Revelation 1:1 NKJV

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John,

Ebb and flow of interest in end times

Along with all of the various understandings of what the Bible describes as “end times”

Makes studying Revelation nothing more than plugging in Bible passages to a time chart

Causes some people to shudder

“I can’t understand Revelation”

Which I believe is a mistake

What this series will attempt to do

We will let the book tell the story

We will take time during our online Bible study period on the following Sunday to answer questions and flesh out more of the details of the passage that was preached the previous Sunday

How the book is structured

Re 1:19

Revelation 1:19 NKJV

19 Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this.

Things which John saw

Things that are

Things that will take place after this

Don’t gloss over the first part

What John saw

He saw the Lord Jesus

But He was decidedly different than He was when John leaned on His chest at the Last Supper

Why that is important to remember right now

He is writing it after seeing Him the way he saw Him

Why Revelation?

Every Christ follower needs to know more about the book of Revelation because of these reasons:

1. Who Has It

Jesus Christ

“The Revelation of Jesus Christ”

Apokalupsis

Ἀποκάλυψις

“Apocalypse”

“a revealing of that which was hidden”

Second Person of the Triune God

Who has no beginning

Who has no end

Is in this book revealing the truth

Yet another glimpse of Him

And as a result, of the Father

Yet this glimpse is not the same as that in John’s Gospel

Here He is not exactly the same Man asleep in the boat in the midst of a deadly storm

This book should serve as an eye-opener

Reminder not to put Jesus in a box

“He is a good buddy”

Your relationship with Him has many more dimensions and aspects than you and I realize

In this book, Jesus reveals yet another dimension of that relationship

2. Who Gave It

God

Referring to the Father

Jn 5:20

John 5:20 NKJV

20 For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.

Jn 5:26

John 5:26 NKJV

26 For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself,

Consider what Jesus has said about the Father:

Has given all authority to the Son

Has shown the Son all things

So that the one who sees the Son has seen the Father

So yes, the Father is in on this Revelation

3. Who Gets It

Jesus’ servants

τοῖς δούλοις

“bondservants”

“slaves”

“Slaves” in OT

Usually owed a debt they could not pay

Would work it off

After 7 years, they would be released…unless

They wanted to remain in service

Have his/her ear pierced

Voluntary servitude

This is our “bondservice”

We owed a debt we could not pay

He paid the debt He did not owe

All He wants in return...

Is us

4. What’s In It

Things which must shortly take place

Begins in chapter 4

Where all of the discussion settles

How we will approach this

We will let John tell us what he saw

We will do really detailed dives the following Sunday in our Bible study

That’s when we will examine the different views of the Millennium

That’s when we will examine the different views of the Tribulation

That’s when we will examine the basic approaches that people take with regard to understanding Revelation

Now What?

Don’t miss this

Who Has This Revelation

Jesus Christ

Moved beyond the Suffering Servant

Here He is the Reigning King

Here He is the

Omnipotent

Omniscient

Sovereign

Was

Is

Is to come

We

His servants

We owe Him our lives

To know Jesus more deeply

Studying and having a better grasp of this book of Revelation goes a long way to that end

Result

You know Jesus

You want to make Jesus known