Jesus’ Revelations to John, chapter 2
To: 40,541 subscribers we’re praying God makes Temples of His spirit. 10/27/22, God’s 8th month, Cheshvan 2, 5,783. (Day 5 of week)
Believers in and followers of Jesus are appointed as a kingdom of priest. The seven churches in the providence of Asia are primarily those started by Jesus’ apostle Paul. The witnessing angel’s message is from the Father and the Son. John is banished to an island because of His witnessing about Jesus. (Rev 1:1-8; The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must happen very soon. He made it clear by sending his angel to his servant John, who then testified to everything that he saw concerning the word of God and the testimony about Jesus Christ. Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy aloud, and blessed are those who hear and obey the things written in it, because the time is near!
Greeting to the Seven Churches. From John, to the seven churches that are in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from “he who is,” and who was, and who is still to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ – the faithful witness, the firstborn from among the dead, the ruler over the kings of the earth. To the one who loves us and has set us free from our sins at the cost of his own blood and has appointed us as a kingdom, as priests serving his God and Father – to him be the glory and the power for ever and ever! Amen. (Look! He is returning with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the tribes on the earth will mourn because of him. This will certainly come to pass! Amen.) “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God – the one who is, and who was, and who is still to come – the All-Powerful!
Vision of the Son of Man. *Rev 1:9-20; I, John, your brother and the one who shares with you in the persecution, kingdom, and endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony about Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day when I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, saying: “Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches – to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”
I turned to see whose voice was speaking to me, and when I did so, I saw seven golden lampstands, (churches) and in the midst of the lampstands was one like a son of man. He was dressed in a robe extending down to his feet and he wore a wide golden belt around his chest. His head and hair were as white as wool, even as white as snow, and his eyes were like a fiery flame. His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. He held seven stars (angels) in his right hand, and a sharp double-edged sword extended out of his mouth. His face shone like the sun shining at full strength. When I saw him I fell down at his feet as though I were dead, but he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid! I am the first and the last, and the one who lives! I was dead, but look, now I am alive – forever and ever – and I hold the keys of death and of Hades! Therefore write what you saw, what is, and what will be after these things. The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
The Heavenly Throne. (Rev 4:1-20; After these things I looked, and there was a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said: “Come up here so that I can show you what must happen after these things.” Immediately I was in the Spirit, and a throne was standing in heaven with someone seated on it! And the one seated on it was like jasper and carnelian in appearance, and a rainbow looking like it was made of emerald encircled the throne.
In a circle around the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on those thrones were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white clothing and had golden crowns on their heads. From the throne came out flashes of lightning and roaring and crashes of thunder. Seven flaming torches, which are the seven spirits of God, were burning in front of the throne and in front of the throne was something like a sea of glass, like crystal. In the middle of the throne and around the throne were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second creature like an ox, the third creature had a face like a man’s, and the fourth creature looked like an eagle flying.
Each one of the four living creatures had six wings and was full of eyes all around and inside. They never rest day or night, saying: “Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God, the All-Powerful, Who was and who is, and who is still to come!” And whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to the one who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders throw themselves to the ground before the one who sits on the throne and worship the one who lives forever and ever, and they offer their crowns before his throne, saying: “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, since you created all things, and because of your will they existed and were created!”) (Review Col 1:15-20)
The Scroll and the Lamb (Rev 5:1-14; Then I saw in the right hand of the one who was seated on the throne a scroll written on the front and back and sealed with seven seals. And I saw a powerful angel proclaiming in a loud voice: “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to break its seals?” But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or look into it. So I began weeping bitterly because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. Then one of the elders said to me, “Stop weeping! Look, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has conquered; thus he can open the scroll and its seven seals.” Then I saw standing in the middle of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the middle of the elders, a Lamb that appeared to have been killed. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. Then he came and took the scroll from the right hand of the one who was seated on the throne, and when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders threw themselves to the ground before the Lamb. Each of them had a harp and golden bowls full of incense (which are the prayers of the saints). They were singing a new song: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals because you were killed, and at the cost of your own blood you have purchased for God persons from every tribe, language, people, and nation. You have appointed them as a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”
Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels in a circle around the throne, as well as the living creatures and the elders. Their number was ten thousand times ten thousand – thousands times thousands – all of whom were singing in a loud voice: “Worthy is the lamb who was killed to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and praise!”
Then I heard every creature – in heaven, on earth, under the earth, in the sea, and all that is in them – singing: “To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb be praise, honor, glory, and ruling power forever and ever!” And the four living creatures were saying “Amen,” and the elders threw themselves to the ground and worshiped.)
Remember David was promised his kingdom would be forever, now we see that kingdom is the Church of God in this age before Jesus returns to reign supreme. Followers of Jesus must say with Him and His apostles, “our kingdom isn’t of this world.” Worldly preachers get worked up on everything but, “what’s an abominable to God” which are sexual sins, abortion, idol worship and not remembering His Sabbaths. ((The following verse affirms days begin at sunset. (Rev 1:7; “John was in the spirit on the Lord’s Day.”)) Most translators put tradition ahead of fact and lean toward “Lord’s day” being equivalent to the first day of the week. In part because of the erroneous assumption that Jesus died on the sixth and rose on the first day, and in part because of the erroneous assumption that Jesus allowed Paul to change the Sabbath to the first day of the week. Another view is that the “Lord’s Day” is the annual Sabbath “Last Great Day,” ending the “Feast of Tabernacles. Which shadows final judgment before New Jerusalem’s coming down. Jesus was celebrating “The Last Great Day” when John recorded the following.
(John 7:37-39; “On the last day of the feast, “the Greatest Day” Jesus stood up and shouted out, “If anyone is thirsty let him come to Me and let the one who believes IN Me drink. Just as the scripture says, ‘From within him will flow rivers of living water.’” (similar quotes, Isa 44:3, 55:1, 58:11, and Zech 14:8) (He said, “this about the Spirit” those who believed IN Me will receive, “for the Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus was not yet glorified.)
As said earlier “we need to be careful of translators” they’re humans who sometimes have agendas. Through John, Jesus describes Himself as; “The Son of God” “The Alpha and the Omega” “The One who was, is and is to come” “The All-Powerful” “One holding the keys of death and of Hades!” “One who has a firm grasp on the seven Stars ‘Angels of the churches’ in His right hand” “One who walks among the seven golden lamp stands: ‘Churches.’’ “One who is the first and last” “One who was dead, but came to life” “One who has the sharp double-edged sword” “One knowing where His churches are and where Satan’s throne is” “One whose eyes are like a fiery flame and whose feet are like polished bronze” “The Holy and the True One” “Holds the key of David” “Opens doors no one can shut, shuts doors no one can open” “The Amen faithful and true witness” “The originator of God’s creation” and “The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David.”