The Revelation of Jesus Christ - Revelation 1:1-8
INTRODUCTION:
Are you ready to start our study of the book of Revelation? Have you read it at least once? I hope so, I have been excited all week as I have studied and prepared to begin sharing with you the truth of this book.
Before diving right into this book, I want to share with you six ways that studying Bible prophecy should influence you: (1) The study of Bible prophecy should influence us to consider our own salvation, and thank God that He has drawn us to Himself and saved us from His judgment of sin that we deserve. Thank Him that Jesus Christ died in our place, paying the penalty for our sin. (2) The study of Bible prophecy should influence us to be more concerned with those who do not know Christ as their Savior since we know the awesome power and wrath of God that will be unleashed on the earth because of sin. Bible prophecy should cause us to be witnessing to people about Christ. (3) The study of Bible prophecy should influence us to live our lives in view of the imminent return of Christ, which will cause us to desire to live pure, holy lives as we anticipate Christ’s return for us. (4) The study of Bible prophecy should influence us to be calm when our hearts want to be stirred up and unsettled by all that is happening in the world around us. Bible prophecy reminds us that God is in control and nothing that is happening in the world has taken Him by surprise. (5) The study of Bible prophecy should have a comforting influence on grief stricken hearts because we know that someday we will be reunited with believing loved ones that have entered their heavenly rest. (6) The study of Bible prophecy should influence us to be diligently doing the Lord’s work until He returns for us or calls us home. Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:58, after he had presented the truth about the coming of Christ for his people, wrote, “Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:58, NIV84)[1] The Lord desires that our knowledge of Bible prophecy would cause us to devote ourselves to serving those around us as we await His return.
As we begin to study the book of Revelation, my prayer is that you will be influenced in these six ways. Let’s pray and then get into the book of Revelation.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles to the last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation chapter 1, verses 1-8. Please stand as I read God’s Word aloud and follow along.
Revelation 1:1-8,
“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John, who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near. 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, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood— and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen. ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’” (Revelation 1:1–8, NASB95)[2]
THE UNVEILING OF JESUS CHRIST (Revelation 1:1-3)
The opening words of this book, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ…” gives us the theme of this book; this is a book about Jesus Christ! The word “revelation” is a translation of the Greek word “apokalypsis” (ap·ok·al·oop·sis) from which we get the word “apocalypse.” This word in Greek simply means “an unveiling, a revealing.” Unfortunately, this word “apocalypse” has come to mean in our day anything that has to do with chaos and catastrophe and nothing to do with unveiling the truth. The unveiling of Jesus Christ is the title of this book, we are going to see Jesus Christ as we have never seen Him before. The first time Jesus came to this earth and took of human flesh and became the God-Man, He came humbly and went humbly to the cross and died for our sins, was buried and three days later rose triumphantly from the dead and ascended back into heaven. In this final book of the Bible we are going to see the risen, glorified Lord Jesus Christ in all of His Power as He judges the world. We will see Him triumph over all His enemies and reign as King of kings and Lord of lords. We will see Him as He truly is in all His glory. We are going to learn things about the Lord Jesus Christ that before this book was written were not known. The first verse informs us that this unveiling, this revelation of Jesus Christ was given to Him, given to Jesus Christ by God, God the Father gave to His Son the truth of this book to reveal His Son to His bond-servants, to make known to those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ believing that He alone can forgive their sins and make them righteous before God, to show them, to reveal to them the glorified Lord Jesus Christ and the things which must soon take place. What is meant by this phrase? This book was written in 95 or 96 AD and the things written in it have not yet taken place nearly 2000 years later. This phrase gives us the substance of the revelation, “the things which must shortly come to pass” is how it is translated in the King James Version. In the book of Daniel, he declared that the things he described would take place in the latter days, but here in Revelation it is described as “shortly or soon taking place” meaning “quickly or suddenly coming to pass,” this phrase indicates the rapidity of execution after the beginning takes place. In other words, this phrase does not mean that the events to be described will take place soon, but that when they come, it will be sudden.
Then we are told that this revelation was sent by Jesus Christ and communicated or signified by His angel to the bond-servant of Jesus Christ, named John. This is the apostle John who wrote the Gospel of John and the three epistles titled first, second, and third John. John here is called the bond-servant of Jesus Christ because of his faith in Jesus Christ and his faithful service to Him. John received the revelation, the unveiling and was to share it with those who had put their faith in Jesus Christ. We are told that John testified to the Word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. John is an eye witness to what was communicated to him from God, that which He wrote down was the inspired Word of God, not only was it the Word of God, but it had the added weight of being the testimony of Jesus Christ and John made a complete record of what was communicated to him and of what he saw and bare witness that it was God’s Word as inspired, inerrant, infallible as all of the rest of Scripture.
