Posted by: lindyswanson on: November 9, 2009
The blessings I received from reading, hearing and heeding
the book of Revelations CH 1
Ch 1
Vs 3. God promises a blessing if I read Revelations, take it to heart and apply it to my life. Yahoo! I want God’s blessing … Come Lord Jesus!
Jesus 5 “loves us and released us from our sins by His blood—“
Praise God! I no longer live in bondage to sin because He loved me and shed His blood for me!
6”and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father”
He has lifted me from my unclean condition and give me a position of honor that brings me into intimate relationship with Him and grants me the privilege of sharing His love and call to reconciliation with others. Amazing …
8“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
The Creator, the Alpha (beginning) of all that exists, from the beginning planned my salvation and completed that work as the Omega (the end), yet He is the beginning of a new heavens and the earth in which I shall dwell. He is the end of the search for fulfillment and joy in life.
9-20 John’s vision
God cares enough to communicate with His churches. He does not leave me alone (lonely) but guides, encourages and disciplines me and my fellow believers to draw close to Him.
Jesus appears to John in His glory as God. John is literally scared to death. Jesus is not recognizable as the humble man whom John knew as His friend and teacher on earth. Jesus is so glorious and so much greater than us that His presence invokes fear , so He comforts His disciple and friend John, just as He will comfort me at His appearing;
17a“Do not be afraid; ”
then identifies Himself as God through His glorious appearance like the vision of that Daniel the prophet saw. Compare:
| Revelation 1
13I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash. 14His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. |
Daniel 9
The Ancient of Days Reigns 9“I kept looking |
(I had fun comparing the visions in Daniel 7 & 10 with this, also.)
17b“I am the first and the last,
18aand the living One;
then identifies Himself as the man Jesus,
18b” and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore,”
There is no doubt, this is Jesus. God the Father and Holy Spirit never “died” a physical death, only Jesus did.
18c “I am alive forevermore, and I have (BO)the keys of death and of Hades.
Praise God, I do not have to fear death. The devil does not hold me in his power through the fear of death, because Jesus has the keys to release me from death and Hades. I will be with Him in Paradise forever!
What is Hades? Here’s the short answer that I found, with a link to the long version, and link to How to avoid hell—the message of salvation in Jesus Christ:
“Sheol (Hebrew) and Hades (Greek) are the temporary place of torment for the souls of the wicked dead. Prior to Christ’s resurrection, saints were kept and comforted in the now vacant half of Hades, known as Abraham’s Bosom. Gehenna (Greek, but from a Hebrew name) is the Lake of Fire for the permanent place of torment of the souls of the wicked dead in their resurrected bodies. Hell is a rather general and inadequate term that is often used to refer to either Gehenna or the torment side of Hades, both by those who know the basic difference between these two specific places and by those who do not.
Roman Road to Salvation How to be saved.” http://www.matthewmcgee.org/helwords.html
