Two Are Better Than One

(From: REVELATION #2 - 1:4-20)

II. 1:4-3:22 COMMENDATION, WARNINGS & PROMISES TO 7 CHURCHES

A. 1:4-7 TRIUNE BLESSING AND PROMISE OF JESUS’ COMING

a. 1:4-5a TRIUNE BLESSING

IoAnes tais hepTA ek-kleSIais [1577] tais en teA-SIa: CHAris huMIN kai eiREne[1515],

John to the seven churches :in :Asia: Grace to you and peace,

aPO ho on kai ho en kai ho erCHOme-nos [2064];

from him who is and who was and who is to come;

kai aPO ton hepTA pneuMAton [4151] ha eNOpi-on tou THROnou [2362] auTOU;

and from the seven Spirits :before his :throne;

kai aPO IeSOU ChrisTOU, ho MARtus [3144] ho piSTOS [4103],

5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful :witness,

ho proTOto-kos [4416] ton neKRON [3498], kai ho ARchon [758] ton ba-siLEon [935] tes ges.

the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

b. 1:5b-6a ASCRIPTION OF PRAISE TO CHRIST FOR HIS WORKS

toa-gaPONtiheMAS, kai LUsan-ti heMAS ek ton ha-mar-tiONheMON en toHAIma-ti auTOU;-

To him that loves us, and loosed us from our :sins in his :blood;-

kai e-POIe-sen heMAS ba-siLEIan, hi-eREIS [2409] toTheOkai paTRI auTOU;-

6 and he made us a kingdom, priests to :God and his Father;-

auTOheDOxa [1391] kai to KRAtos [2904] eis tous aiOnas [165].

to him the glory and the might unto the ages.

c. 1:6b Amen. aMEN.

d. 1:7a THE OPENESS OF CHRIST’S SECOND COMING

I-DOU, ERche-tai meTA ton ne-pheLON [3507];

Lo, he comes with the clouds;

kai Opse-tai [3700] auTON pas oph-thalMOS [3788], kai HOIti-nes auTON e-xeKENte-san [1574];

and every eye shall see him, and they that pierced him;

kai KOpson-tai [2875] ep’ auTON PAsai hai phuLAI [5443] tes ges.

and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn over him.

e. 1:7b Yes, Amen. nai, aMEN.

B. 1:8 THE EVERLASTINGNESS OF THE LORD GOD: THE ALMIGHTY

E-GOei-mi to ALpha kai to O, LEgei KUri-os ho TheOS,

I am the Alpha and the O, says the Lord :God,

ho on kai ho en kai ho erCHOme-nos, ho pan-toKRAtor [3841].

who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

C. 1:9-20 THE COMMANDS AND DESCRIPTION OF GLORIFIED JESUS

a. 1:9 PERSECUTION OF JOHN ON ACCOUNT OF HIS WITNESS

E-GOIoAnes, ho a-delPHOS huMON kai sun-koi-noNOS [4791]

I John, your :brother, and partaker with you

en teTHLIpsei [2347] kai ba-siLEIa kai hu-po-moNE[5281] en IeSOU,

in the tribulation and kingdom and patience in Jesus,

e-geNO-men en teNEsoteka-louMEnePATmo,

was in the isle :called Patmos,

diA ton LOgon tou TheOU kai ten mar-tuRIan [3141] IeSOU.

for the word of :God and the witness of Jesus.

b. 1:10-11 COMMISSION TO JOHN ON BEHALF OF SEVEN CHURCHES

e-geNOmen en PNEUma-ti en teku-ri-aKE[2960] heMEra,

I became in Spirit on the Lord’s day,

kai Ekou-sa oPIsomou phoNEN [5456] meGAlen, hos SALpig-gos [4536] leGOUses, Ho BLEpeis,

and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trump 11 saying, What you see,

GRApson eis bibLIon kai PEMpson tais hepTA ek-kleSIais [1577]:

write in a booklet and send to the seven churches:

eis Ephe-son, kai eis SMURnan, kai eis PERga-mon,

unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos,

kai eis ThuAtei-ra, kai eis SARdeis, kai eis Phi-la-delPHIan, kai eis La-oDIki-an.

and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardeis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.

c. 1:12a And I turned to see the voice that spoke with me.

