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The Revelation of Jesus Christ to John

A Witness through John – King of the Darkness

And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon.
The Revelation of Jesus Christ to John 9:11

Light from Darkness

What do you believe about light and darkness, about good and evil, about God and the opponents of the LORD?

John begins his gospel much like Genesis with contrasts between light and darkness and introduces evidence of the presence of Christ and the Spirit of God.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…
That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it.
John 1:1,5 CSB

John compares Jesus to light, God’s answer to formlessness and darkness. Moses illustrates darkness in the beginning (Genesis) as chaos prior to God’s intervention by creation.

Genesis 1:

2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness.

And the Spirit of God moved like the wind over the gathering wave of a deep unending sea.

And God saw that it was good.

Light and darkness, good and evil, God’s plan and chaos: always separated. The Apostle John makes this separation very clear to the church as he writes in his third letter:

3 John 1:11 Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God.

Choose Light or descend into darkness?

We like the Apostle John because he points us toward Christ’s love for the world. His gospel emphasizes Jesus’ love with little mention of the devil.

Some christians and others of this twenty-first century doubt the existence of the devil or question the influence, if any, of Satan and demons. We think we know these influencers of evil from other books of the Bible and tend to dismiss demons and devils.

John’s gospel is all about the Light.

John 1:9 The true light that gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

Yet Jesus cautions us, pointing to contrasts between light and darkness, good and evil, and yes, between following Him or the prince of darkness.

Jesus spoke to them again: “I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.”
“I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me would not remain in darkness.
John 8:12 & John 12:46

These warnings against darkness from the Son of God ought to be enough, yet the prince of the world would tempt us to worldliness.

These warnings from John’s gospel do not differ from those of the Prophets.

Woe to you who long for the day of the LORD!
What will the day of the LORD be for you?
It will be darkness and not light.
Amos 5:15 CSB

Revelation – ἀποκάλυψις apokalypsis

When we think of young John, the loving faithful follower of Jesus, we forget that he lived a long life as the only surviving Apostle. Rome finally banished John to Patmos where he received a terrifying apocalypse from the risen Christ.

Orazio Fidani, Saint John the Apostle, c. 1640-56

God judges the world; that is, those of the world who have turned away from the only Savior, our Lord.

Do you fear the uncertainty of darkness?

Consider the uncertainty of death!

Should God punish sin?

Dare you consider the darkness of death, experienced by your soul?

Judgement of the World

“Go and pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.”
Revelation 16:1

Last Judgement – Michelangelo

10 The fifth [angel] poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness.

People gnawed their tongues because of their pain

11 and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they did not repent of their works.

Judgement! And punishment, even after death.

No redemption from sin, no help from the beast or false prophet.

Certainly no post-death incarnation into a new or different body, not even that of a lowly animal. (Such selfish idolatry of those lost souls who strictly adhere to such ancient lies or worship false gods.)

John proclaims Jesus’ love for the world! Yet the world rejects Him, because their deeds done in darkness are evil.

And who is behind it all? Who would lead sinners into a place of darkness and evil since the beginning of the world? John tells us.

That Great Dragon of Darkness

12:9 καὶ ἐβλήθη ὁ δράκων ὁ μέγας ὁ ὄφις ὁ ἀρχαῖος ὁ καλούμενος Διάβολος καὶ ὁ Σατανᾶς ὁ πλανῶν τὴν οἰκουμένην ὅλην ἐβλήθη εἰς τὴν γῆν καὶ οἱ ἄγγελοι αὐτοῦ μετ’ αὐτοῦ ἐβλήθησαν

He was thrown to earth, and his angels with him. – Revelation 12:9

Revelation 9: The Fifth Trumpet

The fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to earth. The key for the shaft to the abyss was given to him. 2 He opened the shaft to the abyss, and smoke came up out of the shaft like smoke from a great furnace so that the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the shaft.

The Dragon Thrown Out of Heaven

⁷Then war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels also fought, ⁸but he could not prevail, and there was no place for them in heaven any longer.

You with eyes to see, souls seeking the Light of salvation: observe the terrible intensity of the battle between good and evil – Satan’s opposition to the Lord God and Christ Jesus. It is a battle to the death for our souls!

Yet by the mercy of the LORD’s Sacrifice of love on the Cross for you, Christ Jesus purchased victory eternal over the dragon of darkness.

⁹So the great dragon was thrown out—the ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the one who deceives the whole world. He was thrown to earth, and his angels with him.

