2. ‘REVELATION’ – HEBREW MEANING

I. Comments on assigned reading: Book of Revelation.

          Question: Is the Book merely a collection of unrelated texts or does it have Coherence?______ Consistency?______ Continuity?       

 II. My personal call to study the Book.

 III. INTERPRETATION: Jesus Christ is the TRUTH, John 14:6: “I AM the way, the TRUTH and the LIFE”. That means He is the proper interpretation of Scripture, John 17:17: “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth”.  

           A. An example of the importance of ‘INTERPRETATION’:

          Barak Obama’s speech, in 2006, as aired on YouTube, posted by Tafsirs[1], accused Obama of “taking the Word out of its meaning”.  Obama said:

          (1) That in the USA we live in a pluralistic nation of Christians, Jews, Moslems, Buddhists, Hindu, and other religions, all guaranteed freedom to practice their religion.

           (2) That religion doesn’t allow for compromise, [that is, if God said it, that settles it.]  But Democracy in a pluralistic society demands compromise.

           (3)That [Christian] proposals [regarding national policy] must be subject to argument and amenable to reason.

           (4) That if we are to go by the Bible, then whose interpretation should we use?  That is, the Book of Leviticus on slavery?  The Book of Deuteronomy on stoning sinners, even your own children?  And/Or the Sermon on the Mount in regard to “turning the other cheek” to our enemies?  He said that if we followed the Sermon on the Mount it would eliminate the Defense Department of the USA.

          Obama’s point was that these same Scriptures are interpreted differently by Jews, Christians, and Moslems, so whose interpretation should become national policy?

           Few Christians know that the Jewish interpretation of Scripture, that is, the Babylonian Talmud, has been officially recognized as the basis for interpretation of the Laws of the USA.[2]  The Talmud is anti-Christ and anti-Christian.  The Talmud was not available in English translation until the 1940s.  Few Christians could read it in Hebrew.

      B. True Biblical interpretation must be centered on Jesus.

               1.  READ: Revelation 19:10: “… the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy.” Discuss the statement: “The existence of the Jewish State in Palestine is the #1 proof that Biblical prophecy will happen.”

                2. Jesus’ first coming confirmed the Old Testament: John 5:39; Acts 3:22-23, plus the more than 37 references in the New Testament to the fulfillment of Scripture.

                3. The Old Testament must be interpreted by the New Testament fulfillment in Jesus Christ.   

C. Why I believe the Book was originally written in Hebrew:[3]  (Handout of copy of Genesis 1:1 of Hebrew Bible. To illustrate how hard it would be to read the Bible in Hebrew.)

                  1. Target audience spoke Hebrew or a dialect thereof.

                   2. Only books written in Hebrew could be read publicly.

                   3. They believed that Hebrew was the language of the Holy Spirit and therefore essential to prophetic utterances.

                   (They believed that prophecy ceased when the Hebrew tongue fell into disuse. Christians believed that the baptism of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost restored the gift of prophecy to the Church through the gift of tongues. Revelation 1:3 says the Book is a prophecy, therefore, it is most likely that it was originally written in Hebrew.)

 D. Hebrew meaning of ‘Revelation’ is “The Perfection of Light”.[4] Jesus is the Light of the World, much bigger than a political unit. 

              1. Genesis 1:3 – “And God said, Let there be Light: and there was Light.” Or: “And Light began to be.”  [Einstein: “I want to know how God made the universe.”]

               2.  The Old Testament oracle of Urim ve Thummim means “Perfection of Light”, that is, “Revelation”.  The Urim and Thummim, Revelation, was given to Christ: QUOTE: Revelation 1:1a: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him….”[5]

           The Rabbis taught that the Urim ve Thummim had never returned to Israel after the Babylonian captivity.

                  a. Deuteronomy 33:8 (referring to Numbers 20:1-13) says that the Urim ve Thummim was to be “with thy holy one, whom thou didst prove at Massah, and with whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah”.  This passage is interpreted in 1 Corinthians 10:4 that the Rock was Christ, “Whom they did prove” and “with Whom they did strive”.

         

                  b. The Urim ve Thummim was for the authority of the High Priest.  Ezra 2:62-63 and Nehemiah 7:65 show that it was necessary (1) for reckoning genealogies, and authority to appoint priests.  Hebrews 4:14-16 shows that Jesus Christ is now that High Priest. 1 Peter 2:9 and Revelation 1:6 show that Christ, Who is qualified, has appointed Christian believers as priests and declared us as legitimate heirs by genealogy.   

                    (2) The Urim ve Thummim was necessary for determining who was worthy to eat of the Holy Food.    In Revelation 2:17 Christ, as the legitimate High Priest with Urim ve Thummim is offering the Holy Manna to “those who overcome”.

                  3. “Which God gave unto Him.”[6]  

                             a. Urim ve Thummim was “given”, not “put in”: Hebrew nathan.  “The Hebrew word Nathan is usually translated ‘to give’, but in Exodus 28:30 and Leviticus 8:8, modern English versions render it as ‘put in’. When we understand that ‘Lights and Revelations’ were given, instead of ‘put in’, then their proper relationships to the breastplate of judgment becomes clear. The priests were given the spiritual endowment of revelation knowledge, (i.e. spiritual insight, light), required to render proper decisions and righteous judgments.

                    b. Light as Wisdom: Christ is Wisdom, “(Christ), the power of God and the wisdom of God”, 1 Corinthians 1:23-24.

                     c. Christ is the original Light, READ AGAIN: Genesis 1:1-3; “in the beginning”, bereshiyth, ‘firstborn, head, beginning, preeminent’. [7]         

                       READ: Colossians 1:13-19: Christ is the ‘Firstborn of every creature’; He is ‘before all things” and the uniting principle: “By Him all things consist”; He is ‘the Head of the Body, the Church; the “Firstborn from the Dead”, and the “preeminent” One.

 

                    d. Hebrews 4:14-16 shows that Jesus Christ is now that High Priest. 1 Peter 2:9 and Revelation 1:6 show that Christ, Who is qualified, has appointed Christian believers as priests and declared us as legitimate heirs by genealogy.

                    e. Christ is the Light of Life: READ: John 1:4-9; 8:12.                  

E. OUR PLACE IN THE LIGHT:

                    1. Read: 2 Corinthians 4:6-7.

                    2. READ: Ephesians 5:8-14.

                    3. READ 1 Peter 2:9.

                    4. READ: 1 John 1:5-7.

                    5. READ: Romans 13: 12.

---