11-4-18 The Revelation of Revelation Revelation 1:1-3
Notes
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Introduction:
Even in today’s world, I like to play the old classic game of Tetris. Remember when Tetris was one of the coolest video games in existence about three decades ago? The game was simple to learn, yet hard to master. A series of differently shaped blocks descended from the top of the screen; The goal was to line up the blocks like a puzzle, clearing each row of blocks and buying yourself more time before the blocks built up too high and it was “game over.” No matter how skilled I’ve become over the decades, I eventually experienced the “game changing moment,” when the blocks started coming more quickly than I could handle and the margin for error shrank until it was too late.
I fear that most of us treat our lives—especially our spiritual lives— in a similar fashion, navigate the puzzle of living with our best efforts until it is too late.
The message of Revelation is possibly just that. We are all living in the game-changing moment of human history. Each day is a significant progression, taking us closer moment by moment to the imminent end. We have a limited time, building tension, and fleeting opportunities to live a life of faithfulness.
Here is the point of the Revelation reality: We must live each day as though it were our last.
Transition:
The opening paragraph of the book of Revelation is similar to some prophetic introductions in the Old Testament (e.g., Jer. 1:1–2; Ezek. 1:1–3; Hos. 1:1; Amos 1:1). And Like Old Testament prophecies, there is emphasis on the proclamation of God’s plan for the present and not just on predicting what God will do in the future. Just as Jesus announced the arrival of the kingdom of God with his coming, so John announces the beginning of the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies in his visions. This “already/not fully” understanding of Christian eschatology serves as the foundation to the understanding of prophecy. In Revelation, however, the final fulfillment receives additional attention for at least the reason that the churches first receiving this transforming vision were in crisis and desperately needed the sustaining hope that a picture of God’s final future could provide.
As a result, the language of imminent fulfillment runs through the book of Revelation beginning with the opening words:
Scripture Reading:
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 introduction to the book of Revelation begins with a statement of the book’s title: “the revelation from Jesus Christ.” Next, we are told how this was communicated to John and how this resulted in John’s testimony (1:2). The first paragraph closes with the first of the seven beatitudes, or blessings, that appear throughout the book (we saw this a couple weeks ago). The opening lines of Revelation also introduce many of the main themes of the book: the centrality of God and Christ, the imminent fulfillment of God’s plans, John’s role as witness, the nature of the prophecy as proclamation of God’s truth and the appropriate response of obedience, and the blessing on those who respond faithfully.
Transition:
Let’s now see these introductory themes a bit closer:
I. The Person of Revelation (v.1)
I. The Person of Revelation (v.1)
This revelation was given by Jesus, the Christ, Himself. It is about Jesus, the Christ. Jesus is actually the author of the Book of Revelation but we must remember that the revelation was given to John.
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,
“The revelation”
It is common that ancient authors provided the title of the book and a summary of its contents in the opening line. The Greek term ἀποκάλυψις (καλυπτω“cover/hide” ἀπο = out of/from) means something unveiled, revealed, or made known. Other parts in the New Testament, the same word is used for other references: the revelation of a general truth, for making known the gospel (Rom. 16:25; Eph. 3:3), for more specific revelation as in a prophetic vision (1 Cor. 14:6, 26; 2 Cor. 12:1, 7; Gal. 1:12; 2:2), , and for end-time revealings of God’s judgment, God’s people, and God’s Son (Rom. 2:5; 8:19; 1 Cor. 1:7; 2 Thess. 1:7; 1 Pet. 1:7, 13; 4:13). All that to say that this book starts with a declaration that we are expected to understand and know about what it communicates.
“...of Jesus Christ”
Thanks to the ambiguity of the Greek genitive noun case and the English preposition “of”, the expression “of Jesus Christ” could be understood in three ways:
(1) the revelation about Jesus, the central figure in the book;
(2) the revelation coming from Jesus; or
(3) Both! both from and about Jesus.
