A Bond-Servant's Revelation: A Verse-By-Verse Study of the Book of Revelation

By Rosario D'Souza

Of all the books in the world, the Bible is the most important. Of all the books in the Bible, the book of Revelation is the most important to understand, and the most difficult to decipher. This book unravels the secrets hidden in the book of Revelation. What is the purpose of each chapter? What is the sequence of events leading to the end? What/Who is the antichrist? What/Who is the false prophet? What/Who does 666 represent? What is the apostasy? What are the beasts? What do the ten horns represent? What is the great tribulation? What is the abomination of desolation? What is the sixth seal? What are the seven trumpets? What are the seven plagues? What is the new Jerusalem? This book clearly answers all those questions, and more. This book is thrilling to read, easy to understand, and full of surprises – and therefore a must read!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jan 19, 2021
• ISBN: 9781664152007

Book preview

A Bond-Servant’s

Revelation

A VERSE-BY-VERSE STUDY

OF THE BOOK OF REVELATION

Rosario D’Souza

Copyright © 2021 by Rosario D’Souza.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Scripture quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Rev. date: 01/19/2021

Xlibris

844-714-8691

www.Xlibris.com

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CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Introduction

A promise fulfilled

What you believe is important

Disclaimer

A bird’s eye view of the book of Revelation

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

The first seal: false Christs

The second seal: wars

The third seal: famines

The fourth seal: other things

The fifth seal: persecution of Christians

The sixth seal: a giant object hits the earth

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

The first six plagues

The seventh plague

Why do I say that the seven plagues are a part of the seventh trumpet?

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

The identity of Babylon

Babylon and the world

God’s judgment on Babylon

God’s warning to us

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

The Timeline of Revelation

Appendix A: The Four Living Creatures and 24 Elders

Appendix B: The Seven Spirits of God

Why are these seven Spirits divine?

Could these seven Spirits refer to the seven-fold Holy Spirit?

Is it wise to extract doctrine from the book of Revelation?

Why were these Spirits left out of the ‘baptismal formula’?

How should we interact with the seven Spirits of God?

Summary

Appendix C: Blasphemous Doctrines

Non-Christian Blasphemy

Christian Blasphemy

Appendix D: The Abyss – The Prison for Evil Spirits

To the ones who come out of the great tribulation (Rev 7:14),

And to the bride of the Lamb (Rev 21:9)

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank those who have shaped my understanding of God, and given me invaluable help in understanding the Bible. To them I owe an unrepayable debt of gratitude. They know who they are, and I am sure that they would rather not be named.

I would like to thank God, whose grace and patience and abounding mercy to me were clearly evident from the beginning to the end of this project. To Him belongs all glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Introduction

F rom a spiritual and eternal perspective, the Bible is undoubtedly the most important book in the world. After understanding the message of the book of Revelation, I would argue that of all the books in the Bible, the Christian must understand the book of Revelation the best. That is why, it is really important that you make the time to read and understand the message of the book of Revelation. This book was written to help you do that.

Life is uncertain. We do not know what tomorrow holds. In the spiritual realm, there are many dangers and traps, and without the knowledge of what they are, and how they may befall us, we are more likely than not, to fall into them and be spiritually destroyed.

Who knows the future? Only God does!

The book of Revelation was written to reveal the future to the bond-servants of God too, so that we can avoid the spiritual dangers and traps that will befall us as we walk through life. It is like a map to help the pilgrim not get lost.

When I was young, I enjoyed listening to the song ‘Que sera sera’ (French for ‘whatever will be, will be’), written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, published in 1956, and sung by Doris Day. The philosophy of this song is that, because one doesn’t know the future, one has to just deal with things as they come.

However, that philosophy changes when we do know something about how the future will turn out. Specifically, we can avoid falling into the traps we know about, and getting hit by dangers that we know are to come, and that is why reading and properly understanding the book of Revelation, and applying its truths to our lives, is so important.

A promise fulfilled

Jesus said many things, and some of them were quite astounding. Here is one such astounding statement, as recorded in Mt 16:27-28, Mk 8:38-9:1 and Lk 9:26-27.

Mt 16:27-28 "For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS. I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom."

Mk 8:38 – 9:1 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels. And Jesus was saying to them, "Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power."

Lk 9:26-27 "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. I say to you truthfully, there are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God."

Clearly, everyone who was standing there when Jesus spoke those words died long ago, and Jesus still hasn’t come back.

So then, was Jesus’ statement an empty statement, a grand delusion, or an outright lie?

The answer is, No, no, and no.

