1. Prologue (1:1-3)
v1 - The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, - The revelation of Jesus Christ, Revelation=Apocalupsis (Greek), that is, it is the unveiling coming from Jesus Christ. Apocalypse is also known as a type of literature of the type of Daniel. It is coming from Jesus Christ and it is the unveiling of the plan of God for the world and especially his servants, the Church. It shows us what goes on behind the scenes, in heaven. It can also be read as a revelation of the person of Jesus Christ, but in the context described here God gave the revelation to Jesus to show his servants what must soon take place, it is the former that is most likely, see 22:16. Although it does of course reveal to us Jesus as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Alpha and Omega, the Lamb that was slain and there are many more descriptions of Jesus in the book. It gives us a full description of the glorified Christ in his heavenly glory while the gospels describe Jesus in his humility, without Revelation we would have a poorer understanding of the glorified Christ. The word Apocalupsis (unveiling) is also used of the second coming, which points to the removal of that which now obstructs our vision of Christ, 1 Cor 1:7, 2 Thess 1:7, 1 Pet 1:7, 13, 4:13. Paul received his revelation of the gospel from Jesus Christ (Gal 1:12). Revelation shows us Christ now, as He is in his heavenly glory and when He comes again every eye will see his heavenly glory and power. v1 - which God gave him to show his servants - This book has the fullest and most explicit claim to divine authorship of any book in the bible, therefore whether it was John the apostle who wrote it down is irrelevant. The author is God, God gave it to Jesus, just as he gives Jesus the scroll later in 5:7. It is written to his servants, that is to Christians. The Greek for servants means slaves, the NASB uses the word bond-servant. Servant is a common expression for Christians in Revelation, see Rev 1:6, 2:20, 6:11, 7:3 and 7:15, servant or to serve is used 19 times in all. The book is written to God's servants, i.e. to his saints to show us what must soon take place so that we should not be taken by surprise by world events and persecution in which the enemy appears to triumph. 22:16 says 'I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches...', the you is plural. Finally the last verse says 'The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen.' Other expressions used for God's people are brothers and saints. Those who serve God on the earth will also serve him in heaven (1:6, 5:10, 7:15, 22:3). v 1 - what must soon take place - i.e. 'an impending crisis' (Caird) or 'the things which must shortly come to pass' (Mounce and Walvoord). Lenski in commenting on the Greek word for 'soon' (tachos) as well as 22:7, 12, 20 notes that this does not mean 'swiftly' but means 'shortly', 'soon' -- 'the period is near' (v.3). 'Soon' in the biblical sense can mean a long time, e.g. 'I am coming soon', but note that verse 3 says that there is a blessing to those who take to heart the message of Revelation 'because the time is near' the events it describes are shortly to take place. This phrase 'I am coming soon' encompasses the whole of the Gospel era and the book of Revelation does the same. The phrase 'must soon take place' is repeated in Rev 22:6 and a similar version in Rev 1:19, see also Rev 4:1. Rev 4:1 indicates that what must soon take place is viewed from heaven, events on earth are viewed with a heavenly perspective, this gives a major insight into what the book is about. In Rev 22:10 John is told not to seal up the words of the prophecy because the time is near. Daniel is told to seal up the words of the scroll until the time of the end, Dan 12:4. I would therefore interpret Revelation as being relevant to all generations from the time of the seven churches to when Jesus comes again. We find an echo here of Dan 2:28 in which God, who reveals mysteries, shows Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come (Caird). We know from John 21:22 that the disciple John expected to be alive when Jesus returned. Johnson notes that in eschatological and apocalyptic literature, the future is always viewed as imminent without the necessity of intervening time (cf. Luke 18:8).'Soon' does not, in other words, preclude delays or intervening events, as Revelation itself suggests. In Ch. 6 we hear the cry of the martyred saints: 'How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you... avenge our blood?' They are told to wait a little longer' (vs. 10-11). Therefore, 'soon-ness' means imminency in eschatological terms. The church in every age has always lived with the expectancy of the consummation of all things in its day. Imminency describes an event possible any day, impossible no day. v1 - He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, - This is the method by which he made it known to John, angel means messenger. The words 'He made it known' means 'He signified it' (semaino) in the Greek, thus it comes to John in the form of signs (e.g. 12:1, 12:3, 15:1). This reference to the angel is repeated in Rev 22:6, 22:16. John is a prophet (22:9-10) and God is revealing his plan and knowledge of what will happen soon to John (Amos 3:7), John is not to keep it to himself (22:10). Chapter 10 in which the mighty angel gives John the little scroll to eat, can be interpreted as an example of an angel giving John this prophecy, because John is told that he must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings (10:11). It can also be noted here that this angel has the appearance of Christ because he is Christ's angel, compare his appearance in 10:1 with the description of Christ in 1:13-16. In 17:1 an angel shows John the punishment of the great prostitute and in 21:9 an angel shows John the bride, the wife of the Lamb. v2 - who testifies to everything he saw--that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. - John now gives his own testimony verifying the veracity of the book. What he saw was the word of God and the testimony given by Jesus (see previous verse and 22:16) or the testimony of who Jesus is, namely King of kings and Lord of lords. This is also the reason why John was on the island of Patmos, v9, because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. Following