Okayy. Today is a continuation of yesterday's post. I basically annotated the first 8 verses of Revelation 1. I'm not doing this on my own... I don't have the knowledge to figure all this out! We talked about it at our NIPTO meeting yesterday evening. It was good. (Have I mentioned that I love Erin and Brandon? Yeah. Well. If I haven't, I do.)
So here is the rest of [my annotated] version of Revelation 1. [anything that is bold and in brackets is my doing. If something not in brackets is bold, it's probably my doing too. Or if something is bold and italicized.... that's probably me too. I'm goin' to town on this thing. Ready? Cuz I am!]
One like a Son of Man
9I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering [NASB has tribulation] and kingdom [kingdom] and patient endurance [and perseverance] that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.[Ooookay. We basically get three things when we become a follower of Christ. Suffering. The Kingdom. And Perseverance. All these things are ours... IN JESUS. So there's not really a way of getting around them. At times we want these things to be a little more "out of Jesus" as Brandon put it last night. We don't want to have to deal with the suffering or whatnot. But it's there. We also get the Kingdom. This isn't so much about the heavenly Kingdom. It's more of how we live out the kingdom. Get it? Got it. Good.]
10On the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet,
[In the spirit... like praying and being close to God, but up about 50 notches. Also, Jesus' voice can be compared to a trumpet. The loudest of the brass instruments.]
11which said: "Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea."
12I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands,
[Do you know what a menorah is? It's that candle stick with a bunch of branches if you don't know what it is. Used to celebrate Hanukkah. That would've been how "lamps" traditionally were. But these were lamp-stands. They were separate from each other. The lamp stands represent the seven churches that John just mentioned. They were separate entities. But......]
13and among the lampstands was someone "like a son of man," dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest.
[Jesus was in the middle of them. He's the one that connected them. He's the only thing that connected them. These churches were all unique in their makeup and they all had different problems and struggles. The only things that connected them was Jesus. It's important for us to remember that a lot of churches are drastically different. But we're all connected through Jesus. He connects us. And that's all that matters.]
14His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. 15His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. 16In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.
[Woah. Baaaaack up. This is kinda freaky, right? Yeah. I know it is. But this is extreemely important. This is Jesus. This is how he is right now. Misty Edwards puts it beautifully in one of her songs: He's not a baby in a manger anymore/He's not a broken man on a cross/He didn't stay in the grave/And He's not staying in heaven forever. Isn't that fantastic? He's not a baby. He's not broken. He is this hugely amazing being that is quite frankly down right scary. Yet it's who we worship.... isn't that weird? I know I didn't, until last night, start thinking about Jesus like this. I always though of the Jesus of the gospels. I wrote this in my notebook last night while we were talking about this: "We should act like the Jesus of the gospels, but we should worship the Jesus of Revelation." That's my goal from now on.]
[Do you know what a menorah is? It's that candle stick with a bunch of branches if you don't know what it is. Used to celebrate Hanukkah. That would've been how "lamps" traditionally were. But these were lamp-stands. They were separate from each other. The lamp stands represent the seven churches that John just mentioned. They were separate entities. But......]
13and among the lampstands was someone "like a son of man," dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest.
[Jesus was in the middle of them. He's the one that connected them. He's the only thing that connected them. These churches were all unique in their makeup and they all had different problems and struggles. The only things that connected them was Jesus. It's important for us to remember that a lot of churches are drastically different. But we're all connected through Jesus. He connects us. And that's all that matters.]
14His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. 15His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. 16In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.
[Woah. Baaaaack up. This is kinda freaky, right? Yeah. I know it is. But this is extreemely important. This is Jesus. This is how he is right now. Misty Edwards puts it beautifully in one of her songs: He's not a baby in a manger anymore/He's not a broken man on a cross/He didn't stay in the grave/And He's not staying in heaven forever. Isn't that fantastic? He's not a baby. He's not broken. He is this hugely amazing being that is quite frankly down right scary. Yet it's who we worship.... isn't that weird? I know I didn't, until last night, start thinking about Jesus like this. I always though of the Jesus of the gospels. I wrote this in my notebook last night while we were talking about this: "We should act like the Jesus of the gospels, but we should worship the Jesus of Revelation." That's my goal from now on.]
17When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
[Okay. So John basically had a heart attack when he saw Jesus. Jesus was that frightening. But then, this is great, Jesus comes and touches him and tells him not to be afraid. I find this slightly funny. Do you? I mean, John's obviously freaked out by Jesus. Fire eyes, bronze legs, sword coming out of the mouth... I'd be freaked out too...! But really: Jesus is telling John this stuff. He's alive forever and John sees him in his resurrected glory. How crazy is that?!? Also I'd like to point out that Jesus is holding the keys of death and hades.... I hope those are in his left hand... haha.]
[Okay. So John basically had a heart attack when he saw Jesus. Jesus was that frightening. But then, this is great, Jesus comes and touches him and tells him not to be afraid. I find this slightly funny. Do you? I mean, John's obviously freaked out by Jesus. Fire eyes, bronze legs, sword coming out of the mouth... I'd be freaked out too...! But really: Jesus is telling John this stuff. He's alive forever and John sees him in his resurrected glory. How crazy is that?!? Also I'd like to point out that Jesus is holding the keys of death and hades.... I hope those are in his left hand... haha.]
19"Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later.
[Revelation isn't like the gospels that were eye-witness accounts (that were divinely inspired by God). The book of Revelation was narrated to John. John does put some of the things that he sees, but Jesus tells him to not put certain things that he sees. So it's different.]
20The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
[Here is more about the seven lampstands being the seven churches. And the seven stars that Jesus is holding in his right hand are the angels that were of the seven churches. Kinda interesting. Makes you wonder if every church has an angel appointed to it....]
That's it for this post. It definitely took me longer to write all this out than I thought! But heads up- there's another post comin' at 'cha about last night's Encounter62!
[Revelation isn't like the gospels that were eye-witness accounts (that were divinely inspired by God). The book of Revelation was narrated to John. John does put some of the things that he sees, but Jesus tells him to not put certain things that he sees. So it's different.]
20The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
[Here is more about the seven lampstands being the seven churches. And the seven stars that Jesus is holding in his right hand are the angels that were of the seven churches. Kinda interesting. Makes you wonder if every church has an angel appointed to it....]
That's it for this post. It definitely took me longer to write all this out than I thought! But heads up- there's another post comin' at 'cha about last night's Encounter62!
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