The immediate context where God gives the revelation to Jesus, who then sends his angel to proclaim the message to John and others fits option 2. Yet the 3rd option takes into consideration both the immediate context and the larger context of the entire book, of which this term then serves aptly as the title, where Jesus is indeed the primary figure.
This book is about Jesus, the Messiah, the Christ because it depicts our Savior as:
• The risen glorified Son of God ministering to the churches.
• The faithful witness.
• The firstborn from the dead.
• The ruler over the kings of the world.
• The Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End.
• The One who is and was and is to come, the Almighty.
• The One who is holy and true.
• The beginning of all creation.
• The Lion of the Tribe of Judah.
• The Lamb on the throne.
• The Messiah who will reign forever.
• The King of kings and Lord of lords.
• The bright and morning star.
Jesus lies at the center of this one book, the center of the Bible, and the center of God’s plan for human history
If we don’t recognize the main character, a story cannot & will not make sense.
Take your favorite movie or book and consider what would happen if you believed a secondary character was the hero. For example, if someone believed the main character of Star Wars was R2D2, he/she would constantly wonder, “Why don’t they give more details about R2D2?” “Why does the movie’s storyline keep wondering so far off from this cute little robot?”
“to show his servants”
Notice the plural “servants” Who are His servants? The book of Revelation is for all Believers from all times and all places They are us believers who truly follow and serve Christ. Now, there are those who profess to believe and follow Christ but don’t have saving faith. This revelation is not written for them or to them. It is a closed book to the world. Jesus gave it to His servants and His servants alone.
Since the world can’t understand the revelation, the world makes fun of it. Our media portrays devote Christ’s followers as insane people who cling to ancient beliefs and reject modern thought. This ought to be no surprise because Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2:14:
14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
The “take-home” here is don’t be discussing and arguing the contents of the book of Revelation with unbelievers—they don’t have the Holy Spirit’s illumination
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,
“what must soon take place.”
This book deals with what must “soon” take place. This beginning is likely referring back to Daniel 2:28–29, where Daniel sees events happening “in the last days,”
28 but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream and the visions of your head as you lay in bed are these: 29 To you, O king, as you lay in bed came thoughts of what would be after this, and he who reveals mysteries made known to you what is to be.
John substitutes “soon” for “the last days” to emphasize that he is living in the last days when Old Testament prophecy is beginning to be fulfilled.
By “soon” John does not mean “quickly once it begins.” Rather, his choice of words essentially proves that the fulfillment of prophecy has already begun and that “the end” of this age is always imminent/near. As Commentator Grant Osborne points out, the “language of imminence intends to draw the reader into a sense of expectation and responsibility, a sense meant to characterize every age of the church.” God is revealing his plan to overthrow evil once and for all and deliver his people into the new heaven and new earth where they can enjoy life in His presence forever.
We need to note some things about the “soon” end time revelation
First, the revelation concerns future events; events that are yet to happen in the end time.
Second, the early believers had looked for these events to take place very soon. They expected it to happen in their lifetime. Did it? No! But because they expected it to happened in their lifetime, they did just what Jesus told them to do—look and watch for His return. Jesus said in Matthew 24:42,
42 Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.
The third thing that we need to note about the end time revelation is that YHWH timing is a bit different to man’s time. We know this because it’s been almost 2000 years since Jesus gave this revelation and it hasn’t happened yet. Does this mean that John was wrong in saying that the events were to happen soon? No!
YHWH clearly reveals to us that we are living in the last days and of the events that are to happen in the last days. He also reveals to us in 2Peter 3:8 that a thousand years is LIKE one day with God. The point is, the return of Christ and the end of the world are God’s affairs, not man’s. The time frame is based on God’s time, not man’s. In fact, based upon God’s perception of time as Peter points out, it has been only about two days since Jesus Christ revealed the events of the revelation. These events are in God’s timing and control.
“He made it known.”
