As we begin reading from Revelation, Fr. Mike makes us aware of the symbolism found throughout this apocalyptic book and highlights its goal of strengthening the Church through the worship that happens at Mass. He also encourages us to find strength in God when facing challenges, just as Paul did. Today’s readings are Revelation 1-3, 2 Timothy 3-4, and Proverbs 31:8-9. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.
Chapter 1: What is the purpose of the Book of Revelation?
The Revelation to John, the Apocalypse. Chapter one, introduction and salutation. The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants what must soon take place. And he made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.
Blessed is he who reads aloud the words of the prophecy and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written therein, for the time is near.
John, to the seven churches that are in Asia, grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come and from the seven spirits who are before his throne and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom,
priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, everyone who pierced him, and all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so, amen. I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. a vision of Christ.
I, John, your brother, who share with you in Jesus the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
I was in the spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea. Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning, I saw seven golden lampstands.
And in the midst of the lampstands, one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash across his chest. His head and his hair were white as white wool, white as snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze, refined as in a furnace. and his voice was like the sound of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars.
From his mouth issued a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand upon me, saying, Fear not, I am the first and the last and the living one. I died, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and Hades."
Now write what you see, what is, and what is to take place hereafter. As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. Chapter two, the message to Ephesus.
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Chapter 2: What messages are conveyed to the seven churches?
Even if we say, I reject your love, that love of his for us never wavers ever, ever. So Lord, if we have walked away, if we have fallen away, bring us back. Bring us home. So, Revelation. A couple things. This is maybe, this is the one you've been waiting for, everybody. I don't know if that is. I don't know if you've been afraid of Revelation or if you've been excited for Revelation.
But a couple things about the book of Revelation is... this is going to be a great book. It's a lot like Daniel. It is a lot like those other books of the prophets, apocalyptic literature, right? Where there's a lot of symbolism, for example, talks about the number 10. When you hear the number 10 in the book of Revelation, there's 10 horns, there's 10 days for 10 years, this is going to happen.
Just know the number of 12 will be a number of fullness, right? Number seven is number of Sabbath, the number of covenant. Okay. So the number of 12 be a number of power, a number of completeness. 10 is powerful, but not all powerful. 10 would be powerful, but limited.
And that is just kind of a little insight, little clue that when we read the word 10 here in the book of Revelation, that's what that is oftentimes, I believe maybe even every time is referencing. There's power there. It's long lasting, but it's not lasting forever. It's not all powerful. So it's limited power. It's limited time. Hopefully that makes sense. But let's look at the dating.
So John says that he writes the book. And so the traditional A belief is that John, the beloved John, you know, that he wrote this book of Revelation, that this is a revelation from Jesus Christ to John so that he can pass it on to the churches. Now, we talked about the seven churches. So the addressees of John's book of Revelation are these seven churches in Asia.
And we just get to hear in these first three chapters, we get to hear what's going on in those churches. But before that, let's back up even more and say, what's the dating of this book of Revelation? There are, I think, two theories, essentially.
One theory is that the dating of this book is from the 90s, that the end of John's life, he's an old man at this point, and he's writing this book of Revelation during the era or the age of the Emperor Domitian. So that's one of the theories. Another theory is that this is happening in the 60s or 70s.
So, you know, 30-ish plus years ahead of that time would be another theory, and that would be under the time of Nero. Now, a couple of reasons why I like, I prefer, in fact, that this would come from the 60s, 60s before the year 70. And one is because when we get to the number 666, everyone is afraid of the word 666, or the numbers 666, that is in Hebrew numerology, a number indicating the name of
Nero Caesar or Caesar Nero so you know all the letters our numbers have a letter value or our letters have number value and so if you add those up later on we're going to hear this where John says this is code but if you're smart enough you can figure this out because if I'm writing this during the time of Nero then it makes sense that I'm going to keep this a code and so they don't see me um essentially you know lambasting the emperor who wants to kill all these Christians in Rome so
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