Revelation 1

CHAPTER 1THEME: The person of Jesus ChristIn the first division of this book we see the person of Christ. We see Christ in His glory and position as the Great High Priest who is in charge of His church. We see Him in absolute control. In the Gospels we find Him meek, lowly, humble, and dying upon a cross. He made Himself subject to His enemies on earth. He is not like that in the Book of Revelation. He is in control. He is still the Lamb of God, but we see the wrath of the Lamb that terrifies the earth. The major theme of the entire Bible is the Lord Jesus Christ. The Scriptures are both theocentric and Christocentric. Since Christ is God, He is the One who fills the horizon of the total Word of God. This needs to be kept in mind in the Book of Revelation more than in any other book of the Bible, even more than in the Gospels. The Bible tells what He has done, is doing, and will do. Revelation emphasizes what He is doing and what He will do. We need to keep that in mind.

Revelation 1:1

THE TITLE OF THE BOOKIn my book Reveling Through Revelation I have included my own literal translation of each verse of the Book of Revelation, and in this book I will use some of it also. I don’t use it because it is better. For many years I have called my translation the McGee-icus Ad Absurdum translation. I would not defend it if anyone made an attack upon it. It is merely an attempt to lift out of the Greek what John is actually saying and to try to couch it in language that may be a little more literal and understandable to us in our day. It will appear in italicized type after the King James version: The unveiling of Jesus Christ which God gave Him to show unto His bond servants things which must shortly come to pass completely, and He sent and signified it (gave a sign) by His angel (messenger) to His servant John.First of all, please note that the title of this book is Revelationsingular, not plural. A retired preacher came to me when I was a pastor in downtown Los Angeles to make an attack upon my interpretation of the Book of Revelation. He said, “You just don’t know anything about Revelations,” using the plural. I replied, “Brother, you are absolutely accurate in that I know nothing about the Book of Revelations. I have never even seen that book.” He was astounded and later embarrassed by his own ignorance when he realized that the Book of Revelation is the Revelation. It is the apokalupsis, that is, “the uncovering, unveiling, or revelation” of Jesus Christ. “To shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass.” In the last chapter of Revelation, John is instructed, “Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand” (Rev_22:10). It is not a sealed book; it is open and to be understood in our day. This is in contrast to the prophecy in the Book of Daniel which Daniel was instructed to seal. Our Lord Jesus gave what are known as the “mystery” parables. Very frankly, to the majority of the church today they are still a mystery. But our Lord put it like this: “And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables: that seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them” (Mar_4:11-12).

You see, my friend, in the Gospels we have only the half-story. We need the Book of Revelation because it is the consummation of it. Of course, it can be understood only if the Spirit of God is our teacher. But the Book of Revleation takes off the veil so we can see Christ in His unveiled beauty and power and glory. This book is the opposite of a secret or a mystery. It is a disclosure of secrets, and it is called prophecy in the next verse, as we shall see. When a so-called Christian says that he does not understand the Book of Revelation, it makes me wonder, because this book was given to us in order that we might understand these mysteries of the Kingdom of God. “To show” means by word pictures, by symbols, by direct and indirect representations. “And he sent and signified it.” That is, he used symbols. And keep in mind that the symbols are symbolic of reality. Peter gave us a great rule for the interpretation of prophecy in 2Pe_1:20: “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.” You don’t interpret a single text by itself; you interpret it in the light of the entire Word of God. Ottman said, “The figurative language of Revelation is figurative of facts.” “To shew …things” assures us that what John tells us is not ethereal and ephemeral dream stuff. There is a hard core of real facts in this book. What are “things”? One night Mrs. McGee and I took care of our little grandson. We let him play in the den where we keep a bunch of toys for him to play with when he stays with us.

He went into the den and got out all of those things. In fact, he calls them his things. He spread them all over the floor of the den. We indulge the little fellow, and we didn’t make him pick up all of his toys after he was through playing. We didn’t pick them up either. So later that night, when I walked through the den, I stepped on some of his things.

In fact, I stumbled over them and took a tumble. You can say that “things” are symbols, but you don’t take a tumble over symbols. And in the Book of Revelation, the “things” are made out of hard stuff. These “things” are reality. Any time John uses a symbol, he will make it clear to us that he is using a symbol. And we can be sure that he is using a symbol because the reality is far greater than the symbol.

In fact, the symbol is a poor representation of the reality. “Must"He says that they must shortly come to pass. The word must has in it an urgent necessity and an absolute certainty. “Shortly” has a connotation that is very important for us to note. The word occurs quite a few times in the Scriptures. For instance, we have it in Luk_18:8 where our Lord says, “I tell you that he will avenge them [His elect] speedily….” The word speedily is the same word as shortly. It means that when the vengeance begins, it will take place in a hurry. There will be no waiting around for it. That implies that the Lord is not coming soon, but that when He does return, the things He is talking about will happen shortly and with great speed. His vengeance will take place in a brief period of time. John tells us that it is the revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave to Him. Notice the steps of revelation: It originated with God, it was given to Jesus Christ, He gave it to His angel, His angel gave it to John, and from John it goes to His servants that they might know what is coming to pass. And that is the way it has come to you and me today. By the way, this raises a question that I sometimes hear. Someone says, “Well, preacher, you painted yourself into a corner, because you said that angels are not connected with the church age.” Yes, and I still say that. The angel mentioned here is a heavenly messenger, but notice that John is writing primarily about future things; that is, what Jesus is going to do in the future. And beginning with chapter 4, everything is future and will take place after the church has left the earth. Therefore, we see angels coming back into prominence. This is true to the way the book moves.

