A) As promised, and with loads of fun, we’re diving back into the Book of Revelation, starting from chapter one, verse eleven. Picking up about halfway through the verse, it says this: "What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches." The churches are in Asia: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. For reference, these churches form a circle on a map like a Roman postal route, in order.
B) Next week, we’re going to spend more time discussing these seven churches, their commendations, criticisms, instructions, and promises. These churches are representative of all churches. Just like any book in the Bible, which is meant to be read by all of us, the letters written to the seven churches were not for them alone but for all of us.
C) One of the first significant interpretive keys in Revelation comes right at verse twelve, where John says, "I turned to see the voice that spoke with me." Here is a major point: John knew what Jesus sounded like, but in Revelation, Jesus has a more authoritative presence. John hears something and turns to see what he heard, and to his surprise, it's not what he envisioned Jesus to be. He didn’t recognize it as Jesus at first. How do we know? Because he says it was one "like the Son of Man."
D) John then lists ten distinctives of what Jesus looks like. Not only is his voice different, but his appearance is different as well. You might think, and you would be right, that this is probably a little overwhelming for John. But we’re going to cover these different elements that have some form of symbolic connection. Additionally, we should be aware that these descriptions have great similarity to the Book of Daniel. It doesn’t mean you can’t understand it without understanding Daniel—that’s ridiculous. That’s like saying if you pick up the Old Testament, you fully understand the New Testament—not even close. But it is true that the Old Testament helps us, and the New Testament is where the new revelation is. We understand the old through the new.
