REVELATION
SIMPLIFIED
CHAPTER 1.7
Gleanings
from the Book of Revelation:
A
Weekly Verse-by-Verse Bible Study Series
The
REVELATION
TO JOHN
(The
Apocalypse)
Chapter
One
(Verses 7)
Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and
they also which pierced Him:
and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen.
(Verse 8)
I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, saith the
Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
In the realm of the Spirit, John is witnessing
this event take place before his very eyes.
He writes, Behold, He cometh with clouds.
The Future Work of Jesus Christ -
Glorification
The Book of Revelation is the greatest drama of
all time. The plot is intense throughout. The final scene is glorious because
Jesus Christ finally comes unto His own. The actors are the seven Churches, the
villain is Satan, and the hero is our Lord Himself, Jesus Christ.
Jesus is yet to come in His final glory. This
verse is the greatest verse announcing the return of Jesus Christ to earth. It
is commonly called the Second Coming.
He is coming with clouds. Recall, at His ascension, He was taken up in
a cloud.
Acts 1:9
- While they
beheld, He was taken up; and a cloud received
Him out of their sight.
Therefore, the same Jesus who was taken into Heaven
is in like manner going to return. Jesus, in His Gospel, spoke of this event:
Matthew
24:30 - And
then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in Heaven: and then shall all the
tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall
see the Son of man coming in the clouds of Heaven with power and great glory.
This scenario was predicted.
Daniel
7:13 - I saw
in the night visions, and, behold, one
like the Son of man came with the clouds of
heaven.
Here is where the story becomes interesting as it
relates to us.
Colossians
3:4 - When
Christ,
who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye
(you) also appear
with Him in glory.
When Christ returns and appears at His Second
Coming, we are going to be with Him in glory. (Literally: Manifested with Him
in His splendor and glory, in glorified bodies).
Psalm
17:15 - As
for me, I will behold (intently
observe) Thy (your) face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I
awake, with Thy likeness.
1 John 3:2
- Beloved,
now are we the sons of God, and it doth (does) not yet appear
what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him;
for we shall see Him as He is.
Glorification
At this point the theological word glorification needs clarification:
Definition:
Glorification is similar to transformation. The Greek word is metamorphoo from which we derive our English word metamorphosis, meaning changing from one form to another.
To have a glorified body is a transformation
process of metamorphosis only into a new body in a spiritual dimension. This
instantaneously takes place at the death of a believer.
When Jesus spoke to the thief on the cross, He
said, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be
with Me in paradise. (Luke 23:43)
A Glorified Body
Presently we have a perishable body. But in death
it becomes imperishable.
1
Corinthians 15:51-54 - Behold,
I shew you a
mystery…
we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye...When this corruptible shall have
put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality…Death is
swallowed up in victory.
Jesus previewed His glorified human body to Peter,
James, and John on the Mount of Transfiguration.
Matthew 17:2 - And (Jesus) was transfigured before them: and His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment (apparel, clothes, garment, or
robe) was white as the light.
Mark 9:2 -
And after six
days Jesus taketh with Him
Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by
themselves: and He was transfigured before them. And His raiment
became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller (launderer) on earth can
white them.
Transfiguration becomes evident in verses 13
through 16. However, we too will receive such a body:
Ephesians
4:24 – (You are) to clothe
yourselves with the new nature, which was
created according to God's image in righteousness and true holiness. (ISV)
We know from Genesis 1:27, Adam was made in the
image and likeness of God. To see and walk with God, Adam needed a body clothed
in light.
Psalm
104:1a-2 - The
LORD…Who coverest Thyself with light as with
a garment: who stretchest out the heavens
like a curtain Thou art clothed with honour and majesty.
Adam lost that image after falling from sin. He
then was clothed by God with new clothes to cover his corrupted body. Our bodies will one day return to their original
state. This is but a glimpse of a new spiritual body we will have when we
return with Him at His Second Coming.
Everyone who is on the earth at that time will
witness and observe this great event. “Every
eye shall see.” The Greek language expresses this phrase as intently gazing
or staring. With eyes wide open, those who are believers witness this spectacular
event as extraordinary, a reverent day of unspeakable joy. To the non-believers
or to those who have rejected Christ, it will be a horrifying day of distress
and terror, even to the point of hatred. They will even be crying for the rocks
of the mountains to fall upon them (cf. Revelation 6:15-17).
Author’s
note: There are multitudes of
materials written on the topic of glorification, the Second Coming, and Bible
Prophecy. We adhere to a literal biblical approach. These topics are rich,
inspiring, and faith builders. They are exciting promises for our future. However,
they also have caused divisions in the Church – Satan’s victory. Despite
differences in viewpoints, we respect your stance. However, in the end, we will
all be in one accord as the Lord intended, and those disparities will be dissolved.
Most importantly, And this is His commandment, That we should
believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as He gave us commandment (cf. 1 John
3:23).
