The Book of Revelation

Chapter 1
Bible Study Notes & Commentary

“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take
place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, who bore witness to the word of God, and
to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the
words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.”
Revelation 1:1-3

The Book of Revelation, alongside the prophetic chapters of the Book of Daniel as well as Matthew 24, Mark 13
and Luke 21 are especially important in the times in which we are living. Any true, faithful follower of Christ can
see with eyes wide open, the events that are transpiring in the world today. It is clear and evident that we are
coming to the end of this earth’s history and Jesus is soon to return for a spotless Bride, His Church, Ephesians
5:25-27 and to destroy the wicked from this earth.
Bible prophecy has been given to us by Jesus, to bring to our attention the events which are to take place in the
world before His Coming and as we can see with frequency and intensity, events are unfolding right before our
very eyes.

We are admonished by Jesus to ‘keep watch’ and by understanding the prophecies which have been left in the
word of God, we can see where we are in the stream of time and have a better understanding of what is to
transpire. Yes, we do not know the ‘day’ or the ‘hour’, but we can surely know that Jesus’s return as well as the
other end time events are imminent, right at the door.

As a result, I will be doing a chapter-by-chapter study on the Book of Revelation, whilst referencing many other
scriptures in the Bible which help us to better understand this Book.

As the Book of Revelation is full of symbols, we must do a lot of cross referencing in the Bible to allow us to
interpret these symbols; we must allow the Bible to be its own interpreter lest we fall prey to putting our own
interpretations on the texts. In addition, we must also understand that from the time the Book was written by John
the Apostle, around the year AD 95, some of the events have already taken place, so that means we will have to
also do some historical searching to confirm certain events which were yet future to John but now past to us.
However, there are still many events which have not yet transpired but we are very close to, base on the ‘signs of
the times.’

The Book of Revelation cannot just be read on its own and hoped to be understood, this just won’t work. There
are many verses used in Revelation which are excerpts from many Old Testament authors and in addition to this,
many end time prophecies within the New Testament also help to paint a clearer picture of what is being said. We
need to compare scripture with scripture, this is a must, line must be upon and precept upon precept, here a little
and there a little.

Let us proceed.

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v.1-2
“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take
place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, who bore witness to the word of God, and
to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw”

This is the Revelation of Jesus; it is the revealing of certain events which Jesus is making known to the Apostle
John through His angel. This goes contrary to what many say today that the Book of Revelation is a ‘sealed’
book, this could not be more far from the truth. It is a revelation, a showcasing, a revealing, it is not sealed, it
CAN be understood, it just takes effort and study and wisdom from God. This is a lie from the serpent himself, to
deter the Church from reading and preaching it and unfortunately many have been deceived by this lie.

v.3
“Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are
written in it; for the time is near.”

A blessing is poured out to those who read and hear the words of this book and who keep and obey the things
written in it. The time is at hand, surely, nearer now than when it was first written.

v.4-5
“John, to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and
who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful
witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth.”

John begins his letter to the seven churches in the Roman province of Asia Minor, modern day Turkey,
proclaiming peace to the churches from the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
Notice the use of ‘seven’ in the churches and the spirits. Seven denotes completeness, it is the number of God:
creation in seven days in Genesis 1-2, seven trumpets Rev. 8 & 9, seven feasts Lev. 23, seven-fold Spirit of God
Rev. 5:6, Zech. 4:10, Isa. 11:2 and so forth. Throughout the Book of Revelation, we will also notice the number
seven being repeated quite often, so take note.

v.5-6
“To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood and has made us kings and priests to His
God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins, Hebrews 9:22. It is only by the blood of the Lamb in
both the Old and New Testament Scriptures that mankind are saved from their sins. This Lamb typified Jesus, the
Lamb ‘slain from the foundations of the world’. He is the Lamb which takes away my sins and your sins and the
sins of the world, should we accept Him and serve Him and obey Him, for there is no other name under Heaven
or on earth by which mankind can be saved.
Should we be faithful and have our names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, then we shall be kings and priests
with crowns upon our heads for all eternity.

“Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life
which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.” James 1:12

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v.7-8
“Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes
of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is
to come, the Almighty.”

