Revelation Chapter 1: 4-8

John, to the seven churches which are in Asia:

“Grace to 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 firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

“Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,’ says the Lord, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’”

As we began the journey last week on the way through the book of the Revelation, we noted that just reading the book brought the reader a blessing. I pray that you will take the time to read the book as many times as you can as we travel through it. This week we will jump right into it and see what the Lord has for us.

The Churches of Asia, verse 4

There were seven churches to whom this letter was originally addressed. These churches were in what is the western part of modern-day Turkey. They were still a part of the Roman Empire. The Gospel had travelled with the apostles into Greece; and these churches were in the area that bordered Greece, the Mediterranean Sea to the south and the Black Sea to the north. You can look on a map and see it for yourself.

This gives you an idea of where we are talking about. In relation, the Isle of Patmos was just off the coast of Turkey in the Mediterranean Sea. So, John may have been able to see the land mass he was writing to. These seven churches, which we will explore individually, were a picture of the church age – the age we live in right now.

John the Baptist announced the coming of the Messiah (Matthew 3:2; Mark 1:15). Jesus came and preached the Gospel. He healed the sick, raised the dead and was rejected by his own; and so He gave the work of the Gospel to the Gentiles.

The Jews were put on hold for a season while the Gentile church age – the one we are still in – blossomed and bloomed. Ironically, Jesus used Jews to begin the Gentile church age. It was Peter in Acts 10 who was sent to a Gentile soldier named Cornelius. Then, of course, Paul was called to be the apostle to the Gentiles.

Galatians 1:15-16 “But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood.”

Paul and the other apostles took the Gospel to Africa, Asia, Rome and Greece. Paul wrote letters to the churches in Greece – places like Corinth and Ephesus. But as we come to the end of the first century, Jesus finds a cluster of seven churches that will serve as examples of what the church age looks like right up until the Lord’s return for His Gentile church and the era of the Jews restarts.

We are in the dawning of this rejuvenation. The parts are in place: Israel is back in her homeland and about to celebrate 70 years back in her Promised Land; then, just a few months ago the USA recognized Jerusalem as the historical and rightful capital of Israel. Thus, the pieces are in place for God to restart His focus on Israel. For this to begin, the church age must come to a stop. We will explore this further as we move ahead in the book.

Of these seven churches, local individual churches show – as far as we can tell from history – the predominant kind of church that was in each era, even though all seven kinds would have been present at the time. Some churches were very faithful, others not so faithful. Some were good at one thing, and yet others at another. All but two – the churches at Smyrna and Philadelphia – had both good and bad in them. We should each work to diligently make our churches acceptable to the Lord Jesus, and that he would not find anything wrong in us.

The Godhead, verses 4-5

The Godhead is front and center in these end times, as He was at the very beginning. Here we have God the Father in verse 4 “who is and who was and who is to come.” A bit of research shows that this is actually an awkward way in the Greek language to describe Yahweh. But John saw that Yahweh was here, as Jesus is mentioned and then the “seven spirits.” This is actually the seven characteristics of the Holy Spirit. These are mentioned in Isaiah 11:2:

“And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.”

In the very beginning, Genesis 1:1-2, we are told that God created the Heavens and the earth, and that the Spirit hovered over the deep. In John 1:1-3, we are told that everything was made by Jesus. So, we have the Trinity at the Creation, and we see the Trinity here at the very onset of the Revelation of Jesus. The Godhead is essential to the Truths and the Doctrines of the New Testament church. God repeatedly mentions and makes clear that the three are One.

The Gospel, verse 5

Jesus has washed us in His own blood. This is the only means of salvation; NO OTHER WAY exists. Sadly, some churches have made up other ways; they lie and damn people to Hell.

Hebrews 9: 19-22 “When Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. He said, ‘This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.’ In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”

There is no forgiveness without the shedding of blood. In the Old Testament, the animals were sacrificed as a temporary picture until the Real Lamb of God came—Jesus, and then He was the total and final sacrifice for our sins. A saved person is one who has been washed in the blood of Jesus; His blood is able to wash away our sins in total and make us clean before the Holy God of Heaven. Three is no other way; you will never do enough good things to balance out your evil. You must be washed in the blood of Jesus.