Revelation 1:2

THE METHOD OF REVELATION Who bore witness of the Word of God, and of the testimony (witness) of Jesus Christ, even as many things as he saw. “Who bare record” or, as I have translated it, “who bore witness” is in the Greek an epistolary aorist. It means that John projects himself up to where his readers are, where you and I are in this day, and he looks back at what he is writing. “Of the word of God.” The “word of God” refers, I believe, to both Christ and the contents of this book. He is the living Word, and when the written Word reveals Him to us, He is the living Word, you may be sure of that. “And of the testimony [witness] of Jesus Christ.” I prefer the word witness rather than testimony. It occurs ninety times in the writings of Johnfifty times in his Gospel record. “And of all things that he saw.” He was an eyewitness of the visions. What John saw, he made pictures of, and the Book of Revelation is television, friend. It was the first television program ever presented, and it is one you would do well to watch. It came from heaven from God the Father, through His Son, Jesus Christ, and it was given to an angel who gave it to John, who wrote about what he saw. Not only did John hear, he also saw, and these are the two avenues through which we get most of our information. I sometimes wonder if John didn’t smell things just a little bit, too, because there are parts of this book where you catch the odor also.

Revelation 1:3

THE BEATITUDE OF BIBLE STUDYThis verse gives us the beatitude of Bible study. This is the first of seven beatitudes found in the Book of Revelation. This verse says, “Blessed is he that readeth,” and that means the reader, or in the church, the teacher. Both those who read this book and those who hear it will be blessed. And both the reader and the hearer are to keep those things which are written in the book. The threefold blessing comes from reading, hearing, and keeping. I believe those who go through the Book of Revelation will receive a special blessing. I really believe it because that is what John says. “For the time is at hand” does not mean that the things which are mentioned at the end of the book are happening in our day, but it does mean that the beginning of the church on the Day of Pentecost began this movement of the Lord Jesus’ ministry in heaven. We are going to see a vision of Him in this chapter, a vision of the glorified Christ. Then we will see what His ministry is, and that will move us right on into the future.

Revelation 1:4

GREETINGS FROM JOHN, THE WRITER, AND FROM CHRIST IN HEAVENThis is a very wonderful greeting! “John to the seven churches which are in Asia.” “Asia” encompassed a great deal of what we generally call Asia Minor or modern Turkey. Notice that John connects no title with his name. I have a notion that John was well known in these seven churches. We know that he had been pastor of the church at Ephesus, and apparently he had oversight of all the churches in that area. Before we go further, let me call your attention to the number seven. In this verse there is the mention of seven churches and seven Spirits. The number seven has a religious meaning in the Word of God, which was apparent to the people in John’s day but is totally foreign to us in our day. The gambling sector of our society is very conscious of numbers, as are folk who are superstitious, but we are not accustomed to attaching any religious significance to numbers. However, in the Word of God the number seven is prominent. It does not denote perfection, but it does denote completeness. Sometimes completeness is perfection, but not always. Seven speaks of that which is complete and that which is representative. In a particular way, seven has to do with God’s covenant and dealings with Israel. For instance, the Sabbath, circumcision, and worship are all hinged around the seventh day. As you go through the Word of God, you notice that Jericho was compassed about seven times. Naaman was instructed to dip in the Jordan River seven times, there were seven years of plenty and seven years of famine in Joseph’s time in Egypt, Nebuchadnezzar was insane for seven years, there are seven beatitudes in the New Testament, there are seven petitions in the Lord’s Prayer, there are seven parables in Matthew 13, seven loaves fed the multitude, Jesus spoke seven times from the cross, and in the Book of Revelation the number seven cannot be ignored or considered accidental. Seven is the key number of this book. Here in the fourth verse, John writes to the “seven churches.” Weren’t there other churches in Asia? We know there were churches at Colosse, Miletus, Hierapolis, Troas, and at many other places. I have stayed at Hierapolis. It is still a place, and it is about ten miles from Laodicea, which is now in ruins. There are three motels at Laodicea and a store or two. The ruins of Hierapolis are absolutely magnificent and quite significant, because they reveal what a tremendous place it was at one time.

