Mary and I really like putting together jigsaw puzzles. And I’m finding that many of the things that we’ve learned during the process of assembling those puzzles are really helpful when we look at the Book of Revelation:
Lessons from a jigsaw puzzle:
1. The box art is critical.
Recently we purchased a set of five different puzzles that all came in the same box – mainly because it was a lot cheaper that buying separate puzzles and I’m a cheapskate. But the problem that we ran into was that the box art for several of the smaller puzzles was so small that it made it difficult for us to identify where some of the pieces went. That experience pointed out just how critical of a role that the box art plays. So as we proceed with our study of Revelation, we need to constantly be reminded of the box art, which we identified last week as these words of Jesus:
But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
Matthew 24:13 (ESV)
2. The individual pieces only have meaning in the context of the whole picture
I have here several pieces from one of our puzzles. But it is doubtful that any of you could identify what the entire puzzle will look like just from examining these pieces. Nor could you determine where the pieces fit within the entire puzzle. The same thing is true with the Book of Revelation. If we try to take individual pieces by themselves and try to draw conclusions about what they mean and where they fit in, we are likely to error.
3. Each piece has its purpose and place in the big picture
When you begin to put together a puzzle, where do you begin? With the corner pieces and the edges, right? That is because those pieces establish the boundaries and all the other pieces then have to fit within those boundaries. And then as you proceed to assemble the puzzle, each piece has a specific place where it goes based where it fits within the overall picture and its unique shape.
One of the most difficult puzzles we ever worked on was one where there were a number of pieces that were of a similar color and shape to each other. So when we put some of those pieces in the wrong place because they seemed to fit there, we couldn’t figure out how to put the rest of the puzzle together.
All the pieces in the Book of Revelation have a specific purpose and place. But just like with a box full of jigsaw puzzle pieces, they aren’t always arranged in a way that makes it clear exactly where they fit. Some of the pieces establish the boundaries while others fill in some of the details. So one of our most difficult tasks is going to be to determine the proper purpose and place of each piece.
4. The meaning is found in the whole picture, not in the individual pieces
Let’s face it, the individual pieces of a puzzle don’t tell us a whole lot. It’s only when we put all those pieces together and step back and take in the whole picture that we can fully appreciate the puzzle. My greatest fear as we approach the Book of Revelation is not so much that I may get some of the details wrong or that we won’t be able to fully understand them, but rather that we’ll fail to keep the big picture in mind. We must avoid at all costs the tendency to get so wrapped up in the pieces that we miss the big picture of God Himself – His holiness, His power and might, His sovereignty, His love, His grace, His righteousness and all of His other attributes that are on display.
So with these things in mind, let’s read the opening verses of the book of Revelation:
1 The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. 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.
4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia:
Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood 6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. 7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. 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.”
My first inclination for this morning was to spend most of our time discussing the background behind the Book of Revelation – things like when it was written, the historical setting, even the identity of the author. But as I began to focus on that information, I realized that there was a danger of falling into the trap that I’ve already said we want to avoid – spending so much time on the details that we miss the big picture. While some of that background information may be important at various times in our journey, if we place too much emphasis on it up front, we may wrongly conclude that this message was only for seven churches in Asia Minor near the end of the first century AD. So when that information is crucial to a proper understanding of the text, we’ll look at it then. But for now, let’s see what the text itself tells us:
Some overall observations from the text
1. The book of Revelation is all about Jesus
Although we’ll see a lot of different characters who take part in the drama that is about to be played out before us, Revelation is not about the Antichrist, or the false prophet, or the two witnesses or the 144,000 – it is about Jesus. That is clearly revealed to us in these first eight verses.
• It is the revelation of Jesus
Many people wrongly refer to the last book of the Bible as “Revelations”. But there is only one “revelation” in this book and that is the revelation of Jesus. We get our English title of the book from the first word of the Greek text – a word that is translated in our English translations as “revelation”. It literally means a “revealing” or an “uncovering”.
Many people consider the book of Revelation to be a mystery or something that is covered up, rather than something that is revealed. As a result, they spend their time trying to figure out the “secret code” that is going to “unlock” the mystery. But they miss out on the fact that the book is intended to reveal Jesus to us even more fully than the preceding 65 books of the Bible. So one of the keys to understanding the book is that we must constantly keep our focus on the main subject – Jesus.
• It is authored by Jesus
Many of the books and commentaries about the book of Revelation spend a lot of time and effort trying to identify which John wrote down the words we have in front of us. Personally, I believe the overwhelming evidence supports the fact that it is John the apostle, who is also the author of the gospel and the three epistles that bear his name.
But you know what – it really doesn’t matter. Because the first two verses very clearly describe the process by which John, whoever he is, came to write this book. And there is no doubt that the author is none other than Jesus Himself.
