 All right, welcome everybody back to our class lecture on Revelation and Daniel. This is our second lecture for today. And we've just getting started with an introduction to the book of Revelation. There's a question on the chat from Kennedy. Kindly furnish me about this idea about past and future prophecies. How do they relate as an attribute of God? Because there is the school of thought. Let's say, pray and believe that it has happened. All right, I'm not really sure if I understood your question, Kennedy, but let me just try to respond to what I think your question is. There is a difference between prophecy and promise, right? So promise is something God wants us to actively pursue and possess. Prophecy, we're not talking about personal prophecy. We're talking about prophetic scripture, which has to do with God's plan for the ages. That is completely different. Prophetic scripture is something that God has already decreed and that God reveals prophetic scripture. Whereas when we're talking about promises, that is promises in the scriptures or personal prophecy, that means God's prophetic word to and for an individual, that has to, we have to pray and believe and receive. That's the kind of engagement God wants from us in terms of promises, His promises given to us in scripture and personal prophecy. That means what God is speaking to an individual. So there we have to pray and believe and receive by faith and we have to wage a good warfare. A great example is for Timothy chapter 1 and verse 18 where Paul writes to Timothy and he says, Timothy, using the prophecies that were spoken over your life, you must wage a good warfare. That means use those prophecies, personal prophecies. So that's separate. When I'm talking about prophetic scripture, that is God's declaration of what He's going to unfold for the human race, for mankind, that's different. That has to do with an unveiling of the purposes of God and that is not something we pray and claim. It's what God is going to do, whether you like it or not, that's going to happen. God has already foretold it. So there are two different categories, if you will, of what two different things that we are talking about. I hope I answered your question, Kennedy. If I didn't, please let me know. All right, so Kennedy says, okay, Shukumar's question. What is the best method of studying the Bible? So Shukumar, there are many different ways to study the Bible. Some of this we covered in our... I think it's BC 106 interpreting scripture, I think it's in that course. We talked about the different ways to study the Bible. So for example, you could study the Bible, you can study passages of the Bible. You can do a word study, a topical study, a chapter analysis, a book analysis. So the different ways are a thematic study. So for example, what we are doing right now when we're studying the prophetic scriptures, we're doing a thematic study that means we are studying about the end times prophetic. We're also doing kind of a book study, meaning we've looked at the prophetic scriptures from the book of Daniel. We're going to do a book study of Revelation. So this is one way to study. So there are many different ways. You can do a character study, a biographical sketch, many different ways to study the Bible. And we also talked about the tools that we can use. So we've used software tools that can help us study the Bible. Is there anything specific that you are wanting to know, Shri Kumar, in studying the Bible? No, I just want to know that. In these things, which is the best one, I just want to know that. Is it topical or anything which helps me to understand more deeply the things. I just want to know that. So thank you. Yeah. Okay. So if you're going after, it depends on what we want to achieve. If we want to understand a particular subject, then of course we would do a topical study or a word study or a thematic study. If you want to understand a book, then you do a book analysis, a detailed study of that book. If you want to understand God's, how did a person walk with God and how did Abraham walk with God? How did David walk with God? Then you would do a biographical study, a biographical study of his life. So depending on what you want to achieve, there are different approaches to studying scripture. As a minister of God, as a preacher and teacher of the Word of God, two very important study ways that are important for us. One is to study by theme or topics. So that when somebody asks you about a topic, you should be able to speak with confidence knowing that you have studied that particular topic, Genesis to Revelation. That means you've covered that topic. Example, if somebody says, can you speak to me? What does the Bible say about divine healing? That's a theme or a topic. Well, if you've studied divine healing from Genesis Revelation and you've looked at all the scriptures and what God has to say, then you can speak with a lot of confidence on that subject and say, I know what I'm saying is right because I've really studied this end to end. So that's a good way to study. But if we want to say, hey, what is this book? Maybe Romans or