Thru the Bible

Guest (Male): The number seven is mentioned around 400 times in the Bible and over 40 times in the book of Revelation alone. Why is that number seven so important? Welcome to Through the Bible as our teacher Dr. J. Vernon McGee answers this question in another important study in the book of Revelation.

Steve Schwetz: Before we begin, I want to remind you that if you missed Dr. McGee's introduction or first couple of lessons in Revelation, or if you just want to hear him again, you'll find all of our programs in our app where you can listen for free. Another great way to catch us is to grab our Bible companion for Revelation at ttb.org or call 1-800-65-BIBLE if we can help you find it.

Let's pray as we dive in. Father, thank you for your word and what it teaches us about you and your son Jesus. Reveal to us more about who you are and your purposes for our lives. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. We're off to Revelation chapter 1 on Through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: We've come to this particular section, Revelation 1:4. If you are following our outline, you'll notice that we are emphasizing in this first chapter the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are going to see him as the Christ in glory. From verses four through eight, we have greetings from John the writer and from the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven. It's a wonderful greeting. Notice verse four.

John to the seven churches which are in Asia. Asia encompassed a great deal of what we call Asia Minor today. Then he says, "Grace be unto you and peace from him which is, which was, which is to come, and from the seven spirits which are before his throne." John puts no title connected with his name, and he also does not attempt to identify himself other than by the name John. John was well-known to these seven churches. He had been pastor of the church in Ephesus and apparently had oversight over all of the churches in that area.

It's used here for the first time: it's to the seven churches and we have the seven spirits. I want to enlarge on that again today because it's rather important. The number seven has a religious meaning in the word of God and to the people of God in John's day that is totally foreign to us today. We do not attach any religious significance to numbers. We're not accustomed to do that. The world outside pays a great deal of attention to numbers. It's certainly used in gambling. But here in the word of God, the number seven was a sacred number.

I want to bear down on this: it does not mean perfection. The significance of it was that it denoted completeness. Sometimes completeness is perfection, but not always. When he uses the number seven, he's speaking of that which is complete and that which is representative. The number seven is the key number to this book. It had to do with God's covenant dealings with Israel: the Sabbath, for instance, the seventh day, and circumcision and worship, all are hinged around the seventh day.

Jericho was compassed about seven times, and then he went around seven times on the last day, seven days. Naaman dipped seven times in the Jordan; he was instructed to do that. You will find constant references to it. There were seven years of plenty, seven years of famine in Joseph's time down in Egypt. Nebuchadnezzar was insane for seven years. There are seven beatitudes in the New Testament. There are seven petitions in the Lord's prayer. There are seven parables in Matthew 13.

There were seven loaves which fed the multitude, and Jesus spoke seven times from the cross. You can't just ignore that number as being accidental. When you come to the book of Revelation, the number seven sticks out so that even a casual reader could not bypass it. He says the seven churches that were in Asia. Weren't there other churches there? We know that there were churches at Colossae, Miletus, Hierapolis, Troas, and many other places.

I have spent the night at Hierapolis and have been there several times. It's about 10 miles from the ruins of Laodicea. Hierapolis is still a place; there's two or three motels and a store or two. The ruins in Hierapolis are absolutely magnificent and significant. It reveals what a tremendous place it was, whereas Laodicea ruins are under a wild oat field and actually have not been excavated. It's not very impressive.

Why didn't he use Hierapolis even if he was going to use Laodicea? Because the number seven is the number of completeness. When he took seven, it meant he's giving you the complete history of the church and that these are representative churches. Asia here refers to the provinces of Lydia, Mysia, Caria, and parts of Phrygia. It doesn't mean the continent of Asia, nor does it mean all of Asia Minor. Asia Minor is a term that wasn't used until the fourth century AD. It takes in a great area of Asia Minor, especially that along the coast.