Jesus is the beginning and the end; he was from the beginning and will exist into eternity. He was with the Father
and the Spirit during the creation account, evidenced by the statement in Genesis 1:26, ‘let US make man in our
image, after OUR likeness.’
He will return at the appointed time with power and great glory; it will be visible & audible throughout the entire
world and those who rejected Him & His salvation shall mourn and cry out, ‘the great day of His wrath has come,
and who shall be able to stand.’

“Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the
great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” Revelation 6:16-17

“Clouds and darkness surround Him; Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne. A fire goes
before Him and burns up His enemies round about. His lightnings light the world; the earth sees and trembles.
The mountains melt like wax at the presence of the LORD, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.
The heavens declare His righteousness and all the peoples see His glory. Psalms 97:2-6

See also: Matthew 25:31, Matthew 16:27, Mark 8:32, 2nd Thessalonians 1:7, Revelation 19:11-16, Psalm
50:3-4, 1st Thessalonians 4:16, Matthew 24:31.

This and the afore mentioned Scriptures, go completely against the false satanic doctrine of a ‘secret’ rapture of
the Church before the time of great tribulation. As we see from the Word of God, all shall see and hear the
glorious Coming of Jesus, and only at that time shall the dead in Christ be raised and the living in Christ
translated; only then shall Christ’s saints receive their reward.

v.9
“I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was
on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.”

John wrote the Book of Revelation on the island of Patmos, an island off the coast of western Turkey. Patmos was
a deserted island which was used by the Roman Empire to exile prisoners with the hope that they would die there.
As a result, John was sentenced to exile for the word of God and for bearing testimony of Jesus upon this island.
It was here, away from the distractions of everyday life, that John received these visions and was able to write the
Book of Revelation.

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v.10-11
“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, saying, “I am
the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,” and, “What you see, write in a book and send it to the
seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to
Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”

John was given the visions from Jesus Christ upon the Day of the Lord. What day is that you may ask?

The modern church today would say this is Sunday because this is the day upon which Jesus resurrected,
however, Scripture gives no evidence that Sunday, the first day of the week, is to be sanctified and kept holy;
none whatsoever. If we are Bible believing Christians, then we should go by the Scriptures and the Scriptures
only. Now there is absolutely nothing wrong with remembering the day that our Saviour rose, for He died, rose
and ascended for us, but the issue comes where we as a people sanctify and make this day Holy, when the God of
Heaven, earth and the sea has sanctified one day and one day only, and this is seen from Genesis right through to
Revelation.
This day is the Sabbath of the Lord, not the Sabbath of the Jews as people like to say, another lie from satan.

Notice the following Scriptures:

“Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came
to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven,
and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it… But the angel answered and said to the
women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen, as
He said.” Matthew 28:1,2,5,6

So, as we see, Jesus rose on the first day of the week, which the entire Christian World accepts as Sunday, i.e.
Resurrection Sunday.

“And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore, the Son of
Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.” Mark 2:27-28

Now we see that the Sabbath was made for man as quoted by Jesus Himself, even so Jesus Christ, the Son of
Man, Daniel 7:13, is Lord of the Sabbath.

“If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day and call the Sabbath
a delight, the holy day of the LORD honourable…” Isaiah 58:13

Now we see that the Sabbath of the Lord is God’s Holy Day; it is an honourable day.

“And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all
His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from
all His work which God had created and made.” Genesis 2:2-3

Now we see that God ended His work of creation on the Seventh day, then He rested from all His work of
creation. He further blessed it and sanctified it, i.e., made it a holy, set apart.

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh
day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God…For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea,

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and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore, the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed
it.” Exodus 20:8,10,11

We are now told that we are to remember this Holy Day, the seventh day, for it is the day that we remember the
creator and all His works, the day which he has blessed and hallowed, that is, made holy.

So now, let’s use our intellect; Jesus is the creator according to Hebrews 1:1-2, John 1:1-3, Colossians 1:15-17.
Now if this is so, and the Creator rested on the Sabbath and sanctified it, and He has called it His Holy Day and
also that He is Lord of the Sabbath, then, if John the Apostle says he was in the Spirit on the ‘Lord’s Day’, then
clearly, with 20/20 vision, the Lord’s Day is the Sabbath Day. It is the seventh day of the week, Saturday,
commencing from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset as this is the biblical order of the days as seen in Genesis
1:5,8,13,19,23,31.

