Part 1 - Christ's Church In A Pestilent World (Part 1) Series

“For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life” (Romans 6:20-22).

What God is telling us is that there are things that will soon take place. Revelation is not just a book about a distant time in the future. Revelation is a book about now. Someone asked me when the end times will come and I can tell you with certainty, the end times are not coming, the end times are here now. When Israel became a nation again in 1947, the end-times clock was restarted. Prophetic writings in the Bible nearly always have a present and future context. So we can look at Revelation in a historical context as Jesus addresses the 7 Churches in Asia Minor (modern-day turkey) but also in a modern context to the Church today and the events leading to Christ’s return.

3. Revelation is a Book to Bless

He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2 who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. 3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.

God passed this revelation down through Jesus and then on down to the Apostle John. That would have been a reason enough for the churches venerate this letter and it should for us. This was not just anyone. John was known as the disciple that Jesus loved. We’ll get into John a little more next week, but we can touch today that this message was given to an Apostle. John was someone who was a disciple of Jesus from the very start of Jesus’ ministry. John witnessed Jesus’ baptism, turning the water to wine, and the feeding of the five thousand. John was there on the Mount of Transfiguration and at the crucifixion. John was the first of the disciples to enter the vacated tomb. He walked with the risen Savior on the beach of Galilee, and he watched at Jesus ascended to Heaven.

If John is the blessed one, then John is a messenger of blessing for us. Verse 3 makes it clear that those who read this word of prophecy are blessed. But not only hear the Word but keep it; be doers of the Word of God, especially the word of Revelation for the time is near (verse 3). Nothing in the world events should catch us by surprise. Even a pandemic. God does not intend it to be that way, because everything that happens is part of God’s plan. And God does delight in revealing His plan.

You are part of that plan. Every Christian can and should be blessed now. Even in facing persecution and trials, weakness and sin. We are blessed in our trials by God’s Word. Yet when through faith we enter the glorious kingdom of Christ’s resurrection power, “we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” Receiving in Revelation the good news that “The Lamb Wins,” we are blessed above all other blessings to be persuaded that nothing “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:36–39) (Philipps).