We begin by looking at some basic facts about the Book of Revelation. Revelation means to uncover or unveil. It means to pull back a covering or a veil that is hiding something. This is what the Book of Revelation is. It is the great revelation of Jesus Christ to us, His followers.
There is a wonderful fact in this revelation and what it means. It means that there are some things that God wants us to know and we could never know them if we were left on our own. It means that God cares about us and He loves us enough to reveal these things to us.
In fact, God cares so much for us that He has revealed a whole book of events to us. What are these events? They are truths that are out in the future—events that concern the end of the world.
The theme of the Book of Revelation is not the seven churches, not the seven seals, not the seven trumpets, not the seven bowls, or the Beast, or the Antichrist, or the symbolism. The theme is that Jesus Christ is victorious!
The book is primarily a book of prophecy; it seems to begin as an epistle or a letter. It addresses seven different churches with seven different problems or challenges. It foretells things that are to come.
I want to again mention that the book is about the revelation of Jesus Christ. It depicts Him as:
• The risen glorified Son of God ministering to the churches.
• The faithful witness.
• The firstborn from the dead.
• The ruler over the kings of the world.
• The Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End.
• The One who is and was and is to come, the Almighty.
• The One who is holy and true.
• The beginning of all creation.
• The Lion of the Tribe of Judah.
• The Lamb on the throne.
• The Messiah who will reign forever.
• The King of kings and Lord of lords.
• The bright and morning star.
In the first three verses, there are four significant things that are said about the revelation of Jesus Christ. So many times people are so eager to get into the millennial views of the Book that they skim over some very important things that God is trying to tell them. Let’s look at these four facts:
1. The first is that the revelation was given by Jesus Christ Himself. Jesus is actually the author of the Book of Revelation but we must note that the revelation was given to Jesus by God the Father.
READ verse 1. When Jesus was on earth, this is what He said about His return and the end of the world in Mark 13:32. “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”
However, when Jesus ascended into heaven, God the Father revealed these things to Christ. This is significant because it means that the things we are about to learn did not come from man, but from God Himself. So this revelation concerns things that God Himself wants us to know.
Think of the thousands of self-proclaimed prophets on earth right now. Each of them claims to know about God and to have some revelation from Him but here in the very Word of God, is a whole book that He Himself has authored and this book contains some very special things God wants us to know. What are these things? That’s the next point.
2. The revelation concerns things that will take place soon. We are told in verse one that these things must soon take place. We need to note some things about the end time revelation.
First, the revelation concerns future events; events that are yet to happen in the end time.
Secondly, the early believers had looked for these events to take place very soon. They expected it to happen in their lifetime. Did it? No! Because they expected it to happened in their lifetime, they did just what Jesus told them to do—look and watch for His return. Jesus said in Matthew 24:42, “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.”
The third thing that we need to note about the end time revelation is that God’s clock measures time differently than man’s clock. That’s pretty clear to us. After all, it’s been almost 2000 years since Jesus gave this revelation and it hasn’t happened yet. Does this mean that John was wrong in saying that the events were to happen shortly? No!
God clearly reveals to us that we are living in the last days and of the events that are to happen in the last days. He also reveals to us that a thousand years is as one day with God. The point is, the return of Christ and the end of the world are God’s affairs, not man’s. The time frame is based on God’s time, not man’s. The events are in God’s hands. In fact, based upon God’s measurement of time it has been only about two days since Jesus Christ revealed the events of the revelation, give or take.
The point is that every generation of believers must obey Christ’s command and must look for His return. He teaches us that He can return any time, so we must obey Him. We must expect Him and watch and be ready but we must also realize that He may not come today, so we must plan and establish long term ministries upon earth so that we can continue to reach the lost for Christ.
The fourth thing we must note about this revelation is that Jesus gave the revelation to His servants. Who are His servants? They are believers who truly follow and serve Christ. Now, there are many who profess to believe and follow Christ but don’t. The revelation is not written to them. It is a closed book to the world. Jesus gave it to His servants and His servants alone.
There is a lot of evidence of this fact in today’s world. Since the world can’t understand the revelation, the world mocks it. They make fun of it. Too often Hollywood portrays Christ’s followers as fanatics or crazies. The Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2:14, “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.” So the world simply does not understand the revelation.
3. Then we see that the revelation was given to John by the angel of Christ. READ verses 1-2. John the Apostle was the man chosen by Jesus Christ to receive the revelation. But we must note that John had to be available to receive it.
Jesus always chooses a person to carry the messages of God to men. But before He can choose a person, that person must be available. The person has to love the Lord and has to be surrendered to Christ. John was such a man, so Jesus chose him to receive the Word of God and to share it with the servants of God.
Notice that it was the angel of Christ who gave the message to John. Angel means messenger. This particular angel is said to be “His angel,” that is, the personal angel of Christ. This is not usually noticed as we read.
Now John says that he has accurately borne witness to what he saw. What did he see? John saw the Word of God. The things of revelation are the Word of God. This shows us that God is not some being far off in outer space, unconcerned about man. God cares for man. He cares so much that He has sent His Word to us through this book of the great revelation.
John Saw the testimony of Jesus Christ. Jesus showed John exactly what God had given Him to reveal to His followers. So what John has shared in the revelation is the very testimony of Jesus Christ, the Son of God Himself. And John saw everything that is reported in the revelation, all the events. We may not fully understand all these events but know they will happen; they will come to be.
When you think about it, it’s a matter of belief. We either believe John or not. John is either telling the truth or he is lying. So which do we believe? Is Jesus Christ returning to earth? Are the events of the end time going to happen as recorded in the Book of Revelation or not? If we believe this revelation to be true, then we must watch and be ready, because every event will certainly take place and nothing will stop them.
4. Lastly, we need to note that the revelation blesses the person who reads, hears, and obeys the message. READ verse 3.
Now, don’t get technical on us. In the early church there were no printing presses to run off copies of John’s letter. There was only the original manuscript written by him and maybe a few other copies that had been written by hand to be passed among the people. So the “reading” spoken of here in this verse refers to the letter being read before the whole church or before special groups within the church. But what Jesus wants us to note is that reading is not enough. We must read, hear the word of the prophecy, and take to heart those things that are written.
This, again, is telling us that it is never enough to just read and hear the Word of God. We must always do what God says, obey His commandments. And this is especially true when it comes to the revelation. Why? It is clearly stated in verse 3, “Because the time is near.”
Jesus is returning to earth. Maybe sooner than we think. The events of the end time are about to happen. They are at hand, right over the horizon. So we must read, hear, and heed the things written in Revelation. We must be looking and preparing for the coming of Christ. We must be looking for the events that point toward the end of the world and the believer who does what Revelation says shall be blessed ever so richly by God.
Everything said in this opening statement declares the importance of the revelation. There are seven blessings that can be seen from this Book of Revelation:
1. The blessing of obedience.
2. The blessing of eternal life.
3. The blessing of watching for the Lord’s return and living a pure life.
4. The blessing of heaven.
5. The blessing of the resurrection.
6. The blessing of heeding the message of revelation.
7. The blessing of keeping all of God’s commandments.
Note that three of these seven blessings have to do with obeying God—simply doing what He says to do. Obedience cannot be overstressed, but some just don’t get it.
Note that the Book of Revelation begins with a promised blessing (1:3) and closes with a promised blessing (22:7). But what we need to do for now is heed what the Scripture says. The Apostle Peter wrote in 2 Peter 3: 10-13, 10“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. 11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! 13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.”