Revelation. Do you have a good grip on that book? Then of course, for that, we have to do a book study, right? Looking at it worse by worse. Then you know, yeah, I know the book of Romans. I know what Paul is saying and Romans 1 through 16. I've really studied it worse by worse. And then you have a good grip on that book. You can speak with confidence on that book. So, okay. Thank you. You're welcome. So let's get back now. We're just giving an introduction to Revelation. We said that the way the Lord Jesus presented it to John, it's a very clear demarcation of three sections. Things that you have seen, things that are, things that are going to come so we can divide the book. The other thing by way of introduction is the way we will approach in studying this book. That is, we are going to take it chronologically, the way it is given, right? The book of Revelation. That means the book of Revelation, especially starting with chapter 4 verse 1, it is a vision into the future. You know, you can almost imagine like this is a movie. There's only an imagination. Don't go and say that God made a movie or something. No, I'm just saying. You can almost imagine God, you know, there's a movie produced in heaven saying, look, here are all the things that are going to come forth. Right? And this is how it's going to unfold. So Revelation chapter 4 verse 1, all the way to chapter 22, is a vision or a movie that was played out for John of the future. Right? This is what's going to happen. And God is telling John these are the things that are going to happen. So in our approach of studying the book of Revelation, especially chapter 4 verse 1, which is into the future, we are going to just take it in the way it is given, the sequence, the chronology. We are not going to mess with it. Right? This is how God gave it. This is the chronology. There's a sequence. We'll stay with it. The reason I'm saying that is because some people, in some books, there are a lot of books written on the book of Revelation. If you are interested, you can look at it, but some books will overlap. They will play around with the chronology. So, for example, there are three sets of judgments. There are the seven seals, seven trumpets, seven bolts. So some people, you'll find some people putting them in parallel. That means seals, bolts, and trumpets happening in parallel. But the book of Revelation gives it to us in sequence, one after the other of the other. We will stay with it like that. We won't mess around with it. Some people put it in parallel and they say, okay, this is all happening at the same time and so on. For whatever reason they do it. We won't. We will just take it in sequence. This is how it's given. This is how it is. And it actually plays out very nicely that way. So that's one thing. The chronology of, we will stay with the chronology and the sequence that is given to us in the book of Revelation. The other thing that we keep in mind is that as we journey through the book of Revelation, there are sections that are parenthetical in nature, meaning it's like a pause in the sequence of things that are happening. That means that chapter records something that is not going to happen in the future, but it records something that John experienced until all of this is going on. So example, if you're watching a movie, there's a break time and you go and get your popcorn and come back. Now the popcorn and coming back is something that actually happened. It's not out in the future. The movie is about the future, but you going and getting a popcorn and coming back is something that actually happened. So something similar like that you'll find in chapter 10. God is showing John the sequence of events. How do you come to chapter 10? There's an angel that comes to John and says, John, I want you to eat the scroll. There's a big angel and John very respectfully eats the scroll. The scroll is very sweet like honey in his mouth or bitter when it gets in and then it's symbolic saying, John, there's more things you have to prophesy and speak to the nations. So that's a parenthetical chapter, which is something that John experienced in his vision. It's not something that's going to happen in the future. So you will find that happening as we journey through the book of Revelation. The other thing is, while we understand that we are going to take it in the sequence it's given, there are two occasions when as we are progressing, suddenly there is a little piece that starts off in the middle, goes to the end and comes back. And then there's another piece that starts off but goes back and comes back in time and comes back. What do we mean by that? So imagine you're telling a story to somebody. You're saying, hey, these are things that are going to happen. It's what we planned. And then there's a particular character that comes in to the whole sequence of events. And then you tell the full role this character is going to play till the end. And then you come back and continue from there. That character came in. So this happens in Revelation chapter 11 where in the middle of the seven year tribulation, chapter 11 speaks about two