Kai ePEstre-psa BLEpein ten phoNEN HEtis eLAlei met’ eMOU.

d. 12b-13 A VISION OF CHRIST IN THE MIDST OF THE SEVEN CHURCHES

kai e-pisTREpsas [1994] EIdon hepTA luchNIas [3087] chruSAS [5552];

And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands;

kai en MEsoton luch-niON HOmoi-on hui0anTHROpou, en-de-duMEnon [1746] poDEre,

13 and amidst the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed down to the foot,

kai pe-ri-e-zosMEnon [4024] pros tois masTOIS ZOnen [2223] chruSAN.

and girt about at the breasts with a golden girdle.

e. 1:14-16 A SEVEN-FOLD DESCRIPTION OF CHRIST

hede ke-phaLE[2776] auTOU kai hai TRIches leuCHAI [3022] hos Eri-on [2053] leuKON,

And his :head and his :hair white as white wool,

hos chiON; kai hoi oph-thalMOI auTOU hos phlox [5395] puROS [4442];

as snow; and his :eyes as a flame of fire;

kai hoi POdes auTOU HOmoi-oi chal-ko-liBAno[5474], hos en kaMIno[2575] pe-pu-roMEnes;

15 and his :feet like burnished brass, as refined in a furnace;

kai hephoNEauTOU hos phoNEhuDAton [5204] polLON;

and his :voice as thevoice of many waters;

kai Echon en tede-xiA cheiRI auTOU asTEras [792] hepTA:

16and having in his :right handseven stars:

kai ek tou STOma-tos [4750] auTOU 'romPHAIa [4501] DIsto-mos oXEIa ek-po-reu-oMEne:

and proceeding out of his :mouth a sharp two-edged sword:

kai heOpsis [3799] auTOU hos ho HEli-os [2246] PHAInei [5316] en teduNAmei auTOU.

and his :countenance as the sun shines in his :strength.

f. 1:17a And when I saw him, I fell at his :feet as one dead.

Kai HOte EIdon auTON, Epe-sa pros tous POdas auTOU hos neKROS [3498].

1:17b-18 RE-ASSURING STATEMENT OF JESUS

kai Etheken ten de-xiAN auTOU ep’ eME, LEgon,

And he laid his :right hand upon me, saying,

MephoBOU; eGOei-mi ho PROtos kai ho EScha-tos [2078], kai ho zon; kai e-geNOmen neKROS,

Fear not; I am the first and the last, 18and the Living one; and I became dead,

kai iDOU, zon ei-mi eis tous aiOnas ton aiOnon [165], kai Echotas kleis [2192] tou thaNAtou kai tou HAdou.

and lo, I am alive unto the ages of the ages, and have the keys of :death and of :Hades.

h. 1:19-20a JESUS COMMISSIONS JOHN TO WRITE THE VISION OF MYSTERY

GRApson oun ha EIdes, kai HA ei-sin,

Write therefore what things you saw, and those which are,

kai ha MELlei GInes-thai meTA TAUta;

and those which shall come to pass hereafter;

to musTEri-onton hepTA asTEron hous EIdes ePI tes de-xiAS mou,kai tas hepTA luchNIas tas chruSAS.

20 the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my :right, and the seven :golden lampstands.

i. 1:20b INTERPRETATION OF THE SEVEN STARS AND LAMPSTANDS

hoi hepTA asTEras AGge-loi [32] ton hepTA ek-kle-siON ei-sin:

The seven stars are angels of the seven churches:

kai hai luchNIai hai hepTA hepTA ek-kleSIai eiSIN.

and the seven :lampstands are seven churches.

NOTE:Revelation 1:5b has a significant change in Panin’s Numeric New Testament. Most versions read “To him who loves us, and washedus from our sins in his blood;” – notso our text, which reads, “To him who loves us and loosedus from our sins in his :blood;” The Textus Receptus (Stephanus) and other Greek texts add one letter to this word. Instead of “LOUsan-ti,” it reads “LUsan-ti,” one letter less.

Much of our Theology and our hymns are based on this variation. “But is it that important a variation,” you might ask? Well, let’s look at it from the first Torah reading following “Simcha Torah,” the “Joy of Torah,” which took place last Thursday, October 4, or Tishri 22, the last day and great celebration of the 3 Fall Feasts of the Bible (Blowing of Trumpets, Day of Atonement and Feast of Tabernacles). Genesis 1:1-6:8 was the first Torah reading of the New Year last week..

