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THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST TO HIS SERVANT JOHN
The Unveiling of the Kingdom on Earth and in Heaven
Lesson 1
Chapter 1:1-8
The Prelude
The Things Which Will Take Place Soon Which John Has Seen

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Heavenly Father,
You sent Your Son to fulfill Your promise to the prophet Jeremiah to establish a new and eternal covenant built upon a Kingdom that brought the gift of eternal blessings instead of the temporal blessings of the previous covenants. He came first to announce the good news of salvation to the people of the Sinai Covenant, but when they rejected their Messiah, Jesus fulfilled Your promise to Isaiah in sending out His New Covenant Jewish emissaries to carry His Gospel of salvation to the Gentile nations of the earth. St. John, the inspired writer of the Book of Revelation, was one of God the Son's emissaries. We ask You to send Your Holy Spirit to guide us in our study of the message You gave St. John to deliver to the Old Covenant people and the New Covenant children of the eternal Kingdom of Jesus the Messiah. We pray in the name of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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Teaching in the Temple the week of His passion: Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this is the Lord's doing and we marvel at it? I tell you, then, that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit."
Matthew 21:43 (Jesus quoting Psalms 118:22-23)

Addressing the crowds of Jews in Jerusalem the week of His passion, Jesus said: "you will draw down on yourselves the blood of every upright person that has been shed on earth, from the blood of Abel the holy to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. In truth I tell you, it will all recoil on this generation."
Matthew 23:35-36

Referring to the Jerusalem Temple, St. Paul said: By this, the Holy Spirit means us to see that as long as the old tent stands, the way into the holy place is not opened up; it is a symbol for this present time. None of the gifts and sacrifices offered under these regulations can possibly bring any worshipper to perfection in his conscience; they are rules about outward lfe, connected with food and d rink and washing at various times, which are in force only until the time comes to set things right.
Hebrews 9:8-10

Referring to the Jerusalem Temple, St. Paul said: By this, the Holy Spirit means us to see that as long as the old tent stands, the way into the holy place is not opened up; it is a symbol for this present time. None of the gifts and sacrifices offered under these regulations can possibly bring any worshipper to perfection in his conscience; they are rules about outward life, connected with food and d rink and washing at various times, which are in force only until the time comes to set things right.
Hebrews 9:8-10

Introduction to Revelation Chapter One

Yahweh commissioned his prophets as His prosecuting attorneys to call down a Covenant Lawsuit (a rib/rib in Hebrew; pronounced reeb or reev) when the covenant people, through their rebellious wickedness, brought the sanctions (curse-judgments) of the Sinai Covenant down upon themselves (Lev 26:14-46; Dt 28:15-68). Some examples of God's representatives fulfilling such a mission are the prophets Isaiah and Hosea who prophesied the destruction of the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 722 BC and the covenant lawsuits of Jeremiah and Ezekiel who prophesied the destruction of Judah, Jerusalem, and Solomon's Temple, fulfilled in 587/6 BC.

In the first century AD, Yahweh kept His promise to send the Messiah (Anointed One), His supreme Prophet (Dt 18:15-19) to redeem the people of the Old Covenant and to extend the invitation of a New Covenant to the nations of the world (Jer 31:31-33). The coming of the Redeemer-Messiah was a fulfillment of many prophecies including the one of the sixth-century BC prophet Jeremiah, who linked the promise of the arrival of the Messiah with a new and eternal covenant:

1. Look, the days are coming, Yahweh declares, when I shall make a new covenant with the House of Israel (and the House of Judah), but not like the covenant I made with their ancestors the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of Egypt, a covenant which they broke, even though I was their Master, Yahweh declares. No, this is the covenant I shall make with the House of Israel when those days have come, Yahweh declares. Within them, I shall plant my Law, writing it on their hearts. Then I shall be their God, and they will be my people. There will be no further need for everyone to teach neighbor or brother, saying Learn to know Yahweh!' No, they will all know me, from the least to the greatest, Yahweh declares since I shall forgive their guilt and never more call their sin to mind (Jer 31:31-34).
2. I shall make an everlasting covenant with them, never to cease in my efforts for their welfare, and I shall put respect for me in their hearts, so that they will never turn away from me again (Jer 32:40).
3. In those days and at that time the people of Israel will return (they and the people of Judah); they will come weeping in search of Yahweh their God. They will ask the way to Zion and turn their faces towards her, "Come, let us bind ourselves to Yahweh by an everlasting covenant never to be forgotten!" (Jer 50:4-5).

These passages must have come to mind for the disciples in the Upper Room as Jesus instituted the new covenant Todah ("thanksgiving") of the Eucharist at the end of the meal of the Passover victim on the first night of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. At that sacred meal, He gave them the New Covenant in His blood, saying: "This cup is the new covenant in my blood poured out for you" (Lk 22:20). Every Jew present recognized the Scriptural references in the words "new covenant" from Jeremiah 31:31, the reference to the "blood" from when Moses announced, "This is the blood of the covenant" at the covenant ratification ritual at Mt. Sinai (Ex 24:8), and Jesus words "poured out" connected to the liturgical blood ritual in daily worship described in the Book of Leviticus.

The Hebrew verb shaphak, translated "pour(ed) out" or "spill(ed) out" appears five times in Leviticus Chapter 4 in the priestly instructions for the blood ritual in the liturgy of the sin (hatta't) sacrifice (Lev 4:7, 18, 25, 30, 34) and three additional times in Leviticus (Lev 8:15; 9:9; 17:13). The verb is a cultic term in the liturgical directions to the priests in literally "pouring out" the blood of the sin sacrifice at the base of the Altar of Burnt Offerings in the Sanctuary courtyard. In the instructions for the olah ("whole burnt offering"), the blood of the sacrificial victim was "sprinkled" (zarak) around the Altar of Burnt Offerings with the remainder of the blood "poured out" against it. In the Greek Septuagint translation of the Old Testament, this word is ekcheo. Jesus used this same term in His liturgical instructions to His disciples at the Last Supper (Driver-Brown-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon, pages 284 and 1049; Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon, page 201), and it is the same liturgical term used to describe the "pouring out" of the seven judgment chalices in Revelation chapters 14-16 (14:10; 16:1-2, 3, 4, 8, 10, 12, and 17).

