Introduction to The Revelation of Jesus Christ
No Work Sheet
Revelation 1:1-1:1
No other book ever written has caused more fascination and misunderstanding than the Book of Revelation.
H.G. Wells wrote in his book, “The Fate of Man”, “Who, except cranks and lunatics, reads the Book of Revelation?”
I totally DISAGREE! That’s a statement of ignorance!
For too long this book has been used to create confusion within people’s heart, but I believe that the whole purpose of this book is to bring hope within people’s heart!
Now let me give you an easy to follow outline that puts the Book of Revelation into perspective:
· The Unveiling of Jesus. Ch.1-5
· The Judgment of God. Ch. 6-19
· The Jubilation of saints. Ch. 20-22
This outline is wrapped up in 7 major visions that John saw through the Spirit.
The author is the Apostle John – not John the Baptist! It’s been 60 years since John saw Jesus last and now he’s about 90 years old. He wrote this in 95 A.D.
John left Jerusalem in 70 A.D. because of the destruction of Jerusalem and went to Ephesus where he was pastor for many years until he was put in prison because of his faith in Christ.
Patmos is in the Aegean Sea, basically a volcanic rock where criminals of the worst were banished from society – kind of like Alcatraz in San Francisco.
Patmos was an island surrounded by waters full of sharks even to this day, some of the fiercest sharks roam this sea. It was about 24 miles of the shore of Ephesus - so no one would think to escape!
These times that John lived in were some of the worst for Christians because of a leader by the name of Domitian. This wicked ego maniac demanded full worship or it was prison or worse!
A great Historian named Shaffer writes about this period, “Domitian was the first emperor to wage a proper campaign against Christians; and the Church answered the attack under the leadership of Christ’s last Apostle, John…Nero had Paul and Peter destroyed, but he looked upon them as rebellious Jews. Domitian was the first emperor to understand that behind the Christian movement there stood a figure who threatened the glory of the emperors. He was the first to declare war on this figure, and the first also to lose the war – a foretaste of things to come.”
Nero would capture the Christians and have them be-headed. He would use their heads and sometimes the whole person to light the path to his castle…
This wasn’t the last round of persecution for Christians either! In 303A.D. Diocletion launched his great killing of Christians throughout Europe and Africa.
In fact, Diocletion in his pride and arrogance set up a stone pillar that inscribed these words…“For Having Exterminated The Name Christian From The Earth.”
If he could only now see how wrong he was!!
Another Roman leader made a coffin, which symbolized as he put it… “To bury the Galilean by killing his followers”.
1 Peter 2:6 “…he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.”
Matthew 16:18 Jesus said, “I will build My church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
You and I can live for Jesus no matter what the goons in the government say! Or the crazies on the courts say! Or what the scoundrels in our schools say!
The Book of Revelation is the last book in the Bible for good reason! It’s the capstone to all other books in the Bible!
· In Genesis we see the dawn of Satan and his activity, but in Revelation we see the doom of Satan!
· In Genesis we see the entrance of sin and the curse, but in Revelation we see the final exit of sin and the curse!
· In Genesis we see sorrow brought to creation, but in Revelation we see sorrow banished forever – no more tears, sorrows and pain!
1. The Subject of The Revelation. Vs. 1a
Jesus!
Revelation = apocalypse, literally an unveiling.
Its like John is drawing back the curtain and for just a moment we see the glory of Jesus!
But this is not what we see in the gospels:
· Humiliation and His humanity, being fully God. But for the most part His glory is covered up by His humanity!
· The suffering servant! He was hung on a cross so that we might be set free!
Even in the gospels we see glimpses of His glory:
· The Mount of Transfiguration.
· The miracles.
Lazarus raised from the dead! Can you see it – Lazarus is walking the streets of gold and Gabriel says to him, “Hey Lazarus, Jesus is calling you back”
Jesus raising the little girl from the dead and she goes home – that’s glory!
In the village of Namam – Jesus steps into the middle of a funeral and tells the pal-bearers to stand still and then Jesus say, “Hey son, rise!” …– that’s glory!
You see, in the gospels for the most part, it’s His humiliation, but Revelation shows His glorification! In the gospels Jesus receives death, but in Revelation Jesus rebukes death! In the gospels His enemies applaud, but in revelation His enemies appeal to Him!
In The Gospels - Misery * In Revelation - Majesty
In The Gospels He was Pierced * In Revelation He will be Praised
In The Gospels He was Victim * In Revelation He will be Victorious
In The Gospels He wore Thorns * In Revelation He wears a Crown
In The Gospels He hung on a Cross * In Revelation He sets on a Throne
In The Gospels He’s a Criminal * In Revelation He’s our Conqueror
In The Gospels - He gets our guilt * But in Revelation - We get His glory
The Jesus, presented in Revelation is the Jesus of glory and righteousness! High and lifted up! Never again to be spit on and mocked! Never again to be rejected and thorns shoved on His head!
