Jesus Christ is Lord.

In the book of Revelation, we read in the first verse to whom this letter is written to, and from Whom it was written and sent.

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass;
Revelation 1.1a

God gave this Revelation to Jesus Christ to show His servants things which must come to pass.  The last part of that first sentence reveals that Jesus Christ used His angel to show His servant John these things.

and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

2 Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.
Revelation 1.1b-2

Later on in this book of Revelation, we read that the testimony of Jesus Christ is the spirit of prophecy.  God reveals to us that when someone is testifying of what His Son Jesus Christ has done in their life, that is prophecy.  We are prophesying about Jesus Christ when we prophesy His prophecy.  All prophecy points to Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ is the Prophet Whom the Old Testament prophets wrote about, the Holy Spirit is His and the New Testament is more testifying of Jesus Christ, and it records His life, death, burial, and resurrection and ascension and His words which He allowed to be recorded.  The Bible says that it would take many books to cover all the things that Jesus did while He was walking around this Earth for around thirty-three-and-a-half years or so.

In this first chapter of Revelation, so much is said that if someone were to rush through it without understanding Who is Whom and who is whom, and if somebody were to have it read to them, and they were to somehow miss that God Himself is the Author of this letter among letters, it would be a great miscommunication.  Instead of understanding the very living nature of these words in this book of Revelation, someone might be able to hear these words and not understand Who said them, who wrote them, and they might miss the significance that an angel was sent with significance to the servant John, who was at that time exiled to an island in the middle of the sea on account of His resilient faith in this Jesus Christ Whom John served.

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.

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;

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,

6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Revelation 1.3-6

This letter is written ultimately to all those who believe in Jesus Christ.  The first verse introduces it to His "servants" and the next several verses tell us the names of the seven churches which were in existence back in the times of that fulfilling at the end of that earlier beast's reign upon the world.  Today in the year of 2023 Anno Domini, I believe we are witnessing the beginning of the end of the last and final beast and beasts which the Bible describes in great detail, and whose plans the Bible has already thwarted and does continue to sabotage.  Those who claim to believe in the name of Jesus Christ ought to understand the sixty-six books which God has given to us as His written Word.

Today, we can gain great insight from those in that earlier church.  They then were writing from a perspective that they were the final generation, and they were looking back upon the days of old when Abraham and Moses and Noah were the ones who were alive thousands of years prior, saying things such as, 

39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:

40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.
Hebrews 11.39-40

Now at the end of all things temporal, we can look back and see that there were those early early folks, from the days of Adam and Eve to Noah, then from Noah to Daniel, and there were those folks alive when Jesus Christ walked this Earth, and there are us folks alive today, and there were a lot of folks alive who were never written about, whose names will never be mentioned, but this name of Jesus Christ is the One and only Way, Truth, and Life, and nobody else even claims the things that He has claimed, and nobody else could, because only Jesus Christ could be the Lamb Who was slain from the foundation of the world, because it is the way that God the Father ordained, in the order of things He decided when He spoke this all into existence.

Today, when we read the book of Revelation, we can read it and know it from the perspective of one who is blessed with the presence of the entire canonized written Word of God, sitting on the shelves all around us in most houses and places we frequent, and it is so readily available and so widely known by so many people, both lovers and haters of God, and when we read the wonderful and terrible things which God has told us are ahead for us, we can have faith and trust to know that He speaks about us in the pages of His Book, and He is faithful to carry out the things which He has said He will do.

Oh what sweet joy is it for those of us who know the sweet sweet voice of Jesus Christ, who have seen our need for His blood to cover our sins, and who have trusted in Him as our Lord and Saviour, repenting and being baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit!  There is no greater rest for our soul, our spirit, and our body, than for us to know that we have been baptized in faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, according to the will of God!

When we read the book of Revelation, much like most all of the rest of the Bible, the words on the pages are living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and they cut apart the soul and spirit, revealing the very thoughts and intents of our hearts, so that when we read the Bible and pray to God in spirit and in truth, we get a real and genuine glimpse of God and of ourself, reflected in His image.  It is a spiritual mirror clearer and sharper than any reflection in water or off of glass that we can compare it to, because it is the very will and words of God recorded on paper, written directly to us, in such a way so that our heart registers His signature, whether our conscious mind acknowledges it or not.  When the Holy Spirit speaks, when the Holy Spirit moves, when the Holy Spirit reveals Himself, the Holy Spirit is heard as the Holy Spirit and none can doubt it whose eyes are open and whose ears are open.  God chooses whose eyes to close and whose ears to close.  When we are young, our angels always behold the face of God, but it is as we grow apart from the Good News of the name of Jesus Christ, as we separate our selves from His grace and truth, we lose the warmth of the glow of His brilliance and of His fire, and we begin to burn out like a log which has rolled out of a fire.  

The book of Revelation speaks to both the obedient and those who are not fully obedient, in the book of Revelation.

The churches which are named are seven churches which represented the early Christian church back around 1927 years ago from now, in what was called Asia back then somewhere near the year 96 Anno Domini.  We read from verse 3 the words of urgency, "the time is at hand," and in verse 4 to these churches which make up the body of Christ at the time, grace and peace are spelled out from this early point in the letter, although in some very short verses, five out of the seven churches named will have some corrective words leveled against them.  Two of the churches named, Philadelphia and Smyrna, are not corrected in any means, and instead they are only blessed and encouraged to continue on as faithful.

