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Verses on John the Baptist-4

This document is divided into several web pages to reduce load time.  Please click on the following link to get to John the Baptist 01 and this link for John the Baptist 02 and this link for John the Baptist 03 and this link for John the Baptist 04.

Acts 8:12 But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.

There is a separate study on the Kingdom of God which Jesus said started after John the Baptist (Luke 16:16) and is in us (Luke 17:21) and requires obedience which yields fruit (Matthew 21:43).  This is the ministry of Jesus Christ in details.  We need the ministry of Jesus for the Kingdom of God to be in us and we need the ministry of Christ to bear fruit.  There is far more involved in the ministry of Jesus Christ and far more involved in the Kingdom of God but Philip preached that you cant get one without the other.  Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God are strongly linked.

Acts 13:23 Of this man's seed hath God according to his promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus:

Acts 13:23-24 is a single sentence which can be divided by punctuation as:

  1. Jesus was of this man's [Davids] seed, as promised by God in the Old Testament, and became Gods Saviour.
    1. Of this man's seed hath God according to his promise raised unto Israel a Saviour,
    2. Jesus:
  2. Jesus started His ministry as Saviour after (When before his coming) John had first preachedthe baptism of repentance.
    1. When John had first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.

The first (equivalent) part of this sentence tells us that God promised a Saviour in the Old Testament and that part of the promises about that Saviour was that He would be of this man's [Davids] seed.  In the second (equivalent) part of this sentence we read that Jesus started fulfilling these prophecies after John had first preachedthe baptism of repentance.  Of course, John the Baptists ministry was also prophesied and many of the prophecies about Christ and about our Saviour that Jesus fulfilled are found in the Gospels and they are mentioned in the notes associated with the Gospels in this study.  Part of the promises about our Saviour were that He would be a physical man and Romans 5 explains how that our  Saviour had to be a physical man in order for God to remain righteous while He provided salvation.  (Please see the notes associated with Romans 5 for an explanation.)

This sentence tells us that our Saviour would be of this man's [Davids] seed.  We see that prophecy in 2 Samuel 7:12; Psalms 89:35-37; 132:11; Isaiah 7:13; 11:1, 10; Jeremiah 23:5-6; 33:15-17; Amos 9:11; Matthew 1:1; 21:9; 22:42; Luke 1:31-33, 69; John 7:42; Acts 2:30; Romans 1:3; Revelation 22:16.  In addition, we have other prophecies about our Saviour.  Please see the note for Mark 14:21 about verses which tell us about Christ being betrayed.  Please see the note for Mark 8:31 about verses which tell us about the suffering of Christ.  Please see the note for Mark 9:9 about verses which tell us about the resurrection of Christ.  Please see the note for Mark 8:38 under Son of Man for details on this verse and for verses related to the prophecy of His return as ruling Lord.

There are many other prophecies about Christ and our Saviour and verses which tell us that Christ is our Saviour, but I wont go into them here.  In addition, Philippians 3:20; 2Timothy 1:10; Titus 1:4; 2:13; 3:6; 2 Peter 1:1, 11; 2:20; 3:18 all tell us that Jesus is our Saviour.  As has been shown in many notes in this study, Jesus is God in human flesh and fulfilled the role of Saviour by dying as a man and paying the price to get us out on Hell and into Heaven when God makes us sons of God (John 1:12-13; Romans 3:26; etc).  Christ is our Saviour in that Christ died to pay for our sins after we become sons of God and because He saves his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21) by removing the control of sin which allows the saved to stop their sinning.

This verse is part of the message that Paul in preaching to Jews at the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia ( 13:14 ).  In this verse Paul is reminding these Jews of their history and of promises in scripture before he tells them how Jesus fulfilled this prophecy.  (Please see 13:26-41 and associated notes.)

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Acts 18:25 This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John.

