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<p>The Revelation

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Chapter 1: A Letter From the LORD of the Candlesticks

"1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to shew unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass; and He sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant John:"

The Greek word apokalupsis is translated as "revelation" or disclosure of the truth of things previously unknown. Our growth "in grace, and in the knowledge of our LORD and Saviour Jesus Christ" (2Peter 3:18) also yields to us-- as a by-product-- knowledge of "things which must shortly come to pass". The Father reveals to the Son, who reveals to His "angel", who reveals to "His servant John", who reveals to God's "servants". This exactly coincides with our LORD's Promise to His disciples. "Howbeit when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all Truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will shew you things to come" (John 16:13).

"2 Who bare record of the Word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw."

A faithful witness-- as the Apostle John was-- is merely to recount accurately what he has been told. "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the Earth" (Acts 1:8).

"3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand."

A special Promise attends our reading, hearing, and keeping of the Revelation, i.e., acting in faith about what we heard. "But whoso looketh into the Perfect Law of Liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed" (James 1:25). No man is a fool who acts as though the message of the Revelation concerns us here and now, "for the time is at hand."

"4 John to the Seven Churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from Him Which Is, and Which Was, and Which Is To Come; and from the Seven Spirits which are before His Throne;"

The Revelation is in the form of a letter to the "Seven Churches which are in Asia", i.e., the modern nation of Turkey, which is in Asia Minor. The Apostle John begins with a greeting from the Triune God-- the Father, the Spirit, and the Son. The Father is The Ancient Of Days (Daniel 7:9,13,22)-- "from Him Which Is, and Which Was, and Which Is to Come." The "Seven Spirits" point to the perfection of the Holy Spirit.

"5 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,"

Greetings from the Son, "who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession" (1Timothy 6:13). Jesus has the distinction of being the first to rise from the dead. "And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins" (1Corinthians 15:17). And, if this "Prince of the Kings of the Earth", who "loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood", arose from the dead, then so also will we. "But every man in his own order: Christ the Firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at His Coming" (15:23).

"6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen."

A Kingdom Of Priests was the LORD's original intent for His people Israel, as well. "And ye shall be unto me a Kingdom Of Priests, and An Holy Nation"(Exodus 19:6). Again, our God's desire for His Church is our assumption of the duties of a Kingdom Of Priests. "Ye also, as Lively Stones, are built up a Spiritual House, an Holy Priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ" (1Peter 2:5). And, of course, "God" the Son has "His Father", God"which is [also] in Heaven" (Matthew 23:9).

"7 Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the Earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen."

Our LORD Jesus Christ is the One who "cometh with clouds". No other event in the history of creation will focus more attention on One Person than the Second Coming of the LORD Jesus Christ. "And then shall appear the Sign of the Son of Man in Heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the Earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of Heaven with power and great glory" (Matthew 24:30). If anyone is able to wonder or question if the LORD Jesus has appeared the Second Time, then it definitely did not happen-- because at His Second Coming "all... shall see Him" (24:30).

"8 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."

Without a doubt, the LORD Jesus Christ claims to be God. "Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God" (Philippians 2:6). The very idea of being "Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending" places Jesus-- the speaker of Revelation 1:8-- in the role of the Eternal ("Which Is, and Which Was, and Which Is to Come") and "Almighty" God. "Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and His Redeemer the LORD of Hosts; I am the First, and I am the Last; and beside Me there is no God" (Isaiah 44:6).

"9 I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the Kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the Word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ."

The Apostle John, the "disciple whom Jesus loved" (John 21:20), suffered exile to the island of Patmos (which means, "my killing"), a rugged and bare island in the Aegean Sea off the coast of modern Turkey, probably around 95 AD in Domitian's persecution of the Christians. "Yea, and all that will live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2Timothy 3:12). John was an elder or presbyter in the Church of Ephesus, before and after his stay on Patmos. John suffered"tribulation" like all of our brethren, "for the Word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ". He practiced what the early disciples preached. "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common Salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the Saints" (Jude 3).

"10 I was in the Spirit on the LORD's day, and heard behind me a Great Voice, as of a Trumpet,"

The Apostle John's experience parallels that of being Raptured, i.e., hearing "a Great Voice, as of a Trumpet". This reminds us of the Apostle Paul's letter to the Thessalonians. "For the LORD Himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first" (1Thessalonians 4:16). Some believe that this indicates a Sunday ("LORD's day") Rapture; however, it could also mean that the Rapture will only occur for those who are walking "in the Spirit", in readiness for the event-- or both. "And to wait for His Son from Heaven, Whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come" (1:10).

"11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the Seven Churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea."

These Seven Churches could be reached by traveling to each in succession, i.e., first Ephesus, then Smyrna, and continuing through the list until arriving at Laodicea. The serial nature of the list of Seven Churches gives rise to comparing them to a serial or chronological list of periods representing the totality of Church History, as well as a chronological list of Tribulation Week Progress. Our LORD is able to lay much truth in store for those who are willing to "search out a matter" (Proverbs 25:2). "But without a parable spake He not unto them: and when they were alone, He expounded all things to His disciples" (Mark 4:34).

"12 And I turned to see the Voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;"

The Voice that spoke with John, belonged to the LORD Jesus. The "seven golden candlesticks" allude to the candlesticks of the Sanctuary for the nation of Israel. This seven branched candlestick, known as the menorah, may be seen represented on the Arch of Titus at Rome, taken as the spoils of war (70 AD). "And thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof: and they shall light the lamps thereof, that they may give light over against it" (Exodus 25:37). Though Israel ultimately failed to hold the "Law [that] is Light" (Proverbs 6:23) up to the world, the Church has received a similar commission to bear the Light-- as "seven golden candlesticks"-- to the world. A candlestick is not the light; however, it does lift up the flame, which gives off the light. And, that Light is Jesus Christ, Who said, "I am the Light of the World" (John 8:12).

