The Revelation of Jesus Christ.

Revelation 1 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

The Revelation of Jesus Christ

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.

As we are in the season of advent in the Christian calendar, we prepare for the celebration of the birth of Christ, the promised Messiah, the Lord and Savior of the world. We should recognize and acknowledge that there are over 300 Messianic prophecies in scripture concerning Jesus birth, His life, His death and resurrection that are fulfilled by Him. Considering the accuracy of scripture predicting His coming, we need to recognize that there are still many prophecies left to be fulfilled.  We can be confident that these to will be fulfilled as Christ is fully revealed. Today’s text, from Revelation 1, is subtitled, The Revelation of Jesus Christ.  In truth, that’s what all scripture is, from Genesis to Revelation, scripture is the revelation of Jesus Christ, God’s plan to redeem, reconcile and restore all of creation from the curse of sin.

The text says:  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.”  The same Lord Jesus was with God at creation. Genesis 1:26-27 says:  Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. We were created in the image of God and Christ. Genesis 1:2 says:  The Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. The Spirit was also present at creation and the Holy Spirit is also part of God’s image which we were created in. He who was, is Jesus the Lord of creation. John 1:1-3 says:  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.  The Lord who is, is the resurrected Jesus, the one who died to redeem and restore us to God and the image we were created in. He is the one who is the propitiation, the atoning sacrifice for our sin. (1 John 2:2) He is the one who is seated at the right hand of God and intercedes for us. (Romans 8:34, Hebrews 7:25) The Lord who is to come, is the one who is revealed in the yet unfulfilled prophecies; He is the Jesus that will be revealed in the days to come.  He is not just the creator. He is not only the redeemer and Savior. As the one who is to come, He will be the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings. He is the righteous judge.

We don’t know the time of Christ’s return. In Matthew 24:36 Jesus says:  “Of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.”  Just prior to that, Matthew 24:3-8 says:  As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many. You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.”  Surely our time is accurately described by Jesus as the birth pangs leading up to His return.  It would makes sense then that we should seek to understand the revelation of Christ that is to come. The text says:  I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands; 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. His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. 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. 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. 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, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades. Therefore write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things. 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. 

Amen. Heavenly Father, I look forward to the revelation of the coming Christ. May I fully know He who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.  Amen.