The Church's Bible

This is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things which must happen soon, which he sent and made known by his angel to his servant, John, ²who testified to God’s word and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, about everything that he saw.

Ps 25:14, Dn 2:28-29, Dn 8:16, Dn 9:21, Dn 9:23, Am 3:7, Jn 3:32, Jn 8:26, Jn 12:49, Jn 15:15, Jn 17:8, Rm 16:25, Gl 1:12, Ep 3:3, Rv 1:3-4, Rv 1:9, Rv 1:19, Rv 4:1, Rv 21:2, Rv 22:6, Rv 22:16
Jn 1:32, Jn 3:11, Jn 12:17, Jn 19:35, Jn 21:24, Ac 4:20, Ac 22:15, Ac 26:16, 1Co 1:6, 1Co 2:1, 1Jn 1:1, 1Jn 4:14, 1Jn 5:7-11, 3Jn 1:12, Rv 1:9, Rv 1:19, Rv 6:9, Rv 12:11, Rv 12:17

³Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things that are written in it, for the time is near.

Pr 8:34, Dn 12:12-13, Lk 11:28, Rm 13:11, Js 5:8-9, 1Pe 4:7, 2Pe 3:8, Rv 22:6-7, Rv 22:10, Rv 22:12, Rv 22:20

⁴John, to the seven assemblies that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from God, who is and who was and who is to come; and from the seven Spirits who are before his throne; ⁵and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us, and washed us from our sins by his blood— ⁶and he made us to be a Kingdom, priests to his God and Father—to him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Ex 3:14, Ps 90:2, Ps 102:25-27, Is 11:2, Is 41:4, Is 57:15, Mi 5:2, Zc 3:9, Zc 4:10, Zc 6:5, Jn 1:1, Ac 19:10, Rm 1:7, 1Co 1:3, 1Co 12:4-13, 2Co 1:2, Hb 1:10-13, Hb 13:8, Js 1:17, 1Pe 1:1-2, Rv 1:1, Rv 1:8, Rv 1:11, Rv 1:20-2:1, Rv 2:8, Rv 2:12, Rv 2:18, Rv 3:1, Rv 3:7, Rv 3:14, Rv 4:5, Rv 4:8, Rv 5:6
Dt 7:8, Dt 23:5, Ps 72:11, Ps 89:27, Ps 89:36-37, Pr 8:15-16, Is 55:4, Dn 2:2, Dn 7:14, Zc 13:1, Mt 28:18, Jn 3:11, Jn 3:32, Jn 8:14-16, Jn 13:1, Jn 13:8-10, Jn 13:34, Jn 15:9, Jn 18:37, Ac 20:28, Ac 26:23, Rm 8:37, 1Co 6:11, 1Co 15:20-23, Gl 2:20, Ep 1:20-22, Ep 2:4, Ep 5:2, Ep 5:25-27, Cl 1:18, 1Tm 6:13, 1Tm 6:15, Hb 9:14, 1Pe 1:19, 1Jn 1:7, 1Jn 4:10, 1Jn 5:7-10, Rv 3:14, Rv 7:14, Rv 11:15, Rv 17:14, Rv 19:16
Ex 19:6, Ps 72:18-19, Is 61:6, Dn 4:34, Mt 6:13, Jn 5:23, Rm 11:36-12:1, Rm 15:6, Ph 2:11, 1Tm 6:16, Hb 13:21, 1Pe 2:5-9, 1Pe 4:11, 1Pe 5:11, 2Pe 3:18, Jd 1:25, Rv 4:11, Rv 5:10, Rv 5:12-14, Rv 20:6

⁷Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, including those who pierced him. All the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. Even so, Amen.