"13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle."

The LORD Jesus is here described in the attire of a priest and judge, like Aaron's robe, "for glory and for beauty" (Exodus 28:2). Fastening the garment higher on the body-- "about the paps", i.e., the chest-- than the waist, allowed for greater movement, as well as greater dignity and majesty. "And righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the girdle of His reins" (Isaiah 11:5).

"14 His head and His hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and His eyes were as a flame of fire;"

Again, it is "not robbery" (Philippians 2:6) for the LORD Jesus to consider Himself the equal of the Father, because the Son of God is here described in the same fashion as the Father-- the Ancient of Days. "9 I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of Days did sit, Whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like the pure wool: His Throne was like the fiery flame, and His wheels as burning fire... 13 ...behold, One like the Son of Man came with the clouds of Heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days..." (Daniel 7:9,13).

"15 And His feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and His voice as the sound of many waters."

The LORD Jesus' feet are likened to "fine brass", which symbolize divine judgment. The "brasen altar" (Exodus 38:30) and other articles associated with the sacrifice for sin (27:2-4) were made of brass. The power and majesty of the LORD Jesus' Voice in judgment is compared to the "sound of many waters". "The LORD on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea" (Psalm 93:4).<a name="Sharp Sword"></a>

"16 And He had in His right hand seven stars: and out of His mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and His countenance was as the sun shineth in His strength."

This reminds us of how Christ, the Good Shepherd (John 10:14), holds His flock eternally secure in His hand. "27 My sheep hear My Voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: 28 And I give unto them Eternal Life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand" (John 10:27-28). Jesus, the Eternal Word, Who "was made flesh" (John 1:14), here represents His Words like unto a "sharp twoedged sword"-- an offensive weapon for slaying the enemy. "And out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations" (Revelation 19:15).

The brilliance of the LORD Jesus' "countenance" was seen also by the unconverted Saul on the Road to Damascus. "13 At midday, O king, I saw in the way a Light from Heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me. 14 And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a Voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. 15 And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And He said, I Am Jesus Whom thou persecutest" (Acts 26:13-15).

"17 And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I Am the First and the Last:"

Notwithstanding the close relationship of the Apostle John to the LORD Jesus, it was more than meeting an old friend when he recognized the LORD Jesus. John"fell at His feet as dead". Just as the prophet Isaiah was frozen with disdain for himself at the sight of the Holy God, i.e., "Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of Hosts" (Isaiah 6:5), John had to be comforted by the LORD to even be able to continue the interview.

"18 I Am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I Am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death."

Unmistakably, this is the very Jesus who was crucified on Calvary. "I Am He that liveth, and was dead." If we can believe that He was dead and now is alive, we have His Word that He is now "alive for evermore". "Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over Him"(Romans 6:9). So thorough is His mastery over death and hell that He possesses their key and control-- because He is the Almighty God. "He that is our God is the God of Salvation; and unto GOD the LORD belong the issues from death" (Psalm 68:20).<a name="Hereafter"></a>

"19 Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;"

John is given an outline for the Revelation, which he is to record. "The things which thou hast seen" refers to chapter 1-- the Glorified Christ. "The things which are" corresponds to chapters 2 and 3-- the History of the Church. And, "the things which shall be hereafter" deal with chapters 4 through 22-- essentially Daniel's 70th Week (Daniel 9:24-27). [See our article, "<a href="http://whatsaiththescripture.com/Timeline/Seventy.Weeks.of.Daniel.html">The Seventy Weeks of Daniel</a>" ---<a href="http://whatsaiththescripture.com/Timeline/Seventy.Weeks.of.Daniel.html" target="_blank">New Window</a> , for a development of the entire 70 Weeks prophecy.]

"20 The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in My right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the Seven Churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the Seven Churches."

The Greek word aggelos is primarily translated as "angel", but sometimes it is translated as messenger. That the "seven stars", which are the "angels of the Seven Churches", could be their pastors, may be inferred from the reference of Daniel 12:3 to those who "turn many to righteousness". These who "turn many to righteousness" are compared to the "stars for ever and ever". "And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever" (Daniel 12:3). But, the idea that the "seven stars" are angelic beings is just as agreeable, for we know that even small children are given angelic watchcare. "Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in Heaven their angels do always behold the face of My Father which is in Heaven" (Matthew 18:10). Again, the "seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the Seven Churches". See the above remarks concerning Revelation 1:12.

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Question: Why should you study this Book?

Answer: "That the God of our LORD Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,
may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him:
The eyes of your understanding being enlightened;
that ye may know

what is the hope of His calling, and

what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,

And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe,

according to the working of His mighty power,
Which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the Heavenly Places,
Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come."
Ephesians 1:17-21

