THE KING’ S BUSINESS
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but while this is so, no age is exclusively, even if it is predominantly, Ephesian, Philadelphian or Laodicean. 1 Some o f each kind o f believers and churches can be found in every age.- He “which is and which was and which is to come” (that is, the - Eternal I Am ) is Jehovah. The Hebrew word rendered Jehovah signifies who is, and who was, and who is to come (cf. Ex. 3:14). The Holy Spirit is spoken o f here as “the - Seven Spirits,” because seven is the perfect nuinber and this repre sentation o f the Holy Spirit sets forth the manifold perfections and manifestations o f the one Holy Spirit. W e have in verse 5 three titles and offices o f Jesus Christ. These three titles and offices set forth clearly His real humanity and also suggest His Deity, but later His Deity comes out in the most unmistakable terms. There is an especial ascription o f praise to the Lord Jesus for His love and for what His, love has wrought for us. His love has “loosed us,” that is, set us perfectly free from our sins at the tremendous cost o f the shedding of His “own blood.” The word “loosed” sig nifies far more than the word “washed,” which is used in the Authorized Version. Praise is ascribed to Jesus not merely for what His love has wrought by the shedding o f His blood, but also for what He has done for us, namely, “made us to be a kingdom, to be priests unto His God and Father.” Well might John cry, ‘To Him” is to be “the glory and the dominion forever and ever.” v. 7. “Behold, he cometh with (add, the) clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also ('omit , also) which (that) pierced him: and all kindreds (the tribes) of the earth shall wail because of (mourn over) him. Even so, Amen." Jesus has gone but this verse tells us that He is coming again, coming not in humiliation as He came before, but coming in the glory o f God “with the clouds.” There is only one person mentioned in the Old Testa ment who made the clouds his chariot and came with or upon the clouds, and that one is Jehovah (cf. Ex. 19:9; 34:5; Ps. 97:1, 2;
they that hear the words of this ( the) prophecy, and keep those (the) things which (that) are written therein; for the time-is at hand.” Many think that this book is so hard to understand that we. better leave it alone and- study only those books in the Bible that are plainer and more easy to be understood; but God Him self thinks differently. God pronounces an especial blessing upon the one who read- eth” and " they that hear” and “keep the things that are written therein.” It is well to note that the blessing is not upon the -one who understands everything that is in the book, but upon the one who reads the book. There are doubtless many things in the book which we will not fully under stand until Jesus himself comes and ful fills the predictions contained in the book, but while we may not understand them, there is a blessing in reading them and a blessing in even hearing them. God him self says that there is. But there is above all a blessing in keeping them. vs. 4-6. “John to the seven churches which (that) are in Asia: Grace be ('omit, be) unto you, and peace, from him which .(who) is, and which (who) was, and which, (who) is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful wit ness, and the first begotten (born) of the dead, and the prince (ruler) of the kings o f the earth. Unto him that loved (loveth) us, and washed (loosed) us from our sins in his own blood, (by His blood); and hath (he) made us kings and priests (to be a kingdom and to be priests) unto God and his Father (his God and Father); to him be ('add, the) glory and ('add, the) dominion forever and ever. Amen.” The seven churches men tioned in verse 4, are seven churches that actually existed at the time that John wrote; but they are more than that, they represent seven types o f believers. W e find today the counterparts o f each o f these seven churches described. There is also good reason to think that they represent seven successive epochs o f church history,
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