{"id":6750,"date":"2016-01-01T21:26:05","date_gmt":"2016-01-02T03:26:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/?p=6750"},"modified":"2016-01-01T21:26:05","modified_gmt":"2016-01-02T03:26:05","slug":"prologue-to-the-revelation-of-jesus-christ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/2016\/01\/01\/prologue-to-the-revelation-of-jesus-christ\/","title":{"rendered":"Prologue to the Revelation of Jesus Christ"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Prologue to the Revelation of Jesus Christ<\/h2>\n

January 1, 2016<\/p>\n

Revelation 1:1-8<\/p>\n

This section is called a prologue. A prologue is an introduction. In this case, one is being introduced to the last book of the Bible, and more important the final revelation of God in Jesus Christ. A revelation is an \u201cunveiling.\u201d Something which was hidden is now being opened. This is called the revelation of Jesus Christ<\/a> about the future (Revelation 1:1).<\/p>\n

This revelation is passed on through different people (Revelation 1:1-3):<\/p>\n

God<\/p>\n

Jesus<\/p>\n

Angel<\/p>\n

John<\/p>\n

the reader<\/p>\n

The revelation is sent and signify (Revelation 1:1). This means that the book is written using symbols. The Book of Revelation cannot be interpreted literally in a scientific sense. The book comes in three parts:<\/p>\n

1. An introductory prologue<\/p>\n

2. An epistle to seven churches<\/p>\n

3. A set of visions<\/p>\n

The Book of Revelation can be compared to a movie trailer. You see the highlights of a movie, but you can\u2019t know all of the plot in the few scenes it shows. Revelation can be viewed as a set of scenes with symbolic meaning. This symbolic meaning is interpreted throughout the book. As the reader, we walk through these scenes.<\/p>\n

To the original audience, the scenes probably had significance because they were going through persecution. This book shared hope to help them through their time of difficult tribulation. This is why the person who reads the book and the one who hears and obeys the words of prophecy is blessed (Revelation 1:3).<\/p>\n

We are introduced to John, who received this set of visions. He sends it to the seven churches in Asia<\/a> (Revelation 1:4). There are seven churches which he planted, but seven is also a number of completed perfection on the Bible. Symbolically, John is communicating that the church is perfect (even though Jesus will later talk about problems in each of the churches). It is perfect because the church, though flawed, will complete God\u2019s plan.<\/p>\n

John addresses the churches with a Trinitarian greeting (Revelation 1:4-5):<\/p>\n

1. God the Father is the One who is, who was, and who is coming<\/p>\n

2. The Holy Spirit<\/a> is the Seven-fold Spirt before the throne.<\/p>\n

3. Jesus is addressed in a Trinitarian fashion (Revelation 1:5):<\/p>\n

He is the faithful \u201cmartyr\u201d<\/p>\n

He is the \u201cprototype\u201d \u2013 the pre-eminate, or prominent over the dead<\/p>\n

He is the arch-ruler of all the rulers on the Earth<\/p>\n

Each of these descriptions about Jesus describes the authority of Jesus. He is over all of God\u2019s children, all of the dead, and all of the those who lead the world.<\/p>\n

Revelation 1:5-6 continues the description of Jesus, but ends in a prayer dedicated to Jesus. Since this is the revelation of Jesus Christ, it is natural that He will be honored and lifted up.<\/p>\n

Then John confirms this introduction by pointing back to prophecies in the Old Testament. This section describes how the world will Jesus when He returns. John ends by stating that this certain, with a second Amen.<\/p>\n

This section ends with a self-declaration by God. This refers to the fact that God will be able to work out His divine purposes in human history. He is the Alpha and Omega. We would be say He is the A and the Z. He is the beginning and the end. He is also the timeless one: Who is, Who was, and Who is coming. Because He is timeless, He can finish what He started. This introduction ends with a certainty about the work and plan of God in our lives.<\/p>\n

