Talk of JESUS . com

Tag: Revelation

The Revelation of Jesus Christ to John

Hebrews 12- Reject Not God’s Grace
Therefore, strengthen your listless hands and your weak knees
Hebrews 12:12 NET

The author of Hebrews assures us: “We have a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us;” therefore do not grow weary and lose heart.

Life’s race shall not be to the finish of death, but to our completion in eternity.

In Christ we have grace. So many witnesses of faith, as the writer of Hebrews points out, from Noah to Moses and David. These pointed to a more perfect place and worship.

The imagery of the Priest making offerings to the Lord in the Holy of Holies is an earthly imitation of true worship and perfect offering made by our Holiest and Perfect Son of God, Christ Jesus! He alone sanctifies us. By His grace we are saved.

Hebrews 12:

a Few Cautions

14 Pursue peace with all men… and the sanctification…

The author of Hebrews cautions to believers echo: “Love one another,” and be holy before the LORD your God.

15 Make sure that no one falls short of the grace of God…

Who is the author addressing? Brothers (and sisters) who believe in the Lord. Yet what is their understanding of the grace of God?

We often reject the grace of God when roots sprout from our selfishness. He cautions next to make sure ‘that no root of bitterness springs up…

A ‘root of bitterness‘ springing up draws on the imagery of weeds (among the good crop), an extreme wickedness and hatred growing from the depths of your heart. He compares this by example to the attitude of Esau, of whom the Lord said: ‘but I have hated Esau.’

Come to the Mountain

Worship at Mount Sinai

You have not come to a physical mountain, to a place of flaming fire, darkness, gloom, and whirlwind, as the Israelites did at Mount Sinai.
Hebrews 12:18 NLT

Sinai or Zion: Fear or Joy

20 [CSB] for they could not bear what was commanded: If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned. 21 The appearance was so terrifying that Moses said, I am trembling with fear.

וְזֹאת הַבְּרָכָה אֲשֶׁר בֵּרַךְ מֹשֶׁה אִישׁ הָאֱלֹהִים אֶת־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לִפְנֵי מֹותֹֽו׃
וַיֹּאמַר יְהוָה מִסִּינַי בָּא וְזָרַח מִשֵּׂעִיר לָמֹו הֹופִיעַ מֵהַר פָּארָן וְאָתָה מֵרִבְבֹת קֹדֶשׁ מִֽימִינֹו אשֶׂדת לָֽמֹו׃
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 33:1-2 (WLC)

Do you fear Almighty GOD!?

Moses did, many prophets did, Saul of Tarsus and others all fell prostate before Almighty God.

… and his face was shining like the sun at full strength.
When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He laid his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid. I am the First and the Last, and the Living One. I was dead, but look—I am alive forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and Hades.
The REVELATION of Jesus Christ to John 16B-18 CSB

Since the generations of Moses, priests entered the Holy of Holies with an expectation of meeting the LORD.

Moses placed a veil over his face after descending Mount Sinai with his face shining with the glory of the Lord. The Holy of Holies was separated from other rooms of the Temple by a veil.

The LORD is fearful and awesome! What mortal may face Him?

Mount Zion, above all the high places

To enter the Holy of Holies is to step across the threshold of holiness to encounter the LORD in a place above His creation.

Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. – Matthew 27:51-53 NKJV

22 Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God (the heavenly Jerusalem)…

The author of Hebrews describes, in part, the heavenly abode of the Lord God and Christ Jesus. Moses could not fully explain the Face of God. Ezekiel and other Prophets could not fully describe the glory of the Lord. John could not fully reveal the Heavenly Place of the Lord or the Apocalypse of this created heavens and earth.

Yet here the author assures us of the joy we have in Christ Jesus. He describes this holiest place of the Lord as the place of our Priest making His Perfect Sacrifice.

… 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which says better things than the blood of Abel.