Three Groups of People who Witness the
Second Coming
1. Believers who have accepted Christ
2. Those who have pierced Him
3. All the kindreds (tribes, peoples) of the earth
who wail [mourn, beat their breasts in grief (Strong’s, G2875) because of Him]:
a. Zechariah
12:10 - And they shall look upon Me
whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in
bitterness for Him, as one that is in
bitterness for his firstborn.
Imagine everyone alive on earth at that time seeing
Jesus come back. Some will ask Him, "Where did You get those wounds?"
His reply may be, “In the house of My friends.” It will be those who wail
because He comes to them in judgment. John is envisioning the prophetic
statement mentioned in the New Testament book of Jude.
Jude 14-15
- And Enoch
also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord
cometh with ten thousands of His saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to
convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have
ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches
which ungodly sinners have spoken against
Him.
Next, John victoriously cries out: “Even so. Amen.”
This truly is a trustworthy statement. The word in Greek for even so means
Amen [G281]. The Hebrew for Amen is: Even So [H543].
So be it, Amen, and Amen.
The Second Coming of Jesus Christ is thematic throughout
the book of Revelation. It is first mentioned here in verses 7 and 8 at the
beginning. And it is climaxed in Revelation
22:20 when John writes:
He which testifieth these things
saith, Surely
I come quickly.
Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
Bible Prophecy Facts
1. Prophecy is history written in advance.
2. There are three hundred prophecies concerning the First
Coming of Jesus as the Messiah that have been fulfilled. Beginning with Genesis
3:15, the Protoevangelium [The First
Gospel], the promised Seed of the woman would bring redemption to man. Upon His
first arrival, Jesus thus came to offer redemption.
3. There are also approximately three hundred New
Testament prophecies concerning His Second Coming about to be fulfilled. This
time He will come in judgment. One day (no one knows the exact time), Jesus
Christ will return victorious as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
4. According to Cannon Henry Parry Liddon – one of
the great 19th Century preachers of England – there are 332 distinct verbal prophecies (not including types or
typical prophecies) in the Old Testament that are fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
5. The late New Testament scholar William Hendrickson
cites the mathematical probability of all these prophecies coming to pass in
one man is one to eighty-four, with one-hundred zeros after it. No word in mathematics
designates this number.
6. The foretelling of future events in biblical
prophecy is not ninety-nine and ninety-nine percent, but one-hundred percent
accurate. Unlike Nostradamus and other seers, the predictions in the Book of
Revelation will accurately come to pass. They are written for the edification of
believers and evangelization of unbelievers. And the final battle of good over
evil will culminate in victory.
(Verse 8)
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come,
the Almighty.
The text speaks of the eternality of Jesus Christ.
Eternity belongs to Him. And when He comes back, He will be in
eternal glory. If we diagram the first sentence, it will read:
I AM…THE
LORD. He retains the Old
Testament name given to Moses.
Exodus
3:13-14 - And
Moses said unto God, Behold, when
I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your
fathers hath sent Me unto you; and they shall say to Me, What is His name? what shall I say unto
them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of
Israel, I AM hath
sent Me unto you.
I AM the
First and the Last. Jesus who is
one with God reiterates:
Isaiah
44:6 - Thus
saith the LORD the King of Israel, and His Redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the
first, and I am the last; and beside Me there
is no God.
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the ending,
saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty
The Omnipresent God
1. The Alpha
- Alpha is the beginning letter of
the Greek alphabet.
2. The Omega
- Omega is the ending letter of the Greek
alphabet.
In essence, Christ is saying, I am the beginning
and end of all things, from eternity past to eternity future. He is simply restating
equality with the Father - The Alpha
and Omega.
John 1:1-2
- In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The
same (Word) was in the beginning with God.
1. Which Is – In the present
2. Which was – In the past
3. Which
is to come – In the future
John 10:30
- I and My Father are One.
I AM…THE LORD…ALMIGHTY
Here, Jesus adds a very interesting term: The
Almighty – El Shaddai in Hebrew. This is the same Almighty omnipotent
(all-powerful), self-sufficient God of whom Mosses wrote:
Genesis
17:1 - And when Abram
was ninety years old and nine, the LORD
appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the
Almighty God; walk before Me, and be thou
perfect.
Jesus is the One who possesses absolute universal
supreme power and authority as ruler. He is the Great I Am, quintessential
throughout the Bible.
Review
The Book of Revelation contains a series of
visions transporting the Apostle John into an occurrence in the future when
Jesus Christ returns at His Second Coming.
1. Revelation
1:1-7 - An Introduction to the
Book of Revelation
2. Revelation
1:8 - This is the first time
since His Ascension in Acts Chapter 1, and occasionally in a few visions to the
Apostle Paul, Jesus speaks again in a New Testament book
3. Revelation
1:9-20 - Also, John will be seeing
Jesus Christ for the first time since His Ascension
QUESTIONS:
1. What event is John describing in verse 8?
2. Where will the saints be at this point in Bible
prophecy?
3. What do alpha and omega mean?
4. What are the words ascribed to Christ?
5. Name three titles of Jesus.
6. What is the meaning of Amen?
7. What do you think our glorified body will be like?
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