The Revelation

"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." Revelation 1:1-3

This month in Bible study we are beginning a two year in depth study of the final book of the Bible, Revelation. I made a distinction in the title of today's entry with the word "the" because there is truth in the statement that all scripture is revelation but as you see in the first verse John is very clear that it is the Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave Him. The word "revelation" is the Greek apokalupsis and means "unveiling". Thus this book is not intended to be mysterious or confusing but illuminating and revealing! Jesus is taking the veil off the things that precede and follow His second coming.

There are so many things to note about this first chapter in Revelation that I would challenge anyone to spend some time there but allow me to point out a few highlights.

Take notice of three things concerning the record that John made in writing this book. It is the inspired Word of God, it is the testimony of Jesus Christ (statements made by Christ Himself to John throughout the book) and it is the eye-witness accounts of John himself of real events made possible through the ministry of the angel who communicated it to him! WOW!

In Verse 3 we see that there is a blessing for those who read and heed the words of the prophecy. So for those of us who have been intimidated at the prospect of studying Revelation, we've been missing out on a blessing!

In Verse 19 you can find the outline for the entire book of Revelations. The things which you have seen: Chapter 1. The things which are; the letters to the 7 churches: Chapters 2 & 3. The things which will take place after these things: Chapter 4 - 22.

And should you decide to read the first chapter be sure to begin a list on everything you learn from the text on who Jesus is! In this chapter alone we learn that He is the faithful witness, He is the firstborn from the dead. He is the ruler over the kings of the Earth. He is the Alpha and Omega. He is the beginning and the end. He is the One who is and who was and who is to come. He is the Almighty. He is the first and last. He is the Son of Man. He is He who lives, He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks amidst the seven golden lampstands. He who has the sharp two-edged sword. He is Son of God. He is He who has eyes like a flame of fire and feet like fine brass. He is He who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.

Finally, I don't want to overlook Verse 5 where we see Christ's love for us.

"Unto Him that loves us and washed us from our sins in His own blood." Now that statement tells us that Christ is committed to loving the church. If the Bible only contained that verse it would be sufficient for a knowledge of Jesus Christ. That He loves us. That He washed us from our sins in His own blood.

Now, you'll notice that it says in Verse 5 that He loves us. It is a present tense in the Greek. It's not past but present. We often think - and I guess we all fall into this sometimes because we look back at the cross as a focal point - but we fall into the problem of thinking of the love of God as a past revelation. We read Romans 5 and it says, "But God proved His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us." So we look in the past. We see a dying Christ and we say that's God's love and that's when God loved us. And it might be easy for us to assume that the love of God spent its full force and reached its culmination at the cross. But that's wrong in many ways.

God's love today is equal to what it was on the cross. It is no way diminished. His present love is at full force right now just as the moment when Jesus was enduring the horrors of Calvary. God eternally expresses His love toward us in Jesus Christ. And so the verse says, "Jesus loves us." The first message to the churches, Verse 4, "John to the churches." The first message is "Jesus loves us." That's His primary commitment. To love us. And it isn't something that's just past history. It's something that's present reality. ~ John MacArthur

Reminds me of a song we sing every Sunday with our five year olds - "Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so..." Do you know Jesus?

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me." Revelation 3:20