There are still some today who think they can appease God and win His favor by keeping the Old Testament Law. They try, but they cannot and will not succeed. In Galatians 3:24 we see these powerful words:

“Therefore, the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.”

The law was never designed to redeem us; it was designed to show us we needed to be redeemed. You will never get to Heaven by keeping the Law. Even if you kept every law perfectly you would still have the problem of your nature. You and I are born as sinners. The Bible says we are sold under sin. We need a change of nature, thus the need to be “born again.” We need a new nature. This nature is given to us by God when we put our faith in Jesus’ sacrifice for us and we are washed in the blood – “born again.”

The Purpose for Redemption, verse 6

Jesus has made us to be kings and priests for God the Father. I will admit I do not know how this will work, but it seems that we have jobs to do in the new Kingdom; and this is the time that we are prepared for it. This gives us a whole new perspective on the church age. We are actually being trained and challenged to be useful to Jesus in His new Kingdom.

The idea of the New Testament church is to prepare persons not only to serve in the here and now, but to be ready to be asked to do more in the Kingdom to come. Faithfulness breeds promotion, and Jesus is all about faithfulness. He is about persistence, and He is about consistence. Jesus is looking for people who are faithful to a fault, able to stand in the days of trouble and still praise God—men and women who can have their lives rocked but their faith still be rock solid.

There is no ambiguity to the salvation that Jesus paid for in His blood. He is preparing us for greater things that simply cannot be appreciated by the human ear if described, and cannot be comprehended by the human brain when seen.

1 Corinthians 2:9 “But as it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’”

The Apostle Paul, one of the smartest men in the Bible, could not describe Heaven to us after he had seen it. He was at a loss for words. Jesus has plans for us – and man, they are grand! Live for Him and seek His plans. Every little bump in the road will be insignificant when we see what He has in store for us in the Heavens.

Jesus is coming again, verse 7-8

John is so upfront with this it is impossible to miss it. Jesus is coming soon. He will be seen by all; all will worship Him, even the ones who pierced Him we are told, the Jews. They will worship Him. They did not worship Him the first time, but they will this time. He is coming to judge the earth, and the tribes of earth will mourn Him. They will be dismayed at His return; they will realize that they are in grave danger and that they are enemies of the Living God. Jesus will not be meek this time. His full power will be on display, and His full glory will be revealed.

There will be two types of mourning on that day. We are told here in Revelation 1:7 that the tribes will mourn because of Him; this is a mourning of defeat and destruction. But the Jews will have another type of mourning – one of mourning their own sins and their rejection of Jesus. We see this in Zechariah 12: 9-10:

“And in that day I will set about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.”

If you see verse 9, the nations that come against Jerusalem will mourn at the destruction that is coming their way. But Israel will mourn almost in a way of rejoicing. They will weep over Jesus; they will weep for joy and relief at His appearing, and they will mourn what they have done to Him. But, in return, God pours out the Spirit of Grace and Supplication. They will mourn from the right place—a place of brokenness and shame, not just that they got caught.

Have you mourned your sins? Have you felt broken and shame over them, and have you come to mourn before the Holy Lord, so He can pour over you His spirit of Grace and heal you. God loves a broken spirit and a contrite heart. God responds to humility; He responds with love and kindness, grace and mercy. He gives life eternal, and He removes all of our sins.

Matthew 5:3-5 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”

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Revelation Lesson 1: The Purpose, the Blessings and the Reminder

“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.”

Many people are terrified of the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. They find it hard to read, don’t understand the word pictures that are used, and find it to be confusing. I have known some Christians who have read just about every book of the Bible but Revelation. Many persons who only read the New Testament will find reading the Revelation difficult. But, God put the Revelation here in the books of the Bible for a purpose and for our benefit.

Remember, God does not need the Bible; we do. And God, in His infinite wisdom, penned this book through the Apostle John for us to know things that we need to know to be equipped for the work in the Kingdom of God.

