The Revelation of Jesus Christ - Revelation 1:1

Revelation 1:1-20     The Revelation of Jesus Christ

1 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, ² who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. ³ 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.

Message to the Seven Churches

⁴ 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, ⁵ 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— ⁶ 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. ⁷ 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.

⁸ “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

⁹ I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. ¹⁰ I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet, ¹¹ saying, “Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”

¹² Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands; ¹³ and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash. ¹⁴ His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. ¹⁵ His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. ¹⁶ In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength.

¹⁷ When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, ¹⁸ and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades. ¹⁹ Therefore write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things. ²⁰ As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

I have been looking forward to our time together in the book of Revelation. This portion is from today's reading in the One Year Bible. (link available on links page of this site) I certainly do not intend for this to be an in depth study of Revelation. Because Revelation deals with a vision that was given to John about things which even today are yet to come it is difficult to accurately interpret what John saw in the vision. For me I read this book as I read all scripture, for a revelation of Jesus Christ, to better understand who He is, to know Him better. Then in knowing Him better to try to discern what His Word is speaking to me/us today, whether through the accounts of or in context to those who lived before, or through words spoken to all people throughout all time. Hebrews 4:12 says For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. That's how I look at scripture, as alive and active, some translations say powerful, it surely is that.

The book of Revelation begins with the subtitle "The Revelation of Jesus Christ". Again that's how and why we read this word like all scripture. In Matthew 16 Jesus says that upon the revelation that He is the Christ, He will build His church. If the revelation is the foundation on which Jesus builds then the continuing revelation should be what we continue to build on.

John sets the stage for us in the first few verses. He is on the isle of Patmos as an exile because of his work in preaching and teaching the Word. John tells us that he was "in the spirit" when he saw and heard these things. This vision, this revelation was spiritually given so it must be spiritually discerned as well. I believe we err if we try to dissect,  analyze and rationalize spiritual things with our natural minds. 

John says that he was told to “Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”  There are those who look at these letters to the churches as very individual directed messages to those churches. I again look to scripture to hear what it is saying to me/us in this time. Why would we believe that these words of The Alpha and Omega were spoken only for those particular churches, particularly when they concern events which have not happened yet, even to this day? We have a tendency to reject the things we can't understand. Because of that, many will reject this spiritually given prophetic vision while holding fast to other portions of scripture dealing with more finite rules, regulations and requirements. 

The final thing I want us to see in today's reading is this. John tries to describe to us what/who he saw in human terms. Our human finite minds can not fully comprehend nor describe the things of the spirit. John who see this form of the risen glorified Lord is the same one who laid his head on Jesus chest at the last supper. John 13:25  Then, leaning back on Jesus’ breast, he said to Him, “Lord, who is it?” There was probably no one who knew Jesus better, more intimately than John. Yet what does he do when he sees the resurrected, glorified Christ?  Here's what John tells us.  When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man.

As we are in this season of Advent, when we celebrate the first coming of Jesus, born as a baby into this world, to live and walk among men as a man, we need to remember that Jesus is no longer that baby. He is no longer the man we read about in the gospel accounts, the one on whom John laid his head. Jesus the Christ is the Lord of lords and the King of kings. When He returns He will neither look as He did before nor will He act as He did before. He came the first time to be the sacrifice for our sin. ²¹ He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.(2 Corinthians 5:21) That work is done. Jesus said on the cross "It is finished." (John 19:30) When Jesus returns it will be in all His glory. The conquering King, come to reign and rule forever. We, like John, will fall at His feet.

Romans 14:11 For it is written, "AS I LIVE, SAYS THE LORD, EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW TO ME, AND EVERY TONGUE SHALL GIVE PRAISE TO GOD."

Revelation is not about the end. It is about the begining, the begining of our Lord's eternal reign here on earth.

Today we read the first words in the Revelation of Jesus Christ. The Revelation ends this way Revelation 22:

¹² “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done. ¹³ I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”...

²⁰ He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

²¹ The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

Amen and Amen.