Chapter 2: Revelation 1:1-8

 

The book of Revelation begins with John's introduction in the first three verses of the book, which we only partially covered in our first chapter. We discussed the title of the book and related it to an “unveiling” of truth and the manifestation of Jesus Christ in “the sons of God” (Rom. 8:19). The first three verses of the chapter read:

¹ The revelation [unveiling] of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must shortly take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant, John, ² who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. ³ Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.

Bond-servants of Christ

The reference to “bond-servants” is a reference to the law in Exodus 21:1-6. If a man has been sold (for debt) to be a servant, he was to be set free at the end of the sixth year. A righteous master who ruled his servants by the mind of Christ would be loved by all of the servants. Thus, if a servant loved his master and did not want to be set free, he could return and declare his intention to be a bond-servant, giving up his freedom forever.

The seal of the bond-servant was that his master would nail his earlobe to the door of his house. This ritual “opened the ear” of the bond-servant, indicating that he had “heard” the word of the master and that his master's law was written in his heart. Hence, we read in Psalm 40:6-8,

⁶ Sacrifice and meal offerings Thou hast not desired; My ears Thou hast opened; Burnt offering and sin offering Thou hast not required. ⁷ Then I said, Behold, I come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me; ⁸ I delight to do Thy will, O my God; Thy law is within my heart.

This was prophetic of Jesus Christ, the Pattern Overcomer, the suffering Servant, the One in whose heart the divine law was written. Hebrews 10:5-10 applies the passage to Jesus. Yet if we say that we abide in Him, then we ought also to do as He did (1 John 2:6). Because of Adam's sin, we have all been sold to sin as debtors (Rom. 6:16-18). Christ came to redeem us, which means that He bought us, so that we now serve Him, rather than sin. Jesus has set us free, so that we have opportunity to return to Him, no longer desiring our Adamic inheritance, but to partake in Christ's inheritance.

This makes us bond-servants of Jesus Christ. He has opened our spiritual ears by nailing us to the Door, which is Jesus Himself (John 10:9). Like John and Paul, we are now bond-servants of God through attachment to Christ. We have come to have our ears opened by the “nail,” having His law written on our hearts. We are no longer obedient because we have to, but because we delight to do His will. Mere servants are those who are forced to be obedient by the master's disciplines and corrections. The bond-servant is one who delights to be obedient and is eager to do all of the Master's will.

To put it another way, servants have to do their master's will; but sons want to do it.

A bond-servant (like John) is also one who bears witness to the word of God. One who complains about the word, as if it were oppressive and a terrible burden, is not a faithful witness, even if he grudgingly repeats what he has heard. One must have the law written on his heart to bear witness to the word. One must understand and AGREE with it, saying AMEN to all that the Father says and does. This is what it means to be a bond-servant of Jesus Christ and a faithful witness to the word.

Verse 3 pronounces a blessing on all those who “hear” and “heed” (obey) the word. This is a Hebrew idiom. In the Hebrew language, the word shema means both to hear and to obey. Deuteronomy 6:4 says,

⁴ Hear [shema], O Israel! The Lord [Yahweh] is our God, the Lord [Yahweh] is one!

If a person does not obey what is said, then how can it be said that he “heard” the word? In Hebrew idiom, no one truly “hears” unless one also obeys. This concept is also the foundation of James' teaching. He says in James 1:22,

²² But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.

Since faith comes by hearing, and hearing is proven by doing what God has said, James tells us in 2:18, “I will show you my faith by my works,” that is, by being obedient to whatever God tells him to do.

There has been a controversy in the Church regarding Paul and James. Paul uses the example of Abraham to show that we are justified by faith, rather than by works (Rom. 4:1-4). James uses the same example of Abraham to show that our faith is proven by our works (James 2:21-24). Some Christians pick sides, as if to say that Paul and James contradict one another. Others say that James was writing to the Jews, who are somehow justified by works, while Paul was writing to non-Jews, who are justified by faith alone.

This dual gospel theory in essence creates two religions, or two paths to God, one for Jews and one for the rest of humanity. It assumes that Jews are saved by the works of the law, while “gentiles” are saved by grace. It is fortunate for Jews that this teaching is false, for no man—not even a Jew—can be saved by his works. Paul says in Rom. 3:19,

¹⁹ Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may become accountable to God; 20 because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law is the knowledge of sin.

No flesh can be justified by the works of the law. Are Jews the exception to the rule? Obviously not. Furthermore, the Law was given to make “all the world” accountable to God, not just Jews. Sin is not just a Jewish phenomena; it is universal. Of course, God will hold the world less accountable than those who had opportunity to study the law, but yet there are some moral principles that everyone knows—or should have known—and they will be held accountable for these things.

The purpose of the Law is to give all men the knowledge of sin. That is, the Law defines sin, because, as 1 John 3:4 says, “sin is lawlessness.” Hence we conclude that Paul and James do not teach two different religions. They teach two sides of the same coin. Paul stresses justification by faith alone; James stresses that if we are not obedient, then we have only a pseudo-faith. I believe Paul himself would have agreed with James.

Hence, John says the book of Revelation is written to God’s “bond-servants,” people who are subject to God and who delight to be obedient to His word. His word is their law.

