Pastors and teachers that God has set in the churches to equip the saints for ministry. 

Or it could literally be speaking of Angelic beings that are assigned to be ministering spirits of those of us, who are to be the heirs of salvation as we are told in Hebrews 1:13,14.

 

Hebrews 1:13.14.

 

“But to which of the ANGELS said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool? 

          14. Are THEY (Speaking of the literal ANGELIC beings) not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?”

 

Or if some chose to interpret the angels to mean messengers, then it could mean that each and every one of us are MESSENGERS of the gospel of Jesus Christ to minister to others who shall also be heirs of salvation. For you see, as you will soon see, each letter that John writes to each church opens speaking to that INDIVIDUAL church. But then, each letter always ends speaking to the CHURCHES in the plural, as in, John speak to ALL the seven churches as a WHOLE in each of the seven letters.

Please keep in mind that there are several LITERAL churches that were in ASIA, who were all of the ONE body of Jesus Christ, just as there are MANY different churches of church denominations, who are ALL part of the ONE TRUE church. 

I heard some atheists mocking Christians about the rapture of the church saying “WHICH church” will be raptured seeing that they all claim to be the ONLY true church? 

There are SEVEN churches so with that line of atheistic reasoning, WHICH church is going to be raptured? 

So then, in TRUTH, the SEVEN churches should be understood as seven CONGREGATIONS of the ONE church of Jesus Christ. 

Plain and SIMPLE, if you believe in Jesus as the atonement for your sins then you are a part of the ONE body of Jesus Christ which is the ONE true church. Please read the study WHAT IS THE ONE TRUE CHURCH?

This concludes the verse-by-verse study of chapter one in the Book of Revelation. And just as an introduction, in chapter 2 and chapter 3 of the book of Revelation, we find the letters that John wrote to the seven churches which are in Asia.

Now while chapters 2 and 3 go together, I am still going to keep them as separate verse by verse studies of each CHAPTER for easy referencing. Originally, I had one HUGE study all together in one study, but it became too long to fit on a single page on my website. 

Also, some of my readers let me know that it was very difficult to scroll down and read because they kept losing their place. So now, have separated that super long study into chapters. This Verse Study may seem long due to sharing the VIEW of Jesus from the Biblical Unitarian perspective.

The continue read the verse-by-verse study in the Book of Revelation, please click on the next chapter, K-2. REVELATION CHAPTER 2

Once Christians, Jews, Muslims, and even atheists understand the REASON that Yahweh CREATED the Son of MAN, Jesus, was to have DOMINION over the work of Yahweh’s hands. 

And after you understand that the REASON that Yahweh did that is to STILL His ENEMIES, Satan and the fallen angels. 

Then you can understand that God made His human Son to become a Lord, a King, and a God, to JUDGE Satan and the fallen angels. 

For a deeper understanding of this WAR that Lucifer and one third of the angel waged against the throne of Almighty God, please read the studies under the subject category called >>> Q-0 Why Are We Here? Is God at WAR? <<<

More studies coming in this SHORTER Biblical Unitarian view of who Jesus is according to the WHOLE word of God. If you have a PARTICULAR verse of Scripture that you would like to know the sound Biblical Unitarian meaning, then please email me at MarkatAMatterOfTruth@Gmail.com and let me know.

For further and more in-depth studies on this subject of Jesus being created to STILL the enemies of Yahweh, please read the studies called D-25. A NEW LOOK at JOHN 1:1-In the BEGINNING, and D-28. The PRE-ADAMIC LUCIFERIAN FLOOD! 

Thanks for reading, and may God bless you richly as you continue to seek the TRUTH of the WHOLE word of Almighty God. And to me, the truth concerning who Jesus TRULY is, according to the Bible ITSELF, is the Biblical Unitarian view of Jesus. So, for ALL of the studies on the Biblical Unitarian view of Jesus, please click on the subject heading >>> D-0. THE BIBLICAL UNITARIAN VIEW of JESUS! <<<

And for the SUBJECT on the true foundation of the church, please click on the subject heading >>> C-0. THE TRUE FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH! <<< This way you can just send ONE link to those who you want to share the TRUE sound Biblical FOUNDATIONAL teachings of the church that Jesus and his Apostles taught in the first century church.

 

Your brother in our Lord Jesus Christ,

Brother Mark.

 

My heartfelt prayer is that all Christians RETURN to the TRUE FOUNDATION of the church that is taught by the very Apostles of Jesus in the first century. So let us all come into the UNITY of the faith and return to what Jesus and his Apostles taught us in SIMPLICITY in the New Testament. 

 

To learn more TRUTH, then please return to

AMatterOfTruth.com

 

Here is the Table of Contents with links to all of the chapters in Book of Revelation.

It is best to read them in the order that they are listed. But please feel free to skip any chapter and any verse.

K-1. REVELATION CHAPTER 1

K-2. REVELATION CHAPTER 2

K-3. REVELATION CHAPTER 3

K-4. REVELATION CHAPTER 4

K-5. REVELATION CHAPTER 5

K-6. REVELATION CHAPTER 6

K-7. REVELATION CHAPTER 7

K-8. REVELATION CHAPTER 8

K-9. REVELATION CHAPTER 9

K-10. REVELATION CHAPTER 10

K-11. REVELATION CHAPTER 11

K-12. REVELATION CHAPTER 12

K-13.REVELATION CHAPTER 13

K-14.REVELATION CHAPTER 14

K-15. REVELATION CHAPTER 15

K-16. REVELATION CHAPTER 16

K-17. REVELATION CHAPTER 17

K-18. REVELATION CHAPTER 18

K-19. REVELATION CHAPTER 19

K-20. REVELATION CHAPTER 20

K-21. REVELATION CHAPTER 21

K-22. REVELATION CHAPTER 22

VERSES USED TO TEACH THAT JESUS PREEXISTED!

 

To me, the best way to know the ONE true God in ONE person is to know who Jesus TRULY is according to the WHOLE word of Almighty God. So please read ALL of the studies under the heading >>> N-0. WHO is JESUS ACCORDING to the BIBLE? <<< and you will see that the Bible itself teaches us that Jesus was CREATED by his God and Father. And if you have any questions related to the correct meaning of certain verses of Scripture on this subject of who Jesus is please read all the studies under the two headings >>> U-0. VERSES used for THE TRINITY! <<< and >>> V-0. VERSES used to TEACH that Jesus PRE-EXISTED! <<< These two headings have ALL of the studies that I have on who Jesus truly is according to what the Bible itself teaches us in simplicity. I compiled these three headings to make it easy for my readers to send just one, two, or three links to those you desire to help understand what the Bible itself teaches concerning who Jesus is in the LIGHT of the WHOLE word of Almighty God. If you have any questions, please feel free to write to me. 

My contact email is MarkatAMatterOfTruth@Gmail.com.

Thanks again for reading and may God bless you richly as you continue to seek the truth of the whole word of Almighty God.

 

Your Brother in our Lord Jesus Christ,

Brother Mark.

 

RETURN to HOMEPAGE at

AMatterOfTruth.com

 

The end.

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Always be faithful to share, to preach, and to teach the whole gospel of Jesus Christ!