Lesson 1 Revelation

                                                               Revelation Chapter 1

“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to show unto His servants things which must shortly or speedily come to pass” (v1a). The first thing that we see in this book is that it is a revelation of Jesus Christ, and that God gave the revelation to His Son Jesus for a purpose. Jesus had His servants, or bond-slaves, on earth. These were members of His Body on earth who served Him. And God gave Jesus this revelation to show those servants. It is a revelation of things which must come to pass, and when they do, they will come to pass “speedily.”  We get our word “tachometer” from the same Greek root.

The word “revelation” comes from the Latin, revelatio, which has the same meaning as the original Greek word, apokalupsis. Both the Latin and the Greek have the meaning of “a disclosure of that which was previously hidden or unknown.”

The disclosure that was previously unknown may come by specific instruction from someone who does know, or it may come from an unfolding of the event itself. The idea here is a specific disclosure from Jesus. In this concluding book of Scripture, we have the consummation of things begun in the first book of Scripture, Genesis.

Genesis is the book of beginnings. In Genesis we have the first prophecy of the Christ as the singular, Male Member of the Woman’s seed (Gen.3:15). In the Old Testament, in many ways and many times, God spoke of His Christ. In the Gospels, we have God the Son become flesh - Jesus - and revealed as the Son of Man, a prophet and a teacher.

In this book, the book of Revelation, we have the Lord Jesus Christ revealed in glory. We see the glorified Christ as the Head over His Church, as Ruler over the kings of the earth, as the Coming Judge, as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, as the Lamb that was slain, as the High Priest in heaven, and a King of kings and Lord of lords. All to be shown unto His bond-slaves, those who have chosen to serve Him.

Verse 1 continues, “And He - that is, Jesus - sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant, John, who bore witness of the Word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw” (vv1b-2). This revelation of Himself Jesus sent to His servant, John, one of Jesus’ apostles. He did not give it to John directly, but sent it to him by an angel. And He signified it; that is, He sent it in signs and symbols. In this way God had spoken in times past through His holy prophets (Heb.1:1).

John became a bond-slave of Jesus Christ from his youth, when he was called to be one of Jesus’ disciples. John had been a disciple of John the Baptist when it was first disclosed to him that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ (see Jn.1:35-42). Though John did not name himself as one of the two disciples who followed Jesus that day, he did name Andrew, and had it been one of the other disciples, he would have given his name. John never referred to himself by name in his Gospel, but always as the disciple whom Jesus loved (Jn.13:23; 20:2; 21:7, 20).

To John was revealed the glory of Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration (Mt.17:1-9; Mk.9:1-7). And after the resurrection of Jesus, John was a witness to that Life everlasting which was manifested to the disciples. And they saw Him with their own eyes, and looked upon Him and handled Him with their own hands (1 Jn.1:1-2).

To John had been given by the Holy Spirit to write the Gospel revealing Jesus of Nazareth to be the Son of God, that believing, one might have Life through His name (Jn.20:30-31). To him also was given to write three short letters to witness to the truth - John’s Epistles.

Once again, we see that it was given to John to bear witness to the Word of God and of all things which he saw of the glorified Christ. A true witness must actually be on the scene to see and hear what he bears witness to. What John saw and heard was signified to him. It was given by Jesus through the angel in signs and symbols.

The words of this book are referred to as prophecy (Rev.1:3). Mostly the book is prophetic, the last prophecy of Scripture, the foretelling of the great events of the end time, the consummation of the great plan of the Lord begun in the book of Genesis.

This book has seven beatitudes. In verse 3 we have the first one. “Blessed is he that reads, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is at hand.”  A beatitude always begins with “Blessed,” a word meaning “highly favored.”  Highly favored he that reads and they who hear and keep the words of this prophecy. “Keep” has the meaning of “watching over carefully to preserve.”

When a message such as this came to the local assembly or church, the pastor or elder would read it to the assembly. If one really heard the words of the prophecy; if one took in the words and believed them, he would be careful to preserve the words of those things written in the prophecy, a way of preserving the truth of Jesus Christ.

As the word “church” can be misleading today, we will use the term “assembly.”  The true Church of Jesus Christ is a called-out assembly of those who responded to the call of the Holy Spirit, to become children of God through faith in Christ Jesus (Gal.3:26).