witnesses. And it tells us what these two witnesses will do starting at the middle of the tribulation till the end of the that is for three and a half years from the middle till the end. It's all contained in chapter 11, but it is over a three and a half year period. That's the only chapter that talks about these two witnesses. And it's basically telling us everything they will do for the three and a half year period. So that chapter is a little different because it introduces to us these two characters, the two witnesses. And then it says, okay, this is what they're going to be doing for the next three and a half years. And then we come back to the middle of the tribulation in chapter 12. And then we go on. The other interesting thing in chapter 12 is this, the chapter 12 kind of goes back in time past. Chapter 12 introduces to us this dragon, which is Satan. And then it goes back in time says, oh, there was a time long time ago when this dragon drew a third of the stars with him. That means one third of the heavenly angels fell with him. So it's going back in time. It's not something that's going to happen in the future. He says, okay, who is this dragon? Let me give you a little history of who this character is. This is who he is. He's the one who took one third of the heavenly angels with him. That's the dragon we're talking about. So it's a little background to this dragon that's introduced for us in chapter 12. And also a little bit of history. He's going after this woman. Who is this woman? Well, she's the one who had the sun, the moon, the 11 stars or the 12 stars. That is, this woman is that nation of Israel. And this woman gave birth to the man child historically. Jesus was born 2000 years ago. So chapter 12, when it's introducing to us the characters, the dragon, the woman and the man child, it refers back in time to a little bit of history. This is the background of these three characters that we're going to see. And then it says, okay, this is what this dragon will do. But the time is in the middle of the tribulation, three and a half years. So that's another thing to keep in mind. Are you all with me so far? Did I confuse you? You're okay. Okay. So just think about, you know, this unfolding of the events, but while these events are being unfolded for us, there's a little movement in time, right? Either into the future or back in the past, while specific people or characters are being addressed. Okay. So just keep that in mind. The last thing that we want to say before we start reading the book of Revelation is interpreting figurative language. The number seven is a very important number in the book of Revelation. And so there are times this number seven is used literally, and there are times this number seven is used figuratively, especially in the first three chapters. So, you know, in the book of Revelation we see seven is being used very often. There are seven churches, seven stars, seven angels or seven messengers. There are seven spirits of God, seven eyes, seven horns. Then there are seven, you know, seven judgments, three sets of seven judgments each. So seven, you see the number seven often in Revelation. There are times the number seven is literal, seven churches. Though these seven churches were literal, seven churches, we should not take them to be figurative. No, no, no. Each of these seven churches existed. Ephesians, Philadelphia, Smyrna, Sardis, they were there. These were the names of the cities, actual cities, and there were seven churches. The seven candlesticks representing each one of the seven churches. That's there. The seven stars representing each one of the leaders of each of these seven churches, seven, literal, actual seven, right? But then seven, there are times that seven has to be taken figuratively. Why do we take it figuratively? Because the literal would not be consistent with the rest of scripture. Example, seven spirits of God, seven spirits. Now, there is only one Holy Spirit. So to say there are seven Holy Spirits would be wrong. So that's an example where seven has to be interpreted figuratively. And the word seven simply represents perfection. That means this is perfect. So seven, why do we say it's perfect? Because in creation we see seven representing perfect. Light has seven colors. Perfect. A week has seven days. Perfect. Makes up a week. So it's talking about perfection. It brings something to its perfect state, a complete state. So when we read about seven spirits, that means this is the perfect Holy Spirit. He has seven facets. There are seven facets to him, but there's only one Holy Spirit. He's the spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, fear of the Lord. He's the spirit of the Lord. Seven facets, but he's one Holy Spirit. Seven eyes. So when he talks about the Lamb, we will see in Revelation 5 that the Lamb talking about Jesus, he has seven horns, he has seven eyes, and he has seven spirits. So that doesn't mean Jesus, this Lamb has literally seven horns. No, no, no, no. The Lamb is talking about Jesus. Seven horns always represent authority. So he's perfect in his authority. Now he has seven eyes. Doesn't