Blessed
*******
revelation (rèv´e-lâ´shen) noun
1. a. The act of revealing or disclosing.
b. Something revealed, especially a dramatic disclosure of something not previously known or realized.
2. Theology. A manifestation of divine will or truth.
Excerpted from The American Heritage® Dictionary
The Revelation of Jesus Christ
which God gave unto him
to shew unto his servants
things which must
shortly
come to pass
...
and he sent
and signified it
by his angel
unto his servant John
(((Jesus takes this revelation given to Him by God and gives it to His angel and His angel gives it to His servant John. His servant. John serves Jesus as all of us who follow Jesus. We are His servants, alive to do His will. We can't forget this, when we forget that we are servants of Jesus we forget the reason Jesus took on humanity, giving His life for us. We serve Jesus. We live to do His will. Whatever the will of Jesus we must stand ready to serve Him. John was ready to serve Him, and John was given the Revelation of Jesus Christ by Christ's angel to give to all that would follow him until Christ's return.))))
...
Who
bare record
of the word of God
and of the testimony of Jesus Christ
and of all things that he saw.
(((John bare record. John recorded all that he was told to record. He did so recording the word of God, he did so with the testimony of Jesus. Jesus revealed what God gave him to reveal- a prophecy a testimony Rev. 19:10 '...for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy' - and John recorded that prophecy perfectly, he recorded all that was shown to him. He bare record of the word of God, the testimony of Jesus, and all things that he saw. There was nothing he didn't record and all that he recorded was done so for us.))))
...
Blessed is he that readeth
(((Blessed-
Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia
BLESSED
bles'-ed (barukh): Where God is referred to, this word has the sense of "praise," as in 1 Samuel 25:32, "Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel." But where man is in mind it is used in the sense of "happy" or "favored," and most frequently so in the Psalms and the Gospels, as for example, "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the wicked" (Psalm 1:1); "Blessed art thou among women" (Luke 1:42); "Blessed are the poor in spirit" (Matthew 5:3).
Blessed - if you're blessed you receive favor from God. Is there any greater honor than to be saved through faith by the Lord and to be blessed by God? We all need to be blessed don't we? Seriously. Being told that by reading this Revelation given to Jesus by God, who gave it to His angel who in turn entrusted Jesus' servant John to reveal it to us - to be told we are blessed is amazing. We should be reading it often shouldn't we? A blessing is bestowed and we are all in short supply of blessings, none of us can afford to overlook an opportunity to be blessed, can we? It doesn't say blessed is he that figures it all out and understands everything, it say blessed is he that readeth and...))))
...
and
they that hear the words
of this prophecy
(((and they that hear... Read and hear and you get a blessing. Can you read something without hearing it? I've done it many times. I've read something but not really heard what it was saying. Blessed are that that read and hear. Does this mean blessed are they that understand every single thing? No. Not that understanding wouldn't be a blessing because total incomprehension doesn't give a person much from reading right? But reading and hearing...reading and hearing (Dict. Definition- To listen to attentively - is one meaning to the word hearing. Listening to attentively- pay attention to. Do you think it's possible to be told something you don't fully understand but because you've read it and heard it comprehension arrives later and because you've got it in your mind you can then get that meaning from it all. But if you don't read, and don't hear, you won't ever understand.))))
...
and keep those things
which are written therein
for the time is at hand.
(((Blessed are they ... that keep those words they've read and heard. How do you keep them? If you've kept words what does that mean? That you have them in your memory. That you have them in a special place to recall them. We memorize so many things. Right now most people without any medical impediments memorize things all the time. We memorize phone numbers, names, job procedures... our minds hold the memories of a lot of things going way back to our childhood and on up. Keeping the words we hear is worthy of a blessing.
Reading, hearing, keeping- if I hand you a piece of paper and tell you to read what is written on there and really listen and hear what is being said there, then keep those words what would you do? Would you do that because I'm important to you? Because what I have to say is important? Because what I want you to remember and know is important? What if what I wrote there was the key to a million dollars? You'd do all you could to memorize what I wrote wouldn't you? You'd read it as often as you could, you'd try to hear it...you'd listen to it for sure and you'd keep it, you'd memorize it wouldn't you? Seriously, you would. If I told you it was something you needed to read, hear, and keep until an unknown time when you'd inherit that million you'd make sure you were prepared wouldn't you?
Yes, you know what I'm getting at don't you? We are blessed, and being blessed by God is having favor of God, and we are told to read, hear, and keep these words for that blessing and any blessing offered to us by God should be grabbed up fast without hesitation.))))
