John is in heaven standing in the throne room and he sees Christ sitting on the throne with a book is his hand that has seven seals. A really strong angels says who is worthy to open the book and to break the seals? John states that he cried because no man was found worthy to open the book let alone look at it. This is mentioned in Revelation 5:1-4 and it states: 1 And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? 3 And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. 4 And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. But on e of the elders tells John, don’t cry and look the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Jesus) the Root of David has prevailed and opened the book and the seals. This is mentioned in Revelation 5:5 which states: And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. We know that it is Christ who opened the book and the seals because of the very next verse Revelation 5:6 which states: And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. The slain lamb of course was Jesus Christ because he paid for our transgressions with His blood. Keeping mind that this is a vision that John the Revelator is seeing. The rest of this chapter is giving praise to Jesus Christ and John is letting us know that Jesus Christ is the one that loosed the seals and He is the One true God as He is the one the sits on the throne, and it was Him who gave His life so that we all may live. I will writing about Revelation Chapter 6 which is one of the most exciting chapters in Revelation. I hope you stay tuned for that, and as always you can follow me on twitter:
Revelation Chapter 4
Today, I am going to be going through Revelation Chapter 4. Let’s start with Revelation chapter 4:1, and this verse states: After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter. Now, a lot of people believe that this is the verse that is speaking about the rapture. Specifically the part of the verse that states: …come up hither… The person speaking in this verse of course is John, and the person saying come up hither my belief starts here → is an angel and this I understand and believe this because in Revelation 1:1-2 it states: 1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: 2 Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw ← my belief stops here. So, if in fact it was an angel speaking directly to John, how can some Christians believe that this verse is speaking to the body of Christ? Also, if you look at what Revelation 11:12 states: And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them. This verse is speaking about the two witnesses. Does the phrase come up hither imply a rapture here again? I think not. This verse is only speaking to the two witnesses as Revelation 4:1 was speaking only to John.
The next interesting verse is Revelation 4:4 which states: And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. The question is usually asked who are these 24 elders? My belief starts here → I personally believe that twelve of the elders are the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel. The other twelve elders are the 12 disciples of Jesus Christ. In all honesty I don’t believe that it really matters nor does it change the testimony of Jesus Christ. It is not imperative to our salvation that we know who the twenty-four elders are. It’s something that we Christians can think about, and have a discussions about. I may be right, or I may be wrong. In the grand scheme of things this little tidbit does not weigh much. The only thing we know for sure is that there are twenty-four elders in heaven. The other key idea that we need to keep in our minds is that John is seeing a vision of what is happening, and he is describing what he is seeing in those visions. We know that John is seeing a vision because in Revelation 4:2 John states: And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.
Revelation 4:5 states: And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. The verse prompts people to ask what are the seven spirits of God? The answer is found in Isaiah 11:2 which states: And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD. The other part of the answer is found in Isaiah 4:4 which states: When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning. So, the seven spirits of God are:
- Spirit of wisdom
- Spirit of understanding
- Spirit of counsel
- Spirit of might
- Spirit of knowledge
- Spirit of judgement
- Spirit of burning
Maybe, after this project I may do a post about the significance of these seven spirits of God. In Revelation 4:7-8 it states: 7 And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle 8 And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. These are beings that are in the service of Almighty God Jesus. There may be a significance as to the appearance described by John, but that also may be a post for the future. This concludes Revelation Chapter 4. I wanted to thank all of my readers, may the Lord Jesus Christ bless you. Please stay tuned for Revelation Chapter 5, and as always you can follow me on twitter:
Seven Churches Conclusion Part (C)
The church of Thyatira. In Rev. 2:19 it states – I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first. Jesus said that He likes these things. How many Christians do you know that are described by the words in Revelation 2:19? I can think of quite a few Christians I know of that fit this description quite well. There were things that Jesus did not like about the church of Thyatira, and you can read more about that here. My belief starts here → Just as the church of Thyatira back when it existed in Asia, there are Christians who are like the member of the church of Thyatira. Christ is among them as Jesus claimed. To make a long story short, we Christians need to understand that we all belong one of the seven churches that I have been speaking about. Long time ago I used to be one of those Christians that used to think, well that “denomination” over there is certainly not Christian. I have changed my tune, and the reason being because of what is written in Revelation 1:12-13 and it reads: 12 And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; 13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.
As already discussed the seven golden candlesticks are the seven churches, and Christ is in the midst of all of the seven churches. This led me to believe that Jesus is in the midst of all of the churches whether they have obeyed Christ or kept His testimony. Or, whether they have mixed paganism with Christianity and distorted the testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ. I am not the judge, but Christ is the judge that will one day deliver His final verdict. As Jesus told many of these churches that you need to get back to what you used to do. He told the churches that you must overcome if you are to be worthy to walk with me in paradise. I am not saying that we Christians today are guilty of the exact same thing that some of these churches were. Some of us Christians may be guilty of the same thing, or we may be guilty of different offences. The point I am trying to make is that we must rely on what scriptures say, and we Christians need to start reading our Bibles. It is not just good enough to hold our Bibles on Sunday as we head to church…one day a week. We need to study and understand what the scriptures are telling us, and how to be ready to show ourselves approved before Jesus Christ. We must as Christians prepare ourselves to be seen as worthy to the Lamb so He does not see any blemish on our clothing. Jesus Christ is giving us Christians an opportunity now to prepare, perhaps we should use this time wisely and prepare ← my belief stops here. We must overcome. Amen. Please stay tuned for Revelation chapter 4, and as always you can follow me on twitter:
Seven Churches Conclusion Part (B)
Let’s continue our talk about the seven churches. If you have not read the previous posts about the seven churches I will leave you links to each church.