mean he's got seven eyes literally. You know, he's talking about his omniscience. He has perfect sight. He knows he sees everything perfectly. Omniscience. And he talks about the seven spirits. That is, the anointing is perfectly the perfect anointed one, right? So in that case, seven has to be interpreted figuratively because the literal will not be right. So as we journey through the book of Revelation, wherever things are literal, we say it's literal. When things are, when the literal is not practical, then we have to interpret it. For example, Revelation chapter six, you will find it says, there's this man coming riding on a white horse. Now, from reading Revelation six, one and two, we'll see, okay, this is the Antichrist. He's been given authority. He's been given dominion. He's exercising influence over the people. But will he actually come riding on a horse? No. Because these days, at least as far as I know, in most countries, you know, leaders, political leaders don't ride on horses, right? They go in cars or planes, whatever. You don't find them moving around on horses. So horses, Revelation six, and you'll find that, you know, four, four sets of horses coming in there. But there we have to interpret. Horse is figurative. It represents strength and speed. So this man who comes riding on a white horse, the Antichrist, he's moving with strength and speed and he's gaining influence over nations. Right? So there the horse is figurative. It's not literal. Okay. And then we see other things happening. You know, you see a red horse, a pale horse, a black horse. So it doesn't mean that literally horses running around. What he's saying is these things are moving with strength and speed across the nations, famine, destruction, death. That's what it all represents. Okay. So as we journey to the book of Revelation, just keep in mind, there is a lot of figures. Wherever the figure can be taken literally. Okay. You see that's literal. But whether literal is not practical, it's absurd. Then we say it's figurative and therefore we have to interpret that. Okay. And we will do this as we go worse by worse. Okay. So with this, our introduction to the book of Revelation is kind of done. Now we've got to read worse by worse. Okay. Any questions about the introduction before we start reading? Okay. Please. Come on. Thank you, sir. Just I want to know that as you said that the click when the John was given that scroll tweet. So is that literal? You want me to say, understand this that I have to take it as literal, like as you shared that, you know, example, like having a popcorn at the time of control. So what or is it the experience, just an experience of John like, you know, in the form of a dream or something like that, or he literally eaten that scroll. I just want to know that. Thank you, sir. Okay. So how should we process that? So we should ask the question. This, you know, okay. So we know that John has had this spiritual experience. Okay. Revelation 10. We see even Ezekiel having it and so on. This experience of being told to eat a scroll. First, we know it's not a physical experience, but it's a spiritual experience because it's happening in a vision. And the physical experience would be would not be right. You know, we don't eat paper or we don't physically eat scroll. So it's a spiritual experience. But in a spiritual experience, would it be literal or would it be figurative? Is it, you know, is it just something that God is, you know, representing? Now, spiritually also, would we, would somebody eat a scroll? You know, now, okay, maybe they will eat. Now we know in heaven, we're going to sit at the marriage supper of the lamb. I don't know what's going to be given, but there's this great feast. And Jesus did say, you know, he said, I won't eat of this bread and wine until I eat with you in my kingdom so that we know there is going to be that partaking of some kind of a meal in the spiritual realm. But would people actually eat a scroll? So we would say, no, no, that's, that's not literal. You know, you don't literally eat a scroll. So then therefore that experience which John had in a vision, it now it was a real experience. We're not saying it was an imaginary, you know, it was a real vision. And in the vision really, truly an angel came to him, sent from God and told him to eat a scroll. And in that vision, he, you know, ate the scroll and he had this experience of it being honey and then becoming bitter. So he had that. So that we're not saying that vision was not true, vision was true, but it was a spiritual vision. And it was, it was representing something. So it's not like John actually chewed and ate the scroll, but that whole experience, that whole vision is communicating something. What is it? It's again, the meaning is given there in chapter 10. The angel says, John, what does this mean? It means you've got more things to prophesy and speak to the nations. So that's what God was telling. So the scroll is representing the prophetic utterance, the things that God wants John to prophesy about, to write ahead of time about. And so he's got more to do. So it is representing