He says grace and peace. Grace is charis, and that was the Greek form of greeting. Peace is shalom, the Hebrew form of greeting. In grace, you have the Gentile form and here the Hebrew peace. Peace flows from grace, and grace is the source of all of our blessings today. It's from him and the seven spirits. The trinity is brought before us in this particular section as we see the Lord Jesus mentioned in the next verse.

Seven spirits refer to the Holy Spirit and actually refers to the seven branches of the lampstand which we're going to see. Those seven lights, seven lamps giving light, represent the Holy Spirit of God. Let me read verse five: "And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood."

Jesus Christ refers to God the Son here. We have had the Holy Spirit, the seven spirits, and from him who is, who was, and who is to come. That refers to God the Father. So the trinity is mentioned here now. From Jesus Christ, he's the faithful witness and he's the first begotten of the dead. We have these titles that are given to the Lord Jesus Christ. The interesting thing is there's seven titles here.

First of all, he's the faithful witness. Jesus Christ is the only trustworthy witness to the facts of this book. He is the only trustworthy witness for you and me today. It's difficult to believe other people, but we can believe the Lord Jesus. The facts here are about him and he testifies of himself. The second is he's the firstborn of the dead. Firstborn in the Greek is prototokos. That has to do with his resurrection. He is the firstborn from the dead. He was the first to rise from the dead never to die again.

This is a rather marvelous picture. Death was a womb which bore him. He came out of death into life. The tomb was a womb as far as he was concerned. He's the only one back from the dead in a glorified body. No one else has come that route yet, but his own are to follow him in resurrection. The rapture will be next and then the revelation when he comes to the earth.

He's the ruler of the kings of the earth. That speaks of his ultimate position during the millennium when every knee is going to bow and every tongue is going to confess that he's the Lord. The fourth title is "unto him that loves." It's in the present tense and it emphasizes his constant attitude toward his own. This book ought not to frighten you because it's from the one who loves us. He didn't just love us when he died on the cross, but he loves us right this moment. Jesus loves you.

The fifth: he loosed us from our sins in his own blood. Today, unfortunately, there are only a few even good men that are making light of the blood of God. The important thing is that the blood of Christ is very important. It's not just a symbol. God taught his people in the Old Testament: the life of the flesh is in the blood. I've given it to you upon the altar. When Christ shed his blood, every drop came out of his body. He gave that for you and for me. He gave his life.

I'm not inclined to belittle the blood of Christ. I still like for the song to be sung and I like to listen to it: "There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains." Peter wrote, "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot."

Because of that, Paul could write to the young preacher Timothy and say, "There's one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." He's that because he shed his blood for you. He loosed us from our sins in his own blood. What a wonderful, glorious thing. In verse six: "And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever."

I must change this: he hath made us a kingdom of priests unto his God and Father. Believers are never called kings. I don't get wrought up over this song that has been so popular: "The King is coming." When the King comes, he's coming to the earth. He's going to put down all unrighteousness. We're going to see the attitude toward his coming. But when he comes for me, he's coming as my savior. He comes as the bridegroom for his bride, the church that he loved and gave himself for.

He's coming, the one who is the lover of my soul. Believers are not called kings. Our relationship to him is he's our Lord, but he's first of all our savior. Here it means that we're a kingdom of priests and we're going to reign with him. He says unto God and his Father. Why didn't he say our Father? Because he is his Father in a sense that he is not our Father. That's his position in the trinity. We become sons of God through regeneration, being born from above. It's a relationship he has in the trinity; we become sons by accepting him as savior.

The seventh thing: to him be glory and dominion unto the ages of the ages. That's emphasizing eternity. Amen. He is the Amen. We saw in Isaiah that's a title for him. Jesus Christ is both the subject and the object of this book. He's the mover of all events, and all events move toward him. He is the far-off eternal purpose in everything. All things were not only made by him, but all things were made for him. This universe exists for him.

Verse seven says, "Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him." What does it mean by those that pierced him? They are dead, but it means the nation Israel. Then all kindreds of the earth—and that means all the Gentiles—are they going to be delighted? No, they shall wail because of him. Even so, amen. He's going to put the finishing touches on everything.

