THE REASON FOR REVELATION
REVELATION 1:1-3
Purpose: To understand why Revelation was written.
Aim: I want the listener to rejoice in Christ’s present exalted state.
INTRODUCTION: Just the mention of the book of Revelation will often bring a dejected sigh that, “No one can really understand this book.” But, if we can’t understand the message of this book then why did God give it to us? Why is this the only book that promises a blessing (Vs.3) if we read it and obey it?
I fear that a lot of Christians have unknowingly thrown away a lot of blessings by not reading and studying the book of Revelation. It’s like the story of book collector who ran into a friend who had just thrown away a Bible that had been stored in the attic of his ancestral home for generations. "I couldn’t read it," the friend explained. "Somebody named Guten-something had printed it." "Not Gutenberg!" the book lover exclaimed in horror. "That Bible was one of the first books ever printed. Why, a copy just sold for over two million dollars!" His friend was unimpressed. "Mine wouldn’t have brought a dollar. Some fellow named Martin Luther had scribbled all over it in German." [Our Daily Bread, June 7, 1994.]
We tend to think of this book as shrouded in mystery, but the very title of the book is the “Revelation of Jesus Christ.”
The word REVELATION is a noun that means:
1. apokalupsis (ἀποκάλυψις, 602), lit., “an uncovering, unveiling” (apo, “from,” kalupto, “to hide, cover”), denotes “a revelation, or appearing” (Eng., apocalypse). It is translated “the appearing” in 1 Pet. 1:7, KJV (RV, “revelation”). .[Strong, J. (1996). The exhaustive concordance of the Bible : Showing every word of the test of the common English version of the canonical books, and every occurence of each word in regular order. (electronic ed.) (G602). Ontario: Woodside Bible Fellowship.]
Before we look at the message of Revelation let’s look at the Bible as a whole. The overall message of the Bible is actually very simple.
➽The Main Message of the Bible
➽#1 The perfection of God
God is holy, righteous, eternal, pure, completely separate from sin, all powerful, the Creator, and gloriously beautiful.
➽#2 The problem of sin
Adam and Eve chose to rebel against their loving Creator and everyone of us has inherited their rebellious nature.
➽#3 The promise of salvation
God announced the first promise of salvation to Satan, Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.” (NAU)
Then God killed an innocent animal in order to make coverings for Adam and Eve.
➽#4 The plan of a sacrifice
Romans 3:23-25 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; 25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness … (NAU)
➽#5 The power of the Savior
The book of Revelation is the only book of the Bible devoted entirely to teaching us the last area, so it makes the picture of the Bible complete. The Bible is not complete without the book of Revelation. This why Paul said, 2 Corinthians 5:16 … we have known Christ according to the flesh, [i.e. by what He is in the flesh] yet now we know Him in this way no longer. (NAU)
The Bible as a whole is a mystery to most people, but if we have four things we CAN understand the main message of the Bible.
➽Requirements for Understanding the Bible
➽#1 Receive Christ’s forgiveness
1 Corinthians 2:14-15 14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. 15 But he who is spiritual appraises all things… (NAU)
➽#2 Trust what God says
We must approach the Bible wanting to learn what God says. We should not come to the Bible skeptical of what God says.
Hebrews 11:3 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, … (NAU)
Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. (NAU)
➽#3 Ask God for help
Psalm 119:18 Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law. (NAU)
Psalm 119:169 Let my cry come before You, O Lord; Give me understanding according to Your word. (NAU)
“God wants you to know the message of Revelation more than you personally want to understand it.” David Hocking [Strong, J. (1996). The exhaustive concordance of the Bible : Showing every word of the test of the common English version of the canonical books, and every occurence of each word in regular order. (electronic ed.) (G602). Ontario: Woodside Bible Fellowship.]
➽#4 Put off worldliness
1 Peter 2:1-3 1 Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, 2 like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, 3 if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. (NAU)
God’s wisdom is pure, so we must be pursing purity. James 3:17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. (NAU)
➽#5 Pursue obedience to Christ
Psalm 119:100 I understand more than the aged, Because I have observed Your precepts. (NAU)
John 7:17 “If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself. (NAU)
➽#6 Practice studying the Bible
Acts 17:11 Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. (NAU)
2 Timothy 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. (NAU)
Now, let’s begin looking at this wonderful book. The key verse for the entire book is Revelation 1:19 “Therefore write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things. (NAU)
So I will follow that three point outline as we go through the book.
➽1:1-20 I. John’s Vision of the Past “the things which you have seen”
John begins by highlighting,
➽Vs.1-3 A. The importance of this book
➽Vs.1a 1. The purpose is to reveal Christ’s glory
➽a. Jesus is the subject “The Revelation of Jesus Christ”
This book is NOT called the “Revelation of John.” This book was given to John but it was not about him.
The NT points to a time when Jesus Christ will be revealed in all of His glory.
