Revelation - A Hugely Practical Book

  Chapter 1 is God is totally in control, His death and resurrection prove His love, and He is about to prove his sovereignty. Get ready the time of mercy is drawing to a close and the time of judgment (which is still mercy but in a different light) is coming.

 

 Chapter 2 and 3 Get ready people of God, the stakes are high the reward is great, show the world I am worth it all. A time is coming when He is going to purify His people. The third commandment has to do with not "bearing the name of God in vain" which is to say, God bought us with a price and we are His. We are His ambassadors, His representatives, the bearers of His Name, His reputation with the people of the world is in our hands, which is why He is very hard on hypocrisy.  https://www.openbible.info/topics/hypocrisy  These chapters speak of the fire of purification falling on the followers of Messiah, so that they can be good witnesses of Him at the crucial time before the fire of judgment falls on the earth.

 

Chapter 4 and 5, The Judge of all the earth is seated and the time of mercy is drawing to a close and the time of Judgment is about to begin in all its righteous fury. Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand.The courtroom of God is in session as is shown by all the parallels to Daniel 7, which is the scene in heaven when God starts to reveal to Daniel how He is going to purify His people AND judge the nations. 

Revelation Chapter 4 and 5 and the allusions to Daniel 7

1. Introductory vision phraseology (Daniel 7:9 [cf.7:2,6-7]; Rev 4:10

 2. A throne set in heaven (Daniel 7:9a; Rev.4:2a [cf 4:4a] 

3. God sitting on a throne (Daniel 7:9b; Rev.4:2b) 

4. Gods appearance on the throne (Daniel 7:9c; Rev4:3a) 

5. Fire before the throne (Daniel 7:9d-10a; Rev 4:3a) 

6. Heavenly servants surrounding the throne (Daniel 7:10b; Rev. 4:4b, 6b-100; 5:8, 11, 14) 

7. Book(s) before the throne (Daniel. 7:10c; Rev.5:1-5) 

8. The book(s) opened (Daniel 7:10c; Rev. 5:2-5,9) 

9. A divine (messianic) figure approaching God’s throne to receive authority to reign forever over a kingdom (Daniel 7:14-14a; Rev. 5:5b-7, 9a, 12-13) 

10. The kingdom scope: “all peoples, nations, and tongues” (Daniel 7:14a [MT]; Rev 5:9b) 

11. The seer’s emotional distress on account of the vision (Daniel 7:15; Rev. 5:4) 

12. The seers reception of heavenly counsel concerning the vision from one of the heavenly throne servants (Daniel 7:16; Rev. 5:5a) 

13. The saints given divine authority to reign over at Kingdom (Daniel 7:18, 22, 27a; Rev. 5:10) 

14. Concluding mention of God's eternal reign (Daniel 7:2-3; Rev. 4:6) (Beale - Use of the OT in Revelation)

The Passing of a Friend, Mark Klafter

 

Technology can be used to ease the passing of a friend.  I know people who saved an out-going or incoming message that was on their answering machine for years because it was the voice of a loved one.  Mark Klafter was a friend, a mentor, and a man who was filled with the wisdom of God. 

I am grateful for the technology that allows us to still have access to his wisdom on a number of different sites.  He was interviewed on the Apocalyptic Gospel Podcast here

 https://www.apocalypticgospel.com/2021/07/14/s2e8-i-want-you-to-be-unified-with-our-people-an-interview-with-mark-klafter/

He was a speaker at a conference here and there are numerous clips over the years of him at this site.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOmvCdECRio&t=5997s 

He has been a very integral part our little Tuesday night Bible Study on a number of occasions and this is one of them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IknfYWBSkSs&t=96s

It is a blessing to be able to access these and once again hear his voice and see his smile

The Stakes are Incredibly High

 Why so intense?

Why pushing so hard (from a place of rest and trust) ?

Why constantly telling your teens about the latter days and the end of this age?

Why so angry at false doctrines that encourage comfortable, rest-assured, you said a prayer everything is okay Christianity?

Why so opposed to the pre-trib rapture lie?

Why attempting to crush nationalism as an idol? 

Why always driving home the point that "Kingdom Now" and trying to take over the "7 Mountains" is a mis-guided gentile lie that invalidates hundreds of prophecy of the people and the land of Israel and therefore invalidates the God of Israel?

BECAUSE THE STAKES ARE SO HIGH!

MARANATHA!

Revelation One

 (Starting a study of Revelation where we try to use all the connections that John uses from the Law, the prophets and the writings.  Using books by Michael Heiser and G.K. Beale)

“Though it is filled with signs, the Book of Revelation is accessible to those who have an understanding of the first 65 books of the Bible, and especially an understanding of the first 39 books of the Bible, the Old Testament. The Book of Revelation is rooted in the Old Testament. It contains more than 500 allusions to the Old Testament, and 278 of the 404 verses in Revelation (that is almost 70%) make some reference to the Old Testament.” “Prophecy in this letter has as one of its purposes divine disclosure demanding an ethical response.”