Behold, he cometh with clouds. That denotes the personal and physical coming of Christ. When it says every eye shall see him, it will be a physical and bodily appearance. When he takes the church out of the world, he doesn't appear to everyone. I don't believe in a secret rapture as some have attempted to describe it. In the rapture, he doesn't come to the earth; we are caught up to meet the Lord in the air. If he's coming to the earth, there's no point of being caught up in the air.

Every eye shall see him. The emphasis in the book of Revelation is going to be upon his coming to this earth to establish his kingdom, and that's the reference here. We're told that all the tribes of the earth shall beat their breasts because of him. This is going to be the reaction of all Christ-rejectors. The world won't want to see him. The word 'Amen' actually means faithful. He's going to do it. This is something he's not going to change his mind about. He's faithful.

In verse eight: "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty." This is quite remarkable in the Greek language. The Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. From the alphabet you make words, and he's called the Word of God. He's the full revelation and the intelligent communication of God. He's the only alphabet that you can use to reach God.

The only language God talks and understands is the language where Jesus is the Alpha and Omega and all the letters between. He is the A and the Z and the ABCs. If you're going to get through to him, you will have to come through Jesus Christ. The emphasis is upon the beginning and the end. The Omega is not spelled out as is the Alpha. The Alpha is spelled out because he's the beginning, which is already filled out. The ending's not been filled out yet, so he didn't spell the Omega out.

The ending is not yet complete. He's going to complete God's program. The beginning and the end refer to the eternity of the son and his immutability. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. That doesn't mean he's walking over yonder by the Sea of Galilee today. He's not. It doesn't mean he's in a boat with his apostles. He's not. But in his attributes, he is the same. He has not changed. He is immutable.

Since he's the beginning and the ending, he encompasses all time and eternity. Saith the Lord the God is an affirmation of the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Which is—at the present time, the glorified Christ. Which was—past time, the first coming of Christ as savior. Which is to come—the future time, the second coming of Christ as the sovereign to this earth. That takes in this remarkable section. He says he loves us. Let's not be afraid of anything that is to follow.

Verse nine: "I John." That is used probably three times in this book of Revelation, and the other two are at the end of the book. He says, "I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation"—in trouble, not the great tribulation. John was in trouble. Domitian, the Roman Emperor, had put him in prison on the isle of Patmos. He was active in the church in Ephesus and had supervision of all the churches, and he was teaching the word of God. You get in trouble when you teach all the word of God.

John knew all about trouble and the early church did; what's coming to you and me is not new at all. I'm going to read it: "I John, who am your brother and partaker with you in the persecution for Christ's sake, and kingdom and patience in Jesus, I found myself in the isle called Patmos because of the word of God and the witness of Jesus." John is not referring to the great tribulation, but to the persecution that was already befalling believers.

The kingdom here refers to the present state of the kingdom. By virtue of the new birth which places us in Christ, one is likewise brought into the kingdom of God. This is not the millennial kingdom; it hasn't been established yet. Someone has said we are living today in the kingdom and patience, and the patience is where the emphasis is. John explains the reason that he was on the isle of Patmos. He was exiled there from about 86 to 96 AD. It's a rugged, volcanic island about 10 miles long and six miles wide.

Jesus is the name used by John in his gospel and also in the Apocalypse. When he wants to bring glory to him, he calls him Jesus and then he lifts him to the skies. I hope we can do that. We'll pick up next time at verse 10. Until then, may God richly bless you, my beloved.

Steve Schwetz: Jesus loves you and washed your sins away with his own blood. To learn more, click on "How can I know God" in our app or at ttb.org or call us at 1-800-65-BIBLE if you'd like a few resources sent to you by mail. It's the most important decision you'll ever make. Please take the time to look through what we've got there for you. Our study of Revelation continues next time. I'm Steve Schwetz and I'll be here saving a seat on the Bible bus just for you.