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-<p>The Principle and the Rite &mdash; Rapid Growth of the One &mdash; Slow Progress and ultimate Triumph of the Other &mdash; England &mdash; Wicliffe &mdash; His Birthplace &mdash; His Education &mdash; Goes to Oxford &mdash; Enters Merton College &mdash; Its Fame &mdash; The Evangelical Bradwardine &mdash; His Renown &mdash; Pioneers the Way for Wicliffe &mdash; The Philosophy of those Days &mdash; Wicliffe's Eminence as a Scholastic &mdash; Studies also the Canon and Civil Laws &mdash; His Conversion &mdash; Theological Studies &mdash; The Black Death &mdash; Ravages Greece, Italy, etc. &mdash; Enters England &mdash; Its awful Desolations &mdash; Its Impression on Wicliffe &mdash; Stands Face to Face with Eternal Death &mdash; Taught not to Fear the Death of the Body.</p>
+<center style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">
+  <p>
-  <p>WITH the revolving centuries we behold the world slowly emerging into the light. The fifth century brought with it a signal blessing to Christianity in the guise of a disaster. Like a tree that was growing too rapidly, it was cut down to its roots that it might escape a luxuriance which would have been its ruin. From a Principle that has its seat in the heart, and the fruit of which is an enlightened understanding and a holy life, Religion, under the corrupting influences of power and riches, was being transformed into a Rite, which, having its sphere solely in the senses, leaves the soul in darkness and the life in bondage.<br>
+  <p>The Revelation </p>
-<br>
+</center>
-These two, the Principle and the Rite, began so early as the fourth and fifth centuries to draw apart, and to develop each after its own kind. The rite rapidly progressed, and seemed far to outstrip its rival. It built for itself gorgeous temples, it enlisted in its service a powerful hierarchy, it added year by year to the number and magnificence of its ceremonies, it expressed itself in canons and constitutions; and, seduced by this imposing show, nations bowed down before it, and puissant kings lent their swords for its defense and propagation.<br>
+<p align="CENTER" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="1" color="#FFFFFF">.<br>
-<br>
+      </font><font size="5" color="#000000"><br>
-Far otherwise was it with its rival. Withdrawing into the spiritual sphere, it appeared to have abandoned the field to its antagonist. Not so, however. If it had hidden itself from the eyes of men, it was that it might build up from the very foundation, piling truth upon truth, and prepare in silence those mighty spiritual forces by which it was in due time to emancipate the world. Its progress was consequently less marked, but was far more real than that of its antagonist. Every error which the one pressed into its service was a cause of weakness; every truth which the other added to its creed was a source of strength. The uninstructed and superstitious hordes which the one received into its communion were dangerous allies. They might follow it in the day of its prosperity, but they would desert it and become its foes whenever the tide of popular favor turned against it. Not so the adherents of the other. With purified hearts and enlightened understandings, they were prepared to follow it at all hazards. The number of its disciples, small at first, continually multiplied. The purity of their lives, the meekness with which they bore the injuries inflicted on them, and the heroism with which their death was endured, augmented from age to age the moral power and the spiritual glory of their cause. And thus, while the one reached its fall through its very success, the other marched on through oppression and proscription to triumph.<br>
+      Chapter 1:</font><font size="5" color="#000077"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>A Letter From the LORD of the Candlesticks</font></p>
-<br>
+<ul style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">
-We have arrived at the beginning of the fourteenth century. We have had no occasion hitherto to speak of the British Isles, but now our attention must be turned to them. Here a greater light is about to appear than any that had illumined the darkness of the ages that had gone before.<br>
+  <li><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4">1<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to shew unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass; and He sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant John:"</font></li>
-<br>
+</ul>
-In the North Riding of Yorkshire, watered by the Tees, lies the parish of Wicliffe. In the manor-house of this parish, in the year 1324,<div id="1-11"></div>[[#1-1|'''1''']]  was born a child, who was named John. Here his ancestors had lived since the time of the Conquest, and according to the manner of the times, they took their surname from the place of their residence, and the son now born to them was known as John de Wicliffe. Of his boyhood nothing is recorded. He was destined from an early age for the Church, which gives us ground to conclude that even then he discovered that penetrating intelligence which marked his maturer years, and that loving sympathy which drew him so often in after life to the homesteads and the sick-beds of his parish of Lutterworth. Schools for rudimental instruction were even then pretty thickly planted over England, in connection with the cathedral towns and the religious houses; and it is probable that the young Wicliffe received his first training at one of these seminaries in his own neighborhood.<div id="1-112"></div>[[#1-2|'''2''']]<br>
+<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="4">The Greek word apokalupsis is translated as<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"revelation"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>or disclosure of the truth of things previously unknown. Our growth<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"in grace, and in the knowledge of our LORD and Saviour Jesus Christ"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(2Peter 3:18) also yields to us-- as a by-product-- knowledge of<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"things which must shortly come to pass"</font><font size="4">. The Father reveals to the Son, who reveals to His<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"angel"</font><font size="4">, who reveals to<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"His servant John"</font><font size="4">, who reveals to God's<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"servants"</font><font size="4">. This exactly coincides with our LORD's Promise to His disciples.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"Howbeit when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all Truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will shew you things to come"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(John 16:13).</font></p>
-<br>At the age of sixteen or thereabouts, Wicliffe was sent to Oxford. Here he became first a scholar, and next a fellow of Merton College, the oldest foundation save one in Oxford.<div id="1-13"></div>[[#1-3|'''3''']]<br>
+<p align="CENTER" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><img src="http://whatsaiththescripture.com/Graphics.Jehovah/silver.bar.GIF" width="500" height="4" align="BOTTOM" border="0"></p>
-The youth of England, athirst for knowledge, the fountains of which had long been sealed up, were then crowding to the universities, and when Wicliffe entered Merton there were not fewer than 30,000 students at Oxford. These numbers awaken surprise, but it is to be taken into account that many of the halls were no better than upper schools. The college which Wicliffe joined was the most distinguished at that seat of learning. The fame, unrivaled in their own day, which two of its scholars, William Occam and Duns Scotus, had attained, shed a luster upon it. One of its chairs had been filled by the celebrated Bradwardine,<div id="1-14"></div>[[#1-4|'''4''']] who was closing his career at Merton about the time that the young Wicliffe was opening his in Oxford. Bradwardine was one of the first mathematicians and astronomers of his day; but having been drawn to the study of the Word of God, he embraced the doctrines of free grace, and his chair became a fountain of higher knowledge than that of natural science. While most of his contemporaries, by the aid of a subtle scholasticism, were endeavoring to penetrate into the essence of things, and to explain all mysteries, Bradwardine was content to accept what God had revealed in His Word, and this humility was rewarded by his finding the path which others missed. Lifting the veil, he unfolded to his students, who crowded round him with eager attention and admiring reverence, the way of life, warning them especially against that Pelagianism which was rapidly substituting a worship of externals for a religion of the heart, and teaching men to trust in their power of will for a salvation which can come only from the sovereign grace of God. Bradwardine was greater as a theologian than he had been as a philosopher. The fame of his lectures filled Europe, and his evangelical views, diffused by his scholars, helped to prepare the way for Wicliffe and others who were to come after him. It was around his chair that the new day was seen first to break.<br>