The term "pour out" is a liturgical instruction associated with the sacrificial system of the imperfect old Sinai Covenant which was incapable of removing sins but which was made perfect in the "pouring out" of Christ's blood at the Last Supper, in His Passion, and around the base of the altar of the Cross (CCC #1963). In His Parable of the Wine Skins, Jesus taught His disciples and the disciples of St. John the Baptist about the superiority of the New Covenant over the Old using the word ekcheo: Nor do people put [ekcheo = pour out] new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the skins burst, the wine runs out, and the skins are lost. No; they put new wine in fresh skins, and both are preserved (Mt 9:17). The wine-blood of the New Covenant could not be poured into the imperfect Old Covenant because it was about to be split open, and God sent His prophet, John, to announce that catastrophic event! The Book of Revelation is the announcement that the old "wine skins" of the Old Covenant are about to burst!

In the first century AD, Judah, the only remaining nation of God's people, rejected God/Messiah. St. Peter labeled them a "perverse generation" (Acts 2:40) just like the first generation of the Exodus who rejected God at Mt. Sinai in the collective sin of the Golden Calf and later refused to take possession of the Promised Land of Canaan (Ex 32; Num 14:1-4, 26-34; Dt 32:5, 20). No other two generations in Salvation History witnessed such amazing evidence of God's power and grace as the Exodus generation of Israel and the Jews who eye-witnesses to the miracles of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus warned His generation of God's covenant people: I tell you, then, that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. When they heard his parables, the chief priests and the scribes realized He was speaking about them (Mt 21:43-45). A covenant judgment (riv/rib), like excommunication, is not meant to forever separate God from a sinful person or community, but they are intended to separate those who have fallen away through the error of sin from the assembly and to restore them to the community of the faithful after their rejection and repentance of their sins (CCC #1463).

God in His mercy, gave Judah (known as Judea under Roman occupation) forty years to accept the New Covenant in Christ (from Jesus' Ascension in AD 30 to the destruction of the Temple in AD 70). It was the same period of grace He gave to the children of the Israelites of the Exodus generation to adjust to the Law of the Sinai Covenant in the wilderness. Jesus, as God's supreme prophet, warned His people of God's impending judgment in His homilies during His last week in Jerusalem. His covenant lawsuit began in the form of seven judgments against the religious leaders in Matthew 23:1-32, followed by the prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem and Judea together with the promise of His Second Advent (Mt 23:33-25:46; Mk 13:1-37; Lk 21:5-38). Those, who in their sinfulness still rejected Jesus and His New Covenant, would face the covenant sanctions listed in Leviticus 26:14-46 and Deuteronomy 28:15-69.

The Gospel of John is the only Gospel that does not record Jesus' warning of judgment in the form of a covenant lawsuit because God chose His prophet, St. John, as the last messenger to the unbelieving Jews of Judea who rejected the Messiah's Kingdom and still clung to the old Sinai Covenant. But amid John's terrifying visions of judgment, he also offered hope and encouragement to the new Israel in the New Covenant treaty written in the blood of Jesus Christ and poured out for the sins of humankind. God in His mercy is not willing for any to be lost but for all to come to salvation: But there is one thing, my dear friends, that you must never forget: that with the Lord, a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not being slow in carrying out his promises, as some people think he is; rather is he being patient with you, wanting nobody to be lost and everybody to be brought to repentance. The Day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then with a roar the sky will vanish, the elements will catch fire and melt away, the earth and all that it contains will be burned up (2 Pt 3:8-10).

The chart below (also see handout 1) demonstrates the division of the Book of Revelation into the formal Covenant Treaty format. Covenant agreements between nations, treaties between a great king and a vassal people, or "lawsuits" against a rebellious people were written in a formal style in the ancient Middle East from approximately the fifteenth century BC. The Book of Deuteronomy, for example, follows this format repeated in the Book of Revelation. Also, notice the series of four seven-fold judgments in the Book of Revelation and how they correspond to the judgments Jesus prophesied in Matthew's Mini Apocalypse of Chapter 24 (see handout 1 in Introduction Part III). Then too, there is the correlation of the four seven-fold judgments of Revelation and the covenant curse-judgments in Leviticus Chapter 26 in which God promised four times to call down a seven-fold judgment of covenant Sanctions if the Israelites broke the Sinai Covenant (underlining added for emphasis):

1. I will punish you seven times for your sins (Lev. 26:18).
2. And if you go against Me and will not listen to Me, I shall heap seven times more plagues on you for your sins (Lev. 26:21).
3. And if that does not reform you, and you still go against me, then I shall go against you and punish you another seven times over for your sins (Lev. 26:24).
4. And if in spite of this you will not listen to Me but go against Me, I shall go against you in fury and punish you seven times over for your sins (Lev. 26:28).

The number four appears in Scripture in association with the earth with its four seasons and its four cardinal directions. The land, like an altar, is pictured as having four corners (for example see Is 11:12 and Ex 27:1-2) from which the four winds blow (Jer 49:36). The camp of Israel, during the forty years in the wilderness, was also arranged in four groups around the desert Tabernacle (Num Chapter 2), and there are many other examples in Scripture. In Leviticus Chapter 26 and the Book of Revelation, four groups of sevens point to the Sanctions of the covenant treaty. They are associated with the consequences of disobedience that would result in a full and complete judgment upon the land and people of Israel for unrepented sins, the murder of God's prophets (as Jesus prophesied in Mt 23:35-36), and especially for the rejection of the promised Redeemer-Messiah.

