Revelation 1-5
We are in the last week of the year 2020! For the entire year, we have focused on JESUS in the 4 Gospels and in various books throughout the New Testament. We have intently looked at names HE is called, along with descriptions of HIM given by HIMSELF and by others. As of today, we now have over 800 names/descriptions. We will finish up our 2020 look at JESUS, via the book of Revelation, in the last 4 days of this year. I will choose to highlight names/descriptions, except for those that may be apocalyptic or those names that refer singularly to GOD THE FATHER or to THE HOLY SPIRIT.
Hopefully, as of January 1, we will be able to change the name of this blog to 2020 for Jesus and beyond. Then, we can continue looking at other things the Bible has to say about HIM.
Prologue
“The
revelation from JESUS
CHRIST, which GOD
gave HIM to show HIS servants what must soon take place. HE made it
known by sending HIS angel to HIS servant John,
2 who testifies to everything he saw—that is, THE WORD OF GOD and
the testimony of JESUS
CHRIST. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this
prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written
in it, because the time is near.
Greetings
and Doxology
4 John,
To the seven churches in the province of Asia:
Grace and Peace to you from
HIM WHO IS, AND WHO WAS,
AND WHO IS TO COME, and from the seven spirits before HIS
throne,
5 and from JESUS
CHRIST, WHO is
THE FAITHFUL WITNESS,
THE FIRSTBORN FROM THE DEAD, and
THE RULER OF THE KINGS OF THE EARTH.
To HIM WHO
LOVES US AND HAS FREED US FROM OUR SINS BY HIS BLOOD,
6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve HIS GOD
AND FATHER —to HIM be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.
7 ‘Look, HE is coming with the clouds,’
and ‘every eye will see HIM,
even those who pierced HIM’;
and all peoples on earth ‘will
mourn because of HIM.’
So shall it be! Amen.
8 ‘I am THE
ALPHA AND OMEGA,’ says THE LORD GOD,
‘WHO IS, AND WHO WAS, AND
WHO IS TO COME, THE ALMIGHTY.’
John’s
Vision of CHRIST
9 I, John, your brother and
companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient
endurance that are ours in JESUS, was on the island of Patmos because of THE WORD OF GOD and
the testimony of JESUS.
10 On the LORD’s Day I was in THE SPIRIT, and
I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet,
11 which said:
‘Write
on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to
Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and
Laodicea.”
12 I turned around to see the voice
that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands,
13 and among the lampstands was
Someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to HIS feet and with a golden sash around HIS chest.
14 The hair on HIS head was white
like wool, as white as snow and HIS eyes were like blazing fire.
15 HIS feet were like bronze glowing
in a furnace, and HIS voice was like the sound of rushing waters.
16 In HIS right hand HE held seven
stars and coming out of HIS mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. HIS
face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.
17 When I saw HIM, I fell at HIS
feet as though dead. Then HE placed HIS right hand on me and said:
“Do
not be afraid.
I AM THE FIRST AND LAST.
18 I AM THE LIVING ONE;
I WAS DEAD, AND NOW LOOK, I AM ALIVE
FOR EVER AND EVER!
And I HOLD THE KEYS OF DEATH AND
HADES.
19 ‘Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now
and what will take place later.
20 The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in MY right
hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this:
The
seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and
the
seven lampstands are the seven churches.”
Revelation 2
To the
Church in Ephesus
“’To
the angel of the church in Ephesus write:
These are the words of HIM WHO holds the seven stars in HIS right
hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands.
2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I
know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those
who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false.
3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my
name, and have not grown weary.
4 Yet I hold this against you:
You
have forsaken the love you had at first.
5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do
the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and
remove your lampstand from its place.
6 But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices
of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
7 Whoever has ears, let them hear what THE SPIRIT
says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right
to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of GOD.’
To the
Church in Smyrna
8 ‘To the angel of the church in Smyrna write:
These are the words of HIM WHO is THE FIRST AND THE LAST, WHO died and came
to life again.
9 I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I
know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are
a synagogue of Satan.
10 Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the
devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer
persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death,
and I will give you LIFE
as your victor’s crown.
11 Whoever has ears, let them hear what THE SPIRIT
says to the churches. The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the
second death.
To the
Church in Pergamum
12 ‘To the angel of the church in Pergamum write:
These are the words of HIM WHO HAS THE SHARP, DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD.
13 I know where you live—where Satan has his
throne. Yet you remain true to MY name. You did not renounce your faith in ME, not
even in the days of Antipas, MY faithful witness, who was put to death in
your city—where Satan lives.
14 Nevertheless, I have a few things against
you: There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who
taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed
to idols and committed sexual immorality.
15 Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching
of the Nicolaitans.
16 Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to
you and will fight against them with the sword of MY mouth.
17 Whoever has ears, let them hear what THE SPIRIT
says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of
the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new
name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.’
To the
Church in Thyatira
18 ‘To the angel of the church in Thyatira write:
These are the words of THE SON OF GOD, WHOSE eyes are like
blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze.
19 I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and
perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.
20 Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate
that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she
misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed
to idols.
21 I have given her time to repent of her immorality,
but she is unwilling.
22 So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will
make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent
of her ways.
23 I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches
will know that I am HE
WHO SEARCHES HEARTS AND MINDS, and I will repay each of you
according to your deeds.
24 Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do
not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,
‘I will not impose any other burden on you,
25 except to hold on to what you have until I come.’
26 To the one who is victorious and does MY will to
the end, I will give authority over the nations—
27 that one ‘will rule them with an iron scepter and
will dash them to pieces like pottery’—just as I have received authority from MY
FATHER.