In contrast, the ruins of Laodicea are, for the most part, under a wild oat field. They have not been excavated. John was directed to write to seven churches, and Hierapolis was not one of the seven, although it was an important center of Christian influence and the ruins of four early Christian churches have been found there. John was directed to write to only seven certain churches because he was giving the complete history of the church and they were representative churches, as we shall see. “Asia” refers to the provinces which include Lydia, Mysia, Caria, and parts of Phrygia. It does not mean the continent of Asia nor does it include all of Asia Minor (Asia Minor is a term which was not used until the fourth century A.D.), but it covers a great area of Asia Minor, especially along the coast. “Grace be unto you, and peace.” The word grace is charis, the Greek form of greeting, and peace is shalom, the Hebrew form of greeting. Peace flows from grace, and grace is the source of all our blessings today. The Book of Revelation reveals the grace of God and also peace. We don’t need to be frightened as we study this book; we can have the peace of God in our hearts. It is “from him …and from the seven Spirits,” which brings the Trinity before us. The “seven Spirits” refer to the Holy Spirit and probably have reference to the seven branches of the lampstand, as we shall see later on. “Which is, and which was, and which is to come” emphasizes the eternity and immutability of God. Notice now the mention of each member of the Trinity: “Jesus Christ” (in the next verse) refers to God the Son, the “seven Spirits” refer to the Holy Spirit, and “him which is, and which was, and which is to come” refers to God the Father.

Revelation 1:5

In these two verses we have the titles which are given to the Lord Jesus Christ, and the interesting thing is that there are seven titles:

1. “Faithful witness"Jesus Christ is the only trustworthy witness to the facts of this book. The facts are about Him. He testifies of Himself. It is difficult to believe other people, but we can believe the Lord Jesus.
2. “First begotten of the dead” is firstborn from the dead. Firstborn is the Greek prototokos, which has to do with resurrection. He is the first to rise from the dead, never to die again. This is a marvelous picture! Death was a womb which bore Him. He came out of death into life. The tomb was a womb, as far as He was concerned. He is the only One back from the dead in a glorified body. No one else has come that route yet, but His own are going to follow Him in resurrection, and the Rapture will be next (see 1Th_4:14). Then will come the revelation when He will come to the earth.
3. “The prince [ruler] of the kings of the earth” speaks of His ultimate position during the Millennium. “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Php_2:9-11).
4. “Unto him that loved us” is actually in the present tense and emphasizes His constant attitude toward His own. The Book of Revelation should not frighten us too much because of the fact that it is from the One who loves us. Jesus Christ didn’t love us only when He died on the cross, although He loved us at that time, but He also loves us today. Right at this very minute, Jesus loves you.
5. “Washed [loosed] us from our sins in his own blood.” The blood of Christ is very important. It is not just a symbol. In the Old Testament, God taught His people that the “…life of the flesh is in the blood …” (Lev_17:11). In this verse God goes on to say, “I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls….” When Christ shed His blood, I think every drop came out of His body. He gave that for you and for me. He gave His life, if you please. He died, and I am not inclined to belittle the blood of Christ as some men are doing today. I still like the song with these words: There is a fountain filled with blood Drawn from Immanuel’s veins; And sinners, plunged beneath that flood, Lose all their guilty stains. “There Is a Fountain” William Cowper Peter wrote, “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1Pe_1:18-19). Because of that shed blood, Paul could write to the young preacher Timothy, “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1Ti_2:5). He loosed us from our sins in His own blood. What a wonderful, glorious thing!
6. “And hath made us kings and priests [a kingdom of priests] unto God and his Father"believers are never called kings. They are a kingdom of priests and are going to rule with the Lord Jesus. Quite frankly, I don’t get wrought up over the popular song, “The King Is Coming.” The King is coming, all right, but when He comes as King, He will come to the earth, and at that time He is going to put down all unrighteousness. But before He comes to earth as King, He will come in the air, an event we call the Rapture. At that time He will come as my Savior. He comes as the Bridegroom for His bride, the church, whom He loves and gave Himself for.

He comes as the lover of my soul. For this reason I am not thrilled with “The King Is Coming.” My relationship to Him is much closer. He is my Lord. He has not made us “kings and priests,” He has made us a kingdom of priests, and we are going to reign with Him. It is interesting to note that it reads, “unto God and his Father.” Why doesn’t it read, “unto God and our Father”? Because He is the Father of Jesus in a sense that He is not our Father. You see, we become sons of God through regeneration, being born from above, by accepting Him as Savior. But Christ’s eternal position in the Trinity is that of the Son. 7. “To Him the glory and the dominion unto the ages of the ages” (my own translation). This is emphasizing eternity. “Amen.” Christ is the amen, as we saw in Isaiah. That is a title for Him. Jesus Christ is both the subject and the object of this book. He is the mover of all events, and all events move toward Him. He is the far-off eternal purpose in everything. All things were not only made by Him, but all things were made for Him. This universe exists for Him.

Revelation 1:7

“Behold, he cometh with clouds” denotes the personal and physical coming of Christ. “And every eye shall see him” reveals that His coming will be a physical and bodily appearance, an appeal to the eye-gate. As far as we know, when Christ takes the church out of the world at the Rapture, He doesn’t appear to everyone. I don’t believe in a secret rapture as some folk have attempted to describe it, but at the time of the Rapture He does not come to the earth. Believers are to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. If Christ will be coming to the earth at that time, there is no point in being caught up in the air. Therefore, this is not the Rapture which is being described in this verse. This is His return to the earth as King. “Every eye shall see him.” The emphasis in the Book of Revelation is upon His coming to this earth to establish His Kingdom. “All kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him.” Probably a better translation is this: “All the tribes of the earth shall beat their breasts because of him.” This is going to be the reaction of all Christ-rejectors. The world will not want to see Him. “Even so, Amen” means “Yea, faithful.” He is going to do it, my friend. He is not going to change His mind about it. He is faithful.