The many names of the evil one

He hides in the shadows of darkness and speaks lies to false prophets. We know this dark imitator of light by many names, confusing even more our blurred vision of his subtle evil.

The great dragon – δράκων from familiar imagery of Greek mythology to John’s audience. The ancient serpent – ὄφις , a familiar reference to the cunning tempter in Eden , a clear reference to original sin חַטָּאָת.

John clarifies the identity of the enemy with two additional names more familiar to us, first: the devil – διάβολος diabolos in the familiar Greek, which means slanderer or accuser. He is known as the tempter πεῖρα, one who would bring you to a trial or terrible experience. It is a word from a root word πέραν meaning, ‘to pierce,’ which contains significant symbolism in the war between good and evil, between Christ and Satan.

John’s second identification is the most familiar and most feared: Satan. The contemporary name in the Greek, Σατανᾶς Satanas, also known to fellow Jews, believers along with John, as Satan שָׂטָן.

Revelation 16:10 refers to Satan’s princely throne as ‘throne of the beast,’ θηρίον thērion, implying his wild, venomous nature, even brutal, savage and ferocious, sometime illustrated as a bestial man.

Is is any wonder that the evil one wants man, created in the image of God, to dismiss him as myth?

More names of the prince of darkness

While relating the prophesy known as the fifth trumpet, John refers to Satan as: ‘the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he has the name Apollyon.’

Luke’s Gospel describes the actions of demons, evil spirits influencing a human soul, confronting Jesus.

28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before him, and said in a loud voice,
“What do you have to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torment me!”
29 For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man…
31 And they begged him not to banish them to the abyss.

Deep in the darkness of the pit of the abyss sits the throne of its angel and prince.

John identifies the destroyer of souls as Abaddōn, from the Hebrew אֲבַדּוֹן ‘abaddown most associated with the sheol and the grave.

The LORD brings death and gives life;
he sends some down to Sheol, and he raises others up.
1 Samuel 2:6

Knowing its familiarity to the learned Greek culture of the Roman empire, John also refers to the prince of darkness as Apollyōn, the Greek adjective for destroyer.

War in Heaven

War in Heaven by Pieter Paul Rubens, 1619

Then war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels also fought, but he could not prevail, and there was no place for them in heaven any longer.
Revelation 12:7-8

Though Satan rules the darkness and entices sinners to turn against Christ Jesus and bow down at the throne of darkness, dare you doubt the consequence of the war between good and evil?

Michael and Satan, by Guido Reni, c. 1636

Revelation 19:

Satan and the false prophet are defeated and punished.

The saints then reign with Christ.

The Lord reigns over a new creation and a new Jerusalem.

The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 Night will be no more…
Revelation 22:3b-4a

The Apostle John pleas to his beloved churches, to beloved saints who claim Christ. The commandment of God is love, as Christ has loved us.

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in him.
1 John 1:5

Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!

October 31, 2018
God’s Love Through John: Jesus Loves You

NEW: Introduction to September 2018 series on talkofJesus.com Christian Social Witness by Roger Harned.

God’s Love Through John: Jesus Loves You is one of several series & more than 650 searchable posts published since 2013 . Please add your comments & share via social media. Blessings. Roger

John, Messenger of God’s Love

This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true. – John 21:24
True? You could ask to know about the Lord God or about the Messiah Christ Jesus, but some will always ask of the Gospel, “Who says?” It’s a fair question, since many deceivers have gone out into the world making false claims about God. For our best answer we need to think of John in two entirely different contexts. First as the youngest Apostle of Jesus Christ and lastly, much later as an Elder. The one testifying to the Truth is the last surviving Disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Who is John and why does he give us Good News about Christ Jesus?
Our visualization of Jesus and John shows an unparalleled love of a father or teacher for His nearest follower. Therefore, we cannot think of John without thinking of love in the Person of Christ Jesus. John, son of Zebedee and his older brother James, son of Zebedee, both follow Jesus, as do Simon Peter and others. ‘Zebedee and Sons’ could have been the sign for their family fishing business. Simon also made his living as fishermen, perhaps even as a foreman for Zebedee and sons.