2. The book of Revelation is to be applied – not just studied
We must keep in mind that John was a pastor, not a theologian. And as a shepherd over the flocks in those churches in Asia Minor, he was concerned about providing those people with something that was relevant to their lives and that they could apply in a practical way on a day to day basis.
We see this truth demonstrated in three places here in the first three verses of this chapter. We’ll deal with two of them together, because they are related and then we’ll deal with the third separately.
• …the things that must soon take place… (v. 1)
• … for the time is near. (v. 3)
Both of these phrases deal with the timing of the events that are going to be recorded in the rest of the book. And our first reaction is to think that John made a mistake here – maybe he didn’t hear God right. After all, here we are, over 1,900 years later, still waiting for the fulfillment of these prophecies. So how could they be “soon” or “near” for John’s readers?
In order to answer that question, we have to go back to Daniel chapter 2. After Daniel reveals Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and the meaning of that dream, he speaks these words:
And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people.
Daniel 2:44 (ESV)
As we saw when we looked at that passage, the final fulfillment of those words won’t take place until the second coming of Jesus, but the process that would lead to that final culmination began at His first coming. This is exactly what we saw in the kingdom parables when Jesus made it clear that the kingdom of God has both present and future elements.
So John could claim that these events would be soon and that they were near because the process by which they would come to be fulfilled completely was now in progress. And the implication was that, in light of that fact, they should use the information that John was about to share with them, not just for information, but for application. The principles in the book of Revelation had immediate relevance for their day-to-day lives, and that is still true for us today.
• 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… (v. 3)
Apparently, what John wrote down was to be circulated among the seven churches, similar to the way some of Paul’s letters had previously been circulated among a number of different churches. But since there was only one copy of the book, one person would have to read the text out loud and then the others would listen to the word as it was proclaimed. In a sense, that is not all that different than what we do each week here in our worship service. The main difference today is that all of you also have access to a written copy of the Bible which you can study on your own and use to evaluate the accuracy of what I’m teaching each week.
But in order for John’s audience to receive a blessing from the text, when it was read they also had to hear it and to obey it. As you might expect, the word for “hear” in this verse means more than just having something going in one ear and out the other. It implies listening carefully in order to understand.
But even hearing in that way is not enough. The word must also be kept. The word “keep” implies not only acting according to what is learned by hearing the word, but it also requires passing on that word to future generations. We are able to benefit from the book of Revelation because the people in the early church did just that and now it is our turn to make sure that this word is both lived out and passed on.
Before we move on, let me also point out that all the verbs in this verse – read, hear and keep – are in the present tense, which indicates that this is not to be a one time action, but a continuing lifestyle.
3. Jesus is God in the flesh
If you read through this text carefully, you will note a number of “triplets” throughout. Perhaps the most significant is the one we find in verses 4 and 5:
Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ… (vv.4, 5)
This triplet very clearly describes for us the triune God:
• God the Father is described with another triplet: him who is and who was and who is to come.
There are a couple of interesting things about that description. First, it begins with the present – him who is. Although it is great that God was in the past and that He is coming in the future, what gives us hope for today is that He is God in the present. There is a word play here in Greek on the name of God that He revealed to Moses at the burning bush when He declared Himself to be, “I am”. That is also the same phrase that Jesus often used to indicate His deity.
The third part of the description is also a surprise. We’re waiting to hear that God is the God who “will be”, but instead He describes Himself literally as the one who “is coming”. No doubt He is giving John and His readers a clue about the rest of the book, where that process is going to be described in more detail. He is also providing those same people with hope because they can be assured that he is indeed coming.
• Let’s skip ahead for a moment to where we also see God the Son, Jesus Christ. He is clearly identified at the beginning of verse 5. We also see how Jesus describes Himself in verse 8:
8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Not only does He use the same words to describe Himself that were used to describe God the Father in verse 4, but He also adds that he is the Alpha and Omega. Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, so Jesus is pointing out that He is everything from A to Z – from the beginning to the end.
• You probably noticed that I temporarily skipped over the middle part of this section - the seven spirits who are before his throne. Although there is certainly not universal agreement on this, I am convinced that this is a reference to God the Holy Spirit. I base my conclusions on several factors:
o Context - Since the phrase is bracketed by God the Father and God the Son, it seems unlikely that angels or some other beings would be described there. But why “seven spirits”?
o In Isaiah 11:2, we read this prophetic passage that describes the spirit that is to be poured out on the Messiah:
And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
Isaiah 11:2 (ESV)
You will note that there are seven different aspects of the Spirit of God that are described in that passage.
o The Holy Spirit is tied directly to the messages to each of the seven churches. Each of the messages to the churches in chapters 2 and 3 contain this admonition:
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
So there is a sense in which the Holy Spirit brings seven separate revelations to each of these churches. So even though there is obviously only one Holy Spirit, there are seven manifestations of the Spirit in those two chapters.