+<ul style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">
-<br>
+  <li><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4" color="#000000">2</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>Who bare record of the Word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw."</font></li>
-A quick apprehension, a penetrating intellect, and a retentive memory, enabled the young scholar of Merton to make rapid progress in the learning of those days. Philosophy then lay in guesses rather than in facts. Whatever could be known from having been put before man in the facts of Nature or the doctrines of Revelation, was deemed not worth further investigation. It was too humble an occupation to observe and to deduce. In the pride of his genius, man turned away from a field lying at his feet, and plunged boldly into a region where, having no data to guide him and no ground for solid footing, he could learn really nothing. From this region of vague speculation the explorer brought back only the images of his own creating, and, dressing up these fancies as facts, he passed them off as knowledge.<br>
+</ul>
-<br>
+<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="4">A faithful witness-- as the Apostle John was-- is merely to recount accurately what he has been told.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the Earth"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Acts 1:8).</font></p>
-Such was the philosophy that invited the study of Wicliffe.<div id="1-15"></div>[[#1-5|'''5''']]<br>There was scarce enough in it to reward his labor, but he thirsted for knowledge, and giving himself to it "with his might," he soon became a master in the scholastic philosophy, and did not fear to encounter the subtlest of all the subtle disputants in the schools of Oxford. He was "famously reputed," says Fox, "for a great clerk, a deep schoolman, and no less expert in all kinds of philosophy." Walden, his bitter enemy, writing to Pope Martin V. respecting him, says that he was "wonderfully astonished" at the "vehemency and force of his reasonings," and the "places of authority" with which they were fortified.<div id="1-16"></div>[[#1-6|'''6''']]To his knowledge of scholastics he added great proficiency in both the canon and civil laws. This was a branch of knowledge which stood him in more stead in after years than the other and more fashionable science. By these studies he became versed in the constitution and laws of his native country, and was fitted for taking an intelligent part in the battle which soon thereafter arose between the usurpations of the Pontiff and the rights of the crown of England. "He had an eye for the most different things," says Lechler, speaking of Wicliffe, "and took a lively interest in the most multifarious questions."<div id="1-17"></div>[[#1-7|'''7''']]<br>
+<p align="CENTER" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><img src="http://whatsaiththescripture.com/Graphics.Jehovah/silver.bar.GIF" width="500" height="4" align="BOTTOM" border="0"></p>
-<br>But the foundation of Wicliffe's greatness was laid in a higher teaching than any that man can give. It was the illumination of his mind and the renewal of his heart by the instrumentality of the Bible that made him the Reformer &mdash; certainly, the greatest of all the Reformers who appeared before the era of Luther. Without this, he might have been remembered as an eminent scholastic of the fourteenth century, whose fame has been luminous enough to transmit a few feeble rays to our own age; but he never would have been known as the first to bear the axe into the wilderness of Papal abuses, and to strike at the roots of that great tree of which others had been content to lop off a few of the branches. The honor would not have been his to be the first to raise that Great Protest, which nations will bear onwards till it shall have made the circuit of the earth, proclaiming, "Fallen is every idol, razed is every stronghold of darkness and tyranny, and now is come salvation, and the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign for ever."<br>
+<ul style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">
-<br>
+  <li><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4" color="#000000">3</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand."</font></li>
-How Wicliffe came to a knowledge of the truth it is not difficult to guess. He was, D'Aubigne informs us, one of the scholars of the evangelical Bradwardine.<div id="1-18"></div>[[#1-8|'''8''']]<br>As he heard the great master discourse day by day on the sovereignty of grace and the freeness of salvation, a new light would begin to break upon the mind of the young scholastic. He would turn to a diviner page than that of Plato. But for this Wicliffe might have entered the priesthood without ever having studied a single chapter of the Bible, for instruction in theology formed no part of preparation for the sacred office in those days.<br>
+</ul>
-<br>
+<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="4">A special Promise attends our reading, hearing, and keeping of the Revelation, i.e., acting in faith about what we heard.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"But whoso looketh into the Perfect Law of Liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(James 1:25). No man is a fool who acts as though the message of the Revelation concerns us here and now,<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"for the time is at hand."</font></p>
-No doubt theology, after a fashion, was studied, yet not a theology whose substance was drawn from the Bible, but a man-invented system. The Bachelors of Theology of the lowest grade held readings in the Bible. Not so, however, the Bachelors of the middle and highest grades: these founded their prelections upon the Sentences of Peter Lombard. Puffed up with the conceit of their mystical lore, they regarded it beneath their dignity to expound so elementary a book as the Holy Scriptures. The former were named contemptuously .Biblicists; the latter were honorably designated Sententiarii, or Men of the Sentences.<div id="1-19"></div>[[#1-9|'''9''']]<br>
+<p align="CENTER" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><img src="http://whatsaiththescripture.com/Graphics.Jehovah/silver.bar.GIF" width="500" height="4" align="BOTTOM" border="0"></p>
-<br>"There was no mention," says Fox, describing the early days of Wicliffe, "nor almost any word spoken of Scripture. Instead of Peter and Paul, men occupied their time in studying Aquinas and Scotus, and the Master of Sentences." "Scarcely any other thing was seen in the temples or churches, or taught or spoken of in sermons, or finally intended or gone about in their whole life, but only heaping up of certain shadowed ceremonies upon ceremonies; neither was there any end of their heaping. The people were taught to worship no other thing but that which they did see, and they did see almost nothing which they did not worship."<div id="1-110"></div>[[#1-10|'''10''']]<br>In the midst of these groveling superstitions, men were startled by the approach of a terrible visitant. The year 1348 was fatally signalized by the outbreak of a fearful pestilence, one of the most destructive in history. Appearing first in Asia, it took a westerly course, traversing the globe like the pale horse and his rider in the Apocalypse, terror marching before it, and death following in its rear. It ravaged the Shores of the Levant, it desolated Greece, and going on still toward the west, it struck Italy with terrible severity. Florence, the lovely capital of Etruria, it turned into a charnel-house. The genius of Boccaccio painted its horrors, and the muse of Petrarch bewailed its desolations. The latter had cause, for Laura was among its victims. Passing the Alps it entered Northern Europe, leaving, say some contemporary historians, only a tenth of the human race alive. This we know is an exaggeration; but it expresses the popular impression, and sufficiently indicates the awful character of those ravages, in which all men heard, as it were, the footsteps of coming death. The sea as well as the land was marked with its devastating prints. Ships voyaging afar on the ocean were overtaken by it, and when the winds piloted them to land, they were found to be freighted with none but the dead.<br>
