Introduction to Revelation: Chapter 1

The ancient cadence of the Old Testament never misses a beat. Messiah is coming. Deliverer. Immanuel. Blessed. Lion of Judah. Faithful Priest. Davidic King. Sharp Sword. Arm of the LORD. Righteous Ruler. Costly Cornerstone. Leader. Righteous Branch.  Commander. Majestic. Messiah the Prince. Shepherd. Stone. Priest on a Throne. Endowed with Salvation. Lord Whom You Seek. Sun of Righteousness.

What would prepare the world for the arrival of its great and glorious King? The dreadful day of the LORD, foretold by the prophets who pounded rhythmic warning:

•        “Wail, for the day of the LORD is near! It will come as destruction from the Almighty” (Isa 13:6)
•       “Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, cruel, with fury and burning anger; to make the land a desolation; and He will exterminate its sinners from it” (Isa 13:9).
•       “For the day is near; even the day of the LORD is near; it will be a day of clouds, a time of doom for the nations” (Ezek 30:3).
•       “Alas for the day of the LORD is near, and it will come as destruction from the Almighty” (Joel 1:15).
•       “. . . Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming; surely it is near” (Joel 2:1).
•      “The LORD utters His voice before His army; surely His camp is very great, for strong is he who carries out His word. The day of the LORD is indeed great and very awesome, and who can endure it?” (Joel 2:11). 

In the 6^th century BC, the prophet Daniel was shown visions of this extended period of great tribulation called the day of the LORD. Afterwards, Daniel concluded, “Then I, Daniel, was exhausted and sick for days. Then I got up and carried on the king’s business, but I was astounded at the vision, and there was none to explain it” (Dan 8:27). What had Daniel seen? What did it mean? When would it happen?

Much of what Daniel saw was sealed. Daniel was told to “conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase” (Dan 12:4). What was revealed has proven precisely accurate. Daniel wrote specifically about Messiah, providing a detailed outline of seventy sevens (490 years) pertaining to Israel’s history and Messiah. 483 years have been completed.

A single 7-year period remains unfulfilled. The book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ unveils the mystery of the final 7-year period of Daniel’s prophecy — The Great Tribulation of the dreadful day of the LORD. Messiah Jesus will become king through judgment. The cadence of impending judgment and the imminent return of Messiah— King of kings and LORD of lords — intensifies .

The day of the LORD is drawing near . . .

A simple chronological outline suffices for the book of Revelation:

I.          Past                 1

II.        Present             2–3

III.       Future              4–22

The scenes alternate between heaven and earth. A key to understanding Revelation is being able to recognize when the narrative is providing background information and when the narrative is moving forward in actual time. After the introduction (1) and messages to the seven churches (2-3), the narrative is organized around three consecutive series of judgment: 7 Seal Judgments (6), 7 Trumpet Judgments (8–9), and 7 Bowl Judgments (16).  A heavenly prelude of praise precedes the three series.

Between chapters 6–16, the judgments unfold consecutively. However, the narrative only moves forward in actual time during the Seal (6), Trumpet (8-9), and Bowl series of judgment (16). Between the three series, interludes provide additional background information regarding significant people, places, and events involved.

At the conclusion of the seven years of the Great Tribulation, Jesus, the Word of God, returns to earth (19). In righteousness, He judges and wages war. Jesus establishes His kingdom and reigns as King of kings and Lord of lords on earth for a thousand years (20). The Millennium precedes the New Heaven and the New Earth (21-22).

Revelation is the only prophetic book in the New Testament, and one of only four apocalyptic books in the Bible (Daniel, Ezekiel, Zechariah, and Revelation). Apocalyptic language often employs poetic devices to intensify the impact of the images  described. Symbolism widens and deepens the perspective of its referent.

Revelation 1 provides the historical setting and purpose for the book of Revelation.

Revelation 1:1-3 (NASB)

Rev. 1:1    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,  2 who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.  3 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.

