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Okay we left off at verse 9 of chapter one where we read and covered:
“I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ,
But did not really cover, “I John . . . . was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.”
Revelation 1:10-12
November 13th 2016
Meat
As pointed out last week, we read nothing of a banishment or exile. Admittedly we could read into what is written here and suggest that when John says that he was “in the isle that is called Patmos “for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ,” that he is telling us that these were the charges against him that got him banished or exiled to the Island and that it was for “the word and testifying of Christ.”
But perhaps we ought to examine this banishment claim more closely since we are here.
Patmos is one island of a cluster of islands in the Aegean Sea, anciently called the Sporades.
It lies between the island of Icaria and Miletus and it gets a mention or two by ancient geographers like Pliny and Strabo (a Greek geographer).
It is six to eight miles in length, and not more than a mile in breadth and is about fifteen miles in circumference.
Not big.
There are no rivers on Patmos and the coast line of the island is scared by nooks and crannies (to borrow from the advertising of Thomas’s English muffins) which mar high slides of rocks which reach into the sea. That being said there is an abundance of flowers and shrubs all over the island.
Approaching the island (and as stated) the coast line is high but there are a number of capes that make up some solid ports but apparently only one was used as it had a deep bay that is surrounded by mountains on all sides but one.
Though Patmos is lacking in trees it is known for producing some of the best wine in the Greek Islands.
About half-way up a mountain there is a natural grotto carved out of a rock and tradition says this is where John saw his visions and where he wrote Revelation.
At one time there was a small church nearby that was connected to a school and apparently there was a monastery at the center of the Island too.
As we know, futurism is much stronger on a late date authorship of the book of Revelation. We also know that it is absolutely critical to the Preterist that the book was written before 70 AD destruction.
Dispensationalists [also known as futurists] have very little to support the late date position so they lean heavily on what we call external evidence to make their case (evidence that comes from outside of the Bible).
Therefore the futurist position relies on the “integrity”of the early church fathers, such as Papias, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Methodus, Apollinaris, and others who lived within some three hundred years of the time of John.
Hal Lindsey, a huge proponent of dispensationalism states that,
“The correctness of the date [A.D. 96] is also confirmed by all those traditions which refer the exile of John upon Patmos to his extreme old age, or which describe Revelation as the latest, or one of the latest, writings in the N.T.”
According to “tradition,” John was exiled to Patmos when he was in his extreme old age. But as we’ve pointed out while he was there he was told (in Revelation 10:11) that he “must travel and prophesy to many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings,” and we have to wonder about this being possible if John was so old at the time of writing the book.
Now there is no question that John was on the Isle of Patmos when he wrote (at least part) of the Revelation – he says so here.
But was he exiled or banished?
I checked several Bible commentaries to see how they justify the banishment theory and they ALL use the passage itself to show that he was banished.
And this is how they do it – they say, “Read what it says!”
So we read what it says:
“I John . . . . was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.”
And they say, “See, John right there says he was in the isle called Patmos for (or as a result) of preaching the word of God and for (or as a result) of His testimony of Jesus Christ!
Now hang with me. In the book of Acts chapter 2 Peter is preaching and he says something to the Jews gathered at Pentecost. He says (at verse 38):
“Then Peter said unto them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”
And groups like the Mormon missionaries and other baptismal regenerists say, “See, Peter told the Jews to repent and be baptized FOR FOR FOR the remission of sins!” In order to receive a remission of sins.
Therefore, they say, water baptism is required in order to be forgiven and saved.
But the key to understanding this is in the Greek term translated “for.” In the case in Act we have a couple of choices –
For is causal (“dia”) or For is resultant (“eis”).
“Eis” means “be baptized because you have received (as a result of having received) a remission of sins,” and “dia” means “be baptized in order to receive a remission of sin.” (causal).
In our example from Acts we discover that for is taken from eis (resultant) which would mean that Peter was saying, “be baptized because you HAVE received a remission of sin” and not “deeah” (so that you can receive a remission of sin).