I say that because the book of Revelation is where Jesus allowed the apostle John, who must have been standing there with Jesus when He made those statements, to see (in the spirit) His Second Coming before he (John) died.

Some people argue that the John who wrote the book of Revelation was not the apostle John, son of Zebedee. But if that were true, then the fulfillment of Mt 16:27-28, Mk 8:38-9:1 and Lk 9:26-27 would be suspect. Since that latter cannot be so, I will proceed with the position that the book of Revelation was indeed written by the apostle John, son of Zebedee.

John was an old man when he received this revelation. All the rest of the initial twelve has passed away, and he was exiled on Patmos for his faith. After he wrote one of the gospel books, he saw people deceived into thinking that they were born again when they were not, and so he wrote his first letter to help people evaluate whether they were really born again. He also saw people spreading dangerously false teachings about the nature of Christ, and wrote his second letter to warn those close to him about believing such falsehood. He saw ungodly people in leadership positions in the church, using their power to discredit and push out the true believers, and he wrote about that in his third letter. He must have been sad to see the way Christianity was progressing while he could do nothing about it. It is in that kind of situation that he receives the revelation of Jesus Christ, explaining how things will proceed from his present time until the end.

When things are muddy and unclear in your world, ask God for clarity and perspective. If you are walking with God, He will give you whatever you ask for.

What you believe is important

Some people think that how you behave is more important than what you believe!

However, salvation is by faith, and not by works! Faith involves believing the truth. If you believe what is false in certain specific areas, then you cannot be saved.

Consider what John wrote in 2 Jn 1:7-11.

2 Jn 1:7-11 7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8 Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. 9 Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; 11 for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.

If you don’t abide in the teaching of Christ, you do not have God – that’s how important it is to believe the truth about Christ. John was referring to the teaching that Christ came in the flesh. I want you to remember what I’m saying here, because we will see later just how this teaching of Christ has been corrupted.

2 Thess 2:8-12 8 Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; 9 that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, 10 and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. 11 For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, 12 in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.

There was a lawless one to come after Paul, and that lawless one would remain until Jesus returns and destroys it. I say ‘it’ because, as we will see, it is not just a person, but also an organization. It will deceive those who don’t love the truth, and the result is that they will perish.

This lawless one teaches false things about Jesus Christ. One of those false things is that Christ didn’t come in the flesh.

God will actually help those people to believe what is false, and those people will be lost.

Satan doesn’t usually kill Christians today; rather he deceives them into believing what is false. This is because He knows 2 Jn 1:7-11. If Satan kills a Christian, the Christian goes to heaven, and Satan loses. However, if he deceives that Christian, then that Christian goes to hell, and Satan wins. Satan only desires to kill those Christians who begin doing so much damage to Satan’s kingdom, that he doesn’t want them around. However, God protects them, and only lets Satan kill them if it results in the furtherance of God’s kingdom.

What you believe is very important to your salvation!

Disclaimer

I understand that there are many different views on what the various things in the book of Revelation mean. My views, as expressed in this book, are quite different from all the views I’ve come across before. I present them here for you to examine, and I then leave it to you to decide whether they are truth or fiction. Be advised though that sometimes, that which is hard to swallow can indeed be the truth.

One more thing – many times, in this book, I state things without elaborate discussion or proof to support my position. I’ve done this intentionally, to keep this book short and readable, so that you don’t get bogged down in the nitty-gritty details of the trees, and miss the main point of the forest.

A bird’s eye view of the book of Revelation

This section gives a brief summary of the book of Revelation so that you get a glimpse of the big picture before we delve into the details. You may find some of the things said here confusing, but they will become clear by the time you finish reading this book.

Rev 1: John first gives an introduction, and talks about seeing a powerful Jesus among His churches. He also introduces the seven Spirits of God.

Rev 2, 3: Then John gives messages to the seven churches. The key point is that the churches need to get ready for the return of Christ. We will examine these messages in great detail.

Rev 4: Then we see a picture of heaven, with the 24 elders, the four creatures, the seven Spirits of God, and God Himself. This chapter has a specific purpose, and we will figure out what that purpose is when we study Chapter 4.

Rev 5: John then sees the Lamb of God breaking the seven seals to reveal the future. We will discuss why God put Rev 5 in this book.

Rev 6: The first four seals are then described. We will explain what they mean.

Rev 6, 13: The fifth seal is tribulation for the saints. It begins after the death of Christ, and continues until Jesus returns. Also, at this time the Gentiles have power of Jerusalem. All these things last for a time, times, and half a time, which is also described as 3.5 years, and 42 months, and 1260 days. We will discern what this period of time really means.