THE COVENANT TREATY FORMAT IN REVELATION

(See the comparison with Matthew's Gospel in Introduction Part III, handout 1).

In the book of Revelation, St. John, the servant of Jesus the Messiah, prophesies the covenant sanctions that will fall upon His generation for disobedience to the covenant Israel made with Yahweh. And, at the same time, as the Messiah-King's representative, St. John is establishing the New Covenant Treaty (promised in Jer in 31:31-34) with the New Israel, the universal, Catholic Church. The word "universal" in Greek is katholikos; in Latin, catholicus. The earliest known use of the term "Catholic Church" to indicate the Church established by Jesus Christ appears in a letter St. Ignatius of Antioch (AD 35-107) wrote to the Christians at Smyrna, one of the seven churches of Revelation (Rev 2:8-11). St Ignatius on his way to martyrdom wrote: You must follow the bishop as Jesus Christ follows the Father, and the presbytery as you would the Apostles. [...]. Wherever the bishop appears, let the people be there; just as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church (Ignatius, Letter to the Smyrnaeans, 8.1; ca 110 AD, Jurgens, Faith of the Early Fathers, vol. I, page 25).

CHAPTER 1

In this study, we will be using the New Jerusalem Bible, but there will also be references to other versions, including The Interlinear Bible: Greek-English, volume IV, which gives a literal, word for word, translation.

THE THINGS WHICH WILL TAKE PLACE SOON WHICH JOHN HAS SEEN
The Preamble (prologue greeting) establishing the Lordship of the Great King in John's Vision of the Son of Man
Revelation 1:1-3 ~ 1 A revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him so that he could tell his servants what is now to take place very soon; he sent his angel to make it known [semaino] to his servant John 2 and John has borne witness to the Word of God and to the witness of Jesus Christ, everything that he saw. 3 Blessed is anyone who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed those who hear them, if they treasure the content, because the Time is near.

Biblical treaties acknowledge God's transcendence and omnipresence by referring to His actions in creation, redemption, and revelation. The opening verses stress God's divine revelation, and the declaration of the redemptive powers of Jesus the Messiah will close Revelation's preamble. As in the Old Testament tradition, it was a common practice to take the name of a book of Sacred Scripture from the first line; therefore, for centuries this book has been called "A Revelation of Jesus Christ." The word "revelation" in Greek is apokalypsis, which means "unveiling."

The work is the unveiling of the Kingdom Bride Jesus the Messiah in the context of future events which are only known to God the Father (Mt 24:36). Jesus the Son now shares in this knowledge which he will communicate to John. It is a revelation of Jesus Christ not only because it comes directly to John from Jesus but because Jesus is the subject, the beginning, and the end of this unveiling of future events. Please note when referring to God the Father the Greek text of the New Testament usually uses the definite, masculine article "the" = the God.

Question: To who is the message directed? See verse 1.
Answer: The message is for God's servants (plural).

Question: Who are God's servants?
Answer: The message is for the first century AD covenant faithful of the Church universal, the Kingdom of Jesus Christ.

Question: Who has the responsibility to carry the message? How many times is his name mentioned in verses 1-2?
Answer:John has the responsibility, and Jesus mentions his name two times.

The message is transmitted in five steps beginning with God the Father and ending with us, the readers: 1) from God the Father, 2) to Jesus Christ, 3) to an angel, 4) to the writer, John, 5) to the readers of this letter, the servants of God.

A revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him so that he could tell his servants what is now to take place very soon

Jesus and His angel repeat a statement of expectation concerning "what is now to take place very soon" three times in Chapter 1 in verses 1, 3, and 19. The same expression of immediate fulfillment is mentioned many times in the book, but it will be repeated four more times in the conclusion of Revelation in 22:6, 7, 12, and 20. It is as though Jesus (though John) bracketed the entire book with the warning to avoid any confusion over the "soon" occurrences of His prophecies in John's lifetime:

1. what is now to take place very soon (Rev 1:1)
2. the Time is near (Rev 1:3)
3. Now write down all that you see of present happenings and what is still to come (Rev 1:19)
4. The angel said to me, "All that you have written is sure and will come true: the Lord God who inspires the prophets has sent his angel to reveal to his servants what is soon to take place (Rev 22:6).
5. I am coming soon! Blessed are those who keep the prophetic message of this book (Rev 22:7).
6. I am coming soon, and my reward is with me, to repay everyone as their deeds deserve (Rev 22:12).
7. The one who attests these things says: I am indeed coming soon (Rev 22:20).

Jesus' "coming soon" answers the question the disciples asked Him just before the Ascension when they said, "Lord, has the time come for you to restore the kingdom to Israel?" Jesus didn't answer their question, which was probably a request to reinstate the Davidic Kingdom of Israel, yet they did understand that the Kingdom He promised was not yet fully instituted. Instead, He told them everything was according to the Father's plan, and they must wait in Jerusalem for the coming of the Holy Spirit who would empower them to become His witnesses to the world (Acts 1:6-8). Jesus' revelation to John announces what St. Paul told the Jews was necessary for the way into Jesus' Kingdom to be fully opened up. Paul wrote in the Letter to the Hebrews that as long as the Temple's old Sinai Covenant rituals and sacrifices continued, the way into the "holy place" Christ's New Covenant Kingdom is not opened up (Heb 9:8). Jesus coming in judgment on the apostate Jews who rejected Him and His New Covenant with the destruction of the Temple and its out-dated rituals will open up the way into the "holy place" of His Kingdom of the new Israel of the universal Church.