+<ul style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">
-<br>
+  <li><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4" color="#000000">4</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>John to the Seven Churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from Him Which Is, and Which Was, and Which Is To Come; and from the Seven Spirits which are before His Throne;"</font></li>
-On the 1st of August the plague touched the shores of England. "Beginning at Dorchester," says Fox, "every day twenty, some days forty, some fifty, and more, dead corpses, were brought and laid together in one deep pit." On the 1st day of November it reached London, "where," says the same chronicler, "the vehement rage thereof was so hot, and did increase so much, that from the 1st day of February till about the beginning of May, in a church-yard then newly made by Smithfield [Charterhouse], about two hundred dead corpses every day were buried, besides those which in other church-yards of the city were laid also."<div id="1-111"></div>[[#1-11|'''11''']]<br>
+</ul>
-<br>"In those days," says another old chronicler, Caxton, "was death without sorrow, weddings without friendship, flying without succor; scarcely were there left living folk for to bury honestly them that were dead." Of the citizens of London not fewer than 100,000 perished. The ravages of the plague were spread over all England, and a full half of the nation was struck down. From men the pestilence passed to the lower animals. Putrid carcasses covered the fields; the labors of the husbandman were suspended; the soil ceased to be ploughed, and the harvest to be reaped; the courts of law were closed, and Parliament did not meet; everywhere reigned terror, mourning, and death.<br>
+<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="4">The Revelation is in the form of a letter to the<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"Seven Churches which are in Asia"</font><font size="4">, i.e., the modern nation of Turkey, which is in Asia Minor. The Apostle John begins with a greeting from the Triune God-- the Father, the Spirit, and the Son. The Father is The Ancient Of Days (Daniel 7:9,13,22)--<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"from Him Which Is, and Which Was, and Which Is to Come."</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>The<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"Seven Spirits"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>point to the perfection of the Holy Spirit.</font></p>
-<br>
+<p align="CENTER" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><img src="http://whatsaiththescripture.com/Graphics.Jehovah/silver.bar.GIF" width="500" height="4" align="BOTTOM" border="0"></p>
-This dispensation was the harbinger of a very different one. The tempest that scathed the earth opened the way for the shower which was to fertilize it. The plague was not without its influence on that great movement which, beginning with Wicliffe, was continued in a line of confessors and martyrs, till it issued in the Reformation of Luther and Calvin. Wicliffe had been a witness of the passage of the destroyer; he had seen the human race fading from off the earth as if the ages had completed their cycle, and the end of the world was at hand. He was then in his twenty-fifth year, and could not but be deeply impressed by the awful events passing around him. "This visitation of the Almighty," says D'Aubigne, "sounded like the trumpet of the judgment-day in the heart of Wicliffe."<div id="1-112"></div>[[#1-12|'''12''']]<br>Bradwardine had already brought him to the Bible, the plague brought him to it a second time; and now, doubtless, he searched its page more earnestly than ever. He came to it, not as the theologian, seeking in it a deeper wisdom than any mystery which the scholastic philosophy could open to him; nor as the scholar, to refine his taste by its pure models, and enrich his understanding by the sublimity of its doctrines; nor even as the polemic, in search of weapons wherewith, to assail the dominant superstitions; he now came to the Bible as a lost sinner, seeking how he might be saved. Nearer every day came the messenger of the Almighty. The shadow that messenger cast before him was hourly deepening; and we can hear the young student, who doubtless in that hour felt the barrenness and insufficiency of the philosophy of the schools, lifting up with increasing vehemency the cry, "Who shall deliver me from the wrath to come?"<br>
+<ul style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">
-<br>
+  <li><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4" color="#000000">5</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>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,"</font></li>
-It would seem to be a law that all who are to be reformers of their age shall first undergo a conflict of soul. They must feel in their own ease the strength of error, the bitterness of the bondage in which it holds men, and stand face to face with the Omnipotent Judge, before they can become the deliverers of others. This only can inspire them with pity for the wretched captives whose fetters they seek to break, and give them courage to brave the oppressors from whose cruelty they labor to rescue them. This agony of soul did Luther and Calvin undergo; and a distress and torment similar in character, though perhaps not so great in degree, did Wicliffe endure before beginning his work. His sins, doubtless, were made a heavy burden to him &mdash; so heavy that he could not lift up his head. Standing on the brink of the pit, he says, he felt how awful it was to go down into the eternal night, "and inhabit everlasting burnings." The joy of escape from a doom so terrible made him feel how small a matter is the life of the body, and how little to be regarded are the torments which the tyrants of earth have it in their power to inflict, compared with the wrath of the Ever-living God. It is in these fires that the reformers have been hardened. It is in this school that they have learned to defy death and to sing at the stake. In this armor was Wicliffe clad before he was sent forth into the battle.
+</ul>
+<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="4">Greetings from the Son,<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(1Timothy 6:13). Jesus has the distinction of being the first to rise from the dead.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins"<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">(1Corinthians 15:17). And, if this<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"Prince of the Kings of the Earth"</font><font size="4">, who<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood"</font><font size="4">, arose from the dead, then so also will we.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"But every man in his own order: Christ the Firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at His Coming"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(15:23).</font></p>
+<p align="CENTER" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><img src="http://whatsaiththescripture.com/Graphics.Jehovah/silver.bar.GIF" width="500" height="4" align="BOTTOM" border="0"></p>
+<ul style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">
-'''VOLUME FIRST- BOOK SECOND- CHAPTER 1'''
+  <li><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4" color="#000000">6</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>And hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen."</font></li>
+</ul>
-<div id="1-1"><div> [[#1-11|'''1''']] Lewis, Life of Wiclif, p. 1; Oxford ed., 1820.
+<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="4">A Kingdom Of Priests was the LORD's original intent for His people Israel, as well.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"And ye shall be unto me a Kingdom Of Priests, and An Holy Nation"</font><font size="4">(Exodus 19:6). Again, our God's desire for His Church is our assumption of the duties of a Kingdom Of Priests.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"Ye also, as Lively Stones, are built up a Spiritual House, an Holy Priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(1Peter 2:5).</font><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><font size="4">And, of course,<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"God"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>the Son has<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"His Father"</font><font size="4">, God</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"which is</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>[also]<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">in Heaven"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Matthew 23:9).</font></p>
