Statesman63
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 | | Subject: Revelation Chapter 1 (Part 11) (verses 19 – 20) Wed Oct 29, 2014 11:54 pm | |
| Revelation Chapter 1 (Part 11) (verses 19 – 20)
We sort of covered the last couple of verses in chapter 1 already. Verse 19 is the table of contents of the entire book. It reads, “Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later.” “What you have seen” is chapter 1—it is now past tense as John had just witnessed those events. “What is now” are chapters 2 and 3—that is, this point in the prophecy, and it refers to the history of the church, which started in John’s day. It will conclude at the Rapture. “What will take place later” is chapter 4 to the end of the book, which encompasses the end times that is still yet to come even for us today. This is a nice, succinct outline of the entire book. Chapters 2 and 3 are the “What is now” period, which is the period of “the Day of Grace.” The “What will take place later” period includes the Rapture, the “Day of Wrath” or the Tribulation period, the Millennium, and Eternity in that order.
Because verse 20 is the explanation of what we have been looking at in chapter 1, and we looked at the explanation already, there is not much to add here either. I’ll quote it here: “The 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.” Why were these 7 particular churches chosen by Jesus? Because these were real churches and the issues of each church reflect the prophetic history of all churches up to the end of church history in the order that the churches are listed. This is an exciting study which we will begin in chapter 2.
It is noteworthy to understand that all of the Old Testament is a precursor to the New Testament. Everything in the Old Testament anticipates and points to the New. The word “Testament” is really a misnomer. The word is really “Covenant” and because we have gotten used to the Old English way of saying covenant by using the word testament, that is what stuck, but in contemporary English it is the Old Covenant and New Covenant. Perhaps the best precursor of Revelation 1:20 in the Old Testament is in Exodus 27:20-21. It reads, “Command the Israelites to bring you clear oil of pressed olives for the light so that the lamps may be kept burning. [21] In the Tent of Meeting, outside the curtain that is in front of the Testimony, Aaron and his sons are to keep the lamps burning before the LORD from evening till morning. This is to be a lasting ordinance among the Israelites for the generations to come.” Many of God’s commandments in the Old Testament did not make sense at the time. But in light of the New Testament, we now know that the lampstands that God wanted the Israelites to be kept burning at all times represented the future Churches of Jesus Christ.
My final point is a side point. We see from verse 20 that God appoints at least one angel to each legitimate church. Demons, who are fallen angels, are also appointed by rank, but by Satan who is their king and the prince of our air. In Daniel prays in Daniel chapter 10. An angel was immediately dispatched from God to deliver Daniel the answer to his prayer. Along the way to Daniel, the good angel was intercepted by a demon who fought the good angel, preventing him from progressing to Daniel. In verse 13 it says, “But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael (the arch angel) one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia.” Persia had an assigned demon as prince over that kingdom. That strongly suggests that all human kingdoms have a particular demonic angelic Czar assigned over them. And all of the demon Czars report to Satan, their king. My side point here is that in the angelic realm, the angels are well structured by rank (both good and bad angels). That is why Ephesians 6:12 says, “For our battle is not against flesh and blood (humans), but against the rulers, against the authorities, and principalities of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. There is an appointed demon for each nation, even for the United States of America.
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