the fact that John, God is going to give John more prophetic utterance and he has to write it down. But it is not something, so it's figurative, not literal. It's not that John was sitting there and chewing on the scroll spiritually. His spirit was chewing on the scroll literally. It's figurative. God is communicating through that experience that you've got to write more, write more of the prophetic things to come. So it's a little different from us going and eating popcorn in that sense, because our eating popcorn would be literal. John eating the scroll was figurative, communicating that God had more things for John to write down. Thank you, sir. Thank you very much. Yeah, so maybe I shouldn't use that example of us going and eating popcorn. Maybe I shouldn't use it. Maybe it's confusing. Anyway. Okay. Any other questions? All right. So let's get started. Revelation chapter one. Let's read three verses. And we will read verses one through eight first. Revelation chapter one versus one through eight. You know, maybe somebody can read four verses and somebody else can read the next four verses, please. Revelation chapter one, one to four. This is the revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants and the events that must soon take place. He sent an angel to present this revelation to his servant John, who faithfully reported everything he saw. This is a report of the word of God and testimony of Jesus Christ. God blesses the one who reads the words of this prophecy to the church and blesses all who listen to its message and obey what it says for the time is near. This letter is from John to the seven churches in the province of Asia. Grace and peace to you from the one who is, who always was and who is still to come from the seven fold spirit before his throne. Next four verses, please. Somebody. And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first born from the dead and the ruler over the kings of the earth to him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and has made us kings and priests to his God and father to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, he is coming with clouds and every eye will see him, even they who pierced him and all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of him. Even so, amen. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end says the Lord who is and who was and who is to come the Almighty. Amen. Amen. Thank you. So the book of Revelation. It's introduced to us as the revelation, verse one, as the revelation of Jesus Christ. So the book of Revelation. I know many times we, we talk about it as the book that speaks of the end times, the book that speaks of the last days, the book that speaks of the tribulation period, all of that. And yes, all of that is contained in the book of Revelation. But really it's a revelation of Jesus Christ. So the whole purpose of this book is to unveil Jesus to us as this great majestic king who is going to come and set up his kingdom. So this is the revelation of Jesus Christ. And he is revealing this or he's giving it to John through an angel. Right. So we will see that there is an angel and there is also an elder. We will talk about the elders who they are who are interacting with John. So through the book of Revelation, John will see visions. He will hear sounds, but he also has conversation. There are times there's this angel having conversation with John. And there are times when it's one of the elders who is speaking to John. Right. So God is using no, you know, somebody may ask, why did God have to use an angel? Why did God have to use an elder to talk to John? Why couldn't couldn't the Lord just speak directly to John? John, this is it. Write it down. So we know in scripture that angels or angelic beings have a role to play. Just like we human beings have a role to play in God's great program, what God is doing. So angels also have a role to play. One of the roles that angels play is to communicate to man. That's the way God set up his kingdom that he uses angels to minister to us, the redeemed saints. He uses angels to speak to us. So God uses angels in the book of Revelation. There's an angel speaking, there's the elder speaking, John. And of course, John hears the thunderous voice of God. And so John then verse two, he's the one who's written down the word of God. Now, I just want to mention something about the word of angels. And then we will take up Louis' question. The word angel is a generic Greek word, which is angel loss. It simply means messenger. So it's a generic word. And the word angel loss could be used to refer to human messengers or angelic messengers. It's the same word. So depending on the context, we will have to decide. Is this angel loss referring to your human messenger, a person? Or is the word angel loss being used to represent an angelic messenger? Because it's the same word. And you have, you know, in many other examples where there's one Greek word, but it's used in different contexts. So the reason I highlight this is because when you come to chapters two and three, the Lord Jesus says to the angel of the church of Ephesians