26: World News & Prophecy – Revelation 1:1-20

[Darris McNeely] Alright, we're at second class here in the book of Revelation. And I think it's good for us to go ahead and just jump into the text here after the first class giving a bit of introduction as to how to approach aspects of the book of Revelation. We'll pick up little tidbits as we go along but into the introduction.

So let's just start reading and I'll make a few other comments as we go along here.

Revelation 1:1 begins this way: "The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John"

Now we've got a lot here to unpack in this first verse. So let's look at it carefully. And it's important to get it right because it gives up again the perspective. In the last class remember I talked about looking at the book of Revelation from God's perspective which was eternity.

But here's another detail of perspective because it is "the revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave Him" (Revelation 1:1). So it comes from the Father to Christ. So note the order and we'll see in chapter 4 that the Father is very much involved in this in that He holds the seals and it is Christ who unlocks the seals, opens the seals there. He is the one that is worthy.

But it all comes from the Father. It is God's purpose. Again, I will just reference Ephesians 1 which sets up, as Paul does there in a very grand way, the flow of God's purpose. It is the Father's goodwill. It is the Father's purpose which He is bringing to pass through Christ. And Ephesians 1 covers that in quite a unique way in the first chapter.

And so here we see that the Father certainly is involved. He's not absent. He's not retired. He gives it to Christ "to show His servants" (Revelation 1:1). All right, so it is meant to—it is a revealing. We talked in the last class about the name Revelation comes from the Greek term apokalypsis, which means to uncover, to reveal and to make known. And it is God's will to make known.

And here it says "to show His servants things which must shortly take place." And then "He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John" (Revelation 1:1). So somewhere in this there is angelic presence that is there as well in this messenger, in this revealing and transmission of it. And it is then given to John.

Now, it is always from the earliest church writings that has been understood that this John is the Apostle John, one of the sons of Zebedee from the Gospels and with whom we've also been acquainted in the book of Acts, the early chapters. And so it is this John. More modern commentators will say that this might be a pseudonym and it's somebody else. But the earliest writings and traditions even into today among traditional scholars, conservative scholars puts this as the Apostle John. And even I've talked with teachers, New Testament scholars who may be a bit amillennial in their approach to the book of Revelation or post-millennial, but even they attribute to John the Apostle the authorship of this book.

Now, so it is given to John in this way. And look how it is brought out as John is led to write this. John's looked at as a servant, not an Apostle. He doesn't use that term. You know, in Paul's writings for a reason, he uses his office quite often—Paul an Apostle of God, Paul an Apostle of Jesus Christ. And he lays that down for people to understand, but there was a reason for that. In this letter, John is not inspired to use that. He identifies with everyone, the servant.

And that's in the line of the prophets. You would go back to Jeremiah 29:19. As God talks about His message that He sent to Israel through His prophets, He calls them "My servants the prophets" (Jeremiah 29:19). "My servants the prophets" (Jeremiah 29:19). So John is a prophet here as he has handed this revelation, writes it down and gives it to the church. He is first and foremost a serving prophet. He has that attitude, that approach.

Again, remember we've talked in the book of Acts about how John along with his brother were the sons of thunder, the sons of Zebedee. And they at one point wanted to call down fire upon a Samaritan village because they kind of got dissed by the inhabitants and they didn't show them hospitality. But he came, he kind of, you know, modified his view of people and he became the Apostle of Love really through his later writings. But his character changed. And the idea that he's a servant here brings him into a relationship with those of us as readers in a very important way.

Verse 2 it says: "Who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that He saw" (Revelation 1:2).

"Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near" (Revelation 1:3).

So through verse 3 here we have another kind of a second reference to "the time is near." Back up in verse 1, He was shown "things which must shortly take place" (Revelation 1:1).

Okay. How do we understand that? Let's focus on that for a moment.

The idea here is the time is short. As He puts it here in verse 3, “the time is near.” That word that is translated time is the word kairos—K-A-I-R-O-S in the Greek. Take a moment here to get a little Greek lesson. K-A-I-R-O-S. Kairos. Now, it means a season of time. We refer to summer as kind of a three to four month period. Of a season—fall, winter, spring—seasons. And that's more in line with what Kairos is talking about, which lends it to a broader expanse of time rather than if He were referring to minute or the hour, He would have used different words like hora or kronos. Or kronos. Greek words—hour or kronos for a minute.