1b he sent his angel to make it known [semaino = to signify] to his servant John
The phrase and He made it known, in Greek is "and He signified." John chose to use the Greek word semaino from the root sema, which means "mark" or "sign" (Interlinear Bible: Greek-English, page 656; Thayer's Greek Lexicon, page 573). John used this same word in three passages of his Gospel (Jn 12:33; 18:32; and 21:19). In each of those cases, the word refers to Christ, "signifying" a future event soon to occur. For example, John 12:31-32 informs us that Jesus said, "Now sentence is being passed on this world; the prince of this world is to be driven out. And when I am lifted up from the earth, I shall draw all people to myself." And His words are followed by the statement in verse 33: By these words He indicated [semanino] the kind of death He would die. The lifting up' would be the "sign." In Revelation 1:1-3, John is writing that these things regarding the future "soon to come" are made known to him by the angel-messenger through "signs." In other words, the entire message is symbolic. This message is not merely history written in advance, but the prophecy of future events symbolically represented.

2 and John bore witness to the Word of God and the witness of Jesus Christ
The Greek word for "witness" is martus, from which we get our English word "martyr," and the Greek John uses for "word" is logos, the same Greek word St. John uses to refer to Christ in the Prologue of his Gospel (Jn 1:1, 9, 14). John bore witness by teaching the Gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ and through the sufferings he endured for the sake of the Gospel message.

3 Blessed is anyone who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed those who hear them, if they treasure the content, because the Time is near.
Question: What is the condition of the blessing promised in association with this message?
Answer: If the reader reads, hears, and keeps the content of the message, he will receive God's blessing.
Question: In what setting is Scripture most often both read and heard?
Answer: Today (as in St. John's day) Scripture is both "read" and "heard" in the Liturgy of the Word at Mass.

Verse 3 is an indication that John's message is not just for individual enlightenment but must be read in the Sacred Assembly of worship in the Church. From the opening verses, the setting of the Book of Revelation is in a liturgical assembly.

Question: How many blessings did Jesus give in His Beatitude teaching in Matthew 5:1-12?
Answer: He gave seven or eight depending on how they are counted.

Question: What does a blessing from God indicate?
Answer: It is a divine promise.

Question: When will this prophecy take place? Which two verses provide the answer? Also see Revelation 1:1 and 3.
Answer: Verse 1 reads "very soon," and verse 3 reads "because the time is near."

Question: What was the test of a true prophet of God? See Dt 18:21-22.
Answer: The true prophet had to be 100% accurate because those prophecies came from God.

Given the fact that the test of a true prophet was that his predictions came true, St. John's first-century readers had every reason to expect his message to have immediate significance. The words he uses: "very soon" (Rev 1:1), "near" (Rev 1:3), "the time for waiting is over" (Rev 10:7), and "the Time is close" (Rev 22:10) together with the reference to Jesus' prophecy in the Gospels (i.e., Mt 23:36) that judgment was to fall "on this generation," simply cannot mean anything but what is written. Consider Revelation 13:18, where John encourages his contemporary readers to calculate the number of the Beast who "is" (present tense) a man. In Revelation 17:10, he writes that one of the seven kings is currently on the throne, and in Revelation 17:18, John says that the great Harlot "is (present tense) the Great city which reigns (present tense) over the kings of the earth." Then too, there is the significant message of the angel to John in Revelation 22:10 ~ Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book for the time is near. Compare that passage with the command Daniel (sixth-century BC prophet) received at the end of his Old Testament book of prophecy in Daniel 12:4 ~ Conceal the words and seal up the book until the time of the end. God ordered Daniel to seal up his prophecy because it referred to "the end," which was in the distant future. But John is told not to seal up his prophecy. Why? Because the time is near!

The revelation of Jesus Christ to His servant John concerns contemporary ("very soon") and future events. The blessing extends to those down through the ages who prepare for his or her definitive encounter with the Savior by taking these words recording St. John's visions to heart and doing what Jesus instructs St. John to tell the faithful. St. Paul, in his letter to the Christians living in Rome, expresses this response to divine commands as the "obedience of faith" (Rom 1:5). Even though St. John's letter is to the first century Christians who are covenant members of seven churches in Asia Minor, his message is as timeless as St. Paul's message to the Romans is to us today. In the context of "the time is near" phrase of Revelation 1:3, it is also helpful to remember what St. Peter wrote to the Church regarding the coming of the final days when asked, "What has happened to the promise of His coming" (2 Pt 3:4). Peter's reply (beginning with a reference to Ps 90:4) was: you must never forget: that with the Lord, a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not being slow in carrying out His promises, as some people think He is; rather is He being patient with you, wanting nobody to be lost and everybody to be brought to repentance. The Day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then with a roar the sky will vanish, the elements will catch fire and melt away, the earth and all that it contains will be burned up (2 Pt 3:8-10). However, given the imminent nature of the warning of John's prophecy, perhaps he is not addressing the Second Advent of Christ. There will only be one "Second Coming" of Christ that will signal the Final Judgment, but do not forget that God comes in judgment continually throughout history to the nations and peoples of the earth.

Is St. John's prophecy concerned with a judgment other than the Final Judgment? Compare the time frame for the fulfillment of John's vision with the interpretation of a dream by the Old Testament prophet Daniel. Please read Daniel 2:1-45.

Question: When does Daniel tell King Nebuchadnezzar that the prophecy in his dream will come to fulfillment? See Daniel 2:28.
Answer: Daniel 2:28: "what is to take place in the final (or latter) days."

