The Revelation of Jesus Christ

Introduction

It has been upon my mind and in my heart for a long time to deliver a series of special discourses upon this remarkable portion of holy scripture. Not out of conceit of having superior wisdom or spiritual gifts, not with the vain ambition of making all the mysteries plain. Not yet out of mere curious desire to pry into the things of the future, but out of solemn reverence for all that God has caused to be written for our learning and with a view conscientiously to declare the whole counsel of God. And with an earnest desire to secure for myself and for those who hear me that special benediction which is pronounced upon them who read, hear, and keep what is written in this prophecy

-Joseph Augustus Seiss

I have wanted to dive into this book myself for a while. No perceived superiority of wisdom. Not with any grandiose designs to unravel everything mysterious about this book. We won’t be able to do that. I am certainly interested in looking into the future through the lens of Scripture, but without a doubt, the main focus we should have as we approach this is a simple earnest desire to work through Scripture. I also believe that there is a special blessing given to believers who study this particular book. There is a blessing upon the student of any portion of Scripture, but without a doubt there is something special about this particular book to be secure by the believer as is stated in verse 3 of the first chapter here. I also cannot help but wonder if this book has been laid upon out class for such a time as this. That maybe it is during this transition that we ought to be paying careful attention to the commendations and warnings of the seven churches. And also to have our eyes drawn especially towards the day when our Lord will return and set all things new and right.

1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: 2 Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. 3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

4 John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; 5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, 6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

7 Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.

The title of this book is The Revelation of St. John The Divine or the Theologian.

This is the only place in Scripture where that word is used. A Theologian is someone who speaks the things of God. And that is exactly what He was doing. Theologians were called Divine’s in the days of the reformation. It didn’t mean that they were of divinity, but just that they ministered divine things.

Titles are not part of the original manuscripts of Scripture. Because of that you may end up with many different titles for a particular book. This is true of Revelation. There are over 60 different titles for this book. But all contain the basic same information that is in this title.

Five times in the book, John refers to himself by name.

So there is no question in our minds as to who the author of this book is.

When He wrote this book, it was almost immediately widely circulated. This book wasn’t sent to an individual Christian or an individual church, but to seven churches. We will see the names of those churches in their respective cities in chapters 2-3

So those letters came to those churches, the people heard them and would have immediately wanted a copy for themselves and so they would have had them made. In the late 80s and 90s of the previous century there was a massive resurgence of interest in this book. An interest that has waned some, but is still fairly strong. There are hundreds of commentaries that have been written on this book in just the last 50 years. Anyone remember the Left Behind series which sold over 80 million copies? Or prophecy conferences?

This book would have enjoyed that same level of popularity in the day that it was written. It was widely circulated and would have provided incredible comfort to those who were under persecution at that time.

Early Christians testified to their love of this book

Justin Marty in 140 AD quotes from this book

Irenaeus quoted from this book frequently. He wrote about it in 190 “all the genuine and ancient copies of it just 100 years after it was written.” Meaning some of the earliest copies were still in circulation

It was quoted constantly throughout the early church history.

By the close of the second century we know without a doubt that it had circulated all throughout the Roman Empire.

So what was it’s appeal? What was the attraction:

We need to remind ourselves, as we do with every book, of the days in which this book was written and read. Look at verse 9 of this first chapter. Here we see John’s on circumstance.

Revelation 1:9 (KJV 1900)

I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Tribulation/persecution

These was the days of Domitian.

emperor actually assumed the title, “Domitian, Lord and God.” That’s how He would sign his edicts and correspondence. How did the early believers feel about emperor worship? John is probably in his 90s, certainly in his late 80s is on the Isle of Patmos and is there maybe working in the mines, but there due to his testimony to Christ during days of persecution. And the people who he is writing to are in steeped in oppression themselves. When we get to the 7 churches we will see references to this.

2:10 The devil will cast some of you into prison. The Lord predicted their imprisonment

To Pergamus He gives a commendation to them not loosing their faith after seeing their members martyred

These were churches who knew of their members being martyred. Their friends had been put to death for their faith.

And for over 225 years, Christians in the Roman Empire would be under threat of persecution and would often experience it. This wasn’t assuaged until 331 when Tertullian signed and edict of tolerance providing for toleration of Christianity within the empire.

So the sufferings of the people to whom this book was written were real. They dealt with intense persecution.

This book provided comfort to them. And it will provide the same for us.

The Revelation of Jesus Christ.

