REVELATION & FAITH
REVELATION
About the Author
One day in about the year 95 A.D., a man named John had a vision from heaven. The
book of Revelation is John's record of that vision (Revelation 1:9-11). John was a
Christian leader of Jewish origin who was in exile on the Roman prison island of
Patmos. We don't know why John was exiled to Patmos, but it may have been for
refusing to worship the Roman emperor Domitian, who had declared himself a god.
Tradition says John the apostle (Mark 3:14-19) was the author of both Revelation and
the Gospel of John, but that is not certain. The author does not identify himself as an
apostle.
MEANING OF REVELATION
The book of Revelation (also called The Revelation of John or The Revelation of St.
John the Divine) is an example of "apocalyptic" writing - a form that delivers a message
using symbols, images and numbers. Parts of the Old Testament, particularly in the
book of Daniel, are also written in the apocalyptic genre. Many of the symbols and
images in Revelation have parallels in the Old Testament.
Apocalyptic writing is characteristic of times of persecution. Some of the symbols and
images in Revelation equate the Roman emperor with Satan and depict the ancient
Roman Empire as the ultimate evil. As a prisoner of the Romans, John could not
communicate that message in plain language, but the apocalyptic form was ideal for
recording John's heavenly vision. John's writing would have been just nonsense to his
Roman captors. But the Christians of Asia Minor were familiar with the Old Testament
and the apocalyptic writings and would be able to understand it.
Revelation is also a prophecy (Revelation 1:1-3). We often think of prophecy as a
prediction of the future, but the original Greek word, propheteia, means "speaking the
mind of God." A prophecy may predict the future, or it may not (Matthew 26:65-68, 1
Timothy 4:14, Revelation 19:10, 22:7).
Revelation is also known as The Apocalypse from its original Greek title. The word
"apocalypse" has come to be associated with cataclysmic disaster, judgment day or the
end of the world. However, its true meaning is an unveiling or revelation of things known
only to God.
THE STAGES OF REVELATION
1. In the beginning God makes himself known
“God, who creates and conserves all things by his Word, provides men with constant
evidence of himself in created realities. and furthermore, wishing to open up the way to
heavenly salvation – he manifested himself to our first parents from the very beginning.”
He invited them to intimate communion with himself and clothed them with resplendent
grace and justice.
This revelation was not broken off by our first parents’ sin. “After the fall, (God) buoyed
them up with the hope of salvation, by promising redemption; and he has never ceased
to show his solicitude for the human race. For he wishes to give eternal life to all those
who seek salvation by patience in well-doing.”
Even when he disobeyed you and lost your friendship you did not abandon him to the
power of death. . . Again and again you offered a covenant to man.
2. The covenant with Noah
After the unity of the human race was shattered by sin God at once sought to save
humanity part by part. [T]he covenant with Noah after the flood gives expression to the
principle of the divine economy toward the “nations”, in other words, towards men
grouped “in their lands, each with (its) own language, by their families, in their nations”.
(Gen 10:5)
This state of division into many nations, each entrusted by divine providence to the
guardianship of angels, is at once cosmic, social and religious. It is intended to limit the
pride of fallen humanity united only in its perverse ambition to forge its own unity as at
Babel. But, because of sin, both polytheism and the idolatry of the nation and of its
rulers constantly threaten this provisional economy with the perversion of paganism.
The covenant with Noah remains in force during the times of the Gentiles, until the
universal proclamation of the Gospel. The Bible venerates several great figures among
the Gentiles: Abel the just, the king-priest Melchisedek – a figure of Christ – and the
upright “Noah, Daniel, and Job”. Scripture thus expresses the heights of sanctity that
can be reached by those who live according to the covenant of Noah, waiting for Christ
to “gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad”. (Jn 11:52)
3. God chooses Abraham
In order to gather together scattered humanity God calls Abram from his country, his
kindred and his father’s house, (Gen 12:1) and makes him Abraham, that is, “the father
of a multitude of nations”. “In you all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.” (Gen
17:5; 12:3)
The people descended from Abraham would be the trustee of the promise made to the
patriarchs, the chosen people, called to prepare for that day when God would gather all
his children into the unity of the Church. They would be the root on to which the Gentiles
would be grafted, once they came to believe.
