4 John,
To the seven churches in the province of Asia:
Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.
7 “Look, he is coming with the clouds,”
and “every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him”;
and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.”
So shall it be! Amen.
8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
I believe Jesus is coming back someday. Do I think he is coming back like many movies, bestselling books, and certain Bible studies portray? No, I do not. I used to believe it; I would buy the entire series of certain books and read the book in one day, but as I learned to study a little more bible and a little more history of the church, I changed my perspective. I have learned that many prophecies in the Bible that people say will happen in the future have already happened. Other Bible verses people said were prophecies in the Bible were going on right then and there while the author was writing them. Certain books of the Bible and specific passages of scripture capture my attention and others because we are fascinated with the thought of the Apocalypse.
The word Apocalypse is only used once in the book of Revelation, and in many translations, the word just says Revelation instead of Apocalypse.
There are different kinds of Apocalypse; a natural apocalypse is a natural disaster; a meteor hits a massive earthquake; a disease that spreads unchecked. There is also a divine apocalypse where God comes in after people have been acting up and says enough, makes a judgment, and rights all the wrongs that are going on. Many times, people confuse a natural apocalypse with a divine apocalypse and blame God for natural disasters, saying that God is punishing us or someone else with nature. People become fascinated with Apocalypse because we have a natural fear of something out of our control happening and wiping everything out. The word Apocalypse means unveiling, uncovering, or disclosing things being revealed for what they are.
2nd Peter 3:10
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.
The Book of Revelation is not about the end of the world; this book is about the revealing of Jesus Christ. In the end, Christ wins. It may not look like it now, but in the end, Christ Wins.
The book of Revelation was written by a pastor named John while he was on the island of Patmos for his church. Revelation is a letter where John tells the people of his church what's going on, what they are doing well, and what they need to improve upon, along with what is going to happen in the future.
John is talking about churches in Asia Minor, which is modern-day turkey. These people in the church are under the control of the Roman government. Rome controlled the politics, the economy, the military and religious practices, and imagery. Whoever was Caesar would gather the people together and tell them what's going on, what they were doing well, and what they needed to improve upon, along with what was going to happen in the future.
When Rome conquered an area, they made everyone in that area submit to them, and they had to submit to the Roman government by saying the words Caesar is lord. One Roman Caesar Domitian had a choir follow him, singing, "you are worthy our Lord and God to receive glory and honor and power." The Roman government sent out propaganda that said Caesar was the son of God sent to earth to bring about a universal reign of peace and prosperity.
A form of worship during this time in was to go light incense to the god the person worshiped. There were people worshiping multiple gods, so the incensed were marked with a symbol to tell them which god they were worshiping. The Roman Caesars thought they were gods on Earth so to do business in Rome-controlled areas, you had to offer up incense to Caesar, his incense would be marked with his symbol. The Jewish people in that time felt that any human who considered themselves God was a beast. So, to do business with Rome would mean to light up incense, marked with Caesar's symbol, which the Jewish people thought of as a beast.
I submit to you when John was talking about the mark of the beast; he was talking about straight-up worship of another god or someone who thought themselves, god. Politician worship would get you closer to what John is talking about in Revelation than a medical shot or a microchip ever would.
With all this going on, with people saying Caesar is Lord, Caesar is holy; Caesar is the son of God, Caesar is God, Caesar is here to bring a reign of peace and prosperity, and the Roman government seeking to eliminate anyone who disagreed. John is coming to tell you about someone who came through as the seasoned saints used to say 40 and 2 generations, who actually is Lord, who actually is holy, who actually is the Son of God, who will actually bring a reign of peace is prosperity. John is here to tell us about the alpha and the omega, the beginning, and the end, Jesus the Christ the one who is, who was, and who is to come, our everything, Jesus the Christ.
Jesus Is
Jesus is what he always was or has been. In other words, Jesus becoming human did not diminish who he had always been.
That Jesus is explains why it is proper to pray to Jesus and pray in his name. You don't pray to a dead person, and you don't pray to an image, a stone, a piece of wood. Jesus told his disciples, "I will do whatever you ask in my name … If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it" (John 14:13-14). When the people stoned the first martyr of the church to death, he prayed to Jesus: "While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.' Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, 'Lord, do not hold this sin against them'" (Acts 7:59-60). And think of this: The biblical canon ends with a prayer to Jesus: "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!" (Revelation 22:20).
Because Jesus is, we also have a legitimate reason to thank, praise and worship Jesus. We probably do all three of these things for the same reasons: for his sacrificial love for us, for his suffering and death on the cross, for his exemplary life he lived among us, for the timeless truths he taught while he walked on Earth, for the intercession he makes on our behalf before the Father, and for the promise of his presence in our lives. We would do none of these things were it not for this reality: Jesus is.
Jesus was
This same Jesus also existed in space and time as a historical reality some 2,000 years ago. When he was born to a young woman living in Nazareth in Galilee, he had a name: Jesus. However, that is an English translation of his name. People sometimes will argue that Jesus didn't exist because we don't have extensive records of him. Josephus, a Jewish historian, wrote about him, Tacitus, a Roman Historian and Scholar wrote about him, and Pliny the Younger, a Roman Magistrate, wrote about him. Still, people expect more records than that about him outside of the Bible. The problem with that thinking is that there are not many records about anybody from that time available now.
He is to come
In the end, Jesus will win.
The Greek word for "overcome" is used more times in Revelation than any other place in the New Testament, and for a good reason. In those trying times, it was helpful to hear a voice that encouraged churches and Christians to keep their hands to the plow, their eyes on the prize, and remember that a time of reckoning is at hand.
This voice is the voice of the exalted Christ and "him who sits on the throne." He calls on the churches to remain faithful to him amid a fallen, idolatrous and sinful world. Their perseverance will be rewarded because Jesus Christ is not only he who is and he who was but he "who is to come." Christ encourages the church to remain faithful in times of suffering because he is coming soon.