Servants and Sons

Some have argued that John’s use of the term “bond-servant” indicates that this is a Jewish book. They point out that a servant is not a son. However, they fail to understand that in order to be a son, one must first be a servant and then a bond-servant. This is the true path to sonship. These are terms that indicate our relationship to Christ—who is the Door. When a person first comes to Christ, he is not a son in the full sense of the word, any more than a baby is a son in the fullest sense of the word.

A child may be born a son, but Paul explains in Galatians 4 that the concept of sonship contains more than many realize. Galatians 4:1-3 says,

¹ Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is owner of everything, ² but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father. ³ So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world.

Paul tells us that as long as a son is a minor (that is, an immature believer) there is no difference between him and a servant—even if he is destined to become the heir of the whole estate. The path to spiritual maturity on a personal level is outlined by Israel’s feast days—Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles.

In a corporate (historic) sense, the Church was yet a minor under the guardian of the law from Moses to Christ. This was the Passover Age, extending from the Exodus to the Cross.

But now is the time to grow up into maturity, where the child is expected to begin showing signs that the law is now written on his heart. He should no longer need to be told to do something, but should already know the will of the Father, having been taught His will in the law and prophets.

Such is the expectation of the Age of Pentecost. However, Pentecost itself has become a manifestation of a “rebellious teenaged Church,” rather than a manifestation of mature sonship. Pentecost is the time of testing to see which believers truly have the law written on their hearts and which do not. Those who are obedient servants are set free and are then invited to return as bond-servants who say, “I delight to do Thy will.” Among these examples are John (Rev. 1:1) and Paul (Rom. 1:1).

These men were not bond-servants on account of their genealogical descent from one of the tribes of Israel. They were bond-servants on account of their relationship with Jesus Christ. Likewise, they had every expectation of becoming full sons. 1 John 3:2 says, “Beloved, NOW we are children of God,” because even as minors, we are destined to become heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Yet even the sons must be PLACED in that position.

The placement of sons is called huiothesia in the Greek language. It is translated “adoption of sons” in the King James Version. This is not a reference to adopting a child from another family. It is a reference to the legal practice of a father formally placing a son in a position of authority when he comes of full age. It is like giving someone power of attorney over the estate. From that point on, the son’s signature on a document would be legally binding. This comes when the Father knows He can trust the son to do everything that He Himself would do. In other words, the son has learned to serve and now is ready to rule.

The full placement of sons is also called the manifestation of the sons of God. These terms are applicable to the fully-matured sons who go beyond Pentecost into the experience of the Feast of Tabernacles.

Communicated by His Angel

John tells us in the first verse that this revelation was given to him by “His angel.” At the end of the book, this angel identifies himself in Rev. 22:8,

⁸ And I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed me these things. ⁹ And he said, Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren the prophets and of those who heed the words of this book; worship God.

Again, John writes a few verses later in Rev. 22:16,

¹⁶ I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the offspring of David, the bright morning star.

The lesson in this is that one should not worship angels, for they are servants, not only servants of God, but also servants of the prophets and all “who heed the words of this book.”

Revelation 1:4-6

Next, John addresses the seven churches in Rev. 1:4-6, saying,

⁴ John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne; ⁵ and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first-born of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us, and released us from our sins by His blood, ⁶ and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father; to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever [aionos ton aionon, “the eons of the eons”]. Amen.

Although John is writing this book, he makes it clear from the beginning that it is “from Him who is and who was and who is to come.” In other words, it is a message from Jesus Christ to the seven churches—not a message from John himself. Jesus Christ is the God of the Old Testament, the Creator of all things (John 1:1-3; Col. 1:16). He is the One “who WAS.” He is also the One “who IS,” for He was raised from the dead and now lives. Finally, He is the One “who IS TO COME,” for He yet has a second work to do in the earth to manifest Himself fully in the earth in mankind.

This second work was begun on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2), but this was only the beginning, for Pentecost was a mere “earnest of the Spirit,” designed to secure the inheritance UNTIL the time of redemption (Eph. 1:14). The full redemption is the work of the feast of Tabernacles. (See The Laws of the Second Coming.) Pentecost was the day that depicted “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27), for it was the day that the Holy Spirit was given to indwell the believers. On the other hand, the Feast of Tabernacles prophesies of the next step. It is the day that prophesies the unveiling of Christ. It is the time when the invisible becomes visible—when the indwelling Christ is manifested outwardly to all men in the earth.

The Seven Spirits of God

More than this, John’s book is a message “from the seven Spirits who are before His throne.” Those familiar with the Tabernacle of Moses and its symbolism will understand that John was speaking of the seven lamps on the Lampstand, or Candlestick (menorah), which was situated in front of the Ark of the Covenant where the presence of God rested. The mercy seat on the Ark of the Covenant represented the throne of God, and the Lampstand stood before (in front of) His throne, separated only by the veil. The seven Spirits of God are listed in Isaiah 11:2,

² And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

The Spirit of the Lord is depicted by the center post on the Lampstand, from which the other six lamps extended. The six branches are:

 

In order for any man to have the fullness of the Spirit, he must possess all seven of these Spirits. Isaiah’s prophecy (above) was directed at “the stem of Jesse,” who was King David’s father. Jesus was called the Son of David, and the prophecy was therefore messianic in that it was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. He possessed the fullness of these seven Spirits and is the pattern and example of what God intends to do with all men. Like the flame on the wick of a lamp, God intends to put His Spirit upon all flesh, so that these material bodies might manifest the Seven Spirits of God, not in heaven but in earth. In the last day, when the divine plan is complete, His glory will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea (Hab. 2:14).