Do Not Refuse the Voice of Jesus

New Covenant, therefore, a new Priest – a Perfect Sacrifice and Perfect Mediator between the LORD God and sinful man. Which will you choose?

²⁵“See that you do not refuse Him… “ states the NKJV. Once again, the author of Hebrews invokes our natural fear of the Lord quoting well-known scripture. HE WARNS YOU FROM HEAVEN!

Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the LORD descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently.
Tremble, earth, at the presence of the Lord,
at the presence of the God of Jacob.
eXODUS 19:18; pSALM 114:7

28 [NIV] Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our “God is a consuming fire.”

Two covenants, two mountains, two types of High Priests to intervene for you before Almighty God. Will you worship by the grace of Christ Jesus?
```
To be continued...
```
February 22, 2019
Hebrews – 1
1:1 πολυμερῶς καὶ πολυτρόπως πάλαι ὁ θεὸς λαλήσας τοῖς πατράσιν ἐντοῖς προφήταις

It’s Greek to me…

multifariam et multis modis olim Deus loquens patribus in prophetis

God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
Hebrews 1:1 KJV
```
In our עִבְרִי Hebrews Intro I suggested that we will explore some translation back to the Greek and Hebrew. Follow links to secure sources.
```
Translations of Hebrews 1 above, from the original Greek, to the Latin Vulgate, to Hebrew do not seem to exist. Greek was the common language of Jews and Romans of the first century empire. Even early English translations include unfamiliar words and terms, like “sundry times.” indicating a portion of time.

So what is the connection of the book of Hebrews to Hebrew descendants, Jews who became the Messianic followers of The Way?

The opening of the book makes the connection. Its purpose is to explain the connection of the Messiah Iēsous to GOD, θεός theos in the Greek,in Hebrew, אֱלֹהִים ‘elohiym.

Hebrews 1:

The Nature of the Son

Jesus often referred to himself as the Son of Man, a specific messianic reference to the Messiah, only Son of God, born as a man.

Long ago God spoke to the fathers by the prophets at different times and in different ways. In these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son.
Hebrews 1:1-2a CSB

An immediate mention of God speaking through recognized prophets of the Jews. These include Abraham, Israel, Moses, David, Isaiah and many others. The voice of ‘his Son’ speaks with a first-person authority of the LORD speaking directly.

God has appointed him heir of all things and made the universe through him.

The Son of Man, Jesus, is heir of all creation, much as a human son receives the inheritance of his father’s work. Yet the author of Hebrews points out even more of the Image of the Son to the Father.

The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word.
Hebrews 1:3 CSB

After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

Jesus is of the same glory and exactly like God the Father and assumed the Throne of Majesty after making the Perfect Sacrifice for our sins on the Cross. The action of God Himself on the Cross purged our sins!

So he [Jesus] became superior to the angels, just as the name he inherited is more excellent than theirs.

Angels and messengers of God

The writer of Hebrews states that the man Jesus is much more than a prophet, then proceeds by comparing Jesus to the glory of God the Father. After briefly considering the Son of Man, now the writer of Hebrews proceeds to compare Jesus to unseen messengers .

Angels are spirit messengers of God. Jesus emphasized the importance of the unseen spirit of man – soul, if you will – in its role of communication with God.

Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit.
John 3:5-6 CSB

The water of baptism or purification is not enough. Repentance is not enough. Good works of the flesh are not enough. No one is justified by God without receiving the Spirit of God, messenger to your soul. The writer of Hebrews quotes scripture about angels, holding up Jesus as the Highest Messenger.

