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Thursday, March 20, 2014

Comparing the names of Jesus Christ in Revelation 1 & 19-20


Revelation 1:5-6 and 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 released us from our sins by His blood— 6 and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Revelation 19:11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war.

Introduction:
The Book of Revelation is truly the Revelation of the Person and work of Jesus Christ in both Heaven right now and what will be His work in returning to earth to set up His kingdom and the bringing in of the age to come.  The student of scripture can greatly benefit from comparing two great visions of Jesus Christ in both Revelation 1:4-16 and 19:11-20:6.  To guide us through a comparison of these two texts, we will consider three headings: Jesus' names, description and actions.  In today's post we will note the names of Jesus Christ unfolded in these chapters.  As the reader notes the names listed below, pray and ask the Spirit of God to show you the glory of Jesus Christ in each one of those names.

Jesus' names in Revelation 1 & 19-20
Revelation 1:4-16 details for us a number of names of the Lord Jesus Christ.  As a matter of fact of the 200 or so names of Jesus recorded for us on the pages of God's Word, nearly 40 such titles occur in Revelation 1.  Now we won't list every single one of those names, however when we look at the names listed for us in Revelation 19, we can then see if such names occur in Revelation 1.

In Revelation 19 the main subject is the same as that of Revelation 1: Jesus Christ in His second coming. Revelation 20 then picks up the events following Christ's return with regards to His earthly reign, binding of Satan and final judgment at the end of Christ's earthly reign. As the Apostle John writes by Divine inspiration, he notes for us the following names of Jesus in Revelation 19.  In the listing of these names I will also include the references from Revelation 1 to see how well both chapters match up:






1. "Faithful" = Revelation 19:11
"Faithful" = Revelation 1:5


2. "True" = Revelation 19:11
"Witness", that is, everything Jesus is saying is true, since He is the truth = Revelation 1:5


3. "King of Kings" = Revelation 19:16
"The Ruler of the Kings of the Earth" = Revelation 1:5 


4. "Jesus" = Revelation 20:4 
"Jesus" = Revelation 1:1,2,5


5. "Christ" = Revelation 20:4-5 
"Christ" = Revelation 1:1,2,5


As the reader can see there is an amazing correspondence between the two chapters with regards to Jesus' names.  Tomorrow we will do some more comparisons.  To God be the glory!