“which God gave Him, to show His servants”

This is the last post on 1:1b. We have one last quote from the 20th century, and then we will finish up with the 21st century:

“The Revelation does not originate with Jesus, however. It is the revelation he receives from God. Thus the content of Revelation can be called, as a whole, ‘word of God’ (1:2, 19:9).” 

who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw.   (Revelation 1:2; NKJV)

⁹…And he said to me, ‘These are the true sayings of God.’ ¹³…He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.   (Revelation 19:9,13; NKJV)

“Nor does it come directly from Jesus to the churches; it proceeds through the angel and especially through the the prophet John, so that the book as a whole can also be called ‘all that he (John) saw’ (1:2). Designating the book in its totality as word of God, revelation from Christ and Christ’s own testimony, and at the same time word of the human being John is important for us theologically. John conceived this simultaneity of the divine word and the human word as one inseparable revelatory event.

“God is the ultimate source of the revelation. The word that is heard in Revelation, is ultimately the Word of God (v.2; cf. 19:9,13). John’s theology is thoroughly theocentric. As in Genesis 1:1, so also in Revelation 1:1, the first active verb in the first sentence has God for its subject, the God who is  the hidden actor throughout. For John, Christ is not a competitor or alternative to the one God. But who is God for John? How should we think of this One with whom we ultimately have to do?

“Christ is the definitive member of the revelatory ‘chain.’  John does not call his document ‘God’s revelation through Jesus,’ which would make Jesus only another member of the chain. Jesus is not merely one member among several; he is mentioned first as the constituting member of the revelatory chain. For John, God is not someone we already know on some other basis than his self-revelation in Jesus, about whom Jesus then gives further increments of information.”

I have to disagree with this statement. God revealed Himself fully in the Old Testament. What Jesus revealed about God, and what’s revealed in Revelation, was previously revealed in the Old Testament, which is why there are so many references to the Old Testament throughout the New Testament. The author goes further in the same vein:

“What God has to say to the churches and through them to the world is mediated through Christ. For John, as for Christian faith generally, ‘God’ is ‘the one definitively revealed through Jesus Christ.’ The christological affirmations of Revelation are not a response to the question, ‘Who is Jesus?’ but ‘Who is God?’…As ‘God’ is defined by ‘Christ,’ so ‘Christ’ is defined by ‘Jesus.’ ‘Jesus’ for John is not the teacher or miracle worker; primarily he is the one who died at the hands of the Romans, not as a tragic victim but as the act of God for our salvation. As ‘Christ’ is defined by ‘Jesus,’ so ‘Jesus’ is defined by ‘dying for us’ (1:5b; 5:9). In Jesus, God has defined himself as the one who suffers for others, whose suffering love is the instrument of the creation’s redemption…”

…To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood   (Revelation 1:5b; NKJV)

And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For Your were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation   (Revelation 5:9; NKJV)

“John is himself an indispensable link in the revelation chain which mediates God’s word to the world. Every word of the prophecy is the prophet’s own word, bearing the impress of his own personal history, written in his language and thought patterns for his situation. This is not an alternative to seeing the whole book as the ‘word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ’ (v.2). The way the revelatory event is thought of here is analogous to (but not identical with) what happens in the act of preaching, in which word of the preacher repeatedly becomes word of God without ceasing to be the human word of the preacher; this is analogous to the incarnation itself, in which once for all Jesus became the presence and definitive revelation of God without ceasing to be the truly human Jesus.”

I’m having trouble with the preacher’s words “becoming” the Word of God. The preacher preaches on the Word of God, and, frequently, he may be inspired by the Holy Spirit…but that doesn’t make his words the Word of God.

Despite the problems, the quote is an interesting breakdown of the ‘revelatory chain.’

“His (God’s/Jesus’ servants) are the recipients of the revelation, and not John alone. John’s revelatory experiences were not intended as private religious experiences to be treasured for his own personal benefit. Christian prophecy generally had its setting and function in the worship life of the community, not in the private life of the individual prophet. John is a link in a chain, an agent of a mission…On the basis of the prophetic message, the church is to bear witness to the world, the ultimate object of the love and care of the God who speaks in this book. The revelatory chain is also a chain of command: God, Christ, angel, prophet, church.”   [from REVELATION: INTERPRETATION: A BIBLE COMMENTARY FOR TEACHING AND PREACHING, by M. Eugene Boring, 1989]

