Revelation 1 vs 1-3

The Revelation of Jesus Christ. Written in the Greek, Apokalypsis Jesous Christos. The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ! Or quite literally, The Unveiling of Jesus Christ! This book is the revelation of the holiness, the righteousness, the supremacy, the totality, the divinity and the finality of Jesus! The culmination of all things and the revealing, the unveiling of the (God-I’m-so-thankful-for, give me a word for that!) true work of the cross of Christ. What is ahead for me and for you. Home. Eternal life. The perfection of place of person! The total and full redemption of the massive price Jesus paid with His blood! The dealing with sin, the unmasking of true love, the delivering of God’s grace and the securing of eternal life in a new and supremely advanced and unfamiliar creation…, in that there is coming for those that receive Him a New Heaven and a New Earth, where there is not a shadow of sin!

This revelation was given almost 2,000 years ago and yet is as fresh as today’s headlines! Given to us by the host of heaven, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit and the angelic army all at different points in this book as the hand of John is taken and he is guided to tell us what he was so privileged to see and give us what is and what is yet to come.

This book is easily divided up into three sections as it is the only book in the Bible that contains its own outline. Chapter 1 verse 19, “Write the things which you have seen,” that will be Chapter 1, “and the things which are,” that will be Chapters 2 and 3, the time of grace, the church age, that portion of time we are in right now, “and the things which will take place after this,” Chapters 4 through 22… the heavenly scene of the throne room of God, Chapters 4 and 5…, the time of the seven year tribulation period upon earth, Chapters 6 through 19…, Satan bound and the final judgment, Chapter 20, and then the New Heaven and the New Earth, Chapters 21 and 22.  

There is little question that the book was written by the Apostle John while he was exiled by Domitian for continually evangelizing. Tertullian, a second century historian, wrote of John’s exile to the island as well as his oil bath. Emperor Domitian had ordered the execution of John, the disciple of Jesus Christ, the last remaining living apostle of the Nazarene who had disrupted the world by ruining His own funeral, and he ordered that John would be boiled in oil, which happened to him… But by God’s provision, John didn’t die. He just asked for a pina colada…HA!

Why didn’t the oil bath kill John? Because this book had not yet been given to him. God was not through with him yet. Let me tell you today, if you ain’t dead, God ain’t done! HA! He has yet to use you as He has totally planned so as long as you are here, even if you find yourself in a tough spot, like John was when he was given this revelation, stay humble. Willing, available, teachable…, and you will stay useful to God!

There is NO doubt this book was written by John the Apostle. Irenaeus, a second century bishop type in France, wrote about John’s exile by Domitian and his eventual return to Ephesus after Domitian’s demise where John planted several churches (and where his tomb is today). Jerome also, one of the most prominent Christian historians wrote a similar account of John’s exile and authoring of this Book. There are others that we could invoke including Clement of Alexandria, but with these three notable and trustworthy sources we can positively ascribe the Book of Revelation to John the Apostle, while exiled on the Island of Patmos, between 81 and 96 AD (the reign of Domitian).

This is the same John who wrote the Gospel of John and the three Epistles of John. John was quite deliberate in always giving a specific reason for taking the time to put pen to paper. The Gospel of John, the reason is “believe.” John writes in John 20:31, “These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and by believing, you might have life through His name.” The Epistles of John, the reason for those, “be confident, strength in the inner man.” 1 John 5:13 declares, “These things I have written to you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may KNOW that you are saved.” John wrote his gospel that we might believe…he wrote his epistles that we might be confident and strong…and he wrote the Book of Revelation that you might be hopeful, comforter and that we might be ready. Believe, be confident, be ready for what Jesus did to come, and come quickly! In the last verses of the book and Bible for that matter Rev 22:20, we hear Jesus say, “Surely I am coming quickly.”

This book is statistically the book that all church goers want to hear taught and simultaneously the book that statistically pastors do not want to teach! HA! I am definitely a few standard deviations away from the statistical pastor! HA!!

First off, a blessing is promised on the church just for the reading of the book. We will see that in chapter 1. But it’s also filled with encouragement, with hope, with outstanding wonderous truths about God’s sovereignty, and so much entirely more! This book has 404 verses and, in those verses, there are roughly 500 illusions to the Old Testament. This book ties everything, absolutely everything together! John pulls from virtually every book of the Old Testament in the Book of Revelation. And just a factoid here, the book that is pulled from the most is the book of Isaiah.

Perhaps folks avoid this book because they say its too difficult to understand. Let me help. The Bible and the Book of Revelation especially is a picture, not a puzzle. Those that focus on the puzzles tend to sensationalize and that leads us away from the main purpose of the book which is not obfuscation, but revelation. Even Martin Luther, the great reformer, discredited this book calling it “unedifying for the normal believer.” So, for some its marginalized, for others its sensationalized, we will do neither.

May I just say something that may be intensely offensive? That’s not my aim. My aim is for a work of humility and circumspection but often that begins with offense. There are puzzles and patterns and riddles and enigmas and codes and hidden mindblowers in the Bible…, but the things that are important are those that are obvious. Discover the hidden meaning behind the composition of the three nails and the numerology driving the day of the whatever event that has happened or yet to happen, but fail to understand the greatest commandment, fail to grasp and administer the grace of God like God’s right-hand man to the people around you, and it’s just sad… You’ve missed the point!

