Revelation - God's Word Revealed

Revelation  -  God’s Word Revealed

Author: Kenneth B. Alexander JD.

CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE Revelation –  God’s Word Revealed

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

THE BOOK of REVELATION

EPILOG to the BOOK of REVELATION

DIVINE REVELATION -  GOD SPEAKING to MAN

PRINCIPLES of SPIRITUAL WARFARE

THE BEST WAY to PRAY: HALLOWED BE YOUR NAME, YOUR KINGDOM COME, GIVE US OUR DAILY BREAD, THY WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN, FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS (TRESPASSES, SINS), LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION BUT DELIVER US from EVIL

BE IT DONE ACCORDING to YOUR FAITH

THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD

CAN YOU FALL from GRACE?

KINGDOM of GOD or KINGDOM of HEAVEN

LIFE AFTER DEATH

FORGOTTEN BOOKS NOT IN the BIBLE

LIST of LOST BOOKS REFERENCED IN SCRIPTURE

STUDY of LEVITICUS 14 -  INTRODUCTION to OLD TESTAMENT LAW

CHRISTIANITY IS SPIRITUAL - ADDRESSED to SPIRITUALISTS; NEW AGE PROPONENTS

GNOSTICISM VERSES CHRISTIANITY

EXPLAINING the BOOK of LAMENTATIONS

WHY READ the BIBLE? -   IT IS GOD’S WORD RECORDED

IN the DAYS of the KINGDOM

THE MARK of the BEAST

THE TRUE MEANING of CHURCH

WHY SO MANY DENOMINATIONS?

UNIVERSAL LAW  - HOW GOD THINKS ABOUT the LAW and SCIENCE of the HEAVENS and the EARTH

PREFACE

The name of this work is Revelation – God’s Word Revealed". The author thanks the following for contributions in compiling this work. Pastor John Robert Stevens, deceased; Pastors Gary and Marilyn Hargrave; The Living Word, a fellowship of Churches (thelivingword.org); many true believers I have been associated with over the years; and The Logos Bible Study System.

© Kenneth B. Alexander

enoch1122@yahoo.com

Bible references: New American Standard, 95 Ed.; King James Authorized Version (AV)               Unless Otherwise Noted.

Scripture References in Italics

Bold Text Author’s Discretion

INTRODUCTION

Revelation  - God’s Word Revealed is the title of this book. Revelation is variously defined as: an uncovering, a bringing to light of that which had been previously wholly hidden or only obscurely seen. God has been pleased in various ways and at different times (Heb. 1:1) to make a supernatural revelation of himself and his purposes and plans, which, under the guidance of his Spirit, has been committed to writing (Easton’s Dictionary). Although this book does contain an interpretation of the Book of Revelation, anything God does or speaks is in and of itself revelation in that it is bringing to light something hidden.

The Bible is unlike any other book written by man. The bible, although written by man, is the inspired writing of that man moved by the Spirit of God and so becomes not the word of man but the Word of God. Books written by men convey emotions, ideas, entertainment, concepts and other mental images. God’s word brings revelation to the Spirit of man. Jesus said: It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life (John 6:33). The words are food for man’s spirit, just as natural food nourishes the body.

Revelation is highly valued in the Kingdom of God. Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, Who do people say that the Son of Man is? And they said, Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. He said to them, But who do you say that I am? Simon Peter answered, You are the Christ [Messiah], the Son of the living God. And Jesus said to him, Blessed are you,  Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 16:13-19).

The Lord was overjoyed in that man had not talked Peter into anything regarding the Lord’s identity but Peter had received revelation directly from the Father. This book, along with others I have written, attempt to convey the truth of the Lord through revelation obtained from Him. The following are some odds and ends I have gathered together helping you will gain a better understanding of Him from His words. Everything said here is confirmed by scriptures from God’s word. I hope it opens an even clearer picture as to He is and His purpose in the earth.