Revelation 1:8

“I am Alpha and Omega.” This is quite a remarkable statement in the Greek language. The alpha and omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. From an alphabet you make words, and Jesus Christ is called the “Word of God"the full revelation and intelligent communication of God. He is the only alphabet you can use to reach God, my friend. The only language God speaks and understands is the language where Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega and all the letters in between. He is the “A” and the “Z,” and He is the “ABC.” If you are going to get through to God the Father, you will have to go through the Son, Jesus Christ.

Here the emphasis is upon the beginning and the end. Here in the original Greek the Omega is not spelled out as is the Alpha. Why? Because Christ is the beginning, and the beginning is already completed. But the end is yet to be; so He didn’t spell out the Omega in this instance. One day He will complete God’s program.

This is a very interesting detail in the Greek text. “The beginning and the ending” refers to the eternity of the Son and His immutability. Concerning this, Heb_13:8 says, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever.” When it says that He is the same, it does not mean that He is walking over yonder by the Sea of Galilee today. He is not. But it means that in His attributes He is the same. He has not changed. He is immutable. Since He is the beginning and the ending, He encompasses all time and eternity. “Saith the Lord” is an affirmation of the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. “Which is,” that is, at the present time, He is the glorified Christ. “Which was"past time, the first coming of Christ as Savior. “Which is to come"future time, the second coming of Christ as the Sovereign over this earth. Verses Rev_1:4-8 have comprised this very remarkable section of greetings from John, the writer, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember that He says He loves us; so let’s not be afraid of anything that is to follow.

Revelation 1:9

THE POST-INCARNATE CHRIST IN A GLORIFIED BODY JUDGING HIS CHURCH I, John, who am your brother, and partaker with you in the persecution (for Christ’s sake), and kingdom and patience in Jesus; I was (found myself) in the isle called Patmos because of [Gr.: dia, on account of] the Word of God and the witness of Jesus.“I John” is used three times in this Book of Revelationthe other two are at the end of the book. “Your brother, and companion in tribulation” does not refer to the Great Tribulation. John was in trouble. Domitian (A.D. 96), the Roman emperor, had put him in prison on the Isle of Patmos. John had been active in the church at Ephesus, and he had supervision over all the other churches, and he had been teaching the Word of God. You get into trouble when you teach all of the Word of God. John knew all about trouble, and so did the early church. So if it comes to you and me, it is nothing new at all. Again let me say that John is not referring to the Great Tribulation but to the persecution that was already befalling believers. And “the kingdom” refers to the present state of the kingdom. By virtue of the new birth, which places a sinner in Christ, he is likewise in the kingdom of God. This is not the millennial kingdomthat has not been established yet. Christ will institute it at His coming. Someone has said that we are living today in the kingdom and patiencepatience is where the emphasis is. John explains the reason he was on the Isle of Patmos. He was exiled there from about A.D. 86 to 96. It is a rugged, volcanic island off the coast of Asia Minor. It is about ten miles long and six miles wide. “Jesus,” you will notice, is the name used by John in both his Gospel and in the Apocalypse. When he wants to bring glory to Him, he calls Him Jesus, and then he lifts Him to the skies. I hope that we can do that, also. Before we look at the next verses, let me remind you that John was given this great vision on the lonely Isle of Patmos. It is a vision of the post-incarnate Christ in His glorified body as He is judging His church. In other words, we shall see the Great High Priest in the Holy of Holies.

Revelation 1:10

I was (found myself) in (the) Spirit in the Lord’s Day, and heard behind me a great sound, as of a (war) trumpet, saying, What you are seeing, write (promptly) into a book, and send (promptly) to the seven churches, unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. My own transition is not a finished translation by any means, and I do not recommend it, but it is an attempt to get from the original Greek what is actually being said. The Holy Spirit is here performing His office work. That is why I pray that the Spirit of God might take the things of Christ and show them unto us. That is exactly what the Lord Jesus Christ said the Holy Spirit would do when He came. The Lord’s exact words were, “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you” (Joh_16:13-14). We are beginning to get a vision of the glorified Christ. We are considering Him in His office as the Great High Priest today. I fully recognize that in myself I am totally incompetent to try to explain these tremendous verses. Only the Spirit of God can make them real to us. However, Heb_3:1 tells us, “Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus.” So we are considering Him in His present office of Great High Priest. “I was in the Spirit,” John says. The Holy Spirit was moving upon John and giving him a panoramic picture. This is cinerama. It is sight and sound. It is an appeal to both the eye-gate and the ear-gate. “On the Lord’s day.” The meaning of this is controversial. Some outstanding scholars interpret this as being a reference to the Day of the Lord. While I certainly respect them and their viewpoint, I cannot accept this view, although the great theme of Revelation will deal with the Day of the Lord, which is the Tribulation period and the millennial kingdom. But John says that he was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day and, in my judgment, the Day of the Lord and the Lord’s Day are two different things. We recognize that anti-fat and fat auntie are two different things and that a chestnut horse and a horse chestnut are two different things. And I would say that the Day of the Lord and the Lord’s Day are two different things also, and that the Lord’s Day refers to what we call Sunday. “I …heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet.” Who was it? He will tell us