Verse 3 is the first of seven blessings in the book of Revelation. We are going to see this number 7 come up many times in this book. The number 7 in the Bible signifies fullness or completeness. This blessing is threefold in that it blesses the reader and the listener who are then both to heed or pay attention to what is written in this prophecy. When John wrote this book not everyone would have a copy so it would be read aloud to the church. Did you know that reading this book, that hearing this book read and then paying attention, taking to heart what was written in it would mean a blessing for you? Here is a book with a specific blessing attached to it and yet many people are afraid to read it, they do not want to read it because their afraid of what they will read about the future, their afraid it will be scary. Remember this is a book about Jesus Christ, you are going to learn about Him, the One who died for your sin, the One who rose from the dead, forever victorious over Satan, sin and death. Do not be afraid of this book, it will be a blessing to you if you take what is written in it to heart. John at the end of verse three gives the urgency of reading and paying attention to what is written in it. He writes, “for the time is near.” The apostles often wrote of the fact that the time of the end is near, they were teaching that we need to be ready at all times for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, we call this the imminent return of Christ, which means it could happen at any time. What may seem long to us in our finite world is nothing in the scope of eternity. Read, take to heart, be blessed and be waiting because the Lord Jesus Christ may come for us very soon.
THE TRIUNE GOD (Revelation 1:4-6)
After giving us this short introduction to this book in the first three verses, John next gives his salutation. John formally introduces himself as the one who recorded what he heard and saw, and he announces that the recipients of this book are the seven churches that are in Asia. Now we know that there were more than seven churches in the province of Asia, but the seven that John addresses this letter to are in cities that form a circle in Asia and each church could easily reach out and share the letter with the churches around them. The fact that there are 7 churches and remember the number seven means fullness or completeness, these 7 churches are representative of the universal church through all the ages.
John begins his book with an invocation or a prayer of blessing by speaking to us of the grace and peace which is ours through faith. These two words capture the essence of our faith. Grace speaks of God’s attitude toward the believer coupled with His loving gifts, peace speaks of relationship, here especially the peace of God. Grace represents our standing with God, peace represents our experience with God, we have peace with God because of the grace of God.
John makes it clear that this grace and peace are from God and in so doing he introduces the Triune God, that all three are involved in giving us this grace and peace. First, he says this grace and peace is from God the Father, he reveals God the Father as the eternal God, the One who transcends time, the One who always was, the One who is now in the present and the One who will always be. Grace and peace is from the Eternal God, who is the Eternal Father, but also it is from God the Holy Spirit, who is described here as the seven Spirits before God’s throne. There are two possible reasons that the Holy Spirit is described in this way, the first is that this refers to the sevenfold ministry of the Holy Spirit during the end times. This is described to us in Isaiah 11:2 where Isaiah is describing the righteous reign of the Lord Jesus Christ during the millennium. Isaiah says concerning the Holy Spirit, “The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.” (Isaiah 11:2, NASB95)[3] First the Spirit will rest of the Lord Jesus, second, He will impart to Him wisdom, third understanding, fourth counsel, fifth strength, sixth knowledge, and seventh the fear of the Lord. This is the first way this is understood, the second is that it refers to the lampstand with seven lamps (a menorah) that is described for us in Zechariah 4:1-10 which refers to the Holy Spirit. I believe the either of these could fit and again seven is the number of completeness or fullness, and John is describing the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
John goes on to say that grace and peace not only comes from God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, but also from God the Son. John writes that grace and peace came from Jesus Christ, and then he describes Jesus Christ as the faithful witness which is a description of Jesus first advent and His earthly ministry of revealing God to us and of speaking and doing only those words and miracles that God directed Him to do. He was the faithful witness when He went to the cross and died for our sins. Jesus Christ was the revelation of God to us. Paul says in Colossians 2:9, “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,” (Colossians 2:9, NASB95)[4] In chapter one Paul wrote in verses 19-20, “For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.” (Colossians 1:19–20, NASB95)[5] Jesus Christ is the faith witness, but John goes on and says that Jesus Christ is the firstborn from the dead. Jesus raised some people from the dead when He lived on this earth, but they died again. Jesus Christ is the first to be raised from the dead to never die again, He is the preeminent One, the firstborn, the only one who is the rightful heir. He is the guarantee of our future resurrection unto everlasting life. John does not stop there, but goes on to describe Him as the ruler of the kings of the earth. This refers both to the present and the future. Jesus Christ is sovereign ruler over this world, He is the one who causes the rising and falling of world leaders, but the day is coming when He will rule over all the world from Jerusalem and He will be the King of kings and no one will oppose Him.