Anyone in any church, who has heard the words of Christ to believe the One who sent Him, has passed from  death to Life everlasting (Jn.5:24). As we today have local churches, they had local assemblies. Also as today, not everyone in the local assembly was a true believer in Jesus Christ through spiritual birth.

The local assemblies must understand that the time is at hand. This did not, and does not, mean that the prophecy would be fulfilled immediately, but just that the time for fulfillment was at hand, and when the things signified in the prophecy began to unfold, they would do so speedily.

John desired to impress the reader and the hearers with the urgency  and the importance of keeping the words of the prophecy and those things which were written in it. After John told how he received the prophecy, and his work to bear witness to it, and gave the beatitude of Jesus’ blessing, he went on to give his own personal salutation.

“John, to the seven assemblies which are in Asia: Grace unto 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 First Begotten of the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth. Unto Him that loves us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us a kingdom of priests unto God and His Father, to Him glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen” (vv4-6).

John is speaking of seven local assemblies which were located in Asia Minor, as we refer to it today. These seven assemblies were located geographically in seven specific cities there. While everything in the Old Testament and the Gospels centered around the land that God had covenanted to Abraham and his seed, the New Testament Epistles center around these assemblies, started by the apostle Paul in his ministry to the Gentiles.

Grace is the great favor God has done us to send Jesus as our Substitute to make peace with God for us, and to be our Peace (Rom.5:1; Eph.2:13-18). Grace and peace have their source in the triune God, which John brings out in his salutation: “Grace and peace are from Him who is, and who was, and who is to come.”  For all eternity to come  is God the Father, the Eternal God. And grace and peace are from the Seven Spirits or the Seven-fold Spirit.

In Scripture seven is a number of fulfillment or completeness. Isaiah wrote of the Spirit’s seven-fold fullness. In Isaiah 11:2 we see:

            The Spirit of the Lord,

The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,

The Spirit of counsel and might,

The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.

So grace and peace are from the Father and the Spirit. And grace and peace are also from Jesus Christ, who is the Faithful Witness of the Father, who did what He saw the Father do, and even as the Father said unto Him, He spoke (Jn.12:49-50). Jesus Christ, the Faithful Witness, was the First Begotten of the dead. His was the first body to be made alive, and to  come out from among the dead bodies, to die no more. But here the word “first-begotten” does not refer to the resurrection, but is a title to a position as the first-born; a title to the inheritance with its rights (Col. 1:17-18).

And Jesus Christ is the Prince, or the Ruler of the kings of the earth. And this Faithful Witness, the Firstborn, and Ruler of all kings of the earth loves us, and loosed us from our sins in His own blood. He died in our stead. He shed His blood to redeem us, to buy us back for God, and to ransom us, to set us free from our old master, the sin (Rom.5:1-7:6; Eph.1:7; Col.1:12-20). (When Paul speaks of the sin coming into the world by the one man, he personifies sin as a master. In the Greek there is the definite article “the” before the word sin in Romans chapters 5 through 7.)

We have been freed from the penalty of sin. Jesus took our death penalty in our stead. We are enabled to be free from the power of the sin by reckoning ourselves dead indeed unto the sin and alive unto God (Rom.6:11-13). We shall be free forever from the presence of sin when we are freed from this body of death.

It is Jesus who freed us from sin, washing us from our sins in His own blood. According to the Law of Moses, the priests must be washed before they were considered fit for their service to God, ministering to Him on behalf of the people (Ex.30:18-21). Having been washed in the blood of Jesus, we have now been made fit to serve the Lord, ministering His reconciliation to mankind through the gospel - a kingdom fo priests unto God. It is Jesus who made us fit for this service. To Him glory and dominion, forever and ever. Amen. Such a One has the right to everlasting glory and the power of exercising dominion over all.

“Behold, He comes with clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and they also who pierced Him; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen” (Rev.1:7).

John was likely reminded of that day that He sat on the Mount of Olives with Jesus and heard Him say, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give its light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Mt.24:29-30).

“All the kindreds.”  All the families of the earth are descended from one of the three sons of Noah, and are therefore kin. When Jesus comes, they will be wailing, and beating themselves, and crying aloud in their intense grief. “Even so. Amen.”  It will be.

Next John wrote a personal word from the Lord Himself. “I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, says the Lord, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty” (v8). Here we have the first of seven “I am’s” that are recorded in the book of Revelation. “Am” is a verb indicating being - but not becoming.

