Revelation Chapter 1 – The Revelation Of Jesus Christ – The Father’s Perfection Part 1 Of 6 Series

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REVELATION CHAPTER 1 – THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST – THE FATHER’S PERFECTION PART 1 OF 6

This chapter we are going to explore is one of the greatest and loveliest in the whole bible. What makes a chapter “great and lovely”? I could ask you this today as you hear these words but I want you to follow carefully as we work through this together.

Together, let us go on a journey of discovery, and that discovery is the revelation of God the Son, presented by God the Father. This book is a whole, and I must hasten to add that God holds the book of Revelation very precious, and in no way can it be tampered with or dismissed. You can dismiss it by neglect; neglect is culpable and dishonouring. We must pause to take notice of a special warning given to all generations – {{Revelation 22:18 “I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God shall add to him the plagues which are written in this book, Rev 22:19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city which are written in this book.”}} This is God’s stamp of inspiration right throughout this book. Indeed right throughout the Bible, but emphatically so in this last book of the inspired canon of scripture.

Those verses settle the matter of authority, but we will begin with verse 3 – {{Revelation 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.”}}

This is the only book in the entire bible where a promise of blessing awaits anyone who reads this book or hears it being spoken. That is quite a promise, yet the book of Revelation remains one of the least considered books in the entire canon of scripture. Why is that? The church generally has shied away from this book probably through lack of understanding of what has been written, or not wanting to enter into contention with those of opposing views. There is no excuse for those with lack of understanding because so many great resources are out there (but must be chosen discriminately), but most of all, spend time with the Lord and in the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. The fact that the waters are horribly muddied by false teaching and confusion, is no reason not to proclaim the word with authority as from God Himself. Let the churches not be cowards. Let the ministers and bible colleges be courageous and faithful to the bible.

My purpose in this examination is to open the window on only a small portion of this book because we only want to scratch the surface with this introduction. I want to open the window on the revelation glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, especially in this Chapter 1, not on the unfolding of the prophecies of the book, or even on the state and prophetic history of the 7 churches. Not in this message. I would love to do that but it is not my purpose here at this time.

The word revelation is from the Greek root “apokalupto” meaning a revealing as in a revelation, but is best understood as an unveiling such as where a curtain is removed from a painting or plaque. It is like the peeling of an onion, layer by layer with each layer, or the party game “Pass the Parcel” layer by layer revealing another precious truth about the Lord Jesus Christ, then another, then another. Thus this book provides layer on layer, revelation on revelation, picture on picture about the Lord Jesus Christ. I have given up using the word “Apocalypse” for the name of this book. The word is not wrong, correct in fact, but Hollywood has ruined the meaning of the word, typical of the garbage from Hollywood.

The book is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, not a revelation of man, much less, the revelation of John, or worst of all, of St John the divine, as titled by the KJV. John was the longest lived of all the apostles and died around the age of 96 in Ephesus, after having been exiled on Patmos around the year AD 95/96. John would have been horrified at being titled “the divine”. He was one of the chief apostles, yet he never made claim to the apostolic term in his writings. The very nearest he came to any title was, “John, your brother,” in verse 9 of this book, and “elder” in his epistles. In verse 1 he merely identifies himself as a “bond servant”. What a lovely attitude in grace and humility, however man might think of God’s servants, in God’s sight we are but brothers if we are the children of God.