All of Acts 18 is about Paul establishing the church at Corinth with Acts 18:24-28 being a sub-story about the doctrinal correction and possible salvation of Apollos.  A lot of foolish preachers think that their position makes them an authority so high above non-preachers that they dont really listen to (or consider) what non-preachers tell them.  In this story, the preacher was corrected doctrinally and apparently was led to salvation by non-preachers because he actually listened.  This verse tells us that Apollos knew of Johns baptism and of serving God the Father of the Old Testament (was instructed in the way of the Lord).  However, in Acts 10:36-37 Peter preached The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached.  True salvation requires more than obeying Old Testament Law (the way of the Lord) and more than the repentance preached by John.  We also see this in Acts 19:1-7.  (Please see 6the notes associated with those verses.)  There we see that people who were baptized Unto John's baptism ( 19:3) were not saved because they had not received the Holy Ghost (Acts 15:7-9; 19:2; Romans 8:14).  Since This man was knowing only the baptism of John, he apparently was not saved.  However, that is not something that I will argue about.  What is important is that, like Apollos, there are many people who know and preach the way of the Lord and repentance and do not have correct doctrine.  Unfortunately, when God sends someone to correct their doctrine they reject the truth of God because their pride will not allow them to be corrected by someone whom they view as less spiritual than they are because their measure of spirituality is based upon religious positions.

18:28 tells us that Apollos changed his preaching after being corrected by these non-preachers.  (Please see the note on 18:28).  In this verse, Lord is used for God the Father of the Old Testament who gave us the way of the Lord.  We find this phrase in Genesis 18:19; Judges 2:22; 2 Samuel 22:22; 2 Kings 21:22; 2 Chronicles 17:6; Psalms 18:21; 138:5; Proverbs 10:29; Isaiah 40:3; Jeremiah 5:4-5; Ezekiel 18:25, 29; 33:17, 20; Hosea 14:9; Matthew 3:3; Mark 1:3; Luke 3:4; John 1:23; Acts 18:25.  In all 4 gospels we see the message of John the Baptist whose basic message was Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.  Most Jews, and many people today, think that the way of the Lord is religious rules as found in the Mosaic Law and 10 Commandments.  However, notice that John said make U paths straight.  This is speaking about a person.  Further, John 14:6 tells us Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.  So when this verse says that Apollos was instructed in the way of the Lord, it means that he was instructed in what the Jewish religion taught was the way of the Lord but he had not met the person Who is the way of the Lord.  We see many similar people today who make more than one profession.  The first however many were religious professions.  We can only hope that their final was a profession of a personal relationship with the Saviour Who is the way of the Lord.

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Romans 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

This sentence starts with Know ye not (Dont you know) and is part of the God forbid of 6:2, which is in response to the questions found in 6:1.  Therefore, we need to start with (at least) 6:1 to have our context correct.

6:1-2 has three questions and a God forbid that were dealt with in a general way in the sentence-by-sentence section for chapter 6.  As mentioned there, Paul spent chapter 5 telling us how that sin had an ongoing reign in our lives because we were in Adam and how grace is to have an ongoing reign in our lives since we are supposed to be in Christ.  God brought in the Law so that He could use the legal principal of imputation.  That allowed Him to impute the righteousness of Jesus Christ our Lord to us.  He did this so that the righteousness of Jesus Christ our Lord would abound and reign unto eternal life  (in our physical lives) much more than sin ever did because where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.  Now in this chapter Paul is dealing with the doctrinal error that claims that since God imputed righteousness to our account, we dont have to produce any righteousness of our own.  That in fact, we can live for sin and expect the grace of God to overcome all of the consequences of our personal sin.  In chapter 6, Paul is telling us that isnt how imputation works and he is telling us how our life is supposed to be changed due to God imputing the righteousness of Jesus Christ our Lord to our spiritual account.  Paul uses baptized as another way of showing the truth that was taught in chapter 5.  Where imputation has no physical sign attached to it, but baptism does have a physical sign, Paul teaches the same truth another way so that those people who need a physical example to understand can also understand what he taught another way in chapter 5.

Paul uses baptized for the true Biblical meaning of ' identified with'.  He starts this chapter telling us that we have been identified with Jesus Christ.  He then goes on to show how the Son of God, as Christ, made it possible for us to overcome sin.  Paul finishes the chapter with how we are to take the provision of Christ and apply it to our personal lives in order to overcome the sin in our personal lives.  Specifically, because we have been identified with Christ by the principal of imputation, we can serve God like Christ did if we live through Jesus Christ our Lord ( 6:11).  If we are concentrating on serving God, we will stop our sinning.  If we arent concentrating on serving God, sin will rule us through our mortal bodies ( 6:12).  From 6:11 through the end of this chapter Paul explains how serving God lets us overcome sin in our lives, but it is all based upon our being identified with Jesus Christ by baptism as we are told in this verse.  In tying this back to chapter 5, we saw that God imputed Adams sin to our account because we were already acting like Adam and every man sinned even if he didnt personally do the exact same sin as Adam.  Chapter 5 also taught that because of grace that imputes greater righteousness, we should act like Jesus Christ our Lord even more than we ever acted like sinful Adam.  We are imputed the righteousness of Jesus Christ our Lord upon the expectation that we will be identified with Him by our life and Biblical baptism is our public declaration of our personal intention of living a life that will cause a lost world to identify us with Jesus Christ our Lord.

