Prologue
What is a prologue?
Dictionary;
the
preface or introduction to a literary work.
an
introductory or preceding event or development.
______
The
Prologue to the Gospel
John
1;1-18
1 In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was fully God. 2 The
Word was with God in the beginning. 3 All things were created by
him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. 4 In
him was life, and the life was the light of mankind. 5 And the
light shines on in the darkness, but the darkness has not mastered it.
6 A man came, sent from God,
whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify about the
light, so that everyone might believe through him. 8 He himself was
not the light, but he came to testify about the light. 9 The true
light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He
was in the world, and the world was created by him, but the world did not
recognize him. 11 He came to what was his own, but his own people
did not receive him. 12 But to all who have received him—those who
believe in his name—he has given the right to become God’s children 13 —children
not born by human parents or by human desire or a husband’s decision, but by
God.
14 Now the Word became flesh and
took up residence among us. We saw his glory—the glory of the one and only,
full of grace and truth, who came from the Father. 15 John
testified about him and shouted out, “This one was the one about whom I said,
‘He who comes after me is greater than I am, because he existed before me.’” 16 For
we have all received from his fullness one gracious gift after another. 17 For
the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came about through Jesus
Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. The only one, himself God, who
is in closest fellowship with the Father, has made God known.
Revelation
1
The Prologue
1 The revelation of Jesus
Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must happen very soon. He
made it clear by sending his angel to his servant John, 2 who then
testified to everything that he saw concerning the word of God and the
testimony about Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed is the one who reads the
words of this prophecy aloud, and blessed are those who hear and obey the
things written in it, because the time is near!
4 From John, to the seven
churches that are in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from “he who
is,” and who was, and who is still to come, and from the seven spirits who are
before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ—the faithful witness,
the firstborn from among the dead, the ruler over the kings of the earth. To
the one who loves us and has set us free from our sins at the cost of his own
blood 6 and has appointed us as a kingdom, as priests serving his
God and Father—to him be the glory and the power for ever and ever! Amen.
7
(Look!
He is returning with the clouds,
and every
eye will see him,
even
those who pierced him,
and
all the tribes on the earth will mourn because of him.
This
will certainly come to pass! Amen.)
8 “I am the Alpha and the
Omega,” says the Lord God—the one who is, and who was, and who is still to
come—the All-Powerful!
9 I, John, your brother and the
one who shares with you in the persecution, kingdom, and endurance that are in
Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the
testimony about Jesus. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day
when I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, 11 saying:
“Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches—to Ephesus,
Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”
12 I
turned to see whose voice was speaking to me, and when I did so, I saw seven
golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the lampstands was one like
a son of man. He was dressed in a robe extending down to his feet and he
wore a wide golden belt around his chest. 14 His head and hair were
as white as wool, even as white as snow, and his eyes were like a fiery flame. 15 His
feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the
roar of many waters. 16 He held seven stars in his right hand, and
a sharp double-edged sword extended out of his mouth. His face shone like the
sun shining at full strength. 17 When I saw him I fell down at his
feet as though I were dead, but he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do
not be afraid! I am the first and the last, 18 and the one who
lives! I was dead, but look, now I am alive—forever and ever—and I hold the
keys of death and of Hades! 19 Therefore write what you saw, what
is, and what will be after these things. 20 The mystery of the
seven stars that you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands is
this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven
lampstands are the seven churches