- Church of Ephesus
- Church of Smyrna
- Church of Pergamos
- Church of Thyatira
- Church of Sardis
- Church of Philadelphia
- Church of Laodicea
Now, each one of the churches go through the tribulation, except one church and its members and that church is the church of Philadelphia. This is recorded in Revelation 3:10 which states: Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. My belief starts here → This is the reason I said that we need to prepare ourselves because we Christians are going to be going through all seven years of the tribulation. One reason I say I believe this is because, why would Jesus Christ tell us about all of these amazing/scary things that are going to happen if we are not here for it? That is just one reason, I haven’t even mentioned any of the Biblical evidence. I am working on getting a post ready about the rapture, according to the Bible ← my belief stops here.
Okay, back to the seven churches. In Revelation 1:19 it states: Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter. In this verse John is being told that he has to write the things which he has seen, and things that are (currently), and the things that will take place in the future. My belief starts here → All of the seven churches are Christian, because as we have seen Christ walks in the midst of them. Regardless of their deeds. Each church is told that they will only be rewarded if they overcome. I say that all of Christians belong to one of these seven churches because the church of Ephesus is told that they must get back to their first love. How many Christians do you know that have left Christianity because they just stopped believing in Christ for one reason or another? ← My belief stops here.
In revelation 2:10 it states: Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. So, from the church of Smyrna Christians are going to be thrown into prison. This is corroborated by what is written in Luke 21:12 and it states: But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name’s sake. My belief starts here → Just like the Christians of the church of Smyrna got thrown in prison and were persecuted and killed for the name of Christ. Jesus warns us in Luke that the same thing will happen to Christians again in the time of the tribulation. And, I believe that the people, which are going to be thrown in prison will belong to the church of Smyrna. ← My belief stops here.
The church of Pergamos is the church that has mixed Christ’s teaching with paganism. This thing Christ hated. How many of Christians do you know that profess to be Christians but you know in your heart of hearts that what they believe is not in the Bible. Christians saying things like good works will get you to heaven. In Titus 3:5 it states: Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost. This is one example, but there are many other examples. The Christians in this church may become stumbling blocks for other Christians in their church. They may become stumbling blocks because of the things they say or do, like the example I gave above. Some Christians may fall for this idea that good works will get me into the kingdom of God. Next we will look at the church of Thyatira in the post titled Seven Churches Conclusion Part (C). Stay tuned, and as always you can follow me on twitter:
Seven Churches Conclusion Part (A)
Why are the seven churches important for our life? How are the seven churches important for our life? Why, should we as Christians be concerned about the seven churches? If you read through this post, you will understand why and how the seven churches are important for us?
A key verse for the study of the seven churches is Revelation 1:19 which states: And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. This verse is saying that Jesus Christ is in the midst of all of the churches. This verse does not say that Jesus Christ is only with the church of Philadelphia. In Revelation 1:20 Jesus states: The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches. So, we know that Jesus Christ is in the midst of all seven churches.
The first question is why are the seven churches important for us? My belief starts here → these churches are important for our life today because many of the issues that these seven churches faced approximately 1800 years ago are the same issues that Christian churches face today. We need to recognize where we have gone wrong and repent like Christ told the seven churches. For instance, to the church of Ephesus, Jesus said that they need start doing the things that He liked, or else He will destroy their church. There are Christians all over the world, that have all of the good qualities of these seven churches. Then the same or different Christians also have the same bad deeds that these churches had. In the same manner we would have to repent of our sins, if we are to overcome and be rewarded. I can guarantee you this, that all Christians do not belong to the church of Philadelphia ← my belief stops here. I will speak about why all Christians are not part of the church of Philadelphia a little later in the post.
The second question is how are the seven churches important for our life? My belief starts here → I touched on this a little bit already. I will explain a little more. Now, as we have studied all of the seven churches. Some of the seven churches had things that Jesus liked and things that He didn’t like about them. Jesus always had something positive to say about each and every church. The other commonality between all of the churches was that Jesus told each and every church that they must overcome, and if they are able to overcome then they will be rewarded. The church of Philadelphia is included in this as well, they must also overcome. We need to make sure that we repent of our wrong doings. Jesus warned some of the churches that you believe in a teachings about Him that have been mixed with paganism. Jesus said that He hates these things. Jesus said to repent of this, so we will be found worthy to walk with Christ in heaven. All of us Christians belong to one of these seven churches one way or another. We need to prepare ourselves, and be strong. I will continue with the Seven Churches Conclusion Part (B) in my next post. Stay tuned, and as always you can follow me on twitter:
apostolicfdn 