...
The time is at hand.
(((Again the time is at hand and has been at hand and will be at hand because you and I never know when our own time is at hand do we? It could be the next heartbeat we take. The time is at hand, there is something in this book of revealed prophecy for all of us, leaving no one out, not one person. It is time to grasp hold of what is there for us, we have to read it, hear it, keep it, all that is there for us, by the grace of God.))))
8/18/10
Heb 1:10 And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands:
Heb 1:11 They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment;
Heb 1:12 And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.
Have you ever made anything? Stupid question, right? Of course you've made things. You've followed a recipe, you've planted a flower, you've taken a blank piece of paper and drawn on it, you've had an art project in school that you had to create, right? You've taken things and used them to create other things. There are very few people who have never held a crayon and drawn a picture. Even people who live in complete poverty and only have mud puddles to play with end up creating things. A scrap of cloth along with an imagination becomes so much. We know what creation is and we can only grasp minutely that the foundation of this earth we live on was created by our Lord. Scientists and skeptics, the faithless of all walks would have us believe we just are. End of story, we exist and that's that. Sure, let's toy with the idea of mankind transforming from ape creatures over millions and billions of years, and let us entertain the idea of alien creatures planting us here millions of years ago. Let us even imagine that life itself popped into existence in some watery ooze and as a microscopic creature crawled out of that ooze and became a human being over years of transformation. The belief that our world was created by our Lord takes faith. Faith that some call foolishness. Not only did the Lord lay the foundation of earth He laid the foundation of the HEAVENS.
We look at our world and the heavens and believe they are everlasting- barring any unforeseen asteroid, or nuclear war. Yet they aren't. This world is waxing old, wearing out… is it the greenhouse effect? We are calling it that and at the same time denying it. This world can perish, SHALL perish. Whatever the reason behind it all - as we search for reasons so it can be stopped- it will continue to wax old, it will continue to wear out. Sin has degraded not only the people but the world in devastating ways. Only the Lord's mercy has kept this world from being destroyed.
This world and the heavens will wax old, they shall perish, like an old shirt they will be folded up…tossed away…changed! And while this earth is changed, and while the heavens perish, the LORD will NEVER change. The Lord's years will NEVER fail.
Everything we know can disappear and fade away. Everything we believe is tangible all around us can perish, everything! We can't allow ourselves to believe that anything on earth or in the heavens is untouchable by our Lord. So many people like to explain away Biblical miracles by finding supposed scientific reasons for those miracles- anything so that their faith doesn't have to be engaged. Those people will come face to face with our Lord and Savior one day and in that day all their reasoning's will mean nothing.
Can we fix the world? No.
Can we fix the sin problem? No.
Can God fix the world? Yes.
Can God fix the sin problem? Yes.
God can fix the world, and God can fix the sin problem, in fact He has. We know that this world isn't our home, that there will be a new world. We know that God's Son sacrificed Himself so that we would not have to eternally die and sin would not eternally live. We know all this by FAITH! By FAITH in our LORD, in our SAVIOR, our CREATOR!
This world was created, it didn't just happen by chance. This world and the heavens are God's handiwork and there are many, many miraculous, stunning sights on this earth from the tiniest miracle to the largest- all created, not just in existence by happenstance.
Faith.
Heb 1:10 And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands:
Heb 1:11 They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment;
Heb 1:12 And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.
EVERYTHING can fail, but our LORD. Nothing is sure but our LORD. In all things, when lives are turned upside-down in a blink of an eye, our LORD is sure.
All praise, all glory, and all honor unto our LORD forever and ever without end!
Amen!
8/18/11
Rev 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which
God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to
pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
Rev 1:2 Who bare record of the word of God, and
of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.
Rev 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they
that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written
therein: for the time is at hand.
Now I've studied
this before but it bears studying again and again, and again.
This is the revelation of JESUS CHRIST. This isn't John's revelation,
this is our SAVIOR's revelation. And God gave this revelation to His Son so the
servants of His Son would see all the things that would come to pass. Yes, it
says shortly and in the grand scheme of eternity the time is shortly.
Jesus sent this
revelation and signified it by His angel and His angel gave this revelation to
our Savior's servant, John.
How amazing is this, seriously, God used Daniel as His prophet , a
prophet our Savior even referred to. Now God gives a revelation to Jesus Christ
to give to Jesus' servant John.