We have this controversy over baptism because people dont study the Bible for themselves and believe some self-appointed religious authority instead of personally finding the truth.  People know of the Pharisees and others Bible authorities who taught error.  They know that the Bible warns them that Satans ministers are liars who claim to be ministers of righteousness (2Corinthians 11:12-14).  So I suppose I need to show what the Bible truly teaches about baptism in order to say how the Bible is using the true definition to teach us how to overcome sin in this chapter.

Baptism is in Matthew 3:7; 20:22, 23; 21:25; Mark 1:4; 10:38, 39; 11:30; Luke 3:3; 7:29; 12:50; 20:4; Acts 1:22; 10:37; 13:24; 18:25; 19:3, 4; Romans 6:4; Ephesians 4:5; Colossians 2:12; 1Peter 3:21.  Baptisms is in Hebrews 6:2.  Baptized is in Matthew 3:6, 13-14, 16; 20:22-23; Mark 1:5, 8-9; 10:38-39; 16:16; Luke 3:7, 12, 21; 7:29-30; 12:50; John 3:22-23; 4:1-2; 10:40; Acts 1:5; 2:38, 41; 8:12-13, 16, 36, 38; 9:18; 10:47-48; 11:16; 16:15, 33; 18:8; 19:3-5; 22:16; Romans 6:3; 1Corinthians 1:13-16; 10:2; 12:13; 15:29; Galatians 3:27.  Baptize is in Matthew 3:11; Mark 1:4, 8; Luke 3:16; John 1:26, 33; 1Corinthians 1:17.  Baptist and Baptists are in Matthew 3:1; 11:11-12; 14:2, 8; 16:14; 17:13; Mark 6:14, 24-25; 8:28; Luke 7:20, 28, 33; 9:19.

