10 Observations on Jesus in Revelation 1 by David Clarkson

If we observe how Christ is represented when he is said to be in the midst of the churches, we may thereby know what discoveries of Christ are made in the assemblies of his people, Rev. i. 13, &c.

1. Clothed with a garment down to the foot. That was the priests’ habit. Here is the priestly office of Christ, the fountain of all the saints’ comfort and enjoyments.
2. Girt about the paps with a golden girdle. This was the garb of a conqueror. So Christ is set forth as victorious over all his people’s enemies.
3. His head and hair white like wool. Here is his eternity; whiteness is the emblem of it. Therefore, when the Lord is expressed as eternal, he is called the Ancient of days.
4. His eyes as a flame of fire. Here is his omnisciency; nothing can be hid from his eye. The flame scatters darkness, and consumes or penetrates whatever to us might be an impediment of sight.
5. His feet like to fine brass. Here is his rower; to crush all opposers of his glory and his people’s happiness; they can no more withstand him, than earthen vessels can endure the force of brass.
6. His voice as the sound of many waters. Here his voice is most loud and powerful; so powerful, as it can make the deaf to hear, and raise the dead out of the grave of sin. His voice in private is a still voice, here it is as the sound of many waters.
7. He had in his right hand seven stars. Here is his providence, his tender care of his messengers, the ministers of the gospel, the administrators of public ordinances; he holds them in his hand, his right hand, and all the violence of the world, all the powers of darkness, cannot pluck them thence.
8. Out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword. His word publicly preached, sharper than a two-edged sword, as described, Heb. iv. 12, 18, pierces the heart, searches the soul, wounds the conscience. With this Christ goes on, conquering and to conquer, maugre all opposition.
9. His countenance was as the sun that shineth in his strength. Here the face of Christ is unveiled, the fountain of light and life, the seat of beauty and glory, such as outshines the sun in his full strength. So he appears, as he becomes the love, the delight, the admiration, the happiness, of every one whose eyes are opened to behold him.
10. Now, as he is here described in the midst of the churches, so does he in effect appear in the assemblies of his people. No such clear, such comfortable, such effectual representations of the power and wisdom, of the love and beauty, of the glory and majesty of Christ, as in the public ordinances: ‘We all here, as with open face, behold the glory of the Lord.’

10 Contrasts Between Genesis 1-3 and Revelation 21 and 22

Made with AI

1. The Starting and End Point: Genesis 2:8 God places the first humans in an uncultivated, rural landscape Revelation 22:2 God brings redeemed humanity into a grand city, the New Jerusalem.
2. The Curse Undone: Genesis 3:17 God curses the ground because of human rebellion. Revelation 22:3 No longer will there be any curse.
3. The Flow of Living Water: Genesis 2:10, a river flows out of Eden to water the physical earth. Revelation 22:1, the River of the Water of Life flows eternally from God’s throne.
4. The Hiding Ends: Genesis 3:8, terrified humans hide from God's physical presence among the trees. Revelation 22:4, the ultimate restoration is achieved: They will see his face.
5. Banishing the Dark: Genesis 1:5, God creates the night to alternate with the day. Revelation 22:5, night is permanently abolished because God's glory replaces all darkness.
6. Access to Life Restored: Genesis 3:24, cherubim guard the way to the Tree of Life to banish humanity. Revelation 22:14, humanity is granted the formal right to the tree of life (also see 22:2)
7. No more sea: Genesis 1:10 the creation of the seas Reveation 21:1 no more sea
8. Precisou stones: Genesis 2:12 mentions gold and onyx Revelation 21:18-21 describe the New Jerusalem in terms of precious stones and golden streets.
9. Satan cast out: Genesis 3 tells how Satan brought about the fall through a serpent Revelation 21:8, 22 and 22:15 speak of eil being expelled. See also Revelation 20.
10. The Bride: Genesis 2 Adam is presented with Eve as his bride Revelation 21:2 and 9 speak of the holicity as Christ's bride.

