Daily Archives: July 19, 2015

Sword Of His Mouth

Revelation Commentary,

Revelation 1:16: “And out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword.”

The true interpretation of the term “sword of his mouth” is apparent from the Scriptures:
“And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”(Ephesians 6:17)

“For the word of God [is] quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and [is] a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)

The Sword As A Weapon

The offensive power of the Lord both for blessing as well as for vengeance is His spoken Word. Genesis chapter one is sufficient to establish that He needs no other source of power. It is certainly not consistent with His nature to use carnal weapons such as earthly kings use for warfare.

In Revelation 2:16 He warns: “(I) will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.”

And in Revelation 19:21: “And the remnant of them were slain with the sword of Him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceedeth out of his mouth.”

Ladd, quotes Psalms of Solomon 17:27,[1] saying that “…the Lord’s anointed…will establish the Kingdom by destroying the wicked ‘with the word of his mouth;’ i.e. by supernatural power.” Thus we see that the believing people of that era expected their Messiah to conduct this kind of spiritual warfare.

Notes

[1] Ladd, Theology, 38. According to D. S. Russell, Apocalyptic, the Psalms of Solomon were first written in Hebrew and appear to have been written about the middle of the first century BC, (p. 57).

This lesson is an edited excerpt from my book, Revelation in Context, available locally at the Living Word Bookstore in Shawnee, Oklahoma or www.Amazon.com, or www.XulonPress.com.
Free downloads are also available at www.revelationincontext.sermon.net.

Eyes Like Fire

Revelation Commentary, ,

Revelation 1:14: “His eyes were like a flame of fire.”

The Book of Revelation contains so many references to fire that one can hardly fail to sense the importance of it to the basic message. It is almost as if the entire vision which John saw was illuminated by the fires of judgments on earth and the purifying fires from the heavens. The eyes of Christ are like fire, gold must be refined by fire, 3:18; fire is thrown into the earth from the altar in heaven, 8:5.

There are burning mountains, 8:8; fiery lightnings, 8:7; dragon-like creatures breathing fire, 9:17; as well as do the “witnesses,” (11:5). The beast has power to call down fire from heaven, 13:13; but he and his followers are to be punished with fire, 20:10, 14. The sea of glass is mingled with fire, 15:2; and the fire from heaven scorches evil men, 16:8. The great harlot is to be burned with fire by her lovers, 18:8. The lake of fire is the ultimate punishment of the evil ones, 20:14, 15.

“And he shall pass over to his strong hold for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the ensign, saith the LORD, whose fire [is] in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem.”

The Holy Fire Restored

The traditions taught that the holy fire from heaven was one of the things that had been missing from the second temple period (CNT, vol. 4, 295). We see from this passage that the Revelator viewed the heavenly Temple as the true one wherein the Holy Fire still resided.

This lesson is an edited excerpt from my book, Revelation in Context, available locally at the Living Word Bookstore in Shawnee, Oklahoma or www.Amazon.com, or www.XulonPress.com.
Free downloads are also available at www.revelationincontext.sermon.net.

 

Hair White As Wool

Revelation Commentary, , ,

Revelation 1:14: “His head and His hair were as white as wool.”

A direct referent for this description is also found in the Book of Enoch (46.1).
“1.And there I saw One, who had a head of days, And His head was white like wool, And with Him was another being whose countenance had the appearance of a man, and his face was full of graciousness, like one of the holy angels.
“And I asked the angel who went with me and showed me all the hidden things, concerning that Son of Man, who he was, and whence he was, (and) why he went with the Head of Days? 3. And he answered and said unto me: ‘This is the Son of Man who hath righteousness, With whom dwelleth righteousness, And who revealeth all the treasures of that which is hidden, Because the Lord of Spirits hath chosen him, And whose lot hath the pre-eminence before the Lord of Spirits in uprightness for ever.”

About the Book of Enoch

Although the Book of Enoch is not canonical Scripture, it would be profitable reading for any who have the inclination to read this whole passage in Enoch.

We find in Daniel’s prophetic vision of Daniel 9:7 that the “Ancient of Days” has hair  “like the pure wool.” In this passage, verse 13, the “Son of Man” comes before this “Ancient of Days” Who gives Him the everlasting Kingdom.  We may therefore see that in Revelation 1:14 we have the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophesy.

This lesson is an edited excerpt from my book, Revelation in Context, available locally at the Living Word Bookstore in Shawnee, Oklahoma or www.Amazon.com, or www.XulonPress.com.
Free downloads are also available at www.revelationincontext.sermon.net.

Son Of Man

Revelation Commentary, ,

Revelation 1:13 “One like a Son of Man.” See also Revelation 14:14.