The patriarchs, prophets and certain other Old Testament figures have been and always
will be honoured as saints in all the Church’s liturgical traditions.
4. God forms his people Israel
After the patriarchs, God formed Israel as his people by freeing them from slavery in
Egypt. He established with them the covenant of Mount Sinai and, through Moses, gave
them his law so that they would recognize him and serve him as the one living and true
God, the provident Father and just judge, and so that they would look for the promised
Saviour.
Israel is the priestly people of God, “called by the name of the LORD”, and “the first to
hear the word of God”, (Dt 28:10) [t]he people of “elder brethren” in the faith of
Abraham.
Through the prophets, God forms his people in the hope of salvation, in the expectation
of a new and everlasting Covenant intended for all, to be written on their hearts. The
prophets proclaim a radical redemption of the People of God, purification from all their
infidelities, a salvation which will include all the nations. Above all, the poor and humble
of the Lord will bear this hope. Such holy women as Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Miriam,
Deborah, Hannah, Judith and Esther kept alive the hope of Israel’s salvation. [T]he
purest figure among them is Mary.
THE TRANSMISSION OF DIVINE REVELATION
God “desires all men and women to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the
truth” through their knowledge of Christ Jesus. For this to happen, Christ must be
proclaimed to all nations and individuals, so that His revelation may reach the ends of
the earth. “Christ the Lord, in whom the entire Revelation of the most high God is
summed up, commanded the apostles to preach the Gospel, which had been promised
beforehand to the prophets, and which Christ fulfilled in his own person and transmitted
with his own lips. In preaching the Gospel, the Apostles were to communicate the gifts
of God to all people. In keeping with the Lord’s command, the Gospel was handed on in
two ways:
First, it was handed on orally by the apostles – by the spoken word of their
preaching, by the example they gave, and by the institutions they established. In these
ways they handed on what they themselves had received – whether from the lips of
Christ, from his way of life and his works, and from what they learned at the prompting
of the Holy Spirit.”
Second, the apostles and other men associated with the apostles, under the
inspiration of the Holy
Spirit, handed it on by committing God’s message of salvation to writing,” and speaks to
us ever new in Holy Scripture.
FAITH
WHAT IS FAITH?
It is trust, assurance and confidence in God. Living faith is shown by service and
obedience to God. How can we increase our faith?
In the New Testament the English word faith is used to translate the Greek word pistis.
The New Strong’s Expanded Dictionary of Bible Words says, “Pistis is used of belief
with the predominate idea of trust (or confidence) whether in God or in Christ, springing
from faith in the same. ‘Faith’ means trust, confidence, assurance, and belief” (p. 1315).
The Bible also defines pistis in Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
Faith is the substance or assurance of things we hope for, but have not yet received.
Faith (confidence, belief, trust) is also our evidence of that which is not seen—the
invisible spiritual things. Faith comes before a prayer is answered or before an
individual has received what he or she has requested from God. If we have received
what we asked for, then faith is not needed.
What is faith?
(New Testament example of faith)
An example of this definition is found in Matthew 9:27-30 where two blind men came to
Jesus and asked Him to heal them. Jesus first asked them, “Do you believe that I am
able to do this?” and their reply was, “Yes, Lord.” “Then He touched their eyes saying,
‘According to your faith let it be to you.’ And their eyes were opened.”
Their faith and assurance that Jesus could give them sight was the substance or reality
they hoped for. It also gave them the evidence or trust that they would receive what they
asked for. They believed; that is, they had faith in advance that it would be done.
(Old Testament example of faith)
Another example is that of Daniel’s three friends who refused to bow down to King
Nebuchadnezzar’s image of gold. Those who refused to bow to the image were
threatened with being thrown into a fiery pit alive.
The three young Jewish men (Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego) who refused to bow
to the image told King Nebuchadnezzar: “If that is the case, our God whom we serve is
able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand,
O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will
we worship the gold image which you have set up” (Daniel 3:17-18).
