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The Book of Revelation - Part 2

08 Feb 2026 · this lesson on the church site

Taught by Dr. Keith Palmer, Grace Bible Church, Granbury, Texas — from the church’s Sunday School series on Revelation. These are lightly edited transcripts of the audio, posted for personal study; the teaching and its content belong to Dr. Palmer and Grace Bible Church. Listen to the originals and find his notes on the church website. Transcribed from the audio by AI. Edited only where the audio was unclear (all edits marked with *). Errors are possible — the recording is the authority.

[00:00] Grab your Bible again if you're still in Psalm 2*. Just flip all the way to the other end of the Bible to Revelation, the book of Revelation chapter one. We're going to pick it up where we left off last time as you're turning there.

I want you to know that I heard your requests, and some of you already have them. There are some color copies of the chart that I presented last week, so they are there. They're suitable for framing if you want to do that, and you can put your Revelation chart in the bathroom, and whatever you want to do. As far as I know, it's copyright free. I'm always hesitant to print things. I want to honor copyright law and all that, but it's the best I can know. Just a footnote: I looked again last night and saw it linked on a JW website. I don't think it originated there, but be mindful that others may have grabbed it and claimed it as their own. Hopefully it will be helpful to you. The point is not to put some sort of grid over the book, but to let you better appreciate the organization of the book.

There are so many different things: the seals and the bowls. What I want you to do is get saturated with this outline so that you can think your way through the various portions of the book.

Reading Revelation 1:1–8 (01:02)

After introducing the book last time, and Carl's introductions to the book a few weeks back, we're going to come back here and look at this. I'm going to read the first section to you, and then we'll kind of parachute back in and work through it.

Revelation 1:1 The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond servants the things which must shortly take place. And He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond servant John, who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all that he saw. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.

Revelation 1:4 John, to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood, and He has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.

Revelation 1:8 "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."

Now, the reading continues.

Revelation 1:9 I, John, your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, saying, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last," and, "Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea." Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands...

We'll just let it sit right there. Okay, so you come back next week.

Responding to the Passage (04:09)

Let's just look at that section right there. Are you already interested? You can't read this and just go, "Okay, this is boring." This is better than any Lord of the Rings film, any Star Wars trilogy, any sci-fi movie you've seen. It's really, really amazing. And unlike those other films, which are awesome, this is real. I want to stress that, even as we try to get our arms around it. There are going to be some things that we don't fully understand. We talked about that. But this is true. This is historic. This is coming. These are previews of coming attractions. And while parts of it are weird, it's communicating a message that ought to sober our hearts and bring our perspective to be much more serious than sometimes we are. It's a privilege to get to study this with you.

The Outline and the Bird's Eye View (05:10)

Let's look back at the outline to give us the bird's eye view. I'm going to do this regularly, so that we get into the weeds. We're going to get dirty in the details here, but I want you to remember where we are going and what we're thinking about.

We're in just the introductory section here. We'll move on into chapters two and three in the coming weeks, about the letters to the seven churches that we just talked about. Then from chapter four to really the end of the book, these are all the things that are going to take place after. We saw that in the language even in Revelation 4, the coming things, the future things.

Several of you asked last week whether we're going to talk about the other views: that all these events happened in the first century, or that the book is a map of church history. Yes, we're going to do that, but we're going to do it exegetically. Rather than me giving you all five views right now, we're going to work through the book, and when we get to places that might point us to a different interpretation, we'll talk about it then. I think that'll be a better way to do it.

An Interactive Study (06:11)

This is an interactive study. There's a big group here, but we're all friends. Raise your hand and ask questions. The last thing I want is for you to walk out of here having had a question, because there was a detail that didn't make sense, and you were embarrassed to put your hand up. Don't do that. Raise your hand. We want to learn together, and we'll hopefully have time for some interaction.

The Chart and Its Navigation (07:15)

I've laid out for you some of the main scenes in Revelation 4 to 22, the things that are coming in the future. Some of you probably Googled it and found it there, so if you want a digital copy, those are available. The chart gives you an overview:

That's your navigational help.

The Title and the Chain of Revelation (08:17)

Going back to the very first verses, let's remind ourselves of the title, because there's a lot in the title itself that tells us what the book is about, and it helps us think about what we're about to hear. It's the revelation of Jesus Christ. It's coming from Jesus, which God gave Him, so God gave it to Jesus to show to His bond servants the things which must soon take place.