Revelation 1:1 KJV 1900

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

This first verse, and more specifically, the title given in the first five words of this verse is where we are going to start. Like our other studies, my goal, and it should be yours as well, is not that we walk away with a familiarity of this book, but that we really know it. So that will begin for us with the title.

This title gives us the whole book in a nutshell.

The Revelation (Apocalypse) of Jesus Christ

The word Revelation (Greek word apocalypse) means an unveiling or a disclosing. It literally means, to take away the lid. Think of a hungry man coming home from work and smelling something in the kitchen, but there's a lid on it. And the man wants to know what is in there, so he lifts the lid. That is what is happening here.

This book takes the cover off.

Apocalypse, or apocalyptic literature. Modern scholarship will use the word apocalypse very frequently, just like they often use the word Armageddon. They refer to apocalyptic literature. Apocalyptic literature was written mostly by Jewish people starting at about 200 years before Christ and ending at about 100 years after Christ. So there was this 300 year period when a bunch of this material was written. That literature would have attached to it pseudonyms. Meaning, that a fictitious name was attached to it. Usually it would be a name that would lend credibility. This literature also had many false predictions in it, some would come true, most wouldn’t, and it was incredibly pessimistic.

So… since this book begins with this word. Modern, and for the most part unbelieving, scholarship will assign it to this same category of literature. They believe it to be just another in this group of dark, doom and gloom, pseudo-prophecy.

Why say that? Well, because your study Bible probably refers to this body of literature and if you read a commentaries about this book it will probably refer to that.

But…

We need to understand that this book is God-breathed and is NOT in the same category as that body of literature written by unbelieving Jews during the same time period.

We know who it was written by, it does not have false predictions, and it is far from pessimistic.

But it IS still an apocalypse

The Revelation of Jesus Christ

What does that mean?

1 Corinthians 1:7 (KJV 1900)

So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ:

His return…

1 Peter 1:7 (KJV 1900)

That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

The words “coming” (1 Cor 1:7) and “appearing” (1 Peter 1:7) are both translated from the word apocalypse

So maybe the title is talking about that. If Jesus appeared, wouldn’t that be an unveiling?

It is the Revelation of Him. And this happens in chapter 19

So it may be that He is the object being revealed, but the other possibility is that He is the one doing the revealing.

So which is it? Maybe a little of both. It may be that He is intentionally ambiguous. Because both are happening

But… if you look at the first chapter. you see these things.

Revelation 1:1 (KJV 1900)

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

This would indicate that the of is a subjective genitive. This means Jesus is the subject that is doing the revealing. God gave him something to give. However, of all the things given, the most splendid would be the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So that’s the title. What are the contents?

The contents are those things that must shortly come to pass

This is a critical statement because this is not the first nor the last time the phrase is used. In fact, this phrase goes all the way back to Daniel.

Some cross references to the phrase “things that must shortly come to pass”

Daniel 2:28 (KJV 1900)

But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these;

This is after the dream of the great monolith. Where the stone came down and smashed the great statue and became a great edifice. And after that, you have this phrase:

The things necessary to come to pass. And what was necessary to come to pass were these 4 kingdoms that the statue signifies

Gold- your kingdom, Babylon

Medo-persians

Greece

Rome

An unknown Kingdom or a broken down kingdom

Then, a heavenly kingdom would come and smash all of those earthly kingdoms

Now, 500 years later. Matthew 24-25 you have a prophetic discourse, the Olivet discourse. In this He predicts the destruction of the temple and many other things that move into the end times. This is where He talks about wars and rumors of wars in verse 6. Something that certainly fits our time right now. When that happens, you shouldn’t be troubled

Matthew 24:6 (KJV 1900)

And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

This is the same phrase. And we know these are connected because in Mat 24:15 He refers back to Daniel 9 with the abomination of desolation

So back now to Revelation chapter 1

Revelation 1:1 KJV 1900

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

So when Daniel said it was the later days, John here says that it needs to come to pass shortly. Then look at chapter the first verse of chapter 4

Revelation 4:1 (KJV 1900)

After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.

So this is a prophetic formula for things that need to come to pass seen in Daniel 2:28, Matthew 24:6, Revelation 4:1 and in Revelation 1:1. These are things that are to “shortly come to pass” or “what is necessary to become”

So that begs the question: How are they to “shortly come to pass” and it has been 1900 years since they have been prophesied this way?

How would you answer this question?

You know Peter tells us that people are going to come and question us about the promise of His coming. You keep saying this is going to happen, but things just keep happening the same way they always have.