Now consider Cain and Abel in Genesis 4. Abel obeyed God’s desire and offered a blood sacrifice, looking forward to the day when Jesus would fulfill all Old Testament sacrifices by the shedding of His own blood on Calvary, and effectively reversing all the damageAdam did when he transgressed God’s first command and ate the forbidden fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil. His sin gave entrance to the spirit of satan to enter the human race. This immediately brought death to the spirit of all mankind, and subsequently death to the body too. Mankind immediately moved into a fleshly rather than a spiritual mode, and became self-pleasers rather than God-pleasers. Cain clearly demonstrated this drastic shift.

Jesus: Son of Man and Son of God – showed the exact opposite example. Every word He spoke – every miracle He performed – were at the Father'sbehest. He sought to please the Father supremely, notHis own will. He perfectlyfulfilled Revelation 4:11 – “Youare worthy, our :Lord and :God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power: because you did create :all things, and because of your :will they were, and were created.”

So – though Godis worthy to be put first in all things, why then do we put ourselves as individuals of the human race ahead of Him in preference? Because of the tragedy that the first Adam allowed to happen to us by siding with satan and letting hisnature to permeate the race.

Does God hold us as his progeny responsible for this? No – ten thousand times no! thatis why God so loved us that He sent His Son – the secondAdam, to restore fellowship between us and Him through His blood sacrifice on the Cross of Calvary. Jesus said to the Father in His pre-incarnate state as quoted in Hebrews –“Sacrifice and offering you would not, But a body did you prepare me, 6 In whole burnt offeringsand sacrificesfor sins you had no pleasure: 7Then said I, Lo, I am come (In the roll of thebook it is written of me) :To do your :will, O:God” (Hebrews 10:5-7). Mel Gibson grasps this in his “The Passion of the Christ!”

There it is! The Father and the Son are agreed in pre-incarnate times! Old Testament sacrifices are but types and shadows. Abel with all others looked forward to Jesus the Son of God as the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world. And what Jesus our Messiah, the Son of God did, was to looseus from the bondage of satan at the time of the first Adam’s sin. Legally satan has no right now over the human race since Calvary. It wasn’t a “washing” but a loosingthat took place. 50 days after Calvary came Pentecost and the Holy Spirit, the very heredityof Jesus – entered first the 120, then the 3000 – and then to us through their children, and children’s children. And when we receive the Holy Spirit, Jesus fulfills the Father’s desire to bring many sons(and daughters) into glory! We become like Jesus through the gift of the Holy Spirit. Jesus through the Spirit now lives His victorious life through us in the Sermon on the Mount – and allHis commandments. Remember the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20 – make disciples from all nations, baptizingthem, and teachingthem to keep allMy commandments! And think notthat Jesus’ commandments are but the “red” words of Jesus in the Gospels! For Paul by the Spirit said in 1 Corinthians 14:37 – “If any think himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him take knowledge of what thingsI write you, that it isthe Lord's commandment.. And that applies also to all other New Testament writers!

Assuredly the above is notmilk of the Word, but meat. Neither is the book of Revelation milk of the Word! Be loosedthen from the bondage of sin through the First Adam’s failure, and seize hold of the Blood Sacrifice of the Last Adam,and the New Covenant in His blood! Thenthe Holy Spirit within will work to appropriate to us allthe heredity, nature, victory and beauty of Jesus to live through us Hisovercoming life. ThenGalatians 2:20 will have reality. Thenwill loosingover washing have greatsignificance. - J.A.W.

2010-04-18 - Friends - My apologies. Like Harry Truman I must say, “The buck stops here.”

I am occasionally asked to send out with these mailing a document that seems to the requester to be relevant and needful. I trust that those first receiving it over the Internet have checked it out with “Snopes” or others. But- that is no excuse. I have no right to accede to such requests without checking it out myself.

I recently sent out an addition to a Revelation 1:1-3 mailing entitled - “In Memoriam” - concerning an action by the University of Kentucky regarding the Holocaust. This is not true. It first started circulating in 2007 and has resurfaced a couple of times. Just an email rumor.

Please forgive my negligence. There is a Latin Proverb for this: -

Errare humanum est - ignoscere divinum.

To err is human - to forgive is divine.

This however is not the original proverb, but an adaptation, which police officers often like to use concerning some criminal cases. The original is: -

Errare humanum est - perseverare autem diabolicum!

It is human to make mistakes - it is of the devil to continue making them!

Seneca the Younger - 4 BC to AD 45 wrote this to Nero, who he was mentoring. Unfortunately, Nero did not heed this wise maxim. I, however, wish to do so, and invite all others to thoroughly check out emails over the internet before passing them on. - Chastened - J.A.W..