They did not know in advance how God would deliver them from the fiery furnace,
whether at that time by saving their physical lives or later in the resurrection. Their faith
or trust was the substance of what they hoped for, and it was the evidence of that which
was not yet seen or received.
Their faith or trust was built on serving God and obeying His commandments. They
believed God would deliver them because they obeyed His commandments and did not
bow down to worship any others gods.
Faith without works is dead
The apostle James, the half-brother of Jesus Christ, uses the example of Abraham, who
had both faith and works because he believed God and he obeyed what God
commanded him to do.
“Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the
altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was
made perfect?” (James 2:21-22).
Real faith is more than just believing in God alone. It includes acting on that faith in
one’s life by serving God and obeying His commandments.
Faith is increased by drawing closer to God through prayer and the study of His Word,
the [Link] may argue that James’ teaching that we should obey the
commandments of God is teaching that we are saved by works. That is not the case.
The apostle Paul makes this clear when he says, “For by grace you have been saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone
should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Paul clearly understood and wrote that no one could earn salvation and that faith itself is
a gift from God. Yet in the very next verse he went on to say that we are God’s
“workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand
that we should walk in them” (verse 10).
Like James, Paul knew living faith would be accompanied by service and obedience to
God and His laws. Paul wrote in Romans 3:31, “Do we then make void the law through
faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.”
FOUR (4) ELEMENTS OF FAITH
1. FIND A SCRIPTURE THAT APPLIES TO YOUR SITUATION
The word of God is full of promises that belong to every believer. But in order for us to
receive those promises, we need to find out what those promises are.
Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
John 8:32
Here is the thing, only the truth that you know, will set you free.
So, you need to study the word of God and find out the truth, find out what belongs to
you. If the Bible says that healing belongs to you then that is the truth, and that truth has
the power to set you free from sickness.
If the bible says that your God will supply all your needs, then that is the truth, and that
truth has the power to set you free from lack and worry.
God has already blessed us with all that we need to live a victorious life on this earth.
That doesn’t mean that we won’t have any trials, it means that there is always a promise
from God to overcome all those trials and we need to find out what they are.
So, find a scripture that applies to your situation or your trial and ask God for it, in
prayer. Jesus said that we have not because we ask not. So, ask!
2. BELIEVE AND RECEIVE
You have to believe that God’s word is true. Even if what the word says contradicts this
natural world.
You have to believe that God’s word is true in your life. You have to believe that His
promises belong to you.
You must believe you received when you prayed.
Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive
them, and you will have them.
Mark 11:24
We must believe in our hearts that we have already received the promise the moment
we asked for it in faith. We don’t believe what we see or feel, we believe what the word
of God says.
Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those
who have not seen and yet have believed.”
John 20:29
This is one of the most important elements of faith, we must believe in order to receive.
3. SPEAK
Words are so important because they have creative power. Just like God created the
worlds with his words. He also created us to His likeness.
Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.
Proverbs 18:21
We need to speak faith and confess with our mouths what we believe in our hearts.
Confession is one of the components of faith. The original Greek word “confess” means
“to agree with” or to speak the same thing that God said.
We need to speak in agreement with the word of God. We don’t speak our feelings or
our symptoms; we speak the word of God.
When we speak our faith and not our problem, we are making a declaration of what we
believe.
So instead of saying that you are broke, that you don’t have any money, say: “Thank
you Lord because You will supply all my needs according to your riches in glory”
Remember, faith speaks!!!
4. ACT ON IT
Our actions (works) must come into agreement with what we speak and what we
believe.
What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that
faith save him? …Faith by itself, without works is dead.
James 2:14
Faith is acting like it’s so. Faith is acting like the promise of God is already fulfilled in
your life.
With your actions, you reveal your absolute faith in God to fulfill His promise.
SUMMARY
Faith is trust, assurance and confidence in God and Jesus Christ. Living faith is not just
believing that God exists. It is demonstrated by one’s service and obedience to God.
God will increase our faith if we fervently ask Him for it and seek to draw closer to Him
in prayer and the reading of His Word.