If you have a watch on your wrist, it's not a smartwatch, but it's a mechanical watch. Another name for them is a chronometer, measuring time—seconds, minutes, and hours—from the word kronos, chronometer. But that's not the word here. It's Kairos.

So it's not that we take the meaning that it's going to be next week, or it should be now. It's more toward a season, which lends to a deeper expanse of time. Now, these words were written over 1,900 years ago. All right? And we might be tempted to doubt how swiftly these words have in fact come to pass. But the fact that 1,900 years later, we're still reading it and time still marches on. The events of the book of Revelation have not yet fully developed upon the world scene.

It doesn't detract from the meaning and what is being brought out here, but it has to be understood in the larger context of the Bible—that these, and again from the context of God's perspective and God's timing here in the book of Revelation. Keep in mind, as far as God is concerned, He's not bound by time.

So if He uses—He says it's apparent or it's near or it's soon—with God, we're told in 2 Peter 3:8, we're told that “a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like a day.” You know that verse, okay? God looks at time differently than we do. And He thinks on eternity.

And as far as He's concerned, it is near. And I think the best takeaway for us to realize is that when it says that “the time is near” or “things which must shortly come to pass,” let's look at that as the fact that we're reading it in, to what? Today, December 2024. All right? Those of you watching this, they're at least in the 2025 or beyond, okay?

But what does it mean for us today? Well, it can mean the very same, exactly what it says—that “the time is near.” And the season of our life.

It doesn't detract from the meaning and what is being brought out here, but it has to be understood in the larger context of the Bible—that these, and again from the context of God's perspective and God's timing here in the book of Revelation. Keep in mind, as far as God is concerned, He's not bound by time.

So if He uses—He says it's apparent or it's near or it's soon—with God, we're told in "a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like a day" (2 Peter 3:8). You know that verse, okay? God looks at time differently than we do. And He thinks on eternity.

And as far as He's concerned, it is near. And I think the best takeaway for us to realize is that when it says that "the time is near" or "things which must shortly come to pass" (Revelation 1:1, 1:3), let's look at that as the fact that we're reading it in, to what? Today, December 2024. All right? Those of you watching this, they're at least in the 2025 or beyond, okay?

But what does it mean for us today? Well, it can mean the very same, exactly what it says—that "the time is near" (Revelation 1:3). And the season of our life.

Now, we don't know how long we have to live. We're not, you know, God gives us three score and ten. But we, you know, some people don't get that. Some people get more. I'm already—my shelf life is already beyond the three score and ten, okay? And so, depending on how you look at it, you know, I got more behind me than I do ahead of me. But I appreciate every day that I have, as we all should, regardless of our age.

And when we're reading the Bible, when we are thinking about things of eternity and eternal life and the message of being ready—because we don't know the time or the hour, and we don't want to be caught like "the thief in the night that Paul talks about" (1 Thessalonians 5:2)—we don't want to be caught unaware. We should be living our life within our own season of time as if, you know, because it applies to us now.

John read this and he certainly took it to heart and got himself ready. If a church member read this in the year 1258 or 1542 or 1795, someone was reading the Scripture and they were moved to realize, hey, "the time is near" (Revelation 1:3), and they corrected their life, they prepared their life as if it were going to happen—their life was better off for it. If it was a church member, one of God's, they're sealed. Right?

And so the point is God's people reading it whenever they read it—that's when the application has to be made. For you and I, we have to make it now and to recognize.

Now, are we closer than John was in the first century? Yes, most definitely. How much further before these events take place? We don't know. We don't know. But we have to live our life as if it could be very soon and recognize that the judgments that the book talks about have already begun with us in the Church at this time. So that's how that should be understood.

I want to go back to verse 3: "Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy" (Revelation 1:3). This is a recurring thought through the Bible—through the book, I mean. There are, in fact, there are seven different statements that are blessings in the book of Revelation. And this is the first one.