We also see here the chain of revelation: God → Jesus → his angel → his servant John → other servants. The Father and The Son together communicate the message through an angel to John and finally to other believers. In apocalyptic literature, God often communicates his message through angels who often assist the person receiving the visions (e.g., Dan. 7–12; Ezek. 40–48; Zech. 1–6). Although the apostle John was well respected as an early Christian leader, he is named here only as a “servant/slave” (δοῦλος) among servants. Interestingly, “servants” is one of the most frequent titles for Christians throughout the book (Rev. 1:1; 2:20; 7:3; 10:7; 11:18; 15:3; 19:2, 5; 22:3, 6).
This verse also shows how the revelation is communicated, again relying on Daniel 2, where Greek terms found in Revelation 1 are used repeatedly (e.g., apokalyptō, σημαίνω). In the context of Daniel 2, God communicated through symbols:
Dan. 2:23: you have made known [σημαίνω] to us the dream of the king.”
23 To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of you, for you have made known to us the king’s matter.”
Dan. 2:45: “The great God has shown [σημαίνω] the king what will take place in the future.”
45 just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A great God has made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.”
The term “made known” (σημαίνω) suggests revelation through symbolic communication or picture language. In addition, we are told that Christ “shows” the vision to his servants through an angel (see Rev. 1:1; 4:1; 17:1; 21:9, 10; 22:1, 6, 8). These terms—revelation, show, made known—indicates that the visions of Revelation were communicated by means of symbols.
Transition:
Jesus uses symbols to reveal more about Himself—this yields results!
II. The Result of Revelation (v.2)
II. The Result of Revelation (v.2)
We now can witness Christ!
2 who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.
John now testifies. We have the book of Revelation because of John’s experience and his written testimony about it—he “testifies to everything he saw.” God works through both heavenly visions and Spirit-inspired human minds. The content of John’s visions consists of “the word of God” and the “testimony of Jesus” —two somewhat synonymous phrases that describe the message of God’s great story communicated through his prophets and apostles, especially centering on the gospel.
The Apostle John was chosen by Jesus Christ to receive the revelation. But we must note that John had to be ready & available to receive it.
Jesus always chooses a person to carry the messages of God to men. But before He can choose a person, that person must be ready & available. The person has to love the Lord and has to be surrendered completely to Christ. John was that man, so Jesus chose him to share it with the servants of God.
Notice that it was the angel of Christ who gave the message to John. Angel (ἄγγελος) means messenger.
Now John says that he has bore witness to what he saw. What did he see? John saw the Word of God. The things of revelation are the Word of God. This shows us that God is not some nebulous idea far off in outer space, unconcerned about man. God cares for man. He cares so much that He has sent His Word to us through this book of the great revelation.
John lived the testimony of Jesus Christ. Jesus showed John exactly what YHWH had given Him to reveal to His followers. So what John has shared in this book is the very testimony of Christ, the Son of God Himself. And John saw everything that is reported in the revelation, all the events. We may not fully understand all these events but know they will happen; they will come to be.
When you think about it, it’s a matter of belief. We either believe John or not. John is either telling the truth or he is lying. So which do we believe? Is Jesus Christ returning to earth? Are the events of the end time going to happen as recorded in the Book of Revelation or not? If we believe this revelation to be true, then we must watch and be ready, because every event will certainly take place and nothing will stop them.
Transition:
But these prophecies should not scare us, in fact it is a relief, a blessing!
III. The Benefit of Revelation (v.3)
III. The Benefit of Revelation (v.3)
The future will be a relief to believers, but we can and should enjoy the blessing now!
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.
“Blessed is the one …, and blessed are those.”
This is the first of seven beatitudes in the book of Revelation which we saw a couple weeks ago. Here, we have a double blessing:
(1) on the one who has the ability and courage to read aloud the book of Revelation to the gathered church, and
(2) on those who gather to listen to its message and obey what they hear.
