Karl Marx was right. Although he claimed not to believe in God, he confessed in his "Design of History" to what he called the principle of History: A driving force behind history which revealed a plan for man; this Dialectics of Materialism, swinging to one way then the other, but always coming back to the middle and getting closer to the goal!
But if you confess to that, as logical thinkers you must realise that there had to be a design and a Planner behind the plan. This driving Force then must be an omnipotent Power, a God behind history, Who must have given a Plan and a Goal to History, and man is being driven to his ultimate goal whether he likes it or not!
This is exactly what the book of Revelation reveals: The plan, the goal and the Planner behind it all!
However, God did not wait until the late 1800s as Satan and Marx did to publish their counterfeit plan for man. Instead, God revealed the true plan for man nearly 2000 years ago! And it has happened and is happening and will happen just as He predicted! God gave His True Plan "before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe." (Jn.14.29)
Right above "chapter one" in most Bibles, the title reads "The revelation or Apocalypse of St. John the Divine." However, this title which was added by someone years later was not necessarily inspired because the first line of the prophecy says it is "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, and He (Jesus) sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant John." (vs.1)
The first five chapters of Revelation, though they do not contain any glimpses into the future, are extremely important in giving us the background of what is to come. They set the stage, so to speak, for the drama of the future which begins to unfold in chapter 6.
Therefore, since these background chapters are really all rather self-explanatory, we will give only a small commentary on each one to help prepare you for the astounding prophecy of the future which begins to unfold in chapter 6 as the Four Horsemen thunder forth and the seven-sealed book of the future is opened!
It is fairly certain that this John who merely wrote the prophecy down is John the Beloved. He was one of the youngest of Jesus' apostles and the only one, as far as we know, who did not die a martyr's death. However, that was through no fault of the Roman Empire. They tried to boil him in oil but he wouldn't boil, because the Lord still hadn't finished with him and had further work for him to do.
So Domitian, emperor of Rome at that time, figured, "What can you do with a guy like this? We can't kill him, so we'll just stick him some place where he can't do much damage, can't preach or witness to anybody, and where he won't accomplish too much!"
So John tells us in his own account that he ended up on "The isle that is called Patmos for (or because of) the Word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ." (vs.9)
Patmos was a 10-mile long rocky island off the southwest coast of Asia Minor in the Aegean Sea, which adjoins the Mediterranean. It was big and inhabitable enough to have a little town on it, and of course the island is still there today.
John was probably in his nineties at the time of his exile since Domitian's persecution against Christians occurred in the mid-90s A.D. So here he was, an old man sentenced by the Roman government to exile on a lonely island in order to keep out of harm's way and supposedly to keep him from doing any more damage with his revolutionary doctrines.
Instead of that, what happened? He had a revelation out there all by himself that has since been a witness to millions and millions of people and influenced more lives than he could ever have reached if he had stayed free.
So never think that just because you're out alone some place or in some lonely prison cell that God can't work or use you because He may be preparing you for something in which you'll be a greater witness than you ever dreamed.
This is what He did with John. He just put him someplace alone so John could have time to pray and meditate. Then one day when he "was in the Spirit" (or tuned-in to God) he heard a voice behind him, "A great voice, as of a trumpet, saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last." (vs.10,11)
When John "turned to see the voice that spake with" him, he saw "one like unto the Son of man" standing "in the midst [of] seven golden candlesticks," with hair like wool and snow, eyes like fire, feet like brass burning in an oven and a voice sounding like many waters. In His right hand were seven stars, and a two edged sword proceeded out of His mouth and His face was like the sun. (vs.12-16)
The awesome appearance of this supernatural being so astonished John that he "fell at his feet as dead." But the Man said, "Fear not.... I am he that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of Hell and of Death." (vs.17,18) This, of course, could only have been Jesus in His heavenly appearance.
Many of the terms used here to describe Jesus may be very literal--for instance, "His face like the sun." This literally happened to Him on earth when He was transfigured on the mount where Elijah and Moses appeared to Him (Luke chapter 9). So, although some of these are definitely symbolic, they nevertheless represent reality--reality which is even greater than the limited symbols used here to describe Him.
For instance, the sword going out of His mouth is symbolic of the "Sword of the Spirit which is the Word OF God." (Ep.6:17) But this spiritual sword is so powerful that with it He shall literally slay millions of the wicked at His Second Coming: "by His sword will the Lord plead with all flesh.-- And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other." (Is.66:16 ; Jer.25:33) It's symbolic, but very, very real!
The seven stars and candle-sticks are also symbolic. The 20th verse of this same chapter says. "The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches; and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches."
Who are these seven churches? According to verses 4 and 11 of this chapter, they are "seven churches which are (or were in 90 A.D.) in Asia" and to whom the Lord told John to write. Chapters 2 and 3 contain these letters that John wrote to the seven churches.
After the Lord had helped John to recover his senses a bit, he told him that the vision he was about to receive would span the entire panorama of history. "Write the things which thou hast seen (past), and the things which are (present, in John's day), and the things which shall be hereafter (future, after John). (vs.19)
The general pattern for the book of Revelation is a progressive preview of history "from the things which are," or were in John's Day, to the "things which shall be hereafter." However, frequently, sometimes even in the middle of chapter, the Revelation goes back into the past to give some background into whatever subject it's dealing with before showing you their future and how they wind up.
Chapter one is definitely part of the "things which are" in John's day and it is an introduction to the vision itself. It introduces Jesus, Who is giving the Revelation through His angel, and John who is writing it. It also shows us that it is going to be about the past, present (of John's day), and the future.