Question: When are those final' or latter' days fulfilled? What were the four historical kingdoms that correspond to the parts of the statue in the king's vision as prophesied by Daniel in Daniel 2:39-43?
Answer: St. John's vision is the fulfillment of the prophecies received by Daniel. In Daniel 2:31-36, the vision of Nebuchadnezzar's statue corresponds to four historical kingdoms that succeeded each other in dominating the earth:

1. The Babylonian Empire (Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom)
2. The Medo-Persian Empire
3. The Greek Empire of Alexander the Great and the generals who succeeded him, to establish four kingdoms from the remains of the Greek Empire
4. The Roman Empire conquered the known world, including Judah/Judea with their iron swords. Later, the Roman Empire split into the Eastern and Western parts of the Empire when Emperor Constantine moved the capital from Rome to Constantinople.

However, there is also the prophecy of a fifth kingdom in Daniel 2:33-36 and 44-45 that will succeed in overthrowing the fourth (Roman) kingdom: Then, iron and clay, bronze, silver and gold, all broke into pieces as fine as chaff on the threshing-floor in summer. The wind blew them away, leaving not a trace behind. And the stone that had struck the statue grew into a great mountain, filling the whole world (Dan. 2:35; my emphasis). Read verse 44 for the interpretation of verse 35: In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and this kingdom will not pass into the hands of another race: it will shatter and absorb all the previous kingdoms and itself last forever (Dan 2:44, underlining added).

Question: What is the fifth historical kingdom? Hint: The Temple in Jerusalem was built on what had been a threshing floor (1 Chr 21:18; 22:1; 2 Chr 3:1) and on the ev(b)anshettiyah, the foundation stone of Yahweh on Mt. Moriah. However, it was on another "rock" (kepha in Aramaic; petros [masculine of petra] in Greek) that God established His New Covenant Church (Simon-Peter). See Mk 1:14-15.
Answer: The fifth kingdom is the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, the universal Church.

The "threshing-floor" judgment pertains to the Jerusalem Temple built on Mt. Moriah upon a former threshing floor and which the Romans destroyed in AD 70. Jesus Christ, the stone that the builders (leaders of the Jews) rejected (Mt 21:42-43; Acts 4:10-12), is the stone that shattered the fourth kingdom and established the fifth "everlasting" kingdom, the Universal/Catholic Church.

Daniel 7:13-14 is the climax of Daniel's visions when he sees the Messiah ascending to God the Father in Heaven, also witnessed by Jesus' disciples in Acts 1:9-11. Christ is the ev(b)anshettiyah, the foundation/cornerstone of the New Covenant kingdom of heaven on earth; He is the stone the builders rejected which became the cornerstone of a New Covenant (Acts 4:11). Also see Matthew 21:42-44; Luke 20:17-18; Psalms 118:22; Isaiah 28:16; Acts 4:11; 1 Peter 2:4, 7.

St. John is now seeing the fulfillment of "the latter days" prophesied by the prophet Daniel. Jesus the Messiah inaugurated God's Holy Kingdom, and it fulfilled Daniel's prediction that it shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever (Dan 2:44). It was a promise beginning in John's day because fulfillment is a process that only began with the inauguration of the fifth Kingdom; there was going be an end of the old kingdoms and a final triumph of the new.

Question: In St. Peter's first homily during the Jewish Feast of Pentecost when God the Holy Spirit came to the Church, what did Peter say about the "Last Days" and the "Day of the Lord" in Acts 2:16-36 and in his defense of the Gospel before the Jewish law court known as the Sanhedrin in Acts 3:22-26?
Answer: First, quoting the prophecy of Joel 3:1-5, St. Peter told the crowd of Jews that the "last days" prophesized by Joel had come to pass. And then in Acts 3:24, giving his testimony before the Sanhedrin, Peter proclaimed: In fact, all the prophets that have ever spoken from Samuel onwards, have predicted these days.

Revelation 1:4-8: John's Prologue Address and Greeting Continues
[Brackets indicate literal translation: The Interlinear Bible: Greek-English, page 653]
4 John, to the seven churches of Asia: grace and peace to you from him [He] who is, who was, and who is to come, from the seven spirits who are before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the First-born from the dead, the highest of earthly kings. He loves us and has washed away our sins with his blood, 6 and made us a Kingdom of Priests to serve his God and Father; to him, then, be glory and power forever and ever. Amen. 7 Look, he is coming on the clouds; everyone will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the races of the earth will mourn over him. Indeed, this shall be so. Amen. 8 "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.

Question: To who is John's greetings addressed? See the "Map of the Seven Churches of Revelation" in the maps section of the AgapeBibleStudy.com website.
Answer: His addresses His greeting to seven churches in Asia Minor (modern Turkey).

The seven Christian faith communities of Revelation, located in what is today the country of Turkey, no longer exist. They were swallowed up in the Muslim invasions of the seventh and eighth centuries AD. Notice on the map that the churches were all located in somewhat of a circle. Perhaps this was St. John's diocese when he was bishop of Ephesus. St. Irenaeus records that John wrote his Gospel when he was Bishop of Ephesus (Against Heresies, 3.1.1) and the location of the island of his imprisonment on Patmos was just off the coast near Ephesus. The Romans governed this area known as the Proconsular of Asia, and the city of Ephesus was the provincial capital. Exile to an island was often the punishment for a disrupter: "The authors of sedition and tumult, or those who stir up the people, shall according to their rank, either be crucified, thrown to wild beasts, or deported to an island" (The Opinions of Julius Paulus Addressed to His Son, 5.22.2).