Well, here are two Scriptural possibilities;

This isn’t from human perspective, but from divine perspective.

And from divine perspective. one day is a 1000 years and.... We haven’t even had a million days since then. NT mentions 5 times “the last days” and Hebrews 1:2 we see that those last days began with the ministry of Christ. So we aren’t waiting for the last days, we are in the last days from divine perspective.

The other possibility is that the word should be looked at a little differently.

Luke 18:8 (KJV 1900)

I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

Acts 12:7 (KJV 1900)

And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands.

Acts 22:18 (KJV 1900)

And saw him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem: for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me.

In other words,

This is a word that can often mean that something is going to happen almost immediately, but that can sometimes refer to how quickly an event takes place.

So maybe the things, when they are finally set in motion, will happen rapid-fire and in rapid succession. And when you read through revelation you can’t help but see that the things that happen are happening just right on top of each other.

EITHER WAY. What God gave to Daniel with Nebuchadnezzar, John is picking up on in Revelation and when He says that they MUST COME TO PASS shortly. Again..

Either way, this should leave us with a sense of immediate expectation or immanency for this.

What we have in Revelation is an unveiling of coming imperative events (they MUST happen) especially the appearing of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

So… are you persuaded that history is not a series of haphazard and unrelated events? Do you have a confidence that history is the unfolding in chronological sequence those things that God almighty has predetermined before the world began. That all these things MUST come to past. And nothing can impede, hinder, or delay the unfolding of these events. And when they come to pass, they will come to past quickly.

Do you believe that your life is wrapped up in that sequence of events, or are you just floating around haphazardly careening of of one lucky or unlucky even or another.

A friend that believed that. Completely subject to fate, karma, lucky and unlucky breaks

Is it that way, or is there a God in heaven who is the agent and the end of all things. Man, there is comfort in that for the believer. And the end of any other view is and ought to be despair.

You have heard this phrase before and this is why it is a very appropriate explanation to say that Revelation is a Consummation.

And what is special about that word is that a Consummation is not just the end of something, but it is the intended or planned end of something.

Our flight from Lima to Miami. That was only a consummation because we actually landed as intended in Miami.

It was only a consummation because we landed.

And this is a comfort to us because every minute detail of what is supposed to happen is going to happen precisely as the Lord orchestrates because nothing is out of His control

How have we come to know these things?

Revelation 1:1–2 (KJV 1900)

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.

So now we move to how it is we are able to come to know these things. You have a passing of the baton so to speak

Which God… That’s where it starts

to Him.... The Him is Jesus Christ. God the Father gave this revelation to Jesus Christ. That’s a little strange to us because Jesus Christ is also God. But didn’t we see that in his earthly ministry

John 7:16 KJV 1900

Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.

John 8:28 KJV 1900

Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.

John 12:49 KJV 1900

For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.

John 14:24 KJV 1900

He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.

John 17:8 KJV 1900

For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.

So evidently there is still this kind of arrangement in Heaven. It is revealed from God the Father to God the Son before it passes to us. And we get to spend all of eternity figuring out this arrangement

The next step.

He did this so He could show it to His servants

But the next step in this is that He sent it to His angel

Revelation 1:1–2 KJV 1900

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.

He sent and signified it by his angel

So God to the Son, by his angel to his servant John to his servants (the seven churches) and now you have it in your lap because from there it has gone into the whole world.

That sequence ought to be impressive to us.

Every book in our bible is equally inspired. That is, it is all breathed out by God in the same way. But here we have a place in our Bibles where it is as if God is Highlighting a section of that Revelation to make them prominent.

You need to tell people who might be tempted to disregard this book because it might be too difficult, too distant, or too controversial: Look! I gave this to my Son, to give to an angel, to give to John, to give to seven churches and send to all my servants.

That sequence ought to bear down upon us the weightiness of the message that is to be given.

Now, we need to talk a little bit more about one of the chain links of this sequence. Which is the most controversial of these?

Which one are you the most curious about? The angel

We are not told throughout the book of this taking place. There are angels throughout the book. Every now and then it will say that an angel said something to John, but we shouldn’t expect it to say this every time. But it does open by saying this. And it also says this at the end

Revelation 22:16 KJV 1900

I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.

So an angel was used to communicate this. But the critical term for our understanding is not the term angel, but the term “signified” That is the important term we need to know

Signified- Read it as sign i fied. The term has to do with showing signs and presenting things in symbols.