In verses 4 and 11 of chapter one, John named seven churches (groups of believers, not buildings) which were in seven Asian cities: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodecia. all of these were names of explicit, definite cities of Asia Minor, today known as Turkey. They were all within close distance of each other and only a short distance from the isle of Patmos.
The Lord undoubtedly told John to write to these particular seven churches because he wasn't far from them. Also, being one of the oldest disciples and an Apostle of the Lord, these churches no doubt looked to John for guidance and leadership, even in exile.
The letters reveal churches in different levels of obedience and/or apostasy, and give rebukes, guidance and promises from the Lord to each one. though written to literal churches in Asia, we can read the letters today as warnings, advice and counsel regarding any situation existing in our selves or in our church and take it to heart.
The churches themselves do not symbolise different so-called church ages, but are examples of various kinds of churches which have existed throughout the entire church age. In other words, any one of the things spoken of in these seven letters could be true of a lot of different churches, even today.
In this sense then, even though these churches were in Asia in John's day and are part of "the things which are," or were in 90 A.D., they typify all the churches which shall come "hereafter." The promises to these churches have had many fulfilments throughout history and are now having ultimate fulfilments in this, the last generation.
Another example of prophecy being fulfilled in this manner is seen in the words Jesus spoke to His disciples 2,000 years ago, but which every ensuing generation of Christians has appropriated also for itself. And as we have seen these promises of the Lord given to His Apostles fulfilled in every generation, even so the rebukes, praises and promises given to these seven churches have been fulfilled in every age and are now being ultimately fulfilled in this last age of Christians who fit the description of each church.
In fact, the Lord has even used one of these promises, the one to the churches in Philadelphia, which has my name in it, David, and prophesied it over me on three separate occasions in the late 1940's by three different prophets, none of whom I had ever met before! And this prophecy is certainly finding fulfilment now in our worldwide work. Read it! (Rev.3:7-13)
Of the seven churches, Smyrna and Philadelphia are without reproof. Sardis and Laodicea have nothing good said of them except that Sardis had a "few" undefiled believers left. Ephesus, Pergamos and Thyatira are part bad, part good. the two good churches, Smyrna and Philadelphia were composed of wildly willing workers and were facing persecution from the synagogue of Satan, the false worship system of that day--and today!
The two very bad churches greatly resemble the vast majority of so-called Christians today: materially rich and living it up with good times, but spiritually poor and dead--Sardis, whom the Lord "will come on as a thief," and Laodicea, whom the Lord will "spue out of His mouth."
The remaining three were faithful in certain respects but Jesus said, "I have a few things against thee." In Ephesus they were losing their first love for the Lord. In Pergamos they were tolerating false teachers and idolatry. In Thyatira they were swallowing the lies of the false prophetess Jezebel who was teaching that fornication with idols or worshipping Mammon and the System were acceptable.
Read them all and see where you fit!
"After this I (John) looked, and behold, a door was opened in Heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter." In chapter 1 we found out that Jesus had a voice "as a trumpet" (1:10), so this is Jesus talking to John.
Now, some false prophets have actually misinterpreted this verse as the resurrection and rapture of the Church but it isn't. It is Jesus telling John to come up so that He can show him the things which must be "hereafter." So far the Revelation has dealt only with "the things which are," or were in John's day; but now Jesus tells John He's going to show him the future.
In chapter 1, John was "in the Spirit" or tuned-in to God's Spirit, but here the Lord tells John to "come up" into the realm of the spirit world to literally take a spirit trip into that mysterious dimension of eternal realities, so that John could get the whole view of that little island called Time and see its future!
Jesus just called John and "immediately." He said, "I was in the spirit and behold, a throne was set in Heaven, and One sat on the throne" (4:2), the throne of the Lord God Almighty--His central Headquarters.
God is pictured here as having the appearance of a jasper (or diamond) and a sardine (red) stone. Around the throne is an emerald rainbow and twenty-four elders clothed in white rainment, crowns of gold on their heads, and seated on twenty-four seats. "Lightning and thunderings and voices" issue forth "out of the throne," but a "sea of glass" symbolising peacefulness lies before it. And "in the midst of the throne and round about" it are "four beasts (a lion, calf, flying eagle, and some strange beast with a man's head) full of eyes before and behind."(vs.5,6)
I've never heard any of this explained to my satisfaction yet. Most of these things are just beyond our understanding. It was beyond John's for sure. He just described what it looked like and that was all he could do. So we're not going to try to interpret this more than to say it's the throne of God. You'll probably just have to wait till you get there yourself to find out who the twenty-four elders and the four beasts are.
But John did see something there that we can understand, and it's in the Fifth Chapter. "I saw in the right hand of Him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. 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.-- And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him that sat upon the throne." (vs.1,6,7)
This is a description of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ (Jn. 1:29), ascending to the right hand of God the Father to take a book with seven seals. This picture of Jesus taking the Book may even be going back in history a little bit from the time John received the vision (ca. 90 A.D.), because Jesus ascended to God's right hand in 30 A.D. (Mk.16:19)
However, the Lord had promised to show John the things which shall be hereafter. So this is just a little bit of background to introduce the future, because when the Lord begins to open the seals of this book in the next chapter, the future begins to be revealed.
The book is sealed and, except by prophecy, the future is in a sense sealed and the only One who can unseal it or reveal it is Jesus. "No man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon--" but "the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof." (vs.3,5)
"All things that the Father hath are Mine," Jesus said (including this book of the future)," therefore said I, that He (the Spirit) shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you," John had recorded that saying of the Lord many years earlier in his gospel (chapter 16 verse 15), and now years later, through the communication of God's eternal Spirit, Jesus is about to show His beloved Apostle the entire future of the world! (Continue to read part 2)
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