⁸“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Gn 17:1, Gn 28:3, Gn 35:11, Gn 43:14, Gn 48:3, Gn 49:25, Ex 6:3, Nm 24:4, Is 9:6, Is 41:4, Is 43:10, Is 44:6, Is 48:12, 2Co 6:18, Rv 1:4, Rv 1:11, Rv 1:17, Rv 2:8, Rv 4:8, Rv 11:17, Rv 16:14, Rv 19:15, Rv 21:6, Rv 21:22, Rv 22:13

⁹I John, your brother and partner with you in the oppression, Kingdom, and perseverance in Christ Jesus, was on the isle that is called Patmos because of God’s Word and the testimony of Jesus Christ. ¹⁰I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, like a trumpet ¹¹saying, “What you see, write in a book and send to the seven assemblies: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”

Jn 16:33, Ac 14:22, Rm 2:7-8, Rm 5:3-4, Rm 8:17, Rm 8:25, 1Co 4:9-13, Ph 1:7, Ph 4:14, 2Th 1:4-5, 2Th 3:5, 1Tm 1:8, 1Tm 2:3-12, Hb 10:36, Js 5:7-8, Rv 1:2, Rv 1:4, Rv 2:9-10, Rv 3:10, Rv 6:9, Rv 7:14, Rv 11:7, Rv 12:11, Rv 12:17, Rv 13:10, Rv 14:12, Rv 19:10
Mt 22:43, Jn 20:19, Jn 20:26, Ac 10:10-33, Ac 20:7, 1Co 16:2, 2Co 12:2-4, Rv 4:1-2, Rv 10:3-8, Rv 17:3, Rv 21:10
Dt 31:19, Is 30:8, Je 30:2, Hb 2:2, Ac 18:19-21, Ac 18:24, Ac 19:1-41, Ac 20:17, 1Co 15:32, 1Co 16:8, Ep 1:1, Cl 4:15-16, 1Tm 1:3, Rv 1:2, Rv 1:4, Rv 1:8, Rv 1:17, Rv 1:19-2:1, Rv 2:8, Rv 2:12, Rv 2:18, Rv 3:1, Rv 3:7, Rv 3:14, Rv 10:4, Rv 14:13, Rv 19:9, Rv 21:5

¹²I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. Having turned, I saw seven golden lamp stands. ¹³And among the lamp stands was one like a son of man, clothed with a robe reaching down to his feet, and with a golden sash around his chest. ¹⁴His head and his hair were white as white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire. ¹⁵His feet were like burnished brass, as if it had been refined in a furnace. His voice was like the voice of many waters. ¹⁶He had seven stars in his right hand. Out of his mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining at its brightest.

Ex 25:37, Ez 43:5-6, Mi 6:9, Zc 4:2, Rv 1:13, Rv 1:20-2:1
Ex 28:6-8, Ex 39:5, Lv 8:7, Is 11:5, Ez 1:26-28, Dn 7:9, Dn 7:13, Dn 10:5-6, Dn 10:16, Ph 2:7-8, Hb 2:14-17, Hb 4:15, Rv 14:14, Rv 15:6
Dn 7:9, Dn 10:6, Mt 28:3, Rv 2:18, Rv 19:12
Ps 93:4, Is 17:13, Ez 1:7, Ez 40:3, Ez 43:2, Dn 10:6, Rv 2:18, Rv 14:2, Rv 19:6
Jg 5:31, Jb 38:7, Is 11:4, Is 24:23, Is 49:2, Is 60:19-20, Dn 8:10, Dn 12:3, Mc 4:2, Mt 17:2, Ac 26:13, Ep 6:17, Hb 4:12, Rv 1:20-2:1, Rv 2:12, Rv 2:16, Rv 3:1, Rv 10:1, Rv 12:1, Rv 19:15, Rv 19:21

¹⁷When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He laid his right hand on me, saying, “Don’t be afraid. I am the first and the last, ¹⁸and the Living one. I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever and ever. Amen. I have the keys of Death and of Hades. ¹⁹Write therefore the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will happen hereafter. ²⁰The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lamp stands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven assemblies. The seven lamp stands are seven assemblies.

Tower of Babel

The story of the tower of Babel is famous and fascinating. We learn from Genesis 10:10 that Nimrod, a descendent of Ham and a mighty hunter, built the city of Babel on the plains of Shinar. In Genesis 11, we find that people from all over have come here to build a great tower that stretches into heaven. They all spoke the same language and were engaged in a common and singular task of building this tower.

The building of this tower angered the LORD. To stop its construction, He scattered the people at Babel by creating different languages among them. When people could no longer understand each other, they scattered.