John, like Daniel is the human instrument who records the
revelations. John spent three years
with Jesus from the beginning of His ministry until it's end. John who since the
death and resurrection of our Savior spent His life spreading the gospel of the
kingdom was chosen to receive the revelation of Jesus Christ. John bore record
of Jesus- the Word of God. John bore record to the message that Jesus Christ had
to bring to the world. John had seen so much of Jesus', so much of His life that
he could give first hand testimony to all. First hand testimony means so much.
People who live with someone for three years come to know them
quite well. Even those who go to school- let's say college for a couple
years and live in a dorm room with someone- gets to know them and that's not a
very good analogy to the day in day out living with Jesus that His Apostles
did. It is safe to say with all
certainty that the Apostles, of whom John was one, knew Jesus like no others,
including those who lived with Him all His life up to that point.
How can I say that last bit? I can say it because it wasn't until Jesus
was baptized that He began His ministry, He did not live His ministry before
that time. Yes, He went about His Father's business as instructed but the
message of salvation, the message of the gospel of the kingdom was not preached
until He was anointed by His Father upon His baptism.
Only His Apostles knew Jesus so intimately it could be said of them that
they bare record of the word of God, that they had the testimony of Jesus Christ
and all things that he saw.
Jesus chose the
Apostle John to bring this revelation to others by recording it and we must
understand the revelation is prophecy and prophecy is the foretelling of what
WILL come to pass if God wills.
Do you remember talking about how not ALL things prophesized come to
pass? Remember when God issues prophetic warnings they are done to get His
people to see the error of their ways and if the people do, God can will that
the thing prophesized not come to pass. Prophetic warnings have this
possibility, but prophetic history does not. There was little warning, but a lot of
fact in Daniel's prophecies of our history. As we study this book of Revelation we
will see a lot of warning, as well as history- of things which must come to
pass.
Rev 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they
that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written
therein: for the time is at hand.
Blessed- are the
readers.
Blessed- are the
hearers.
Blessed- are the
keepers.
Read, hear, keep
and we are blessed.
By the grace of
God may we truly READ with eyes wide opened, with our hearts kept in Christ,
with the blessing of the Holy Spirit to give us understanding.
By the grace of
God may we truly HEAR all that is said to us, may we comprehend all that Christ
would have us comprehend and be blessed.
By the grace of
God may we KEEP all that we comprehend from reading and hearing.
All through
Christ's righteousness! All through His love! By His mercy, by His grace
forever!!!!!!!
Amen.
Heb 1:10 And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands:
Heb 1:11 They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment;
Heb 1:12 And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.
Have you ever made anything? Stupid question, right? Of course you've made things. You've followed a recipe, you've planted a flower, you've taken a blank piece of paper and drawn on it, you've had an art project in school that you had to create, right? You've taken things and used them to create other things. There are very few people who have never held a crayon and drawn a picture. Even people who live in complete poverty and only have mud puddles to play with end up creating things. A scrap of cloth along with an imagination becomes so much. We know what creation is and we can only grasp minutely that the foundation of this earth we live on was created by our Lord. Scientists and skeptics, the faithless of all walks would have us believe we just are. End of story, we exist and that's that. Sure, let's toy with the idea of mankind transforming from ape creatures over millions and billions of years, and let us entertain the idea of alien creatures planting us here millions of years ago. Let us even imagine that life itself popped into existence in some watery ooze and as a microscopic creature crawled out of that ooze and became a human being over years of transformation. The belief that our world was created by our Lord takes faith. Faith that some call foolishness. Not only did the Lord lay the foundation of earth He laid the foundation of the HEAVENS.
We look at our world and the heavens and believe they are everlasting- barring any unforeseen asteroid, or nuclear war. Yet they aren't. This world is waxing old, wearing out… is it the greenhouse effect? We are calling it that and at the same time denying it. This world can perish, SHALL perish. Whatever the reason behind it all - as we search for reasons so it can be stopped- it will continue to wax old, it will continue to wear out. Sin has degraded not only the people but the world in devastating ways. Only the Lord's mercy has kept this world from being destroyed.
This world and the heavens will wax old, they shall perish, like an old shirt they will be folded up…tossed away…changed! And while this earth is changed, and while the heavens perish, the LORD will NEVER change. The Lord's years will NEVER fail.
