Revelation of Jesus Christ Interpreted

By Dean R. Eyerly

Battles in revelation may be seen as referring to spiritual warfare. The beast from the sea may be identified as the satanically inspired political opposition to the church and the beast from the land as the opposition of pagan religion to Christianity. The Harlot represents either the compromised church or the seduction of the world in general.

• Language: English
• Publisher: ReadersMagnet LLC
• Release date: Nov 20, 2018
• ISBN: 9781948864961

Book preview

Revelation of Jesus Christ Interpreted

Copyright © 2018 by Dean R. Eyerly

Published in the United States of America

ISBN Paperback: 978-1-948864-95-4

ISBN eBook: 978-1-948864-96-1

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the author except as provided by USA copyright law.

Scriptures marked kjv are taken from King James Version (kjv): King James Version, public domain.

The opinions expressed by the author are not necessarily those of ReadersMagnet, LLC.

ReadersMagnet, LLC

10620 Treena Street, Suite 230 | San Diego, California, 92131 USA

1.619. 354. 2643 | www.readersmagnet.com

Book design copyright © 2018 by ReadersMagnet, LLC. All rights reserved.

Cover design by Ericka Walker

Interior design by Shemaryl Evans

Dedicated To…

Ed Burge—Forever Young

Contents

Introduction

John of Patmos 

Northern Kingdom of Samaria 

The Story of Joseph and Aseneth His Wife 

Urantia Revelation 

Life of Saint Issa: Best of The Sons of Men 

Revelation of Jesus Christ

Gospel According to John 

Bibliography

INTRODUCTION

John the Evangelist, son of a wealthy fisherman named Zebedee, was the youngest of the twelve disciples joining Jesus’ mission at the age of 24. He was a fisherman by trade, a priest by vocation, and both a ‘spiritual’ guide and visionary. He and his brothers, Andrew and David were first cousins to both John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth through their mother Salome’s side of the family. According to biblical commentary, John of Zebedee was author to both Revelation of Jesus Christ written on the Island of Patmos in AD 90 and Gospel of John written in Ephesus in AD 110. John is thought to have outlived the other disciples passing away in Ephesus of natural causes sometime after AD 103. John’s writings, for the most part, are about events he witnessed during his lifetime or history he had studied. To acquire an appreciation of the events John witnessed, one should read non-biblical writings such as Archko Volume, Urantia Revelation , Story of Joseph and Aseneth His Wife, and Life of Saint Issa: Best of the Sons of Men with these writings giving insight into the person of Jesus of Nazareth and his first followers.

JOHN OF PATMOS

John the Evangelist (AD 6-103) was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ according to the New Testament. He had two brothers named James and David. He was the son of a wealthy fisherman named Zebedee and his wife Salome who had two business partners named Simon Peter and Andrew. While John and James worked in the ministry of Jesus, we learn from both Archko Volume and Urantia Revelation that David owned a messenger service which helped Jesus communicate news of the day.

The tradition of most Christian denominations hold that John is the author of several books of the New Testament including Revelation of Jesus Christ written in AD 90 and Gospel of John written in AD 110 with authorship of other Johannine literature being debated within the church since AD 200.

Mary, mother of Jesus, was born in the city of Sepphoris, which was nestled in the hills four miles southeast of Nazareth. Mary’s father Joachim was a direct descendant of King David with ties to the priestly lineage of Aaron as recorded in the early second century gospel Protoevangelium of James as well as in third century Bodmer Papyrus. Mary’s mother, who was a member of British royalty, was named Anna. From the book Did Our Lord Visit Britain as They Say in Cornwell and Somerset by Cyril Dobson, we learn Anna’s sisters were Elizabeth, wife of Zechariah, mother of John the Baptist, and Salome, wife of Zebedee, mother of John,

James and David.