Why was this tower-building such a problem to the LORD? People wanted to reach into heaven. They wanted to de-throne God. The history of humanity is riddled with us trying to reach into heaven by any means except humility, faith, and repentance.

Interestingly, this is the time period right after the great flood with Noah. After the flood, the LORD commanded the people in Genesis 9:7 to spread across the Earth. In Genesis 10:5 we read that people were dispersed and had their own languages. Yet in chapter 11 of Genesis, we read that now people were concentrated at Babel on the plains of Shinar speaking the same language. How does this happen?

We know from history that this is exactly what happens with empires. A powerful nation or king will conquer foreign lands and force those people to work at empire-building often in exile. Those people will learn the imperial language and its customs. They will be stripped of their cultural identity, language, and heritage. This is imperial work. This is colonization. This is evil.

The LORD uses cultural and linguistic diversity to restrain evil, which is what we see happening in the Tower of Babel story. The scattering of the people is a liberation.

Babylon

We see this same process repeated later in the Old Testament when Jerusalem is destroyed and her people are marched in exile to Babylon. The prophet Daniel and his friends undergo this cultural re-education process in service to imperial King Nebuchadnezzar. They resist as much as they can, clinging to their faith and hope in the LORD.

King Nebuchadnezzar, for his part, reenacts the imperial rule of Nimrod at the Tower of Babel several millennia earlier. In Daniel 4:29-30, we find him walking on his roof to get a good look at his empire. He reflects and asserts “Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?” It would seem that not much has changed.

Babylon is Babel

Indeed, not much has changed, because Babel and Babylon are actually the same place. Babel is the English transliteration of the Hebrew word for this city on the plains of Shinar. Babylon is the English transliteration of the Greek word for this city on the plains of Shinar. The Babel of Genesis 10:10 is the same place as the Babylon of Daniel 1:2. The Hebrew word, the Greek word, and the English words Babel and Babylon all refer to this same place.

This means that when the people of Jerusalem are exiled to Babylon, this is a return to Babel. This is not merely symbolic. This was a real life return to coercion, indoctrination, and conscription. When they return home from exile, this re-scattering is also a liberation.

Babel Bookends

The Bible begins and ends with the LORD toppling Babel. The Babel of Genesis was founded by Nimrod the mighty hunter. This Babel is the archetypal earthly kingdom hell-bent on de-throning the LORD. We see in Daniel several millennia later that not much has changed on Planet Earth. In Revelation 17:4-5, however, we read that one day this will all change. Babylon or Babel the whore represents earthly kingdoms in rebellion against the LORD.

Every person working to loft himself or herself in defiance of the LORD will be scattered (Genesis 11:8). Every proud emperor will be humiliated like a beast (Daniel 4:31-33). Every kingdom breeding immorality will be destroyed (Revelation 18:2).

Out of scattering, humiliation, and destruction, however, will come servants of the LORD who bless all nations. Alongside of justice is hope. This is the hope of a new creation, overflowing with the blessings of shalom.

Revelation 1

Revelation 1 Resources

Revelation 1 Bible Study Questions

Revelation Facts

Revelation Word Cloud

Tower of Babel

Babylon

Babylon is Babel

Babel Bookends

Gn

Genesis

Ex

Exodus

Lv

Leviticus

Nm

Numbers

Dt

Deuteronomy

Jo

Joshua

Jg

Judges

Ru

Ruth

1Sm

1 Samuel

2Sm

2 Samuel

1Kg

1 Kings

2Kg

2 Kings

1Ch

1 Chronicles

2Ch

2 Chronicles

Er

Ezra

Ne

Nehemiah

Es

Esther

Jb

Job

Ps

Psalms

Pr

Proverbs

Ec

Ecclesiastes

Sg

Song of Songs

Is

Isaiah

Je

Jeremiah

Lm

Lamentations

Ez

Ezekiel

Dn

Daniel

Hs

Hosea

Jl

Joel

Am

Amos

Ob

Obadiah

Jo

Jonah

Mi

Micah

Na

Nahum

Hb

Habakkuk

Zp