If God can wrap up history, He can take of you and me.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prologue to the Revelation of Jesus Christ January 1, 2016 Revelation 1:1-8 This section is called a prologue. A prologue is an introduction. In this case, one is being introduced to the last book of the Bible, and more important the final revelation of God in Jesus Christ. A revelation is an \u201cunveiling.\u201d Something which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2886,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[99,6],"tags":[1085,1117,1583,16],"class_list":["post-6750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-revelation","category-simple-thoughts","tag-introduction","tag-jesus","tag-prologue","tag-revelation"],"yoast_head":"\nPrologue to the Revelation of Jesus Christ<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Prologue to the Revelation of Jesus Christ January 1, 2016 Revelation 1:1-8 This section is called a prologue. A prologue is an introduction. In this\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/2016\/01\/01\/prologue-to-the-revelation-of-jesus-christ\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Prologue to the Revelation of Jesus Christ\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Prologue to the Revelation of Jesus Christ January 1, 2016 Revelation 1:1-8 This section is called a prologue. A prologue is an introduction. In this\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/2016\/01\/01\/prologue-to-the-revelation-of-jesus-christ\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jim Erwin\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/revjimerwin\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-01-02T03:26:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jim Erwin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@revjimerwin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jim Erwin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/2016\/01\/01\/prologue-to-the-revelation-of-jesus-christ\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/2016\/01\/01\/prologue-to-the-revelation-of-jesus-christ\/\",\"name\":\"Prologue to the Revelation of Jesus Christ\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-01-02T03:26:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-01-02T03:26:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/#\/schema\/person\/d60794d59235a0279dec26398d994dcb\"},\"description\":\"Prologue to the Revelation of Jesus Christ January 1, 2016 Revelation 1:1-8 This section is called a prologue. A prologue is an introduction. In this\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/2016\/01\/01\/prologue-to-the-revelation-of-jesus-christ\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/2016\/01\/01\/prologue-to-the-revelation-of-jesus-christ\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/2016\/01\/01\/prologue-to-the-revelation-of-jesus-christ\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Prologue to the Revelation of Jesus Christ\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/\",\"name\":\"Jim Erwin\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/#\/schema\/person\/d60794d59235a0279dec26398d994dcb\",\"name\":\"Jim Erwin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/70772a6e533e4bcbd0ac0e0af2d62ff1?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/70772a6e533e4bcbd0ac0e0af2d62ff1?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jim Erwin\"},\"description\":\"My name is Jim Erwin. Welcome to my site patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin. You can look around this site and find out more about me. I am a country postmodern pastor in the digital world. I am a Christian, husband to a wonderful wife, father of four wonderful girls, mentor to new Christian leaders, and pastor of a local church. I pastor Washburn First Baptist Church in Washburn, Missouri in the beautiful area of the state called the Ozarks. I am also the Executive Secretary of International Baptist Church Ministries. I am a graduate of University of Houston, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. I am also a graduate of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary with a Doctor of Ministry in Church Planting.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/revjimerwin\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/revjimerwin\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/author\/jerwin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Prologue to the Revelation of Jesus Christ","description":"Prologue to the Revelation of Jesus Christ January 1, 2016 Revelation 1:1-8 This section is called a prologue. A prologue is an introduction. In this","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/2016\/01\/01\/prologue-to-the-revelation-of-jesus-christ\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Prologue to the Revelation of Jesus Christ","og_description":"Prologue to the Revelation of Jesus Christ January 1, 2016 Revelation 1:1-8 This section is called a prologue. A prologue is an introduction. In this","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/2016\/01\/01\/prologue-to-the-revelation-of-jesus-christ\/","og_site_name":"Jim Erwin","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/revjimerwin\/","article_published_time":"2016-01-02T03:26:05+00:00","author":"Jim Erwin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@revjimerwin","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jim Erwin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/2016\/01\/01\/prologue-to-the-revelation-of-jesus-christ\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/2016\/01\/01\/prologue-to-the-revelation-of-jesus-christ\/","name":"Prologue to the Revelation of Jesus Christ","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-01-02T03:26:05+00:00","dateModified":"2016-01-02T03:26:05+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/#\/schema\/person\/d60794d59235a0279dec26398d994dcb"},"description":"Prologue to the Revelation of Jesus Christ January 1, 2016 Revelation 1:1-8 This section is called a prologue. A prologue is an introduction. In this","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/2016\/01\/01\/prologue-to-the-revelation-of-jesus-christ\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/2016\/01\/01\/prologue-to-the-revelation-of-jesus-christ\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/2016\/01\/01\/prologue-to-the-revelation-of-jesus-christ\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Prologue to the Revelation of Jesus Christ"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/","name":"Jim Erwin","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/#\/schema\/person\/d60794d59235a0279dec26398d994dcb","name":"Jim Erwin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/70772a6e533e4bcbd0ac0e0af2d62ff1?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/70772a6e533e4bcbd0ac0e0af2d62ff1?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Jim Erwin"},"description":"My name is Jim Erwin. Welcome to my site patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin. You can look around this site and find out more about me. I am a country postmodern pastor in the digital world. I am a Christian, husband to a wonderful wife, father of four wonderful girls, mentor to new Christian leaders, and pastor of a local church. I pastor Washburn First Baptist Church in Washburn, Missouri in the beautiful area of the state called the Ozarks. I am also the Executive Secretary of International Baptist Church Ministries. I am a graduate of University of Houston, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. I am also a graduate of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary with a Doctor of Ministry in Church Planting.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/revjimerwin\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/revjimerwin"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/author\/jerwin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2886"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6750\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}