Luke 2:30-32 30 For my eyes have seen Your salvation, 31 Which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples, 32 A Light of revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel.” (NAU)
1 Corinthians 1:7 7 … awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, (NAU)
1 Peter 1:7 so that the proof of your faith, … may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; (NAU)
In the OT there was a veil over Jesus Christ that is lifted in the NT. Notice the difference between Daniel and Revelation. Daniel 12:8-9 8 As for me, I heard but could not understand; so I said, “My lord, what will be the outcome of these events?” 9 He said, “Go your way, Daniel, for these words are concealed and sealed up until the end time. (NAU)
Revelation 22:10 And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. (NAU)
Notice the view that John has of Jesus in Revelation 1:7-8 7 Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen. 8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” (NAU)
Paul describes the difference between the two appearances of Jesus Christ in, Philippians 2:5-11 5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (NAU)
➽b. Jehovah is the source “which God gave Him”
There is no higher authority!
Jesus said, John 14:28 28 … I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. (NAU)
1 Corinthians 15:24 then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. (NAU)
➽c. Judgment is sure “must soon take place”
SOON can mean “immediately” or “speedily.” The latter is probably meant here, the idea is that Christ’s second coming will happen without warning.
Let’s not forget that Jesus has the right to remove sin. Revelation 19:1-2 1 After these things I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God; 2 because His judgments are true and righteous; for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and He has avenged the blood of His bond-servants on her.” (NAU)
Jesus also has the right to rule the earth. Revelation 19:6 Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. (NAU)
➽Vs.1b-2 2. The person who received the revelation “to His bond-servant John”
“John states in 1:9 that he ‘was’ on the island called Patmos. Though it appears the vision of this book came to him while on the island, that remark indicates that he was, in fact, released. Tradition tells us he died and was buried in Ephesus.[“The Coming World Leader” by David Hocking, 1988, p.9]
John’s life span covers the first century AD. He was a disciple of Jesus at a young age, and was the disciple whom Jesus loved (John 21:20). He was entrusted with the care of Jesus’ mother, Mary (John 19:25-27), and tradition tells us that she is buried in Ephesus along with John. John was the only disciple who did not die as a martyr for his faith. He wrote the gospel of John, the three short epistles of John and the book of Revelation.”
Vs.2 tells us that John knew and taught the Old and New Testaments: testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. (NAU) John is telling us about things he saw and experienced. 1 John 1:1 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life— (NAU)
➽Vs.3 3. The promise that comes with this revelation “Blessed is he”
BLESSED means happy, or supremely blest. This is the same word that Jesus used in the Beatitudes. The closer we get to Christ the happier we are.
C. S. Lewis has captured this sense of the biblical meaning of blessed in his novel The Horse and His Boy. Shasta is the name of the boy, and his journey has been a very hard one because of the task given to him to warn King Lune of the impending attack by the armies of Tash. In one scary scene, Shasta is a lone rider upon a mountain pass in the darkness; he rides an unfamiliar horse that won’t obey his commands. Then Shasta is suddenly aware of a large presence alongside him. That presence is Aslan. Finally Shasta speaks out in fear, “Who are you?” The great Lion, still at this point only known as a large presence to Shasta, says to the boy, “Tell me your sorrows.” Then it is that Shasta complains to the large voice of his dangerous journey, his frightening experience with lions, his unhappy childhood, and now the fact that he is hungry and thirsty and cold. The answer of Aslan is a big surprise to Shasta: “I do not call you unfortunate …” In other words, Shasta is blessed; he is on the right road. Then in successive waves of surprise, Shasta learns many things about his own life and journey, and the path where even now he has a task to do. The danger is still real, Shasta is still tired and hungry, but he has been blessed and he now knows that where he is, dangerous as it really is, is still where he should be, and even where he wants to be. But best of all, he has met the great Lion himself, Aslan. [Palmer, E. F., & Ogilvie, L. J. (1982). Vol. 35: The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 35 : 1, 2 & 3 John / Revelation. Formerly The Communicator’s Commentary. The Preacher’s Commentary series (110). Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson Inc.]
➽a. The promise is for those who proclaim this book “he who reads”
Read refers to the public reading of this book.
➽b. The promise is for those who hear this book “those who hear”
Eight times in this book the Lord says, Revelation 2:7 7 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says … (NAU) Really hearing and listening are not always the same thing. You may be hearing my voice, but are you really listening to what I am saying.
➽c. The promise is for those who heed this book “heed the things which are written”
This book reveals Jesus Christ in His power, glory, holiness, majesty, and victory. Revelation 5:12 12 saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.” (NAU)
In chapters 1-5 we see Christ on His throne in heaven.
In chapters 6-20 we see Christ on His throne on earth.
In chapters 21-22 we see Christ on His throne in the New Jerusalem.
CONCLUSION: J. Sidlow Baxter wrote, “From the beginning to end of the New Testament there is a sustained movement of progress until the thorn-crowned Christ of the Cross is the glory-crowned King of the new Jerusalem.”
Is Jesus ruling on the throne of your heart? The book of Revelation paints a picture of ultimate HAPPINESS for those who follow Jesus Christ and a picture of ultimate HORROR for those who are not followers of Jesus Christ.
“The time is near”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer expressed this same prophetic immediacy that we discover in the Book of Revelation in this way: “We live each day as if it were our last, and each day as if there was a great future because of Jesus Christ.” [1. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison (New York: Macmillan), p. 15.]