Rev 11: During this time the two witnesses speak out in Jerusalem. Finally, at the end of 1260 days, the antichrist stops the two witnesses from witnessing, and God allows it. After 3.5 days the two witnesses are taken up. We will identify who those two witnesses are, and what their purpose was.

Then, an earthquake comes and a tenth of the city falls, and 7000 die. We will explain what that earthquake will be.

Rev 6: The sixth seal is signs in the sky. This is the precursor to the coming of Christ. We will explain what that event is.

Rev 7: The first six seals are not God’s judgment or wrath. The wrath comes in the seventh seal. Before that, is the rapture. That is, Christ comes, the dead in Christ are raised, and Christ meets the saints in the air. At this point, all believers (before Christ, after Christ but dead, and after Christ and living) are with Christ.

Rev 7: The Jews who are faithful to God at the time of the rapture (just 144,000 of them in all) are then sealed so that the seventh seal will not touch them.

Rev 8, 9: The seventh seal is God’s wrath. It is made up of seven trumpets. These seven trumpets are then poured out on the earth. After the seventh trumpet, the kingdoms of the world belong to God and the 1000-year reign begins. The first six trumpets are described in Rev 8 and 9.

Rev 10: Here, John is asked to eat a little book that is sweet as honey to eat, but bitter as wormwood in the stomach. We will explain what this little book contains, and why it is sweet to eat but bitter to digest.

Rev 12: This chapter talks about Satan’s strategy against the Jews: how Satan fell, how he deceived a third of the angels to follow him, how he tried to eliminate Israel so that the Messiah wouldn’t be born, and how he tried to kill Jesus when He came out of Israel. However, Satan didn’t succeed, and Jesus completed His mission and went to God. Then, since Christ defeated Satan on the cross, Michael pushes Satan and his demons to earth. Then Satan persecutes Israel, but God protects Israel for the symbolic 3.5 years. This enrages Satan, and so he then redirects his persecution to the saints. This persecution begins right after Christ ascends to heaven, and continues to just before Jesus returns.

Rev 13: Here we get a description of Satan’s strategy against the Christians.

Rev 14: This chapter tells us what our strategy should be.

Rev 15: In Rev 15, we see the raptured saints who were victorious during the tribulation, and then heaven preparing for the seventh trumpet, which contains seven bowls of plagues. These form the last of the wrath of God.

Rev 16: In Rev 16, we see the pouring of the first six plagues of the seventh trumpet. The first six plagues are bad things. But men don’t repent. Instead, they blaspheme.

The sixth bowl prepares a path for the armies of the Armageddon to come to Jerusalem.

Between the sixth and the seventh bowl, we see preparation for Armageddon, which is also called the great day (of the judgment) of God.

Rev 17,18: The seventh bowl is then poured. The seventh bowl is the fall of Babylon. Rev 17 and 18 describe the identity and fall of Babylon. We will uncover the identity of Babylon, and more.

Remember that the faithful Jews have been untouched by God’s wrath. The rest of the world is really angry because they have had to endure God’s wrath, while the faithful Jews were kept safe. So, they decide to destroy these faithful Jews who belong to God, and this leads to the Armageddon.

At the end of the seventh bowl is a great earthquake (there was no greater one). Islands and mountains disappear. Hailstones fall. Babylon is split into three parts, and the cities of many nations fall. Zechariah and Ezekiel speak of this earthquake too (Zech 14, Ezek 38). We will explain what this earthquake is.

Rev 19: If you are itching for a fight, Rev 19 gives you one – a really big one! Rev 19 picks up on the story of the saints after the rapture. They have been persecuted by the world and Babylon, and they now see God avenging them. This makes them happy and they rejoice. Then we see the marriage of the Lamb. After the marriage, the Lamb and his saints are ready for Armageddon.

Then the Armageddon takes place, and the faithful Jews are saved from certain destruction. The birds feast on the flesh of the dead men. The beast and the false prophet are thrown alive into the lake of fire.

Rev 20: This chapter is about the millennium. In Rev 20, we see Satan bound in the abyss for 1000 years. The saints are then given rewards according to their deeds. They reign with Christ for the 1000 years.

Then Satan is let loose again, and he once again deceives the nations, and they gather for war again. They surround the saints, but fire from heaven devours them. Then Satan is thrown into the lake of fire as well.

Then comes the second resurrection and the final judgment. Death, Hades, and those whose names were not in the book of life will be thrown in the lake of fire.