It is important that the church of Jesus Christ understands that these words of grace and peace are written from Him as the Author.  If somebody misses this, their entire understanding of the book of Revelation will be skewed, at best, and corrupted easily by false and misleading and incomplete interpretations, which run rampant today in our generations.

Jesus Christ says to His church: "grace and peace" and He specifies more than a few times that it is He Who is saying this.  This is so important to understand, because so many peoples' understanding of their faith today is very shallow and incomplete in so many ways, and if someone were to know only a very little bit about what their faith in Jesus Christ means for them, it should at the very least include the saving knowledge that the wrath of God which we deserved for our sins has been satisfied upon Jesus Christ once and for all upon a cross upon a hill named Golgotha, which means "Skull Hill" in the early language.  The Son of God was born to a virgin who was faithful and humble, and He was born in a feeding trough where barn animals were fed.  This King of kings came as a little baby, entrusted to a lady whom God knew would be faithful, much like the mother of Moses, and much like every mother today who reads to their children and tells them the Good News of the blood of Jesus Christ, and how it means salvation for all those who believe in Him.

The book of Revelation is written as one long letter which has several sections, and each section of the letter is describing and revealing the Day of The Lord, though in different glorious ways, so that the first section of Revelation is written specifically to the churches, to encourage and to correct and to instruct in the ways of wisdom, and for those who will read beyond chapter 3 will learn of the trumpets, which are pronouncing the imminent Day of The Lord to all the nations, spiritual and secular, great and small, free and bond, and there is also the four beasts, which are mentioned hundreds of years earlier in the book of Daniel.  All of this is describing the same course of events, which the Bible describes as lasting about seven years.  

Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea all represent various parts of the same body today, in these last days.  These are all whom God addresses when He addresses His church, but much of what some of these groups of people hear is a dire warning to repent, before swift and sudden and eternal destruction overtakes them, for disobedience to His Word.

Smyrna and Philadelphia are not reprimanded in the least bit in this letter.  Smyrna is encouraged to endure unto the end.  Philadelphia is blessed as a direct result of keeping the word of Jesus Christ, and is told that they will be kept from the hour of temptation which is coming on the whole world.  These two churches were blessed tremendously, and quite differently.  They represent the faithful portion of believers in Jesus Christ today.  Smyrna means incense, and this church are those who are going to be faithful to God through the tribulation days they live in, and they are going to risk their lives and give their lives in this world for the furtherance of the Kingdom of God.  Philadelphia is the church which Jesus Christ says He will keep from the hour of temptation, and whether that means that He will take them out of this world, or whether He shelters them in this world from the worst of the worst, this church is specifically blessed for keeping the words of Jesus Christ faithfully.

There are a lot of people who are brought up in an expectation that Jesus Christ is going to strictly come back "pre-tribulation" or "post-tribulation" or "mid-tribulation" to take those that are faithful, and leave behind those who weren't ready, but the way that He addresses Philadelphia and Smyrna, two distinct faithful groups of His people, tells us that He has given some people the faith to know that He will protect them from great tribulation, while others have been granted the faith to endure through the great tribulation unto the end of it all, even unto death.  Neither one of these churches wants to look at the other and say that their faith is better, but each person in each of these two churches is glad to have been gifted with the particular faith that God has given them, because they are the faithful ones who learn to trust Jesus Christ, and who are blessed to trust Jesus Christ, and who bless others in ways which makes a straight path for them also to trust in Jesus Christ.

The Bible indicates that there is a great blessing about 45 days after the end times beastly system is "set up," and this could be, or also might not be, when Jesus Christ takes back those whom He is going to take back from the church of Philadelphia.  It could be when God unleashes His Holy Spirit and pours it out so greatly that the whole world no longer needs anyone to say, "know God!" because everyone will know God.  It could be when God transforms us or transforms things so greatly in ways that cannot be comprehended right now.  It could be that God reveals Himself to those who are faithful to Him, whose sins are covered by the blood of Jesus Christ.  Whatever that blessing is, which is mentioned in the book of Daniel, it comes about 45 days after the beastly system is "set up," and this will likely be a very trying 45 days for everyone who trusts in God.

I believe that 45 days begins some time this September.  Between September and the end of November, it is going to seem like a very trying time for those people who do not want to submit their bodies to the mark of the beast system, who do not want to make an image to the beast.  Those who realize that their bodies are the temple of God and those who realize that it is wrong to defile this temple with the manmade RFID tags and QR codes and brainwave machine interfaces and other illusions.  

The mark of the beast system is already happening, thumping and pumping and driving people to rely on it more and more each day.  Soon people are going to give their lives over to it, declaring submission and worship as easily as they click "I Accept" when installing a new piece of software in their computer.

There is a great winnowing of wheat and tares which is going to cause storms upon storms, all the way unto the end of the tribulation somewhere in 2030 Anno Domini, when the power of the heavens will truly be shaken, and Jesus Christ will end it all and return in glory, destroying His enemies with the mere brilliance of His coming.

People alive who will be kept from the hour of temptation that comes upon the whole world will have a purpose suited for the days that they are on this Earth.  People alive through the days of the tribulation will have a purpose suited for the days that they are on this Earth.  Every believer has some shared and overall common missions, and every believer has some special missions in this life which are assigned only to them.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.
John 8.51

But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
Proverbs 4.18

13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Romans 8.13-19

Jesus Christ is Lord.