In the book of Revelation there are many powerful statements concerning the deity of Jesus. A lot of folk have asked for my opinion on the prophetic aspects of the book of Revelation but I have declined to do so because truthfully . . .I lack any confidence that my opinion of past, present or future, events are correct.
However, Gods purpose for having John write the book of Revelation was to reveal or unveil Jesus Christ . . .and not just to reveal future events. In fact, all of Johns writings strongly emphasize the oneness of God, the deity of Christ, and the humanity of Christ. He wrote the Gospel of John so that we would believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God (John 20:31). Accepting Jesus as the Son of God means accepting Him as God, because the title "Son of God" means God manifested in the flesh. John pointed to Jesus as the manifestation of God, the Word, the Father, and Jehovah (the I Am). All of Johns writing lifted up the deity of Jesus . . .and he does the same in the book of Revelation, and to my notion, its kicked up a few knotches.
Revelation 1:1 tells us this book is the revelation of Jesus Christ. The word "revelation" is from a greek word (I don't have it now), but it's the word from which we get our word "apocalypse". It literally means and "unveiling, or an uncovering". Yes . .Revelation is also a book of prophesy of things to come, and I'm not saying that it isn't. The Holy Spirit however has not settled my mind enough with the prophetic aspects of it for me to have any convictions in my opinion of events to come, other than to watch and be ready. But I do see where one of the main reasons for this prophesy is to reveal Christ . . .to show who He really is. Failing miserably in understanding these predictions, I have none the less been blessed to feel that I see the reason for them.What I have gathered from Revelation with a feeling of certainty is that Jesus Christ is unveiled as the Almighty God on the throne as well as being the Lamb slain for our sins.
In my walk in the real world, I have come across many folk that I have spent time with and have discussed the oneness of God with. Anyone that I have ever, by the nature of our contact spent regular time with have become oneness believers. I have come in contact with ministers of other faiths and had this same discussion and even had one or two end up agreeing to look into it further. The point I'm trying to get to is that I have never come into an area of seeing someone become offended or becoming offended myself.
But for some reason on here, I see that I do cause offence with some . . .and with some, become quite offended myself. I've been following a couple of threads . . .the Spirit was witnessing to me to stay out of it . . .I listened for awhile, but then stuck my 2 cents in it and feel that I may have caused offence . .and certainly became offended myself. Forgive me for my intrusion.
But . . .since their thread has me fired up, and I see that I may cause it to go downhill if I continue to post there, I'm going to share what little bit I feel I know from the book of Revelation as pertaining to Jesus Christ revealed as the Almighty.
And I will . .soon.
__________________ And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
Heck, bro. I am be a oneness and not even know it.. I believe 100% like you do. I believe with all my heart that Jesus is God come in the flesh. I believe the Holy Spirit is God's own Spirit and His power given to men. As far as you getting fired up,, Good. Everyone else gets fired up writes how they feel. Sometimes some of the replies make me so darn mad and I want to lash out, but the Holy Spirit usually stops me before I put my foot in my mouth. Sometimes He lets me go ahead and make a fool of myself ( like I did with bro. Sylvan, "forgive mebrother")But you are certainly entitled to your opinion, as we are all entitled to our opinion. There are several here that make my blood boil, but they havea right to voice their feelings, I just want to be Christian enough not to get trapped into their little game. You have been an inspiration to me, as many here have been,and I just wanted to say that publicly.
Recently gone over most of this , but will touch on it again. Rev 5:1 And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. Rev 5:6 And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. Rev 5:7 And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.
Okey . . .we see Rev 5:1 describing One on the throne in Heaven with a book in His right hand. Then in verses 6 and 7 a Lamb comes and takes the book from the right hand of the One that sits on the throne.
Without a revelation of who Christ is it seems that there are two persons of God. But lets remember that we know that these particular passages are highly symbolic. Remember when John said that no one had ever seen the invivible Spirit of God(John 1:18, 1John 4:12)? So we know that he did"™nt see the invisible Spirit of God in the passages that have so far been mentioned. (1 Timothy 6:16) clears up that no one can see God. Revelation 5:5 says a "śLion"ť would open the book, but we see in the 6th passage that a "śLamb"ť opened the book instead. Verse 6 says the Lamb was slain but yet it moved. This Lamb had 7 eyes, symbolizing the sevenfold Spirit of God and the omniscience of God. The Lamb had 7 horns which show the fullness of Gods power. Everything about this scene shows the symbolic nature of these passages.
We see one passage saying the One on the throne is the Lord God Almighty . .which was, is and is to come. In another passage we see Jesus saying the He was, is and is to come, the Almighty. Check out (Rev 4:2, 8 and Rev 1:8) Its also revealed that the One on the throne is the Judge (Rev 20: 11-12). Many scriptures show us that Jesus will be the Judge (John 5:22, 27, Romans 2:16 and 14:10-11). So the Judge . . .the ONE on the throne, . . .the Almighty . . .is Jesus in all His power and Glory, and deity.
