Revelation 1
God Revealed to Us
August 16, 2020
The book of Revelation is wildly misunderstood.
Common misunderstandings:
1. It’s a secret code about the end times.
2. It’s complicated, so only Bible experts should read it.
The book of Revelation is a gift to us, pulling us into a world of sky battles between angels and demons, glorious salvations, epic punishments and cosmic songs.
Revelation means apocalypse which translated is to uncover, to reveal.
Revelation is to see something. Prophecy is to hear something.
Revelation does not offer us new information on the life and faith of Christ.
There’s nothing new to say, but there’s a new way to say it.
Story of living in Colorado Springs and taking Pike’s Peak for granted.
Revelation 1:1-3 NIV
The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2 who testifies to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.
All of Scripture was spoken and heard, before it was written and studied.
Printing ink has become the embalming fluid of Scripture.
Jesus – “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
The Word of God Protects Us
Matthew 4:1-4 NIV
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." 4 Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"
Jesus fell in love with the word of God before the temptation so that obedience was natural in the middle of temptation.
Revelations has 404 verses and 518 references to earlier Scripture.
We have no business reading Revelation if we haven’t read the previous 65 books.
Revelation 1:8 NIV
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Alpha is the first letter in the Greek alphabet and Omega is the last.
We don’t read the Scriptures to prove something, we immerse ourselves in Scripture to become someone.