So let’s go out to our verse here in Revelation 1.
Dispensationalists read this as “eis” (resultant) that John was in Patmos BECAUSE he was preaching the Word and testifying of Christ (therefore it was a punishment) and not “Dee-ah” (or in order to teach the Word and share the testimony of Christ).
So which is it? Deeah. Causal. For the cause of preaching and not eis, as a result of preaching.
This better supports the idea that his being in Patmos was “to share” rather than “because he had shared.”
And then we have the history that during the time of Domitian (the Roman Emperor who reigned from 81 AD to 96) that Christians had to “either admit loyalty to Christ or to Caesar” and if they chose the former they would be punished and it was this punishment that John was sent to Patmos.
The convenient thing about this theory is that Domitian reigned after the destruction of Jerusalem, and so the tradition has thrived among futurists.
But think about this. While John is on Patmos in apparent exile Jesus sends a message by His angel, commanding John to write “to seven churches in Asia.”
In this (which we will read in chapters 2 and 3) Jesus commends some of the churches and reprimands others for various things.
And while the churches are not perfect by any means Jesus says nothing about them denying Him while accepting Caesar.
If this was what Domitian was doing to Christians and this was occurring at the time that John was writing in the late date of 90 AD we would think that something would be said by Jesus – commending them for admitting Him and denying Caesar or condemning them for denying Him and embracing Caesar.
Under such widespread persecution as futurists describe, all these churches would have had to renounce Christ to even survive under Domitian’s reign.
The Scripture does speak of persecution but it gives no clear sense that any of those pastors (or believers) fell in with Rome nor that any were imprisoned or banished as John was supposed to have been banished for admitting Christ.
So why would John be singled out for exile to Patmos by Domitian while the pastors of all these other seven churches were permitted to carry on “business as usual,” doing the same things John had been doing; worshiping God, and having the testimony of Jesus Christ?
In the end, instead of debating over external evidence (which again is all the futurists got to give the late date) I ask, what is more reliable – one single source of external evidence (which we already covered in our introduction) OR two examples of internal evidences (from the Word of God itself) to help us understand how John got to Patmos.
Remember, Paul warned:
“For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock” (Acts 20:29)
So, we must conclude that shortly after Paul left that false teachers came in, preaching lies and deceit wherever they could find careless and gullible Christians to listen.
This situation was endemic to the church of the ancient world and all we have to do is read the early church fathers to see that while they did possess much truth they were also ALL guilty of errant views.
I can trust that God was able to keep His Word in tact but to extend this out to the thoughts and opinions of men who lived 100 to 300 years after Christ is proven untrue. Ill I’m saying is that the internal biblical evidences is much weightier in my mind than post apostolic traditions.
A few more things.
It may be possible to prove from the New Testament that John received some of the Revelation, at least part of it, much earlier than 68 AD.
Let’s look at it this way. What was John doing between 36 and 46 AD?
Probably he was going out preaching the “gospel of the kingdom,” as Jesus had instructed him to do. Could he have received the Revelation (or some of it) during these years?
We might suggest that John could have received at least the first two portions of it, about 46 AD.
Stay with me. According to internal information in Revelation, John received the first portion (chapters 1-3) of the vision when Jesus Christ “sent and signified” it by his messenger to John (Revelation 1:1).
By the way, and just as an aside, in light of creedal trinitarianism, which states that Jesus is God and that He is co-equal and co-eternal with the Father, the very first verse of the Revelation says that God gave this revelation to Jesus ???
ANNNYWAAAY . . .
The second portion (chapters 4-16) tells us it was received when he was commanded to “come up (anabino – go up) hither (the word hither means “to come to where I am”) and to a Jew speaking with a heavenly being this would be “to the third heaven”) and I will show you things which must soon come to pass.”
