 Okay. Good morning and welcome back everybody to our course on Revelation and Daniel, PC 308. We are looking, we just started the book of Revelation and we are continuing now. We are looking at Revelation chapter 1 verses 1 to 3 and we have just made a few comments from verse 1 and we had just stated about the word angel that that word angel could be used to talk about. The word angel simply means angel or simply means messenger and therefore the messenger could be an angelic messenger, could be a human messenger. In other places it's also used for false messengers or people who are not true messengers. So depending on the context where it is used, we must interpret the word messenger, the word angel or angelos to mean that they're appropriate whether it's an angelic being or a human messenger and so on. So we move on to verse 2, Revelation 1 verse 2. So John is saying that he is bearing witness. That means he's saying, look, I am recording what the Lord has shown me. And he says, this is the word of God, you know, verse 2. So John is very, you know, what he is telling us is, look, I am telling you the word of God. That's verse 2. It's very significant. So I'm not telling you some fancy or, you know, fanciful things that I, imaginations or things that I came up with, some fiction. No, no, I'm telling you the word of God, the words that God spoke to me. There's a reverence, you know, to this whole thing. It's the word of God. So I'm a witness to this. I am telling you, I'm bearing record to the word of God. Then he says to the testimony of Jesus, that means to what Jesus testified, what Jesus spoke. And this phrase, the testimony of Jesus is again a phrase which I think is very interesting to trace through the book of Revelation. It is used, the testimony of Jesus Christ. It is used to talk about what Jesus himself speaks. And it's also used to what people speak about Jesus. Example Revelation 12, it talks about the people who have the word of God and the testament. They are speaking about Jesus Christ. And I'm looking at Revelation 12 verse 17. It is, the phrase testimony of Jesus Christ is used to what people, that means these in this case Jewish believers, people who believe what they are saying about Jesus. And it's also used in Revelation 19 verse 10, that same phrase, the testimony of Jesus, to talk about Revelation 19, to talk about what the Holy Spirit is speaking about Jesus. So the phrase testimony of Jesus Christ is used in these three different ways in the book of Revelation. And John is saying, I am bearing witness to the word of God. That means I am recording for you the word of God and what Jesus has spoken, the testimony of Jesus. What Jesus has given to me. And he says in verse two, and the things that he saw. It's a first-hand account. I saw these things. Of course, these are spiritual visions or things in the spiritual realm. He says, I saw these things and I recorded. Now, this is again something we learned in hermeneutics. That is, the writings are inspired or revealed. That means God reveals. But they are captured in the language and in the context of the writer. So John says, I saw these things. I have recorded. So, which means that, especially in the book of Revelation, because God is revealing things to John way ahead of time, but John is recording it in his context. That means using the language and using whatever knowledge he has for him to relate to what he is saying. He records it in his language and in his context. So he will use the best he can to record what he is saying. So example, and I think I used the same example earlier in our course on the end times. Just example is, how would John in 1895 report about or record what he says. If he were to see a mobile phone, okay, so he's looking ahead in time. And that's the simple example is looking ahead in time and he's seeing a mobile phone, but he has to record what he sees in his day, in his time. He has no context for it. That means there is no mobile phone. He doesn't even know what that is. So he may record it like, I see a rectangle piece of whatever material or shiny material that can speak. So because the phone has sound and voice, I can hear it speak and make sound. It can also listen maybe it can also it has an eye through which it takes pictures. So I'm just trying to think, you know, how would he record or how would he write down if he were to see a mobile phone. He has to use his language and he has to use pictures that he's familiar with or language that he's familiar with. But he's seeing, you know, 2000 years into the future. And he has to record what he sees in his context. And then we come along 2000 years later, we are reading what John has recorded. But he's recorded it in his language or in his with what he has understood. But to us, this is something we can relate to. Like, yeah, of course, this kind of represents something we have a mobile