Revelation from the Book of Revelation

Post 1

For the next few posts I felt the Lord wanted me to write out the insight He has been giving me from the book of Revelation. This insight is long and includes each church that John wrote about in the first three chapters so I am going to divide it into 7 or 8 posts one for each church and maybe a follow up post to conclude. I hope those who read these posts will be encouraged and intrigued enough to look to the Word of God and find out what the Lord is saying to them through these verses.

The insight the Lord gave me regarding the first three chapters of Revelation began as I was reading about each church and trying to determine if I could belong to one of these churches in my heart. Most of the churches have good qualities that God encourages them in as well as bad qualities that He points out and asks them to change. However, the one thread that I noticed running throughout was the fact that before God told them what He held against them He told them who He was for them. As each church is addressed God reveals an attribute of His nature that directly correlates to the very thing the church needs in order to change their behavior. So not only is God encouraging them in the things they are doing right He is also offering them attributes of Himself to help empower them to change their destructive behavior even before telling them they have destructive behavior. He is such an awesome God full of love and mercy. His mercy towards us does endure forever.

In order to understand the fullness of this insight I want to begin by directing you to Revelation 1:12-18 where John describes Jesus’ attributes.

"Then I turned to see [who was] the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands [One] like a Son of Man, clothed with a robe which reached to His feet and with a girdle of gold about His breast. His head and His hair were white like white wool, [as white] as snow, and His eyes [flashed] like a flame of fire. His feet glowed like burnished [bright] bronze as it is refined in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. In His right hand He held seven stars, and from His mouth there came forth a sharp two-edged sword, and His face was like the sun shining in full power at midday. When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as if dead. But He laid His right hand on me and said, "Do not be afraid! I am the First and the Last. And the Ever-living One [I am living in the eternity of eternities]. I died, but see, I am alive forevermore; and I possess the keys of death and Hades (the realm of the dead)."

Each attribute he mentions in these verses also appears to be one or more attribute that God has revealed to each church as provision for them to utilize in repenting and changing their behavior.

As I looked at each church, their strengths, weaknesses, and the power available to them through Jesus, I realized the issues addressed, both good and bad, were ones we, as churches and individuals, encounter even today. Holy Spirit also showed me that just as Jesus was revealed in specific attributes for each church listed, we today also have access to these same attributes. This provides us with strength and wisdom to flourish in those things God is encouraging in us so that the inheritance of Jesus can be revealed on the earth. As we walk in these attributes of Jesus, making them a part of our lives, we then become a part of the will of God for this earth and we will see the promised inheritance of Jesus, which is the Kingdom of God on earth, be fulfilled in and through us.

The following post will examine these attributes of Jesus seen in Revelation 1:12-18. We will take a look at the way John sets the tone for the next few chapters introducing the provision of Jesus for each church even before he addresses them. As we continue on our examination of each church and the provision both physical and spiritual through Jesus’ attributes we will then be able to see how relative those attributes are to the needs of the churches and how that translates to us today. I hope you enjoy discovering these attributes of the nature of Jesus that are available to you through His Word.