Jesus Christ Himself manifested all of the seven Spirits of God in His body. As believers, we are His body as well. Thus, the seven Spirits of God are in the seven churches—that is, in those who overcome, for the implication is clear that not all believers are overcomers. The seven churches are also portrayed as the seven stars in Christ’s hand toward the end of the first chapter of Revelation.

The Faithful Witness

Revelation 1:5 says specifically that the message of this book comes “from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first-born of [from] the dead.”

First, He is “the faithful witness,” because He was faithful to speak whatever He heard His Father speak, and He was faithful to do whatever He saw His Father do. John 5:19, 30 says,

¹⁹ Jesus therefore answered and was saying to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. . . . ³⁰ I can do nothing on my own initiative. . . .

This is what it means to be a FAITHFUL witness. A faithful witness is faithful to actually speak and do what the Father does, regardless of the consequences, even if it meant going to the Cross.

In Revelation 3:14, in the message to the church of the Laodiceans, there is an added feature that Jesus Christ is the TRUE witness. This shows that everything He said and did was of the Father. Here also we find that Jesus Christ is called “the Amen” in connection to His being the true and faithful witness. An “Amen” person is one who simply bears witness to what another says or does. Hence, men say “amen” when they agree with what another man speaks. An “Amen” person does nothing on his own initiative.

The First-Born from the Dead

Revelation 1:5 also calls Him “the first-born of the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth.” We read of Jesus Christ in Colossians 1:15-18,

¹⁵ And He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation… ¹⁸ He is also head of the body, the church; and he is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; so that He Himself might come to have first place in everything.

In a family, the normal order of things is that the first-born son would receive the birthright and would be given the dominion over the estate. Jesus Christ was the first-born from the dead, the first to be birthed into this glorified condition, in order that He would be given the birthright and the highest dominion over all the kings of the earth. In the King James Version of Colossians 1:15, Christ is said to have “pre-eminence.” This is the meaning of the Hebrew name for the Pleiades (Re’em), the Seven Sisters pictured in this heavenly constellation.

Some may argue that Enoch or Elijah came into their final reward before Jesus was raised from the dead in the New Testament, but this is not so. While they may have been translated into a spiritual existence, they did NOT actually receive their final inheritance. The final inheritance is to glorify God in the earth, not in heaven as a purely spiritual being.

The purpose of creation was not to be destroyed in the end, but to house the glory of God, even as the wick houses the flame on a candle. This material earth was not created as something evil, but “very good” (Gen. 1:31).The material world was not created out of nothing; it was created out of the very substance of God. God is spirit, and hence also what we call “matter” is actually only a lower form of spirit. It is energy slowed down or cooled, much like steam, when its electrons slow down, forms water; and when the electrons of water slow down, they form a solid called ice.

So it is with spiritual things. Ultimately, there is only Spirit, and He fills all things (Eph. 1:23). But some forms of spirit are invisible to man’s present range of sight, while other things are slowed down to visibility.

The divine plan from the beginning was to glorify Himself in the earth. Man did not “fall” into a material creation, as the pagan religions taught. God formed Adam from the dust of the ground and then breathed His Spirit into that dust called man. This showed the divine plan from the beginning was for Spirit to indwell and manifest in the dust of the ground. There is no inherent war or contradiction between matter and spirit.

This is shown everywhere in Scripture, for we always find God coming toward us, not man going toward God. In Exodus 19:20, “the Lord came down on Mount Sinai.” In Exodus 34:5, “The Lord descended in the cloud.” Exodus 15:2 prophesies of Yahweh (the Old Testament God) becoming “my Yeshua” (Jesus) when it says,

² Yahweh is my strength and song, and He has become my Yeshua; this is my God, and I will praise Him; my father’s God, and I will extol Him.

This is repeated in Isaiah 12:2, 3, as we saw in our first chapter, when Jesus applied Isaiah’s words to Himself in John 7:37-39. As history proves, God came to earth in the form of Yeshua, as prophesied in the Old Testament. Jesus Christ was incarnated in the earth through Mary.

At Pentecost, the Spirit of the Lord came down to indwell human flesh. This is at least a partial picture of God breathing into Adam the breath of life in the second chapter of Genesis. God’s purpose was to make flesh (dust) glorify Himself and house His Spirit.

The full birth of the sons of God will then occur at the Feast of Tabernacles. The progression of the feasts shows us the path from one’s justification (Passover) to the indwelling of the Spirit (Pentecost) and finally to the open manifestation of Christ (Tabernacles). It is obviously a plan whereby God intends to manifest Himself in the earth through His sons. As we experience each of these feasts, we manifest Christ on a progressively higher plane.

So we see that God’s purpose is not to bring man out of matter into a purely spiritual existence, as if matter were inherently evil. Our “final reward” is not heaven, but heaven on earth, spirit in flesh, God indwelling and manifesting in an earthly dimension.