phone exam. I'm just giving an example. Okay, I'm not saying that's what he did. I'm just giving an example. That means we read what he wrote and then we have to translate it to our day and time and see, you know, if it matches, makes sense. Or it could be something that already happened in the past, or it could be something that's going to happen in the future. But we need to, you know, take what he said using his language and try to understand it according to our day and time. And in some cases, we may be able to say, yeah, that is a mobile phone. Oh, yeah, that's something we can understand. Yeah, it's actually something that we do have. But he recorded it in terms like, you know, a rectangle piece of stone that had a voice that could sing or make music and that could have one eye or three eyes, whatever, or eyes on both sides, depending on, you know, what kind of phone he saw. And that was able to see in front and behind and whatever, you know. Things like that. And of course, God would only highlight certain parts of that whole phone. So he may not know all the apps that are inside the phone. He would just describe what he saw. Okay, I'm just giving example and I'm not saying that's what he did. He didn't see a mobile phone. There's no record of a mobile phone. I'm just giving example. So going back to verse two, John is saying, I personally recorded this. It is the word of God. It is what Jesus Christ spoke. And it is what I saw. Meaning there is seriousness to this whole thing. God's word, Jesus spoke, I saw. That's what I recorded. Okay, so we should take the book of Revelation very seriously because it comes with such weight with such reverence. So then he says verse three, bless it as the one who reads it. You know, there's a blessing in reading this book and listening to its words and in obeying it. So obviously, there has to be some sort of an understanding implied because otherwise, you know, how can you obey or how can you follow through with, you know, with action in our life. Sometimes if this book doesn't make sense. So what I want to say, sometimes you hear people saying, hey, I, you know, they, and I've heard this. Why don't read the book of Revelation at all? Why it's too difficult to understand that it has all these strange pictures and strange things happening and I don't like it. No, we should change our attitude. We should say, look, this is the word of God. This is what Jesus Christ spoke. John saw it. He recorded it. And there's a blessing in reading it, listening to it, understanding it so that we can let it then therefore affect the way we live or obey it. Do something in relation to it. There's a blessing in there and implicit there is God will give us understanding because only then we can obey. How can you obey something that doesn't make sense? Something, you know, you think it's strange. So our attitude towards the book of Revelation should be it's given to me to bless me. It's given to me because God does want me to hear that. And it's given to me because God does want me to understand so that I can then follow through with a life of obedience to God. Okay. So the book of Revelation. Yes, it is given to us and, you know, a lot of things are in prophetic imagery. But it is meant to be received. It's meant to be understood. And it's meant to bless our lives. That's our approach to this book. Okay. So let's get in now to verse four through six, please. Verses four through six, chapter one. Somebody could read that. John to the seven churches which are in Asia. Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come. And from the seven spirits who are before his throne. 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 loves, loved us and vast us from our sins in his own blood and has made us kings and praised to his God and father to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Amen. So versus four through six, of course, is the introduction. And John is saying to whom he is writing or he's bringing the message and from home. So to whom he says to the seven churches which are in Asia. So we saw these were seven churches that are all located on the western side of modern day Turkey. They were all close to each other. John is on the island of Patmos. He probably was providing leadership before he was banished and this church has looked up to him so he had some sense, some place of authority, spiritual authority and leadership for these churches. Because they all recognized him as the last living apostle of the Lord at that time and so he's writing to them. I'm writing to the seven churches. But then he says grace to you and peace from. So he's telling us whom is he writing from. And he says, and he uses the word from three times in these in verse four to six from three times. So then immediately we understand. He's talking about he's going to he's saying from God the father from the Holy Spirit from