The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show
to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by
sending his angel to his servant John, 2 who
bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to
all that he saw. 3 Blessed
is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those
who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.
4 John
to the seven churches that 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, 5 and from Jesus Christ
the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his
blood 6 and made us
a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever
and ever. Amen. 7 Behold,
he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who
pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so.
Amen.
8 “I
am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is
to come, the Almighty.”
9 I,
John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the
patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account
of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I
heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet 11 saying, “Write what you see in a book and send
it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to
Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”
12 Then
I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven
golden lampstands, 13 and
in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe
and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The
hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a
flame of fire, 15 his
feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like
the roar of many waters. 16 In
his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged
sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.
17 When
I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me,
saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am
alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. 19 Write therefore the things that you have seen,
those that are and those that are to take place after this. 20 As for the mystery
of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden
lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven
lampstands are the seven churches.
I love all the references to the Resurrection in this
passage. I hope you found them all. It would be a great exercise to go back
through and count them all up. (You might come up with a few more than I, if I
gave you a number.)
St John is found in the Spirit on the Day of the Lord. He is
celebrating the eighth day of the week when the Lord was raised from the dead.
It is there where God promised to be that the Word of God made flesh makes
himself known to John on the island of Patmos. He continues to reveal more
things about himself and about what he had done for the forgiveness of sins.
Jesus Christ is simply the one who died for the forgiveness
of sins. But he died and rose again to new life as the firstborn of the dead.
He is the firstborn, meaning there are plenty more to come. Jesus Christ is
only the first. The rest will be raised when he comes. Oh, and he is coming
very soon. Jesus is coming again not to be born of another virgin, but to raise
his people from death and restore all of creation to the way it is supposed to
be.
Don’t forget Jesus Christ has the keys of Death and Hades.
He unlocks or breaks down the gates of Hell so that the Devil may not longer
seize or deceive his people any longer. God Bless and Keep you from any such
errors. God raised his Son and will raise you to new life on the last day.
NTA: 1 Corinthians 15:12-28 (But if there is no resurrection
of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.)
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