The communication runs like this:

  1. God gives the revelation to Jesus.
  2. Jesus communicates it to His messenger, the angel.
  3. The angel reveals it to John, the apostle.

Think of the old telephone game, back before we had smartphones and we were bored out of our minds: Dave would say it to Dan*, and Dan* would say it to Roger, and Roger would say it to... what's that called? The telephone game? That's back when the telephone was a piece of furniture on your wall. Ask your mom, she remembers that. But it's being communicated here with much more precision than the telephone game.

Why is that interesting? There's a progression here: revelation from God to Jesus, through the angel, for us, given to John. We'll see there's some interaction even in today's verses between God the Father and God the Son as we unfold the message. That's the title, and it helps us get some context.

The Blessing of Heeding the Prophecy (09:23)

Now, the first significant part is back in Revelation 1:3. Look at this: "Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy and heed the things which are written in it, for the time is near." You'll notice that much of your outline is just writing down what the text says. There's a lot of detail here, and that's because each one of these, especially in these early verses, matters. We'll get to the letters to the seven churches, where we can do a little more big picture, but the first thing I want you to see is that there is a blessing promised to those who hear or read, and heed, that word. Heeding means to respond to it and do those things.

So how are the readers and hearers who heed the prophecy blessed? Pull over for a moment and think about it. How might the readers and listeners be blessed in what this book is about to unfold? Take a guess, and as the book develops, we'll solidify our answer. How could readers be blessed? What do you think?

(Responses from the class.)

Yes, the hope in terms of how it ends. Absolutely, that's one way we can be blessed. How else?

(Further responses from the class.)

The idea that God is telling us, like with the churches: here's some things you're doing well, and here's some things you're not doing well, so that they can respond. A lot of this is a warning. It's a warning to those seven churches, but it's a warning even beyond that, as we think about preparing for the days ahead. It's like when you go to your physician and he says, "We had some blood work come back a little abnormal, and we got some imaging. But the good news is we can do something about it if we act now." That's what's going on here. There are some warnings, and then there's the chance to respond. One of the ways God shows grace to rebellious people like us is that He warns us ahead of time before the judgment comes. That's an example of His grace.

Grace is not God lets us off the hook. It's not that you keep doing what you're doing in your horrible sin. It's that your sin is horrible. God has made provision in Christ, and if you act now, there's help for you. But if you don't act now, there's a consequence, and it's an eternal consequence. This is one of those books that graphically illustrates the profundity and the horror of what that future consequence is going to be.

Notice this. He says, "Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy." It is a prophecy. We talked about that last time. "And heed the things which are written." Why? Because it's getting close. It's getting close. You say, that was written 2,000 years ago. It's close. Remember, the Lord one day is like 1,000 years. So God's calendar is not the same as our calendar. But that doesn't mean there isn't an urgency here.

The Imminence* of Christ's Return (12:33)

One of the things we see throughout the New Testament and into the end here, in the book of Revelation, is what we call the imminence* of Christ's return. You guys okay with that word? It means Jesus could come back every day, any day. And what does that imply? Can we just let that sink in?

I know pastors say this, so don't take this as, you're a pastor, of course you're going to say that. I just want you to let this sink in. Jesus could come back today. But I really want to see the Super Bowl. I know, I know. But the Olympics are on. Jesus could come back today. And I hate to break it to you, but he didn't care a lick about the Super Bowl or the Winter Games. So don't be distracted. Those are awesome. I'm going to watch just like you today. But don't be distracted from what is more important. Are you with me?

The Greeting (13:33)

Look at Revelation 1:4. "John to the seven churches that are in Asia." We'll talk about those in just a minute. "Grace to you and peace." We see this. Paul uses that greeting. John uses that greeting. Grace to you and peace. We'll talk about that. It's not just nice words. What's being communicated are grace and peace, aren't they? We'll look at that.

Now, where is this grace and peace coming from? "From him who is and who was and who is to come." Just imagine you're at a dinner party. Hi, my name is Rob. What's your name? I'm the one who was and who is and is to come. What do you make of that? We're going to see this title here. It's present tense first, then past tense, then future tense, right?

God's Eternality (14:37)

"For him who is and who was and who is to come." What is that referencing, do you think? Yeah, this is what we call God's eternality. What's eternality? He's always existed. When I was trying to explain this to my kids when they were younger, I told them God doesn't have a birthday. He's always been around. We're going to sing a song, "From Everlasting*," and it's going to talk about before the worlds began. He was there. This gets into his eternality, his existence from eternity past to eternity future.