the Lord Jesus Christ from. Clearly you see in verse four grace to you and peace from him. God the father. And what does he say about God the father. Who is and who was and who is to come. I think this God is eternal God. From the eternal God. He was he is he is he was used to company. He's always been the eternity past. He'll always continue to be there. From him who is who was wish to come God the father. And from. So now he's identifying someone else and from who is he talking about the seven spirits who are before his throne. Now this gets very confusing. Excuse me. God the seven spirits before his throne. Well, we now have to interpret this. Because we understand from the rest of the Bible. There is God the father. God the son. God the Holy Spirit. Now because in the next verse, verse five, he says, and from Jesus Christ. The faithful witness, the first born. So the third from is from Jesus Christ. Therefore the second from has to refer to the Holy Spirit. The first from is referencing God the father. From him who is who was who is to come. And from second from the seven spirits which are before his throne. Third from and from Jesus Christ. Okay. You understood the first from is God the father. We understood the third from is Jesus Christ is very explicit. So no doubt. So therefore the second from has to talk about the Holy Spirit. Except that he's saying something very different. He's saying from the seven spirits who are before his throne. That puts us off. Meaning it's confusing. But then that's where we say, okay, are there seven spirits? Or is there one spirit? You know, Ephesians chapter four, verse one, I think it is tells us that there is one spirit. One, one Lord, one faith, one. Ephesians four, four. There is one body and one spirit. Ephesians four, four. So there's only one spirit, one Holy Spirit, not seven. So then we have to say, okay, we cannot say. Or we should let me put it like this. And he says from the seven spirits who are before his throne. That is referring to the one Holy Spirit. And the seven spirits cannot be taken literally as seven different spirits. But it has to be figurative. Because the literal contradicts the rest of the Bible or is absurd. So then figuratively what would it mean is talking about word seven perfect. It's talking about the perfect Holy Spirit. Or we could say what we see in Isaiah chapter 11 verse two, the seven fold seven facets of the seven fold expression of the Holy Spirit. In Isaiah 11 verse two, it says the Holy Spirit is referred to as the spirit of the Lord, spirit of wisdom, spirit of understanding, spirit of counsel, spirit of might, spirit of knowledge. Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord, seven facets or seven fold expression of the one Holy Spirit. So same one Holy Spirit is called spirit of the Lord, that is a sovereignty of God, spirit of the sovereign Lord, spirit of wisdom, spirit of understanding, spirit of counsel, spirit of might, spirit of knowledge, fear of the Lord. One Holy Spirit is given seven titles, seven fold expression or seven facets to the one Holy Spirit. So in that context he's saying seven spirits. He's saying here's the Holy Spirit's got the seven expressions or seven fold facets or seven dimensions to him. So he says seven spirits. And also we say when he says from the seven spirits, who are before his throne. He is most likely seeing this seven vibrant expressions of the one Holy Spirit. There he's referring to seven spirits. So let's think about an example. Suppose you take a prison. Right. This first array of light coming in on one side. You see the other side and you see seven colors. What will you say? We will say, wow, seven colors, but it's one light, one ray or beam of light. We're raising seven colors. It doesn't mean there are seven different lights. No, it's one beam of light or one ray of light. But what we are seeing are the seven literally speaking seven colors contained in that light. Basically, if you go technical, it's seven different wavelengths that are forever naturalized seven different colors, but it's one light sources one white light disperse. So what John is most likely seeing before the throne. This is the second of verse four is he is saying God, the Holy Spirit, but he's seeing the seven full expression of who he is. One spirit, seven expressions, seven facets. And he writes down seven spirits before the throne, but actually one God, Holy Spirit, one spirit. So keep this seven spirits. This phrase actually is a two word phrase seven spirits in mind, but make it clear that it is referring to one Holy Spirit. Because in the coming chapters, the seven spirits keeps coming again. He's saying, I'm seeing seven spirits, seven spirits. We have to understand there's only one Holy Spirit, but he is seeing the seven full expression of the one Holy Spirit. Is this clear to us any questions? So don't get confused when