The Revelation of Jesus Christ
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Revelation 1:1-20
Revelation 1:1-20
Revelation 1:1–8 (NASB95)
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John,
who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.
Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.
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,
and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood—
and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
https://youtu.be/WqzZ3jxx650
There is a scene towards the end of the movie The Wizard of Oz where Dorothy, and the Tin Man, Scarecrow and the Lion are standing before the Great and Powerful Wizard of Oz, and Toto pulls back the curtain and reveals the wizard to be just a man.
Thats a great scene in the movie…the veil being lifted so to speak and revealing the truth. The truth being that the wizard was a phoney.
Dorothy tells the wizard that he is a very bad man…No my dear, I’m a very good man, but a very bad wizard.
I thought about this scene when I began studying revelation. Because in a very real way…the curtain of heven is drawn back and we see the truth. But instead of seeing a bumbling wizard…we will see a glorious reigning king. King of kings and Lord of Lord. Alpha and Omega. We see Jesus.
That’s what the first five words describe. The Revelation of Jesus Christ
#1 THE REVELATION of Jesus Christ (v1-2)
v1.The Revelation of Jesus Christ,
which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place;
and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John, v2 who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.
Verse 1 &2 constitutes the introduction. The Revelation, given by God, to show the future. Communicated by an angel to John, to testify to the Word of God and to Jesus.
This is a book of visions. A book of future events. A book of prophecy. A book of judgment and a book of grace. Most importantly, it is a book about Jesus. A book that testifies about Jesus.
#2 THE REACTIONthat the Revelation evokes (v3)
v3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.
He who Reads is BLESSED
He who Hears is BLESSED
He who Heeds is BLESSED
#3 THE RECIPIENTS of the Revelation (v4-5)
v4 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, v5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
We will look deeper in to the recipents over the next few months, but there are seven churches in Asia Minor. All about 30 miles from each other. John is sending this revelation in the form of a letter to the pastors of these churches.
He begins by pronouncing a blessing of grace from:
God the Father He is and who was and is to come
The Holy Spirit
Isaiah 11:1 The Seven Spirits
Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit. 2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995.
Cross ref to The Davidic Covenant (Stem of Jesse)
Seven spirits
Spirit of the Lord
Spirit of Wisdom
Spirit of Understanding
Spirit of Counsel
Spirit of Strength
Spirit of Knowledge
Spirit of the Fear of the Lord
And the final pronouncement of Grace in verse 5 from Jesus
Jesus
#4 THE REDEEMER of the Revelation (v5-8)
v5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood—v6 and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. v7 Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen. v8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
A Vivid Description of Jesus
v5 The Faithful WITNESS
This speaks to His TRUTH. He was a firsthand Witness to God’s plan of redemption
v5 The FIRSTBORN of the dead
Christ was not the first to be resurrected from the dead
So firstborn was about Preeminence, not in time sequence
Ps 89:27 “I also shall make him My firstborn, The highest of the kings of the earth.”
v5 The RULER of kings of the earth v5
No greater king, president, ruler, authority, government,
v5 The One who LOVED us
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.
v5 The REDEEMER who released us from our sins, by His blood
v6 The One who made us a kingdom, PRIESTS
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
We don’t need an earthly priest to atone for us, to forgive us, to absolve us, to dole out penance for us.
v7 The One who is RETURNING (coming with clouds)
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
v8 The One who is who and is to come (Alpha and Omega)
The Beginning and the End
From Creation to Coranation
v8 The Almighty
Literally, The Omnipotent One
The one who holds sway