Revelation 1:1-20
So now, the book of Revelation…
It is difficult to simply read through this book without notes on the meanings of many of the words and images contained in each verse. So I would encourage you to grab your Study Bible, if you have one, or to go buy one if you don’t have one. For my part, I will be making comments, but not trying to explain things. This is a very complex book.
A couple of items… My Study Bible tells me that the word “seven” occurs 52 times in Revelation (also listing the major categories that are counted by that number) and that “angels” occurs more than 70 times. The seven churches mentioned in verse 11 form a clockwise circle outward from Ephesus, each church some 50 miles (more or less) distant from the church previously mentioned. Scholars discuss whether John in writing this book is describing events that have already happened, events that will happen between his “now” and when Jesus returns (the “church age”), or events that will happen when Jesus returns. I have always taken it as the latter, that we are reading about end-time prophecies. Finally, verse 3 tells us that you will be blessed if you read this book. Nice.
Grace to you and peace from Him Who is and Who was and Who is to come… (v. 4b). “…Who is…” – Jesus “is”, He always “is”, from eternity beginning and forever; “…Who was…”, Jesus came to earth – lived, died, rose from the dead and ascended; “…and Who is to come…”, Jesus will come again! John repeats this triad in verse 8. He also continues this last phrase in verse 7: Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of Him. I am particularly touched by John’s inclusion of …even those who pierced Him.
There are more comments that I could make, but I’d rather leave it to the rest of you to weigh in with your thoughts.
This first chapter of Revelation seems to describe how John received this message and his circumstance that led to the writing. It starts out with a blast, v. 10, “Suddenly I heard a loud voice behind me, a voice that sounded like a trumpet blast.” That would certainly get my attention! And maybe get my attention for what’s in the rest of the book.
Then there’s John’s description of Jesus in vv. 13 thru’ 16. I suspect John’s description here really doesn’t do justice to what he actually saw. It was the best his words could do to describe Jesus’ appearance. In v. 17 John reacts with fear. I’d be scared, too. But do you notice what Jesus does? —> “But he laid his right hand on me and said ‘Don’t be afraid!’” The tender gesture of a friend, a loved-one, a buddy. A reminder to me that in the midst of unimaginable glory and majesty and power we have a very personal friend, a buddy, in Jesus.
WOW, Bruce, nice thoughts!
As Fred has pointed out, Revelation is a complex book with a lot of different interpretations. Those interpretations generally fall into four main views. You can find a decently balanced and reasonably brief overview of those four views at https://probe.org/four-views-of-revelation/ . It’s worth a read. Although there is plenty of debate over any number of points in Revelation (as Kerry recently illustrated in a sermon), the main thing to understand is simple: Jesus wins!
I like that summary, John!