The Declaration of the Son of Man

Introduction

Revelation 1:17 KJV 1900

And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:

Now there is a sense in which a response like this wouldn’t have come from John. They were first cousins. Their mothers were sisters. They, no doubt, grew up in close proximity to one another. He was one of the earliest chosen for the apostolic company and was one of the inner three. He leaned against the Lord. He also witnessed the crucifixion and the resurrection.

And now… He sees Him and is stricken down as dead. On the other hand, it is not so surprising. Because what John demonstrates here is the typical characteristic response that happens when human beings are visited by heavenly beings.

Abram

Genesis 17:3 KJV 1900

And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,

When the angel of the Lord visited the parents of Samson.

It happened to Ezekiel as well

When Daniel saw Gabriel, he fell on his face

Daniel 8:17 KJV 1900

So he came near where I stood: and when he came, I was afraid, and fell upon my face: but he said unto me, Understand, O son of man: for at the time of the end shall be the vision.

This happened to the inner three on the Mount of transfiguration

Matthew 17:5–6 KJV 1900

While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid.

We also know that there will be a day when every knee will bow. Some joyfully and some in terror. So it would be good that we learn how to do this now. That we remember that this is, unquestionably, the proper and due response to seeing Him as He is.

This is a truth that needs to be at the forefront of our response to Him. And it is only then that we can properly see the beauty in His response to us. And we see that in how He responds to John. He laid His hand on him and then tells him that he doesn’t need to be afraid.

Revelation 1:17 KJV 1900

And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:

Jesus touched people. Put his fingers in the ears of the deaf, his hands on the eyes of the blind. He even touched a leper.

Now… back to His commission. We are concluding this today, but we have spend a good chunk of time with this because it began all the way back in verse 9.

Revelation 1:9 KJV 1900

I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.

And now we are getting to the content. So what is it that the Son of man said to him?

First off, we need to notice that there are very clearly three sections.

Revelation 1:17–19 KJV 1900

And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;

The first thing we see is what He declares about Himself.

He is describing Himself in specific terms. And the point of these declarations is to reassure and prepare John for what it is that he is about to experience.

So let’s look at these self designations

I am the first and the last

We have seen this before. This is the exact self-designation of the Lord God of Heaven. You can see that in Isaiah

Isaiah 44:6 KJV 1900

Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, And his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; And beside me there is no God.

So clearly, if someone says something like this, it is clearly a claim of deity. But also a claim to deity through a certain attribute. What attribute of deity is being expressed when someone says they are the first and the last?

We get a fuller explanation of this if you go further down in Isaiah

Isaiah 48:12–13 KJV 1900

Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last. Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, And my right hand hath spanned the heavens: When I call unto them, they stand up together.

This is an expression of God’s deity through His eternality

Now, it isn’t just that He was there in the past, and will be there in the future. If you go to a party and then tell people that you were the first one there and you were also the last one to leave, what you are saying is that you encompassed all of that party. You didn’t step out for awhile. That is what God is saying about all of the things that ever were or will be, not just any single event.

Revelation 1:18 (KJV 1900)

I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

Now the next part all together.

I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore

I am he that liveth: He is not just saying that He is alive here. Yes, He is alive, but what is being communicated here is that He is the “living one” I am the one whose nature is life. He uses this in the OT as well. And He uses it in contrast to those beings that God accuses of being no-gods… Lifeless and dead, less than nothing. And in contrast to that, “i am the living one.” But...

in contrast to that, and was dead????

We wouldn’t understand that if we didn’t have our gospels. It is through the gospels that we understand the mystery of the incarnation. In that, the eternal God took flesh in the person of His Son and His purpose for that was to come to die.

But.... He did not remain in that state and so we see the third part of that designation declaring, behold, I am alive for evermore.

That last phrase means I am alive into the ages of the ages.

God records history in terms of ages. We are in an age that began with the ministry of Christ. So from divine viewpoint. Hebrews 1 says that Jesus creates ages. There are plural of them And this expression talks about those ages and then multiplies them by that same designation. There are ages within ages.

And lastly

I have the keys of hell and of death

What is it saying when someone has the keys of something? Well… it means they can shut things in or let things out. When God speaks of someone having the keys, He is saying they have the power to do that. Peter uses the keys to the kingdom to open the kingdom to the Jews at Pentecost and then to the Gentiles at Cornelius’ house. He opened the kingdom to those groups of people.

