Uploaded September 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
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I am relying heavily on Michael Heiser here and I can recommend his book on the subject “The Old Testament in Revelation”
NOTES:
The revelation is the Revelation of Jesus, given to John to write down and for the church enduring a time of persecution
“Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come”
A common greeting would have been “Grace to you and peace from God the father and the lord Jesus Christ.
But John draws our attention in, right away intentionally.
“Him who is” takes us back to Exodus 3:14 and the divine name of God.
John is actually copy and pasting from the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible and we know he is doing this because there is a grammatical error that is preserved when he does this.
It’s an intentional mistake to draw in the attention of the Hebrew audience and anyone familiar with Exodus.
A time when God showed up in a miraculous way to deliver His people from a time of slavery.
A point that needs to be not overlooked by this first century church suffering under persecution.
John Adds “who was and who is to come”
If he just wanted a commentary of Exodus he would have stopped there.
This addition pulls in ideas from Greek authors of the time. As they describe the pantheon of gods in Rome (Zeus in particular)
See: Homer, Hesiod, and the oracle of Dodona
Sean McDonough: quote
Not only are we encountering the God who’s divine name was revealed to Moses, who is sovereign over all history, but a God who is over all the nations
and above any being in the Cosmos who wants to claim divinity.
But it does stop there verse 8 doubles down “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the almighty”
The alpha and the omega were the first and the last letters of John’s Greek alphabet.
Revelation 22:13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
John, like his audience is aware of this that the “alpha and the omega is the beginning and the end”
Our vision of God needs to be all in compassing and These words of Revelation are very intentional about getting us there.
Why? - Christians are suffering, the church is struggling, the Roman powers and principalities look intimidating.
And our view of God is often subject to the circumstances in our lives. (Good circumstances, praise God. Bad circumstances, curse God, confusing circumstances, God must not be in control.)
12-18 Not just Transcendent but Personal
The person who reveals himself to John on this island is so glorious John struggles to put the experience into words.
He falls into a string of symbolic language.
Tozer: “Strange as this language is, it still does not create the impression of unreality.”
Whatever John sees is more real than he can put into words.
If we are going to be delivered from the current chaos of the world, both internally and externally, we need to know Jesus is strong enough to hold seven stars in his hand, but near enough to put his hand on my shoulder, and gentle enough to whisper “fear not - I am alive forever more”
“He has made us to be a kingdom of priests”
We need to see him in each other…
This visions is multiplied and amplified because it is shared - not just my understanding of who Jesus is but ours
This is not my faith, it's our faith, this is not my vision of Christ it is our vision.
We all share a vision of Jesus that is worthy of Him, the unity of the body of Christ is a transformative force for good in a world of darkness and chaos.
There is no conflict internally or externally that Christ cannot overcome - and I see that - because I see you and I see what you have come through.
Summery:
A transcendent vision of the person of Jesus allows us to endure circumstances.
For this vision to be worth of Him it needs to be shared, buy a Kingdom of priests who can share the knowledge of Jesus and lead one another into his presence.
Join this channel to support the work:
youtube.com/channel/UCEY1vGNBPsC3dCatZyK3Jkw/join
Remember to keep comments respectful.
I would love for you to catch all the upcoming videos.
đź”” Subscribe youtube.com/@UCEY1vGNBPsC3dCatZyK3Jkw
I am relying heavily on Michael Heiser here and I can recommend his book on the subject “The Old Testament in Revelation”
NOTES:
The revelation is the Revelation of Jesus, given to John to write down and for the church enduring a time of persecution
“Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come”
A common greeting would have been “Grace to you and peace from God the father and the lord Jesus Christ.
But John draws our attention in, right away intentionally.
“Him who is” takes us back to Exodus 3:14 and the divine name of God.
John is actually copy and pasting from the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible and we know he is doing this because there is a grammatical error that is preserved when he does this.
It’s an intentional mistake to draw in the attention of the Hebrew audience and anyone familiar with Exodus.
A time when God showed up in a miraculous way to deliver His people from a time of slavery.
A point that needs to be not overlooked by this first century church suffering under persecution.
John Adds “who was and who is to come”
If he just wanted a commentary of Exodus he would have stopped there.
This addition pulls in ideas from Greek authors of the time. As they describe the pantheon of gods in Rome (Zeus in particular)
See: Homer, Hesiod, and the oracle of Dodona
Sean McDonough: quote
Not only are we encountering the God who’s divine name was revealed to Moses, who is sovereign over all history, but a God who is over all the nations
and above any being in the Cosmos who wants to claim divinity.
But it does stop there verse 8 doubles down “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the almighty”
The alpha and the omega were the first and the last letters of John’s Greek alphabet.
Revelation 22:13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
John, like his audience is aware of this that the “alpha and the omega is the beginning and the end”
Our vision of God needs to be all in compassing and These words of Revelation are very intentional about getting us there.
Why? - Christians are suffering, the church is struggling, the Roman powers and principalities look intimidating.
And our view of God is often subject to the circumstances in our lives. (Good circumstances, praise God. Bad circumstances, curse God, confusing circumstances, God must not be in control.)
12-18 Not just Transcendent but Personal
The person who reveals himself to John on this island is so glorious John struggles to put the experience into words.
He falls into a string of symbolic language.
Tozer: “Strange as this language is, it still does not create the impression of unreality.”
Whatever John sees is more real than he can put into words.
If we are going to be delivered from the current chaos of the world, both internally and externally, we need to know Jesus is strong enough to hold seven stars in his hand, but near enough to put his hand on my shoulder, and gentle enough to whisper “fear not - I am alive forever more”
“He has made us to be a kingdom of priests”
We need to see him in each other…
This visions is multiplied and amplified because it is shared - not just my understanding of who Jesus is but ours
This is not my faith, it's our faith, this is not my vision of Christ it is our vision.
We all share a vision of Jesus that is worthy of Him, the unity of the body of Christ is a transformative force for good in a world of darkness and chaos.
There is no conflict internally or externally that Christ cannot overcome - and I see that - because I see you and I see what you have come through.
Summery:
A transcendent vision of the person of Jesus allows us to endure circumstances.
For this vision to be worth of Him it needs to be shared, buy a Kingdom of priests who can share the knowledge of Jesus and lead one another into his presence.