A good point made that we haven’t seen before, regarding personnel/private vs community/public prophecy. The point: “the church is to bear witness to the world” was also said of the Jews in the Old Testament. In my opinion, it was in this sense that Jesus told the Pharisees in Matthew 21:43:

“Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people producing its fruit…”   (Matthew 21:43; NASB)

In other words, I don’t believe that the Jews were ‘dispossessed’ of their place as God’s Chosen People. But, the role of spreading the Kingdom of God around the world was given to another group of people, the Church, probably because the Jews were only spreading the Word when they were forced out into the world through conquest. As Jesus pointed out in Matthew 23, the Pharisees, the truly learned ones of Judaism, loved their special place in society more than what they were supposed to be teaching. And certainly more than those to whom they were supposed to be teaching.

From here we jump into the 21st century with both feet. I find nothing new being said until 2007 when a book called REDISCOVERING THE HEBREW ROOTS OF OUR FAITH (LOST IN TRANSLATION BOOK 1) is published by John Klein, Adam Spears, and Michael Christopher.  I recently acquired this trilogy of books, so was not able to include them in my earlier posts. The second book of LOST IN TRANSLATION is called THE BOOK OF REVELATION THROUGH HEBREW EYES (2008) which explains why I am bringing up this subject. The third, and last book, of LOST IN TRANSLATION is THE BOOK OF REVELATION: TWO BRIDES, TWO DESTINIES, from 2012.

I started down the path of looking to the Hebrew origins of the New Testament by taking a class at my church from a Messianic woman, Susan Moore, who has been working with a partner retranslating the Shem-Tob Hebrew Matthew…and as she is still working on the translation, the class has lasted about 4 years off and on. My eyes started to be opened by this class, and lately I’ve been reading a book called UNDERSTANDING THE DIFFICULT WORDS OF JESUS: NEW INSIGHTS FROM A HEBRAIC PERSPECTIVE by David Bivin and Roy Blizzard, Jr. (1983), which is referenced in Klein, et al’s book. I hope to be including more and more on this topic within the scope of interpreting Revelation.

The second book of the trilogy, from 2008, provides a paragraph explaining the meaning of the word Revelation in Hebrew, which should help counter much of the information that was wrapped around the Greek translations:

“The Hebrew word for the book of Revelation is Kheezahon, which means ‘revelation.’ The root word is khazon, which means a divine vision, especially a vision from God respecting future events, a prophetic vision, an oracle. Pictographically the Hebrew letters mean ‘the protecting weapon that manifests the covenant of life.’”

How’s that for a translation of the word Revelation? “The protecting weapon that manifests the covenant of life.”It is totally mind blowing to me. They go further and state that the word Torah means pictographically: “to reveal the man nailed to the cross.” Wow.

As for “kheezahon,” I can’t find this word, even when I look for the more likely transliteration “che’ezahon.” I do find “chazon,” meaning vision, something seen, a prophecy, a divine vision, oracle, or dream (Strong’s #2377) 

The original pictographic, paleo-Hebrew alphabet (or in Hebrew, aleph-bet, meaning A-B, or as we say, ABCs) faded out of regular use after the Hebrews returned from the Babylonian exile. The newer alphabet was based on a form of the Aramaic alphabet, a language related to Hebrew that was spoken in Babylon and brought back to Israel. The Israelites returned to the use of spoken Hebrew over time, but retained the Aramaic script, much of which bears some similarity to the paleo-Hebrew script. It was the change that probably allowed the Hebrews of Jesus’ time to ignore the pictographic meaning of words like Torah.

The first book of the trilogy begins by talking about language, and how: 

“Most written languages are either phonic or pictographic. In the modern era, many Eastern languages are pictographic while most Western languages are phonic. However, both concepts came together in ancient biblical Hebrew, which is the only language in the world that represents words and meaning simultaneously, in both of those two fundamentally different yet complementary ways.”     

I’m not sure if this claim can be made when looking at history, or if they are referring to just the modern world. There is some thought that the original, paleo-Hebrew alphabet was given to man by God through Moses via the 10 Commandments. Many online sources speak of the early Hebrew alphabet as being “Phoenician,” but the problem is that Moses was born around 1391 BC according to Rabbinical calculation, and much earlier (1592 BC) per Jerome.The first Phoenician inscriptions date to about 1050 BC. There is no doubt that the Phoenicians spread the alphabet around the known world where it was developed into Greek, Roman, etc alphabets, but it’s not exactly clear that they are the originators.  But, the Phoenician language sounds like it was both pictographic and phonic.