it's a seven spirits. Oh, no, think of the simple example, right? Light. When it dispersed, if you see or if you see the dispersion, it's seven colors. But one source light. So what John is seeing is most likely this vibrant seven full expression of the one Holy Spirit. He's recording it as seven spirits. But in our interpretation or in our understanding, we have to stay consistent with the rest of the Bible. Therefore, we can only say one Holy Spirit. Okay. Yeah, I see. I see your comments in the chat. Okay. Good. So seven spirits which are before his throne. That means, you know, this is the throne room. God, the Father, the eternal one who was or is wish to come the Holy Spirit. Then verse five and from Jesus Christ. So he's seeing the eternal word. He recognizes Jesus Christ because he's walked with him for three or three and a half years. I see Jesus Christ. And then he begins to express some attributes of Jesus Christ. Just like how we for about the God, the Father, he said, this is the one who is who was is to come in the eternal nature of God about the Holy Spirit. This is a seven spirit. There are seven dimensions to him. Then same thing about Jesus from Jesus. What about what does he say about Jesus? The faithful witness, the first born from the dead and the ruler over the kings of the earth. He mentions three things about Jesus. He's the faithful witness. That means he's the word witness martyr, the one who gave his life. He's the one who was so faithful. He gave his life, faithful witness. He did not, he did not go, go away from a deviate from anything else called it as a faithful witness to the point of death. Faithful martyr, faithful one who gave his life, faithful witness. The first born from the dead, the first person to be resurrected from the dead forever. You know, I mean, we know people were raised from the dead, but the first person to be resurrected from the dead to live forever. And the ruler over the kings of the earth. So he's acknowledging his life, faithful witness. John was there for three and a half years. He walked with him. This Jesus Christ is the one who faithfully fulfilled his mission. He's the one who rose up from the dead. See, about 60 odd years after Christ's resurrection, a lot has happened. And John, the beloved, who was there walking with Jesus physically, 60 years later, he has not changed. This Jesus was raised from the dead. So no change. He was raised from the dead. What they said on the first day of the resurrection, what John saw in the garden, I mean, when he went to the empty, when he saw the tomb, the empty tomb, 60 years later, same thing. He was raised from the dead, first born from the dead. And not only that, he is the ruler over all the kings of the earth. He recognizes he is in this great high exalted position, ruler of the kings of the earth. So what I'm pointing out in verses four and five is he uses the word from three times. And he's clearly expressing the triune God, God the Father, the one who is, who was, who is to come, the eternal God, God, the Holy Spirit, whom he sees as seven spirits, but on Holy Spirit, God, the seven spirits before his throne. And from Jesus Christ, God, the Son, or the eternal word. Who knows very well, because he says, you know, I've seen him as a faithful witness, I've seen his race from the dead. And today he is kings over all the rulers of the earth. It's very clear, you know, and then he tells us in verse five, he continues, you know, what, what the Lord has done for us. He has loved us. He has washed us in his own blood and he has made us kings and priests to God, his father. So what did Jesus do for us? John states very clearly. He loved us. He washed us from our sins with his own blood. So we embrace that. And we have been made kings and priests to God, his father. We have been brought into a special place before God. That's what he's done for us. And he acknowledges that. And to him be glory, dominion, forever and ever. And then he tells us, he looks, you know, he says, okay, this is the same Jesus is going to come. Verse seven, can somebody read verse seven, please? I think I will pick up a little speed. I'm spending too much time. Let's go fast. Yeah. We're seven. We're seven, please. Behold, he is coming with clouds and every eyes will see him. Even they who pierce him and all the types of the earth will mourn because of him. Even so. Amen. Hmm. Now this verse, Revelation one, seven kind of parallels Zechariah 12 understand. Now John is telling us, you know, the Lord is going to come. He is coming in the clouds and people are going to see him. So this is really talking about his, what we refer to as the second coming. This will be at the end of the seven year tribulation. He is coming. And people are going to see him. And they're going to mourn because, you know, these are the ones who pierced him. And Zechariah 1210 says the same or a similar