Revelation 1:12

And I turned to see the voice which was speaking with me, and when I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands One like to a Son of Man, clothed with a garment, reaching to the foot, and girt about the breasts with a golden girdle. John heard a voice like a war trumpet, and it spoke to him. When the Lord Jesus descends from heaven to remove His church from the earth, He will come with a shout. 1Th_4:16 tells us about it: “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first.” His voice will be like the voice of an archangel, and His voice will be like a trumpet, because it is identified here as just that. But it will be Christ’s own voice. He is not going to need any archangel to help Him raise His own from the dead. What a thrill it is to see this picture of the Lord Jesus Christ! It is a vision of One like the Son of Man. He is “clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the breast with a golden girdle.” The seven golden lampstands remind us of the tabernacle. There it was one lampstand with seven branches. Here it is seven separate lampstands. Since these lampstands represent seven separate churches (v. Rev_1:20), the difference is explained. The function of all is the same. The Lord Jesus said, “I am the light of the world, and when I leave, you are to be the light in the world” (see Joh_8:12). We see the Lord Jesus Christ pictured here as our Great High Priest. His garments are those of the high priestcheck Exo_28:2-4. The garments represent the inherent righteousness of Christ. In Him is no sin, and He knew no sin. Concerning the girdle, Josephus states that the priests were girded about the breasts. The ordinary custom was to be girded about the loins. But the emphasis here is not on service but on strength. It speaks of His judgment in truth. We are asked to consider our Great High Priest as He stands in the midst of the churches. He is judging the churches; He is judging believers that the light might continue to shine. My friend, it is important to see what Christ’s present ministry is. This is a subject about which I have wanted to write. I haven’t gotten around to it yet and may never write it, but I have a title for it: The Contemporary Christ. I hear so many foolish things that are being said about what Jesus is doing in our day. My friend, the Scripture does not leave us in the dark regarding what He is doing today. It mentions three very definite ministries. First, there is the intercession of Christ. He is our Great High Priest. He is standing at the golden altar in heaven today, where He ever lives to make intercession for us (see Heb_7:25). We love that part of His ministry. It is a wonderful thing. Secondly, we have the intervention of Christ. He steps outside of the Holy Place to the laver. There He washes the feet of those who are His own. He washes those who have confessed their sins. Christians have sin, and those sins must be confessed in order to have fellowship with Him. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1Jn_1:9). He is girded today with the towel, and He carries the basin; He intervenes on our behalf. John also says in his first epistle: “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not.” He has made every provision that we sin not. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t reached that state yet. And, frankly, I have never met anyone who has. But John says, “And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father …” (1Jn_2:1). Christ is our advocate. That is, He is on our side defending us when we are accused, and Satan is the accuser of the brethren. There is yet another ministry of Christ that is not very popular. It is the ministry mentioned in the first chapter of Revelation, and I think that is one reason this section of Revelation is so little known. Here we see His ministry of inspection. What Christ is doing today is clearly outlined in the Scriptures. He ascended to heaven and sat down at the right hand of God, but He did not start twiddling His thumbs. When we are told that He “sat down,” it means that He finished His work of redemption for man. He died on earth to save us, and He lives in heaven to keep us saved. I think He is busier today trying to keep us saved than He was when He was on earth. We have the three ministries of Christ; we have His intercession, His intervention, and His inspection. The inspection of Christ is what we are going to look at now. Where is He now? We see Him walking in the midst of the lampstands. In the Book of Exodus we see the golden lampstand. It was the most beautiful article of furniture in the tabernacle.

It was made of solid gold, and there were three branches on each side of the main stem. The top of each stem was fashioned like an open almond blossom, and the lamps were set there. The lamps represent the Holy Spirit; the golden lampstand itself represents ChristHis glory and His deity. Christ sent the Holy Spirit into the world. The golden lampstand holds up the lamps, and the lamps, in turn, reveal the beauty and glory of the lampstand. That is the picture we have in Revelation.

I trust that even now the Holy Spirit will make Christ, in all of His glory, wonder, and beauty, real to you that you may see yourself in the light of His presence as He inspects you. That is not a popular teaching today. We don’t like to be inspected, but in Revelation we see Him walking in the midst of the lampstands, performing His ministry of inspection. In the tabernacle the high priest had the sole oversight of the lampstand. The other priests had other duties to perform, but the high priest took care of the lampstand. He was the one who lighted the lamps. He poured in the oil and trimmed the wicks. If one of the lamps began to smoke and did not give a good clear light, he was the one who snuffed it out. The Lord Jesus is walking in the midst of the lampstands today.

