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The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2 who testifies to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near. ~ Revelation 1:1-3
Today, we begin a study of the book of the Revelation. This book is hard to understand, but it is impossible to forget. It is not an accident that this is the last book of the Bible for it brings themes that are found throughout the Bible and brings them into focus.
The thesis statement for Revelation is found in Revelation 1:19 which reads, "Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later." The outline of Revelation is what you have seen (Revelation 1), what is now (Revelation 2-3), and what will take place later (Revelation 4-22).
In v.1 we read, "The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John."
The word, "revelation" is the Greek word apocalupsis which means an unveiling, an uncovering, someone made visible, the shining forth of a person for all to see, the appearing, the arrival, the manifestation of Jesus Christ. Throughout this book we will discover many mysteries made clear. This is why this book begins with that word, "revelation" which is the unveiling of the mysteries found in the rest of the Bible that have to do with the end times and the revealing of the Lord Jesus Christ at the end of time.
Though there are no direct quotes from the Old Testament in the four hundred and four verses of the book of the Revelation, there are no less than two hundred and twenty-five of them that have some reference to or connection with Old Testament prophetic truth. The relationships are not in terms of quotations but in terms of connections and references.
The Apostle John wrote the book of the Revelation in AD 95, during the reign of the Roman emperor Titus Flavius Domitian. The emperor had demanded that he be worshipped as “Lord and God,” and the refusal of the Christians to obey his edict led to severe persecution. Tradition says that it was Domitian who sent John to the Isle of Patmos, a Roman penal colony off the coast of Asia Minor. This being the location of John’s exile, perhaps it is not surprising that the word "Sea" is found twenty-six times in this book.
The word used here for "servants" is the Greek word doulos which is the word for a willing servant. This book, the book of Revelation was written for those who are willing because we will need a willing heart in order to understand and to give ourselves to the teachings of this book.
John writes, "The revelation from Jesus Christ." This unveiling is from the one who spoke everything into existence. He is the very one who redeemed us from the clutches of sin and death through His sacrifice made on the cross so long ago. This God-man, according to v.1, sent an angel to the Apostle John. In those words "to show" there is a hidden message. It is actually one Greek word which in English should be translated signified, or, made known by signs or symbols. This is one of the first things we need to know about the book of the Revelation. It is a book largely of symbols which are difficult to understand.
The book of Revelation has strange beasts and fearful scorpions and many other weird persons and animals that appear, but they are symbols of something real and literal. And, almost all of the symbols of the book of the Revelation are given to us before in the Bible. This is why it is wrong to read the book of Revelation without reading first the whole Bible. If we start with the book of the Revelation we will soon be frustrated, because if we read the book of the Revelation without reading the whole Bible, we will not understand the symbols. The symbols are given in Genesis through Jude.
Now, the author of the book of the Revelation is not John the Apostle, as many suppose, though John is certainly involved in the writing of this book. The author is God himself! Notice the words, "The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place." This book began with God the Father as its author. He revealed the book to his Son. It all began in the mind of the Father and then was revealed to the Lord Jesus, his Son.
In v.2 we read, "who testifies to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ."
In Matthew 24:36 the Lord Jesus said that though He understood many of the events of the last days, He did not know the time when it would all happen. He said that knowledge belonged only to the Father. Now, of course, risen and glorified, He knows all these things, but at that time He did not know. It had not yet been revealed to Him when these events would occur. But now, the Lord Jesus has given it to an angel who in turn makes it known by symbols to John the Apostle. No other book was given in quite this way. It comes from the mind of God the Father, through the agency of the Son of God, to an angel of God, and thus to the Apostle John, the writer of this book.
In v.3 we read, "Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near."
To those who read, who hear, and who take to heart this prophecy, there is a special blessing for them. This word "blessed" is the Greek word, makarios, which was the name of an island off of Greece. This island was known as the blessed island because it was self-contained. The residents didn’t need to leave the island in order to get their needs met. The island offered everything that they needed.
Just being in the Kingdom with the King ought to be enough, but one of the ways we know that we aren’t blessed yet is that we leave the island to find satisfaction. When we need more than Him, we must be careful to make sure that we are in Him. When we have come to know Him, we discover that He is the end of the road for our wants and desires. This is the promised blessing to us as we study this book we know as the Revelation.