 

Chapter 1

1 -Daniel 2:28-30, 45-47  (“quickly” is John’s substitute for “in the latter days”)

4 -Exodus 3:14, Isaiah 41:4, 44:6.  Zech. 4:2-7, Revelation 3:1,  4:5 and 5:6 

5 -Psalm 89:27-29, 37

6 -Exodus 19:6, Isaiah 43:10-13, 1 Peter 2:5-10, Rev. 2:13

7 -Daniel 7:13,14, Zechariah 12:10, Matthew 24:30, 

9 -Luke 24:46, Acts 14:22, Philippians 1:29,

10,11 -Ezekiel 2:2, 3:12,14,24, 11:1, 43:5 Exodus 19:16,19,20, Isaiah 30:8, Jer. 37:2

12 -Zechariah 4:2,10, Rev. 1:20,  “seeing the voice” Exodus 19:16,19, Dan. 7:11

13-15 -Isaiah 22:21,22, Daniel 7:9-13,10:5,6, Exodus 25:7, 28:4,31, 29:5, Zech.3:5, Ezekiel 1:24, 43:2

16 -Daniel 12:3,6,7, Zech 4:2, Isaiah 11:4, 49:2, Judges 5:31, Psalm 149:6, Zeph. 2:12,

17a -Daniel chapter 8 and 10 pattern “the prophet observes a vision, falls on his face in fear, is strengthened by a heavenly being, and then receives further revelation from that being”

17b-18 -Isaiah 48:12, Deut. 32:40, Dan. 4:34, Isaiah 22:22, 

19-20a -Joel 3:1, Dan. 2:29,45

20b -Daniel 10:20,21, Matthew 18:10, Acts 12:15,

Daniel's Grateful Hymn of Praise

 Daniel 2:20-23 YLT

^20" Daniel hath answered and said, `Let the name of God be blessed from age even unto age, for wisdom and might -- for they are His.

²¹ And He is changing times and seasons, He is causing kings to pass away, and He is raising up kings; He is giving wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to those possessing understanding.

²² He is revealing deep and hidden things; He hath known what [is] in darkness, and light with Him hath dwelt.

²³ Thee, O God of my fathers, I am thanking and praising, for wisdom and might Thou hast given to me; and now, Thou hast caused me to know that which we have sought from Thee, for the king's matter Thou hast caused us to know.'"

This is a very relieved, very grateful Daniel and his friends exulting in the faithfulness of God.  There are some examples on the internet of people who have made this into a song, but it is asking a lot for anyone to recreate what would have been in the heart of a man who was going to be killed if God did not come through and do what had never been done, reveal another person's dream without that person giving even one clue as to what the dream was.  And just to add to it, Daniel also fearlessly gives the interpretation of the dream and although it acknowledged that God had made the current king of Babylon great, it also pointed to the very temporary nature of any and all of man's kingdoms.  Ultimately it belittled such kingdoms and reserved praise only for the Kingdom that would come from God to the chosen people  (Daniel 2:44) and here I must mention that "the Message" paraphrase is "clear as mud" on a very important point.   

NASB "And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever."Daniel 2:44

The Message “But throughout the history of these kingdoms, the God of heaven will be building a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will this kingdom ever fall under the domination of another. In the end it will crush the other kingdoms and finish them off and come through it all standing strong and eternal. It will be like the stone cut from the mountain by the invisible hand that crushed the iron, the bronze, the ceramic, the silver, and the gold. “The great God has let the king know what will happen in the years to come. This is an accurate telling of the dream, and the interpretation is also accurate.”

The Kingdom that God establishes is given to the chosen people, the Jews, the people of Daniel's race. Only Daniel and Ezra use the word in this verse translated "people". (this section of Daniel is in Aramaic in the original, one of the rare times the writings are not in Hebrew) Each time it is translated "people", but for some reason that is very muddled and not at all clear in the Message.  We can use and enjoy the Message as a supplement to our Bible reading but it is not adequate for true, deep study of God's word to us.  IMO

Stop and Remember, Communion

 The power of remembering.  When God remembers amazing things happen, a nation is brought out of bondage, a people is returned to their homeland, a Messiah is sent at the appointed time.

Yeshua commanded His disciples to remember.  His love is unequivocally demonstrated by His willing sacrifice on the cross.  His body broken for us is the unshakeable, undeniable proof of how far He is willing to go to demonstrate His love for us. There is a power given to us, a strong reminder of His love that will help to carry us through all the shaking that is ever increasing in this evil age.  His command to remember is a command of love and mercy, we need to remember.

Yeshua commanded His disciples to remember His blood, His Life, sealing the New Covenant.  The power that we need to walk in the Spirit, to live by the Spirit is found in His Life and His Life is in the blood.  We remember and we partake of that blood and a very real impartation of His life takes place as we drink.

That is the reality of communion, whether as part of a larger community meal or as a standalone event. 

We remember!

Gentiles are Great at Dividing the Body of the Messiah

 https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-bitter-splinters-of-marburg

Such a sad article.

Because gentiles have a gigantic problem with pride, God's unfathomable wisdom, brought them into the body of the Messiah by bowing to enter the tent of Shem. (Full Credit to Art Katz for that phrasing.) We (gentiles) are grafted into their vine, we worship their Messiah, The Father of the Messiah has a title used amazingly often in the Bible, "The God of Israel" (and Israel is undeniably referring to the chosen people and the Land of promise).  Theirs is the prophets, the promises, the covenant, we (the gentiles) are brought into their (Israel) commonwealth.  

Only arrogance could over-ride all the plainly spoken words of scripture and somehow create something called the "church" and push it to the forefront and make it a gentile gathering that allows in Jews who jump through the right hoops.

Only arrogance could push the bride aside, steal her clothes and try to show up on her wedding day, announcing yourself as the "new" bride.

Having and keeping Israel at the center of the one book, with one story called the Bible, will help to crush gentile pride and keep us in a place of humility.  Without that we will continue to actively work against the prayer of Yeshua in John chapter 17, and that will not end well.

Repent.