As we can see by careful study of the Scriptures, John wrote the Book of Revelation on the Sabbath Day, The
Lord’s Day and he was commissioned to send a copy of the Book of Revelation to each of the seven churches of
Asia Minor.

v.12-13
“Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in
the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded
about the chest with a golden band.”

John looks behind himself to the voice which he hears, and he sees the Great High Priest, Jesus, Hebrews 4:14,
standing in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. He is clothed in linen garments and around His chest is a
golden sash.
Here we see the first instance of sanctuary message being used in the Book of Revelation; I covered this topic in
its entirety in the study notes “Thy way oh God is in the Sanctuary” & “God in His Temple”, so please refer to
those notes for a more in-depth study. As a result, I will not go to deep in this study on the sanctuary but instead I
will just give a brief description.

What we first need to understand is that God dwells in His Heavenly Sanctuary, Psalms 77:13, Isaiah 6:1-4,
Psalms 63:2, Psalms 73:16-17, Ezekiel 10:1-4, Revelation 15:5-8, Revelation 11:19.

Now as we see in the Bible, Moses & Solomon (Ezra rebuilt the kingdom Solomon built after the Babylonian
exile destruction) both built earthly tabernacles for the worship of God according to the plans that he had given
them, Exodus 25:8,9, Exodus 24:18, 1st Chronicles 28:2,11,12, 1st Kings 6:1. These earthly sanctuaries were
both built in the same manner and type as the Heavenly sanctuary and all the furniture and items we see within the
earthly sanctuaries all had a symbolic meaning which pointed directly to Christ and His ministry, Hebrews 8:1-5.

Within the earthly sanctuary, in a compartment called the Holy Place of the Sanctuary, were three different types
of furniture, one of which was the “seven branch candle-stick”, some Bible versions call it the seven golden
lampstand, it was a carbon copy of the one which was in Heaven as we are told in the Book of Hebrews, that the
earthly sanctuary was a copy of the Heavenly.

Notice the below Scriptures that mention the golden seven branch candlestick in both the earthly and Heavenly
Sanctuary.
“You shall also make a lampstand of pure gold; the lampstand shall be of hammered work. Its shaft, its
branches, its bowls, its ornamental knobs, and flowers shall be of one piece. And six branches shall come out

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of its sides: three branches of the lampstand out of one side, and three branches of the lampstand out of the
other side…You shall make seven lamps for it, and they shall arrange its lamps so that they give light in front
of it.” Exodus 25:31-32,37

“Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in
the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded
about the chest with a golden band.” Revelation 1:12-13

“Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right
hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which
the Lord erected, and not man…who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely
instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, “See that you make all things according to
the pattern shown you on the mountain.” Hebrews 8:1,2,5

In addition to the golden lampstand, the linen robe and the golden sash which was worn in the earthly sanctuary
by Aaron and his descendants was a copy of what the true High Priest, Jesus Christ, wears in the Heavenly
Sanctuary.
Remember that according to the Book of Hebrews, the earthly sanctuary, along with its ceremonies, furniture and
priestly garments were all a copy of what is that in Heaven.
Let the Bible be its own interpreter and allow the Holy Spirit to teach you.

“And these are the garments which they shall make: a breastplate, an ephod, a robe, a skilfully woven tunic, a
turban, and a sash. So, they shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother and his sons, that he may
minister to Me as priest… “You shall skilfully weave the tunic of fine linen thread, you shall make the turban
of fine linen, and you shall make the sash of woven work. “For Aaron’s sons you shall make tunics, and you
shall make sashes for them… And you shall make for them linen trousers to cover their nakedness; they shall
reach from the waist to the thighs. They shall be on Aaron and on his sons when they come into the tabernacle
of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister in the holy place” Exodus 28:4,39,40,42,43

“…One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden
band.” Revelation 1:13

“Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made
herself ready.” And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the
righteous acts of the saints.” Revelation 19:7-8

Notice that the garments worn by the earthly high priest, Aaron, are the same as those worn by the Heavenly High
Priest, Jesus. Observe that the fine linen worn by Aaron and his descendants, is symbolic of their righteousness, as
we see those who are to receive their reward from Jesus at His Second Coming, shall also receive fine linen robes.