Back to Revelation in the 21st century:

“The opening of the book is an announcement of what is important. John provides a chain of disclosure to establish a reliable and authoritative venue for the revelation of an above [as in ‘from the sky’] point of view. The dramatis personae are introduced in this chain. God, who is the source of the revelation, is given overflowing titles that underscore his infinite nature. He is called the one ‘who is and who was and who is to come’ (1:4,8) and ‘the Alpha and the Omega,’ ‘the Lord God,’ and ‘the Almighty’ (1:8). Jesus Christ — a title that occurs only three times in Revelation and only in the opening of the book (1:1,2,5) — gives the revelation to his servant and to his angel (1:1). Jesus reveals it to those on earth through an angel who gives it to John. Jesus is the one who makes God known, and the unveiling or uncovering is an above point of view in contrast to the everyday point of view that is hindered by a limited perspective on earth. John’s vision is a glimpse of reality that is not seen by ordinary eyes or heard by ordinary ears. It is a revelation from above that makes sense of things here on earth.”   [from THE REVELATION OF JOHN: A NARRATIVE COMMENTARY, by James L. Resseguie, 2009]

This is really a fairly minor quote, but I liked the idea of the point of view being from ‘above,’ though explaining what is happening here on earth.

“This is the only place in all of Scripture where the actual process of revelation is explained. It is a four-stage movement: God gave it to Jesus, who had the angels mediate it to John, who then wrote it down for the churches. This nearly parallels the Gospel of John, where the process is God — Jesus — Holy Spirit — disciples — world (John 7:16-18; 8:26,28,38; 14:10).” 

¹⁶So Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. ¹⁷If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. ¹⁸The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood.   (John 7:16-18; ESV)

²⁶I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.” ²⁷They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father. ²⁸So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me… ³⁸I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”   (John 8:26-28,38; ESV)

Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.   (John 14:10; ESV)

“This also begins the theme of oneness in the book, as God and Jesus together show these visions ‘to their slaves,’ meaning they unveil the reality and meaning of the divine actions in present and future (as in John 5:20; 10:32).” 

For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel.   (John 5:20; ESV)

Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?”   (John 10:32; ESV)

“The saints are ‘slaves,’ a special term used often in the New Testament for Christians as the ‘special possession’ of God (1 Pet 2:9; see Rom. 1:1; Phil 1:1; Titus 1:1; Jas 1:1 [we looked at these earlier]).”   [from REVELATION: VERSE BY VERSE, by Grant R. Osborne, 2016]

Again, not a really exciting quote, but Osborne was able to draw an interesting comparison of Revelation with the Gospel of John.

“As the signs of trouble increase around the world, many people are realizing that those sign-holding, megaphone-toting sidewalk prophets were right after all — the end is near. Their message, which most of the world ignored or mocked, is becoming reality. We truly are living in the last days.

“How do we know this? How can I be so sure that such an over-used prophecy has finally become truth? Won’t the world naturally restore things to order just as it always does? Indeed, many people believe that history is like a pendulum — when things swing too far to one extreme, the pendulum will inevitably swing the other direction to balance out everything. History proves that situations automatically fix themselves, they say.

“This book will reveal that what we are experiencing today is not a pendulum effect. Immorality will not correct itself. Sin won’t suddenly change its course. The pride of humanity — which we can see in everything from today’s rise of atheism and secular humanism to our narcissistic, selfie-obsessed Western culture — will not willingly submit itself to defeat. No, nothing will happen that can reverse this progression of evil compounding evil. The global sense of impending doom will not pass. Indeed, things are about to go from bad to worse.

“If that sounds too pessimistic for you or is too hard to believe, understand that Jesus warned us of this. More than two thousand years ago Yeshua HaMashiach, which is Hebrew for ‘Jesus the Messiah,’ spoke in detail about what life would be like in the last days before He returned to earth. He outlined many of the events and situations that would compose what we refer to as the end times. The apostle Paul gave us more information about the end times in a few of his letters. And of course John, one of Jesus’s original disciples, penned the greatest body of literature on the end times in the Book of Revelation.

“But these accounts were certainly not the first to address the end times. Hundreds, even thousands, of years before, the Hebrew prophets of old spoke in detail about the last days. Many believers think of Revelation as the only end-times book in the Bible, yet they forget there are at least one hundred fifty chapters throughout God’s Word in which the end times is the major topic. The Book of Revelation is only twenty-two chapters, which means at least one hundred twenty-eight additional chapters in the Bible do not just mention but discuss at length this pivotal time in history.”   [from THE BOOK OF REVELATION DECODED, by Rabbi K. A. Schneider, 2017]

This quote wasn’t real specific about our current topic, but it’s a recent acquisition and so I wanted to sneak something in from it. It will be another book to bring the Hebrew aspect of Revelation to light for us.