thing that when the Lord returns, this is at the end of the tribulation, the Jewish people, the house of Jacob, the house of David referring to the Jews, they will see him and they will mourn because they will see that this is the one whom they had rejected and they pierced, but he will pour out on them the spirit of grace and supplication. He'll pour out on them his Holy Spirit. So John is pointing us to the coming of the Lord and he is seeing this as the Lord is going to come. People will see him and they will mourn. So verses and verse eight, he hears the Lord say, this is the Lord Jesus speaking. He says, I am the Alpha and the Omega. The beginning and the end says the Lord who is and the wars and the wish to come, the Almighty. So I just want to point something out here that the Lord uses the same words as God Almighty. So the Lord is God Almighty. This is verse eight very clearly. Jesus is saying, Jesus is speaking, God the eternal word. He's saying, I'm Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. That means everything start to finish is in him, held in him or his needs from him. And he's the one who was at the beginning and at the end at the same time. He's outside of time, so he sees everything beginning to an Alpha and Omega beginning and ending says the Lord. And then he uses the exact phrase that was used for God the Father. Who is, who was, who is to come, the Almighty. So what I want to point out is, this is exactly what the phrase that Jesus is using that was used by God the Father or for God the Father. Telling us that he is co-equal with God the Father, even though, you know, just previously it was saying, and to his God and Father that was in verse six. That doesn't mean he's below God the Father. He's co-equal with God the Father. He's using the same phrase, Alpha, Omega, beginning and ending. Who was, who is, who is to come, the Almighty says the Lord, the Lord Jesus. Can he, and you see this once again a little later. Okay. So the Lord Jesus is co-equal with God the Father, God the Holy Spirit. In a reference to his walking on the earth as a son of God. In reference to him being the son of God, we say his God and his father. That's because he chose to walk on the earth as the son of God. So in that context, we are saying in his father, his God, but he's actually co-equal with God the Father. He is, that's Jesus is the Lord Almighty, just as God the Father and God the Son. Verse nine. John says, I John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. So John is identifying himself who he is. I'm writing this, you know, so there's no question on who wrote the book of Revelation. John affirms here. He says, look, I'm John. I'm right. I'm writing this and I'm your brother and companion in the tribulation. So though the tribulation that were the tribulation, it doesn't refer to the great tribulation that the church is going to go. I mean, that is going to happen, but he's referring to the sufferings that they were going through as a church at that time being persecuted by the Roman emperors. Right. So the Romans. So under their hand, the church, the believers were suffering. So that's the tribulation that John is referring to. Right. So he says, I'm your brother. I'm also suffering the same sufferings you're going through for the kingdom of God, for the endurance of patience of Jesus Christ. And he says, I was on the island on Patmos. I've been sent there for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. So here that phrase testimony of Jesus means what, because I am bearing testimony to Jesus. Right. So that's what we're saying. The testimony of Jesus was then he says, I was in the spirit on the Lord's day. And I heard behind me a loud voice as of trumpet. So he says, I was in the spirit on the Lord's day. So this must have been a son, not most of it. This was a Sunday, the first day of the week. It was what, you know, the day the church set aside to meet and worship. So on that day on one particular Sunday, he was caught up in the spirit. That means his spirit was taken up by the Holy Spirit into the spiritual realm into. So he literally had not what we would say an out of body experience. His body was here on earth on the island of Patmos, but the Holy Spirit took him up in the spirit. He had to see things in the spiritual realms. That's what it means. He says, I was in the spirit on the Lord's day. The Holy Spirit caught him up, took him out of this body in the spiritual realm. So his body was here, but the man person on the inside, the spiritual being on the inside, which is really the real person is now in the spiritual realm and is hearing and seeing things. Well, I do want to point out as he says, and I heard. I heard who heard the spirit person heard. I heard. So his body is here on earth, but a spirit person is up in the spiritual realm. And he hears that means our spirit person has faculties