Just think with me. Why would he introduce himself that way here? I know I'm making you think it's Sunday morning. I'm sorry. Why would he do that? Why doesn't he just say, "I'm God. Nice to meet you"? Authority, yes. Which God are we talking about? Yes, you've got polytheism. This is the Greco-Roman culture, so we've got all sorts of gods. So he's clarifying which God we are talking about here.

Think about the content. What has John just said he's going to talk about? "The time is near." Who alone is qualified to tell us things that are yet to come? The one who is, the one who was, and yes, the one who is to come. You can't foretell the future, let alone give meaning to it, if you don't have that quality of eternality, do you? That makes sense. We'll come back to that in a minute. We'll talk later about his omniscience and some of those things. It's just an interesting title for the one who is and who was and who is to come.

Who Are the Seven Spirits? (16:38)

Then here we go. "And from the seven spirits who are before his throne." This is why you're looking at your notes, going, we're not going to get very far today. There are lots of interpretive issues right here, and I'm not going to pick up every rock and look under it. But there are a couple of things here. When you read this book, you're going to trip over them like I do, so I want to talk with you through some of these issues.

The seven spirits are before his throne. Who are the seven spirits? Let's first recognize how these verses connect. Flip to Revelation 3:1, the angel of the church in Sardis. "He who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars says, I know your deeds." So we see it repeated there.

Now look at the next references:

Now we have a theological dilemma. We know God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, but who are the seven spirits? Don't look at your notes. I'm on to you guys. Who are the seven spirits? The churches are represented by the lampstands, so we're going to get to that. What's that? Could be leaders.

There are a couple of places in the book of Hebrews where the word spirit, pneuma, is used, and it could refer to the Holy Spirit or to our spirit. A couple of places in Hebrews use that term to describe angels. So one option is that these are elect angels, good angels, and there's some credibility to that. Let's test it. Who are the seven spirits? Notice where they are. Back to Revelation 1:4, where are they?

They're before the throne. So these are not just any special spirits. They're before his throne. But look with me. "Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, the ruler of the kings of the earth." Where does the grace and peace come from? The one who is, was, and is to come, and the seven spirits.

If we put our biblical thinking caps on, we have a clue. Check my theological arithmetic here. There is no place in the Bible that ever says that grace and peace come from anybody except God. So if the seven spirits are angels, we have an example of grace and peace coming from someone other than God that is unmatched in the Bible. Is that possible? Yes. But that should make us a bit cautious. When there is such a consistent pattern, grace and peace always come from God, and then we look at this and go, that doesn't fit quite right, does it?

So the other option is that this is the Holy Spirit. You say, wait a minute, but it says seven. It does say seven. Could this be the singular Spirit, described as seven spirits? Let me explain how we're going to handle numbers in this book. Hi, my name is Keith, and I'm going to be your tour guide. There are going to be times in this book where numbers are used, and we're going to take those numbers in their plain, normal sense unless there is overwhelming evidence in the context that leads us to take them otherwise. That's our approach here.

One of the crazy things about Revelation is that Jesus, the angel, and John, who put this together for us, assume that you and I know our Bibles. Sometimes you're going to read things, and if you don't know your Bible, you're going to think, I have no idea what this is talking about. But if you know your Bible, you're going to think, ah ha, I get it.

So we're thinking: are these angels, or is this the Holy Spirit? The weakness of the angel view is that grace and peace don't come from angels; they come from God. The weakness of the Spirit view is that it says seven spirits instead of one Holy Spirit. Just hold your place there, and let me show you perhaps one resolution to our dilemma.

Isaiah 11 and the Seven Spirits (22:52)

Go back to Isaiah 11. I'm not going to take you to other passages unless it's absolutely necessary, but this is one of those things where we've got to get this right. Clearly, in Revelation 3:1, 4:5, and 5:6, whoever these seven spirits are, they play a very important role in the throne room. They're called the spirits of God in those passages, so we know they are being sent by God himself.

Listen. Isaiah is prophesying in the mid-eighth century BC. Assyria is going to take the northern kingdom, and Isaiah is writing to the southern kingdom of Judah, telling them they need to repent or else the Babylonians will invade. You guys know this passage. Isaiah 61 is* the passage on the scroll Jesus is handed when he reads in the synagogue.