As created beings, we are that which we have become. We are that which we were born - flesh. We are that which our choices in circumstances have made us; what we have grown to be. Created beings are what they were not, and they are what they will sometime not be anymore. Not so with God. He is the same forever and ever.

Jesus said, “ I am Alpha and Omega.” Using the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, Jesus made reference to the Old Testament words of Isaiah (Is.41:4; 44:6; 48:12). Isaiah 44:6 says, “Thus said the Lord, the King of Israel, and His Redeemer, the Lord of Hosts: I am the First, and I am the Last, and beside Me there is no God.”

“I am the Beginning and the Ending of all purposed,” says the Lord, who is - who was - who is to come. Three different ways the Lord expressed that He is eternal. He always existed. He always will exist. He is the Almighty, El Shaddai. El Shaddai is the all-sufficient God. He is equal to, and sufficient for carrying out His purposes. Jesus Christ, the all-sufficient, eternal God, will come in the clouds, and to Him will be given glory and the dominion forever and ever.

John took time to briefly tell how the prophecy came to him. “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. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet” (vv9-10).

John will be sending this message to fellow bond-servants. They are his brethren in the Lord. They are companions, co-sharers in the affliction, and kingdom, and endurance in Jesus. They are all enduring until they finish their race on earth.

John had been banished to the Isle of Patmos, and his only crime was watching over carefully to preserve the Word of God, and for his testimony of Jesus of Nazareth being the promised Christ. Of that he was guilty. John was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day. Although the early assembly met every day and were very careful to not again become entangled in legalistic observance of days, they had memorialized the first day of the week, Sunday, as dedicated to the remembrance of Jesus being brought again from the dead.

“Being in the Spirit” is a way of saying John was worshiping God. Jesus had taught him that they that worship God must worship in Spirit and in Truth (Jn.4:24). John was all alone in worship when he heard the voice which sounded like a trumpet. A trumpet is a well-known wind instrument. It is distinguished for its clear distinct sound. In the Old Testament silver trumpets were used to call God’s people to an assembly (see Nu.10:1-10).

The great voice, as of a trumpet, was saying, “I am Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last,” and “What you see, write in a book, and send unto the seven assemblies which are in Asia: unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamum, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea” (v11).

The Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, was commanding John to write what was to be signified to him in a book, literally “a scroll,” and naming the seven assemblies to which it was to be sent. The scroll was to be sent to each of these seven assemblies.

Geographically these assemblies all, more or less, face the Isle of Patmos. They were given in order clockwise, beginning with Ephesus, the principal city. Ephesus is on the coast, and northward is Smyrna, and Pergamum. East is Thyatira and to the southeast, Sardis, and on to Philadelphia to Laodicea, due east and inland from Ephesus.

John “turned to see the voice that spoke to him, and being turned, saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands one like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girded about the breasts with a golden girdle. His head and hair white like wool, as white as snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire; and His feet like fine bronze, as if they burned in a furnace; and His voice like the sound of many waters. And He had in His right hand seven stars; and out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance was as the sun shines in its strength” (vv12-16).

When John turned, he saw the likeness of the Son of Man. Son of Man is what Jesus called Himself when He had taken on Himself the likeness of the children of men, flesh and blood (Heb.2:14; Mt.16:13). Son of Man was the name John used for Jesus in his Gospel. Jesus was the Son of Man while on earth; here, shown in His glory, He is again described as the Son of Man. Jesus will forever be the Son of God/Son of Man - but  now, He is in a body of glory.

John saw Jesus like Himself in appearance, but clothed in such a manner as John had never seen Jesus before. There He stood in the midst of the seven golden lampstands, clothed in a long tribunal garment. Rather than being girded about the loins or waist as would be the usual for the Son of Man, He was girded much higher, around the breasts, and the girdle was golden. The lampstands are Light-bearers.

His head with hair white like wool, white as snow, identifies Jesus with the Ancient of Days of Daniel 7:9. Isaiah calls Him everlasting Father (Is.9:6), but here we see Jesus as Judge.

John says His eyes were like a flame of fire. Here is the searching discernment of omniscience. What would make those loving eyes flash fire?  That which has corrupted its way upon earth would make them flash fire.

The feet like bronze are glowing intensely, like metal in the midst of a furnace. Bronze in Scripture typifies judgment. The four-square altar of burnt offering and all of the items connected with the service of it were bronze (Ex.38:30). The altar of burnt offering was a type, a picture of the Cross of Jesus Christ, who took mankind’s judgment for sin. The good news for believers is that Jesus took our judgment upon Himself.