The truth is that many people become Bible treasure hunters because that’s easy. There are estimated to be tens of thousands of hidden secrets in the pages of scripture. If I hid 10,000 gold nuggets in my backyard, wouldn’t take you long to find one. Pretty easy. It’s far more difficult to mature in the love, grace, and personification, the following of Jesus Christ.

John says things he saw 36 times and things he heard 27 times throughout this 22-chapter book. There is much to be discovered, that is true. And they begin, in fact they are predominated by the much that is right in front of our faces… Black bold! So we will make connections, no doubt, but the emphasis of this book is not the revelation of puzzles and Bible secrets, the emphasis of this book is the Revelation of Jesus Christ!

Revelation Chapter 1 Verse 1

The Revelation of Jesus Christ…This book is the unveiling of Jesus Christ…the revealing of Jesus the Son of God, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And John, the pastor, the church planter, the last remaining apostle of God writes this to the churches there in Asia Minor because much like us today, they needed Jesus to be revealed in their present situation.

They were under intense persecution. Caesar Nero had just left the scene and now his eviler twin, not by relation but by action, Domitian was in power. He followed Nero’s pattern of boiling Christians in oil, covering them with tar and using their bodies to light the emperor’s gardens…horrible persecutions. And God knows what the people need, what John needs…to see Jesus on the throne still, to know that He is on the way, and that He has secured their future.

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to Him to show His servants. Notice why the Revelation…to show His servants! God gave this to Jesus because Jesus would give this to John and John would give it to the churches and so on! 

A lot of the time I hear people say, “I just don’t seem to be getting any revelation…I’m not growing, things aren’t fresh, they’re not exciting…” Let me be clear…revelation is given to be heeded, and to be passed on. Revelation is not given to people to satisfy curiosity…or to feed the intellect. If you approach the Bible only with the curiosity of growing in your own intellectual desire…it’s not going to work for you. Revelation is given to you to flow in you and then through you to those around you. 

In Luke 8:18 Jesus said, “Take heed how you hear. For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him.” Revelation day by day comes to those who will say “I’m in this for You Lord, to be used by You.” Whether it’s in the life of my kids, my wife, my boss, my friends…I want to help others. God says “ok time to equip you!”

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants things which must shortly take place. This book will challenge you in many ways and one that is primary is that God is entirely greater than man. God calls Himself the “I am,” throughout the Bible…the ever present and the God of the corporate now. Above time, seeing all of it as one thing, all of time as one event…and the proof of that fact is that God readily will describes in detail the future to come.

The word shortly there is entachon. It’s actually two words. En meaning in and tachon meaning rapidity. Think tachometer. It gives the RPMs…as the engine revs up! And just like that, when you start to see these things rev up…realize the time is now…it’s going to suddenly come about. 

So, here’s the way to understand prophecy and this book specifically…once you begin to see these things start to happen, it will come about suddenly! And we are the generation that is seeing the tachometer of prophecy rev up! Beginning May 14, 1948…with the rebirth of Israel as a nation in a single night…and since then, the times have accelerated very quickly…

Revelation Chapter 1 Verse 2

John says, I not only recorded this but I put my seal of authority as a pastor, as an apostle, as the one whom Jesus loved on it…that it is true! (Quite consistent with chapter 1 of his first epistle) There’s an implied consistency here also of all that John saw when he walked with Jesus…those fireside conversations on nights after long travel days…How this revealing must have made so many things fall into place in John’s own understanding…

Revelation Chapter 1 Verse 3

This is the only book that comes with a particular promise of blessing. None of the 65 other books contain a stated blessing as Revelation does. Blessed are you who reads this Book, as we are doing today and as you are doing in your own time as you prepare for church. Blessed are you who hears…not just simply hearing it read but those that HEAR it! Take it in, an approach of reverence and humility… Have you ever asked your kid or your husband or your wife or your friend, “Hey, did you hear me?” That is the thought here…not just listening but absorbing it, and giving it place in your heart! The key to revelation! 

But it’s not just reading, hearing…also keeping those things which are written. The blessing of this book is supernatural. But it’s not complete only in hearing and reading…but also in the keeping! 

The word keep, “tereo,” is a very powerful and particular word. It doesn’t mean to keep like you would a keep sake…it’s not keep it in the drawer, keep it in the bank, keep it in your pocket…this word means keep at it, keep in it, keep after it! It means you are saying “I gotta handle this thing constantly! It is not something I listen to passively or listen to audibly…I’m living it!” 

This is the key to revelation. Not just the book. But a life full of revelation. A life that’s rich. A life that is deep. A life full of meaning and purpose. The road to richness for every one of us…this is it. This was our original design! To not have heard God but to HEAR God!

A lot of Christians do not understand this…the simple key to a blessed life and a secure eternal life is not based on agreement with scripture or with a sermon…it is not in the agreeing with the scripture, it is the doing of the scripture! Not obedience, BELIEF! You keep at it, you keep on it, you keep with it!

For the time is near… Two thousand years ago the time was near…, now we are in the time of suddenly. And it really is any day, any moment, the prophetic events of this book can kickoff. There is not one event remaining Biblically, eschatologically, that must precede the rapture of the church and the beginning of the Tribulation. All prophecy leading to the Revelation of Jesus Christ has been fulfilled… And now, we watch!