That is a well-know characteristic of Revelation. There are tons of signs and symbols in this book. These symbols can represent people, events, whole nations, or even movements. And that’s where much of the controversy in Revelation comes from.

So… as we start off. How do we know what the right interpretation of a symbol is going to be?

Many of them, we are not going to know what they mean

Many of them we will, how can we be dogmatic about it? If the Bible itself interprets the sign

Revelation 1:13 KJV 1900

And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.

So what are the seven candlesticks and the seven stars

Revelation 1:20 KJV 1900

The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.

So we can be dogmatic about what these symbols.

So.... sometimes the Scripture will clearly reveal what those symbols are either within the immediate context or in other places in Scripture, but sometimes it won’t.

So it may be that you will be disappointed in how I interpret those things. Because there are going to be times when I am going to be emphatic, times that I’m going to say, “I don’t know.”, and times I will give you a number of possibilities and then tell you what I think is the most reasonable But I will refuse to be dogmatic. That means that your curiosity, at times, will not be satisfied.

It also means that there are going to be times when I will give an interpretation that I think is possible, but might be wrong.

G.Campbell Morgan calls this “sanctified speculation.”

These symbols are also incredibly potent. Think about what it means for a world leader to be portrayed as a ferocious beast. You get a lot out of that symbol without massive amounts of information

And now this last thing.

A Threefold blessing

Revelation 1:3 KJV 1900

Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

Read, hear, keep

Blessed are they that read.

There is a blessing in just a careful reading of this Scripture. Massive amounts of time was spent in the early church just reading these passages

All of you have copy of this book. How many copies do you have, how many translations? How many foreign languages. (original languages,)

What are tremendous privilege it is that you have such easy and immediate access to the word of God. It wasn’t always this way.

Blessed are they that hear

Blessed are they that keep

This isn’t just to be heard, it is to be obeyed and the blessing comes from obedience.

Why this blessing for this book? I mean, isn’t it true and couldn’t we say, “blessed are they that hear and keep any part of this book?” Why this one?

The Bible doesn’t say, but.... here is some sanctified speculation

Possibly because of the Lord’s knowledge of how this book would come to be neglected by God’s people.

This would have been a huge comfort to those people during the time of this book’s writing in the persecution they were enduring

But the Lord doesn’t come, and the persecution wanes. And the book looses its perceived practicality.

So you need this emphasis that it needs to be heard and kept signifying that regardless of our perception, it is practical and understandable.

Maybe because the Holy Spirit wants us to understand that there is just as much comfort, benefit, strength, and glory in understanding the days of our Lord’s future majesty and glory as there is in the stories of His nativity and in His earthly ministry at His first coming.

Every year at Christmas those stories are new and are a blessing to us and that was in His humility

How much more would there be in the certainty of His exaltation and glorification and the putting of all of His enemies under His feet. What a blessing it would be to see the unveiling of the Glory of Christ in His majesty

Because the book promotes our faith.

This book, maybe more than any other book in our NT, demands that we believe the things that we say we believe.

If you tell people that you believe in Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and your relationship with Him has changed everything in your life. Even non-believers, for the most part, will applaud that you have found something that will help you. It is not that difficult to profess that part of our faith.

But if you say: “and He is coming back for me, and He is going to set the world right, and He is going to destroy all who don’t believe in Him and conquer every nation.” Now you are a crazy person.

It takes a lot of faith to live in light of prophecy. These prophecies are now millennia old. And the scoffers will say and are saying: Where is the promise...

You faith to believer these things. And faith cometh by hearing.

Regardless, our blessing in reading and keeping this book is guaranteed!

All three of those participles are in the present tense. Blessed are they that continue to read and hear and keep

And what really could be better to get God’s people to look up. It is very difficult for the things of this world to “grow strangely dim” as the hymn says if we never peel our eyes off of them. This world is too much our home. We need to regain our pilgrim nature because this world is not our home. We need to be living for another time and another place. So this will help us to look at that other time and other place instead of focusing so much on our little piece of real estate

This book is going to be an unveiling of necessary coming events. It’s centerpiece are the appearances of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. By character and genre the book is a prophetic, a true foretelling of future events known and determined by God. We have a sequence of transmission from God the Father to God the Son, to an angel, to John, to the seven local churches, and now to you and me. And there is a guaranteed blessing for us who read it and keep it. And we will be here for awhile so we have a lot of blessing headed our way.

We need to nourish in our hearts an expectation of the Lord’s coming. We need to live every day in light of His imminent return.

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