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R E V E L A T I O N
Charles Caldwell Ryrie
LESSON 04 - The Revelation Of Jesus Christ
A REMINDER
These lessons are
written as an accompanment to
Charles C. Ryrie's [1996] Book
REVELATION
Everyday Bible Commentary
Moody Publishers
Chicago
ISBN: 978-0-8024-1825-8
(You Must Own your own copy)
(Ryrie's book text is not included in these lessons)
CHAPTER 1:1-20
THE PROLOGUE 1:1-8
Superscription 1 : 1—3
Title 1:1
Communication 1:1-2
Value 1:3
Salutation 1:4-8
Writer 1:4
Readers 1:4
Greeting 1:4-5a
Dedication 1:5b—6
Keynote 1:7
Authentication 1:8
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LESSON-04
THE
BOOK OF REVELATION
OUTLINE [Ryrie], TEXT [NASB 1995] and
STUDY COMMENTARY
Picking up Ryrie’s
Study Guide on PAGE 17
CHAPTER 01
THE
PROLOGUE 1:1-8
Superscription 1 : 1—3
The Title 1:1
1 The
Revelation of Jesus Christ,
Ryrie, P. 17 top
Our
Commentary:
Here’s a quick
summary of the Centrality of Jesus Christ, the Messiah (anointed One), the very
Son of God. This book contains the future history (revelation) of Elohim,
Jehovah, Emanuel, Jesus - God’s own Son from the end of the Church Age (post
Rapture) to the believer’s introduction to Eternity. Our study will also include
information on the Rapture of all living and dead true believers that precedes
the Tribulation period.
1
Thessalonians 4:15-17
“15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and
remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen
asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the
voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will
rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with
them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with
the Lord.”
The Means of
Communication 1:1-2
which God gave Him
to show to His bond-servants,
the things which must soon take place; and
He
sent and communicated it
by His angel
to His bond servant John,
2 who testified
to the word of God and
to the testimony of Jesus Christ,
even to all that he saw.
Ryrie, P. 17 bottom
Our
Commentary:
Often the
source of this revelation is not understood.
FROM
God the Father (the originator of the prophecy) to:
Jesus
the Son (From a Father to His Son) who the prophecy
is
all about) then the Son gives the prophecy to:
God the Son’s Angel (heavenly messenger) gives the
prophecy to
The Apostle John who takes/sends it to:
The Seven Churches of Asia
(and ultimately to the world).
Tradition
holds that John was exiled to Patmos, but later returned to Ephesus, where he
lived to old age and died peacefully, according to some historical and
ecclesiastical records.[1]
The Value of
the Book 1:3
3 Blessed
is
he
who reads and
those
who
hear
the words of the prophecy, and
heed
the things which are written in it;
for the time is near.
Ryrie, P. 18 top
Our Commentary:
While we are
blessed in reading the revelation, only those who “hear” and “heed” it will
acquire the full blessing. Throughout the Gospels Jesus consistently tells His
disciples and His following audience, He who has ears, let him hear, and
He who has eyes, let him see and understand.” For the true believer seeing, and
hearing is enabled through the faith given and realized through God’s indwelling
Holy Spirit. Therefore, as we begin this adventure through the Book of the
Revelation of Jesus Christ… May we yield to God’s Holy Spirit so that we may
truly “See and Hear” what He has to say to us.
The following
graphic should help to understand the notion of “The time is near.” We could
also use the word imminent.
 |
In the
beginning God created our universe. Like the book of Genesis reveals – all
things are to begin, blossom, bare fruit, and then multiply. We pick up the
story about 6,000 years ago (using the biblical family line of Jesus history.
Mankind (Adam & Eve) is put to the faith test at the very beginning and fails.
The human race
is then put to that test and fails as God shuts the door on the Ark and the race
of man must begin again. 2,000 years in God acquires Abraham, probably the
greatest man of faith to become the progenitor of the Nation of the Hebrew
people. King David comes to power and the nation fails. The Prophets speak and
the nation fails.
The Son of God
is born, matured, ministered, and put to death by the very nation who both knew
who He was and sought to destroy Him – and that brought about the end of 4,000
years.
The Church is
born as God reaches out to the Gentiles (the rest of the world) and here we are
at the end of another 2,000 years (6,000 years of the history of the failure of
mankind to truly believe in God Almighty through His Son, in the power of His
Spirit). And as history displays along the way, only a remnant continues to
remain faithful.
But this story
is not about the failure of mankind. This story is all about the One who Saves.
The One who brings faith. The One who brings mankind great blessing – in making
true forgiveness and righteousness available to those who would believe in Him
and Love God with all their hearts, minds, and souls. This is the FUTURE story
of THE SAVIOR and His judgment of unrighteousness. His absolute success over
evil throughout His creation, and His deliverance of the righteous through the
power of His blood shed on Calvary, to a blissful eternal existence, and His
deliverance of the unrighteous, again through the power of His blood shed on
Calvary, to a horrific eternal existence apart from God or any blessing of any
kind.
The Salutation
1:4-8
(Message to the Seven Churches)
The Writer
1:4a
4 John
Ryrie, P. 18 mid
Our Commentary:
The Apostle
John, son of Zebedee and Salome and brother of James, not the step-brother of
Jesus. Formerly a fisherman from Galilee. He was the closest apostle to Jesus as
“The disciple whom Jesus loved.” Writer of the Gospel of John, the three
Epistles of John, and the book of Revelation. He was the only apostle to stand
by Jesus at the Cross. He was promised to live a long life and die naturally.