4 grace and peace to you from Him who is, who was, and who is to come....
The greeting grace and peace is in the usual New Testament greeting (see Rom 1:7; 1 Cor 1:2; 2 Cor 1:2; Gal 1:3; Eph 1:2; Phi 1:2; Col 1:2; 1 Thes 1:1; 2 Thes 1:2; Titus 1:2; Phm 1:3; 1 Pt 1:2; 2 Pt 1:2). It calls to mind the mission of Jesus Christ and the results of His saving work that continue to bear fruit through His Kingdom of the Church.

from Him who is [from He who is], who was, and who is to come....
Literally, from He who is, is bad Greek but good Christian theology. For another example of John's "so-called" poor Greek but good theology, see John 16:13 where he uses the masculine article for "the Spirit." In Greek, the word "spirit" is neuter. St. John makes "Spirit" masculine for a sound theological reason; God the Holy Spirit and the other two persons of the Most Holy Trinity are always identified in the masculine in Sacred Scripture, as they are in this verse.

The literal "He who is" is also in verse 8: "I AM the Alpha and the Omega."
Question: When did God disclose a similar title to reveal Himself as "I AM" to His prophets? For example, see Gen 13:4; 15:2 and Ex 3:13-15 (the word LORD in all capital letters in some Bible translations indicated the literal YHWH in the Hebrew text).
Answer: This title is an elaboration of the Tetragrammaton, YHWH, God's holy covenant name as given to the Patriarchs and Moses; a name usually translated as "I AM WHO I AM," and expressed by modern scholars as "Yahweh."

By identifying Himself in this way, Jesus underlines the fact that He is the Lord God of all time, past, present, and future. "His Story" is history! And that He is at all times acting to effect salvation for man. See repeated references to this title in Revelation 1:8; 4:8; 11:17; and 16:5 (for further reference see Jesus' use of I AM in Jn 8:24; 8:58; 18:5-6; etc.).

Question: In Revelation 1:4-5 what mystery, previously revealed by Jesus Christ to the Church, is expressed and in what three titles and in what order (hint: see Mt 28:19)?
Answer:

1. God the Father (He who is and who was and who is to come)
2. God the Holy Spirit (from the seven spirits before His throne)
3. God the Son (Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the First-born from the dead, the highest of earthly kings)

Notice that this is a liturgical order in naming the Most Holy Trinity as opposed to the order (in Matthew 28:19). This order is significant since the visions in Revelation are in a liturgical context.

Read Exodus 40:16-35 for the arrangement of the Tabernacle of God in its three parts which corresponded symbolically to the mystery of the Trinity.
Question: How was the tabernacle arranged?
Answer: The arrangement was in three sections: The Sanctuary courtyard with the altar of sacrifice, the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies.

The arrangement of the three parts of the Sanctuary (and later the Jerusalem Temple) and the placement of the sacred furniture reflected the mystery of the Trinity, not revealed to the Old Covenant Church:

1. The Ark of the Covenant, placed in the Holy of Holies, represented the throne of God.
2. The seven-branched lampstand placed in the Holy Place represented the Holy Spirit.
3. The courtyard with the sacrificial altar and priests served to represent the redeeming work of the Son.

In Revelation Chapter 4, St. John is taken up into the heavenly Sanctuary. The desert Tabernacle (and later the Temple in Jerusalem) was only a copy and shadow of the Heavenly Sanctuary, as God instructed Moses (see Ex 25:9 and 26:30). The inspired writer of the Letter to the Hebrews wrote: They worship in a copy and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary as Moses was warned when he was about to erect the Tabernacle. For He says, "See that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain" (Heb 8:5). See "The Plan of the Desert Sanctuary" in the Charts section of the website.

Question: How is the liturgical order of the Trinity (Father, Holy Spirit, and Son) reflected in our prayers to the Most Holy Trinity the sacrifice of the Mass?
Answer:

1. We begin our worship by addressing our prayers to God the Father and continue with prayers to the Father until the Eucharistic prayer.
2. In the Eucharistic Prayer, the priest first calls upon God the Holy Spirit when he prays: Let your Spirit come upon these gifts to make them holy, so that they may become for us the body and blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
3. It isn't until the rite of the "Sign of Peace" that the priest first addresses a pray to God the Son: Lord Jesus Christ, you said to your apostles: "I leave you peace, my peace I give you." Look not on our sins, but on the faith of your Church and grant us the peace and unity of your kingdom where you live forever and ever. From the Sign of Peace onward, our prayers are continually directed to God the Son.

Look at the unique way John expresses the unity (oneness) and diversity (threeness) of God in Revelation 1:4-5. Remember the concept of the Trinitarian unity of the Godhead is a mystery not revealed to the Church until the advent of Christ. It was the reason He was condemned to death by the hierarchy of the Old Covenant Church (Mk 14:61-64; Lk 22:69-71):

1. God the Father (Rev 1:4): The transliteration reads: "He (not Him) the Being, and the Was and the Coming" (Interlinear Bible: Greek: English, page 656). St. John uses atrocious Greek to express excellent theology. See Malachi 3:6a: No, I, Yahweh, do not change.... God is eternally unchangeable. He is not subject to history or environment. He is not defined by external conditions. His coming is not limited to His coming at the end of time but to His complete and unceasing rule over history. He comes again and again to judge the wicked and to rescue the faithful.

2. God the Holy Spirit (Rev 1:5a): "the seven spirits who are before his throne." Some scholars have interrupted the seven spirits to be seven angels, but the problem with this interpretation is that it does not fit the sequence. Why would John leave out one person of the Trinity? In addition, angels are never called "spirits" in Revelation, and what about the grace and peace that comes from the seven spirits? Can grace and peace originate from angels? Grace and peace can only originate from God. In Revelation 3:1, Jesus is said to have the "seven spirits of God," thus the seven spirits belong to both the Father and the Son (also see Jn 15:26). Finally, the person spoken of here is clearly equal to the Father and the Son, so who else is equal to both the Father and the Son other than God the Holy Spirit?

