In The Book 1 & II we talked pretty much about all of the wonders and benefits of God’s word. Being that this particular page of the site has been set for the contents about Revelation, the Holy Spirit and I will take us on a journey in the book of Revelation and discuss more on the book.
Chapter 1 of Revelation from the New International version of the Bible opens in this manner: 1 The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2 who testifies to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.
I have heard many professing saints say that they have a fear of the book of Revelation. What has been confessed by these believers pains my heart. As we have just read, the bible proclaims the person blessed who reads and indulges him or herself in the prophecy of this book and take to heart the contents thereof. The condition of the heart and mind has a very important part in the reading and acceptance of Revelation’s contents. I must admit to the shock of some and the understanding of others, that Revelation is one of my most favorite books of the bible. Where the gospels of the New Testament records and shows Jesus as a servant of both God the Father and man, the book of Revelation reveals Jesus Christ as who He is before he took on the fleshly form of man. Had the people of Jesus’ day on earth known what Revelation has revealed to us today referencing Jesus they would never have crucified him. For his very own purposes God the Father kept the revelation of the Lord Jesus from many and revealed him to only a few at his choosing and timing, This indicates that God has never meant that Jesus not be revealed or remain a mystery for all time. It simply means that in the process of time and in stages our Lord and Savior was to be revealed and the fullness of who he is is greatly shown in the book of Revelation.
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” 14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. Matthew 16: 13-17 New International Version)
Peter was an fisherman and not very much educated in the law and the scriptures. Like the rest of the disciples who walked closely with the Lord Jesus, Peter knew that there was something special and different about this man Jesus whom they addressed as Rabbi or teacher yet, the definition of that difference and that uniqueness was beyond the words and understanding of what Peter and the others possessed. In his timing God revealed.
Like Apostle John on the isle of Patmos, the revelation of Jesus Christ was given to the Prophet Daniel in the old testament. God chose to reveal Christ to Daniel. Daniel was given visions and dreams. We will record one of the visions Daniel was given. The vision will be further discussed as we make our way to the book of Revelation in its entirety.
Daniel 7:1-13 New International version:
In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream, and visions passed through his mind as he was lying in bed. He wrote down the substance of his dream. 2 Daniel said: “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me were the four winds of heaven churning up the great sea. 3 Four great beasts, each different from the others, came up out of the sea. 4 “The first was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle. I watched until its wings were torn off and it was lifted from the ground so that it stood on two feet like a human being, and the mind of a human was given to it. 5 “And there before me was a second beast, which looked like a bear. It was raised up on one of its sides, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. It was told, ‘Get up and eat your fill of flesh!’ 6 “After that, I looked, and there before me was another beast, one that looked like a leopard. And on its back it had four wings like those of a bird. This beast had four heads, and it was given authority to rule. 7 “After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast—terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns. 8 “While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among them; and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of a human being and a mouth that spoke boastfully. 9 “As I looked, “thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze. 10 A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him. Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened. 11 “Then I continued to watch because of the boastful words the horn was speaking. I kept looking until the beast was slain and its body destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire. 12 (The other beasts had been stripped of their authority, but were allowed to live for a period of time.) 13 “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
We will not go into the interpretation of Daniel’s vision at this time. We will discuss the vision and its interpretation in one of our discourses on Antichrist; the Man of Sin. We are simply showing here that Daniel was also given a revelation of Jesus Christ and he had more than one vision and or dream revealing Jesus. We will mention from the giving of the interpretation of his vision, Daniel was spoken to these words: “But I will show you that which is noted or written in the scripture of truth:” Now Daniel wasn’t conversing with an ordinary man. He wasn’t conversing with a human pastor, teacher, priest and prophet. He was conversing with someone who came straight from the throne of God who said to Daniel that what he was about to reveal to him was noted or written in the scripture of truth. I strongly advise us to meditate on this. For those of you who say the bible is man made and is not to be taken seriously and the lives of men and women should not be governed by it, this heavenly being with whom Daniel spoke with centuries and centuries upon centuries ago says differently. (Daniel 10:21a) {King James Version of the bible.}
Yes, Daniel under the old covenant beheld the Jesus that we are yet to see from the word of God and the Jesus that we will see, face to face. Apostle John beheld in the new covenant the Jesus we are yet to see. To both of these chosen men God showed the world’s situation in which we now reside and experience and not only where we currently are but they were also shown this world’s final end. There are others who have been shown in part, Jesus at the Father’s choosing. They too will be mentioned as we journey on to the the book of Revelation.
Revelation simply means a revealing or unveiling, an uncovering or disclosure or a show of something hidden. Jesus Christ is the one who is being revealed in the book of Revelation and future events along with today’s happenings are being exposed. One of the greatest messages to be received from the book of Revelation is the message from the Lord Jesus:” I am coming again.”
WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM?
One of the pains that I feel when reading the Gospels is the pain of rejection. The evil hearts of men and women led them to mistreat God. Many have said to me that it wasn’t the people, it was the devil or the enemy influencing the people. Really? Evil spirits dear followers can only use a person in what that spirit can find within the person used. The treatment of Jesus by man shows what was and today is, in the heart of man. The people of Jesus’ day was blessed beyond measures because they had God walking among them in flesh just like them. They could see him, and touch him. They could eat with him and walk with him. They could talk with him and laugh with him. Some fell asleep with him and woke up with him. Some kidded around with him. Yet, many denied him and rejected him, calling him a nothing and a nobody. Some called him ugly names and talked grimy about him.
Some have wondered and asked if God hardened the hearts of the people so that they would hate Jesus. The father didn’t have to harden already stony hearts! Some called him a liar. Others called him a lunatic, and for those who had an ear to hear and eyes to see; Jesus was called Lord. Who do you say that he is?
The way that we see Jesus determines our interaction with him. Because he is viewed as “One Of Us” people treat him and interact with him as just that: ‘one of us.” Many have not seen Jesus beyond the cross and this is made visible when people are asked who Jesus is. The truth and title “Son of God” alone should send us to our knees in worship and should melt our stony hearts. If Jesus never held the position of Savior and Redeemer, the title Son of God should be enough to be given praise and worship.
As a child my siblings and I were taught by our mother; God. She didn’t have much of what we call “deeper knowledge” of Him but what she did have and taught put in us a scared fear and a reverence of God. Now the depth of the impact of what was taught I didn’t have a deeper knowledge of in reference to my siblings but, the impact of shared knowledge from mom made me always God conscious. If I cussed, God was the first one that I apologized to. If I lied, God was the first person that I apologized to. Many would think and teach that children are not conscious of God but they are if He is made known to them in their youth. We were not taught Jesus and I never knew he nor the Holy Spirit existed. I knew there were and are angels and a devil but the other two persons of the God head bodily were foreigners. Not recognizing the presence of God, I could always feel that invisible someone with me. We had by tradition a great big bible that was housed on our coffee table and no one was to touch it except by permission. In every country home that we visited this book always rested on the coffee table and was off limits to all except again by permission. I was always drawn to the book and took great delight when mom would call me to read to her from it while she prepared dinner for the evening.