or Sardis or whatever. You know, he said on each of the seven churches, he says to the angel of that church. Now, how do we interpret that? That word is angel loss, which simply means messenger. But would God be speaking to an angelic being of that church? Or would he be speaking to the human being who's a leader or the pastor of that church? The answer is obvious. He has to address the human person, not the angel. Because the angel is not the one who's dealing with the people and preaching and teaching. And, you know, the messenger in this case would therefore refer to the human leader. Each one of those human leaders responsible, each one of those seven churches. So to the angel of the church of Ephesians, meaning the human person who is in charge of that church, give this message. Right? So it's that same Greek word, depending on where it is being used, how it's being used. We say, okay, here he's talking about angels. Here he's talking about human beings. All right. I hope that's clear. Louie, what's your question? Your question, please. Louie, do you raise your hand? Do you have a question? Okay. Maybe that was a mistake. I'm not sure. All right. So, all right, let me just get back to whatever I was saying. So the word angel, how it's used, right? It could refer to either an angel as an angelic messenger being or it could also use as a human messenger. So in verse two, the other thing is the phrase, the testimony of Jesus Christ. That phrase is very interesting because you find it here in chapter one, and you'll see it again in Revelation 19 and in other places where it's talking about people having the testimony of Jesus Christ. And Revelation 1910 says, the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Right. So you put all this together. The phrase, the testimony, so verse two, Revelation one verse two, John, he bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus. What is the testimony of Jesus? It is what Jesus is saying. That's what the phrase actually means. The testimony of Jesus Christ. And this is what the Lord Jesus is saying. So the phrase, the testimony of Jesus Christ, as introduced to us in Revelation one and verse two, is referring to this is what the Lord Jesus is saying. So, and we will see later, there are believers who have the testimony of Jesus. That means they are saying what Jesus is saying. Revelation 1910, the Holy Spirit, the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. So through prophecy, through the spirit of prophecy, we say what Jesus is saying. So the spirit of prophecy helps us to give utterance to what Jesus is saying. So that's the testimony of Jesus Christ. Is that clear? It's a very interesting phrase because it's used in several places in the book of Revelation. Okay. Verse three. So, blessed is he who reads and who hear the words of this prophecy and keep the things that are written in it. So this is one, probably the only book. Now, of course, we know all scriptures given by inspiration of God. All scriptures is for us to be edified through and nurtured by and so on and so forth. But this is the only book that opens up by saying, hey, if you read this book and you keep it. You will be blessed. Now, of course, we know God got word in the Psalms and in Joshua, God says, you know, you'll be the words of the law. You make a way prosperous. You'll have good success and so on. So I'm not discounting any of that. But this book opens with this kind of a statement saying, blessed who read this book. And if you keep it, you will be blessed. Right. So it's important for us to read the book of Revelation. Now, some many of us, many people would say, hey, the book of Revelation is so difficult to understand. There's so many of these images and so many things. I don't know. I don't understand what's going on. And so they just leave the book of Revelation aside. Right. So they will read all the other books of the Bible and leave the book of Revelation aside. Well, we shouldn't do that because God said that those that if you read it and we keep hear it, understand it, keep it practice and live by it. We are going to be blessed. So we should draw all the insight and the wisdom and the truth that's given to us in the book of Revelation and try to live by it. Try to apply it in our lives. And as we study this book, now you will understand the wonderful things that we can take and live by and apply. Right. Verse four. So so John has been commissioned by the Lord Jesus Christ to write these things. So he's starting now. That's okay. I've got a message first thing. I've got to write to the seven churches. That's verse four. So these seven churches were literal churches. And maybe I can just quickly share the PDF that I've put out in the coursework section. Yeah. So these seven churches. There's a little map here. Okay. So these seven churches were literal churches that were there at that time. So you see how Ephesians, which was a port. So this is, this is modern day Turkey. Right. Sorry, Pastor. I don't think you should end the map. I think he's on your second screen. All right. One minute. Let me share. Okay. Okay. So you can see the