“The Revelation of Jesus Christ” (1:1) identifies the center of the book — the Person and work of Jesus Christ relating to the things which must soon take place as Jesus becomes king through judgment.

The book of Revelation was transmitted as follows: (1) God gave the revelation to Jesus. (2) He sent and communicated it by His angel . (3) His angel communicated it to His bond-servant John. (4) John testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.

God gave Jesus the revelation in order to show to His bond-servants the things which must soon take place. The revelation is future-oriented. The prophecy unveils future people, places, and events. Since the events have not yet been realized, the prophecy must take place at a time that is still future to this present age.

The things must “soon take place” according to God’s divinely appointed timetable and His concept of soon, for “with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day” (2 Pet 3:8). Scripture does not provide a timetable for the present age of God’s abounding grace while the Gospel of Christ reaches to the ends of the earth, bringing many sons and daughters to glory through faith in Jesus.

Why would a person want to know about the future if it is so terrifying?

•       It is the revelation of Jesus Christ, written for the purpose of revealing how Jesus becomes King of kings and Lord of lords through judgment.
•       In the end, Jesus delivers Jerusalem and destroys the nations that have gathered against the city chosen to bear the name of Yahweh forever.
•       Knowledge of the future breathes hope into present persecution.
  God wins.
•       Revelation is the only book that comes with a divine promise of blessing to its reader. Those who read and those who hear the words of the prophecy, AND heed the things written in it will be blessed, for the time is near (Rev 1:3). Read, hear, heed, and be blessed. 

Read, hear, and heed the Revelation of Jesus Christ, and you will be blessed.

What is your first response when hearing of predictions about the end of the world?

Fear? Confusion? Unbelief? Denial? Scoffing?

OR Faith? Confidence? Belief? Acceptance? Reverence?

The God of the Bible has a proven track record. Not a single prophecy has failed. All that God reveals, He fulfills intricately and literally. God leaves Himself no wiggle room, for He needs no margin for error. God watches attentively over His Word to fulfill it.  As His Word is brought to fruition, God's eternal power and divine nature are revealed. “For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act; for how can My name be profaned? And my glory I will not give to another” (Isa 48:11).

The God of the Bible is the God Who ordains world events to accomplish His divine purposes. To God be the glory in Christ Jesus our Lord. Do you want to understand the things that will soon take place? Read, hear, and heed. Blessing will follow.

Revelation 1:4-8

Rev. 1:4   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 the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood —  6 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.  7 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.

Rev. 1:8   “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

The writer of the letter is John, most likely the Apostle John who ministered with Jesus, leaned on his bosom, climbed the mountain with Jesus and witnessed His transfiguration, grieved at the foot of His cross, received charge of Jesus’ mother Mary, raced Peter to the empty  tomb, and took up his cross to follow Jesus daily.

He was writing to seven churches in Asia (Modern Turkey), a major province in the Roman Empire. Internal and external evidence suggests that the book was written at the end of the first century in 95 AD towards the end of the reign of Domitian, a cruel Roman emperor whose demand to be addressed as Dominus et Deus (Lord and God) led to brutal persecution of monotheistic Jews and Christians. Tradition holds that John was sent into exile to the island of Patmos for his testimony of Jesus Christ.

In his introductory benediction, John prays for grace and peace to come from:

•       “Him who is and who was and who is to come (1:4)

AND

•       “the seven Spirits who are before His throne” (1:4)

AND

•       “Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth” (1:4).

“Him who is and who was and who is to come” (1:4) refers to the Father, the eternal God of every age. The reference to “the seven Spirits who are before His throne” may refer to the Holy Spirit, Whom the prophet Isaiah described in terms of seven attributes in Isaiah 11:2: Spirit (1) of the LORD; (2) of wisdom; (3) of understanding; (4) of counsel; (5) of strength; (6) of knowledge; (7) of the fear of the LORD.

