Revelation 1:1-8

1 The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2 who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. 3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.

The Book of Revelation begins by identifying the genre of the book [the revelation or apocalypse] meaning that Revelation is a and unveiling or disclosure of unseen realities, which has Jesus for its author John as its transcriber and God’s people for its audience.

The first of seven “Blessings” are given here in verse 3.

John states that “Blessed is the one who hears and keeps the Word.

This blessing will be followed by 6 other blessings throughout the Book:

Revelation 14:13 - Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.”

Revelation 16:15 - Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!

Revelation 19:9 - Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.”

Revelation 20:6 - Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection!

Revelation 22:7 - Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”

Revelation 22:14 - Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.

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 kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood 6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Have you ever wondered why Christ might have chose [7] churches to write to as opposed to maybe three or forty?

Could it be that the selection of seven churches, which in scripture would imply “completeness,” meant that Christ intended to address the whole church through the symbolic seven.

It is a complete Revelation, to the complete church.

Verses 4-6 gives us evidence of the Triune Godhead. In these verses the Holy Spirit is described as the “Seven Spirits” (Rev. 3:1; 4:5), the seven torches (4:5) and the seven eyes (5:6), while at the same time being presented as one person (Rev. 3:6; 13; Eph. 4:4) throughout Revelation and the entire New Testament.

The text goes to say the Holy Spirit is of or from Christ who has made us priests to His God and Father.

Don’t miss it. John’s message comes from all three persons of the Trinity.

Who verify Jesus as the Faithful Witness.

“God has given us a faithful witness inside of our own being…. It is able to single a man out and reveal his loneliness, the loneliness of a single soul in the universe going on to meet an angry God. That’s the terror of the conscience.” A. W. Tozer

There have been many witnesses to many different things here on earth, but there has only ever been or ever will be One like Jesus.

The witness of Christ was and is ultimate, absolute and dependable.

He was faithful in his testimony concerning who He was/is, and spoke only things that were eternally true and factual.

He was faithful to communicate the condition of man and the remedy of salvation that was only made possible by Him.

He has been faithful now to testify about the events that will take place in the future as we near the end of the age.

Throughout history the word of men has always failed, but may we be reminded that the Word of God never has and never will.

7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. 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 return of Christ will be missed by no one - Every eye will see Him!

How this will happen - we do not know because it goes against everything that we know to be true: gravity will not be a factor, the laws of physics will be defied…The explanation of the return of Christ can only belong to the imponderables of God.

The fact that “those who pierced Him” will see Him suggest that the return of Christ will be known and watched by even those who have long since been in the grave.

While a disheartened world majority watches on in the foreground of the mourning from those who realize that the one rejected and crucified was indeed the Messiah.

It will be akin to the owner of an apartment returning unexpectedly to his property as the tenants are trashing the place.

In the same way, Jesus will return to the world that He created to find a creation that has mostly failed to steward the existence that Christ gave them while also rejecting his grace and forgiveness.

On this day, the unbelieving world will be petrified in fear, however, for the believer John says Amen!

With the word for “Amen” in the original language translating to mean, YES!

Yes! Our Lord is returning!

Yes! This is what we’ve been waiting for!

Yes! His justice will triumph against sin, death and hell.

Verse 8 speaks to the immutability (unable to be changed) of God. First, He was prior to all of creation, and last, He is the only One who can complete the purpose of the universe.

This point is driven home by attributing to God the first and final letters of the greek alphabet.

What are the two letters? Alpha and Omega

Be affirmed tonight that all of history is moving toward the God that I pray you serve!