And so, while Enoch and Elijah may have been translated to heaven to live in a purely spiritual existence, this was NOT their final reward. It may be thought of as a partial reward, but not as their inheritance. They cannot partake of the ultimate purpose of God until they inherit not only heaven but earth also. Jesus Christ came to earth and finished His personal work, so that He could say in the end, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Matt. 28:18).

The authority given to Adam in Genesis 1:26 established the fact that Jesus Christ would have to be born of that lineage on earth in order to receive the authority given to Adam. Likewise, we must be born of the Spirit in order to obtain authority in both heaven and earth. Our authority will not be equal to that of Jesus Christ Himself, but ours will be of that same quality, and we will rule as kings, even as He rules as the King of kings.

One may argue that Enoch and Elijah now have authority in heaven, but they will have no authority in the earth until they have received a resurrected body. It must be not just any type of body, but the body of a perfected Son. That is why Jesus had to be raised from the dead into a perfected body. He had to have a body in order to receive authority in earth, even as He had to have the ability to go into a purely spiritual existence in order to have authority in heaven. He could do both, and thus He had authority in both realms.

He was the first-born from the dead. A first-born implies other sons who come later. Thus, even as He was born from the dead, so also shall the dead be raised and receive a new body like His. One might ask what type of body this will be, even as we read in 1 Cor. 15:35,

³⁵ But someone will say, How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?

This new body will not be like the present body that we now inhabit. It will be the type of body that Jesus received after His resurrection. It was spiritual, but it was also “flesh and bones” (Luke 24:39). He went out of His way to prove to His disciples that He was not (at that moment) a mere spirit, but was actually flesh and bones. He proved this fact by eating physical food (fish). The whole point of this account is to show us the type of body that men will have when they, too, come into that same glorified state.

We, however, are not the first-born Son. We are like Jesus’ younger brothers insofar as authority and position is concerned. He was the first-born from the dead in order that He would be the highest Authority in the earth (Col. 1:18). The overcomers who inherit the first resurrection (that is, the first after Christ’s resurrection) are the second-born corporate Son. As such, they will have the next highest authority under Christ, the first-born Son.

Also, there are various other people in Scripture who were raised from the dead, such as the widow’s son (1 Kings 17:22), Lazarus (John 11:43), and Tabitha (Acts 9:40). Each of these were indeed raised from the dead, but they were NOT raised with a glorified body. They did not experience “the unveiling of Jesus Christ” in their flesh. They all died later, not having received the promise. Though they were raised from the dead, it was NOT the event called “the resurrection.”

No man has fulfilled the divine plan portrayed by the Feast of Tabernacles until he has been raised from the dead with the spiritual body that is his final and permanent inheritance. Jesus was the first to be raised with a glorified body. In this way, He was the first-born from the dead and the first-born of the rest of creation (Col. 1:15).

The Prince of the Kings of the Earth

Revelation 1:5 calls Jesus “the ruler [prince] of the kings of the earth.” The Greek word translated “ruler” (or prince) is Archon. This word appears 37 times in the Greek New Testament. In biblical numerology, the number 37 is the number of Inheritance. The fact that Archon appears 37 times in the book of Revelation suggests that Christ, the Archon (ruler), is the Inheritor of the earth.

In ancient times they did not use our modern numbers, which we call Arabic numerals. The Greeks and Hebrews used the letters of their alphabet, just as the Romans used “Roman numerals.” Since the Bible was written in Hebrew and Greek, every letter used in the original texts is also a number.

For instance, if you take the Greek name for Jesus, which is Iesous, and add up the number of his name, the letters total 888, which is also 37 x 24. The number 37 is inheritance, and 24 is the number associated with priesthood. Hence, the mathematical and spiritual meaning of Iesous (Jesus) shows us that He is the inheritor of the throne as well as the High Priest. This describes perfectly the order of Melchisedec.

It is also significant that the Greek word Christos (Christ) has a numeric value of 1480, which is 37 x 40.

In the Hebrew language, the numeric value for “the Messiah” is 37 x 25. The number 25 indicates full salvation, for it is 5 x 5, and five is the number of grace.

In the New Testament there are two passages that specifically mention the Messiah. John 4:25 says, “Messiah is coming, the one called Christ.” The numeric value of this passage is 37 x 100. The number 100 is a number of fullness or completeness.

Again, in John 1:41 we find the phrase, “We have found the Messiah.” Its numeric value is 37 x 42. The number 42 is a number associated with the coming of Christ (after a time of trial or tribulation). For instance, the Bible records 41 encampments in the wilderness under Moses. The 42nd stop was in the plains of Jericho under Joshua (Jesus), ending their wilderness journey. Hence, “we have found the Messiah” carries a numeric value of 37 x 42, for it indicates the completion of a search for Joshua, or Jesus.

Christ is called in 2 Corinthians 4:4, “the Image of God.” This phrase in Greek [eichon theou] has a numeric value of 37 x 37. The full phrase, “Christ, who is the image of God,” has a numeric value of 3885, which is 37 x 105. When man was created in the image of God in Gen. 1:26-28, he was given dominion over his inheritance. The first Adam, however, lost the image of God through sin. The Last Adam, then, is "Christ, who is the image of God" and is therefore the inheritor of all that the first Adam lost.