The “Son of Man” is the Messiah

Jesus referred to Himself in the third person as the “Son of Man” as in Matthew 11:19.[1] This was understood to be speaking of the Messiah.[2] Regarding the kingdom, He referred to Himself as the King. This was in reference to the passage in Daniel 7:13:

“I saw in the night visions, and, behold, [one] like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.” (Daniel 7:13)

And in Matthew 11:19: “The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.”

Also in Luke 19:9-10:  “And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

The “Son of Man” is the Good Shepherd

Here Jesus was identifying Himself as the Good Shepherd by reference to a passage in Ezekiel 34: 11-16:

“For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, [even] I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. 12 As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep [that are] scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. 13 And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country. 14 I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and [in] a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. 15 I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord GOD. 16 I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up [that which was] broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment.”

The Book of Enoch Mentions the “Son of Man”:

The “Son of Man” as envisioned by Enoch had been hidden but was to be revealed to the elect:
“And the kings and the mighty and all who possess the earth shall bless and glorify and extol him who rules over all, who was hidden. 7. For from the beginning the Son of Man was hidden, And the Most High preserved him in the presence of His might, And revealed him to the elect.” (Charles, Enoch 62.6).

The revelation of Jesus Christ, as the “Son of Man,” is therefore the fulfillment of Enoch’s prophecy, as well as those of the Old Testament.

Notes

[1] I owe much of this discussion to a lesson given by Dr. Robert Lindsay on Channel 14 TBN television on December 11, 1988 at 2:30 p.m. CST. See also Robert Lindsay, Jesus Rabbi and Lord, Oak Creek, Wisconsin, Cornerstone Publishing, 1990.

[2] The term “Son of Man” was familiar to the New Testament Jewish Church not only because of His mention in the book of Daniel, but also in the pseudepigraphical book of Enoch. (See Charles, Enoch.) The early Church was familiar with the Book of Enoch and it is one of the pieces of literature which they seemed to be revere almost equally with the canonical writings. In fact, the Book of Enoch is quoted in Jude verses 14 and 15. The book therefore serves as a literary referent for many of the expressions and symbols used in the New Testament, and therefore should be considered as a part of the cultural context for the Book of Revelation. Many of the obscure ideas of the book of Revelation will become clear after one reads the Book of Enoch.

The Book of Enoch is part of a body of literature known as the pseudepigrapha, which simply means that the author’s name, in this case Enoch, is a pseudonym for the real author. In fact, Oesterley quotes Burkitt, (Jewish and Christian Apocalypses, p. 18), regarding pseudonymous authorship: “…that the names were not chosen out of mere caprice; they indicated to a certain extent what subjects would be treated and the point of view of the writer.”
Charles, Enoch. p. 66, “48.2. And at that hour that Son of Man was named in the presence of the Lord of Spirits, And his name before the Head of Days. 3. Yea, before the sun and the signs were created, before the stars of the heaven were made, His name was named before the Lord of Spirits.”

This lesson is an edited excerpt from my book, Revelation in Context, available locally at the Living Word Bookstore in Shawnee, Oklahoma or www.Amazon.com, or www.XulonPress.com.
Free downloads are also available at www.revelationincontext.sermon.net.

In The Midst Of The Candlesticks

Revelation Commentary, ,

Revelation 1:13: “And in the midst of the seven candlesticks [one] like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.”

The phrase “in the midst” does not merely indicate that Jesus was among them in a central position, but rather that he was the source of their cohesion, the nucleus, the center of gravity, the magnetic center. In the analogy of the heavenlies, the “midst” of the candlesticks would be represented by the pole star, the apparent center of the turning heavens and the universe.

Colossians 1:17

“And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.” It is Christ that holds things together, consist, to make them a Unity, whether marriages, families, churches, governments, or nations.

The prophets foresaw an ensign or banner upon “the high mountain.” This was the height of the heavens, not an earthly peak. Isaiah 13:2-3 is about the mustering to battle of the heavenly hosts, not merely an earthly army, (see verse 10), by means of this signal, ensign, upon the high hill. See also Isaiah 5:26; 11:12.

The Position of Power

This central position of the universe was seen by the contemporary cultures of the East to be the position of the center of power, the power that turned the whole universe.

Amos 5:8 refers to this center of power in the midst of the seven stars:
“[Seek him] that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD [is] his name.”

This view of Christ as the Center of Power of the universe may be seen as the “sign of the Son of Man in heaven” as foretold in Matthew 24:30.

Another passage that describes the awesome view of the Lord in His heavenly position of power is found in Habakkuk 3:3-15. Read it. It will bless you.

This lesson is an edited excerpt from my book, Revelation in Context, available locally at the Living Word Bookstore in Shawnee, Oklahoma or www.Amazon.com, or www.XulonPress.com.
Free downloads are also available at www.revelationincontext.sermon.net.