And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men. Mark 1:17

His Closest Friends
Who knows Jesus best among the Disciples? And which Disciple remains nearest to the rabbi who claims to be the Truth? His inner circle, comprised of Peter, James and John. True to the nature of the Lord, Jesus chooses humble followers. This Disciple is humble like Moses and a young man like the anointed David. This younger son of Zebedee the fisherman fits the role of an eager servant who loves his Lord and Master.
Young John learns the heart of Jesus and shares his love with us.
So the Lord calls these managers of a Galilean fishing cooperative to become ‘fishers of men.’ He includes Peter, James and John the younger brother in His inner circle of the Twelve. The gospels also reveal that Salome, mother of John and James, followed Jesus. They all love Christ Jesus with an interpersonal familial love.
The Great Commission of Love

One of his disciples, the one Jesus loved, was reclining close beside Jesus. – John 13:23
Jesus then asks of His friends:
“As the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Remain in my love. – John 15:9
After Jesus’ crucifixion and death all of them return home to their fishing business.
The disciple, the one Jesus loved, said to Peter, “It is the Lord! ”

John 21:7
When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he tied his outer clothing around him (for he had taken it off) and plunged into the sea. – John 21:7 John would have still been a young man and Simon Peter alive, of course, before the days of his own martyrdom.
Evidence of Truth
The truth and testimony of John’s Good News would have been recorded over several years during his own ministry well into old age.
Most scholars say it was written in the early 90’s. This means that the time span between the original writing of John and its earliest copy (fragment) is approximately 35-45 years. Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry
The writer of the gospel of John was obviously an eyewitness of the events of Christ’s life since he speaks from a perspective of having been there during many of the events of Jesus’ ministry and displays a good knowledge of Israeli geography and customs. The John Rylands papyrus fragment 52 of John’s gospel dated in the year 125-135 contains portions of John 18, verses 31-33,37-38. This fragment was found in Egypt. It is the last of the gospels and appears to have been written in the 80’s to 90’s.
John, Letters from the Elder

XVI. John The “beloved disciple,” was brother to James the Great. The churches of Smyrna, Pergamos, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea, and Thyatira, were founded by him. From Ephesus he was ordered to be sent to Rome, where it is affirmed he was cast into a cauldron of boiling oil. He escaped by miracle, without injury. Domitian afterwards banished him to the Isle of Patmos, where he wrote the Book of Revelation. Nerva, the successor of Domitian, recalled him. He was the only apostle who escaped a violent death. Fox’s Book of Martyrs
John’s three letters to the churches he fathers [mentioned above] are thought to have been written around in about AD 65, some than thirty years after Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. Research [cited above] indicates that John’s Gospel, recorded on scrolls over a period of years, was likely completed later than John’s letters. Prior to completion of his Gospel, letters would have been delivered to each church (in modern day Turkey). They in turn would be read to the congregation then delivered to the next church on the evangelical circuit. When you want a brief, partial explanation of the Gospel the Disciple John, look to any of his letters. His letters convey the same great hope through the love of Christ Jesus, sometimes in the very words John later with record in his Gospel.
Christ will have the last Word

Île de Patmos, 1854 de Ivan Aivazovsky
The Revelation of Jesus Christ to John may have been written as late as the year 100, when John may have been 70-80 years old.

Jan Massijs – The Apocalypse of Saint John the Evangelist (1563)
I ask you, what demonstration of God’s love could be more encouraging to those who suffer for our faith than witnessing His judgment of evil? John encourages believers in the churches, the same believers he had encouraged by letter. Yet he also warns against many sins. Consequently those who suffer read of a terrible apocalypse to come! For they will be saved by the Lamb of God.
4:4 After this I looked, and there in heaven was an open door. The first voice that I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”
An Elder in heaven converses with John, encouraging believers who have been wronged. Revelation 7:14 Then he told me: These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
He will guide them to springs of living waters, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. The Revelation of Jesus Christ to John 7:17b HCSV
God IS love. Jesus loves. John is the Disciple of love who best conveys God’s own love for you, for me and for those yet to be born again in spirit.
God’s Love Through John: Jesus Loves You To be continued…

August 28, 2018
A River of Redemption Flowing from Eden – Redeemer
For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and at the last he will stand upon the earth. – Job 19:25 ESV

Redeemed from what?

Scripture records that Job is a righteous man. Can you say that? Most assuredly, I cannot.

A great and powerful leader loves God and does everything right, yet the Lord permits Satan to test him. He has everything a man could ever want, but then the Lord takes it away. Job loses everything except his life.

And how does he respond?

Job cries out to the Lord to be saved from miseries which have come to him in the flesh of this life (and his miseries are many). Yet hear Job’s assurance of judgement by a just God.