Rev 21: In Rev 21 we see the new heavens and the new earth. The old has passed away, and there is a new beginning. There is no pain and suffering anymore – only happiness.

The new Jerusalem comes down from God from heaven. It is a cube, with each side being 1500 miles, with walls that are 72 yards thick. The four walls each have three gates, each made of a single pearl. The walls are made of jasper. Each wall has three foundation stones – one for each of the twelve apostles. Each foundation stone is of a different type of precious stone. The streets are pure gold. We will explain what all this symbolism means.

The kings of the earth bring their glory into the holy city.

Rev 22: Here, we see the wonderful position of the bride of Christ. They are very close to God and have access to the tree of life forever. This is the eternal life that God has promised.

On the other hand, those who didn’t choose God are tormented in the lake of fire forever.

God doesn’t pressure anyone to come to Him. He calls, and each of us must choose for ourselves.

Chapter 1

Rev 1:1-2 1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John, 2 who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.

T his revelation was given by the Father to Jesus to show to His bond-servants. It described the things which were soon to take place. Jesus then communicated it to John via His messengers (i.e., angels). John then communicated it to us.

This revelation is meant to be only for the bond-servants of Jesus. A bond-servant is one who serves his Master without expectation of any payment of any kind. He serves out of gratitude and love.

If you are not a bond-servant of Jesus, you won’t receive, understand, accept and act upon the message of this book.

If you serve God today for money, or honor, or anything else, God will not reveal His truth to you. You will have to get it second-hand, from somebody else, and even then, you will probably not understand, accept and act upon it.

Therefore, if you are not a bond-servant of Jesus today, repent and become a bond-servant. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

Rev 1:3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.

If you read, hear and heed the things written in this prophecy you will receive a blessing from God.

Such blessed people will seek to live each day of their lives with a sense of urgency, realizing that the time is near. They will be careful about how they use their time. Like Moses, in Ps 90:12-13, we too will ask God to teach us to number our days, and present to Him a heart of wisdom in anticipation of His return.

If after reading the Book of Revelation, you do not have such a sense of urgency, then something is wrong, and you need to examine yourself.

If you are not already living wholeheartedly for God today, and you continue to live that way after reading the Book of Revelation, then you need to repent and become a bond-servant; the Book of Revelation is a book that must be taken very seriously.

Rev 1:4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne,

The first message that John has to deliver is for the seven churches in Asia. Before John can get down to specifics, he lets them know some basic things, such as the importance of being in a position to receive God’s grace, and the importance of being at peace with God, and the other things mentioned in Rev 1:4-7.

Grace is God’s power to help us do what we cannot do ourselves – power to be saved, and power to overcome sin (Rom 6:14; Heb 4:15-16). When we are under God’s grace, the suffering we need to undergo to overcome sin becomes bearable.

Peace with God is required for God to be willing to give us that power. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. When God opposes you, He is at war with you, and you cannot be at peace with God. We make great progress in our spiritual walk when we understand what pride is, and learn to detect it in ourselves, and repent of it, and further learn how to avoid it.

God is indestructible – He was and is and is to come. There will never be a moment in time when God is not present. You can’t destroy God, but He can destroy you. For this reason alone, you should want to be at peace with God.

Note how the seven Spirits are mentioned between the Father and Jesus. This is because they are divine.

Don’t be like most people, and pass over these seven Spirits. They are important. Please see Appendix B for a detailed discussion on these seven Spirits of God.

Rev 1:5-7 5 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. 7 BEHOLD HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen.

Jesus is the firstborn from the dead in the sense that He made it possible for people to live even after dying. He proved that by his own living after dying. He raised others from the dead, but they died again. He was the first who didn’t die again after His resurrection.

Why is understanding this important? It is critically important because if we cannot be raised from the dead then what is the point of paying the price for living right now? As Paul says in 1 Cor 15:32, if we are not raised from the dead then let us eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die!

Further, if we cannot be raised in a glorified body – one that cannot be tempted – then what is the point of being raised from the dead? After all, if we have to fight temptation for all eternity to be in the presence of God, then life in eternity is not going to be so wonderful, is it? But if the man Jesus was raised from the dead, and that too in a glorified body, then we can have this glorious hope too – that God’s promise to do the same for us, will indeed come to pass. This is something that we can eagerly look forward to.

Jesus is the faithful witness in the sense that He gave us the correct understanding of who God is, and what He plans to do in the future.

Now why is this important? Having a proper understanding of God is important because then we know what pleases God and what doesn’t, and we can order our lives to be pleasing to Him, and derive the great benefit that comes out of that.