10 no mores in Revelation 21 and 22

Aasish Giri, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

1. No more sea

Rev 21:1 Then I saw "a new heaven and a new earth," for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.

2. No more death

Rev 21:2-4 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Look! God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 'He will wipe every tear from their eyes.

There will be no more death'

3. No more mourning or mourning

4. No more crying or crying

5. No more  pain or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

6. No more temples Rev 21:22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.

7. No more sun or moon Rev 21:23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.

8. No more impurity Rev 21:27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.

9. No more curse Rev 22:3 No longer will there be any curse.

The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.

10. No more night

Rev 22:5 There will be no more night.

They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever. 

Aberystwyth 2016 First Morning (Tues)

Joel Beeke preached this morning on Revelation 19. Good stuff, worth hearing.

Midweek Meeting November 25 2015

Thanks to the presence of a visiting couple we were back up to 17 last night, which was good. We continued in this brief series on the Three Rs (Revelation, Redemption and Regeneration) with the rest of what I wanted to say regarding revelation namely to do with authority, inerrancy, perspicuity and sufficiency (I think that was the order). We had a good time of prayer too. Lots to pray about.

Conversion of Dr Emile Cailliet

I don't know much about Dr. Emile Cailliet, a professor at Princeton Seminary who died in 1981, but he has a fascinating conversion story. Her eis the story as told by Ray Stedman in 1982.

In his youth he was a total unbeliever. In fact, he vehemently opposed any kind of faith. He fought in the French Army in World War I, and the terrible pain of human life and death around him confirmed his conviction that there was nothing in religion that could satisfy men. But he longed to have something that would help him in times of difficulty, so he compiled a notebook which he called, "The Book That Would Understand Me." Whenever he ran across a quotation that struck fire in his mind he would copy it down in his book. Still a young man when the war was ended, he sat down one day to read the collection that he had put together. As he read it, his heart sank. He saw that since it came from himself, it had no power to minister to him in times of pressure and stress; it seemed flat and empty.

About that time a remarkable thing occurred. Purely by accident, one day his wife wandered into a courtyard she had never seen before. She realised she was in a Huguenot church, and she saw an old man sitting at a table. For some reason, unknown to her, she walked up to him and asked, "Do you have any Bibles in French?" Without a word, the man picked up a Bible from the table and handed it to her. She was afraid to give it to her husband because he had ordered that religion not even be mentioned in their house, but she finally told him of this unusual experience. He said, "Give me the Bible. Let me read it."

For the first time in his life he began to read the Bible. He started in the Gospels, which fascinated him. For many hours he read through several of the books of the Bible. Finally he put it down, and, bowing his head, he said, "At last I have found the Book that understands me." He opened his heart to the Lord and became a Christian. Ultimately he became a professor in a seminary. He bore testimony to his dying day that he never varied from that view of the Bible: "This is the Book that understands me."

Midweek Meeting November 18 2015

I forgot to report on last Wednesday for some reason. We had 13 there and another good prayer time. Sadly, our Bulgarian friend was not there but perhaps she will come next week. We pray so. I decided that before the end of the year we could fit in a little series on the three Rs - Revelation, redemption and regeneration. I was thinking in terms of three sessions but I had so much material for the first message I only did about half what I intended. Not to worry. I finished with the striking story of the conversion of Emile Cailliet, brother of the composer Lucien, and professor I Princeton Seminary. It's a story worth knowing.

Lord's Day September 20 2015

I suppose yesterday was a fairly typical day in Childs Hill. By 11 am a fairly sparse congregation gathered growing eventually into something decent. Most of our regulars were there and there were visitors too. An eastern gentleman we haven't seen in ages, an African I had never seen before, two different Iranians who have been before but weren't there last week. In the evening we were many fewer, under twenty. There was a Romanian visitor. We had communion before the evening service, singing unaccompanied as we do. I preached on Revelation 2:1-7 in the morning, the letter to the church of Ephesus and in the evening on Judges 3:7-11, the story of the first judge Othniel.