  1. There are several verses in each of the four gospels that tell about John the Baptist.  The main note, with the address of all other verses, is under Luke 1:5.  The main thing that he is known for is preaching repent.  Yes, he did dunk people but refused to dunk those who did not have evidence that they truly had repented.  That is, the outward act only identified an inward change.  Repent is another Biblical concept that religions teaches doctrinal error about.  The true Biblical definition of repent can be found in Matthew 22:37 and Mark 12:30 and Luke 10:27 where Jesus said Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.  Johns baptism identified people with turning from religious self righteousness to the God of the Bible and obedience to Him that gives true Biblical righteousness that can be seen by the world in our physical life.
  2. Hebrews 6:1-2 is a single verse (see the note associated with it for 6:1 under Christ.)  It says that baptisms (plural) and repentance from dead works are only a couple of the principles of the doctrine of Christ which are the basic spiritual principals involved in learning spiritual maturity and being identified with (acting like) Christ is what Hebrews 6:1-2 means by baptisms. 
  3. Matthew 20:22 and Mark 10:39 and Luke 12:50 all speak of the baptism of Jesus.  In Matthew and Mark, just before this verse, Jesus told the disciples He was going to Jerusalem to die.  Then in Matthew and Mark, Jesus linked His baptism to the cup that I shall drink of which was His death in Matthew 26:39-42; Mark 14:36; Luke 22:42 and John 18:11.  In Matthew and Luke, before these verses, Jesus was telling parables to teach His disciples to work in Gods vineyard by faith and the teaching in Mark, before these verses, also was about working and trusting God for our reward.  So the baptism of Jesus was His death in obedience to God for the joy that was set before him (Hebrews 12:2).  His baptism identified Him with obedience and service to the God of the Bible, even unto death.
  4. The other references to baptism in the gospels, and in Acts (with the exception of those listed in the next points), refer to John the Baptists baptism, which we already saw is associated with repent and refused to those who refused to change their way of living.  Johns baptism identified people with the God of the Bible in obedience to Him.
  5. Mark 16:16 says He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.  in this verse, baptized is added (and) onto He that believeth.  This is not saying that being physically dunked is required to be saved because the thief on the cross was not physically dunked.  However, it is saying that we must be ' identified with' our Lord and Saviour in a way that the lost world understands.  If the lost world doesnt understand that we are ' identified with' our Lord and Saviour (by the life we live) then our claim that we believeth is an empty claim of a lie.  The God of the Bible believes in put up or shut up.
  6. Acts 2:38, 41; 8:12-13, 16, 36, 38; 9:18; 10:47-48; 16:15, 33; 18:8; 19:5; 22:16 all talk about people being baptized to join the church.  Many of these people were endangering their lives and many were declared dead when they were baptized.  They were identified with the God they believed in ways that most of todays so-called Christians are too wimpy to do.
  7. Acts 1:5 and 11:16 promises ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.  When it happened they spoke in tongues and were identified with the Holy Spirit (God of the Bible).  They then went out and turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6-7) to the point that they suffered persecution and death but kept doing what God commanded.
  8. Romans 6 uses baptism to identify people with Jesus Christ and a changed life that shows true Biblical repentance and identification with the God of the Bible.
  9. Galatians 3:27 says For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ and the context is talking about identification with the God of the Bible by a changed life that shows true Biblical repentance.  Please see that chapter and associated notes.
  10. Ephesians 4:5 uses baptism in the middle of a list of things which bring spiritual unity in the church and equates it to one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.  This is obviously not talking about being physically dunked but being identified with the God of the Bible.
  11. Colossians 2:12 is part of a sentence that goes from 2:10 through 2:12 and in it baptism is equated to In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ.  So we again see baptism equated with true Biblical repentance and being identified with the God of the Bible.
  12. 1Peter 3:21 is where a lot of wrong doctrine comes from because people ignore Peters definition of baptism contained within the verse which is (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,).  It is not being dunked (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh).  It is equated with true Biblical repentance (but the answer of a good conscience toward God) and being identified with the God of the Bible.
  13. 1Corinthians 1:17 says For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel.  Baptism doesnt save but preaching the gospel.  All other references in 1Corinthians also downplay the importance of baptism while lifting up preaching the gospel.

So every reference of baptism is identification with the God of the Bible by a changed life that shows true Biblical repentance.  Yes, every case (where possible) the people were physically dunked but that was done as an outward declaration of an inward change that they planned upon continuing to live for the rest of their lives. 

All of this brings us back to this chapter.  In our verse, the phrase so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death is identifying so many of us with the death of Jesus Christ and, by implication, His resurrection.  It is identifying so many of us a changed life that shows true Biblical repentance and identification with the God of the Bible.  Look at the very next verse Which starts with Therefore (as a result of this verse) and tells us even so we also should walk in newness of life.   The verb walk can not be properly interpreted as a one-time religious action of being dunked but is ongoing repeated steps.  Our walk in newness of life means we are to keep doing ongoing repeated steps for the rest of our life.  (Please see the note for 6:4 under Christ.)  The verse after that starts with For (Heres why) and tells us we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.  That is, our life that stops sinning should identify us with the resurrected Christ.  Continuing on, we see in 6:10 but in that he [Christ] liveth, he [Christ] liveth unto God and the next verse says Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.  (Please see the note for 6:11 under Lord Jesus Christ.)  While I could go on explaining what should be obvious in this and other verses of this chapter, the reader should be able to see the pattern for themselves.

Romans 6 clearly shows that baptism is a public declaration, after our initial profession, that we didnt just get fire insurance for Hell but are going to walk in newness of life.  This newness of life is only possible after receiving eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord ( 5:20-21).  (Please see the note for 5:21 under Lord Jesus Christ.)  Live ( 6:2) is an action verb that requires the ongoing ministry of God that only comes through His role as Christ.  God gave us His Spirit so that as we go His direction He could magnify our efforts and get us greater results and some fools believe we should fight against God instead of obeying.  However, as we saw in chapter 5, God does not take away our free will.  He will not force His grace upon us.  Therefore, if we choose to go against Him, He will not make His grace overcome our free will and force us in a different direction than we choose to go.  That is what Paul is dealing with in chapter 6 and that is the basis of his question in this verse.  This verse uses Jesus Christ because all saved are to be identified with the new life from God that starts when we first believe in Jesus (Romans 3:26) and continues as Christ spiritually matures us through an ongoing personal relationship.