John as he remembers his Savior cannot stop with these few descriptions of Him, but offers Him praise and thanksgiving for what He has done for us and for His great love for us. John writes, “To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood— and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (Revelation 1:5b-6, NASB95)[6] John gives glory and praise to the Lord Jesus Christ who loved us enough to die for us and release us from our sins or cleanse us from our sins by His blood, to forgive our sins and remember them no more and to cover us with His righteousness and to make us to be a kingdom, He has declared us to be royalty and to be priests serving before His God and Father. John’s words remind me of the words of Peter in 1 Peter 2:9-10 where he writes, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” (1 Peter 2:9–10, NASB95)[7] Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection on our behalf has made those who have placed their faith in Him a royal priesthood to proclaim the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. John is overwhelmed by what Christ has done and proclaims that to Him, Jesus Christ, and to Him alone be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen, So be it.
THE ALMIGHTY LORD JESUS CHRIST (Revelation 1:7-8)
John speaking of the end when Jesus Christ will return to claim this world for Himself, to defeat those who oppose Him says, “Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen.” (Revelation 1:7, NASB95)[8] John says, Jesus Christ is coming, He is coming with the clouds and every eye of those on the earth will see Him coming. The nation that rejected Him the first time, that sent Him to the cross where He was pierced with nails and a spear they will see Him. John said in his Gospel, “He [Jesus] was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.” (John 1:10–11, NASB95)[9] John says those who did not receive Him will see Him and they will know who He is and they will realize that they crucified their Messiah. All the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him, this mourning is not that which comes with genuine repentance. This mourning is the result of guilt for sin and the fear of punishment. John says, “So it is to be. This is determined by the sovereign God and it will take place. Amen. It is so, it is true.
Then John writes the words spoken by the Lord Jesus. “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’” (Revelation 1:8, NASB95)[10] Jesus says that He is the Alpha and the Omega, this is the first letter and last letter of the Greek alphabet. In other words, Jesus is saying that He is the beginning and the ending, He is the eternal One. The same description given to God the Father is spoken by Jesus concerning Himself, that He also is He who is, and who was and who is to come. Jesus is declaring His eternality, His present power, and His future glory. He declares that He is the Almighty, by declaring Himself the Almighty He is saying that He is the all-powerful God and there are none that can oppose Him. As He reveals Himself to us in the pages of Revelation we will see that all who try to oppose Him will fall, He truly is the Almighty, the Creator and Sustainer of all things and the Sovereign Lord over His creation.
CONCLUSION:
The Revelation of Jesus Christ is about unveiling of the risen, ascended and glorified Jesus to us. Jesus Christ is the central figure of these first eight verses. In verse one He is presented as the source of the revelation. In verse two He is the seen as the Channel of the word and testimony of God. Verse three promises His blessings through His revealed Word. In verse five He is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. He is revealed to be the source of all grace who loves us and releases or cleanses us from our sins through His shed blood. He is the source of our royal priesthood and has the right to gather in Himself all glory and dominion forever as shown to us in verse 6. Verse 7 promises that He will come with the clouds with a great display of power and glory, and every eye will see the One who died for men. Verse 8 declares that He is the Almighty One of eternity past and eternity future. John Walvoord writes, “If no more had been written than that contained in this introductory portion of chapter 1, it would have constituted a tremendous restatement of the person and work of Christ such as found in no comparable section of Scripture.”[11]
As we consider what we have seen in these first 8 verses how has this study of Bible prophecy influenced you? I am influenced to consider my own salvation again with wonder and give all the praise and the glory to my Savior Jesus Christ. It influences me to care about the lost when I learn that they will mourn in fear of punishment when Christ returns, it makes me want to share the love and grace of Christ with them before it is too late. It influences me to seek to live a pure life in light of Christ’s return for us at any time. It influences me to be calm when the world seems to be falling apart because I know God is in control. It influences me to work diligently for the Lord, while I wait eagerly for His return for the church. The time may be short. How are you influenced by studying Bible prophecy?
[1]Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.
[2]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[3]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[4]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[5]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[6]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[7]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[8]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[9]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[10]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[11]Walvoord, John F., The Revelation of Jesus Christ. Chicago, Ill. : Moody Press, 1966