Lord's Day September 13 2015

A leading feature of Childs Hill is its unpredictably. Yesterday, as expected, quite a few people were away - at least eight and two children (mostly in Christian service - two were preaching and four were involved in parachurch activities elsewhere). I was wondering if we would see much of a crowd. Truth is we were a little small in the evening but in the morning two or three factors meant the congregation was as large as ever. First, there were eight friends (three generations of one family) in London for a wedding the day before. Then a Romanian girl who attends invited several friends to come. A South African couple we know, passing through en route to Canada, were also there (I asked Brian Stone to give us an update on the Ravens, who we know from their LTS days, church planting in Bloemfontein).

I carried on with Revelation and Judges and that seemed to go well. We had all had lunch together, after the morning service, which was again very nice. Of course, there are other people who weren't there but to see a full congregation can be an encouragement.

Lord's Day September 6 2015

Unusually yesterday I started new series both morning and evening. In the morning I began a series on Revelation, just taking the first eight verses and giving three reasons why we should study the book and take it to heart. In the evening we took in the opening chapter of Judges and went as far as 2:5 seeking to apply the data the fight against sin. We closed with Onward Christian soldiers! I have preached on both books in the past - Revelation back in 1999/early 2000 and Judges before that (I also dipped into Revelation 2 and 3 in 2010). Being the first Sunday of the month we began the day with communion. I read Psalm 22. Attendances were quite good.

Carey Ministers Conference 2015 Day 1

It is good to be in Swanwick once again with familiar faces and some new ones. I drove up with my son and his family and a South African LTS student we know. There were three sessions on this first day and things were not quite as planned. We began with a paper on the Anabaptist leader Menno Simons by Ray Trainer. This was an excellent introduction to Simons who was a radical Baptist pioneer. Ray gently led us through the situation (explaining the difference between magisterial and radical reformers) Menno's life (in which he rejected transubstantiation, infant baptism and the violent end of Anabaptist thought and was constantly fleeing his persecutors with his wife and family) what he believed and taught (including a personal faith, the sufficiency of Scripture, orthodox Christology and the importance of the church as a community) and the relevance of all this (the importance of Christ and the local churches).

We then had a demanding session on the hermeneutics of Revelation from Greg Beale that argued for symbolism at the heart of the book in light of it OT allusions, denoting judgement and yet hope for a remnant.

After food, the women had their own track with Jane McNabb while we men listened to John Hawley stirring us up to give ourselves (especially ministers) to some form of open air work. It was all very striking, including slide of John talking to Richard Dawkins in the street in Oxford, which he told us all about.

GBA 2012 03 Steven Curry 1

For our first evening session Steven Curry took us to Revelation 4 which mentions the throne of God some 12 times and very encouragingly spoke (to be brief) of
1. The encouragement from the throne
2. The description of the throne marked by permanence, glory and power
3. The approach to the throne - the basis, majesty and mercy
(This included a brilliant personal story of ruining a page boy suit as a boy and having it replaced for free)
4. The response to the throne - falling down and worshipping and giving all glory to God
This message is also already downloadable at the GBA site here