And it says if you read the book and hear the words of this prophecy, there's a blessing, okay? So you're going to be blessed for the time that you spend here in this class reading the book of Revelation. That's what the text says.

How does that translate out? Well, it will vary according to you—and how seriously you take it, how much you recognize it being the words of Christ. And if that is the living Christ speaking to us today, just as much as He was speaking to John on the island of Patmos here, then it is still important. And it is something that is going to move us, and there's going to be a blessing.

Sometimes people don't like to study prophecy, and they just close their books if a prophetic sermon might be given in church, or they don't read the book of Revelation because they think it's just too deep and too vague and unimaginable. And same with Ezekiel, perhaps. And that's a mistake. All the Bible is profitable in many different ways. And prophecy should be profitable to us as well—and even to the point where there's a blessing to do this.

So I always counsel people, look, don't get bent out of shape because sometimes people have been burned because of prophetic mistakes, either in the part of the Church by setting dates or overemphasis—creating fear atmosphere because of prophecy.

You know, I will tell you, the very first sermon that I ever heard in the Radio Church of God—I was 12 years old. Well, maybe I was just about to turn 12, so let's say I was 11, almost 12. And it was a fire-and-brimstone prophetic sermon about tribulation, beasts, concentration camps, terror. And I was scared—literally—spitless. That's really scared. You're really scared when you cannot spit.

There's other terms that could be used, but I won't use those in this. I went home from that sermon—and it was not a 55-minute sermon, boys and girls—it was about a two-hour sermon in that day. That was just the sermon.

I went home from that sermon—I was so scared that it was all going to happen now—I would not, I didn't get out of bed till noon the next day. I was under my covers thinking it was all going to come raining down from the skies upon me. Well, I got too hungry, and I eventually got out of bed.

But that was my first sermon. And it was graphic. The imagery was vivid and scared me—scared the daylights out of me. And through the years, people can, by setting dates, by an overemphasis of fear with prophecy, present it improperly. That's the way I can put it.

And I will tell you, that that's one thing I've—in recent years—I've tried to correct, at least in my realm where I have the ability to do so, to present the positive aspect of it. While at the same time, yeah, there's some pretty bad things.

But ultimately, God's in control. Prophecy should never be used in a way to beat people over the head, to scare people. Look, it says here there's a blessing to reading it (Revelation 1:3). And sometimes people just need to get over the past and get over a bad application of prophecy by a pastor, a sermon, or some organization—and read it for what it is: as the words of God from Christ, and a blessing.

And it may take some time to do that, but the benefits are there and they're good. So we'll see the others as we go through the book here.

Now, let's just proceed ahead. Let's go on to verse 4. John begins now to open up. He says:

“John, to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth” (Revelation 1:4–5).

All right. Now, first three verses, consider kind of a prelude. Now he gets into more of an introduction, and he addresses it, and we see who it is addressed to. It is the seven churches which are in Asia. I've got a map up on the board or here on the monitor in the classroom, and probably those of you that are watching this later, it'll be put up on your screen. But this first map is kind of a broad overview of Asia Minor and Greece and shows a lot of what we've been already studying in our classes.

But let me go to the next one here. And it zeroes in on the area of Western Asia Minor where these seven churches were located. And these churches were congregations of the Church at that time in Western Asia, what is today Turkey. And we will encounter them and the messages particularly in chapters 2 and 3. So that is yet to come. But here are the seven, and we can begin right here in Ephesus where this first red dot is here. This is where the first church message is addressed in chapter 2. And there was a congregation up in Smyrna, one in Pergamum, one in Thyatira, Sardis—or Thyatira, I should say—Thyatira and Sardis, Philadelphia, and down here in Laodicea.

Seven. These were seven cities varying in sizes. Most of them rather significant cities in that time. We'll study a little bit more about that. I've gone through the order. They begin in Ephesus, the first one. The last one then is Laodicea. And yes, you will need to know all seven, and you will need to know all of them in order. So that's part of the test to look forward to.