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Romans 11:34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?

This verse is a quote of Isaiah 40:13 and it uses Lord to reference God the Father.  Isaiah 40 starts out with Isaiah 40:1-2 which says Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.  Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD'S hand double for all her sins.  It ends with Isaiah 40:31 which tells us But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.  Right after the opening (in Isaiah 40:3) we have a prophecy about John the Baptist who came preaching repent.  Then the rest of Isaiah 40 tells us the difference in the judgment that the Lord will give to those who truly repent of their self-righteous religious works and those who insist that the Lord accept what they think is right.  In the middle we are told about His power as creator and asked how we think our might or our thoughts can compare to His.  Those who truly repent receive Gods message of Comfort ye and they also receive the power to mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.  But this is because they wait upon the LORD.  This means they wait until their LORD decides to reward them but they also wait upon the LORD in that they serve Him any way that He wants.  Now we return to Romans 11 where Paul is warning us that God cut the Jews out of His vine because they refused to repent and wait upon the LORD.  Paul also warns us that while we have been grafted into His vine, He will do the same to us if we also refuse to repent and wait upon the LORD.  This also leads directly into Romans 12:1 where we are told I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.  Romans 12:1 is based directly upon Romans 11 and especially upon this closing in Romans 11:33-36.  11:33 warns us that this entire chapter is about the judgments of the Lord.  Our verse warns us that we cant known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?  We need to repent from what we think is right and trust and obey what our Lord tells us, which is what this quote is all about.  If we truly repent we will wait upon the LORD (trust and obey His orders), and, as a result, we shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.  However, if we insist upon trusting out religious self-righteousness doing what our religion says to do, we will be cut out of Gods vine just like the Jews were.  This verse uses Lord for the role that God uses when He provides judgments.

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1Peter 5:1 The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:

1Peter 5:1 through 5:3 is a single sentence separated by a colon after 5:1.  This sentence can be separated by the punctuation as:

  1. Peter is exhorting the leaders on the basis that he personally witnessed the sufferings of Christ and on the basis that Peter expects to be a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed because Peter leads as Christ led.
    1. The elders which are among you I exhort,
    2. who am also an elder,
    3. and a witness of the sufferings of Christ,
    4. and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:
  2. These elders should lead leads as Christ led.
    1. Give spiritual food to the flock of God and guide, not force, them to God.
      1. Feed the flock of God which is among you,
      2. taking the oversight thereof,
      3. not by constraint,
      4. but willingly;
    2. Dont do Christs ministry for the things you can get in this world but as a tool (ready mind) for God to speak through.
      1. not for filthy lucre,
      2. but of a ready mind;
    3. Dont be enforcing laws but lead by example.
      1. Neither as being lords over God's heritage,
      2. but being ensamples to the flock.

I have Bible software that includes over 2 dozen commentaries that I usually ignore.  Some times I peruse them, such as I did for this sentence.  Those that commented on this verse (most of them) ignored the punctuation, mainly ignored Christ and (I believe) all started out emphasizing elder.  Most were concerned about showing that Peter wasnt claiming to be Pope or Christs Victor on Earth.  While fighting heresy is important, I have tried to stick to what is being said and how the punctuation is used to tell us the proper interpretation and what the Bible is telling us about the roles of the Son of God.  This study is not an overview of the Bible and many verses in the Bible have been deliberately treated lightly or ignored because they are outside of the scope of this study.  I hope the reader doesnt mind my taking time to point out the difference between this study and most commentaries.

In that context, Peter is starting a new subject in chapter 5 which continues until 5:12 where Peter starts his closing.  He is pointing out that Christ is our example of how to lead God's heritage.  Peter starts by giving his Biblically approved evidence that he has authority to speak and tell these other what to do.  While Jesus refused to answer those who challenged His authority, in John 5 (and other places) we see that even the Son of God submitted to demands that he provide witnesses to back His claims.  He called John the Baptist, the Father and His godly works as His witnesses.  Peter is doing the same here.  Over and over we have seen that positions of authority among men are given by the Lord.  Peter is reminding his readers that he has a God given position as elder, and therefore, he has God the Father as his witness that he has the right to speak.  Yes, there is reason to be concerned and to correct heresy about Peter being the first be Pope or Christs Victor on Earth.  Yes, it is true that Peter is not claiming to be the first be Pope and in fact is acting the opposite of that claim in this verse.  Yes, it is true that even if Peter was claiming to be the first be Pope or Christs Victor on Earth, he specifically told others to not make that claim when he said neither as being lords over God's heritage.  (Also see 5:5-6.  Acting like lords does not get us grace but makes God resist us.)  However, none of that is the main purpose of what Peter is saying here.  Peter is saying that he has a God given position as elder, and therefore, he has God the Father as his witness that he has the right to speak.