Jesus is described as:

•       “the faithful witness” – Jesus is the faithful Prophet of the LORD (John 18:37).
•       “the first born of the dead” ­– Jesus is the first Begotten of the LORD, referring to His resurrection (John 3:16; Rom 8:29; Col 1:15).
•       “the ruler of the kings of the earth” – Jesus sits at God’s right hand, exalted to the highest position of authority over the kings of the earth (Ps 2; Rev 19:16).

Jesus is also acknowledged as “Him who loves us and released us from our sin by His blood” (1:5). The power of Jesus’ love for the Father and for the sinners whom He came to save is profoundly expressed through the sacrifice of His body on the cross for the forgiveness of sin. God willed for sinners to be saved from eternal judgment of sin. The result of sin is death, separation from God in eternal torment. Jesus died in the place of sinners, taking the full weight of God’s wrath against sin upon Himself on the cross.

 The power of Jesus’ blood is demonstrated through the forgiveness of sins. Jesus makes “us” a kingdom, priests to His God and Father (1:6). Priests offer sacrifices of praise and prayers to God, the God and Father of Jesus Who justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies.

After Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, He ascended from Bethany, just outside of Jerusalem, and disappeared beyond the clouds. Jesus was carried up into heaven where He sat down at the right hand of God. Jesus finished the work of salvation on the cross. However, His work is not complete. Jesus must return to fulfill all that has been written of Him. Jesus will return to administer God’s justice and judgment on the entire world.

“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” (Rev 1:7).

Revelation 1:7 is the key verse of the book of Revelation. The message: Jesus is coming. He will return with the clouds, just as He ascended, in His glory, in the glory of His God and Father, and in the glory of the angels. Every eye will see Him in all of His glory. Those who pierced Him will see Him. All the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him.

Jesus will return in glory. Every eye will see Him. Every heart will mourn.

To reject God’s Son is the same as rejecting God. To reject the God Who created all things and to Whom all must give account is to receive the just penalty for sin. Hell is not a modern concept devised by the Church to manipulate people with fear. It is a real place reserved for sinners who reject God’s grace through rejection of His Son, Jesus Christ. Response to Jesus bears eternal consequences.

What will be your response when Jesus appears? Rejoicing? Mourning? Eternal joy or torment?

Revelation 1:9-20

Rev. 1:9   I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.  10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet,  11 saying, “Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”

Rev. 1:12   Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands;  13 and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash.  14 His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire.  15 His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters.  16 In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength.

Rev. 1:17   When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, 18 and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades. 19 “Therefore write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things. 20 “As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

John refers to himself as his readers’ “brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus” (1:9). John is on the island called Patmos, a remote, rocky Roman isle of banishment located in the Aegean Sea, off the coast of Asia Minor (modern Turkey), approximately 36 miles southwest of Miletus. John has been sent into exile “because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus” (1:9).

John says that he was “in the Spirit on the Lord’s day” (1:10).  John was placed in the Spirit. John acted under His divine control beyond normal influence. The Spirit would supernaturally enable John to receive and record the revelation shown to him.

“The Lord’s day” (1:10) likely refers to the Old Testament’s “day of the LORD,” which is a reference to an extended time period during which God, as Sovereign Potentate, would administer His justice and judgment over the entire earth. Within this context, it is unlikely that “the Lord’s day” refers to the first day of the week. While John was in the Spirit, he would travel in time to the “day of the LORD,” alternating between heavenly and earthly scenes that would take place at a future time. All that he saw, he was to write.

While in the Sprit on the Lord’s day, John heard “a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet” (1:10). The voice instructed John to “write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea” (1:11). Unlike Daniel who was told to seal and to conceal the visions shown to him, John is commanded to write and to send. John is told “to write” (γράψον) twelve times in Revelation.