Christ needs to be a living reality in our lives and that’s just what this book does for us!!
2. The Significance of The Revelation. Vs. 1b
“To show you the things that must shortly take place.”
“Shortly” = Quickly
Key: The idea is not that the events may occur soon, rather when the events do take place, it will be sudden.
That which Daniel says would occur “in the latter days” is described as coming suddenly in Revelation!
Even Jesus said when you see these signs take place…“Look up for your redemption is drawing near!”
Remember the constant target Christians were in John’s day, the Book of Revelation reminds us today to hold on to the cornerstone!
Adversity was hitting them in hurricane force, but Jesus says, “Hold on to your Anchor!
John’s dream of reaching the lost was shattered; their vision of winning the masses was now blurred! Yet in the cold dark cave on a forsaken island came this message – take your eyes off your circumstances and look to the unveiled Jesus.
Watch, because God was real to John – his prison was a doorway to glory! His hands and feet may have been shackled, but you can’t shackle the spirit! John is soaring through the heaven in the midst of his troubles!!
Only God can turn our tragedies into triumphant and our miseries into miracles!
Phillip Brooks wrote in 1837, “Out of the hillsides of humiliated pride, deep in the darkness of crushed despair, in the fretting and dusty atmosphere of little cares, in the hard cruel contacts that man has with man; wherever souls are being tried and ripened, in whatever commonplace and homely ways – God is hewing out the pillars of His heavenly Temple.”
This is the significance of Revelation!
3. The Symbolism of The Revelation. Vs. 1c
“Signified by His angel”
“Signify” = to give a sign. In order to reveal or explain or interpret something that was before unclear.
Jesus is explaining and declaring the final picture to John through His angel.
The Bible is full of signs and symbols pointing to Jesus Christ the Son of God! Think of it this way, the Bible gives us signs that point to the fulfillment of this book!
In Revelation we don’t see Jesus as yesterday, but how He is today! For that matter, everywhere you look in the Bible you see Jesus…
In Genesis - He’s the Seed of Woman. In Exodus - He’s the Passover Lamb.
In Leviticus - He’s the High Priest. In Numbers - He’s the cloud by day and pillar of fire by night. In Deuteronomy - He’s the prophet Moses. In Joshua - He’s the Captain of our Salvation. In Judges - He’s our Judge and Lawgiver. In Ruth - He’s our Kinsman Redeemer. In Samuel - He’s the trusted Prophet. In Kings and Chronicles - He’s the Reigning King! In Ezra - He’s our Faithful Scribe. In Nehemiah - He’s the rebuilder of broken lives. In Ester - He’s our Mortici. In Job - He’s our Day Spring.
In Psalms - He’s our Great Sheppard. In Proverbs and Ecclesiasts - He’s our source of wisdom In Song of Solomon - He’s our lover of the Bridegroom.
In Isaiah - He’s our Prince of Peace. In Jeremiah - He’s our Righteous Branch.
In Laminations - He’s our weeping prophet. In Ezekiel – He provides the stairway to heaven. In Daniel - He’s that 4th man in the fire. In Hosea - He loves the backslider.
In Joel - He baptizes in the Holy Spirit. In Odediah - He’s the Mighty Savoir.
In Jonah - He’s the great missionary. In Micah - He’s the messenger with the gospel.
In Nahum - He’s the avenger of God’s elect. In Habakkuk - He’s crying out for revival!
In Zephaniah - He’s restores God’s lost heritage. In Haggi - He’s the cleansing fountain.
In Zechariah - He’s the Merciful Father. In Malachi - He’s the Son of Righteousness with healing in His wings!
Matthew says - “I saw Him as Messiah”. Mark says - “I saw Him as a wonder worker”
Luke says - “I saw Him as the Son of Man”. John says - “I saw Him as the Lamb of God!”
In Acts - He’s the Ascending Lord. In Romans - He’s the only Justifier.
In Corinthians - He gives the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In Galatians - He’s the one who set us free. In Ephesians - He’s the one with the heavenly riches.
In Philippians - He’s the one who takes care of our every need!
In Colossians - He’s full of the Godhead. In Thessalonians - He’s the soon coming King!
In Timothy - He’s the Mediator between God and man. In Titus - He’s the Faithful Pastor.
In Philemon - He’s the friend that sticks closer than a brother.
In Hebrews - He’s the one with the spotless blood. In James - He’s the Great Physician.
In Peter - He’s the Chief Sheppard. In John - He’s the everlasting love.
In Jude - He’s coming down with 10,000 saints.
In Revelation - He’s the King of kings & the Lord of lords!
Worthy is the Lamb!!
When John sees Jesus, He’s not dead, he’s not hanging around a tomb - He’s standing at the throne! Praise God for the unveiled Jesus!!!