The second witness that Peter calls, as did Christ, are other godly men when he says that he is a witness of the sufferings of Christ.  Peter is reminding them that he was one of those who were with Jesus Christ through His Earthly ministry and those others who were with Jesus Christ through His Earthly ministry had, and would, back Peters right to speak with authority.  Please see the note for Mark 14:21 for the prophecies of Jesus Christ being betrayed.  Also see the note for Mark 8:31 for the prophecies of the suffering of Jesus Christ.  Peter and the others were there in the Garden and afterwards when they found out found out that Jesus suffered to fulfill Old Testament prophecies that would prove that he was Gods Christ.  Jesus Christ then returned to Heaven and has spoke through the apostles (Ephesians 2:19-22).  Thus, Peter has the authority to speak and the others are his witnesses of his right.

The third witness that Peter calls, as did Christ, are the works of God in his life when he says that he is also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed and when He continues with Feed the flock of God.  This is a reference to a couple of different things.  First, Peter promises ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away when the chief Shepherd shall appear (Jesus Christ, see Jesus Christ).  As we have seen in Peter and elsewhere, the glory that we will receive is related to the glory that God gets from our life now.  Peter is also referring to when he was on the Mount of Transfiguration and partook of the glory at that time.  Please see Matthew 16:28- 17:13 and Mark 9:1-13 and Luke 9:27-36 and related notes about this incident.  Before the Mount of Transfiguration Jesus said there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.  Since true Biblical Christians (elect) are seeking the kingdom of God and Jesus chose Peter as one of His personal witnesses who saw the kingdom of God come with power, Peter has that as his witness to speak.  However, more than that, Peter is referencing John 21 in this verse.  In his own manly fleshly power, Peter had run from the sufferings of Christ and had quit the ministry of Christ even after being forgiven (John 21:3), yet after being learning to rely upon the power of Christ (in John 21), Peter acted totally differently.  Peter is telling his readers to look at the difference that God made in his personal life and realize that he had the witness of the works of God backing what he was saying. 

After establishing his witnesses that Peter leads as Christ led (in the first equivalent part of this sentence), Peter gives instructions to these other elders that they are to leads as Christ led (in the second equivalent part of this sentence).  While there is a message here, I wont detail it but just list the points that Peter gives to these elders.  Peter says they are to:

  1. Feed the flock of God ( 5:2)
  2. taking the oversight thereof
  3. not by constraint, but willingly
  4. not for filthy lucre
  5. but of a ready mind (ready to receive and pass on the mind of Christ)
  6. Neither as being lords over God's heritage  ( 5:3)
  7. but being ensamples to the flock
  8. Wait for when the chief Shepherd shall appear to get your reward ( 5:4)
  9. Keep faith in the promise that each of you personally (ye) shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away and that that he may exalt you in due time ( 5:6)
  10. Always remember that God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble
  11. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God ( 5:6)
  12. Cast all your care upon him because he careth for you ( 5:7)
  13. Be sober ( 5:8)
  14. be vigilant
  15. Remember that your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour
  16. resist (the devil) stedfast in the faith ( 5:9)
  17. Remember and know that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world
  18. Trust that the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus shall, after that ye have suffered a while: ( 5:10)
    1. make you perfect
    2. stablish you
    3. strengthen you
    4. settle you

Please see the note for 5:10 under Christ Jesus.

In this sentence, Peter uses Christ as the role of the Son of God who fulfilled Old Testament scriptures and also for the role of the Son of God that personally matured Peter spiritually to the point that he was the head of the Apostles.  He also uses Christ as there ultimate example to follow and the example that all elders are to personally follow as they feed the flock of God and do the other things of the ministry that God gave them and that God will judge them for how they do His ministry.