Isaiah 11:1: "Then a shoot will spring from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him, watch this, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord." Wait a minute. It's the Spirit of God, singular, but how is he described? With seven attributes. So let's say you're not only making us think, you're making us do math. I know, I know. Those of you who need a calculator, leave it at home for Sunday School.

The Sevenfold Spirit (24:55)

So the Spirit of the Lord, that's one, will rest on him, the Spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength, knowledge, and the fear of the Lord. Notice that the Spirit of the Lord and the fear of the Lord are the bookends, what we call inclusio in literature. With that in mind, we have biblical evidence to talk about, in a sense, a sevenfold description of the singular Holy Spirit. Notice it's the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength.

So my best guess, if you want to go back to Revelation chapter 1 now, is that this is the Holy Spirit being described in this sevenfold way, consistent with Isaiah 11. I know you're going, "Okay, Pastor Keith, we'll take your word for it." You'll see this develop. It will become obvious as we get into chapters 3, 4, and 5 that this is definitely the work of the Holy Spirit here.

The Seven Spirits and God's Omnipresence (25:56)

He's described as seven spirits. What are we thinking about here? The fact that he's omnipresent, that he's being sent out. This is not how the Spirit works. The Spirit doesn't say, "I'm going to go to Ephesus first, spend a couple days there, then go to Smyrna, a couple days there, and then to Sardis." He's God. He's omnipresent. So the other way we think about this is that the singular Spirit is able to go and minister to all seven of those churches. Stay with me. There's some accommodation of language here to explain how that is.

Now, I'm not beating the pulpit. It could be elect angels, but I think the evidence best leads us to the conclusion that this is the Holy Spirit, and we'll see that. There's one other contextual hint that we're probably talking about the Holy Spirit here, even if the number seven is throwing us off a little bit. What's the contextual hint? What is it, Joan? Yes, that's what I'm saying.

The number seven is the number of perfection and completeness, so maybe we take it as the whole Holy Spirit, and that's another option too. But contextually, look back at it. There's a clue. The one who is and was and is to come, the seven spirits, and Jesus Christ make a Trinitarian reference:

That gives us some weight that this is likely talking about the Holy Spirit. Let me stop right there, because we're here to help. Does that make sense? I know you're still kind of going, "Eh." It's not 100% sure, but the evidence seems to substantiate it, with Isaiah 11 in the background and the context here. As we unfold it, we'll test our theory as we move on.

The Greeting from Jesus Christ (27:59)

And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. That's really important, emphasizing his Lordship here. This is his revelation from his Father, given via the angel to John to give to the bond-servants. The introduction is reminding us of who Jesus is:

  1. He is a faithful witness. He's trustworthy. We don't have to wonder whether we believe what he says.
  2. He is the firstborn from the dead, emphasizing his resurrection and his Lordship in that way.
  3. He is the ruler of the kings of the earth. You are going to see Jesus on the front end and on the back end like you've never seen him before. This is not the benign Mr. Rogers Jesus who comes in a little sweater and says it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. This is Jesus coming as the commander-in-chief of all the armies of heaven.

In the coming weeks we're going to see a description of him that will make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. This is Jesus like we've never seen him. With that warning, as we get toward the end of the book, we're going to see him judge the living and the dead in graphic detail. He is the ruler of the kings of the earth. We saw it in Psalm 2 last week: "Take warning, O judges of the earth." Remember that language here.

Hence we wonder, do we want to know this guy, with him being so fearful? Look at what this says. "To him who loves us and released us from our sins by his blood," talking about Jesus now, the one who loves us and released us through his redemptive work, "and he has made us to be a kingdom of priests to his God and Father."

Our Standing in Christ (30:01)

This is the thing. He's Lord. He's the King of kings. He's the one who is and was and is to come. He's all these things. And you belong to him, and he belongs to you. He loves you. He redeemed you. He made you and me a kingdom of priests. So there's not the sort of fear we ought to have because of his awesomeness, because we know that we are in him and he is in us. First Peter talks about that. First Peter 2 says he's made us a holy priest.

John can't help himself, so with that greeting comes a doxology: "To him be the glory and dominion forever and ever." He is the one who is and who was and who is to come, and therefore his glory, his dominion, his kingdom, and his rulership will be forever and ever. And then, amen. We're going to see "amen" in this book a lot.