In the book of the Zechariah, the prophet had a vision of a seven-branched lampstand with seven lamps. His vision may shed some light on identifying the seven spirits who are before God's throne: The angel who was talking to me came back and roused me as though rousing someone who was asleep. And he asked me, What do you see?' I replied, As I look, there is a lamp-stand entirely of gold with a bowl at the top of it; it holds seven lamps with seven openings for the lamps on it ... I then said to the angel who was talking to me, What are those things, my lord?' (Zec 4:1-2, 4). Without any human assistance, there is an unending flow of oil to the seven lamps in Zechariah's vision of the new Temple's lampstand. An angel tells Zechariah the interpretation of his vision: These are the seven eyes of Yahweh, which range over the whole world' (Zec 4:6a/10b). And then Zechariah is told: Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit (Zec 4:6b; emphasis added). The Zechariah passage identifies the seven lamps of the one lampstand in the Sanctuary with God's Spirit. The lamps symbolize the Spirit's omniscience and watchfulness over Creation, as in the Creation account in Genesis as the Spirit judged each day of Creation as "good" seven times (Gen 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, and 31).

Patristic tradition supports the interpretation that the seven spirits in Revelation 1:5a is a seven-fold unity of the one Spirit, the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity: Here is that mystery of the number seven which is everywhere indicated. Here the seven spirits are introduced, which are one and the same Spirit, that is, the Holy Spirit, who is one in name, sevenfold in power, invisible and incorporeal, and whose form is impossible to comprehend (Bishop Apringius of Beja, Tractate on the Apocalypse 1.4). Scripture expresses the Holy Spirit's filling and empowering work in the Church in terms of the number seven, symbolizing spiritual perfection, completeness, and fullness.

Question: What are the gifts of the Holy Spirit and how many are there? See CCC #1831 and Isaiah 11:1-2.
Answer: There are seven gifts of the Holy Spirit listed in the Isaiah passage: wisdom, insight (understanding), good counsel, power (fortitude), knowledge, piety, and fear of God.

The passage in Zechariah reminds us of God's power and omniscience, represented by the seven lamps that are the seven spirits casting their light across Creation (Zec 4:6). God's divine power is symbolized by the seven eyes of Yahweh, which range the whole earth and from which nothing is hidden (Zec 4:10). Also see Revelation 5:6 where St. John writes that the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth are the seven eyes of the Lamb (Christ). This imagery also appears in Old Testament passages like Isaiah 11:2-5 that reveals God acts through His Spirit, that His Spirit has been communicated to the Redeemer-Messiah (God the Son), and from the Son to man through Christ's death, burial, and resurrection.

3. God the Son: The third expression of unity (oneness) and diversity (threeness) appears in Revelation 1:4-5. Three Messianic titles identify God the Son in Revelation 1:5.
Question: What are three Messianic titles for Jesus in verse 5? Hint: all three titles are from Psalms 89:26-38 and each title calls to mind the promise of the three-fold mission of the Messiah as prophet, priest, and king.
Answer: Three titles are:

1. the faithful witness
2. the first-born from the dead
3. the highest of earthly kings

The three Messianic titles for Christ in Revelation 1:5b:
"The Faithful Witness": The Greek word for "witness" is where we get the word "martyr." Originally the word martyr, as used in the first century, meant one who works to enforce the Law and assist in its execution, even to the enforcement of the death penalty. The significance of this title applied to Jesus Christ is that He both witnesses against those who are at war against God and He also prosecutes/judges them as applies to His role as God's supreme Prophet (prophesied in Dt 18:15-19). As supreme Prophet, Jesus Christ is God's prosecuting attorney, especially as He fulfilled that role in Matthew Chapter 24's "mini apocalypse" when He called down divine judgment on the citizens of Judea and how He met his death at the hands of false witnesses. Many of those who followed Christ, bearing "witness" to Him as the promised Redeemer-Messiah in their death, fulfilled our modern interpretation of the word.

"The firstborn from the dead": St. Paul called Jesus "the first-born of the dead" as well as the "first-fruits of the dead" (1 Cor 15:18-20; Col 1:18).
Question: Why is Jesus the firstborn from the dead?
Answer: In His resurrection, Jesus defeated sin and death. By His resurrection from the grave, Jesus has obtained supremacy, having "first place" in everything.

St. Peter also expressed this concept in his homily on the feast of Pentecost in Acts 2:32-36. In Jesus' resurrection, God has fulfilled His promise in Psalm 89:27: I will make Him my Firstborn, the highest of the Kings of the earth. St John (and God the Holy Spirit) must have had this passage in mind because the third title he applies to Jesus is from Psalms 89:28.

"The highest of earthly kings": Jesus Christ is not only the Savior; He is the universal King. He is in effect the King of kings sitting at the Father's right hand with dominion over all the earth. As Lord of all the earth, all earthly kings are subject to Him (see Ps 110:1-7). His kingship will be manifested in a special way in His Second Advent. For further study see Psalms 89 and compare verses 26-38 with Jesus' titles in Revelation 1:4-5 and with His mission as God's anointed Davidic heir who His enemies thought God repudiated in His crucifixion but who conquered death and the grave (Sheol) in His resurrection. In Psalm 89:26-38, notice the repudiation of God's anointed (Ps 89:38-45), the plea for God's justice, the question "who can save himself from the clutches of Sheol" (Ps 89:48), and the call for God to remember His covenant with David (Ps 89:49).

Question: How is this title fulfilled in light of God's promise to King David in 2 Samuel 7:16-17; 23:5; and Sirach 45:25/31?
Answer: Jesus is the fulfillment of God's eternal covenant with David that his [David's] throne will rule forever.