But these are the seven churches, seven congregations. And there are seven distinct messages that we'll study in chapters 2 and 3. But the whole book is given to the churches. Or we could say today it's given to the Church. You and I today are not—we're in the Church—but we're not in any of these seven locations. We're in the United States or Australia or wherever you may be as you're watching this—the United Kingdom or Africa.

But the message that is given to the Church and these seven churches applies to us today. And that's an overriding, overall very important point about the seven messages as well as the entire book of Revelation. It has something to say to us today—every one of them as well. And so this is where they go.

Now, John had been—we know from the traditions and the history—that John had been living in Ephesus, this first city right here, a significant city. And that's where he had been living when he had been exiled.

Now, let's read on here. We'll come to that down in verse 9. He says, verse 7:

“Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen” (Revelation 1:7).

Now, there's a brief allusion to Daniel 7—one like the Son of Man coming on the clouds to the Ancient of Days there—a verse that Christ Himself quotes. So there's an allusion there where He's going to come with the clouds in the air where every eye will see Him, and even those who pierced Him.

And while this is speaking—the piercing—the Romans who actually did the killing are long dead, even by the time of John. And so I would think that John understood that this has a meaning that all individuals whose sins had to be covered by the blood of Christ had a part in piercing the body of Christ. And we've talked about that on the doctrine of baptism as we went through chapter 2 of the book of Acts. And so even when Christ does return, mankind responsible for that death will see Him in this way. All the tribes of the earth will mourn.

Now verse 8:

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End” (Revelation 1:8).

Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet in which the book was written. And so if you ever hear the term, "I am the Alpha or the Omega," or you think you're the Alpha and the Omega, it's an allusion to this verse here—that you think you're really important, you're everything—the beginning and the end. Because that's what He says.

But just as it applies to God, it is true. “He is, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8). And so He's referring here to God.

So verse 9:

“I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 1:9).

All right, now let's pause here—go back to the map. He said, "I was on the Isle of Patmos." Patmos is right down here, circled on the map here. There's a small island out in the Aegean Sea—not too far from Ephesus if you look down through that. And my pointer is working on the monitor here in the classroom. But right there is the island of Patmos.

Patmos, at the time of John's writing—and we're dealing with a period of the 90s AD, between the general rites of time would be 90 to 100 AD when it was written—95 is kind of an even number upon which many surmise that John wrote, perhaps about 95. But we're not dogmatic on that.

But we do know that it was during this period of time, because of the persecution upon the Church by a Roman emperor named Domitian. And the early writings say that John had been exiled during the reign of the emperor Domitian. So there's another Roman emperor for you to add to your list of knowledge here. And we know that Domitian died in the year 96. And so probably after he died, John would have been released from the island from his time of service as a prisoner and allowed to go back to Ephesus. So 95 becomes a good date to look at. Certainly no later than 96, I would say.

All right, so that's the dating of the book of Revelation and receiving that revelation from John.

So I have not been to the island of Patmos. I was supposed to go there a couple of years ago. That part of our tour got canceled. And I decided not to put that on my upcoming tour for a couple of reasons. And so one of these days, I hope I get to Patmos, but I have not been there.

There's a Greek monastery there that kind of marks the traditional spot where John was supposed to—could have—as kind of a cave where they have built a big Greek Orthodox church over it where he received the revelation. I haven't been there, so I haven't seen it. I can't imagine that. I've heard that it's kind of a very small cave.

I tend to picture maybe John was kind of out on a barren field or section or even on the coastline of the island. And maybe this came out in front of him like a big hologram, an image that God projected in front of him as he saw all of the visions that he recorded. I would prefer that, so that's what I say in my own mind as to where he was—rather than holed up in a cave and projected on a rock part of the cave and only 80 inches, 85 inches. I'd rather be way out there on the horizon. Anyway, that's just the way I envision it here.

So he was there for the Word of God and the testimony of Christ. He was there because there was a time of persecution upon the Church. And we will get into that as we get into the messages to the churches.

John had found his way to Ephesus. When we last see John in the book of Acts, he's in Jerusalem. Somewhere from the time of the 40s to the latter part of the first century, John winds up in Ephesus. There's a tradition that the Apostle Philip winds up in Ephesus too. I've seen a traditional burial spot for actually both John and Philip in the city of Ephesus. And there's strong tradition for both to be accurate.