THE BOOK of REVELATION

There has been much emphasis placed on the Bible Book of Revelation as it relates to eschatology or events surrounding the end of the world. The purpose of this chapter is to take a close look at the Book and hopefully shed some divine light on it, using other scriptures in the Bible to clarify some points. This chapter will cover chapters 4-20 of the Book of Revelation, being the chapters that deal with our topic of God’s final judgments on the earth. The first three chapters are messages to the seven churches John was overseeing at the time. Although rich in Christian insight, our emphasis is on the events which will, and have, taken place with respect to God’s final judgments on the earth. An analysis of Chapters 1-3 are beyond the scope of this work at this time.

Understanding Revelation is difficult because John was speaking of spiritual things in vision form. He was in the spirit realm, the realm where God resides, when visions were unfolded to him received and recorded in this Book. Before we embark on attempting to understand this Book, which has perplexed scholars and theologians alike for centuries, let us be clear about one thing. The Kingdom of God is to manifest itself on the earth. Every prophecy in the Bible relating to the future envisioned this Kingdom where earth and the spirit realm (heaven if you will) will merge together so that there is no distinction between the spirit realm and the universe for that matter. Jesus prayer, recorded in Matthew 6:10 states His wish that: [The Father’s] Kingdom come, His will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. The Book of Revelation and many other Books in the Bible address this one prayer, showing us how this great miracle will take place.

Many Christians have been taught and believe that all that is necessary for them to do the will of God is to lead good Christian lives so that when they die they can go to heaven and be with the Lord in a blissful paradise. Unfortunately that is not what God wants. He wants to eliminate death and combine heaven and earth together, where His will is done in both places. Death does not mean automatic perfection. It actually is a limbo where the dead in Christ wait eagerly for their fulfillment on earth. Hebrews 11 is a chapter devoted exclusively to those who have died in Christ. However by dying they did not obtain what was promised to them in full measure. Hebrews 11:39-40 makes this abundantly clear: "And all these [those who died in faith, martyrs], having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, [by dying] because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect". It is incumbent on us, who remain on the earth, to become perfect first so that those who have gone on before us can have their fulfillment. 

When Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden they had an existence where earth reflected the paradise of the spiritual realm. When they were removed from the Garden they were separated from God and since that time mankind has led an existence separate from His creator (see Genesis 2-3). His will is to restore and enhance that original creation where everything was good once again as it had been when He created it (Genesis 1). 

Unfortunately things are no longer good as man, doing his own will instead of Gods, has polluted creation to the point that it can no longer continue as it is.

John begins Revelation by revealing his positioning when he wrote the Book. I was in the Spirit on  the Lord’s day (Rev 1:10). Further he said he wrote pursuant to a spiritual revelation of Jesus Christ, spoken through His angels. Rev 1:1-2 says: "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him [John] to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John, who testified to the word of God and to  the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw".

The visions he saw do not necessarily apply to human events as we humans see them but are a recitation of events taking place in the spirit realm, then manifesting on the earth. What is important to God may not be as important to man and vice versa. Visions and dreams are also distinct in that they appear to man as highly symbolic and allegorical. God is attempting to communicate spiritual truth to a human spirit and mind. The difficulty is explained in the following scripture: For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are  your ways My ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9).  This has the result that the visions and dreams usually cannot be interpreted literally in things such as numbers, identities and times of events. For instance God resides in eternity and time has no meaning to Him except where it applies to us.

We have seen this in other examples in the scriptures. Daniel and Joseph were able to interpret dreams by God’s spirit while others were not able. Jesus Himself spoke many times in parables that were many times not understood by the hearer. The visions recounted in Revelation are hidden messages that can be deciphered only by revelation from God and knowledge of God’s word. The messages may have different applications depending when they are read. Neither is the Book written chronologically because with God time does not exist as we know it. So He does not think or communicate entirely in what we would call a logical progression of events.

In the case of Revelation God is communicating as best He can an understandable account of His overall plan of redeeming his Sons, bringing defeat to the devil and ending futility on the earth. On a purely natural level the book was written to encourage the seven churches under John’s charge that were undergoing great persecution at the time, primarily by the Roman Empire. Many of the references in the Book, contrary to modern interpretation, concerned the Roman Empire. John wanted to encourage his churches and to tell them that through all the persecution that the Kingdom would eventually prevail and for them to be steadfast in their faith. John himself was in a prison facility on Patmos Island for preaching the gospel in Roman occupied territory.