19:25 וַאֲנִי יָדַעְתִּי גֹּאֲלִי חָי וְאַחֲרֹון עַל־עָפָר יָקֽוּם׃
19:26 וְאַחַר עֹורִֽי נִקְּפוּ־זֹאת וּמִבְּשָׂרִי אֶֽחֱזֶה אֱלֹֽוהַּ׃
And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: – Job 19:26 KJV

Though he dies he will see God his Redeemer, face to face. In a word: resurrection. Judgment, face to face judgment by God!

Our return to dust

The Lord’s original curse against man does not dissuade Job from hope of seeing his Redeemer on the day of his judgment. Job repents before God acknowledging that he knows that he is dust.

Do you? Have you acknowledged before God that you are only dust?

By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.” – Genesis 3:19

Redeemers

What is a Redeemer? (It’s certainly another important concept this world has relegated to triteness, as in ‘redeeming coupons.’)

Redeem – to buy or pay off, buy back, recover, exchange or convert (as in the blood of an animal for sin or money for a sacrificial animal), to discharge or fulfill a promise or a debt, to make amends for (some wrong), obtain release by a payment, restoration; theology: to deliver from sin and its consequences by means of a sacrifice offered for the sinner.

Job was a righteous man, yet he knew he would face his redeemer after his death. Have you had enough to have cried out to your Redeemer?

Earlier in this series I referred to Joseph as a redeemer not only Israel, but also of Egypt by saving them from famine. Joseph was purchased and no ransom was paid for his release. With God’s help Joseph paid for his own redemption.

Many look to Moses as a redeemer of the Hebrews, saving them from slavery. Moses had been born into slavery under imminent threat of death, but the Lord rescued the Hebrew boy into the household of Pharaoh. He escaped when discovered buy returned when called by the Lord. Moses freed the Hebrews from slavery under Pharaoh. The Lord used Moses to save His covenant people, but Moses did not pay a ransom for their return.

The Lord saves David and other later kings of Israel and Judah. In fact, it is always the LORD who intervenes in these and other rescues of mankind. Even Noah had been rescued by God.

From Noah, Abraham, Jacob and Joseph before the Law, to Moses, David and kings after the Law you will read of sacrifices made to the Lord. All of these faithful men recognized their own need for a Redeemer for their sins.

If you have never considered your own need for a Redeemer, you may want to weigh the significance of its antonym as it could apply to your soul at the Judgment without a Redeemer:

Antonyms
1. abandon.
Strong currents of these last days

Have you plead to the Lord for mercy? ‘Oh Lord, do not abandon me.’

Though requirements of the Law placed severe penalties upon those disobedient to the Lord, Moses assured the faithful:

“Be strong and courageous; don’t be terrified or afraid of them. For the LORD your God is the one who will go with you; he will not leave you or abandon you.” – Deuteronomy 31:6

In Psalm 16, David offers an assurance similar to to that of Job:

10 For you will not abandon me to Sheol;
you will not allow your faithful one to see decay.

God warned Adam and Eve that on the day they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that they would surely die. Adam died. So did Eve and their sons, daughters and descendants, except the family of Noah.

So did Eve and their sons, daughters and descendants, except the family of Noah. And all mankind from Adam until now has sinned, every one of us.

Surely we will also die; then as Job said, we will be resurrected to the Judgment.

LORD, the hope of Israel,
all who abandon you
will be put to shame.
All who turn away from me
will be written in the dirt,
for they have abandoned
the LORD, the fountain of living water. – Jeremiah 17:13

A Redeemer and Judge

Our Redeemer was before Eden and was in Eden. He IS a river of righteousness, pure waters springing forth which refresh the soul and give life to dust.

John 1:2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 All things were created through him… 3:5 Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit.

John 4:13 Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again. 14 But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again. In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up in him for eternal life.”

John 5:24 “Truly I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not come under judgment but has passed from death to life.

25 “Truly I tell you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live… a time is coming when all who are in the graves will hear his voice 29 and come out—those who have done good things, to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked things, to the resurrection of condemnation.

Christ Jesus! He IS our Redemption, for He has sacrificed His own blood as payment for our sins. Jesus the Son of Man sacrificed His life as payment for mine. He IS the river of life, springing forth from before Eden and cleansing our sins.

Beloved brother of dust and sister of sin, will you plea to our Redeemer for His great mercy?

Then he showed me the river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the city’s main street. The tree of life was on each side of the river…
Revelation 22:
August 21, 2018