Jesus is saying here that He has keys that are not in the possession of anyone else, and those keys give him exclusive and incontestable power over those domains. Look at how it is expressed to the church in Philadelphia.

Revelation 3:7 KJV 1900

And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;

He opens. And what He opens no one can shut . And what He shuts, no one can open.

What does He have power to open and shut.

Death.

Here on earth, men have the power to coerce us into doing many things. But no man, no angel or demon, nothing on earth or in heaven has a trace of authority or ability when it comes to death. Death is not a something. Death is a no- thing. It’s the loss of something. It’s the loss of life. And Scripture says there is just one being who can control all of men’s times.

No plague, no bomb, no demon, no scheme of man can drag men to death before God designs. What about the release from death? No one has ever had a hand in that either.

God may use famine, pestilence, and war. Human instruments. But there are no human hands that can release them from death.

The Son of Man also has the key to hell.

Revelation 1:18 (KJV 1900)

I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

Three different words for hell

Hades

The word for hell here is the word “hades” I’d put that in the margin of your Bible. The word Hades is one of three words that is translated hell in your Bible and all three of these words have their distinctives.

Hades occurs 11 times in the NT. In those occurances you will see that Hades

1. It is a fiery destination for the immaterial part of unredeemed man.

this is a destination for their soul and not their body

Luke 16 with the rich man. The man was buried, but in Hades, he lifted up his eyes. So there is an immaterial part of him

2. It is not the permanent or terminal destination for the soul. It is a temporary destination

The lapse of time between the death of an unredeemed man and the final termination at the Great white throne judgment is the period of time when the unregenerate are in hades.

Revelation 20:11–15 KJV 1900

And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Death and hades empty out before the throne in Rev 20. And they were all judged according to their works. And then death and hades were cast into another place. The terminal place. That is “the lake of fire.”

Gehenna = the lake of fire

Now we are saying that these are the same because the lake of fire parallels the description of Gehenna

Gehenna is the terminal destination not just for the immaterial part of man, but also their body.

That’s what we get when we see that death and hell deliver up their dead.

Matthew 5:30 KJV 1900

And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

Here the word for hell is Gehenna and you can see that you go in there with your hands and bodies, with your hands and feet and eyes.

Now this is a fearful thing. This is the one being who has been granted authority by the other members of the Godhead to open and shut hades. And then to open it up so that those who are released from it, after their judgment, are then cast into Gehenna.

It ought to be very sobering to us to contemplate that.

If you are familiar with Jonathan Edwards at all you are probably familiar with His sermon, “Sinners in the hands of an angry God.” But He preached a lot of sermons, and one that was probably even more fearful than that would be one He preached on 1 Pet 3:19-20

1 Peter 3:19–20 KJV 1900

By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

And his premise was this; That those wicked men who lived before the flood and went to hades are still there. He preached that sermon in the 1730’s and we are three hundred years past that and they are still there. Why? because what the Son of man shuts, no one… no one can open. In mythological stories there these campaigns of people rescuing or fighting in and out of Hades, there are side gates, back entrances, and tricks that can be played to permit entry and escape. We know this already, but that is just not so.

So, in application, our hearts need to be in line with Matthew 10:28

Matthew 10:28 KJV 1900

And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Again, this is Gehenna. That’s the Lord’s application of this.

Now think about this. If you have someone like that lay His hands on you. Someone with that kind of authority and sovereignty. With that kind of eternality, would it not steel your nerves. Would that not give you an unshakeable boldness?

John is going to go through the doors of heaven. He is literally going to see hell opened up and demonic creatures coming out and he won’t tremble. Why? Because the one who has the keys has put His hand on Him and said “fear not.” If you saw that, and knew that, and experienced that, you would know for sure that you are on the right side.

Now the content

Revelation 1:19 KJV 1900

Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;

Now we finally get to the content.

Just from reading this, that the Lord is telling John to write down how many different categories of information.

A three part outline

The things which he saw (past)

The things which are (present)

the things which shall be (future)

Because of the simplicity of that, the vast majority of Bible interpreters. Even those who disagree about the timing of the rapture or whether or not there is a millenium, they tend to agree that what we have here is an outline with three points. And they are the chronological stages for the book’s content.

The things that were are most likely the things that he had just seen.

I had trouble adding references to the notes, so you’ll want to mark these

Revelation 1:12 KJV 1900

And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;

Now why would he need to be told this? Because you don’t always get to write down what you saw. Paul was caught up into the third Heaven and was told not to write those things down. John was to write what he saw

So most people say that the first chapter of Revelation, particularly Rev 1:12ff are what is being referred to as the things that John saw

The third is going to be the things that shall be hereafter.