John penned the book of Revelation
around AD 95 while on the Island of Patmos. Patmos is a small island off the
coast of Asia Minor (a Roman province, not the Asia of today) in the Aegean sea.
It’s about 46 miles South-West of Ephesus. John was the only disciple not
martyred. After unsuccessful attempts to kill him, he was exiled, and imprisoned
to hard labor on the island because of his lasting testimony and witness of
Jesus. He originally wrote the book in koine Greek.
The Readers
1:4b
to the seven churches that are in Asia:
Ryrie, P. 18 mid
Our
Commentary:
Asia-Minor, the Roman Province of Asia, modern-day Turkey,
along a well known circular trade route: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum,
Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea. These churches have both
historical significance and symbolic significance meanings for the Church
throughout history.
 |
Greeting
1:4c-5a
Grace to you and peace,
from Him who is and
[from Him] who was and
[from Him] who is to come, and
from the seven Spirits
who are before His throne, 5 and
from Jesus Christ,
the faithful witness,
the firstborn of the dead, and
the ruler of the kings of the earth.
Ryrie, P. 18 bottom
r Commentary:
As Ryrie has said “This is a greeting from the
Trinity.” We have mentioned in other studies, that Jesus was, from the
beginning, during His earthly lifetime, and His return to His heavenly Father’s
right hand – always absolutely God.
During His earthly human phase, He willingly gave up
certain actions in order to show His supreme and perfect servanthood to His
heavenly Father. Jesus made sure that His every earthly action was accountable
to His Heavenly Father – He and His Father, and the Holy Spirit of God, were and
are always only One God.
John 8:18
“18 I am He
who testifies about Myself, and the Father who sent Me testifies about Me.”
Commentary
about the Holy Spirit’s ministries:
Building on
Ryrie’s theme, here’s a graphic, based on the solid gold seven lamp lampstand
that was placed in the “Holy Place” in the Israelite Tabernacle (and then the
Temples). It was made from a single hammered, 90 pound
solid piece of gold and represented the seven-fold ministry of God the
Holy Spirit. It was not a candle stand, but seven oil lamps.
1 – The Lord, 2 – Wisdom, 3 –
Understanding,
4 – Counsel, 5 -Strength, 6 –
Knowledge, 7 - Fear
Isaiah
11:2
Completeness and perfection (7).
The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him (the
presence and power of God),
The spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The spirit of counsel and strength,
The spirit of knowledge and the fear
of the Lord.
The Dedication
1:5b—6
To
Him
[Jesus] who
loves us and
released us
from our sins
by His blood— 6 and
He
has made us [believers] to be
a kingdom, [corporate]
priests [individuals]
to His God and Father
to
Him be
the glory and
the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Ryrie, P. 19 top
Our Commentary:
First of all,
the one making the dedication is the Lord God (The Father) who has this praise
for His Son Jesus. The writer, John, then reports that it was Jesus who is
described here. If you are a committed believer… then it was Jesus who has done
these things for us. As Ryrie Summarizes:
You
are loved by Jesus.
You
have been released from your sins through Him.
This happened
by the giving of His blood on the Cross for you.
You
have been incorporated into a New Kingdom of God.
You
have been made into a New Priesthood of God the Father.
May HE,
The Father, have all the glory and dominion forever!
For it was
His Son Jesus who has done these things!
The Keynote
1:7
7” Behold,
He is coming with the clouds,”[2]
and
every
eye will see Him,
even
those who pierced Him; and
all
the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him.
So it is to be. Amen.
Ryrie, P. 19 mid
ur
Commentary:
Here it is – the Keynote expressing Jesus’ Second Coming!
Matthew 24:29-31
29 “But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be
darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the
sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 And then the sign of the
Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will
mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with
power and great glory. 31 And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet
and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the
sky to the other.”
Zechariah 12:10-11a
10 “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they
have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and
they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn. 11 In
that day there will be great mourning in Jerusalem….”
The
Authentication 1:8
8 “I
am
the
Alpha and the Omega,” says
the Lord God,
“who
is and
who
was and
who is to come,
the
Almighty.”
Ryrie, P. 19 bottom
Our Commentary:
I agree with Ryrie – This statement is made by the Father. It is fitting that
the one who John certifies as the initiator of this revelation about His Son –
should be the one who “signs” the document as the “Authentication” of it at the
ending of the prologue to that document.
At every turn I see the honor and glory that the Father holds dearest in His
heart concerning His Son Jesus. From His early years until His crucifixion death
– and even afterwards, Jesus was totally focused upon doing His Father’s will.
As we have stated earlier, Jesus is The Perfect Son who became the Perfect
Servant of the salvation work for believing mankind.
Luke 3:23 states that Jesus was “about 30 years of age” when He began His
ministry. He ministered in Judea, Samaria and Galilee for a total of about three
to three and a half years. That places His death at about 33 years of age.
So it is here that it is perfectly fitting for His Father to authenticate this
prophetic document concerning His perfect Son.
[1]
https://www.persecution.com/stories/stories-of-christian-martyrs-the-apostle-john/
© 2025 The Voice of the Martyrs
[2] Daniel 7:13; Matthew 26:64; Mark
14:62
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