Revelation 1:1-3
1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: 2 Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. 3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
This is the short introduction to the whole book of Revelation. The very next verse jumps into the introduction for the 7 churches.
Gospel Order
Notice order:
- From God to Jesus.
- From Jesus to His angel.
- From the angel to His servant John.
- And from John to all of us.
God desires to work through each of us. He can do the work Himself. The angels can do it even and they DESIRE to do it! But God gives the Revelation, and scripture in general, to each of us so that we can share it with others.
Signified
Revelation 1:1
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
What does the word signified mean?
- To give a sign or to use symbols, or to indicate.
- The Revelation is full of symbols. It’s like parables. Objects with symbolic meaning.
- John 12:32-33
32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. 33 This he said, signifying what death he should die. - John 21:18-19
18 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. 19 This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.
Why did Jesus speak in parables?
- Matthew 13:10-13
10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? 11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. 12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. 13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. - To protect the truth from God’s enemies.
- To reveal those who are true and faithful.
The book of Revelation is full of symbols. There aren’t really any stories like Daniel. It is a book of symbols and parables. So it will take a lot of cross scripture reference to decode all the symbols. We must allow the Bible to interpret itself.
Servants of God
Revelation 1:1
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
The word servant is repeated twice in the first verse there.
- First it is in reference to the servants of God that will understand.
- God is revealing to His servants the things that are about to happen.
- And secondly, John is a servant of God.
- What does it mean to be a servant of God? What are the characteristics of the servants o God?
Romans 6:22
But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
- So what is the first characteristic of the servants of God?
- They are free from sin.
- What is sin?
- 1 John 3:4
Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. - They are not commandment breakers.
- Revelation 12:17
And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.- We see a group of commandment keepers in the book of Revelation.
- Revelation 14:12
Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.- Here they are again – the group that keep God’s commandments.
- They are free from sin!
- The remnant that is mentioned in Revelation are all servants of God.
- Revelation 7:3-4
3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. 4 And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel. - The 144,000 are a really important group in the book of Revelation. They are servants of God. They experience victory over sin. They are commandment keepers.
- The book of Revelation will teach us and show us how we can be part of that group.
Ephesians 6:6
Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;
- The servants of God do the will of God from the heart.
- What is the will of God?
- 1 Thessalonians 4:3
For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:- They are sanctified.
- What else is the will of God?
- Psalms 40:8
I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart. - It is the law of God. This connects back to the previous characteristic – they have victory over sin, they are commandment keepers – it is because they have the law of God in their hearts.
- Psalms 40:8
- How are we sanctified?
- John 17:17
Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. - We are sanctified by the truth, the word of God.
- John 17:17
- So God’s servants are Bible students. They are sanctified by God’s word, and God’s law.
- But let’s dig a bit deeper. What else is sanctification connected with?
- Ezekiel 20:12
Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them. - The Sabbath is a sign, a reminder, that God is the One that sanctifies us.
- So God’s servants are Sabbath keepers. Right in the heart of God’s law is found the Sabbath.
- We are going to come back to this thought in Revelation chapter 1 later on next week.
2 Timothy 2:24
And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,
- I’m highlighting particularly this one characteristic. Yes, all the others are important as well. But why patience?
- Revelation 14:12
Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. - The saints in Revelation have patience. But once again, why is patience such an important characteristic?
- How do we develop patience?
- Romans 5:3
And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; - James 1:3
Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. - We are going to see God’s servants go through much tribulation and trials in the book of Revelation. But that is why they have
- In fact, it will be the greatest trial that man will have ever faced on the earth – it is called the Mark of the Beast issue. Something that we will study into in the future in the book of Revelation.
What else do we understand about the servants of God?
Galatians 1:10
For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
- The servants of God do not please men but they please God.
- What does it mean to be a pleaser of men and not a pleaser of God?
- Jesus preached many powerful sermons and shared many gems of truth with many people. He had a large following in the day and age where they was no social media or cameras to follow him around.
- Yet we read about something very interesting.
- John 12:42-43
42 Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: 43 For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.- Many people believed on Jesus and all that He did, all that He preached about. However they were not willing to confess him publicly and become His disciples or followers. Why?
- Because of the fear of excommunication. They didn’t want to be the outcasts of society. They cared about their family name. They cared about making a living. They cared about their own reputation. They cared about many things, but not being honest with themselves about how Jesus was.
- They loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. They were worldly minded!
- Let’s look at another situation.
- Jesus healed a man that was born blind.
- However, the Pharisees questioned him and would not believe that Jesus healed him and that he was actually born blind! That’s how much they hated Jesus. Even though the man himself confirmed that he was born blind, they didn’t want to accept his testimony of himself.
- So what do they do?
- They go and question the parents about their son. They ask if he really was born blind or not.
- Look at their response.
- John 9:19-23
19 And they asked them, saying, Is this your son, who ye say was born blind? how then doth he now see? 20 His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind: 21 But by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who hath opened his eyes, we know not: he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself. 22 These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue.- The parents knew who had opened their sons eyes. The Jews believed that time that to be in the synagogue was a salvational issue. So they weren’t willing to confess Christ. They feared man and not God.