Jesus Himself wears fine linen as the earthly high priest did, as He is the Heavenly High Priest and there is none
more righteous than Him.

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v.14-15
“His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; His feet were like
fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters…”

The glory of Jesus was so magnificent John could not truly explain it, instead he resorted to using the best
possible descriptive language that he could find.

v.16

“He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance
was like the sun shining in its strength.”

John sees Jesus holding seven stars in His right hand. The right side in Bible symbolism usually represents the
favourable side.
Notice the description Jesus gave His disciples when He told them about His Second Coming; the righteous
(sheep) shall be placed on the right and the wicked and unrepentant (goats) shall be placed on the left.
This can be read in Matthew 25:31-46.
The face or countenance of Jesus was as the sun shining in all its strength and glory and a sharp two-edged sword
came out of His mouth.

“The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God…” Ephesians 6:17

“For the word of God is alive and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword…” Hebrews 4:12

v.17-19
“And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, “Do not be
afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore.
Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death. Write the things which you have seen, and the things which
are, and the things which will take place after this.”

The appearance of Jesus was so magnificent and glorious, that John fell down to the ground like a dead man
would, it was only by Jesus laying His hand upon John that he was able to regain strength.

Jesus is the First and He is the Last. He died for our sins and was raised from the dead and behold, He lives
forevermore. He is the resurrection and the life, and none of us will be able to have eternal life except through
Him. As a result of Him gaining the victory over sin and its reward, death, He has the keys to death and is able to
resurrect all those faithful Christians who died in the faith and shall grant them eternal life, “for the dead in Christ
shall rise first.”

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v.20

“The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: The seven
stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches.”

The seven stars which we see in verse 16 in the right hand of Jesus, represent the seven angels or messengers of
the seven churches.
Angels are ministering spirits and messengers sent to minister to all those who shall be heirs of salvation.
Hebrews 1:14. See also Luke 1:19,26, Daniel 8:16, Daniel 9:21, Revelation 12:6.

The seven lampstands which we saw in verse 13 represent the seven churches of which we will discuss this aspect
more in detail in later chapter studies. However, notice that Jesus is standing in the midst of the lampstand with
the seven stars/messengers in His right hand. This is symbolic of Jesus being in the presence of His Church, both
the Old & New Testament Church and as it was in the days of the earthly sanctuary, where the light of the golden
lampstand had to be kept burning continuously with a continuous supply of oil, so the Church of God must always
be burning for God, on fire for Him, with a continuous supply of Heavenly Oil, that is, the Holy Spirit. Leviticus
24:1-4, Revelation 4:5, Zechariah 4:2-6.

Conclusion:

The Book of Revelation can be a daunting task for many to understand but God did not allow it to be preserved in
His Word for the last 2,000 years for people to just pass it by. All we need to do is ask God for wisdom and
understanding, believing that He has heard us and has answered our prayers and He will freely give us that
wisdom that we may understand His Word, James 1:1-7. It takes proper study of the Word and being able to put
in the study and compare the scriptures, not only with the Book of Revelation, but with any other Book in the
Bible. Christians today have fallen into the snare of believing that the Bible is not important to study or they
rather it be preached to them from the pulpit but they would never pick up the Holy Word of God for themselves
and study it; this is why satan has the Church blinded and deceived in these last days, so close to the Coming of
Jesus. This is what he wants, for the church to be blinded and deceived, not knowing what is transpiring around
them and thus they put off the coming of Jesus not realising how soon it is and then that day shall come upon
them unawares.
We must wake up brethren, for the time is near, pray that God gives us discernment and understanding that we
may understand the prophecies and will be able to discern the events that are transpiring in the world right before
our noses.
We are near to the end of this earth’s history; it is time for us all to wake up.

“Awake, you who sleep,

Arise from the dead,
And Christ will give you light.”

Ephesians 5:14

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