What does amen mean? We say it all the time. Yes, "be it so," or "may it be so." When you say amen, or when you read amen in the Bible, what it's saying is, "I agree, and I want this to happen." So when you're praying over your Super Bowl meal tonight in Jesus' name, you're saying, "May it be so. I want this to happen." That's what he's saying here, just out of the gate: that God would have glory forever and ever. May it be so.

The Clouds and Daniel 7 (32:04)

Verse 7: "Behold, he is coming with the clouds." I love this part. So where are we to look for this returning Jesus? "The time is near," so look for him in the clouds. Hold your place there. I know I'm going to make you go back to Daniel 7. This is the first instance where the book of Revelation shoots a connection point back to the book of Daniel. We're going to see many parallels between the revelations given to Daniel and the book of Revelation itself.

The first part of Daniel is historical. Daniel and his three friends are taken to Babylon as exiles, and Daniel has a ministry to Nebuchadnezzar, then to Belshazzar and others there. When we turn the page into chapter 7, it is not a continuation of the historical story. It's a series of visions Daniel saw at various times in his ministry. Daniel 7 is probably the one you've seen and are familiar with, but hear this.

Look with me at Daniel 7:9. Daniel is having a vision of someone he calls the Ancient of Days, a reference to God in the Old Testament:

Daniel says, "I kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words which the horn was speaking," referring to the previous part of the prophecy. "I kept looking until the beast was slain and its body destroyed and given to the burning fire. As for the rest of the beast, their dominion was taken away, but an extension of life was granted to them for an appointed period of time."

Verse 13: "I kept looking into the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like a son of man was coming." Look up for a second. Cloudology, the study of clouds. We're not going to talk about precipitation and condensation. I want you to make note with me of how many times the Bible references the second coming of Christ as being in the clouds. We're going to see it in multiple places. This is the first one, in the book of Daniel. What is Revelation doing? It's linking us as readers back to the Old Testament, to the dynamics, facts, and visions we've already seen, connecting those things so we say, "Aha, this puts us back into what Daniel was talking about." He's coming in the clouds, and we'll see that in other places.

Every Eye Will See Him (35:08)

Back to Revelation 1. Notice what John says: every eye will see him. It's not like Jesus is going to return and people are going to say, "Huh? What are you talking about? I'm trying to watch the Super Bowl here." Every eye will see him. He's coming in the clouds, "even those who pierced him." This is interesting language, and you'll see piercing language throughout the book of Revelation. We'll see it later around the throne, with the Lamb who was slain.

What is this piercing language? You remember Pastor Cherry went through Zechariah not too long ago. Some of you may be new since he finished that study. You can go back and check out his study of the book of Zechariah in our sermon archives online. There's a scene in Zechariah that is really quite profound. Zechariah is looking not just at the prophecies he was giving for the people of his day, but in a section of his prophecy he looks to the future and talks about the return of this Messiah. In chapter 12, verse 10, he says:

"I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication, so that they will look on me whom they have pierced. And they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over him like the weeping over the firstborn. And that day there will be great mourning in Jerusalem."

So Zechariah, looking to the future, foresees the time when the Messiah returns, and the people will look on the returning Messiah whom they have pierced. What is that a reference to? His crucifixion.

This is really kind of crazy. The idea is that Jesus is coming back, and people recognize him: this is the guy we killed, the guy who died on the cross. Jesus bears the marks of the cross even in his return. "They will look on him whom they pierced." Every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, meaning even his enemies. Consistent with what Zechariah said, Jesus reminds us through John, back in Revelation 1, that "all the tribes of the earth will mourn over him." That's what Zechariah says, and that's what Revelation is saying. So we have remarkable consistency here.

Mourning over the Pierced One (38:13)

John is assuming that we've read the Old Testament and that we can make some of these connections. Don't let the word tribe there mess you up. It just means nations or peoples. So when he says all the tribes of the earth, he means every nation, every tribe, every people will mourn over him. The lamb who was slain and the pierced one are saying the same thing.

Oh, and just a footnote I skipped over. Zechariah is writing before what really important historic event? The incarnation, when Jesus comes in Bethlehem as a baby.

Zechariah's Two Comings (39:15)

When Jesus came as a baby in Bethlehem, did he bear the marks of being pierced? No, he hadn't died yet. That means Zechariah is not talking about the first coming. He's talking about the second coming, which shows us that even in the Old Testament the Messiah has to come twice.

The Jews had understood that the Messiah is going to come, that he's going to rule and reign, that he's going to kick out Rome, and that he's going to set up his kingdom. But they didn't read closely. If they're going to look on the one whom they've pierced, then he has to come not once but twice.