​​But let me go to the next one here. And it zeroes in on the area of Western Asia Minor where these seven churches were located. And these churches were congregations of the Church at that time in Western Asia, what is today Turkey. And we will encounter them and the messages particularly in chapters 2 and 3. So that is yet to come. But here are the seven, and we can begin right here in Ephesus where this first red dot is here. This is where the first church message is addressed in chapter 2. And there was a congregation up in Smyrna, one in Pergamum, one in Thyatira, Sardis—or Thyatira, I should say—Thyatira and Sardis, Philadelphia, and down here in Laodicea.

Seven. These were seven cities varying in sizes. Most of them rather significant cities in that time. We'll study a little bit more about that. I've gone through the order. They begin in Ephesus, the first one. The last one then is Laodicea. And yes, you will need to know all seven, and you will need to know all of them in order. So that's part of the test to look forward to.

But these are the seven churches, seven congregations. And there are seven distinct messages that we'll study in chapters 2 and 3. But the whole book is given to the churches. Or we could say today it's given to the Church. You and I today are not—we're in the Church—but we're not in any of these seven locations. We're in the United States or Australia or wherever you may be as you're watching this—the United Kingdom or Africa.

But the message that is given to the Church and these seven churches applies to us today. And that's an overriding, overall very important point about the seven messages as well as the entire book of Revelation. It has something to say to us today—every one of them as well. And so this is where they go.

Now, John had been—we know from the traditions and the history—that John had been living in Ephesus, this first city right here, a significant city. And that's where he had been living when he had been exiled.

Now, let's read on here. We'll come to that down in verse 9. He says, verse 7: "Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen" (Revelation 1:7).

Now, there's a brief allusion to Daniel 7—one like the Son of Man coming on the clouds to the Ancient of Days (Daniel 7:13)—a verse that Christ Himself quotes. So there's an allusion there where He's going to come with the clouds in the air where every eye will see Him, and even those who pierced Him.

And while this is speaking—the piercing—the Romans who actually did the killing are long dead, even by the time of John. And so I would think that John understood that this has a meaning that all individuals whose sins had to be covered by the blood of Christ had a part in piercing the body of Christ. And we've talked about that on the doctrine of baptism as we went through chapter 2 of the book of Acts. And so even when Christ does return, mankind responsible for that death will see Him in this way. All the tribes of the earth will mourn.

Now verse 8: "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End" (Revelation 1:8). Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet in which the book was written. And so if you ever hear the term, "I am the Alpha or the Omega," or you think you're the Alpha and the Omega, it's an allusion to this verse here—that you think you're really important, you're everything—the beginning and the end. Because that's what He says. But just as it applies to God, it is true. He is, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty (Revelation 1:8).

So verse 9: "I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ" (Revelation 1:9).

All right, now let's pause here—go back to the map. He said, "I was on the Isle of Patmos." Patmos is right down here, circled on the map here. There's a small island out in the Aegean Sea—not too far from Ephesus if you look down through that. And my pointer is working on the monitor here in the classroom. But right there is the island of Patmos.

Patmos, at the time of John's writing—and we're dealing with a period of the 90s AD, between the general rites of time would be 90 to 100 AD when it was written—95 is kind of an even number upon which many surmise that John wrote, perhaps about 95. But we're not dogmatic on that.

But we do know that it was during this period of time, because of the persecution upon the Church by a Roman emperor named Domitian. And the early writings say that John had been exiled during the reign of the emperor Domitian. So there's another Roman emperor for you to add to your list of knowledge here. And we know that Domitian died in the year 96. And so probably after he died, John would have been released from the island from his time of service as a prisoner and allowed to go back to Ephesus. So 95 becomes a good date to look at. Certainly no later than 96, I would say.

All right, so that's the dating of the book of Revelation and receiving that revelation from John.

So I have not been to the island of Patmos. I was supposed to go there a couple of years ago. That part of our tour got canceled. And I decided not to put that on my upcoming tour for a couple of reasons. And so one of these days, I hope I get to Patmos, but I have not been there.