The phrase, “this is My beloved Son” used in 2 Peter 1:17 has a numeric value of 37 x 111, or 37 x 37 x 3.

The phrase, “the Son of God” used in Galatians 2:20 has a numeric value of 37 x 66. The number 37 is the inheritance, and 66 is the number of man. The combination shows with mathematical precision that Jesus is the Son of God who came to redeem His earthly inheritance as the Son of man.

As the Son of God, Jesus was given all authority in heaven. As the Son of man, Jesus was given all authority in earth with the authority to judge all men, for we read in John 5:27,

²⁷ and He gave Him [Jesus] authority to execute judgment, BECAUSE He is the Son of man.

Because God gave man dominion or authority over the earth in Genesis 1:26-28, Jesus had to become a man in order to receive the lawful right to rule and judge the earth.

This is why it is significant that the Greek word, Archon, appears precisely 37 times in the New Testament. It tells us in a hidden, mathematical way that Jesus Christ is the Prince of the kings of the earth, the Judge of the Supreme Court, who will right all wrongs and injustices that men have perpetrated upon their neighbors throughout past history. This is the purpose of the Great White Throne described in Daniel 7 and in Revelation 20. The fire of God, which is the judgment of His law (Deut. 33:2), will issue forth from the throne as “a river of fire” (Dan. 7:10) that forms a “lake of fire” (Rev. 20:14, 15). This is not a time of torture, but of correction and discipline, as the prophet says in Isaiah 26:9,

⁹ . . . for when the earth experiences Thy judgments, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

This is “the desire of all nations” (Haggai 2:7), for the people are weary of tyrants who rule without love and whose laws are often oppressive or destructive.

Revelation 1:7

⁷ Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. Even so, Amen.

The phrase, “He is coming,” is the meaning of the Hebrew word, Shur, which was one of the names of the Pleiades. One of the brightest stars of the Pleiades is Al Cyone. Its Hebrew name is Succoth, "booths" or Succoth. The coming of Christ is, therefore, associated with the Feast of Tabernacles and its historic fulfillment. We must also compare this with Jude 14,

¹⁴ And about these also Enoch the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones.

In other words, He came with the “clouds” and He came with “His holy ones.” The holy ones are depicted as clouds. Hebrews 11 gives a partial listing of the saints, or “holy ones” in the Old Testament time and then concludes in Hebrews 12:1, “we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us.”

The fact that He comes “with the clouds” refers us to the picture found in Exodus 34:4 and 5, which says,

⁴ So he [Moses] cut out two stone tablets like the former ones, and Moses rose up early in the morning and went up to Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and he took two stone tablets in his hand. ⁵ And the Lord descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the name of the Lord.

This is a prophetic picture of the resurrection. Moses “rose up” (from sleep) and went up to meet the Lord as He descended to the earth in the cloud. In our book, The Laws of the Second Coming, we show how the Apostle Paul had this picture in mind when he wrote about the coming of Christ in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17. It is not a picture of the Church being caught away to heaven, but rather of the Church meeting Him in the air as He comes to earth. They “meet” Him in order to escort Him to the earth—not to be escorted to heaven.

As for the rest of Revelation 1:7 that speaks of those who pierced Him, it is quoted from Zechariah 12:10. In order to understand this and the rest of the book of Zechariah, one must know some background.

Zechariah, Isaiah, and “Jerusalem”

There are two cities that go by the name of Jerusalem. This simple fact has caused much confusion among Christians in their attempt to understand the divine plan. There is the old city, of course, which has continued throughout history as a city located in the old land of Palestine. But there is another Jerusalem as well. It is called the New Jerusalem.

The Old Testament writings never use the term “New Jerusalem.” The prophets never once distinguish clearly between the two cities, except in their descriptions. At times Jerusalem is a blessing (Is. 62:7); at other times it is a curse (Jer. 26:6). It remains for the writers of the New Testament to distinguish the Old Jerusalem from the New Jerusalem (or “heavenly Jerusalem, as it says in Hebrews 12:22). In the book of Revelation, John speaks much about the New Jerusalem, quoting freely from Isaiah and Zechariah. Also, where Isaiah speaks of a city that he calls “Jerusalem,” John quotes Isaiah but interprets it to mean the New Jerusalem, not the old city.

In the Old Testament, the old city of Jerusalem was the City of God. Solomon’s temple was His dwelling place. Mount Zion was the place of David’s throne. But the sin of the old city, and its refusal to repent, caused God to forsake Jerusalem in the same manner that He forsook Shiloh some centuries earlier (Jer. 7:12-15). The glory departed from Jerusalem, even as it had departed from Shiloh. In Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost, the downpayment of the glory of God was given again—this time to a new temple, our bodies (1 Cor. 3:16; Eph. 1:14).

These new individual “temples” are microcosms of a larger, corporate Temple, whose chief Corner Stone is Jesus Christ, whose foundations are the apostles and prophets (Eph. 2:20-22). This is now the living temple where God dwells, and He has no current plans to return to the dead buildings made of mere wood and stone, gold and silver.