He is in the midst of His church, made up of individual believers. He is doing several things: He trims the wicks. In John 15 we are told that He prunes the branches of believers so that they might bring forth fruit. One of the reasons He lets us go through certain trials on earth is so that He might get some fruit off our branches or that He might make our light burn more brightly. He is the One who pours in the oil, which represents the Holy Spirit. I get so tired today of hearing people say, “The Holy Ghost this, and the Holy Ghost that.” My friend, Jesus Christ is the Head of the church.

He is the One who sent the Holy Spirit into the world. He said that when the Holy Spirit came He would do certain things, not just any old thing you want Him to do. The Holy Spirit is doing what the Lord Jesus sent Him into the world to do. Christ is the Head of the church. The Lord wants light, and He is the One who pours in the Holy Spirit to get that light. If there is any light coming from my ministry, it comes from the Holy Spirit.

He is the source. No light originates in Vernon McGee. I found that out a long time ago. Christ does something else, and it makes me shiver. He sometimes uses a snuffer. If a lamp won’t give good light and it keeps smoking up the place, the Lord Jesus snuffs it out. This is what John meant when he said that there is a sin unto death (see 1Jn_5:16). You and I can be set aside. Oh, the number of people whom I have known to be set asidepreachers and elders and deacons and Sunday school teachers! Christ put them aside. He is walking in the midst of the lampstands, and He wants them to produce light.

Revelation 1:14

“His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow” speaks of His eternal existence. He is the Ancient of Days (see Dan_7:9). “His eyes were as a flame of fire” speaks of His penetrating insight and eyewitness knowledge of the total life of the church. He knows all about you. He knows all about me. He sat over the treasury and watched how the people gave. Last Sunday He watched you when you put your offering in the plate. You didn’t think anybody knew what you gave, did you? Also, His eyes met those of Simon Peter after he had denied Him. After that happened, Peter went out and wept. If you could only see the eyes of your Savior today! My friend, He is looking at us. “His feet like unto fine brass” or burnished brass is symbolic of judgment. That brass or brazen altar outside the tabernacle proper represents Christ’s work down here on earth when He died on the cross. It was there that He bore your judgment and my judgment for sin. And now He is judging those of us who are His own. General Nathan Twining was the man who gave the command to drop the first atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He later became the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, and he dropped another “atom bomb” on December 10, 1959, and it had just about as great a repercussion as the literal bomb did. He dropped the latter bomb when he told the French in particular, and the other European countries in general, that they were not carrying their share of the defense of NATO and that they were falling down on their responsibility in defending Europe. He told them that NATO was coming unglued. The repercussions from his announcement are still reverberating through Europe today.

Although General Twining was accurate in his charges, the reaction was bitter, and there were counter charges made, and denials and excuses were offered. About that time, when President Eisenhower went to Europe, he received the coolest reception he had ever experienced. Why? The human heart resents criticism. Human nature rebels against judgment being passed upon it. Man likes to be handed a passel of little rules and regulations which he can keep. That is the reason so many study courses are popular with Christiansthey want to be legalistic. They don’t want to live by grace. Give Christians a few little rules they can go by, and they are very happy. The result, however, is a group of Band-Aid believers.

They put on a little Band-Aid here and another one there, and they think that is all that is necessary to heal a broken leg. Why? The human nature that man has will purr like a pussycat when flattered, but it will bristle like a porcupine when failure to do a job is noted. That is the reason that the present position of Christ and His contemporary work of inspection are largely ignored by the church. He occupies the position of Judge of the church, and He does not flatter; He does not ignore what He sees; He does not shut His eyes to sin and wrongdoing. His constant charge and command to His own is “Repent!” We are going to see this as we move along in the Book of Revelation.

He says to His church, “Change or I will come to you and I will remove your lampstand” (see Rev_2:5). The church has smarted and squirmed under this indictment down through the ages and still does. This is the result of the natural resentment that is in the hearts of lukewarm believers. And the “Laodicean” church pays scant attention to what Christ has to say. As someone has said, “There is a Man in glory, but the church has lost sight of Him.” “His voice as the sound of many waters” is the voice of authoritythe voice that called this universe into existence, the voice that will raise His own from the grave, the voice that will take His own out of the world to be with Him. All these figures add to the picture of Christ as our Great High Priest, inspecting and judging His church. Consider your Great High Priest. The Spirit of God will help you see Him in all of His beauty and glory. How wonderful He is!

Revelation 1:16

“He had in his right hand seven stars” means that He controls this universe. “Out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword.” One man asked me, “Do you think that a literal sword goes out of His mouth?” Of course not! Scripture tells us that the sword represents His Word. In Heb_4:12 we read, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” God judges by His Word. He judges by it today. When He speaks the Word, my friend, you had better sit up and take note because He means business. “His countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.” You can’t even look at the sun. Do you think you will be able to look at the Creator who made the sun, the One who is the glorified Christ? How wonderful He is!