There's a Greek monastery there that kind of marks the traditional spot where John was supposed to—could have—as kind of a cave where they have built a big Greek Orthodox church over it where he received the revelation. I haven't been there, so I haven't seen it. I can't imagine that. I've heard that it's kind of a very small cave.

I tend to picture maybe John was kind of out on a barren field or section or even on the coastline of the island. And maybe this came out in front of him like a big hologram, an image that God projected in front of him as he saw all of the visions that he recorded. I would prefer that, so that's what I say in my own mind as to where he was—rather than holed up in a cave and projected on a rock part of the cave and only 80 inches, 85 inches. I'd rather be way out there on the horizon. Anyway, that's just the way I envision it here.

So he was there for the Word of God and the testimony of Christ. He was there because there was a time of persecution upon the Church. And we will get into that as we get into the messages to the churches.

John had found his way to Ephesus. When we last see John in the book of Acts, he's in Jerusalem. Somewhere from the time of the 40s to the latter part of the first century, John winds up in Ephesus. There's a tradition that the Apostle Philip winds up in Ephesus too. I've seen a traditional burial spot for actually both John and Philip in the city of Ephesus. And there's strong tradition for both to be accurate.

When you go to Ephesus, part of our tour, we do see—we go up, there's the ruins of a Byzantine church on a hill looking over the ancient city of Ephesus. And there's a spot there that they've renovated. And they have a spot where is the traditional site for the burial of John. And it's interesting to look at it and think about this in regard to John. It's a strong tradition. It goes way back to the early centuries of the church. We actually read about this in the fourth century by the writer Eusebius, who quotes some earlier writers that these two patriarchs reside—or that their graves are in that area or in Ephesus.

So John would have been an old man by the time he was released off this prison and would have gone there and died. Part of the story is as well that Mary, the mother of Jesus, who was given to John in charge when Christ was dying—basically gave her to him to take care of—that she went with him and she died in Ephesus. That's more of a Catholic tradition. But they have a church obviously to commemorate that as well in this area of the ancient city of Ephesus.

So that's Ephesus, which is an interesting place to visit. It's a quite fascinating part of the journey to see the sites of the seven congregations. I've been to Ephesus now three times. I'm going to go twice next year, once to lead another church group and then on another personal trip there. And it's a fascinating restored archaeological site. I'll show you pictures of that when we come to it.

The seven cities all have different names now. But the locations are known. I've been to all seven of them. There's nothing to see in two of them. So the tour I'm taking next April, we're only going to see five of the seven. And we're going to go see some other places pertinent to Paul rather than take our time on Thyatira and Philadelphia. You go there, it's just a big city, and there's not really anything to see. But the others—Laodicea, Ephesus, Smyrna, Sardis, and Pergamum—there's a lot to see. And it's fascinating. I'll show you some pictures of those when we get to those chapters as well.

So let's go on to verse 10: "I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, saying, 'I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,' and, 'What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea'" (Revelation 1:10–11).

Now, a lot of Protestant commentators make a big deal out of the phrase "the Lord’s Day," as a proof of Sunday worship. That's not what it means. He wasn't seeing this on Sunday. We don't know what day that He's seeing it on. What He's seeing is the Day of the Lord. "I was in the Spirit," meaning I was in vision, and the whole revelation largely pertains to the Day of the Lord and the events of that time within the Tribulation. We'll talk more about that later. And that's a more proper understanding of this phrase—not that John was already keeping Sunday, because that's just not true. And it's not what it means here.

Now notice it says, "I heard a loud voice and a trumpet." We're going to hear a lot of loud voices here and a lot of trumpets in the book of Revelation. Revelation is a very loud book. There's thunders, there's lightnings, there's trumpets—literally sounding—and there are loud voices in heaven and through the heavens. And I like that. I like to kind of focus on that, especially the lightning part, because it shows the power of God, the drama of God.

And here John hears this loud voice, "I am Alpha and Omega." And what happens? Look at verse 12: "Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band" (Revelation 1:12–13).