The Lord Who Is, Who Was, and Who Is to Come (40:17)

Every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the tribes, nations, or peoples of the earth will mourn over him. Then, "so it is to be, amen." John is reiterating that we want this to happen, that we want this to occur.

Then the Lord speaks in verse 8: "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."

Most of you know the reference to Alpha and Omega. What is an Alpha? The first letter of the Greek alphabet. What is an Omega? The last letter of the Greek alphabet. So he's saying, "I am the A to Z." What does that mean? He's spanning eternity past and eternity future. We'll see this title used later in the book of Revelation.

The Alpha and the Omega is paralleled with "the beginning and the end," so again it emphasizes his eternality, just as the phrase "who is and who was and who is to come" does. Then the little phrase "the Almighty" is added, which means all-powerful or omnipotent. So we see:

You see, we're getting a lesson in theology proper: the attributes of God, the nature of God, what God is like. What's happening here is that this prophecy is being front-loaded with reminders of the nature and character of God. We'll just get a few verses into this.

Vision Number One (42:23)

Remember, there's a series of visions here. John calls himself "your fellow brother, fellow partaker in the tribulation." Some of you who have read about dispensationalism will hear tribulation and think of the Tribulation. This isn't that. It means affliction. He is a fellow partaker in the affliction, the kingdom, and the perseverance which are in Jesus.

John is putting himself in the family he has just described. He's saying, "I'm a part of this family." Brothers and sisters, those who are redeemed, who have been made priests and are part of a kingdom.

Where is John writing from? He'll say it in a minute. An island, a deserted island, a semi-inhabited island. Why is he on this island? He's exiled. Why? For his testimony. So John is putting himself in the camp of persecuted Christians he's writing to, saying, "Look, I'm just like you, and I am striving to persevere in the same way you are."

Patmos (43:24)

He says he was on the Isle of Patmos because of the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus. Here is Patmos, a beautiful picture, with the little red dot. We looked at this last time, but if you missed it, that is Patmos. The geography: we zoom in on the coast of Turkey, modern-day Turkey, and the south end of Greece. There's our island. We zoom in a little more, and here's the coast of Turkey, with this little island right here. Patmos.

In the Spirit and the Lord's Day (44:29)

Now it says he was "in the Spirit." I know a whole bunch of Christian songs are coming to mind about being in the Spirit, so let me help you with this. Don't get weird about it, and don't get some sort of mystical, crazy picture of a trance where all of a sudden, ooh. It's not like that. Read it in context: "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet." All that means is that the Spirit's agency is allowing him to experience this vision. You can trace it through chapters 4 and 17. There's no reference in this book to some weird metaphysical or mystical experience, no "he was caught up." It simply means the Spirit is the agent by which he's receiving this vision.

Then, "on the Lord's day." This is the first instance in the book referencing the Lord's day. By the second and third centuries, what was the Lord's day referencing? The resurrection, which means the first day of the week, Sunday. So this is probably a reference to Sunday.

He says he heard a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet. Does anybody play trumpet? Awesome. I think we need a trumpeter to hold a note while we imagine words coming through it. You've got to get into this book, guys. What John experienced was not like falling asleep. I guarantee his adrenaline levels were up. He was hypervigilant because it was an overwhelming audiovisual experience: a trumpet blast that communicates words, a voice that sounds like a trumpet. Are you kidding me?

And he says, "Write what you see and send it to the churches." What's the message? We'll find out next time.

Closing Prayer (46:34)

Father, thank you for this wonderful time to introduce and get our feet wet in this amazing book. Help us to really soak up what it's saying, to put ourselves in the sandals of John, and to recognize the warning and the blessing in these things we're seeing and learning, because the time is near and we want to hear, listen, and heed what these prophecies have to say. So give us grace, Father. Thank you that we can journey through these things together so that we can be prepared for your return. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

* = the audio was unclear here and the words were reconstructed from context. Scripture read aloud is in red.

Taught by Dr. Keith Palmer, Grace Bible Church, Granbury, Texas — from the church’s Sunday School series on Revelation. These are lightly edited transcripts of the audio, posted for personal study; the teaching and its content belong to Dr. Palmer and Grace Bible Church. Listen to the originals and find his notes on the church website. Transcribed from the audio by AI. Edited only where the audio was unclear (all edits marked with *). Errors are possible — the recording is the authority.

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