The seven churches were located on the western coast of Asia Minor (modern Turkey). Their geographical location formed a natural circuit for the distribution of the book of Revelation. The messenger would have begun in the coastal city of Ephesus, located on the Aegean coast by the Cayster River, then journeyed northward to Smyrna, further north to Pergamum, then rotating southward and moving consecutively through Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia before concluding the book’s tour in Laodicea.

When John hears the loud voice like the sound of a trumpet, he turns to see the voice that was speaking with him (1:12). And he sees seven golden lampstands. In the middle of the lampstands he sees “one like a son of man” (1:13). “Son of man” is a messianic title that connects John’s vision to the vision of Daniel, specifically Dan 7:13-14, which describes the coronation of Messiah as He is given dominion, glory and an everlasting kingdom, that all peoples and nations might serve Him.

“I kept looking in the night visions,

            And behold, with the clouds of heaven

            One like a Son of Man was coming,

            And He came up to the Ancient of Days

            And was presented before Him.

And to Him was given dominion,

            Glory and a kingdom,

            That all the peoples, nations and men of every language

            Might serve Him.

            His dominion is an everlasting dominion

            Which will not pass away;

            And His kingdom is one

            Which will not be destroyed” (Dan 7:13-14, bold print added).

John describes the glory of Messiah. He was “clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash. His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength” (1:13-16).

The disciple John once reclined on Jesus’ bosom.  But when John sees the glorified Christ, he “fell at His feet like a dead man” (1:17). Jesus places His right hand on John and speaks to him, so John must have still been conscious. Jesus speaks a message of comfort and clarity:

• “Do not be afraid . . .” (1:17). The exhortation would have been familiar to John, for Jesus often exhorted his followers with the same expression.
• “I am the first and the last” (1:17). Jesus previously identifies Himself as the Alpha and the Omega . . . who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty” (1:8). Jesus is the eternal God, immutable, immanent, and immortal.
• “and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore” (1:18). Jesus confirms His resurrection from the dead and immortality.
• “and I have the keys of death and of Hades” (1:18). By His death on the cross and resurrection from the dead, Jesus has broken the power of sin and death.
• “Therefore write the things . . .” (1:19). John is to write the things that he has seen, both in the present and the things which will take place in the future.
• “As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches” (1:20). Jesus reveals the literal referents of the symbols that John had seen. The seven stars are the seven messengers. The seven golden lampstands are the seven churches to whom the book of Revelation was to be sent, read, and heeded.

Jesus is the Messiah with dominion, glory, and an everlasting kingdom.

He holds the messengers and the churches in His right hand.

God has given the Revelation of Jesus Christ to be read, heard, and heeded. It is the Revelation of the glorified Christ and concerns the things which must soon take place. 

In a time of quiet contemplation, here are some questions worthy of consideration:

•       How much time do you spend praying and studying the Bible in preparation for Jesus’ appearing? Could you double that time? If daily, twice daily?
•       Jesus commanded John to write down what he saw and to send it to the churches. Have you read, heard, and heeded what Jesus revealed? Yes? Then how have you responded to what was revealed? How has the revelation of Jesus Christ encouraged you in the midst of persecution and difficult times? Could you journal these thoughts so that you can recall them later?
•       How does your mental image of Jesus measure up to John’s description of the glorified Christ? Are you ready to meet Him face to face? Does the thought of His appearing cause you to rejoice or to draw back in fear? Neither? Why?

Jesus is preparing for His return.

Are you preparing to meet Him?

Megiddo

Father,

You are the eternal God Who breathes prophecy into existence and fulfills it. All that You plan, You do. Your purposes cannot be thwarted. You watch over Your Word to fulfill it. Not one prophecy will fail to be realized according to Your original intent. Father, You are the source of wisdom and understanding. May You prepare us for the appearing of Jesus the Messiah, Your glorious Son and the Savior of the world. Teach us what we need to know about what You have revealed in a way that will transform our lives from glory to glory. May You cause us to stand firm in the grace, love, and truth of Jesus, that we may rejoice at His appearing. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.