Revelation 1:19 KJV 1900

Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;

This expression “ the things which shall be hereafter” only occurs one other time in Scripture. The cross-reference for this is

Revelation 4:1 KJV 1900

After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.

This is the only other time you have this expression. The only thing that has changed is that now they use the word “must.” So, because of that many people take it as God’s own marking of these divisions. And that seems to be the best way to look at that, especially considering that all of the things that John is going to see after chapter 4 are going to happen in the future.

So that is the outline that we are going to take.

So… He gives John comfort and courage for what it coming. He then gives a three part outline. What’s next?

Revelation 1:20 KJV 1900

The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.

So now, he is interpreting what John sees in light of what is coming in the next two chapters. What’s that. Letters to the churches.

So the letters to the churches are the “things which are.”

We’ve talked about this. But He simply tells them what those stars and candlesticks are. Those candlesticks I’m walking in the midst of, those are the churches. And those stars, those are the messengers of those churches. He’s doing that because He is about to address those churches

The identification of the 7 churches

So now.... Let’s talk about the identification of those 7 churches. We know for sure that those lampstands are a symbol for those 7 literal churches, but here is the big question: Is that all they are referring to?This is where people really conflict in their viewpoint.

Almost unanimously, people believe that they are seven literal first-century assemblies. Do you agree with that?

There are four churches that we don’t know anything about outside of what is given to us in Revelation. Smyrna, Pergamus, Sardis and Philadelphia aren’t even mentioned outside of Revelation.

Ephesus we know a lot about. Thyatira is mentioned in Acts and Laodicea is mentioned 4 times in Colossians

But even though we don’t know a ton about these churches, you would make a great mistake in thinking that those churches are solely figurative and imaginative expressions and that we are simply talking about seven categories of characteristics.

The proof of this, is in Rev 1:11

Revelation 1:11 KJV 1900

Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.

He names them here again, but also says that they are designated in Asia. These are not imaginary.

These churches are literal first-century assemblies.

The proof of this, is in Rev 1:11

Nearly everyone agrees on that. Ok, so what do they disagree on?

Many, very good, Godly, and biblically literate people, believe that in addition to those being seven literal churches, they also reveal all of future church history.

They may be the revelation of church history in seven stages.

So you could have read this in the first century and been able to see all of what church history would have looked like.

Typically it goes this way:

Ephesus stands for the first century church up through AD 100. It is hard working and strong doctrinally, but it has misplaced its priority. It has lost its first love and that needs to be adjusted

Then Smyrna

Revelation 2:10 KJV 1900

Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

A characteristically suffering church. They need to be faithful unto death and so this is the martyr church. This is the persecuted church AD100 to the time of Constantine AD300

Pergamus

Revelation 2:13 KJV 1900

I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.

Antipas who was my faithful martyr. this shows that the martyrdom was passed because Constantine signed the edict of Milan which legalized Christianity, but… there is still a problem that you can see in verse 14

Revelation 2:14 KJV 1900

But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.

Now you have people who hold the doctrine of Balaam and Nicolaitans from AD300- AD1200 which is the early middle ages. This is where the church is married to the world through the legalization of Christianity and from that there is an infiltration of the world into the church. And if you read the church Fathers during that period of time you will see that they were all over the place doctrinally

Thyatira

Revelation 2:20 KJV 1900

Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.

This church allows Jezebel into its midst. This is AD1200-1500 this is the church that commits fornication with all of the nations in the world

Sardis

This is the reformation church. Wycliffe would fit in this stage. They are called Christian, but they are all but dead.

Revelation 3:4 KJV 1900

Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.

There are just a few bright lights remaining that keeps the church from being designated as utterly dead. Ad 1500-1700ish

Philadelphia

AD 1700 you have the beginning of the Great Revivals. You have The great awakening in 1730, this is the church of Carey and Judson, and brainard, and Edwards. and all of the mission works that were began. This church age goes all the way up to the time of Laodicea

Laodicea: That’s us. That is the present day apostate church. That doesn’t mean our assembly specifically, but that is the condition of the modern church.

So who holds this view of church history being laid out with these seven churches

The Scofield reference Bible teaches this. This was one of the only study bibles available to conservative Bible students. or to any Bible student. this Bible was published in 1909. The notes in that Bible were very very good. But notes in any Bible are just notes, they are not inspired.