Revelation 1:17

John is the disciple who had an easy familiarity with Christ on earth. He is the man who reclined upon His bosom in the Upper Room. John was very close to the Lord Jesusin fact, he didn’t mind rebuking Him on an occasion. But when he saw the glorified Christ on the Isle of Patmos, he did not go up to Him and pat Him on the back or shake hands with Him. He didn’t even try to begin a conversation. He fell at His feet as dead! The effect of the vision upon John was nothing short of paralyzing. My friend, since John reacted like that, we can be sure that when you and I get into the presence of the Lord Jesus, we are not going to approach Him in a familiar way. We will fall at His feet as dead. He is the glorified Christ today. And let me say that I do not like the irreverence of the “Jesus culture” that we see today, speaking of Him or to Him as if He were a buddy. Nor do I like to hear someone sing or say that Jesus is a friend of theirs. Now, you may think I am hard to please. You are right; I am. But Jesus said, “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you” (Joh_15:14). If you say that Jesus is a friend of yours, you must be implying that you are obeying Him. Oh, my friend, if we could see Him in all of His glory and His beauty, we would not get familiar with Him. But the marvelous thing is that He says, “Fear not.” This is the greeting of Deity addressing humanity. And He gives four reasons why we should not fear.

1. “I am the first and the last.” This speaks of His deity. He came out of eternity, and He moves into eternity. The psalmist says, “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God” (Psa_90:2). The word everlasting means from the vanishing point in the past to the vanishing point in the future He is God. He is first because there were none before Him, and He is last for there are none to follow Him.

Revelation 1:18

2. “I am he that liveth, and was dead"or, the living One who became dead. This speaks of His redemptive death and resurrection. Most of us have a guilt complex. We are afraid somebody will point a finger at us and say, “You are guilty.” We are, of course, but Paul deals with this question in Rom_8:34, where he says, “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.” Where is the fellow who is going to condemn you? Paul says, “Who is he that condemneth?

It is Christ who died.” Do you find fault with me? Do you say I am a great sinner? I want you to know that Christ died for me, and He is risen from the dead. He rose for my justification to show that I am forgiven and that I am going to heaven someday. And He is even at the right hand of Godhow wonderfuland He makes intercession, that is, He prays for me. We see this in His next reason: 3. “And, behold, I am alive for evermore.” This refers to His present state. He is not only judging, but He is also making intercession for us. How we need that! 4. “And have the keys of death and of hades.” The keys speak of authority and power. Jesus has power over death and the grave right nowbecause of His own death and resurrection. Hades is the Greek word for the unseen world. It can refer to the grave where the body is laid or to the place where the spirit goes. My friend, you and I can take comfort in the fact that Jesus has the keys of death. He is the One who can relieve us of the terrible fear of death.

Revelation 1:19

TIME DIVISION OF THE APOCALYPSE’S CONTENTSThe following verses give us the chronological order and division of this Book of Revelation in three time series: past, present, and future. Right now I am making this division arbitrarily, and then as we progress through the book I can demonstrate that it is accurate.

1. “Write the things which thou hast seen.” Up to this point what had John seen? He had seen the glorified Christ. Let me remind you that this is a Christocentric book. The glorified Christ is the subject. Don’t get your eyes on the horsemen or on the bowls of wrath or on the beaststhey are just passing through. Fix your eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the One who was, who is, and who will be. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And John is to write the vision he has had of Him.
2. “The things which are.” What are the things that are? They are the things that pertain to the church, church things. And we are still here after nineteen hundred years. The matters concerning the church are recorded in chapters 2-3.
3. “The things which shall be hereafter.” Or, as my own translation reads: the things which you are about to see after these things [meta tauta]. This is the program of Jesus Christ, and we shall see that the church goes to heaven, and then we shall see the things that take place on the earth after the church leaves it. This program of Christ is covered by chapters 4-22.

Revelation 1:20

INTERPRETATION OF SEVEN STARS AND SEVEN LAMPSTANDSYou see, John will make it clear when he is using symbols, and he will help us understand what the symbols mean. Otherwise, he is not using symbolic language but is talking about literal things. “The mystery of the seven stars …and the seven …candlesticks.” A mystery in Scripture means a sacred secret, that which has not been revealed before. And this had not been revealed before it was given to John. It pertains specifically to that which John has seen. He is the only one who has looked upon the glorified Christ. You may ask, “Hadn’t Paul seen the glorified Christ?” Well, what did Paul see? He said that he saw “…a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun …” (Act_26:13). I can’t even look at the sun, and I don’t think Paul could have seen Christ in all of His glory, but he knew that He was there. The brightness even blinded Paul for a few days. Therefore, John was the first to see the glorified Christ. The “seven stars” are identified as the “seven angels.” The stars represent authority. In Jude, verse Jud_1:13, apostates are called wandering stars. The word angel literally means “messenger” and may be either human or angelic beings. It could refer to a messenger of the angelic hosts of heaven or to a ruler or a teacher of a congregation on earth. I like to think that it refers to the local pastors of the seven churches which we are going to look at in the next two chapters. I like to hear a pastor called an angel because sometimes they are called other things. So, if you don’t mind, I’ll hold to that interpretation. “The seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.” The English word candlestick should be lampstand since it holds lamps rather than candles. It represents the seven churches of Asia, as we shall see. Then, in turn, these represent the church as a whole, the church as the body of Christ. INTRODUCTION TO CHAPTERS 2 AND 3This brings us to the section on the “church,” which is also called the body of Christ. He loved the church and gave Himself for it. The church is the body of believers which the Father has given Him and for whom He prayed in John 17. After chapter 3, the church is conspicuous by its absence. Up to chapter 4, the church is mentioned nineteen times. From chapter 4 through chapter 20 (the Great White Throne Judgment), the church is not mentioned one time. The normal reaction is to inquire as to the destination and location of the church during this period. It certainly is not in the world. It has been removed from the earth. These seven letters have a threefold interpretation and application:

1. Contemporarythey had a direct message to the local churches of John’s day. I intend to take you to the location of these seven churches in these next two chapters. I have visited the sites of these churches several times, and I want to visit them again and again, because it is such a thrill and because it brings me closer to the Bible. You can get closer to the Bible by visiting these seven churches than you can by walking through the land of Israel. The ruins have an obvious message. John was writing to churches that he knew all about. In The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia Sir William Ramsay said, “The man who wrote these seven letters to the seven churches had been there, and he knew the local conditions.”
2. Compositeeach one is a composite picture of the church. There is something that is applicable to all churches in all ages in each message to each individual church. In other words, when you read the message to the church in Pergamum, there is a message for your church and a message for you personally.
3. Chronologicalthe panoramic history of the church is given in these seven letters, from Pentecost to the Parousia, from the Upper Room to the upper air. There are seven distinct periods of church history. Ephesus represents the apostolic church; Laodicea represents the apostate church. This prophetic picture is largely fulfilled and is now church history, which makes these chapters extremely remarkable. Now let me call your attention to the well-defined and definite format which the Lord Jesus used in each one of the letters to the seven churches.
4. There was some feature of the glorified Christ (whom John saw in chapter 1) that was emphasized in addressing each church. A particular thing was emphasized for a particular purpose, of course.
5. The letters are addressed to the angel of each church. As I have said, it is my understanding that the angel is just a human messenger whom we would designate as the pastor of the church.
6. He begins by stating to each, “I know thy works,” although there has been some question about that in regard to a couple of the letters.
7. He first gives a word of commendation, and then He gives a word of condemnation. That is His method, but the exceptions should be noted. There is no word of condemnation to Smyrna or Philadelphia. Smyrna was the martyr church, and He is not about to condemn that church. Philadelphia was the missionary church that was getting out His Word, and He didn’t condemn it. He has no word of commendation for Laodicea, the apostate church.
8. Each letter concludes with the warning, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith.” In this second major division of the book, we see the things that are, that is, church-related things. Each of the seven letters is a message which the Lord Jesus sent to a particular church. We today may not be conversant with the fact that in the first and second centuries letter-writing and travel were commonplace in the Roman Empire. There was extensive communication throughout the Roman Empire during that period. Therefore, the seven letters of the Apocalypse are very remarkable for other reasons, the most important of which is that they are direct letters from Christ to the churches. (This means that we have two epistles to the Ephesiansone that Paul wrote and one that the Lord Jesus gave through John.) Dr. Deissmann, in his book, Light from the Ancient East, made a distinction between letters and epistles which has been proven to be artificial and entirely false. The fact that these are called letters to the seven churches rather than epistles does not lessen their importance. They had an extensive outlet, and they reached multitudes of people.

There were many outstanding churches in the Roman Empire, but these seven outstanding churches were chosen for several reasons, one of which was that they were located in probably the most important area of the Roman Empire during the first, second, and even third centuries. The area was important because it was where East and West met. By 2000 B.C. there was a civilization along the coast of Asia Minor (the modern west coast of Turkey). It is a very beautiful area. It reminds me of Southern Californiabut without smog, of course. Not only is it beautiful, but some of the richest land is there.

In ancient times the heart of the great Hittite nation was located there. Ephesus was founded about 2000 B.C. by the Hittites, as was Smyrna (modern Izmir). Pergamum obviously was founded later, and then Thyatira and Sardis even later, and they were made great during the time of Alexander the Great. The Anatolian civilization met the Greek civilization there. You can always tell the difference because the gods of the Anatolians (a more primitive people) were beasts, whereas the gods of the Greeks were projections and enlargements of human beings. Ephesus was a city of about two hundred thousand people. It was a great city and had a huge outdoor theater which could seat about twenty thousand people. It was a place of resorts, and the Roman emperors came there. It was a city constructed of white marble, a beautiful place, and Paul commented on that. If we think that the impact of the gospel was not great in that area, we are entirely mistaken. Such was the impact of the gospel on Ephesus that four great pillars or towers were placed at the entrance to the harbor, and upon them was the emblem of the cross.

One monument was dedicated to Matthew, one to Mark, one to Luke, and one to John. Only one pillar stands there today, but it still bears the symbol of the cross. And there are other evidences of the tremendous impact of the gospel where pagan temples were later turned into churches. After the ministry of Paul and John, there was a tremendous Christian population in that area. It seems that Paul had his greatest ministry in the city of Ephesus, and Luke writes, “…all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks” (Act_19:10). Not all turned to Christ, but everyone heard. That was probably the greatest movement that has ever taken place in the history of the church.