Then the third portion (chapters 17-21 verse 8) was received when the messenger invited him to
“come here; I will show unto you the judgment of the great whore that sits upon many waters.”
Finally, the fourth and final portion (21:9-22:21) of the vision was received when the messenger came to John and took him to “a great and high mountain.”
Nothing is said about how long there was between each of these, but it is pretty clear that John could not go three different places at once so there was an order or chronology to the events and therefore could include spans of time between them.
Could it be that John received the Revelation in parts, giving him enough time to share the contents with the actual servants of the Lord (the other apostles?) since we have read in the first chapter that
“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants (all of the apostles) things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant (just one of the apostles) John.”
Now, the Bible does not record that Peter, James, or Paul “received Revelation” (actually we do read that Paul did) but did they make reference to this Revelation from John in any of their pre-65 AD writings?
For example: Who was Paul writing about in 2nd Corinthians 12:1-5 when he said?
“…I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord: I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven. And I know such a man—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows— how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter (or write). Of such a one I will boast; yet of myself I will not boast, except in my infirmities.”
Is this an internal evidence that Paul had been told of at least some of John’s revelation when he was asked to come up (into the third heaven)?
Who else could Paul possibly be referring to? I used to teach that he was humbly speaking of himself when he was stoned and left for dead. Not any more.
The context makes it clear that he was not referring to himself. Therefore, it seems clear to us from this comparison that John had this experience (the third heaven vision) 14 years before Paul wrote 2nd Corinthians!
Many Bible scholars date the writing of 2Corinthians at about 60 AD. If we count fourteen years backwards from 60 AD, what do we have? We have 46 AD.
Scholars also date the events of Acts 15 to about 46 AD. Acts 15 records the Jerusalem counsel and it demonstrates that Paul and Barnabas went to Jerusalem to confer with the apostles and were “received by the apostles.”
It is a certainty that John and the other apostles were there (including Paul) and this could have been the place and time where John shared his revelation with Paul.
The fact that Paul does NOT use John’s name but instead says, “I knew a man,” perfectly fits with the persecutions abounding that would prevent Paul from using John’s name.
Of course the late dater futurists will deny this, but this is extremely supportive of the early date position.
Finally some mention that it is a historical fact that Patmos was used as a penal colony by the Romans. True.
But being that Jesus described that those who were his were those who “clothed and fed the naked and hungry and visited those imprisoned,” could it be that John was doing that very thing on the penal colony – visiting the banished with the Good News?
We might consider therefore the possibility that by the time of the Jerusalem council (recorded in Acts 15) that John had already been to Patmos; possibly several times on preaching missions, even to prisoners, and it was during the time (beginning in ca. 36 AD) of the apostate Jewish persecutions upon Christians.
In summary, these are the internal biblical evidences that John was NOT banished to Patmos by Domitian and that therefore the Revelation was penned – perhaps decades and decades – before even 70 AD.
The Greek intimates that John was there for the purpose of the Word and his witness of Christ and NOT as a result of the Word and His witness of Christ.
That under Domitian Christians were forced to profess Christ or Caesar – and to suffer for the former. But in his critique of the Seven Churches Jesus does not mention this at all suggesting that it was not happening then.
The Revelation was given to Jesus by God to his Servants (which the apostles were often referred as being) and to John His servant (to give to the Seven Churches. We have to wonder if Jesus servants (the apostles ever got a chance to hear the contents of the Revelation.
Paul, in 2nd Corinthians, written sometime around 60 AD, mentions knowing a man 14 years ago who was caught up into the third heaven. Revelation has John being asked to come up to where the messenger speaks from (which the Jews would consider the third heaven) and then fourteen years before was when the Jerusalem council was held in which the apostles were present – linking Paul and John to the same location where John could have shared his heavenly visit and revelation.
All of this INTERNAL evidence outweigh the external claims and makes it very very, very possible for John to not only not have been banished to Patmos but to have received the Revelation well before 95 AD.
