Dear Student of the Word,
As promised, I am ready to begin my edit of my Revelation study. As you may know, I previously published this study under the title The Revelation Project. Now, I am taking that material, updating it, and posting it online via this site. It will probably take us all of 2018 to finish, and then I will publish this edited material as part of my Live the Word commentary series. Thank you for helping me have the incentive to edit this by subscribing and reading. This week, we begin with the first few verses in Chapter 1. This is what I wrote in part of the study, which can be downloaded in its entirety below:
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9I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, 11which said: “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.”
1:9 – Notice John used no title with his name. He wasn’t the Apostle John, Prophet John, Bishop John, or Archbishop John. He was simply John, a brother and companion to other brothers. Any revelation doesn’t come from the man or woman delivering the revelation, but comes from the One who reveals. The focus and honor is or should always be on and for Jesus, not Jesus’ messengers.
What does John have in common with his readers? He shares three things: suffering, the Kingdom of God, and patient endurance in Jesus. These aren’t the three most attractive “selling points” of a relationship with Jesus, are they? The Bible has much to say about suffering, and Jesus left an example that we are expected follow: an example of patient suffering.
Suffering and the Kingdom are tied to together in this verse. When you suffer, you tend to rely more on God and call out for His help. In this life, suffering is something that every citizen of the Kingdom encounters. When you suffer, you trust that the King of the Kingdom is in control and you call out to Him for help. In other words, you learn to patiently endure:
They preached the gospel in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said (Acts 4:21-22).
When Paul and Barnabas revisited any churches they had planted, they “encouraged” the saints there with those words found in Acts 14:21-22. That news may seem like unusual encouragement for some, but it is good to know that your suffering is not a result of something you did wrong, but something you did right – following Jesus and entering His kingdom. John was in exile on Patmos because of two things: the word of God and his testimony of Jesus. Those two things will get you into the kind of “trouble” that brings suffering and requires patient endurance to come through.
What does it mean to be “in Jesus?” Colossians 3:3 states, “For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” Think of that: Your life is hidden in Christ. That means for something to get to you, it must get through Him first.
That should change your perspective on suffering and tribulation, for Jesus has pre-approved it! Can you thank Him for it? What are you patiently enduring in your life right now? How do you know the difference between something you must fight to overcome and something you must patiently endure?
1:10 – John was “in the Spirit.” It is of note that he saw more clearly what was taking place in the seven churches, even though he was in exile on a remote island, than those who were physically present in those churches. When you are in the Spirit, you can see things more clearly than with your natural eyes. Ask God today to help you see some situation in your life “in the Spirit.”
God is a great communicator. He gets His message across with a loud voice. Yet we are told that Elisha heard a still, small voice. What a difference Jesus makes! Through Jesus, God speaks to mankind loudly and clearly. When His voice isn’t heard or heeded, it’s because people ignore it or something else has their attention – there is another voice speaking louder than His voice. You will see that it is a recurring theme throughout Revelation that God and heaven speak with a loud voice.
Our goal is to be in the Spirit so we can hear this voice as clearly as John did. There is no doubt that John received a “loud and clear” revelation that was from God.
1:11 – John was ordered to write down what he saw. Yet he heard a loud voice like a trumpet. How did he receive the revelation: by hearing or seeing? When you hear the voice of God, it brings vision so that you see as well. You see with the eyes of your heart, however, not with natural eyes. Your words create mental pictures and those pictures generate an emotion in your mind and heart.
It is important to write down what you see. We are back to the issue of journaling again. You need some system to record what the Lord is revealing to you. Then you need to share it with someone, just like John did. A faithful witness passes on what he or she sees and hears:
I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint. Then the Lord replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay” (Habakkuk 2:1-3).
Once you write things down, it helps to have a distribution network that can read and benefit from what you have written. With the Internet, it isn’t hard to send something all over the world with little or no expense.
There were seven churches addressed in Revelation, and seven is the number of completion and perfection, as stated previously. Therefore, the message of Revelation was directed toward the entire church at that time it was delivered as well as for the Church in the years to come. Remember, Revelation meant something to the churches that originally received it and it means the same thing to the Church today.
The early church was not concerned with Iran, Russia, or North Korea. They were facing a threat from the Roman Empire and its mandate to worship the emperor. If we remember that as we study Revelation, it will help us identify with the early church as we face the same problems today of idolatry, materialism, and a host of false philosophies that promise redemption and salvation, but cannot deliver on their promises.
As always, I welcome your comments to this week's study. For additional Bible studies, check out my website archive, which contains a complete collection of all my verse-by-verse New Testament studies, along with the daily devotional entitled Your Life Matters: Daily Reflections from the Book of Psalms. Thank you and soon I will begin sending you my edited studies from James' epistle. After that, we will only have the book of Revelation to complete before the entire New Testament is on the site where this study is posted.
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