“‘which God gave unto him’ (Re. 1:1) This verse describes the process of inspiration.

“— It began in the mind of God and was infallibly transmitted to chosen men. It began with God and was given to John by the mediation of an angel.

“— The mention of angels involved in the process of inspiration brings us back to Old Testament modes of communication. See Ac. 7:53; Heb. 2:2.”

[Stephen speaking] ⁵²Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, and you have now become betrayers and murderers of Him; ⁵³you who received the Law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it.”   (Acts 7:52,53; NASB)

²For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every violation and act of disobedience received a just punishment, ³how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?…   (Hebrews 2:2,3; NASB)

“— Note that God does not describe the process of inspiration in any detail, not here nor elsewhere in Scripture. We do not know exactly in what manner Jesus showed the revelation to the angel or how the angel showed it to John, but we know that it happened and we know that the product of this process is the infallibly inspired Scripture (2 Ti. 3:16-17). We accept this by faith.”

¹⁶All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness; ¹⁷so that the man or woman of God may be fully capable, equipped for every good work.   (1 Timothy; 3:16-17; NASB)

“This does not mean that Jesus is not God. In many other passages, Jesus is plainly described as God…Hebrews 1:8-9 is quoted from Psalm 45, and in Psalm 45 it is obvious that God the Father, Jehovah God, is speaking about the Son. God the Father calls the Son God, and God the Son calls the Father God.”

⁸But regarding the Son He says, “Your throne, God, is forever and ever, and the scepter of righteousness is the scepter of His kingdom. ⁹You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of joy above your companions.”   (Hebrews 1:8-9; NASB)

²You are the most handsome of the sons of mankind; Grace is poured upon Your lips; Therefore God has blessed You forever. ³Strap Your sword on Your thigh, Mighty One, In Your splendor and majesty! ⁴And in Your majesty ride on victoriously, For the cause of truth, humility, and righteousness; Let Your right hand teach You awesome things. ⁵Your arrows are sharp; The peoples fall under You; Your arrows are in the heart of the King’s enemies. ⁶Your throne, God, is forever and ever; The scepter of Your kingdom is a scepter of justice. ⁷You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of joy above Your companions.   (Psalm 45:2-7; NASB)

“This is a reference to the Trinity. God the Father gave this revelation to God the Son. Compare Joh. 5:19-20; 7:16; 12:49; 14:10; 17:8.” 

¹⁹Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in the same way. ²⁰For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.   (John 5:19-20; NASB)

So Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not My own, but His who sent Me.   (John 7:16; NASB)

For I did not speak on My own, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak.   (John 12:49; NASB)

Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own, but the Father, as He remains in Me, does His works.   (John 14:10; NASB)

for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me.    (John 17:8; NASB)

“‘This is in accordance with the representations everywhere made in the Scriptures, that God is the original fountain of truth and knowledge, and that, whatever was the original dignity of the Son of God, there was a mediatorial dependence on the Father…The same mediatorial dependence the apostle teaches us still subsists in heaven in his glorified state, and will continue until he has subdued all things, (1 Co. 15:24-28) and hence, even in that state, He is represented as receiving the Revelation from the Father to communicate it to men’ (Barnes).

²⁴then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to our God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. ²⁵For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. ²⁶The last enemy that will be abolished is death. ²⁷For HE HAS PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET. But when He says, “All things are put in subjection,” it is clear that this excludes the Father who put all things in subjection to Him. ²⁸When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all.                     (1 Corinthians 15:24-28; NASB)

“‘to show unto his servants’ (Re. 1:1)  The revelation is for Christ’s servants (Re. 1:1)…

“— God’s servants are mentioned nine times in Revelation. They are the believers in the churches (Re. 2:20), the 144,000 who are sealed from the 12 tribes (Re. 7:3), the prophets (Re. 10:7; 11:18). God’s servants are those that fear Him (Re. 19:5). They are those who have exercised repentance toward God and faith toward Christ (Ac. 20:21).