__________________ And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
Sometimes some of the replies make me so darn mad and I want to lash out, Rev, Gosh Rev...I hope you don't mean me. Presently I don't hav eany real gripes with anyone on here. I really haven't been seeing alot of dialog on here anyway. I haven't had a lot of time lately to post and reply and not only that ..after a year the same topics come up all over again. By now we should just about have each other figured out. I know I do. So if I offend now I have no excuse. I glad ya have a place to hog hunt Rev. Sounds great. And I'm happy for your wife. Those rainbow trout sound better to me than the hogs. I'm in a pickle now. I'm at a prime place for Crappie ..however th ebass have just started to spawn. I only eat Crappie and Red eared sunfish. So should I go for a 10 pound hog to have mounted or continue to stock my freezer with our winter biting Crappie?? Chuck7
I fish at Tenoroc. Here's what the experts say about Tenoroc."Tenoroc, near Lakeland, has gained a deserved reputation as being one of the world's leading all-around fishing sites for bass, bream and specks. "
I would go for the HAWG... I did the bass touraments for many years, and don't eat bass anyway, one big bass on the wall looks better than 10 frozen fish in the freezer..... Just my thoughts, except for a few times a year, I practice catch and release. One time I had so many fish mounted, my wife would not allow me to put up more fish in the house. I got rid of all my mounts when my wife died. Now I have a new wife, I can start all over again .
No doubt that the Lamb is the Son of God, Jesus Christ in His humanity, . .in His role sacrificial. He is the Lamb that shed His blood for our sins. This is why Revelation 5:6 describe the Lamb as slain . . . .don"™t you think? The deity could"™nt die . . .this took humanity . . .and not sullied humanity . . .only God in the flesh could offer a perfect, spotless sacrifice. All of the rest of chapter five shows the Lamb as our redeemer.
Isn"™nt it evident that the Lamb is not just an ordinary human being in that He had the fullness of God"™s Spirit? He obviously has omniscience and omnipresence, as shown in verse 6. He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah and the root of David (Verse 5). The Lion shows His kingly role and His decent from David. We know that Jesus was from the tribe of Judah . . .a tribe of royalty from the time of David. The Lion is the symbol of Judah as ruler. The Root of David alludes to Christs role as Davids source (Creator) and Davids God.
The reason the Lamb appears is to open the book held by God. However we view what this book is, it requires a human being to open it. God did not redeem us nor did He reveal Himself to us in His role as the transcendant God. He manifested Himself in Human flesh as a way to reveal Himself and to become our "śKinsman Redeemer"ť. Look in Leviticus 25:25 , 47- 49). The Lamb represents the humanity side of Jesus . . .Jesus the Christ.
__________________ And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
Reading a lot of trinitarian literature . . .commentaries and the like . . .I see that for one to use the verses in Rev that I have posted to prove a triune God would put them at odds with many of their own scholars. Many of them agree that Rev 5 does not show the Father on the throne and the Son of God standing by the throne.
In the Pulpit Commentary, I see it identifies the one on the throne as the triune God, and the Lamb as the Christ in His human role. This is what it says . ." The Son in His human capacity, as indicated by His sacrificial form of the Lamb, can take and reveal the mysteries of the eternal God in which He, as God has part." So even in the eyes of the trinitarian scholars this scene is not an indication of a trinity in the Godhead.
__________________ And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
Okey, . . .Up front I've been saying that the vision in Chapter 5 depicts the two natures and two roles of Jesus the Christ. As Father, Judge , Creator and King he sits upon the throne . .because in His deity He is the Lord God Almighty. As the Son He appears as the slain Lamb, . .because in His humanity He is the sacrifice slain for our sins. John did not see the invisible Spirit of God . . .but he did see a vision . .a vision symbolically with Jesus sitting on the throne in His role as God and as a Lamb in His role of Son of God slain for our sins.
If we were to take these verses literaly, then we would have to say that John still did not see two persons . . .but rather that he saw one God on the throne and a real lamb near the throne. This at least proves that these verses are symbolic at any rate regardless of our persuasion.
There are other verses in Revelation that make it clear that the Lamb is not a different person from God. Revelation 22:1 and 3 speak of the "throne of God and the Lamb". This is refering to the one throne of Rev 4:2 and 5:1. And the after mentioning "God and the Lamb", Rev 22:3 goes on to talk about "His servents" and verse 4 refers to "His face" and "His name". The Lamb and the glory of God light the new Jerusalem (Rev 21:23), yet the Lord God is the light (Rev 22:5) . . .So God and the Lamb is one being.
Hey . . .Revelation 5 is symbolic , and reveals the oneness of God. It (1) describes One on the throne, but (2) also describes a Lion, (3) a Root, and (4) a Lamb. Does this mean there are 4 in the Godhead? . . .No, there is only one on the throne. The Lion, the Root , and the Lamb, all tell us in symbolism the charactoristics and qualifications of the One worthy to open the seals of the book. The Lion tells us He is the King from the tribe of Judah. The Root tells us He is the Creator. The Lamb tells us He is God incarnate and our sacrifice. In this last role He is our Redeemer and can open the book.
There is only one God, and this one God came in flesh, as the Lamb (the Son) to reveal Himself to us and for our redemption.
__________________ And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
Sorry, I am a little confused. What exactly is your point? That there is one God, I understand. Are you suggesting Christ and the Holy Spirit are not distinct from the Father?
As far as what Revelation is about, well...lets face it, all Scripture illuminates Christ. From the very first verse of Genesis to the last verse of Revelation, it all points to Christ. My take on Revelation is a bit simplistic. Probably because I am not concerned with when or how God finishes his work, I consider that to be His problem. In my view, Revelation makes a few thing very very clear.
1) God wins.
2) Satan loses.
3) If you have Jesus, you're ok.
Of course, that may be overly simplistic. I really dont need to be convinced of Christ's deity. I dont need to know when God will move to finish his work. I have no need to be concerned with how He does his work. I could care less what Heaven looks like, if Christ is there...hey, it's a great place to be.
The Revelation Of Jesus Christ
