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Revelation 1:5 – Part 2

Rev 1:5  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,

Introduction

As always we will begin our study of this book with the reminder that mankind “shall… live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”, and mankind will “keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book.” (Mat 4:4, Rev 1:3, Rev 22:7)

Last week we saw that Christ is the faithful witness, who “does not shun to declare to us the whole counsel of God.”

Act 20:20   … I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publickly, and from house to house,

Act 20:27  For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.

Review

“All the counsel of God” includes these sad words in the very next thought:

Act 20:28  Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
Act 20:29  For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
Act 20:30  Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.

This is not a message exclusive to 35-70 A. D. We are clearly warned that “wicked men and seducers shall wax worse and worse.”

2Ti 3:12  Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
2Ti 3:13  But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

This was true in 35 A. D., and it is true today. The closer we get to God, the more subtle the deception becomes, in any generation since Christ. As the delusion becomes stronger, the more crucial it is to know the voice of the True Shepherd, and the greater the need becomes to remain faithful to “what is written.”

1Co 4:6  And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and [to] Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think … above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another.

The first begotten of the dead

Rev 1:5  And from Jesus Christ, [who is] the faithful witness, [and] the first begotten of the dead…

1Co 15:20  But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.

Now we come to “the first begotten of the dead.”  Jesus Christ and His Christ are both “the first begotten of the dead.” We are His body which is still on this earth and not yet “out of the world.”

Joh 17:15  I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.

So while we live in this world, we are not of this world. We are what many would call a contradiction:

Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Well, if “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live…” does that not indicate that I, too, am risen with Christ and become with Him “the first begotten” of the dead? Do the scriptures anywhere state that we are resurrected with Christ? As a matter of fact they do say just that:

Rom 6:1  What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
Rom 6:2  God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
Rom 6:3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Rom 6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Rom 6:5  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also [in the likeness] of [his] resurrection:

Rom 6:8  Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:

Rom 6:11  Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

So we are actually told to “reckon ourselves both dead” with Christ, and yet living “in newness of life” in Christ. Are we actually counted as firstfruits from the dead, as Christ is?

Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

Rom 8:23  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

Jas 1:18  Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

The wave sheaf of barley, at the days of unleavened bread immediately after the Passover, was the first of the firstfruits. Fifty days later was another festival which was called Pentecost. Pentecost was also called “the feast of firstfruits,” because we, the church which was established on Pentecost, were to be “a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.”

Rev 14:4  These [144,000] are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.

Lev 23:10  Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:
Lev 23:11  And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.

“The sheaf of the firstfruits” at Passover is Christ Himself. The feast of firstfruits, fifty days later, at Pentecost, typifies Christ’s Christ, the church.

Lev 23:15  And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete:
Lev 23:16  Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.
Lev 23:17  Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; [they are] the firstfruits unto the LORD.

Exo 34:18  The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month Abib: for in the month Abib thou camest out from Egypt.

Exo 34:22  And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks [Pentecost], of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end.
Exo 34:23  Thrice in the year shall all your men children appear before the Lord GOD, the God of Israel [Pentecost is called “the feast of firstfruits”].

“Thrice [three times] in the year…” includes the feast of unleavened bread [passover], the feast of weeks [Pentecost], and the feast of ingathering [tabernacles] at the year’s end. These three seasons typify the three seasons of God’s judgments and His harvest of mankind. They are the first, the barley harvest, in the spring, which typifies Christ, the first of the firstfruits, the second, the wheat harvest, in the summer, the judgment which is on the house of God, and third, the grape harvest, in the fall, when all men are raised up from among the dead and are judged and cleansed in the white throne judgment/lake of fire.

Jas 1:18  Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

So while our Head certainly does have the preeminence in all things, we are still “as he is… the first begotten of the dead and the firstfruits of them that slept.”

Col 1:18  And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is,soare we in this world.

“The prince of the kings of the earth…”

Rev 1:5  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…

Rev 6:2  And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.