John of Zebedee and his brother James, who had been followers of John the Baptist, left his mission to join Jesus who was to be proclaimed the messiah. After the ascension of Jesus, James of Zebedee preached the gospel in Judaea later traveling to such places as India and Spain while John of Zebedee fulfilled his ministry in Asia Minor preaching to the Parthians who lived on the borders of what is now Russia and Iran near the eastern regions of Turkey. John of Zebedee was exiled to the Island of Patmos in AD 94 by Emperor Domitian (AD 51-96) but was later allowed to return home to Ephesus by Emperor Nerva Pertinax (AD 96-98) in AD 96. He is thought to have died of natural causes in Ephesus around AD 103. While on the Isle of Patmos, John authored Revelation of Jesus Christ. In Ephesus, he is thought to have been involved with the writing of Gospel of John.

Ecclesiastical History of the Church by Eusebius (AD 263-339) states that First Epistle of John, Gospel of John, and Revelation of Jesus Christ are written by him; however, by a consensus of scholars the second and third epistles of John are not. Eusebius tells the circumstances that caused John to write his

gospel:

The fourth of the Gospels was written by John, one of the disciples. When exhorted by his fellow-disciples and bishops, he said, ‘Fast with me this day for three days; and what might be revealed to any of us, let us relate to another.’ That same night it was revealed to Andrew, one of the Apostles, that John was to write all things heard in his own name, and they were all to certify.

John the Apostle: 4 years in exile

In The Twelve Christ Chose, scholar Ashbury Smith records information about John which was written by Jerome (AD 347-420) giving additional insight for the writing of his gospel:

John the Apostle whom Jesus most loved, the son of Zebedee and brother of James, the Apostle whom Herod, after our Lord’s passion, beheaded, most accompany Peter, who adapted his instruction to the needs of his hearers, but not with the object of making connected series of discourses of our Lord. So Mark made no mistake in writing the individual discourses in the order in which he recalled them.

Gospel of John differs considerably from Mark, Matthew and Luke which were written decades earlier and most likely known to John. It is alleged by scholars that the bishops of Asia Minor requested John write his gospel in order to deal with the ‘heresy’ of the Ebonite’s, first followers of Jesus, who believed that he was the earthly son of Joseph and Mary; that he had brothers and sisters; that he was a prophet, that he was the originator of their kingdom of Heaven school of thought, and that he received the spirit of God at the Jordan River when baptized. This community is the group with whom Christianity all began. Their undying belief in Jesus’ interpretation of the law and belief in his messiahship marked them different from the majority of other Galileans.

Adela Yarbro Collins, scholar at Yale Divinity School, writes the following in his book The Combat Myth in the Book of Revelation:

Early tradition says that John was banished to Patmos by the Roman authorities. This tradition is credible because banishment was a common punishment used during the Imperial period for a number of offenses. Among such offenses were the practices of magic and astrology. Prophecy was viewed by the Romans as belonging to the same category, whether Pagan, Jewish, or Christian. Prophecy with political implications, like that expressed by John in the book of Revelation, would have been perceived as a threat to Rome political power and order. Three of the islands in the Sporades chain were places where political offenders were banished. (Pliny Natural History 4.69-70; Tacitus Annals 4.30).

Patmos is a small Greek island in the Aegean Sea situated off the west coast of Turkey and the continent of Asia. It is most famous for being the location of both the vision and writing of Revelation of Jesus Christ. As one of the northernmost islands of the Dodecanese complex, it has an area of roughly 34.05 km (13.2 sq. mi). The highest point on the island where John lived is called Profitis Ilias which is located 269 meters (883 ft.) above sea level. Patmos’ two main communities were Chora and Skala which was the only commercial port. Churches located on modern-day Patmos are of the Eastern Orthodox tradition.

There is no information in the Bible concerning the duration of John’s ministry. According to tradition, John and the other Apostles remained some 12 years in their field of endeavor. The persecution of Jesus’ followers under Herod Agrippa led to a scattering of the Apostles through the Roman Empire’s provinces. A messianic community existed at Ephesus before Apostle Paul’s first labors there with the original community being under the leadership of Apollos (AD 54) who was a disciple of

John the Baptist.

When John of Zebedee was aged, he trained Polycarp (AD 69-155) who later became Bishop of Smyrna. This is important because Polycarp was able to carry John’s message to future generations. Polycarp taught Irenaeus (AD 130-200), who became Bishop of Lyons, passing on to him stories about John. Similar goes with Ignatius of Antioch (AD 35-107), who was student of John and later appointed by Peter to be Bishop of Antioch following in his footsteps. It is believed that John was the youngest of the apostles and that his tomb is located at Selcuk a small town in the vicinity of Ephesus.