Now these would have been seven freestanding lampstands—not your typical seven-branched menorah of the Jewish symbolism, which was a part of the temple, as I understand it—but there were other lampstands. These are understood to be seven distinct standalone lampstands that could be rather tall, on top of which would have been an oil lamp likely. And that oil would have been olive oil. And that's part of the symbolism in Revelation, as well as back in Zechariah chapter 4 of the olive oil with lampstands back there. So there's a connection to Zechariah and some of his visions here in the book of Revelation.

So he sees seven golden lampstands—verse 13—and "in the midst of the seven lampstands, One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band." And so it goes on: "His head and His hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire. His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters" (Revelation 1:14–15).

Many waters. How many of you have been to Niagara Falls? Many waters. Okay. I've been there. I've been to Victoria Falls, which is even bigger, down in Zimbabwe and Zambia. Victoria Falls is awesome. Anytime you're at a waterfall like that magnitude, you begin to get an idea of what this sound was like that John heard of being the voice of God.

Now in verse 16 it says: "He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength" (Revelation 1:16). Quite an image. This is the resurrected Christ. Like I said earlier, toned down so that John could see it. It's in a vision, so he's not literally in that presence there. But he's hearing and he is seeing.

And when he saw it, "when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, 'Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore'" (Revelation 1:17–18). And of course, John had seen the resurrected Christ. And he knew that. And he would have recognized elements of this here. And so it was, in a sense, kind of a reunion.

He says, "Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death. Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this" (Revelation 1:18–19). So it's quite a dramatic scene. These lampstands—and the interpretation of those lampstands—is given in verse 20. Reading on here: "The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches" (Revelation 1:20).

So here's the interpretation then of this part of the image. The seven standalone lampstands with the olive oil lamp on top represent these seven churches that we just were earlier identified—Ephesus to Laodicea—and the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches.

Now when we read chapter 2 and 3, each of the seven messages begins with a statement "to the angel of the church at Ephesus..." This is best understood to not necessarily be an angel—a spirit divine being—but a person through whom this message was likely given. And even the conservative commentators understand it this way, and I think this is the best way to understand it: that the word angelos here in the Greek can refer to a divine messenger as well as a human messenger—angelos. So understand that.

And probably, as this letter was circulated among the churches, it came through a human instrument to them and was read by a messenger—like a pastor, deacon, or leading individual—and given in that particular way. That's the best way to understand it. There's no other symbolism to read into it necessarily here, and that's probably the best straightforward approach: human messengers delivering this to the congregation.

And so this takes us to the end of chapter 1, and as an introduction, we now move into the messages to the seven churches.

There's a bit of background to understand about the time of John and what was going on in the Roman Empire at this time. I think I will save that as an introduction to the next lecture, to the next class—as to why John was where he was on the island of Patmos and what was going on. I referenced his persecution under the Roman emperor Domitian, and the messages to the seven congregations will give us some details of events on the ground—what it was like to be a church member in the Roman Empire.

This was a Roman province. It was governed by Rome. Each of these cities had temples to Apollo, to Diana, to Augustus, and other pagan deities. They were just part of the culture. And to be a member in the church, worshiping the true God, keeping His Word, His laws, and the testimony of Christ, at that time had unique challenges—but not necessarily challenges unknown to us.

And the parallels to our time are very important and part of our understanding. In the first lecture, when I talked about the importance of recognizing the rise of a false Christianity as a key to understanding Revelation, we'll go into more detail and circle back to that. Because the message, again, is given in the midst of a time of Roman emperor worship—where the emperor was worshiped as a deity. And to function in the community, you had to pay your offerings or your taxes to that god, that emperor, in order to maintain the order and continuity of your town.

And so in Thyatira or Pergamum, these were real-time problems. Understanding how that was then is important to the message—but also keeping in mind that this has not gone away. Though we are not under the Roman Empire today, and we don't have pagan temples to Apollo on every street corner, we do have temples of a different kind on the other street corners.

And the imagery and teachings have simply been baptized into a different idea of Christianity and migrated into our modern world, which presents unique challenges and understandings for us—as well as other things.

We'll get into that next time as we seek to understand the messages to the churches, what they mean for us today, and what we take from it as we look at the entire book of Revelation.

So we'll conclude this class with that and pick up next time with the seven churches.