Revelation #6

As we ended yesterday John was describing Jesus to us...we pick it up today:



Revelation 1:17-20



17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, "Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. 19 Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. 20As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.



Wow in verse 17 I have a feeling when we see Jesus for the first time we will do the same thing John did...fall to our knees! Jesus shows His love as He always does to John and tells him not to fear. He also reminds him again who He is divine and eternal in the words "first and the last" and in verse 18 "the living one". Unlike others who have claimed deity our Jesus is ALIVE! Jesus goes on in verse 18 to remind John and us that He defeated death and He controls death and hell! Wow I just realized as I was writing this I have a big smile on my face. It is so awesome to dig into God's Word and see what Jesus had done for sinners like you and I. In verse 19 Jesus tells John again to record what he is seeing and the things that He will tell him that takes place in the future. In verse 20 Jesus reveals what some of the symbols are that he used in earlier verses. The seven stars are the seven angels which many scholars believe to be the seven pastors of theses 7 churches. The lampstands are the seven churches.



I guess I jumped the gun a little Friday as i said we would look at the seven churches on Monday but we still had a little scripture to cover before that! Tomorrow we will start looking at the individual churches!



Tom