Jerusalem, too, is now a new city. Because the Word in Jeremiah 7:14 cannot be broken, it is not possible for the glory of God to return to the old city of Jerusalem, as many Christians expect. It is no more possible for that to happen than it would be for Him to return to Shiloh after writing “Ichabod” on that place (1 Sam. 4:21, 22). Ichabod means “the glory has departed.” God did to Jerusalem what He did to Shiloh. From that moment on, Jerusalem became a curse to all nations, as Jer. 26:6 says,

⁶ then I will make this house like Shiloh, and this city I will make a curse to all the nations of the earth.

This made it necessary for God to build a new city in which to dwell. But in order for the prophecies of “Jerusalem” to be fulfilled without breaking the Scriptures, He had to build a second Jerusalem, a New Jerusalem. Rev. 3:12 says,

¹² He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name.

The New Jerusalem is not a city made of gold that God intends to lower to the earth with a heavenly crane from outer space. It is a spiritual city, even as the temple is a spiritual temple, whose building blocks are PEOPLE. Peter calls them “living stones” (1 Pet. 2:5), as opposed to dead stones used in earthly construction projects.

Compare Isaiah 62:4, 5 with Revelation 21:2, 9, 10. Isaiah says that God will marry Jerusalem as His bride. John says that the bride is the NEW Jerusalem, not the old city.

Compare Isaiah 60:19, 20 with Revelation 21:12, 21. Isaiah says that Jerusalem will have no need for the sun and moon for light, because God Himself will be its light. John applies this to the NEW Jerusalem, not the old city.

Compare Isaiah 52:1 with Revelation 21:27. Isaiah says that only righteous people will inhabit Jerusalem and that no unclean person will enter it. John says the same about the NEW Jerusalem. The reason only righteous people may inhabit the New Jerusalem is because it is a city made of living stones. Only believers are living stones. One does not enter this city by walking or driving through a physical gate or by climbing a wall. The walls of NEW Jerusalem are “salvation” (Isaiah 60:18) and its “gates” are “praise.” In other words, one must be “saved” in order to enter this City—unlike the old city.

Neither is the old Zion the same as the New Zion. In the Old Testament Zion was David’s seat of government. In this way it was comparable to Mount Sinai, where the government of Israel began under Moses. In Hebrews 12:22 we read,

²² But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels.

It is plain that the writer of Hebrews was not speaking of either Mount Sinai or the old Mount Zion in Jerusalem. He was speaking of a heavenly Zion, the seat of government for the heavenly Jerusalem. It shows that no one will rule in God’s Kingdom unless they are citizens of the true “city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.” This is NOT the old Jerusalem. These are the overcomers.

There are also two very different destinies assigned to the old and New Jerusalem. Here is where many are confused, if they do not know the difference between these two cities. Jeremiah 19:10, 11 says that Jerusalem will be destroyed and never be rebuilt. But the indestructible position of the New Jerusalem is self-evident.

Further, Paul likens the old Jerusalem to Hagar, and its citizens as children of Ishmael. Of this city, it is written, “cast out the bondwoman and her son” (Gal. 4:30, quoted from Gen. 21:10). Paul says that the heirs of the promise are not the citizens of the old Jerusalem, but of the New. In fact, the New Jerusalem cannot be fully manifested in the earth until the bondwoman has been cast out. At present, in the eyes of God, the bondwoman and her son have already been cast out—but many on earth still look to the old city as being the promised inheritance. The New Jerusalem will not come fully into its manifestation in the earth until the Church repents and casts out the old Jerusalem.

For a more complete study of this subject, see Chapter 8 of our book, The Struggle for the Birthright.

And so, when John quotes the Old Testament prophets, we must understand his New Testament perspective in order to define the terms properly. We return now to Revelation 1:7, where John writes at the end of that verse,

⁷ . . . and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. Even so, Amen.

John is loosely quoting from Zechariah 12:10, which says,

¹⁰ And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him, like the bitter weeping over a first-born.

Zechariah says nothing about “every eye” seeing Him, but John makes the statement more universal in its scope. Again, Zechariah seems to limit the mourning to the “house of David” and “the inhabitants of Jerusalem,” but John includes “all the tribes of the earth.” No doubt John had contemplated for more than fifty years Jesus’ prophecy in Matthew 24:30,

³⁰ and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes [Greek: phule, “families”] of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.

Thus, the narrower view of Zechariah is broadened with John, who enjoys the broader prophetic view of a later day. It is not that Zechariah was wrong, but that he saw less than John saw. Zechariah saw the promise in terms of its Old Testament patterns, while John recognized that the limited patterns of the Old Testament were designed to teach us the divine plan for the whole world.

The Greek word translated “tribes” is phule (pronounced foo-lay). The word literally means an offshoot. Some may argue that this refers only to the tribes of Israel. But the Septuagint Greek translation of the Old Testament applies this term to any tribe or family, regardless of their genealogy. For example, in Genesis 10:5, 18, 20, 31, and 32 the word is applied to the tribes or “families” of many nations. Genesis 12:3 uses the term in the divine promise, “in you all the families [phule] of the earth shall be blessed.” Therefore, we conclude that “all the tribes (families) of the earth” is a universal statement.