+<p align="CENTER" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><img src="http://whatsaiththescripture.com/Graphics.Jehovah/silver.bar.GIF" width="500" height="4" align="BOTTOM" border="0"></p>
-<div id="1-2"><div>[[#1-12|'''2''']] Lechler thinks that "probably it was the pastor of the same-named village who was his first teacher." (Johann von Wiclif, und die Vorgeschichte der Reformation, vol. 1, p. 271; Leipzig, 1873.)
+<ul style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">
+  <li><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4" color="#000000">7</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the Earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen."</font></li>
-<div id="1-3"><div>[[#1-13|'''3''']] Of the twenty and more colleges that now constitute Oxford University, only five then existed, viz. — Merton (1274), Balliol (1260 — 82), Exeter (1314), Oriel (1324), and University College (1332). These foundations were originally intended for the support of poor scholars, who were under the rule of a superior, and received both board and instruction.
+</ul>
+<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="4">Our LORD Jesus Christ is the One who<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"cometh with clouds"</font><font size="4">. No other event in the history of creation will focus more attention on One Person than the Second Coming of the LORD Jesus Christ.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"And then shall appear the Sign of the Son of Man in Heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the Earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of Heaven with power and great glory"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Matthew 24:30). If anyone is able to wonder or question if the LORD Jesus has appeared the Second Time, then it definitely did<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><b>not</b><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>happen-- because at His Second Coming<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"<b>all</b>... shall see Him"<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">(24:30).</font></p>
-<div id="1-4"><div>[[#1-14|'''4''']]" Lewis, Life of Wiclif, p. 2.
+<p align="CENTER" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">&nbsp;</p>
+<ul style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">
-<div id="1-5"><div>[[#1-15|'''5''']]" The study of the artes liberales, from which the Faculty of Arts takes its name were, first, Trivium, comprehending grammar, dialectics, and rhetoric; then Quadrivium, comprehending arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. It was not uncommon to study ten years at the university — four in the Faculty of Arts, and seven, or at least five, in theology. If Wicliffe entered the university in 1335, he probably ended his studies in 1345. He became successively Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts, and, after an interval of several years, Bachelor of Theology, or as they then expressed it, Sacra Pagina.
+  <li><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4" color="#000000">8</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>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."</font></li>
+</ul>
-<div id="1-6"><div>[[#1-16|'''6''']]" Fox, Acts and Mon., vol. 1, p. 554; Lond., 1641.
+<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="4">Without a doubt, the LORD Jesus Christ claims to be God.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Philippians 2:6). The very idea of being<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>places Jesus-- the speaker of Revelation 1:8-- in the role of the Eternal (</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"Which Is, and Which Was, and Which Is to Come"</font><font size="4">) and<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"Almighty"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>God.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and His Redeemer the LORD of Hosts; I am the First, and I am the Last; and beside Me there is no God"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Isaiah 44:6).</font></p>
+<p align="CENTER" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">&nbsp;</p>
-<div id="1-7"><div>[[#1-17|'''7''']]" Lechler, Johann von Wiclif, vol. 1, p. 726.
+<ul style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">
+  <li><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4" color="#000000">9</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the Kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the Word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ."</font></li>
-<div id="1-8"><div>[[#1-18|'''8''']]" D'Aubigne, Hist. of Reform., vol. 5, p. 110.
+</ul>
+<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="4">The Apostle John, the<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"disciple whom Jesus loved"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(John 21:20), suffered exile to the island of Patmos (which means, "my killing"), a rugged and bare island in the Aegean Sea off the coast of modern Turkey, probably around 95 AD in Domitian's persecution of the Christians.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"Yea, and<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><b>all</b><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>that will live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(2Timothy 3:12). John was an elder or presbyter in the Church of Ephesus, before and after his stay on Patmos. John suffered</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"tribulation"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>like all of our brethren,<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"for the Word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ"</font><font size="4">. He practiced what the early disciples preached.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common Salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><b>ye should earnestly contend for the faith</b><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>which was once delivered unto the Saints"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Jude 3).</font></p>
-<div id="1-9"><div>[[#1-19|'''9''']]" Lechler, Johann von Wiclif, und die Vorgeschichte der Reformation, vol. 1, p. 284; Leipzig, 1873.
+<p align="CENTER" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">&nbsp;</p>
+<ul style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">
-<div id="1-10"><div>[[#1-110|'''10''']]"Fox, Acts and Mon., vol. 1, p. 555. After the Sentences of Peter Lombard, in the study of theology, came the patristic and scholastic divines, and especially the Summa of Thomas Aquinas.
+  <li><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4" color="#000000">10</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>I was in the Spirit on the LORD's day, and heard behind me a Great Voice, as of a Trumpet,"</font></li>
+</ul>
-<div id="1-11"><div>[[#1-111|'''11''']]"Fox, Acts and Mon., vol. 1, p. 507.
+<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="4">The Apostle John's experience parallels that of being Raptured, i.e., hearing<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"a Great Voice, as of a Trumpet"</font><font size="4">. This reminds us of the Apostle Paul's letter to the Thessalonians.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"For the LORD Himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(1Thessalonians 4:16). Some believe that this indicates a Sunday (</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"LORD's day"</font><font size="4">) Rapture; however, it could also mean that the Rapture will only occur for those who are walking<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"in the Spirit"</font><font size="4">, in readiness for the event-- or both.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"And to wait for His Son from Heaven, Whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(1:10).</font></p>
+<p align="CENTER" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">&nbsp;</p>
