Things to Watch-Revelation 1

Revelation 1

Jesus’ Final Revelation

Intro: As we begin the new year, It is time to resume our regular sermons of going through a book of the Bible. I picked Revelation to start the year because we just talked about the first coming, I thought it would be good to talk about his Second coming and what it may look like.

The 18-week study will walk us through the whole book. Along the way, we will be going into the Old Testament, Particularly Daniel , Zechariah, and Ezekiel and the apocryphal Book of Enoch.

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

1:19 Therefore write what you have seen, what is, and what will take place after this.

Main Idea: Revelation is a letter from Jesus to John of the vision of things of the past, the present, and the future, because he is the One who was, who is and is to come.

I. The Letter’s Introduction (1-3)

Verses 1-3 give us the overall introduction of the letter and the author John, Tells the reader That this is a revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave Him to show his servants. So this revelation or these visions are for us, the church.

Revelation 1:1–3 (Revelation (NAC)): Revelation” (apokalupsis) refers to something formerly hidden but now unveiled. So what is being revealed?

In a sense Jesus himself is revealed in the book as he is (1:12–16; 5:1–6; 12:5; and 19:11–16). Twenty-eight times in the book of Revelation, Jesus is referred to as “the Lamb.” This metaphor alone reveals much about the nature and purpose of the Christ. His awesomeness as the glorified Christ is revealed (1:12–16). Christ’s relationship to the world and his sacrifice and worthiness are the subjects of 5:1–6. In 12:5, his destiny is established, and in 19:11–16 Jesus is observed returning in triumph and judgment.

John tells us 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.

We are blessed because we are hearing the direct words of God Himself. We can keep the faith knowing that the One True God is the sovereign ruler of all at all times and that through any tribulations we experience, Jesus is who He said he was. All of this blesses us because we know we serve the Living God.

These things are to soon take place. So this may be problematic if you are reading this very literally because soon is soon and it has been the better part of 2000 years and it hasn’t happened yet.

So how do we take this and remain faithful to the Word. Well, we know that we are not to know the day or hour when the end comes. So it is a call to be ready. To hear and Believe the words that are in this revelation.

II. The Letter’s Author (4-10)

The letter has two authors, the Triune God and The earthly writer, John. John mentions that he is writing to the seven churches in Asia.

He gives grace and race from he who is, who was and is to Come. This references God the Father

And from the seven spirits may seem a little odd, The best approach seems to be identifying the background of the passage as Zech 4:2–6, where the prophet saw a solid gold lampstand boasting seven lamps. Zechariah inquired as to the meaning of the vision. After the usual humiliation suffered as a result of the angel’s evident astonishment at Zechariah’s ignorance, the prophet is informed that the vision is “the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.”

The revelator is thoroughly familiar with the Old Testament and uses this verse as the ideal identification for the Holy Spirit. Zechariah has provided the author of the Apocalypse with the perfect picture of the ministry of the Holy Spirit to the seven congregations to whom the prophecy is addressed. While there is but one Holy Spirit, he does not invest himself incrementally in the churches but is always available simultaneously, in his fullness, to all seven congregations.

Here the image is one lamp stand with the seven lamps on it, sort of Giant Menorah that helps visually to see the individuality of each light, but they are on one base. The holy Spirit is not divided, but he can be all places at once.

And John mentions Jesus also in verses 5-8 and and John gives us hope by telling us to Behold or see he is coming with the clouds and every eye will see him.

When Jesus Returns everyone will see it.This is not a secret thing.This is something that cannot be missed. This is something to be watched indeed.

Verses 9 and 10 John explains how he obtained the revelation. He was in the spirit on the lord’s day and he heard the voice of Jesus telling him to write down what you see and send it to the 7 churches of Asia Minor. John the apostle is the most likely person who wrote Revelation There is another John in Ephesus but the church father Irenaeus states several times in his writings that John the Apostle was the author.

We understand John was exiled to the Island of Patmos and this letter may have been written around 95 AD. There are. A few theories that it may have been written in the 60s because events, especially of the tribulation or persecution events seem to match up with the Roman ruler, Nero’s reign and there is no mention of the Temple falling in 70 AD. This is what is known as the preterm states view that these events have already happened However 95 is the Main date to remember here which gives the letter the futurist viewpoint as these things are yet to come. They are in the future.

III. The Letter’s Recipients (11, 20)

The Seven Churches

All 7 Churches receive this one letter. All 22 chapters as we have them broken down. The 7 cities were the 7 main cities on the Roman postal route. And so they would be the centers to have larger churches, but also probably spread the letter out into their respective regions. So this is the literal 7 churches and also all the other churches in existence forever. Every church can learn from this letter and it is intended for all believers as a warning of things to come.

IV. The Letter’s Topics (12-19)

Jesus The Son of Man

Jesus again takes center stage in the opening chapter. John sees the same vision tat Daniel sees in His visions when he sees the son of Man. White hair, feet like bronze. This is the Glorified Christ. John is obviously afraid but “Fear is unnecessary because of the identity of the Son of Man. He precedes all, follows all, lives after having died, and now lives eternally. In addition, he holds the remedy for death and for the grave.”

Jesus identifies himself as the living one in verse 18. I died and I live forevermore. He rules over death, which is the enemy of humans. It is the punishment from the fall that we all must face, but there is good news. Jesus, and his resurrection conquers death and extends to us his church, everlasting life as well. Jesus explains he has the keys to death and hades. Possessing keys is to guarantee entrance, which in this case is for liberation of those held captive. The captors are death and Hades.

Past, Present, and Future Events

Verse 19 is the key to the whole letter because is the key to interpreting the letter. John writes these visions down things he has seen, those that are and those that are to take place. The past present and the future. For instance, chapter 12 seems to be a recap of the fall of Satan as well some of what is going on even today.

The Old Testament, especially the psalms, follow this pattern of retelling Israel’s history so people remember what happened and how they ended up where they are.

Jesus plainly explains what the seven lamp stands and the stars mean. They are the churches and messengers of those churches whether they are actual angels as we use the word or if they mean the leaders of those churches.

Conclusion

During this 18 week series, we will look at what Jesus tells John to write down concerning the End of things. And these are things worth learning about so we can see what is going on.

We will get into premillennialism, post millennialism, and amillennialism, pre trib, post trib, pre-wrath, the day of judgment, Armageddon and more.

As we look at John’s Vision, we will plain the different positions that people take ad try to get to the heart of the text and also what the rest fo the Bible says about similar texts to gives us a likely picture of the ends times,

But don’t worry Most of those are not first-tier theological issues, the one that is the one that puts you in or out of those days. It is because we do not know when t a lot f theses events are going to take place. And that is Do you believe that Jesus is God the son, the Second person of the Trinity who died for your sins and is the Lord of not only heaven and earth, but also your life.

This should be an exciting series that should give us a clear picture of what to expect and not necessarily when to expect it.