And so the “house of David” in Zechariah is not merely a reference to the genealogical descendants of David. It has broader reference to those who are descended from Jesus Christ, the Son of David. David was a prophetic pattern for Jesus Christ and His body, those who are called overcomers, those called to rule and reign with Christ. This is the true “house of David” who rule from the heavenly Mount Zion. It is what God had in mind from the beginning, but did not reveal the entire plan to Zechariah.

Likewise, “the inhabitants of Jerusalem” in this case are the citizens of the NEW Jerusalem, not citizens of the old city. Zechariah gives no indication of any revelation of a second Jerusalem that would be established later—although he might have figured it out if he studied Jeremiah’s writings. God’s judgment upon the old Jerusalem in Jeremiah 7 had made it impossible for the glory of God to return to the temple in that city. Even Haggai, the prophet who successfully urged the people to finish building the second temple, seems to have assumed that the glory of God would fill that second temple as it did the first temple (Hag. 2:9). But this did not happen. Regardless of the personal view of the prophet, his revelation spoke of another day and a temple made of living stones that would be revealed in us many centuries later.

The “inhabitants of Jerusalem,” then, are the believers in Christ, those who have obtained citizenship in the New Jerusalem by faith in Him. Paul alludes to this heavenly citizenship in Philippians 3:20, saying,

²⁰ For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

All believers—whether they are spiritual children who know a Passover experience or spiritual teenagers who have experienced Pentecost—all believers are citizens of the New Jerusalem. However, not all citizens will be given spiritual authority to rule with Christ in His throne. This is reserved for the overcomers, who are typified in Zechariah’s prophecy as the “house of David,” as distinct from the “inhabitants of Jerusalem.”

The Church and the World Repents

Zechariah 12:10 tells us, as quoted earlier, that the inhabitants of Jerusalem (that is, the Church in general) will be given the “Spirit of grace and of supplication,” which will cause them to repent and mourn. Because the Church is no longer localized in a small area of Palestine, John expands this, telling us that all the tribes or families of the earth will mourn, keeping God’s chosen fast—the Day of Atonement. No doubt this repentance will extend beyond today’s believers, for it will be a world-wide time of repentance led by the Church. Nor will this be limited to a single day, for a “day” with God can be a thousand years (2 Peter 3:8). Yet it may be that this time of repentance will begin on the Day of Atonement.

The Day of Atonement was a day of fasting and prayer. In the Bible, mourning was a word often used as synonymous with fasting. For example, when Jesus said in Matthew 5:4, “Blessed are those who mourn,” he was not speaking primarily of people mourning for the loss of a loved one. He was speaking of those who were fasting and seeking God’s face. These are the ones who will be “comforted,” or given the Comforter.

This is evident in Zechariah 12, where the prophet continues in verses 12-14,

¹² And the land will mourn, every family by itself; the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves; ¹³ the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves, the family of the Shimeites by itself, and their wives by themselves; ¹⁴ all the families that remain, every family by itself, and their wives by themselves.

These families listed above are not to be taken literally. The important fact of these verses is in the phrase “their wives by themselves.” This shows us that the mourning is a public time of fasting and prayer—that is, the great Day of Atonement. It was common practice in those days that husband and wife separate and not sleep together during a time of fasting. (Paul himself makes reference to this in 1 Corinthians 7:5, saying that husbands and wives should not separate, except briefly during times of prayer.)

Yes, the Church will have to repent of many things, as any serious student of Church history well knows. The corruption, murder, adultery, idolatry, and other such things in the Church are well documented. But going beyond those things, one of those things will be their support and backing for “the bondwoman and her son” to rule God’s Kingdom. The bulk of evangelical Christianity teaches that the old Jerusalem will be Christ’s seat of government. They also teach that the children of Hagar (Jews) will rule the world in the Millennium.

The Bible teaches that no one is a citizen of God’s Kingdom apart from Jesus Christ, and no one will rule in that Kingdom without being an overcomer. If a Jew meets these divine qualifications, then he may enjoy the rewards due to him. The rules are the same for all men equally. God is not partial (Rom. 2:11). But to teach that Jews have an exclusive racial right to rule is a mere extension of the old world idea of “the divine right of kings” to rule regardless of their character. Jesus, too, had a divine right to rule, because He was a direct descendant of King David—but He was not content with this argument. He also earned the right to rule by His character as proven by His willingness to die for the nation and for the whole world. He did not come to be served, but to serve (Matt. 20:25-28).

And so Zechariah prophesies that the inhabitants of the New Jerusalem will repent for their sin. They will mourn for crucifying Christ again (Heb. 6:4-6) by supporting—as did Judas—those who crucified Jesus, and by backing the old Jerusalem (Hagar) as the successor of the promises to Abraham. The book of Hebrews was written precisely for the purpose of setting Christians free from the bonds of the old Jerusalem and the need for a physical temple and priesthood. Yet more and more modern evangelical and pentecostal churches have returned to the old viewpoint, thinking that God is pleased with Jewish efforts to build a physical temple, restore a Levitical priesthood and animal sacrifices, and rule the world from the old Jerusalem.