- Remember, they were all one religion back then. To be cast out of the synagogue was not just a religious issue but a political and economical issue too!
- That’s why they feared the Jews.
- But we’re told in scripture:
- 1 Corinthians 7:23
Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men. - Christ died so that we could stop being servants of men but rather servants of God.
- The cross of Christ also gives us the backbone to stand up and be brave. It takes courage to stand up for what you believe, and God’s grace gives us that courage.
- 1 Corinthians 7:23
- Do you remember Peter when he denied Jesus? He was afraid of the Jews, the Pharisees, the religious leaders and the Romans. He was afraid that he would suffer the same fate of Jesus if he stood out.
- But after he was converted, look at what he said to all those religious leaders that he was afraid of before:
- Acts 5:29
Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.
- Acts 5:29
- If we are to be servants of God like Peter, we need an experience with Jesus that Peter did after Jesus was taken as a prisoner and condemned to die. Obedience to God no matter the cost! We need to be converted!
So here’s the recap of the servants of God:
- They are free from sin.
- They are Sabbath keepers.
- They are patient.
- They please God and not men.
But now, let’s continue now to Revelation 1:2, the next verse.
Revelation 1:2
Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.
John bare record of three things:
- The word of God.
- The testimony of Jesus Christ.
- Of all things that he saw.
What does the word “bare record” mean?
- It is actually just one Greek word – martyreō.
- That’s the English word for martyr.
- John was willing to die for the word of God. He was ready to die for Jesus.
- He wasn’t just a preacher. But he was so convicted by the truths that he had heard from Jesus, from everything that he saw in Christ’s life, and from the scriptures itself – that he had found a cause for which he was ready to die.
- We will find in the book of Revelation people that are ready to die for God’s word.
- And not only that, in studying the book of Revelation, it will give us a cause and a reason for which we are ready to lay our lives down. It is the Revelation of Jesus Christ! That is the greatest impetus that cause us to be martyrs.
- It is said that they threw John into a pot of boiling oil but miraculously he survived. So because they could not kill him, they exiled him to the island of Patmos so that he could not be an influence to others out there – not knowing that it was at the isle of Patmos that John’s greatest work for God would be done – receiving the visions of the book of Revelation.
- John knew what it meant to be a witness for Jesus. Not just by preaching. But his convictions ran so deep, he was ready to die for Jesus.
We see this in the book of Acts as well – shortly after Jesus went up to heaven, this is what we read of the apostles:
- Acts 4:18-20
18 And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. 20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. - At this time, Peter and John feared God.
- If you have not seen or heard of Jesus in your personal life, you will fear man and not God.
Let’s keep reading in Revelation.
Revelation 1:3
Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
There is a blessing pronounced on the reader of the book of Revelation.
- But it is not just for the reader. Look at what is says.
- Read.
- Hear.
- Keep.
- God wants us not only to be readers and hearers of His word. He wants us to be doers of the word.
- Meaning – the book of Revelation is practical. It’s object lessons that teach us how to live for Jesus.
- It must be possible for us to understand the book of Revelation, otherwise we would not know how to apply it, or keep it.
This is the only book in the Bible that states explicitly that you will be blessed if you read it and listen to it and keep it. Yet it is one of the most least read and understood books.
Then John ends with the importance of why we need to read, hear and keep.
- Because the time is at hand.
- What does it mean the time is at hand.
- I want you to imagine you’re squeezing orange juice. You don’t want to waste a single drop. You’re pressing and squeezing with all your might to get every last bit of juice out of the orange.
- We’re at the very end of time. God is squeezing the last little bit of time out.
- Prophecy and the revelation of where we are in time, it gives us the impetus to go back and study and read more.
- We are living on borrowed time.
- We are at the very end.
- If there is ever a time we need to study deeply into the book of Revelation and the bible, it is now!
There are many words that describe time in Revelation 1.
- Revelation 1:1
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: - Revelation 1:3
Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand. - Revelation 1:4
John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; - Revelation 1:8
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. - Revelation 1:11
Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last… - Revelation 1:18
— I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. - Time is an important aspect in the book of Revelation.
- But more than that – God is in control of the past and the present and also the future.
- The only thing that He is not in control of is the decisions that you make with your life.
- God will try to influence our lives as much as possible for our salvation, as much as Satan tries to influence us to make wrong decisions to destroy ourselves.
- But He leaves that decision up to us as to whether we want to follow Him or not.
- To be commandment keepers is a choice.
- To abstain from sin, that is a choice.
- To keep the Sabbath is a choice.
- To stand up and follow Jesus in the face of persecution is a choice that we must make.
- God does not control us.
- But I know that when we receive the revelation of Jesus Christ into our hearts and lives, there will be a transformation.
- We will become more faithful, more dedicated, more like Jesus.
- Because we will have found the reason we live for. The reason why we are on this earth today.
So today, what will your choice be? Are you willing to recommit your life to God and tell Him that you’re willing to follow Him.
- To be His servant?
- To be His witness?
- To be willing to bear witness for Jesus?
That is a constant decision that we must make every day for Jesus. As we dig into the book of Revelation, the prophecies are all there. But there is that personal aspect as well. The personal application.