28 I will also give that one THE MORNING STAR.
29 Whoever has ears, let them hear what THE SPIRIT
says to the churches.”
Revelation 3
To the
Church in Sardis
‘To the
angel of the church in Sardis write:
These are the words of HIM WHO holds the seven spirits of
GOD and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of
being alive, but you are dead.
2 Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have
found your deeds unfinished in the sight of MY GOD.
3 Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it
fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and
you will not know at what time I will come to you.
4 Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled
their clothes. They will walk with ME, dressed in white, for they are
worthy.
5 The one who is victorious will, like them, be
dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the
book of life, but will acknowledge that name before MY FATHER and
HIS angels.
6 Whoever has ears, let them hear what THE SPIRIT
says to the churches.
To the
Church in Philadelphia
7 ‘To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:
These are the words of HIM
WHO IS HOLY AND TRUE,
WHO HOLDS THE KEY OF DAVID.
WHAT HE OPENS NO ONE CAN
SHUT,
and WHAT
HE SHUTS NO ONE CAN OPEN.
8 I KNOW YOUR DEEDS.
See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can
shut.
I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept MY word
and have not denied MY name.
9 I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who
claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars—I will make them come
and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you.
10 Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also
keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole
world to test the inhabitants of the earth.
11 I AM COMING SOON. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take
your crown.
12 The one who is victorious I will make a
pillar in the temple of MY GOD. Never again will they leave it. I
will write on them the name of MY GOD and the name of the city of MY
GOD, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from MY
GOD; and I will also write on them MY new name.
13 Whoever has ears, let them hear what THE SPIRIT
says to the churches.
To the
Church in Laodicea
14 ‘To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
These are the words of THE AMEN,
THE FAITHFUL AND TRUE
WITNESS,
THE RULER OF GOD’S CREATION.
15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I
wish you were either one or the other!
16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to
spit you out of my mouth.
17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a
thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind
and naked.
18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you
can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful
nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
19 THOSE WHOM I LOVE I REBUKE AND DISCIPLINE. So be earnest
and repent.
20 Here I am!
I STAND AT THE DOOR AND KNOCK.
If
anyone hears MY voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with
that person, and they with ME.
21 To the one who is victorious,
I will
give the right to sit with ME on MY throne, just as I was
victorious and sat down with MY FATHER on HIS throne.
22 Whoever has ears, let them hear what THE SPIRIT
says to the churches.’
Revelation 4
The
Throne in Heaven
“After
this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And
the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said,
‘Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after
this.’
2 At once I was in THE SPIRIT, and there before me was a
throne in heaven with SOMEONE sitting on it.
3 And THE ONE WHO sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A
rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne.
4 Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated
on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had
crowns of gold on their heads.
5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of
thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are
the seven spirits of GOD.
6 Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of
glass, clear as crystal.
In the
center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were
covered with eyes, in front and in back.
7 The first living creature was like
a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth
was like a flying eagle.
8 Each of the four living creatures had
six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings.
Day and night they never stop saying:
‘HOLY, HOLY, HOLY
IS THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY,
WHO WAS, AND IS, AND IS TO COME.’
9 Whenever the living creatures give
glory, honor and thanks to
HIM WHO SITS ON
THE THRONE
AND
WHO LIVES FOR EVER
AND EVER,
10 the twenty-four elders fall
down before HIM WHO sits on the throne and worship HIM WHO LIVES
FOR EVER AND EVER.
They lay their crowns before the
throne and say:
11 ‘YOU ARE WORTHY,
OUR LORD AND GOD,
TO RECEIVE GLORY AND HONOR AND
POWER,
for
YOU CREATED ALL THINGS,
AND BY YOUR WILL THEY WERE CREATED
AND HAVE THEIR BEING.”
Revelation 5
The
Scroll and THE LAMB
“Then I saw in the right hand of HIM WHO SAT ON THE THRONE a scroll
with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals.
2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a
loud voice,
‘Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?’
3 But no one in heaven or on earth or under the
earth could open the scroll or even look inside it.
4 I wept and wept because no one was found who
was worthy to open the scroll or look inside.
5 Then one of the elders said to me,
‘Do not weep! See,
THE LION OF THE TRIBE OF
JUDAH,
THE ROOT OF DAVID,
HAS TRIUMPHED.
HE IS ABLE TO OPEN THE SCROLL
AND ITS SEVEN SEALS.’
6 Then I saw A LAMB, looking
as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the
four living creatures and the elders.
THE LAMB had seven horns and seven
eyes, which are the seven spirits of GOD sent out into all the earth.
7 HE went and took the scroll from
the right hand of HIM who sat on the throne.
8 And when HE had taken it, the four
living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before THE LAMB. Each one
had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are
the prayers of GOD’s
people.
9 And they sang a new song, saying:
‘YOU ARE WORTHY TO TAKE THE
SCROLL AND TO OPEN ITS SEALS,
because YOU were slain, and
WITH YOUR BLOOD YOU PURCHASED
FOR GOD PERSONS FROM EVERY TRIBE AND LANGUAGE AND PEOPLE AND NATION.
10 YOU
have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve OUR GOD, and they will reign on
the earth.’
11 Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering
thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They
encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders.
12 In a loud voice they were saying:
“WORTHY IS THE LAMB, WHO
WAS SLAIN,
TO RECEIVE POWER AND WEALTH
AND WISDOM AND STRENGTH AND HONOR AND GLORY AND PRAISE!”
13 Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the
earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying:
“To HIM WHO sits on the throne and to THE LAMB
be praise and honor and glory and
power,
for ever and ever!”
14 The four living
creatures said, Amen,’ and the elders fell down and worshiped.”
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