Revelation 1: Introducing the book

Read Revelation 1 here.

Revelation 1:1-3 – Introduction

“1 The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2 who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. 3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.” 

The title of this book is ‘The Revelation of Jesus Christ.’ To the first and early second century Christian community, many of them Jews, who first received this book of prophecy, it was ‘A new Revelation’ of Jesus they knew and of his kingdom, which is even more glorious than the Jesus of the gospels and the apostolic epistles.

There is going to be a false Christ and a false anti-Christian system that is diabolic. This book reveals the true Jesus Christ and the true Church and also unmasks the deceptive false and anti-Christian system for everything that it is: evil. This book is about the ultimate triumph of Christ over sin and death in the world, righteousness over evil. Christians who do not read this book prayerfully to understand it tend to be very ecumenical: that is, they seek for unity among every organization that calls on any name that sounds like the real Christ. Many of them may not gain the insight or spiritual aid from this book to enable them to identify the anti-Christian system.

The book of Revelation or The Apocalypse as some prefer to call it, is a book of prophecy given to the servants of Jesus Christ or the saints, that is the global community of believers that make up the true Church of Christ. All the occurrence of the word ‘servants’ denotes that these are true Christians and also the prophets of old: Revelation 1:1; 7:3; 10:7; 11:18; 15:3; 19:2; 19:5; 22:3; 22:6.

Keys to interpreting this Book

1. It was primarily written to Christians which means that it is not a prophecy that speaks of general world events but those which affect the people of God.
2. It is a book of prophecy or ‘things which must soon take place.’ Revelation 1:1,19 shows us that the prophecy in the book is the future from the time of John.
3. It is a book of Signs: Revelation 1:1 says God made it known… This can also be translated as God signified it. Sign there can mean wonder or potent. This book is filled with such wonders and it is not to be taken literally but we must seek to interpret it accurately in light with other revealed scriptures with respect to the times.

Just a caution and an important note: A lot of divine messages are hidden in this singular book and it is best you read it yourself, comparing scripture with scripture to decipher some of the symbols. This book is only an attempt by myself to pen down some of my discoveries from the book and I pray that as you study this book of Revelation, the Lord will open your eyes to its truths.