-<div id="1-12"><div>[[#1-112|'''12''']]" D'Aubigne, Hist. of Reform., vol. 5, p. 110.
+<ul style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">
+  <li><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4" color="#000000">11</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the Seven Churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea."</font></li>
+</ul>
+<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="4">These Seven Churches could be reached by traveling to each in succession, i.e., first Ephesus, then Smyrna, and continuing through the list until arriving at Laodicea. The serial nature of the list of Seven Churches gives rise to comparing them to a serial or chronological list of periods representing the totality of Church History, as well as a chronological list of Tribulation Week Progress. Our LORD is able to lay much truth in store for those who are willing to<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"search out a matter"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Proverbs 25:2).<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"But without a parable spake He not unto them: and when they were alone, He expounded all things to His disciples"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Mark 4:34).</font></p>
+<p align="CENTER" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">&nbsp;</p>
+<ul style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">
+  <li><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4" color="#000000">12</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>And I turned to see the Voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;"</font></li>
+</ul>
+<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="4">The Voice that spoke with John, belonged to the LORD Jesus. The<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"seven golden candlesticks"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>allude to the candlesticks of the Sanctuary for the nation of Israel. This seven branched candlestick, known as the menorah, may be seen represented on the Arch of Titus at Rome, taken as the spoils of war (70 AD).<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"And thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof: and they shall light the lamps thereof, that they may give light over against it"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Exodus 25:37). Though Israel ultimately failed to hold the<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"Law</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>[that]</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>is Light"<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">(Proverbs 6:23) up to the world, the Church has received a similar commission to bear the Light-- as<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"seven golden candlesticks"</font><font size="4">-- to the world. A candlestick is not the light; however, it does lift up the flame, which gives off the light. And, that Light is Jesus Christ, Who said,<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"I am the Light of the World"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(John 8:12).</font></p>
+<p align="CENTER" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">&nbsp;</p>
+<ul style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">
+  <li><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4" color="#000000">13</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle."</font></li>
+</ul>
+<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="4">The LORD Jesus is here described in the attire of a priest and judge, like Aaron's robe,<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"for glory and for beauty"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Exodus 28:2). Fastening the garment higher on the body--<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"about the paps"</font><font size="4">, i.e., the chest-- than the waist, allowed for greater movement, as well as greater dignity and majesty.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"And righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the girdle of His reins"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Isaiah 11:5).</font></p>
+<p align="CENTER" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">&nbsp;</p>
+<ul style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">
+  <li><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4" color="#000000">14</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>His head and His hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and His eyes were as a flame of fire;"</font></li>
+</ul>
+<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="4">Again, it is<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"not robbery"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Philippians 2:6) for the LORD Jesus to consider Himself the equal of the Father, because the Son of God is here described in the same fashion as the Father-- the Ancient of Days.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4" color="#000000">9</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><b>Ancient of Days</b><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>did sit, Whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like the pure wool: His Throne was like the fiery flame, and His wheels as burning fire...<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#000000">13</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>...behold, One like the<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><b>Son of Man<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></b>came with the clouds of Heaven, and<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><b>came</b><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><b>to the Ancient of Days</b>..."</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Daniel 7:9,13).</font></p>
+<p align="CENTER" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">&nbsp;</p>
+<ul style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">
+  <li><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4" color="#000000">15</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>And His feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and His voice as the sound of many waters."</font></li>
+</ul>
+<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="4">The LORD Jesus' feet are likened to<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"fine brass"</font><font size="4">, which symbolize divine judgment. The<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"brasen altar"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Exodus 38:30) and other articles associated with the sacrifice for sin (27:2-4) were made of brass. The power and majesty of the LORD Jesus' Voice in judgment is compared to the<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"sound of many waters"</font><font size="4">.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"The LORD on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Psalm 93:4).<a name="Sharp Sword"></a></font></p>
+<p align="CENTER" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">&nbsp;</p>
+<ul style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">
+  <li><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4" color="#000000">16</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>And He had in His right hand seven stars: and out of His mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and His countenance was as the sun shineth in His strength."</font></li>
+</ul>
+<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="4">This reminds us of how Christ, the Good Shepherd (John 10:14), holds His flock eternally secure in His hand.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4" color="#000000">27</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>My sheep hear My Voice, and I know them, and they follow Me:<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#000000">28</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>And I give unto them Eternal Life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(John 10:27-28). Jesus, the Eternal Word, Who<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"was made flesh"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(John 1:14), here represents His Words like unto a<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"sharp twoedged sword"</font><font size="4">-- an offensive weapon for slaying the enemy.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"And out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Revelation 19:15).<br>
+      <br>