Isle of Patmos

An ancient collection of writings known as Urantia Book (Part 4, Paper 139) gives testimony to John the Evangelist:

139:4.1 When he became an apostle, John was twenty-four years old and was the youngest of the twelve. He was unmarried and lived with his parents in Bethsaida; he was a fisherman and worked with his brother James in partnership with Andrew and Peter. Both before and after becoming an apostle, John functioned as the personal agent of Jesus in dealing with the Master’s family, and he continued this responsibility as long as Mary the mother of Jesus lived.

139:4.2 Since John was the youngest of the twelve and so closely associated with Jesus in his family affairs, he was very dear to the Master, but it cannot be truthfully said he was the disciple whom Jesus loved. You would hardly suspect such a magnanimous personality as Jesus to be guilty of showing favoritism, of loving one of his apostles more than the others. The fact that John was one of the three personal aides of Jesus lent further color to this mistaken idea, not to mention that John, along with his brother James, had known Jesus longer than the others.

139:4.6 Those characterists of Jesus which John most appreciated were the Master’s love and unselfishness; these traits made such an impression on him that his whole subsequent life became dominated by the sentiment of love and brotherly devotion. He talked about love and wrote about love. This son of thunder became the apostle of love; and at Ephesus, when the aged bishop was no longer able to stand in the pulpit and preach but had to be carried to church in a chair, and when at the close of service he was asked to say a few words to the believers, for years his only utterance was, My little children, love one another.

139:4.7 John was a man of few words except when his temper was aroused. He thought much but said little. As he grew older, his temper became more subdued, better controlled, but he never overcame his disinclination to talk; he never fully mastered this reticence. But he was gifted with a remarkable and creative imagination.

139:4.8 There was another side to John that one would not expect to find in this quiet and introspective type. He was somewhat bigoted and inordinately intolerant. In this respect he and James were much alike – they both wanted to call down fire from heaven on the heads of the disrespectful Samarians. When John encountered some strangers teaching in Jesus’ name, he promptly forbade them.

139:4.9 John’s life was tremendously influence by the sight of Jesus’ going about without a home as he knew how faithfully he had made provision for the care of his mother and family. John also deeply sympathized with Jesus because of his family’s failure to understand him, being aware that they were gradually withdrawing from him. This entire situation, together with Jesus’ ever deferring his slightest wish to the will of the Father in heaven and his daily life of implicit trust, made such a profound impression on John that it produced marked and permanent changes in his character, changes which manifested themselves throughout his entire subsequent life.

139:4.10 John had a cool and daring courage which few of the other apostles possessed. He was the one apostle who followed right along with Jesus the night of his arrest and dared to accompany his Master into the very jaws of death. He was present and near at hand right up to the last hour and was found faithfully carrying out his trust with regard to Jesus’ mother and ready to receive such additional instructions as might be given during the last moments of the Master’s mortal existence. One thing is certain, John was thoroughly dependable. John usually sat of Jesus’ right hand when the twelve were at a meeting. He was the first of the twelve really and fully to believe in the resurrection, and he was first to recognize the Master when he came to them on the seashore after his resurrection.

139:4.13 John was in prison several times and was banished to the Isle of Patmos for a period of four years until another emperor came to power in Rome. Had not John been tactful and sagacious, he would undoubtedly have been killed as was his more outspoken brother James. As the years passed, John, together with James the Lord’s brother, learned to practice wise conciliation when they appeared before the civil magistrates. They found that a softer answer turns away wrath. They also learned to represent the church as a spiritual brotherhood devoted to the social service of mankind rather than as the kingdom of heaven. They taught loving service rather than ruling power – kingdom and king.

139:4.15 John traveled much, labored incessantly, and after becoming bishop of the Asian churches, settled down at Ephesus. He directed his associate, Nathan, in the writing of the so-called Gospel according to John, at Ephesus, when he was ninety-nine years old. Of all the twelve apostles, John Zebedee eventually became the outstanding theologian. He died a natural death at Ephesus in AD 103 when he was one hundred