Rev 19:16  And he hath on [his] vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.

As always, Christ has the preeminence. In Christ, we, too, live these words and rule over the kings of this earth.

Rev 1:6  And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

Rev 5:10  And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

Over whom will we be reigning?

Psa 2:2  The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,
Psa 2:3  Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.

The Lord’s Christ will reign over these kings.

Act 4:25  Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said [in Psalm 2], Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?
Act 4:26  The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.

These are words which have proceeded out of the mouth of God, and they will not pass away. They will be just as applicable at the end of the millennium and in the lake of fire as they were when they were first written and as they are today.

Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years [Over the kings of this world].
Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive [the kings of] the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

Clearly “the Lords anointed” will be ‘princes of the kings of the earth.’

“Who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood.”

Rev 1:5  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,

Even the Concordant version retains the structure of this verse which has it saying “from Jesus Christ … Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood.” I have no problem with everything being of God through Christ and to Christ and for Christ, so that God is working of, by, through and for Christ.  As blasphemous as it may sound to so many, here is what the scriptures teach:

Rom 11:36  For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom [be] glory for ever. Amen.

Col 1:16  For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

Somehow we read those words and manage in our Babylonian minds to leave out the one most common ‘thing’ in the world, which is sin. Even many who declare God to be totally sovereign, struggle to accept verses like these:

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

Amo 3:6  Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?

We all tend to want to ask, “Which evils in the city? Surely the Lord has not done that evil!” Yet He is not hesitant in the least to let us know that when evil occurs, He does not ‘allow’ it, as we mean that word. He actually facilitates evil, even as both the Greek word translated ‘allow’ is defined:

Luk 11:48  Truly ye bear witness that ye allow⁴⁹⁰⁹ [Greek: suneudokeō, allow, be pleased ] the deeds of your fathers: for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchres.

G4909
συνευδοκεω
suneudokeo
soon- yoo- dok- eh’- o
From G4862 and G2106; to think well of in common, that is, assent to, feel gratified with: – allow, assent, be pleased, have pleasure.

How many people can comprehend the meaning of this statement:

Isa 53:10  Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

We simply cannot accept the fact that God is pleased to destroy our flesh, but such is the case. Our physical bodies are “bodies of death”, and they must be destroyed.

Rom 7:23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Flesh is conceived in sin simply by virtue of being made naked, of dust, marred in the Potter’s hand, because it is a vessel of dying clay instead of a purified, life-giving spirit, “conformed to the image of our Lord.”

Rom 8:29  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Who did God foreknow?

Psa 139:16  Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance; And in thy book they were all written, Even the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was none of them.

God foreknows everyone, and at the appointed time all will be “redeemed by His blood.”

1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

This is a most basic truth, and yet it is so little believed. “As in Adam” we were all “shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin… SO in Christ, will all be made alive.” Again we want to ask, “How much so?” and again the answer is the same, “All things are of God… who works all things after the counsel of His own will” (1Co 11:12, Rom 11:36, Eph 1:11), and it is His will to save all men of all time in the whole world:

Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

1Ti 2:3  For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
1Ti 2:4  Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

1Ti 4:10  For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.

2Pe 3:9  The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

1Jn 2:2  And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

Rev 1:5  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,

All of the interlinears have no numbers for the words  “unto Him that…” The Greek is simply the word “agapao” Strong’s number G25. So even though most of the translations retain the structure of “From Jesus Christ… Unto Him that loved us…” it seems that the Catholic, Dowey-Rhimes Bible has the best take on this verse:

(DRB)  And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the first begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth, who hath loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood

We have seen how this verse has made Christ the center of all God is doing, and that in Him and Him in us we, too, as His Christ, are “faithful witnesses… a kind of firstfruits and through His shed blood.” We, too, can die daily with him and shed His blood in our dying daily and become saviors on Mount Zion, judging the mount of Esau.

Oba 1:21  And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’S.

This is all so because:

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.