In the first century, most people (as high as 85 percent of the general populace) were illiterate. As Americans, we tend to forget that the early Christians did not own a private copy of the Scriptures. As a result, the public reading of Scripture during worship gatherings became a priority. Interestingly, John expects this prophecy to be obeyed, emphasizing the nature of the book as proclamation of God’s truth with ethical implications for the right now, and not simply a prediction of future events.
In the early church there were no printing presses to run off copies of John’s letter. There was only the original manuscript written by him and maybe a few other copies that had been written by hand to be passed among the people. So the “reading” spoken of here in this verse refers to the letter being read before the whole church or before special groups within the church. But what Jesus wants us to note is that reading is not enough. We must read, hear the word of the prophecy, and take to heart those things that are written.
So What?
So What?
Revelation Interpretive Insights
Key Themes of Revelation 1:1–3
▪ God is revealing his plans for consummating human history.
▪ The prophetic vision centers on the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.
▪ God’s revelation comes through Jesus Christ to the apostle John, who testifies to everything he saw.
▪ The fulfillment of the prophetic vision has begun but awaits future final fulfillment.
▪ Believers who hear and obey the prophecy will be blessed by God.
SO what do these themes have to do with us here today?
First, we have hope because God has spoken and continues to speak about his plans for human history, plans that center on Jesus Christ.
The foundation of our hope lies not in our own circumstances but in God’s faithfulness to speak and act in Christ, including the promise to one day make all things new. It’s important to remind believers that the vision was given not just to John but to all God’s people (i.e., “his servants”). God is not silent. He cares about what is happening to his people and is doing something about it.
It is important to keep our focus on the main message of Revelation
Years ago, the most serious distractions for drivers might have been finding a decent radio station or dealing with fighting kids in the backseat. In our age of smartphones, we have texting, status updates, phone calls, and ten thousand songs at the tips of our fingers—and fighting kids in the backseat.
A lot of us have had the same experience: Driving along, we receive a text. Acting against our better judgment, we take our eyes off the road and shoot back a reply. Some of us may have actually looked up and realized we crossed the center line or nearly ran a stop light. The reality sinks in: “My focus was totally misplaced. I’m driving a car, not sitting on a couch!”
When we lose focus on the central message of Scripture about the end times (to endure in faithfulness to Jesus), we drift off course. Soon, things that are really not priorities can dominate our field of vision. At best, the truth intended to bring us hope and comfort becomes obscured and lost. At worst, we drift into vain speculations, cause division, and take our eyes off our true mission.
Second, the prophetic vision has begun to be fulfilled but awaits final fulfillment. Therefore, we live in the last days with a sense of eschatological expectation. The perspective of this commentary is that the last days foreseen by Daniel began to be fulfilled with the coming of Jesus Christ. Like John and the Christians in Asia Minor, we too live in the last days (cf. Rev. 12:6, 10–17). We are fighting the same battles and receiving the same comfort as the first-century believers in Asia Minor. Paul sums up the mind-set well in Romans 13:11:
11 Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.
The imminence of the final fulfillment of God’s plan calls us to live each day with a sense of urgency and abandonment to the purposes of God (i.e., as though it were our last day). From another vantage point, the “end” is always imminent in the sense that we could die at any time.
Third, the promised blessing is for those who listen to and obey God’s Word. I cannot ever stress enough the critical necessity of a true Christian’s study and response of scripture! I wonder, if we are honest, how many of us here this morning would admit that, yes, perhaps you read the Bible regularly, but when it comes to acting upon the truth or principle you’ve just read, you don’t and therefore disobey God. “Trust & obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus then to trust & obey”
Conclusion:
The Apostle Peter wrote in 2 Peter 3: 10-13
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. 11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
Jesus is returning to earth. Maybe sooner than we think. The events of the end time have started and are about to happen. They are right over the horizon. So we must read, hear, and heed the things written in Revelation. We must be looking and preparing for the coming of Christ. We must be looking for the events that point toward the end of the world and the believer who does what Revelation says shall be blessed ever so richly by God.