Revelation 1: Look Who’s Coming
In verses 1 & 2 we are given the introduction to the book and a foreshadow of all that is later to be shown. Immediately we see that the book is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which he gives to the Apostle John. He sent it and signified it by His angel. The original word which is translated for us as "revelation" was considered to be best heard in the Greek as "apocalypse".
What is the book revealing? Jesus is doing the revealing and He is the object revealed. Here at the first is the most profound thought of the entire book. It shows us the Antichrist, God's judgment, the tribulation calamity on the earth, and the mystery of the end of all things in the current creation, but if we see all those things and miss the fact that our Lord is hereby revealed, we have missed the reason the book exists.
How we need a revealing of our Lord. So because of our great need, such a book is given to describe what will take place, when it will take place, and who is in control of those events. The book says these things will take place shortly. What does shortly mean? Short is a relative term. Does it mean short in man's time or in God's time. Remember that in His time, Jesus has only been gone two days from the earth, as we are taught that our 1,000 years equals one day above when time is forever now.
The signs of the book are necessary to show that there is power in symbolic language. Men seem to grasp what they see faster than what they hear. Though the book is filled with signs, it is rooted strongly in previous scripture. Revelation contains more than 500 allusions to the Old Testament, with 278 of the 404 verses (almost 70%), making some reference to the OT.
We are assured here at the beginning that John wrote the book with the visions given him by the angel of the Lord. This is so important that we are taught it in 5 :2, 7:2, 10:8, 11 :1, & 17:7. John bears record that this book is the witness and testimony of Jesus Christ. There can be no higher authority to deliver us this wisdom. Our Lord through His angel gave it to his beloved Apostle, who reveals it to us.
In verse 3 we are taught that those who read the book and keep these things are blessed. The blessing is unique and unlike all other blessings from all other scripture. This verse is the first of the seven declared blessings of the book with the others being 14:13,16:15, 19:9, 20:6, 22:7, & 22:14.
Those who skip the study of this book miss these blessings. We should recall that John never tells· us we had to understand everything in the book to have these blessings.
For 2,000 years there has existed several views on what the book truly means and these views may be summarized as follows:
PRETERIST VIEW: The book predicts nothing and was only meaningful in the time John wrote it. All the book was given in symbol code so the Romans would not understand its meaning.
HISTORICIST VIEW: The book is simply a large and disordered view of church history at the time of the writing. The book does make predictions but only makes predictions concerning the church ages, represented by the seven churches to whom the letter is later addressed.
POETIC VIEW: The symbols of the book are given as poetry of the day to encourage and comfort believers of the years John wrote it. This view says the book is simply a writing of personal meaning, nothing more.
FUTURIST VIEW: This view, beginning with chapter four, says that the book deals with the end times of all things in creation and the revealing of what will replace all things when these events happen (new Jerusalem).
Verses 4 & 5 teach us to whom the original greeting was to be sent, the seven churches in Asia (then a Roman province, now known as Turkey).
The greeting provides the assurance of eternity because it is sent from " ... Him who is and who was and is to come." The Lord is a timeless being, not created, self existent, never beginning and never ending. We see also that the greeting comes from the seven spirits before the throne, giving a perfect and complete description of the Holy Spirit Himself as seven is the Holy Number of scripture. This thought is from Isaiah 11 :2 which describes the seven aspects of the Holy Spirit. These are not separate spirits but are characteristics of one spirit just as the Godhead are not three separate Gods, but are one God in three persons.
Jesus is shown here as the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler over kings of the earth. Matthew 27:53 teaches us that the dead who rose and walked in Jerusalem could only do so after Jesus rose as the firstborn.
Praise is given to Jesus here in these verses which is appropriate and deserved. He is seen as the one who loved us, washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to the Father. Once saved we become His royalty and have the privilege to approach directly no longer needing a high priest to speak for us.
Because of those things done for us should we not praise Him? So here praise is given as proper respect of glory and dominion forever and ever.
We must remember that as we demonstrate our respect for His dominion, we are saying that He has dominion over ourselves with all parts of us, including body and soul, expressing our submission to Him and His Holy Spirit gifted to us to rule our lives both now and forever.