Whew! So onward. While on Patmos John writes:
10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,
11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.
12 And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;
13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.
14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;
15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.
16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.
I read that far just to get some of the content under our belt because there is no way were getting through all that with the remainder of our time.
But let’s go back to verse 10 where John says:
“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,”
The Greek has no capitalization for Spirit so all it says is pneuma but logic tells us that this almost certainly means that on the Lord’s day (a Sunday) he was either influenced by the Holy Spirit or overwhelmed by it – a spirit was upon Him that brought an elevated devotion or some level of inspiration.
While in the spirit he heard “a great voice behind him.”
A “megas phone-ay” (where we get megaphone) that was like a trumpet.
A “big loud possibly vibrating (like the sound of a trumpet) voice” that was behind him –
The trumpet remark seems to be included as a means of comparison meaning the voice was loud and clear and distinct and it had something very important to announce or call people to.
It’s interesting because trumpets are frequently used in battle, they are used anciently to call to arms or to summon the people.
As a contradistinction God’s voice is also described as still and small and seems to speak to personal revelation but this revelation, just by virtue of the way it came to John, appears to have been ANNOUNCED – its coming! It’s not just for you, John! Listen! Wake up!
All the way back in Genesis we read of “the trumpet sounding long” as a means to call people to attention, as a means to announce burnt offerings to God (Numbers 10:10) it was also (in Judges 7:18) blown when all who were God’s would hear, and in 1st Samuel 13:3 we read that when Saul had the trumpets blown it was under the command of “Letting all the Hebrews hear.”
We also know that when trumpets were sounded in 2nd Samual 15:10 that it was to announce that “Absolom reigned in Hebron” and from all of this we might see application as to why John associates the loud big voice he heard behind Him to the blowing of a trumpet.
This was important information.
(verse 11)
11 Saying, (this is what the loud voice, like a trumpet, but actually in the Greek it is better understood as “this is the Trumpet saying”)
“I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.
“I am Alpha and Omega the first and the last.”
And we are back to the second time this phrase or title is used by the speaker to introduce himself. We note that instead of adding, “the beginning and the end,” as He did in verse 8 this time he adds, “the first and the last,” which again is a redundancy in many ways of Alpha and Omega.
“And, what thou seest write in a book . . .”
In addition to the declaration “I am Alpha and Omega” the voice that John heard gave this direction that he should record what he saw and this seems to refer to all that was about to pass before his eyes or his mind’s eye.
This brings us to perhaps another evidence that John was not banished to Patmos but was freely there preaching because as a prisoner on this island of desolation, possibly void of many or any conveniences, where would he have been able to possess enough papyrus and ink to write this Revelation in a book?
I realize that as a prisoner John could have had paper and ink or even if he didn’t God could have provided it to him, but the instructions from the voice to John make it SEEM (in my mind’s eye) that this was something he obviously had ready access to.
I also realized that banishment may have not meant imprisonment so John could have freely roamed the island and obtained all the writing products he desired – but it is an interesting side note to consider.
The word book here–biblion–would in that day have more properly meant a roll or scroll which anciently was how books were known.
In any case, John was commanded to write what he was (about to see) in a book and to send it to the Seven Churches “which are in Asia.”
Again, we don’t know if one copy was enough for the Seven churches or if John copied the Revelation seven times.
Maybe when he sent it (and how he did this remains a mystery especially since many believe John died on Patmos) but maybe he sent one copy and requested that scribes copy it for him and get the copies to the other churches.
We note that the seven churches are specifically designated but this does not mean there weren’t more in that area.
Of course from the historicist view these seven churches represent seven periods of time spread out over the history of all of Christianity so it matters not if there were actually seven real churches there or not. And to the idealist the actuality of any of the seven churches is irrelevant.
We’ve already talked about the period of time when seven churches actually could have existed and that it was during a time before the 70 AD mark but we also noted that because of an earthquake destroying Laodicea in 61 AD that it is a bit of a stretch to believe that it was rebuilt to the point that Jesus could or would call it “rich” prior to 70 AD.
