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Chapter 1
We will be using the New American Standard Bible, reference edition,published by J.B. McCabe Company,Box 6439 Anaheim,California 92806.Copyright 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977, by THE LOCKMAN FOUNDATION, A Corporation Not For Profit, La Habra,Ca. All Rights Reserved,Printed in the United States of America
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(Verse 1)."The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave im to show to His bond-servants, the things which must shortly take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John,"
: In John 17:8, Jesus is praying to the Father in Heaven saying,"for the words which Thou gavest Me I have given to them; and they recieved them, and truly understood that I came forth from Thee, and they believed that Thou didst send Me."This reference speaks to the fact that the words themselves are given to Jesus by God the Father,Jesus gave them to,(Jn.17:6)"the men whom Thou gavest Me out of the world".This is introducing us to the way in which we are to view the rest of the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ.We should also note at this early stage,that even if you have never read the book of Revelation all the way through,you will see the power and wonder of the "One" named"Jesus Christ".
The word "revelation" simply means, to make known,to tell, to reveal,to show by means of illumination or declaration, to declare, to make manifest.Since this is the name and purpose of this book, it is very important to establish exactly what it is we are trying to discover.The very next words are the whole and complete heart of the matter.JESUS CHRIST The name, Jesus, is known to mean," deliverer,savior,redeemer."The Hebrew form is Yeshua,or Yehoshua,(Joshua), which is translated to," help of Jehovah". "CHRIST" is the same translated as"Messiah", or "The Annointed One".The ancient prophecies of the Jews tell of a deliever who will set them free and establish Gods kingdom here on earth.Isaiah the prophet,along with the writers of the book of Psalms,King David,and Daniel all speak of this same person.John, the writer of the book of Revelation, leaves no room to doubt who he is refering to from the very beginning.John is bold and straightforward right there at the start not letting the reader come to any other conclusion. This is the message that all Israel,Jews,Hebrews,all have been waiting for.The long awaited revealing of Gods truth to His chosen people.As we look further into this most extraordinary and incredable account of what he saw, you will find that the message is given for you personaly from God Himself.Strange as that may seem to you now,if you read on you will discover the real meaning that God has promised to show to those who would seek Him with an honest open heart.This message that was given to us almost 2000 years ago is ringing true from the pages even today.The announcement has been echoing ever since, will you allow it to ring into your heart? The next portion of verse one is,"which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants."This of course further establishes the heavenly source of the message as having originated from God Himself.The fact that the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY gave "Him" to show His bond-servants, tells us that there is a heavenly progression of authority.The Father is first in the progression,as He is the origionator,then Jesus the Son.I can understand if you are wondering where in the world I have come up with this Father & Son stuff all of a sudden.Well I jumped ahead just a few verses to # 6.Please forgive me if it has caused a bit of trouble in your thinking, but I should point out that to look closely at a thing you also need to see it from a distance to see it all.We will treat this portion with more careful consideration later in the study. Jesus points us towards doing the will of the Father.This is one of many evidences of proof that Jesus did not come to glorify Himself, but rather at every opprotunity He gives the glory and honor back to the Father.John gives us the opprotunity to realize our place in this as bond-servants. A bond is an agreement between two or more.The agreement of bond spoken of here has to do with faith and grace.Faith is an element of the bond because we are dependant upon each party to do their part.God has told us what His part is.He will save us from our sin and set us free in Christ to live eternally.Our part is to believe what He says,and to live like we mean it.Thats where the servant part comes in to effect.We shouldn't blindly follow because someone told us to.Neither should we be so skeptical and close-minded that we cannot see the evidence God has put before us.The evidence of who Jesus Christ really is.
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