On page 1831, in that Bible it says this: These messages present an exact foreview of the spiritual history of the church and in this precise order.

So is that how we are going to look at them?

We are are going to be spending an extended period of time with these churches. So we need to be sure we are all on the same page as we begin to approach them.

There is no doubt in my mind that these churches were literal churches that were in Asia during the precise time of John’s writing this book. But what about the other view?

A couple of things that lend itself to this interpretation:

According to the book itself, what is it doing?

Revelation 1:3 KJV 1900

Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

The book of Revelation is a prophecy. So if the whole thing is prophecy, then so are chapters 2 and 3, not just chapter four and following.

The second thing is the number 7. And in scripture, the number 7 seems to stand for the completion of things. Creation, circumcision was after the 7th day, the feast of unleavened bread. The marched around Jericho 7 times

7 lampstands star spirits trumpets seals bowls, dragon has seven heads

The fact that there are 7 churches. That number has significance.

Clearly the number seven has some kind of significance. So maybe it does have to do with completion and so… at the end of these seven church ages, what would be the case? The church age would then be complete.

The other thing is this. As people went through church history saw that these things matched up.

People have said that

The most satisfactory evidence for this view is that we can trace that application in the actual events of history.

If you look back at church history it matches it.

Personally, I am not convinced of this. I, of course, lean to the literal interpretation of this, but that doesn’t mean it must be to the exclusion of the allegorical. So what do you do? When you have a great many men who are sound Bible expositors, then I think that you should allow for the possibility. A respectful allowance. However, we have a commission just like John did. John, was told to write what he saw. Our commission is to tell what the text says. And beyond that, we simply have no authority.

If a preacher or teacher confines themselves to what the text says, then those listening to them are not to receive it as the words of man, but as the words of God which effectually works in those who hear it. But if we get outside of what the Scripture says. What we say may be so, or it may be not.

And the fact is, there is no where in Scripture that equates those churches with seven coming ages in church history. It simply doesn’t explicitly teach this. Walvoord says that the prophetic interpretation of the messages is a deduction from the content, not from the explicit statement of the passage.

So when we go through these messages, I’m not going to draw the parallels, but I might give illustrations from those periods of the time because they match the content.

Every now and then we will encounter things in this book that have no scriptural explanation

What is clear is that the OT prophets inscripturated things they didn’t understand themselves

They were ministering those things not to themselves, but unto us. They were going to be fore us after the incarnation and the cross.

There is probably a parallel to us for NT believers. In Revelation there are things that do not have a full explanation, but when believing people are in that period of time. The millenium, there will be more revelation then, and they will live during the time of chapter 4-22 and we can assume that they will have a better understanding than we do.

Seven literal firs century assemblies

They may be prophetic explanations of church history

They are intended to represent the character of Jesus’ churches throughout church history

Now I can be dogmatic about this one too. Why?

We can be dogmatic about that because of the way every letter ends.

Revelation 2:7 KJV 1900

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

How many have ears?

God’s people in every part of church history have ears. That means that we are all supposed to hear. And they are all supposed to hear what is said to how many of those churches? The word “churches” is plural. We are ALL to hear what was said to ALL of the churches.

No one, and I can be emphatic about this, no one is supposed to start reading these letters and think, that’s the church age I’m in, or that is the church the most identifies with my assembly, so that is the one I am supposed to focus on. NO! We are to focus on them all! We can’t look at any of these churches and think, that’s not us.

Why do we need to look at them all? Look at the promise. If you have ears, and you listen, and you overcome. And that overcoming is in respect to what He is dealing with in those churches

Those seven churches give you a full disclosure of what your church, or what our church needs to be, or needs to fix. And we must, we must heed both the commendations and the warnings of each of them. If we will just heed what is said to these seven churches, we will be overcomers.

We are going to start this next week. I think, that this will be a tremendous blessing to us if we will let the Spirit do work in our hearts both about what it is that we may be doing well AND what we will inevitably… inevitably need to change. This is no disparaging accusation against our assembly or any other. Folks, the word of God is to us here just like it was the word of God to those actual literal assemblies back then.

This also means that you can have churches who are seeing many many people saved, that are sending out missionaries, that are growing in miraculous ways, that should not get our blanket endorsement because Christ Himself doesn’t give them His blanket endorsement. And if we fail on a personal level or a collective assembly level to be circumspect and confessional, we are just a susceptible to condemnation as any of these other assemblies.