Jesus is a direct linear descendant of the great King David through the Virgin Mary (Mt 1:1, 6-16; Lk 1:32; 3:31). He is, in fact, the fulfillment of all the Old Testament promises God the Father made about the Messiah (also see 2 Sam 7:1a; Ps 89; Is 55:3-4; Zec 12:8).

6 He loves us and has washed away our sins with his blood and made us a Kingdom of Priests to serve His God and Father: to Him be the glory and power forever and ever. Amen.
Jesus fulfilled what no Old Testament blood sacrifice could accomplish (Heb 9:1-4; 14-22). This verse assures us that we have become a "Kingdom of Priests" through the ministry of our High Priest Christ Jesus.

Question: When do we assume this role in the priesthood of the faithful?
Answer: Because of the merit Christ has won for us, as His heirs, we inherit this role in the Sacrament of Baptism when we are reborn into the family of God and no longer live s a child in the family of Adam, tainted by original sin. Later, when we complete our baptism in the Sacrament of Confirmation, we take our place as active members of Christ's royal priesthood of believers when we become His apostles and carry His message of salvation to the world.

St. Peter wrote, set yourselves close to him so that you, too, may be living stones making a spiritual house as a holy priesthood to offer the spiritual sacrifices made acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. [...]. But you are a chosen race, a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, a people to be a personal possession to sing the praises of God who called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were a non-people and now you are the People of God; once you were outside his pity; now you have received pity (1 Pt 2:5, 9-10; also see Heb 2:17; 3:1; 4:14; 9:11). And the catechism affirms our role in the priesthood of believers: Christ, high priest and unique mediator, had made of the Church a kingdom, priests for His God and Father." The whole community of believers is, as such, priestly. The faithful exercise their baptismal priesthood through their participation, each according to his own vocation, in Christ's mission as priest, prophet and king. Through the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, the faithful are "consecrated to be a holy priesthood (CCC #1546).

Question: Is there a parallel in the Old Testament? Who were the members of God's priestly nation in the Sinai Covenant? Read Exodus 19:3-8. What happened to cause the loss of the status as a kingdom of priests? Read Exodus 31:1-4; 31:25-29; Numbers 3:11-13; and 18:6-7.
Answer: The Israelites were initally designated a "kingdom of priests" because every first-born son of every Israelite family was destined to serve God in the Sanctuary. However, in the rebellion of the Golden Calf, the first-born sons did not rally to defend the covenant. Instead, the Levites put down the uprising, and as their reward they replaced the first-born sons as the lesser ministers who assisted the chief priests. Aaron and his sons continued as the hereditary chief ministerial priests.b

Question: Do we have two divisions of the priesthood? Read CCC #1547.
Answer: Yes, those of us who are covenant believers are all members of the royal priesthood of Jesus Christ, but some of us are called to serve in the ministerial priesthood.

Revelation 1:6 is John's doxology of praise to Jesus the Redeemer-Messiah. Not only have we been redeemed from slavery to sin by the power of His perfect sacrifice, but He has also constituted us as a Kingdom of priests. The end of the Old is the beginning of the New, and Christians are now ruling with Christ (see Eph 1:20-22; 2:6; Col 1:13), and spreading His Gospel ("good news") across the world over which only He has dominion and power.

7 Look He is coming on the clouds; and everyone will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the races of the earth will mourn over him.
This verse announces what many scholars consider to be the theme of the book. Not the Second Advent of Christ, but the coming of Christ in judgement upon old covenant Israel to abolish old covenant ritual worship (Heb 9:9-10) and establish the universal (catholic) Church as the new Kingdom of the New Israel (CCC 877).

"Coming on the clouds" is a reference to Daniel 7:13. This argument is supported by the Old Testament imagery St. John uses that is one of the most familiar Biblical images for judgment "the Glory-Cloud (see Gen 15:17; Ex 13:21-22; 14:19-20 & 24; 19:9, 16-19; Ps 18:8-14; 104:3; Is 19:1; Ez 32:7-8; Dan 7:13-14; Nah 1:2-8; Mt 24:30; Mk 14:62; and Acts 2:19).

The Glory-Cloud is God's heavenly chariot by which He makes His glorious presence known on earth. It is also a revelation of His Throne from which He brings judgment upon the wicked and justice and deliverance to the righteous (Dan 7:13-14). The scholars who hold this view believe this reference is directed toward the wrathful judgment against an apostate Israel as Jesus prophesied in Matthew chapters 23 and 24. In Matthew 26:63-66, Jesus identified Himself with the divine Messiah in Daniel 7:13 and the Davidic king in Psalms 110:1 when pressed by the High Priest to reveal His true identity: But Jesus was silent. And the high priest said to him, "I put you on earth by the living God to tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God." Jesus answered him, "It is you who say it. But I tell you that from this time onward you will see the Son of man seated at the right hand of the Power and coming on the clouds of heaven" (Mt 26:63-66).

The High Priest immediately realized Jesus was accepting the title of Messiah in the context of these two prophetic passages and was claiming divinity and judgment upon Israel. The High Priest tore his clothes and condemned Jesus to death.¹

Verse 7 continues: and everyone will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the races of the earth will mourn over him. Indeed, this shall be so. Amen.
Verse 7b is a reference to Zechariah 12:10-11. It is the second time John used this phrase. He also used it in the Gospel of John 19:37. Compare the passages (emphasis mine):

• Zechariah 12:10b-11: They will mourn for the one whom they have pierced as though for an only child, and weep for him as people weep for a first-born child.
• John 19:35-37: This is the evidence of the one who saw it "true evidence, and he knows that what he says is true "and he gives it so that you may believe as well. Because all this happened to fulfill the words of scripture: Not one bone of his will be broken;' and again, in another place scripture says; "They will look to the one whom they have pierced."