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Revelation 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,

1:4 and the first part of 1:5 form a sentence.  The second part of 1:5 and the first part pf 1:6 form a sentence.  In order to make sense of these sentences, 1:4-6 are divided by punctuation below.

  1. Who wrote the epistle, Who it is from and who it is to.
    1. Who wrote the epistle
      • John
    2. Who the epistle is written to
      • to the seven churches which are in Asia:
    3. Who the epistle is from.
      1. Grace and peace from the Son of God Who died and rose from us.
        1. Grace be unto you,
        2. and peace,
        3. from him which is,
        4. and which was,
        5. and which is to come;
      2. Grace and peace from the seven Spirits which are before his (Gods) throne.
        1. and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;
      3. Unique attributes of the Son of God because of His human roles as Jesus Christ.
        1. And from Jesus Christ,
        2. who is the faithful witness,
        3. and the first begotten of the dead,
        4. and the prince of the kings of the earth.
  2. Jesus Christ is to be given glory and dominion for ever and ever because of what He did for us.
    1. Why Jesus Christ is to be given glory and dominion for ever and ever.
      1. Unto him that loved us,
      2. and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
      3. And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father;
    2. Jesus Christ is to be given glory and dominion for ever and ever.
      1. to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.
  3. The previous statement is witnessed as truth.

Normally, the first couple of verses give us the opening of an epistle.  In Revelation, we are told what the epistle is about and why we should read and understand it even before we are told who the epistle is from and to.  That should tell us the importance of Revelation 1:1-3.

These three verses have two sentences plus an Amen to emphasize the truth of what they tell us.  John tells us that he wrote the epistle to the the seven churches which are in Asia as the representative of the Son of God and immediately stops to personally worship Him and tell us that He deserves glory and dominion for ever and ever (Daniel 7:14; 1Peter 5:11; Jude 1:25; Revelation 1:6) and follows that with an Amen to emphasize that this statement is witnessed as truth.  One of the main lessons of this epistle is that the saved are to worship Jesus Christ on a personal basis.  In 1:9-10 we are told that John was in the Spirit on the Lords day even though he was in the isle that is called Patmos (prison), for the word of God and was separated from other believers.  The lesson here is to follow Johns example and worship Jesus Christ for our salvation no matter what circumstances we are in.  When this sentence tells us from him which is, and which was, and which is to come it is reminding us that the Son of God currently is physically alive in Heaven (him which is) and representing us before the throne of God and that died for our sins (which was) and that He is returning to judge and reward or punish men (which is to come).  Of course, most people are concentrating on what He will do before He comes.Instead they should be concentrating on Him because He is the one who decides what will happen to each of us.  Those who are His enemies are to be terrified of Him but those that will receive great rewards follow Johns example and personally worship Him.

In addition, we are told that Jesus Christ is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth.  God told us to hear Him (Mark 9:7; Luke 9:35) because He is the faithful witness.  This epistle is written to reveal Him and what he wants us to know and the first reason that we are to listen is because God the Father told us to and because we can believe (faithful witness) what he tells us.  The second reason that we are told to hear Him is that He is the first begotten of the dead.  In 1:18 He tells us 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.  He not only is the first begotten of the dead, but he holds the keys to get us out of hell and of death and if we want out of hell and of death, we need to listen to Him.  The third reason that we are told to hear Him is that He is the prince of the kings of the earth.  That is, when He returns He shall rule them with a rod of iron (Revelation 2:27; 12:5; 19:15) and its pretty stupid to make enemies with the ultimate ruler of the world who will really hurt people who try to disagree with Him.  This reminds me of the three types of witnesses that Jesus cited in the gospel of John when He was asked for witnesses to what he said.  He said that the Father was His witness (John 5:37), and here we are reminded of the witness of the Father when God the Father declared Jesus to be the faithful witness.  Jesus also said that the works that He did were His witness (John 5:36) and here we are told of His works when we are reminded that he is the first begotten of the dead.  Finally, Jesus said that John the Baptist was His witness (John 5:33) and here we are told that the kings of the earth will witness that He is their prince (ruler between them and God).