+      The brilliance of the LORD Jesus'<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"countenance"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>was seen also by the unconverted Saul on the Road to Damascus.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4" color="#000000">13</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>At midday, O king, I saw in the way a Light from Heaven,<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><b>above the brightness of the sun</b>, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#000000">14</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a Voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#000000">15</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And He said, I Am Jesus Whom thou persecutest"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Acts 26:13-15).</font></p>
+<p align="CENTER" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">&nbsp;</p>
+<ul style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">
+  <li><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4" color="#000000">17</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I Am the First and the Last:"</font></li>
+</ul>
+<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="4">Notwithstanding the close relationship of the Apostle John to the LORD Jesus, it was more than meeting an old friend when he recognized the LORD Jesus. John</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"fell at His feet as dead"</font><font size="4">. Just as the prophet Isaiah was frozen with disdain for himself at the sight of the Holy God, i.e.,<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of Hosts"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Isaiah 6:5), John had to be comforted by the LORD to even be able to continue the interview.</font></p>
+<p align="CENTER" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><img src="http://whatsaiththescripture.com/Graphics.Jehovah/silver.bar.GIF" width="500" height="4" align="BOTTOM" border="0"></p>
+<ul style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">
+  <li><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4" color="#000000">18</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>I Am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I Am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death."</font></li>
+</ul>
+<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="4">Unmistakably, this is the very Jesus who was crucified on Calvary.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"I Am He that liveth, and was dead."</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>If we can believe that He was dead and now is alive, we have His Word that He is now<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"alive for evermore"</font><font size="4">.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over Him"</font><font size="4">(Romans 6:9). So thorough is His mastery over death and hell that He possesses their key and control-- because He is the Almighty God.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"He that is our God is the God of Salvation; and unto GOD the LORD belong the issues from death"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Psalm 68:20).<a name="Hereafter"></a></font></p>
+<p align="CENTER" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><img src="http://whatsaiththescripture.com/Graphics.Jehovah/silver.bar.GIF" width="500" height="4" align="BOTTOM" border="0"></p>
+<ul style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">
+  <li><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4" color="#000000">19</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;"</font></li>
+</ul>
+<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="4">John is given an outline for the Revelation, which he is to record.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"The things which thou hast seen"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>refers to chapter 1-- the Glorified Christ.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"The things which are"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>corresponds to chapters 2 and 3-- the History of the Church. And,<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"the things which shall be hereafter"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>deal with chapters 4 through 22-- essentially Daniel's 70th Week (Daniel 9:24-27).</font><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>[See our article, "<a href="http://whatsaiththescripture.com/Timeline/Seventy.Weeks.of.Daniel.html">The Seventy Weeks of Daniel</a>"<font size="1"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>---</font><a href="http://whatsaiththescripture.com/Timeline/Seventy.Weeks.of.Daniel.html" target="_blank"><font size="1">New Window</font></a><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>, for a development of the entire 70 Weeks prophecy.]</p>
+<p align="CENTER" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><img src="http://whatsaiththescripture.com/Graphics.Jehovah/silver.bar.GIF" width="500" height="4" align="BOTTOM" border="0"></p>
+<ul style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">
+  <li><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4" color="#000000">20</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in My right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the Seven Churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the Seven Churches."</font></li>
+</ul>
+<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="4">The Greek word aggelos is primarily translated as "angel", but sometimes it is translated as messenger. That the<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"seven stars"</font><font size="4">, which are the<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"angels of the Seven Churches"</font><font size="4">, could be their pastors, may be inferred from the reference of Daniel 12:3 to those who<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"turn many to righteousness"</font><font size="4">. These who<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"turn many to righteousness"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>are compared to the<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"stars for ever and ever"</font><font size="4">.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Daniel 12:3). But, the idea that the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"seven stars"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>are angelic beings is just as agreeable, for we know that even small children are given angelic watchcare.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in Heaven their angels do always behold the face of My Father which is in Heaven"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Matthew 18:10). Again, the<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the Seven Churches"</font><font size="4">. See the above remarks concerning Revelation 1:12.</font></p>
+<p align="CENTER" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="1" color="#FFFFFF">.</font><font size="4"><br>
+      <img src="http://whatsaiththescripture.com/Graphics.Jehovah/silver.bar.GIF" width="500" height="4" align="BOTTOM" border="0"><br>
+      <br>
+  </font><font size="4" color="#000000">Question: Why should you study this Book?<br>
+  <br>
+  Answer:<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"That the God of our LORD Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><b><br>
+  may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him</b>:<br>
+  <b>The eyes of your understanding being enlightened</b>;<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><br>
+  that ye may know</font></p>
+<ul style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">
+  <center>
+    <li><font size="4" color="#AA0000">what is the hope of His calling, and</font></li>
+  </center>
+  <center>
+    <li><font size="4" color="#AA0000">what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,</font></li>
+  </center>
+  <center>
+    <li><font size="4" color="#AA0000">And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe,</font></li>
+  </center>
+</ul>
+<p align="CENTER" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="4" color="#AA0000">according to the working of His mighty power,<br>
+  Which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the Heavenly Places,<br>
+  Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come."</font><font size="4" color="#000000"><br>
+  </font><font color="#000000">Ephesians 1:17-21</font><font size="4" color="#000000"><br>
+</font></p>