His voice was powerful and thundering like a great waterfall. We are reminded it was that voice that called creation into existence, into being. Psalm 33 says, “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. He gathered the waters of the sea together as a heap; He laid up the depth in storehouses” (vv6-7).

There He stood, the Son of Man glorified, standing in the midst of the seven light-holders and in His right hand seven stars, with a two-edged sword going out of His mouth, and His face shining as the sun at noon on a cloudless day. In the Greek, the word for sword is romphia, which is a certain type of sword, a Thracian sword that is unusually long. So not only was this sword used to cut both ways, but with the added advantage of length, it was far-reaching.

“And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying unto me, ‘Fear not; I am the First and the Last; I am He that lives, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive forevermore, Amen, and have the keys of Hades and Death’” (Rev.1:17-18).

John had seen Jesus transfigured on the Mount of Transfiguration, metamorphosed before his very eyes, with His clothing white as light. But when John saw the Son of Man with the glory of the Son of God, and that glory wherewith He had glorified the Father on earth unveiled, he was overcome with the meaning of those signs of the sovereignty and majesty of Jesus Christ as the Judge.

He saw the omniscience of the eyes and the omnipotence of the sharp, two-edged sword which spoke of judgment. But when Jesus laid His right hand, the hand of power, upon John and spoke, the fear was gone. It was His beloved Master saying, “Fear not.”

Here is the First and the Last, who lives. He became dead - physically. Jesus had the power to lay down the life of that body, and He had the power to take it up again (Jn.10:17-18). “I became dead. Behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen.”  On the Cross Jesus breathed the last breath of that body and expired (Mt.27:50; Lk.23:46; Jn.19:30). He laid down His life to take it up again. He is the Victor over death (1 Cor.15:54-57).

On the third day Jesus came back into that body, raising it a glorified body, making it alive forevermore. Amen! So be it! Jesus is alive forevermore. Death has no more claim over Him. No one else can make the same claim. That settles all questions of Jesus being God.

If one holds the keys to something, he holds the power of opening or shutting up. Jesus has the key of Hades, the place of departed soul/spirits, and He has the key of Death, which overtakes the physical bodies of men, terminating life in this world. Jesus is sovereign over Hades and Death; He holds the keys to both.

We believers need not fear death. Jesus has already taken us into death, and brought us up alive to God (Rom. 6:3-10). When Jesus said the gates of Hades would not prevail against His Church, the true Body of Christ, He meant it would never receive the soul/spirits of believers (Mt.16:18). As Paul said, “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord” (2 Cor.5:8).

Jesus continues speaking to John, verse 19, “Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter: The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands or Light-bearers. The seven stars are the angels or messengers of the seven assemblies; and the seven Light-bearers which you saw are the seven assemblies” (vv19-20). The same Greek word that most Bible translations render “angels” could also be translated “pastors” or “messengers.”

The great voice as a trumpet had said, “What you see write in a scroll.”  After the vision of the Son of Man, the command was “Write what you have seen.”  So we have just read what John had seen. We have the magnificent description of what John had seen - the Son of Man as the King-Priest, coming in judgment.

The next thing John was to write was - the things which are. The book would have a message to each of the seven assemblies about the condition of their assembly. And finally, John is to write of - things which shall be, a prophetic fore-telling of the coming judgment.

In verse 19 we have an outline of the book of Revelation:

 (1) The things which John has seen - Christ’s glory - chapter 1.

 (2) The things which are - messages to the seven assemblies  - chapters 2 and 3.

 (3) The things which shall be hereafter - things which must speedily come to pass in the government of God - chapters 4 through 22.

Jesus gave understanding of the lampstands or Light-bearers and the stars, so that John might write to explain, that it might not remain a mystery. A mystery is something not yet made known. Without an explanation it would remain a mystery.

The seven golden Light-bearers are the seven assemblies, and the seven stars the messengers to those assemblies, the pastor or elder of each assembly who faithfully delivered the Word of God to them. Each assembly is to hold forth the Light of Life, so that men need not walk in darkness but can choose to have the Light of Life - the seven Light-bearers, or assemblies, have Jesus in their midst. Jesus Christ holds the pastors in His right hand, the hand of power. Under His authority they hold forth the word of Life that the Holy Spirit might enlighten the understanding of men.