The Son [Jesus] Superior to Angels

5 For to which of the angels did he ever say,
- Psalm 2:7 אֲסַפְּרָה אֶֽל חֹק יְֽהוָה אָמַר אֵלַי בְּנִי אַתָּה אֲנִי הַיֹּום יְלִדְתִּֽיךָ׃
- or again, “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son?”
- Hebrews 1:6 Again, when he brings his firstborn into the world, he says,
- Deuteronomy 32:43 LXX (Septuagint) εὐφράνθητε, οὐρανοί, ἅμα αὐτῷ, καὶ προσκυνησάτωσαν αὐτῷ πάντες ἄγγελοι Θεοῦ· εὐφράνθητε, ἔθνη μετὰ τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐνισχυσάτωσαν αὐτῷ πάντες υἱοὶ Θεοῦ· ὅτι τὸ αἷμα τῶν υἱῶν αὐτοῦ ἐκδικᾶται, καὶ ἐκδικήσει καὶ ἀνταποδώσει δίκην τοῖς ἐχθροῖς καὶ τοῖς μισοῦσιν ἀνταποδώσει, καὶ ἐκκαθαριεῖ Κύριος τὴν γῆν τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτοῦ.
- Psalm 97:7 LXX (Septuagint) σαλευθήτω ἡ θάλασσα καὶ τὸ πλήρωμα αὐτῆς, ἡ οἰκουμένη καὶ πάντες οἱ κατοικοῦντες ἐν αὐτῇ.
- All the gods must worship him. [97:7 LXX, Syr read All his angels]
- Hebrews 1:7 7 And about the angels he says:
- Psalm 104:4 עֹשֶׂה מַלְאָכָיו רוּחֹות מְשָׁרְתָיו אֵשׁ לֹהֵֽט׃
- NKJV Who makes His angels spirits, His ministers a flame of fire.
“Rejoice with him, you heavens,
and let all of God’s angels worship him.
Deu.32:43a NLT As in Dead Sea Scrolls and Greek version; Masoretic Text lacks the first two lines.

The writer of Hebrews makes clear that Jesus is superior to the angels, using scripture from the Old Testament to do so.

but about the Son

Hebrews 1:8-12 is glorification of the Son of God. Like his opening, the author quotes scriptures known to the Jews.

Quotes from Psalms often glorify God and glorify the king. The inference here is that Jesus, the Messiah, is a King forever.

Psalm 45

יָפְיָפִיתָ מִבְּנֵי אָדָם הוּצַק חֵן בְּשְׂפְתֹותֶיךָ עַל־כֵּן בֵּֽרַכְךָ אֱלֹהִים לְעֹולָֽם׃
Psalm 45:2
```
2 You are fairer than the sons of men;
 Grace is poured upon Your lips;
 Therefore God has blessed You forever.
 3 Gird Your sword upon Your thigh, O Mighty One,
 With Your glory and Your majesty.
```
The king holds up the royal scepter of righteousness, the symbol of justice in the right hand.

6 Your throne, O God, is forever and ever;
A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom.
7 You love righteousness and hate wickedness;
Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You
With the oil of gladness more than Your companions.

This reference by the writer of Hebrews to the Son being higher than the angels comes directly from this song of love in Psalm 45. The Messiah is an answer to prayer – centuries of prayers by faithful Jews. Hebrews continues by quoting another Psalm.

Psalm 102 – The Lord’s Eternal Love

Hear my prayer, O Lord,
And let my cry come to You.

12 But You, O Lord, shall endure forever,
And the remembrance of Your name to all generations.

18 This will be written for the generation to come,
That a people yet to be created may praise the Lord.

25 Of old You laid the foundation of the earth,
And the heavens are the work of Your hands.
26 They will perish, but You will endure;
Yes, they will all grow old like a garment;
Like a cloak You will change them,
And they will be changed.
27 But You are the same,
And Your years will have no end.

You are the same

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.”
The revelation of Jesus Christ to John 22:13

Hebrews 1 closes reaffirming that the Son IS the creative Word of the Lord.

13 Now to which of the angels has he ever said:

Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies your footstool?

Once again, quoting a Psalm announcement of the Messiah’s reign.

14 [NIV} Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?

Yes. Angels are ministering spirits of the LORD.

Yet the Son of Man, God Incarnate: was, and IS, and will be higher than the angels; the righteous King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
```
To be continued...
```
January 8, 2019
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