just like our human body. So the human body has five faculties. And we see that these five faculties are also mirrored with respect to the human spirit or the spiritual person. The spirit or the spirit person has similar faculties. You can hear, you can see, you can feel, you can touch, you can taste or taste and see that the Lord is good. Meaning is an expression of, you know, experiencing the goodness of that spiritual thing. And here he says, I was in the spirit and I heard. So as he journeyed through the book of Revelation, John is going to be saying, I heard, I saw, I felt. And these are not things in the human body because his body was left on the island of Padmas. These are all expressions in relation to his human spirit, the spirit person. The spirit person is hearing, seeing, feeling, talking, having conversation. He talks to spirit beings, they talk. So you find that through the book of Revelation. Means the spirit person is very real and has all the faculties like what we are accustomed to in the human body or the human person. Okay. Are you all with me so far? And just one more point there in verse 10. We'll stop here with verse 10. He says, I heard behind me a loud voice as of a trumpet. So this is the spiritual realm. He's now in the spiritual realm and he's hearing sounds. He's also recognizing loudness of sound. The sound is for him, that sound that he hears in the spiritual realm. He's correlating it with the sound of a trumpet. But what is interesting is in that sound, which sounds like a trumpet, there is a message. There are words, there is a message coming through. So I mean, in the natural, if you're hearing a trumpet sound, do you get a message? No. I mean, not unless you imagine something, but generally it's just a sound. It may fluctuate in its tone and loudness and whatever, but there is no message as such. There are no words coming through. But in the spiritual realm, John is saying, I'm hearing a sound. There is loudness to the sound. It sounds like a trumpet, but there's a message in it. The next few verses are what that message was. It's the Lord speaking. What language was it? Did the Lord Jesus speak to John in Greek? Or what? If it was, if the Lord spoke to John in Greek, I'm saying example, right? In the spirit, if he heard the Lord speak in Greek, he would not have said, I heard a loud voice like a trumpet. He would have most likely written, I heard a loud voice or I heard the Lord speak to me and say, but he's just recorded it as a sound of a trumpet. We don't know the language. The Apostle Paul wrote, he said, you know, though I speak in tongues of men or of angels, these are languages of heaven. We don't know. It sounds, you know, has sound. But then John is getting the meaning of it. He's getting an understanding of it. So what can we say? We can say that in the spiritual realm. There's a means by which spirit beings communicate. There seems to be awareness of sound. We don't know what the language is. It's just not mentioned and John wouldn't say anything here, but there's a means of communication and even sound in the spiritual realm, levels of sound in the spiritual realm. Because once I heard a loud sound and you'll see that also as we progress, you know, loud silence and having this loud shoutings, you know, and so on. So there's loudness. There's a means for communication. Now, we don't understand it. I'm just trying to highlight, you know, hey, we're seeing all these things concerning the spiritual realm, concerning the unseen realm. We are seeing these things. But I think a key takeaway is your spirit person has faculties. And therefore, as our spirit person begins to engage with God, we should know or we should be aware and we should be open to receiving communication from God in our spirit person. We don't have to be taken out of our body as in John's experience, but the fact is our spirit communes with God who is spirit. And therefore, God can commune or communicate with our spirit to our spirit faculties through what we see here, feel, know, understand. He can communicate. Okay. This is what is an aside or something we can take away and be open to. Okay, let's pause here. We'll pick up from this next week. Are you all with me so far? I know I feel I'm going a little slow. I'll pick up speed. But you've all been with me. Everything is clear. Any questions before we close? Okay, let's close in prayer that we'll dismiss. Prince, would you please close us and dismiss us in prayer, please. Thank you, Lord. Thank you in this time that we learned the book of Revelation. Well understanding your deep revelation. Thank you. What do you all want to reveal us or help us to go into that plot and apply in our daily life, Lord? Help us and make more and more on you. Thank you. I bless you in this time. Amen. Thank you, everyone. I will take our break. I'll see you in the next class. Thank you so much. Bye.