Now to demonstrate how important verse 6 is meant to be, it ends with its own AMEN, which means "so be it".
Verse 7 allows us an opening description of the return of Jesus. Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. Plus there will be wailing all over the earth at His return as there will be, as always has been, many who have rejected Him. To match the importance of verse 6, another AMEN is granted.
We should return our focus upon the cloud portion of the verse to recall that the Lord led His chosen people for almost 40 years through the wilderness in a cloud that clearly visible each day and became a pillar of fire each night so that the Hebrew tribes might know He was with them. Exodus 13 & 16 & 19 & 24 tell us so. That cloud/pillar was known as His "Shekinah" glory. It will be with that same type of cloud that Jesus will return to lead His people again.
His return to His own original people will be a pouring out of grace upon them, and will fulfill Zechariah 12:10.
Now in verse 8 Jesus provides His own introduction. It is complete and is of such power that no one can possibly misunderstand it.
"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty".
Alpha & Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek language. The last word, Almighty, means literally "the one who has his hand on everything". This word is used ten times in the NT, and nine of them are in Revelation.
Verse 8 likely is the strongest verse in all of the NT, and maybe of the entire Bible, of the total sovereignty of Christ.
This vision (including the description of His appearance) was the most spectacular ever seen by man. John was blessed to see it. But we can know this same Jesus that John saw. We can know His purity, His eternal wisdom, His searching judgment, His victory, His authority, and His majesty. All of these visions come into the heart of each believer when we begin our intimacy with Him at our salvation moment.
THOUGHTS BETWEEN CHAPTERS 1 & 5:
WE SHOULD UNDERSTAND THE FIRST CHAPTERS OF REVELATION TEACH US IT IS A BOOK OF HOPE & GLORIOUS BLESSING.
IT IS THE CONCLUSION OF THE GENESIS STORY, COMPLETING THE SCRIPTURE CIRCLE OF THE WORD OF GOD, BEGINNING TO END.
GENESIS GIVES US THE BEGINNING OF HUMAN SIN, REVELATION GIVES US ITS END.
GENESIS GAVE US THE BEGINNING OF JUDGMENT, REVELATION GIVES US ITS CONCLUSION.
NOW THE MYSTERY OF GOOD & EVIL IS REVEALED. WE SEE EVIL FOR WHAT IT IS AND WE SEE WHO IS BEHIND IT AS CHAPTER 4-22 SHOWS US WHAT IS TO COME.
WE ARE BEING GIVEN THE WORD OF GOD, THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS, AND THE DRAWING BACK OF THE CURTAIN OF HEAVEN TO SEE WHAT WILL BE.
WE REMEMBER THE GREAT PROPHECY WE STUDIED IN DANIEL 9:24
" ... TO MAKE AN END OF SIN ... "
CHAPTER 2 BEGINS THEMESSAGES TO THE CHURCHES:
EPHESUS - THE LOVELESS CHURCH
PERGAMOS -THE WORLDLY CHURCH
SMYRNA- THE PERSECl:JTED CHURCH
(THE WORLD IS NOT A FRIEND TO THE TRUE CHURCH)
THYATIRA-THE LAX CHURCH
SARDIS - THE DEAD CHURCH
PHILADELPHIA - THE REVIVED CHURCH
(NO REBUKE/ STEPPING OUT ON FAITH)
LAODICEA- THE LUKEWARM CHURCH
(DOES THE CHURCH TRULY STAND FOR HIS GOSPEL?)
CHAPTERS 2 & 3 REMIND US OF THE CHURCH THROUGH THE AGES.
CHAPTERS 4 -22 REMIND US OF WHAT SHALL BE AFTER THE CHURCH AGE IS FINISHED. THE CHURCH IS NOT MENTIONED AGAIN UNTIL THE END OF THE BOOK.
NOW THE DOOR OF HEAVEN OPENS TO THE TIME OF TRIBULATION AND JUDGMENT.
WHAT IS THE FINAL ANSWER? THE LAMB!!