on from verse 1 in which we are told that the Revelation proceeds from God, we are told here that it is the word of God as well as the testimony of Jesus Christ, this is no product of man's mind, it has the highest claim to be the word of God of any book in the bible. We should not therefore place the book on one side because it is difficult to understand, it has a message that is very important for the saints. It calls us to be faithful even to death (2:10, 12:11) and therefore it claims the highest authority for its authorship. The martyrs of 6:9 and 20:4 were slain because of (their obedience to) the word of God and the testimony for Jesus they had maintained. He saw the word of God, this gives us one of the keys to understand the book, i.e. he saw the word of God which is to be understood in the light of the rest of the word of God. Revelation is the last book in the bible, both last in place and last to be written. It requires all of the earlier sections of the bible, and indeed Revelation, for its interpretation. In John 21:24 the disciple John who wrote the gospel of John testifies that his testimony is true, see also 19:35, 3 John 1:12 cf. Rev 22:8. In 22:16 Jesus personally declares that he has given John this testimony and in 22:20 Jesus testifies to these things i.e. he testifies to their truthfulness. In 19:9 the angel says to John 'These are the true word's of God' and in 22:6 the angel says to John 'These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place'. The point of this is to confirm time and time again with the highest authority that these things are true because God's servants need to be prepared to die for their faith, the truth of these words is of supreme importance. If there is no new heaven and no new earth and no lake of fire then why bother to die for ones faith. v3 - Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near. - This is the first of 7 blessings in the book. By reads is meant to be read aloud, the letters to the churches were to be read aloud, this was common practise in the early church (Col 4:16, 1 Thess 5:27). Walvoord points out that he who reads is singular while those who hear and take to heart is plural meaning the rest of the church. By this prophecy is meant the whole book of Revelation not just part of it (see also 22:7, 22:18), this guards against the idea that the church is not around from chapter four through twenty meaning that it does not need to take to heart that portion of the book. The blessing implies, because the 'time is near', that what is written is useful for all generations of the church, not just those to whom it was written. This means that it cannot apply only to Johns generation or to the generation when Christ returns but it applies to all God's people throughout all generations. This is confirmed from the history of the church, in which believers of all generations have been persecuted. Blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it - in 22:7 there is a blessing on those who keep the words of the prophecy in this book. It will purify you and uphold you during persecution; it will keep you from entanglement or compromise with the world. It will give you courage through the great tribulation, you will be an overcomer so that you will be able to join in with all God's people in the praise of the Lamb at the wedding supper of the Lamb, Rev 19:9. v3 - the words of this prophecy - This book is a prophecy, this is repeated in another blessing in 22:7 where Jesus says 'Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book'. The prophecy is telling us what is going to happen in the future but it also has a moral message as the previous blessing makes clear. There are dire consequences for any one who tampers with the words of this prophecy (22:18-19). In 19:10 we are told that the 'testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy' and in 22:6 we are told that 'The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place'. In 22:10 John is told by the angel "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, because the time is near". Prophets and prophesying also feature in Johns book. In 10:11 after eating the little scroll John is told "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings." The two witnesses are prophets, they prophecy for 1260 days, they have power to shut up the sky so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying, the inhabitants of the earth will gloat and celebrate because these two prophets had tormented them (11:3, 6, 11). John clearly thinks of himself as a prophet, 22:9. Prophets are distinguished from saints in 11:18, 16:6, 18:20, 18:24 it is probably the office of prophets (Eph 4:11) that is being referred to because apostles are included in 18:20, the church is built on the foundations of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone (Eph 2:20). v3 - because the time is near - This offers us another clue to the interpretation of Revelation. In scripture the Lord's coming is always near, for example Jam 5:8 'You to, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near' and 1 Pet 4:7 'The end of all things is near'. To each generation of Christians the Lord's coming is always near, therefore it is speaking to every generation. The last days are from the days of Pentecost to the second coming. It is not speaking just about those things that happen to the very last generation in the distant future. It speaks about the last things but these occur from the time of Christ's ascension to his second coming, see also 1:1 (to show his servants what must soon take place), 1:19 (Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later), 22:6 (sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place). This is God's last letter to the church and it will be helpful to the persecuted church throughout all the generations to come both in John's time, when he comes again and all generations in between. John is making the point that we should take to heart the message of this book now and not wait for the future. In the same way we are to prepare for the Lord's second coming now because He could come any day, scripture is quite clear that He will come at an hour we do not expect Him (Mat 24:44). The latest version of this commentary will be found in
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