We need to make the doctrine of this sentence personal if we want to receive the grace and peace that is offered here.  First, we need to personally recognize that He is.  Everyone of us get insulted if we go out of our way to visit and help someone and they are too busy doing things to hurt themselves to even take time to say Hi.  If we arent insulted, at the least we feel that we have wasted our time.  At the very least, we should start and end our day spending time with the one Who died and rose to save us and is willing to spend time with us.  Which brings us to the second point, He was.  He didnt die and rise from the dead just to get us our of Hell and into Heaven but this study has shown that the blood of Christ is what removes the stain and control of sin.  We should daily confess our sins (1John 1:6-10) and seek His cleansing for our personal sins.  Finally, we need to personally always remember that He is to come and be watching for Him.  As Jesus warned us in Matthew 24, we want to beware of false christs and false doctrines and expect that He will come instantly and demand that we explain the deeds of our life, especially unconfessed sin and God-given opportunities that we chose to ignore.  Beyond our personal daily relationship, we need to keep His witness always in mind when we are deciding matters.  Our thoughts and decisions are to be based upon the fact that He is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth.   We have no other authority or witness that can approach Him and none other should make us swerve from following Him.  Finally, our feelings (especially the satanic attacks of defeat and depression and similar) need to be controlled by the fact that He loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood.  No matter what we or others think of us, He loved us enough to do that for us.  By the same token, we arent so hot because He had to wash us from our sins in his own blood.  Once we prepare ourselves for daily life with Him, then we need to do what He made us and be kings and priests unto God and his Father, especially when we meet sinners who need Gods mercy, grace and forgiveness.

John tells us that he brings greetings from the Son of God in His roles including Jesus Christ so that we will have the proper perspective on the message of this book and on the things that happen in our life so that this life that the devil wont rob us of our blessings and so that we can personally worship Him as our Lord like John was doing.  This sentence is the introduction of an epistle with this main message.    

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Revelation 15:3 And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.

Please see the other notes for chapters 14 and 15 as those notes give further information on the 144,000 and how they are shown to be different than those who worship Satan and his representatives.

This chapter starts by saying that John saw two different things: , seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God and and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.  We are, again, presented with the difference between those who are saved and the lost.  The lost will receive the seven last plagues which are filled up the wrath of God and the saved have the harps of God to help them worship.  The lost fear the (justifiable) wrath of God and the saved worship Him, as was said in the general note for this epistle and in several other notes for this epistle.

Revelation 15:1-4 is talking about all that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, which includes the 144,000 while Revelation 14 is only about the 144,000.  First of all, we have nothing that limits these people to the 144,000 and several places in the Bible tell us that more than just 144,000 virgin male Jews will be saved during the time of the Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:21; Revelation 2:22; 7:14).  Notice that these people sing the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb.  These are two different songs with the song of Moses the servant of God being a song belonging to Jews (Exodus 15:1; Deuteronomy 31:22, 30; 32:44; Revelation 15:3) and the song of the Lamb belonging to all who are saved by the Lamb during this time in Revelation when the Lamb is used instead of Jesus Christ.  (Note: other than John 1:29, 36 where John the Baptist (the last non-Church Jewish prophet) declares that Jesus is the Lamb of God [upper case Lamb as opposed to lower case lamb], Lamb only appears in the Bible starting in Revelation 5:6, which is after the rapture ends the Church Age.)

Going on, both groups call the Son of God Lord God Almighty and King of saints.  This doctrinally tells us that the Son of God is equal to God the Father in power (Almighty) and authority (Lord God), even though the Sun submits to the Father, because Lord God Almighty is used for the Son here and 4:8; 11:17 and 16:7 while Lord God Almighty is used for God the Father in 21:22.  In this verse, Lord God Almighty is equated to King of saints while 21:22 makes a distinction between Lord God Almighty and the lamb.  (Please see the note under Lamb.)

The Son of God is identified as the King of saints because He is King to saved Gentiles and to Jews.  As I have admitted elsewhere, there is a Biblical difference between various kingdoms in the Bible but I have not studied them enough to make any doctrinal statement on them other than to note that they are different from one another.  Having said that, the reader is invited to study all permutations of kingdom in the Bible and the verses with related notes found under King.

Again, we see Lord made equivalent to King in the role that God receives worship in and that God uses for judgment ( 15:4).  Those that suffered and died for their Lord worship Him just before He releases the seven last plagues which will bring avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth ( 6:10) among other things.

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This document is divided into several web pages to reduce load time.  Please click on the following link to get to John the Baptist 01 and this link for John the Baptist 02 and this link for John the Baptist 03 and this link for John the Baptist 04.

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