SBM5 Genesis Revelation

This will probably be the last of these

1. Genesis, the book of beginning/Apocalypse, the book of the end.

2. The Earth created (1:1)/Earth passes away (21:1).

3. Satan’s first rebellion/Satan’s final rebellion (20:3,7-10).

4. Sun, Moon, and Stars, for Earth’s government (1:14-16)/These connected with Earth’s Judgment (6:13, 8:12, 16:8)

5. Sun to govern the day (1:16)/No need of the Sun (21:23)

6. Darkness called night (1:5)/“No night there” (22:5)

7. Waters called seas (1:10)/“No more sea” (21:1)

8. A river for Earth’s blessing (2:10-14)/A river for the new Earth (22:1,2)

9. Man in God’s image (1:26)/Man headed by one in Satan’s image (13)

10. Entrance of sin (3)/Development and end of sin (21:22)

11. Curse pronounced (3:14,17)/“No more curse” (22:3)

12. Death entered (3:19)/“No more death” (21:4)

13. Cherubim, first mention in connection with man (3:24)/their last mention in connection with man(4:6)

14. Man driven out from Eden (3:24)/Man restored (22)

15. Tree of life guarded (3:24)/“Right to the Tree of Life” (22:14)

16. Sorrow and suffering enter (3:17)/No more sorrow (21:4)

17. Man’s religion, art and science, resorted to for enjoyment, apart from God (4)/These things, in their full glory, judged and destroyed by God (18)

18. Nimrod, a great rebel and King, and hidden Anti-God, the founder of Babylon (10:8,9)/The Beast, the great rebel, a King manifested Anti-God, the reviver of Babylon (13:18)

19. A flood from God to destroy an evil generation (6-9)/One from Satan to destroy an elect generation (12)

20. The Bow, the token of God’s covenant with the Earth (9:13,14,16)/The Bow, betokening God’s remembrance of His covenant with the Earth (4:3, 10:1)

21. Sodom and Egypt, the place of corruption and temptation (10:19)/Sodom and Egypt again: spiritually representing Jerusalem (11:8)

22. A confederacy against Abraham’s people overthrown (14)/A confederacy against Abraham’s seed overthrown (12)

23. Marriage of first Adam (2:18-23)/Marriage of last Adam (19)

24. A bride sought for Abraham’s son (Isaac) and found (24)/A bride made ready and brought to Abraham’s Son (19:9) See Matthew 1:1

25. Two angels acting for God on behalf of His people (19)/Two witnesses acting for God on behalf of His people (11)

26. A promised seed to possess the gate of his enemies (22:17)/The promised seed coming into possession (11:18)

27. Man’s dominion ceased and Satan’s begun (3:24)/Satan’s dominion ended and Man’s restored (22)

28. The old serpent causing sin, suffering and death (3:1)/The old serpent bound for 1000 years (20:1-3)

29. The doom of the old serpent pronounced (3:15)/The doom on the old serpent executed (20:10)

30. Sun, Moon, and Stars, associated with Israel (37:9)/Associated again with Israel (12)

Top Concept Albums 4

At 4 I have put the 1971 album 666 by Greek band Aphrodite's Child. The album is loosely based on the Book of Revelation and so from the moment I first heard if it I was intrigued. I remeber finding a rare copy in FNAC in Paris in the early eighties and seriously thinking of buying it (but it was an unknown double album and so I plumped for a still treasured Guitars by Philip Catherine). it is only in more recent years that I have got to know it. Aphrodite's Child included Demis Roussos and Vangelis who both went on to later fame of different sorts. In fact by the time 666 appeared they had begun on their separate paths.

It is a fascinating album on many levels. This site gives lots of background info. Also see here on wikipedia.

Tracks:
1 The system 0:23 2 Babylon 2:47 3 Loud loud loud 2:42 4 The four Horsemen 5:54 5 The Lamb 4:33 6 The Seventh Seal 1:30 7 Aegian Sea 5:22 8 Seven Bowls 1:29 9 The Wakening Beast 1:11 10 Lament 2:45 11 The Marching Beast 2:00 12 The Battle Of The Locusts 0:56 13 Do it 1:44 14 Tribulation 0:32 15 The Beast 2:26 16 Ofis 0:14
1 Seven Trumpets 0:35 2 Altamont 4:33 3 The Wedding Of The Lamb 3:38 4 The Capture Of The Beast 2:17 5 Infinity Symbol 5:15 6 Hic and nunc 2:55 7 All the Seats were occupied 19:19 8 Break 2:58

Samples here.

The album is more about the sixties and its culture than the Book of Revelation.