But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman, Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray…   (Revelation 2:20; NASB)

saying, “Do not harm the earth, or the sea, or the trees until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads.”   (Revelation 7:3; NASB)

but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He announced to His servants the prophets.   (Revelation 10:7; NASB)

And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward Your bond-servants the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”   (Revelation 11:18; NASB)

And a voice came from the throne, saying, “Give praise to our God, all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great.”   (Revelation 19:5; NASB)

solemn testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.   (Acts 20:21; NASB)

“—The book of Revelation is not intended to be understood only by an elite group of scholars or by an ecclesiastical hierarchy or priesthood.

“—The book of Revelation will not be understood by those who are not God’s servants. It will not be understood by unbelievers, by mere casual readers, or by nominal (unregenerate) Christians.”    [from WAY OF LIFE COMMENTARY SERIES: REVELATION, by David Cloud, 2019]

This quote takes you to some really interesting places. I have not studied Hebrews in much depth, so I really enjoyed the revelation of Psalm 45 and how this related to the Trinity. The background on the terms ‘servant’ and ‘bond-servant’ was more in depth than we’ve seen. And last, but not least, we see that the concept of unbelievers not understanding Revelation is still holding strong.

“…Though the text we possess today is in Greek, imagining the Hebrew subtext gives us a great interpretive advantage. We can stand closer to the actual events that occurred in John’s series of visions if we explore them in the context of ancient Hebrew.

“Take the Hebrew word for ‘revelation’ for example. It is…hitgalut, and its basic meaning is not much different from its Greek counterpart. It simply means ‘to uncover,’ ‘to disclose,’ and ‘to expose.’ It is a common verb used hundreds of times in the Hebrew Bible. There is another common Hebrew word that sounds a lot like…hitgalut — galut. It means ‘exile’ and describes what happened to the Israelites when they were taken to Persia and Babylon. Sometimes this word is used to describe Jews living outside the borders of Israel, even when they do so voluntarily. The words resemble each other for a reason. Could it be that the meaning of ‘exile’ (galut) is somehow connected to the meaning of the Hebrew word ‘revelation’? Yes, it is possible, and this is precisely how the meanings actually connect. There are two sides to Revelation and Exile.

“It was God’s judgment upon Israel to send his people to be among the nations. In times past, God temporarily withdrew his protection from Israel, and they were conquered by the pagan nations. This constitutes an exile — God uncovering and exposing his people, intentionally making them vulnerable before the nations. Thus ‘revelation’ and ‘uncovering’ can be seen in a negative sense of exile and punishment. But naturally, there is also a positive side to this concept. God has uncovered something not seen before He revealed it to John. Jesus was exposed, revealed, and made comprehensible in a new light, in the light of his glory. It was as if his glory was concealed during his ‘exile’ on earth, but now in John’s visions, it is revealed in the heavens.”

Another word in Hebrew for ‘Revelation.’  Only, I can find this word: Hitgallut or Hit’Galut: it is the Hebrew name for the Book of Revelation, and it means ‘revelation’ or ‘unveiling’ (I can’t find a Strong’s number for it). So this is definitely a more exact word.

I really love this interplay of words…that Israel was ‘exposed’ to the pagan nations, that Jesus was ‘exposed’ both during His time on earth and in the last book of the Bible. To me, it also describes what is happening right now to our nation…we are being ‘exposed’ to the nations that are hostile to us.

“At the time of John’s writing, most Jews were in ‘exile’ (galut) across the world, but God promised that in the last days he would gather his people from the four-corners of the world (Is. 11:12). This would end the exile and the same time end Israel’s exposure to the wrath of the nations. Even John himself was in exile, confined to the island of Patmos. Perhaps this helps to cast that scary word ‘apocalypse’ in a more positive light.”   [from HEBREW INSIGHTS FROM REVELATION, by Eliyahu Lizorkin-Eyzenberg and Shir Pinchas, 2021]

And He will lift up a flag for the nations

And assemble the banished ones of Israel,

And will gather the dispersed of Judah

From the four corners of the earth.   (Isaiah 11:12; NASB)

And this last quote is from another book that digs into the Hebrew of Revelation. I am so grateful to have found these books. 

This quote from Isaiah is one of the quotes that much earlier commentators took to mean that Israel would be back in the land before much of the end-time events would take place. Some people today, who do not want to see now as “end times,” choose to call the country of Israel an “interloper” or  describe them as “stealing” the land. They do not want to see that this is the event Isaiah and others foresaw, when clearly it is. As I’ve heard several preachers say: We live in Biblical times.

The next post will start on the phrase: “the things which must soon take place.”