THE REVELATION:

THE REVELATION OF CHRIST JESUS,   12/6 /19    Ken Smith    www.Trinity-Aloha.org

Written by Apostle John as was given by Jesus Christ.     Bible Fellowship,  Kealia, HI.   85-4554 Mamalahoa Hwy.
THIS WEEK WE BEGIN AN IN DEPTH STUDY OF THE BOOK OF THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST.

 

John is writing as a vision while on earth in about 95 AD on the Island of Patmos, an ugly rock in the middle of the Adriatic Sea.  The fist 3 chapter covers the approximate church age of 2,000 years (2 days, God’s time.)  It was written to the 7 churches that now would be in Turkey.  They also seem to represent 7 church ages over the 2 day period of God’s demension of time and also includes the 7 types of churches that have been and are now in existence. The Book of the Revelation is not chronological,  it is more like a long prophesy with rabbit trails.  So there is the need to find the hidden time line prior to trying to digest this end time prophesy.  There is also a serious number of other scriptures that help with the context of these happenings.  We should all bring these to the table as we get together on Friday Evening.

 

Chapter One:  The Introduction,  from God’s point of view, this will happen very quickly.  And even those who read this prophecy will be blessed.  But especially if we lean by it and put that Truth into action in our lives,  (verse 3)  So the first Chapter is introduction where John sees Christ Jesus in HIS power and glory.  It is important to note that in verse 7 as Christ returns with clouds as both in the Rapture and the 2nd Advent at Armageddon.  Much of The Revelation is metaphorical and so could be clouds like the film: “Close Encounters….”  When the Bible was written John’s vocabulary was totally different than ours of today.   Ezek. chapters 1,2,3 & 10…..
 

Chapter two:   Here we find the good and bad of the Churches of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos and Thyatira.   So Friday,   let’s take a look at what God liked and did not like with these Churches and remember there are replicas of these churches even today.   And tomorrow night we will complete the churches with chapter 3 of the remaining 3 churches.   Two of the key words in this study will be Nicolaitans & Gnostic

( Nico- means “victory” in Greek, and laos means “people” or, more specifically, “the laity”. Hence they take the word to mean “lay conquerors” or “conquerors of the lay people”. However, “Nicolaitan” (Greek: Νικολαϊτῶν; Νικολαΐτης) is the name ostensibly given to followers of the heretic Nicolas (Greek: Νικόλαος)

Col. 2:8   “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.”

Reference to them is frequent in post-apostolic literature. According to Irenaeus (Adv. Haer., i.26,3; iii.10,7), followed by Hippolytus (Philos., vii.36), they were founded by Nicolaus, the proselyte of Antioch, who was one of the seven chosen to serve at the tables (Ac 6:5). Irenaeus, as also Clement of Alexandria (Strom., ii.20), Tertullian and others, unite in condemning their practices in terms similar to those of John; and reference is also made to their Gnostic tendencies. In explanation of the apparent incongruity of such an immoral sect being founded by one of “good report, full of the Spirit and of wisdom” (compare Ac 6:3), Simcox argues that their
lapse may have been due to reaction from original principles of a too rigid asceticism. A theory, started in comparatively modern times, and based in part on the similarity of meaning of the Greek “Nikolaus,” and the Hebrew “Balaam,” puts forward the view that the two sects referred to under these names were in reality identical.

 Gnostic:   Gnosticism is a collection of ancient religious ideas and systems which originated in the first century AD among early Christian and Jewish sects. These various groups, labeled “gnostics” by their opponents. as a personal spiritual knowledge (gnosis) over orthodox teachings, …we now identify as “Gnostic,” these texts have been put forward in recent years as reasonable alternative forms of Christianity, as branches which were unjustly suppressed, as teachings which should be allowed to modify the dogma that came down to us or as books that should have been incorporated into the Bible. Naturally this is of concern to those orthodox Christians who understand what the texts actually contain. There is a danger that those who do not know Holy Scripture, may be confused or misled by those popular claims. In this article, Christian History Institute seeks to show who the Gnostics were, how we know about them, what were their main writings, what they taught and what, if anything, we can learn from them.
Just search Google….for more on this subject as rather broad is the gate and way that leads to destruction.

Yours, in HIS great Love and Mercy,   Ken<><   www.Trinity-Aloha.org