map now. Yep. So. Okay. So remember this is modern day Turkey. Right. The best western part of Turkey. Ephesians was right here. A sea port town. Paul, the Apostles spent three years or three and a half years in Ephesians on a third missionary journey. He was here spent a lot of time and it's very likely that during his time he discipled the leaders of many of these other churches. Right. So from here, all these churches were planted and it's very possible that Ephesians was like the mother church to all these other churches, the six others, Mirna, Pergamon, Titus, Ardis, will have the Laodicea. And you have Patmos here, little island off the west coast of Turkey. Right. So John was here. So these seven churches were actual physical little communities of believers that existed at that time. Right. So let me pause this. So John is writing a message from the Lord Jesus Christ to these actual churches. Now, some people take these seven churches and then they extrapolate them or they make them to mean seven dispensations or time periods of the church starting from 8030, the beginning, the birth of the early church to where we are today. And you may have even read some books on that, none of that. I personally feel that's not what the intent of the Lord was. Right. The Lord Jesus was speaking to actual churches. He was not speaking about time periods in the future because remember very clearly he said, Revelation 119, write things which are or things which you have seen, things which are. The seven churches were there. It was not seven church periods, but seven little churches. So, you know, so I mean, there's nothing. Definitely we will be must and we will learn from what the Lord Jesus spoke to each of these seven churches. And we will be reading that in chapters two and three. We will learn from it. We will live by it. We'll apply it. So, we are learning from each of those seven churches. But to take those seven church periods, seven churches to represent seven church periods, I think is, is not correct. Right. It's not right. That's, that's my understanding. But you will find, you know, you will find people who do that. You don't have to fight about it. You know, anyway, we're going to learn from the seven churches so we can learn. But I don't think it's right to do that. Right. Because he was writing John, Revelation one, four, he was writing to the seven churches, which were there in Asia, right there at that time. Okay. Now let's just try to do a little bit more. I know we have just three minutes left. Where's four? Grace to you. Peace from the one who was, who is who was and who is to come and notice this. And from the seven spirits who are before his throne, verse five and from Jesus Christ. The word from is used three times in verses four and five from the one who is who was who is to come from the seven spirits, verse five from Jesus Christ. So you see the Trinity here, the Triune God, the God, the Triune Godhead. Verse four, the first from is God the Father, the one who is who was who is to come. The second from verse four, the seven spirits who are before his throne. So again, seven spirits doesn't mean there are seven spirits. Holy spirits, no. There's only one spirit, one Holy Spirit. But the word seven there has to be figurative, talking about perfection. And then verse five and from Jesus Christ, God the Son. So this message is from the Godhead, from God the Father, from God the Holy Spirit, from Jesus Christ. And John is speaking. He's writing that message to the seven churches. So this is what God, the omnipotent, the Triune God is communicating to each of these seven churches. But you see a beautiful picture of the Godhead in verse four and five. Okay. Let me pause here. I know we are kind of out of time. Any quick question before we pray and close? All right. I trust, you know, today you followed everything. If at any time there are any questions, please feel free to ask. Let's pray and we'll close and go for a break. Somebody could pray please. Father in heaven, we worship you and adore you. We bless you for this time and the time that means a lot. We have spent looking at the book of Daniel and then the introductory passage of the book of Revelation. We say thank you for our teacher and the knowledge that has been impacted and the understanding and more love to come. We say thank you. We pray as we continue to journey in the understanding of the things to come, of the things written for our learning, we pray. We pray for wisdom, Lord. We pray for understanding. We pray, Lord, for the comprehension, Lord, to understand the things you have spoken in your word for us, Lord, to be able to use your word, Lord, in our daily lives and also to equip others, Lord, in the truths that you have put in your scriptures. As we go for our other class, we pray for more wisdom, Lord, in that our classes will go on well and that, Lord, you will take the glory in our lives in all that we do. Thank you, Jesus, for in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you, everyone. We'll take a quick break and see you in the next class. God bless you all. See you soon. Thank you.