John’s first recorded encounter with the spirit realm in Revelation was in a vision that took place while he was at the throne of God. He saw, in vision form, the beings who were attending God on the throne (Revelation 4). The first scene involves a scroll with seven seals. The only one worthy to open the seals was the Lamb, the same lamb who had been slain from the foundation of the world (Jesus Christ). In other words, Christ’s work had already been done before he ever appeared on earth. He had already been slain as the sacrificial lamb before the world was formed and before he ever came to earth to manifest Himself. 

In Chapter 4, God said He was giving John an overview of the tribulations that will happen hereafter (Revelation 4:1) to the earth and its inhabitants. There are no time limits as to when these tribulations will occur, only the designation hereafter which word is also applied to eternity itself.

What is revealed by the unveiling of the seven seals is the overall plan of God for Christ to regain His Kingdom that He lost at the fall of man. Thus, the seven seals represent all power given to the Lamb; the seven trumpets that follow reflect the shaking of the world kingdoms and the overthrowing of them and the Lamb’s Kingdom ushered in; and the seven vials, by which Satan’s kingdom is destroyed.

The events which are described in Revelation are sometimes referred to as tribulations. The point to be made here is that tribulations in the world have been taking place on the earth for a long time, at least in the last 2000 years. They are not limited to a seven year period as many have advocated. The earth has already suffered many of the judgments prophesied by John 2000 years ago.

The great plague of the 14th and 15th century killed as many as 50% of Europe’s population. We have already seen World Wars that killed millions including the worst instance of genocide the world has ever witnessed. There have been conquerors and conquering tribes all over the known world, not to mention the conquerors of the middle ages who decimated entire areas of the known world. The depression of the 1920-30 caused worldwide economic collapse.  The rulers of the Middle Ages primarily Rome and the Catholic Church brutally killed millions and suppressed entire populations.

We have seen massive famines, drought, natural disasters such as climate change and conquering nations which have destroyed entire civilizations including the Mayans, Incas, Aztecs, Nasca and others. It is therefore spurious to lump the events prophesied in Revelation into one seven year period (the Bible never mentions a seven year tribulation period anyway). So as we examine the events prophesied by the seals, trumpets and vials we must realize that many have already been fulfilled as we have been in the tribulation period for at the last 2000 years.

The first seal opened by the Lamb released the white horse, the conquering horse (Rev. 6:2). We see fulfillment of the destructive deeds of this horse in that conquerors have gone out into the world before and after the birth of Christ. Among them include Hannibal, Alexander the Great, the Romans, the Mongols, Ghangis Kahn, the English and French conquerors, Napoleon, Mohammed, Lenin, Stalin, Hitler and assorted more. Thus the vision of the white horse has already been and still is being fulfilled. Today terrorism is a threat to every nation on the earth.  Conquering continues to exist today as nations and their leaders fight wars over property, resources, ideology and religion. You could say that much damage has already been inflicted on mankind by the conquering horse as many conquerors have come and gone and the loss of life from their campaigns has been in the many millions. This horse is not something that just magically appears in the end time; he’s been around for a while!

From the second seal emerged the red horse, the war horse (Rev. 6:3-4). Historians cannot argue that mankind has been at war with itself for nearly its entire existence. Nations in the world continue to be at war with each other today. The war’s effects have increased in the last few centuries due to the number of people alive at this time. Millions upon millions were killed in the last two great world wars. If you add all the wars that have occurred just in the last 2000 years the death toll must be in the hundreds of millions conservatively. And we stand today on the verge of global destruction if the technologically advanced weapons at our disposal are released at one time.

The third seal released the black horse (Rev. 6:5-6) who affected the economics of the nations. Today we stand on the verge of the greatest economic collapse ever seen in the world to this point. In the past, nation after nation, including the Roman Empire, have failed partly due to economic collapse. Many nations now and in the past have not been able to feed their people. Famine sweeps and has swept the globe.  It has been estimated today that one-third of the world’s population lives in famine and starvation. Throughout the last 2000 years most of Europe was alternatively involved in famine of one sort of another. Hundreds of thousands