This is one point that bodes well for the futurist position and the later date of the Revelation being composed.
And having instructed John to send this Revelation to the seven church we can’t help but note that chapters 2-3 specifically address them.
If the historicist or idealist view is correct this is not significant point. But if they’re not, it is incumbent on the futurist (and even the Preterists) to explain why the Alpha and Omega took the time to tell John to write and send this (entire) Revelation to these specific churches in Asia.
Also (and I might as well mention this again here) but many futurists suggest that the reason the writings were to go to the Seven churches is because they ARE addressed herein (chapters 2-3) but that chapters four through 22 have no more relation to them than to anyone else then or now.
In other words, the futurist has Jesus say, send the Revelation to the Seven Churches in Asia because I speak to their issues in part of it . . . but the rest of the revelation is addendum information that will eventually go out to the world.
The only way we are going to even come close to knowing if this is true is to continue our verse by verse through its contents and see if this is proven.
And so after Jesus tells John to take the Revelation generally to THE Seven Ekkleisa (assemblies or gatherings) which ARE IN Asia, he gets specific.
Two things. We could take the line THE Seven Assemblies as saying that they were the only ones in Asia OR we could take the fact that Jesus then specifies which seven to take them to mean that there were a number of others.
Another point is we know that there were, at least at the time of this writing, seven actual assemblies in Asia minor.
So whether the historicist or idealist views are correct or not, we know that because these assemblies did in fact exist at the time the Revelation was given that the greatest probability was that it was FOR them, at LEAST the chapters that speak to them directly – at least.
This fact is a serious mark against the historicist and idealist views.
These are all important observations to make in our study of the book and begin to pile up toward a better comprehension of its purpose, meaning and intent.
“Unto Ephesus.”
It is thought that Ephesus is mentioned first because it was the capital city of that portion of Asia Minor and therefore the most “important” or significant city of the seven.
We will cover each of these places in more depth when they are addressed in chapters two and three.
In any case, “Ephesus” is mentioned in Revelation 2:1-7, “Smyrna” in Revelation 2:8-11, “Pergamos” in 2:12-17, “Thyatira” in 2:18 through the end, Sardis in Revelation 3:1-6, “Philadelphia” in 3:7-13 and “Laodicea” in 3:14
(Last verse for today – 12 – where John says)
12 And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;
He was not instructed to remain where he was – with his back turned – so he turned and it seems that the first thing he saw or the first thing he describes for us was seeing seven golden candlesticks.
The Greek is “lucenia” (translated candlesticks) which better means to us, “light stands” and could be applied to anything that meets this function.
Because this was a vision we don’t know if the lamps met the lamps of John’s day or if these were Tiffany’s or Chandeliers. All we know is they are described as lampstands and there were seven of them and they were presumably set far enough apart for Jesus to stand in the middle of them.
It seems, at first glance, that what John saw was a reiteration of what He heard.
In other words before seeing anything he was told to take and write what he saw in a book and to give it to the seven churches in Asia.
Turning we have Jesus – who was speaking – standing among seven light stands, representing the seven churches.
Some suggest that this was a scene representing the temple but nothing else resembles the temple in this description and John does not suggest that he has been transported away from Patmos to the temple at Jerusalem.
Besides, Revelation 1:20 plainly tells us that the seven lamp-bearers represent the seven churches.
Because light is almost always used in the Scriptures as an emblem of truth, God, goodness, holiness, Jesus – it seems that the picture we are presented with here is Jesus, (who will be described shortly) is standing among Christian churches who are described in Matthew 5:14 as “the light of the world.”
Being that at this time they were surrounded by oppositional forces the picture John sees seems to be these cities of light burning in the dark with Jesus standing in the middle of them.
We’ll continue on at verse 13 next week.
Q and A.
Prayer