Everything we know can disappear and fade away. Everything we believe is tangible all around us can perish, everything! We can't allow ourselves to believe that anything on earth or in the heavens is untouchable by our Lord. So many people like to explain away Biblical miracles by finding supposed scientific reasons for those miracles- anything so that their faith doesn't have to be engaged. Those people will come face to face with our Lord and Savior one day and in that day all their reasoning's will mean nothing.
Can we fix the world? No.
Can we fix the sin problem? No.
Can God fix the world? Yes.
Can God fix the sin problem? Yes.
God can fix the world, and God can fix the sin problem, in fact He has. We know that this world isn't our home, that there will be a new world. We know that God's Son sacrificed Himself so that we would not have to eternally die and sin would not eternally live. We know all this by FAITH! By FAITH in our LORD, in our SAVIOR, our CREATOR!
This world was created, it didn't just happen by chance. This world and the heavens are God's handiwork and there are many, many miraculous, stunning sights on this earth from the tiniest miracle to the largest- all created, not just in existence by happenstance.
Faith.
Heb 1:10 And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands:
Heb 1:11 They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment;
Heb 1:12 And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.
EVERYTHING can fail, but our LORD. Nothing is sure but our LORD. In all things, when lives are turned upside-down in a blink of an eye, our LORD is sure.
All praise, all glory, and all honor unto our LORD forever and ever without end!
Amen!
8/18/11
Rev 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which
God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to
pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
Rev 1:2 Who bare record of the word of God, and
of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.
Rev 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they
that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written
therein: for the time is at hand.
Now I've studied
this before but it bears studying again and again, and again.
This is the revelation of JESUS CHRIST. This isn't John's revelation,
this is our SAVIOR's revelation. And God gave this revelation to His Son so the
servants of His Son would see all the things that would come to pass. Yes, it
says shortly and in the grand scheme of eternity the time is shortly.
Jesus sent this
revelation and signified it by His angel and His angel gave this revelation to
our Savior's servant, John.
How amazing is this, seriously, God used Daniel as His prophet , a
prophet our Savior even referred to. Now God gives a revelation to Jesus Christ
to give to Jesus' servant John.
John, like Daniel is the human instrument who records the
revelations. John spent three years
with Jesus from the beginning of His ministry until it's end. John who since the
death and resurrection of our Savior spent His life spreading the gospel of the
kingdom was chosen to receive the revelation of Jesus Christ. John bore record
of Jesus- the Word of God. John bore record to the message that Jesus Christ had
to bring to the world. John had seen so much of Jesus', so much of His life that
he could give first hand testimony to all. First hand testimony means so much.
People who live with someone for three years come to know them
quite well. Even those who go to school- let's say college for a couple
years and live in a dorm room with someone- gets to know them and that's not a
very good analogy to the day in day out living with Jesus that His Apostles
did. It is safe to say with all
certainty that the Apostles, of whom John was one, knew Jesus like no others,
including those who lived with Him all His life up to that point.
How can I say that last bit? I can say it because it wasn't until Jesus
was baptized that He began His ministry, He did not live His ministry before
that time. Yes, He went about His Father's business as instructed but the
message of salvation, the message of the gospel of the kingdom was not preached
until He was anointed by His Father upon His baptism.
Only His Apostles knew Jesus so intimately it could be said of them that
they bare record of the word of God, that they had the testimony of Jesus Christ
and all things that he saw.
Jesus chose the
Apostle John to bring this revelation to others by recording it and we must
understand the revelation is prophecy and prophecy is the foretelling of what
WILL come to pass if God wills.
Do you remember talking about how not ALL things prophesized come to
pass? Remember when God issues prophetic warnings they are done to get His
people to see the error of their ways and if the people do, God can will that
the thing prophesized not come to pass. Prophetic warnings have this
possibility, but prophetic history does not. There was little warning, but a lot of
fact in Daniel's prophecies of our history. As we study this book of Revelation we
will see a lot of warning, as well as history- of things which must come to
pass.
Rev 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they
that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written
therein: for the time is at hand.
Blessed- are the
readers.
Blessed- are the
hearers.
Blessed- are the
keepers.
Read, hear, keep
and we are blessed.
By the grace of
God may we truly READ with eyes wide opened, with our hearts kept in Christ,
with the blessing of the Holy Spirit to give us understanding.
By the grace of
God may we truly HEAR all that is said to us, may we comprehend all that Christ
would have us comprehend and be blessed.
By the grace of
God may we KEEP all that we comprehend from reading and hearing.
All through
Christ's righteousness! All through His love! By His mercy, by His grace
forever!!!!!!!
Amen.