When God finally destroys the old Jerusalem, as prophesied in Jeremiah 19:11, the question will be settled for all time. The eyes of the Church will be opened. The Church will no longer look to the bondwoman and her son as the throne of God’s Kingdom.

Revelation 1:8

⁸ I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, and Omega is the last letter. God knows the end from the beginning. More than that, HE IS the beginning and the end. This is a reference to the timeless nature of the spiritual realm. Whereas we on earth are normally bound by time and space, God is not bound in the same way. He is “the Almighty.” In fact, Revelation 1:8 implies that He is “the Almighty” in that He knows the beginning from the end. In fact, He IS—that is, He exists—in the beginning and the end at the same time.

If we find this difficult to comprehend, it is only because we see events of history occurring on a linear time line, while God sees history from a higher perspective. To Him, all of history has no time line but occurs in the ever-present at the same moment. All history is a momentary event.

Some Christian authors in recent years have put forth the idea that God only knows everything that He needs to know. They say that God does not really know what man will do until He does it. They say that if God really knew the end from the beginning, it would violate man’s free will. Hence, such authors have sacrificed even the foreknowledge of God upon the altar of free will. In doing this, they undermine or deny the very possibility of Bible prophecy, for how could God predict anything with certainty if He had any ignorance of the future? All Bible prophecy would be reduced to an educated guess.

Such preposterous views come from men who think that God is as much bound by time as we are. But John says that He is the Alpha and the Omega. He is not only the beginning, but the end as well. John repeats this assertion in Revelation 22:13.

The Hebrew word for “a sign or seal” is oht. It is spelled with the Hebrew letters, Aleph (?) and Tav (?), the first and the last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The middle letter is the Vav (?).

The Aleph (?) is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet (like the Alpha in Greek).

The Tav (?) is the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet (like the Omega in Greek).

The Vav (?) literally means “a nail or peg.” It also serves as the conjunction “and,” because it “nails” two things together.

Thus, the Hebrew word oht (spelled Aleph-Vav-Tav) literally means “the first and the last.” When John writes Jesus’ words, saying, “I am the first and the last,” it is a Hebrew play on the word oht, “a sign or seal.” The seal of the living God in Revelation 7 is the oht. It signifies that timeless realm of God being given to (or at least promised to) the overcomers. Those who manifest the nature of that sealing are no longer bound by time and space, but may transcend this earthly sphere at will. The example of this is in Jesus after His resurrection, where He was able to move at will between heaven and earth, sometimes taking upon Himself a physical body (Luke 24:39), or disappearing from view (Luke 24:31).

Revelation 1:8 also calls Him “the Almighty.” What does this signify?

Revelation 1:1 says that this is the revelation of Jesus Christ. Verse 8 identifies Jesus as “the Lord God” and as “the Almighty.” The Greek word translated “Almighty” is pantokrator. It is a compound Greek word that means “all-ruling or all-powerful.” Even before the time of Christ, the Septuagint (Greek) translation of the Old Testament used this word as the translation of the Hebrew term, “Lord of Hosts.” (See 2 Sam. 5:10 and 7:25, 27.)

The “hosts” are the hosts of both heaven and earth. In Exodus 12:41, Israel was called “the Lord’s host” as the people came out of Egypt. This verse clearly shows that the “hosts” are more than just heavenly, but also refer to people on earth. In Numbers 2 and 10 (KJV) the same word appears many times to describe the men of Israel. (The NASB translates it “his army.”)

The word literally means “an army,” but the same word is also used to describe the stars in heaven. Deut. 4:19 warns us not to worship the stars, saying,

¹⁹ And beware, lest you lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and be drawn away and worship them . . .

The stars were often depicted as the army of God or (in their position of authority in Christ) as the saints of God. When God prohibited the worship of the host of heaven, it was not merely a prohibition of astrology, but also of the worship of saints.

Psalm 24, which speaks of the coming of Christ, says in verses 7 and 8,

⁷ Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. ⁸ Who is this King of glory? The Lord [Yahweh] strong and mighty, the Lord [Yahweh] mighty in battle. . . . ¹⁰ Who is this King of glory? The Lord [Yahweh] of hosts. He is the King of glory.

Jesus Christ is the God of the Old Testament, the Creator (John 1:1-3) and the One who gave the law to Moses. As we showed earlier, Exodus 15:2 reads, literally, “Yehweh. . . has become my Yehshua,” or Joshua, the Hebrew name for Jesus. This is repeated in Isaiah 12:2, 3. Jesus’ Hebrew name, Yehshua, literally means “salvation,” and this is why it is translated in this manner. Even so, it is also a literal reference to Jesus Christ.

And so when Jesus identifies Himself as the Alpha and Omega and “the Almighty,” He is referring to Himself as the Lord of hosts in the Old Testament. It means that He is Lord not only of the hosts of heaven, but also of the earth. This foreshadows one of the primary purposes of the book of Revelation, which presents Jesus Christ as “the Almighty” (Rev. 19:15) and as “King of kings and Lord of lords (Rev. 19:16). It presents Christ as ruling His creation—the earth and all that is in it. The future is good. Jesus Christ wins in the end. His dominion will be from sea to sea. His will be an unending Kingdom that will never be destroyed.

How to achieve that goal, however, is the subject of most of the book of Revelation.