When we put all this together, there is absolutely no doubt that Jesus is indeed God in the flesh. He came to the earth at the incarnation to provide a means of salvation for those who would trust in Him. That first coming is described in verses 5 and 6:
…To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood 6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father…
By His shed blood, Jesus has freed those who trust in Him from their sins and He has also made us to be a kingdom of priests. As we’ve been studying on Thursday nights, His followers co-reign with Jesus. But we also see in this passage that…
4. The return of Jesus is certain
In verse 7, we are introduced to a topic that we will return to over and over throughout our study – the return of Jesus:
7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him.
Hopefully, as you read these words, you will immediately think about some of the Old Testament prophecies that we’ve looked at. Here are just a couple:
I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.
Daniel 7:13 (ESV)
“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.
Zechariah 12:10 (ESV)
And the idea that Jesus will come with the clouds and that everyone will see Him is also confirmed by Jesus’ own words:
Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Matthew 24:30 (ESV)
Even though I can’t promise that we’ll be able to figure out all the details, there is one thing I can promise you based on the Word of God. Jesus is coming again – that is certain. And when He returns to this earth, it will be for the purpose of bringing judgment and establishing his permanent, righteous rule.
MY COMMITMENTS
As a result of what we’ve learned this morning, I’ve made three commitments regarding our study of the book of Revelation and I’d like to ask each of you to consider making the same commitments.
I commit before the Lord to:
• Keep my focus on Jesus
This book is, after all, the revelation of Jesus – not the revelation of the angels or the elders around the throne or the great multitude in heaven. It’s not the revelation of the Antichrist or the false prophet or the great harlot or of any of the other characters who will play a part in this great drama. So if we want to keep everything in its proper perspective, the question we must always ask is, “Where is Jesus in the midst of all that is occurring?”
The words of Paul in his letter to the Colossians are instructive in this regard:
He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities - all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
Colossians 1:15-18 (ESV)
In the book of Revelation, Jesus is certainly preeminent, and so we must keep our eyes on Him.
• Maintain my sense of the awe of God
As I’ve pointed out frequently, there are going to be some aspects of the book of Revelation that we’re not going to be able to understand completely. But rather than go beyond what the text reveals and develop conclusions based on our own or someone else’s speculation, we’ll limit our conclusions to what the text reveals and then just be content to let the mystery of what we don’t know to enhance our sense of awe of God.
That’s essentially what Job had to do. God never did reveal to him all the things that were going on behind the scenes. But when God did finally speak to Job, Job realized that he didn’t need to know all the answers. He could just trust in a God who was able to do far more than he could ask or imagine. That idea is certainly evident in Job’s reply to God:
Then Job answered the Lord and said:
“I know that you can do all things,
and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
‘Hear, and I will speak;
I will question you, and you make it known to me.’
I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
but now my eye sees you;
therefore I despise myself,
and repent in dust and ashes.”
Job 42:1-6 (ESV)
Paul also expresses that idea with the benediction at the end of Ephesians chapter 3:
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Ephesians 3:20, 21 (ESV)
So rather than let the mystery frustrate us, let us commit to use it as a means to reflect on the awesomeness of God.
• Focus on application, not just information
In preparing for this study, I’ve reviewed a lot of materials where the author has prepared some nice slick chart that places all the events in the Book of Revelation into a tidy chronological timeline like the one I have here. But what is lacking in most of those approaches, in my opinion, is how we are to use that material to guide the way that we live our lives today.
I’m reminded here of the words of James:
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
James 1:22-25 (ESV)
We must not lose sight of the fact that the words of Revelation are recorded by a pastor who is concerned with how his flock should live their lives in the present.
Eugene Peterson is much more eloquent than I could ever hope to be in describing this principle. Let me close with his words from his book, Reversed Thunder:
St. John is not concerned with heaven and hell as things in themselves. He has no interest in blessing and judgment apart from the persons to who he is pastor. Every word, every number, every vision, every song is put to immediate use among these persons in the seven little congregations to which he is a pastor. He is with them in their experiences of worship and apostasy, martyrdom and witness, love and vengeance, and develops the connections that maintain coherence between beginning and ending. These people, served, by such a pastor, steadily acquire confidence that they are included in God’s ways and are able, therefore, to persevere meaningfully even when they cannot see the meaning.
Those words describe my heart as your pastor. So my messages are going to be much more pastoral that they will be academic or theological. Like John, I am much more concerned with developing our daily walk with Jesus than I am about developing some systematic theology or some cool looking charts that lay out everything in a logical fashion. My goal for our journey together is that you would indeed acquire confidence that you are included in God’s ways and that confidence will allow you to persevere meaningfully, even when we can’t figure everything out.