Over the next few months, we will endeavor to go through the Revelation as slowly and as deliberately as possible. We will try to take small chunks, digest them, understand them, and then put it all together so as to understand the whole as best we can. There will always be more to learn. We will never get to the end of a book in the Bible, and that is it. Each time we re-read a passage of scripture, God offers us a new insight into His mysteries and truths.

The Bible ‘ages’ with us; we will understand things in our 20s, that we did not get in our teens, and then see things in our 30s, all from the same passage, and on and on until Jesus comes. The Bible is a ‘living word’ from God, in that we grow with it and it with us.

God is the author of the Revelation, and John the Apostle is the penman. We meet him in Matthew alongside his brother James; they are partners with Peter and Andrew in a fishing business (Matthew 4:18-22). We are now about 65-70 years removed from that initial call of Jesus on their lives, and John is the only apostle alive of the 12 that we see in Acts 1. The others have all been executed for the cause of Jesus, and an attempt was made to kill John as well.

John had an eventful life. He walked and talked with Jesus for 3+ years; he was known as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (he was an earthly friend to the heavenly God); he was entrusted with the care of Jesus’ mother after His death; he wrote 4 other books of the New Testament; and according to history, had an miraculous delivery from death by execution. Finally, he gets to see Heaven and the end of the world like a movie playing before him.

John was arrested in Ephesus and sentenced to death by boiling oil because he was preaching about Jesus. He survived the ordeal and was subsequently sentenced to being in exile on the Isle of Patmos, a small island in the Aegean Sea. Here he sees the Revelation of Jesus Christ and records it for us. We begin our journey here, close to the end of the first century after Jesus.

John has spent the last 70+ years preaching about Jesus, and he has seen some hard things: the death of His Savior and friend; the death of his colleagues; the destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of the Romans; and his own encounters with near death. And now he is about to see the end. And the end is our beginning:

The Purpose, verse 1

What is the purpose of the book of the Revelation? Many would say that it is to confuse us and hurt our brains. It is not. The Revelation is about Jesus. In fact, the book is called The Revelation of Jesus Christ. When we meet Him in the book, He is seen as the Lamb of God (5:6); He is seen as the Lion of Judah (5:5); One worthy of worship (5:11-14); The Righteous Judge (20:11-15); The I Am (1:11); The head of the Lord’s churches (chapters 1-3); The captain of the Lord’s armies; and the King of Israel (19:11).

To be honest, the entire Bible is the Revelation of Jesus; and if we keep that in mind we will understand it a lot more. From Genesis 1:1 (where we are told in John 1 that He is the Creator) all the way to Revelation 22:21, it is all about Jesus. He is our Ark; our sacrifice; our Kinsman Redeemer; our Scapegoat; our Sustainer; our Provider; our Life; our Resurrection; our God; our King; our Master; our Lord; our Friend; our Brother; and on and on we can go. Jesus is the entire story of the Bible. And in the Revelation he is no less the central character. Keep this in mind.

We are going to travel some dark roads in this book. We will see death and destruction on a level that will make 9-11 look like a children’s fairy tale. It will make the 58,000,000 deaths of WW2 look like a small bump in the road, and the rapid succession in which things will happen will leave the people on earth fraught with fear, awe, begging for mercy, and downright angry with God. But in all that we explore, remember that this is the Revelation of Jesus. This will keep us anchored and focused on the task at hand.

The Blessings, verse 3

This is the only book in the Bible where just reading it gives us a blessing. This should be an incentive for us to read this book. Forget about understanding it right off the bat; just read it. If you want multiple blessings, read it often. God incentivized the book of Revelation with a blessing to get us to read it. Let me get in your head a bit more: God intended for you to understand this book. In fact, He has His Holy Spirit in you to help you get it. But it takes work and determination.

Simply read the book, then read it again, then again – and like a puzzle – the pieces will begin to fall into place. But many of us want to understand it before we read it. That is not possible. We know that. Think of your son or daughter coming home from university and telling you they don’t understand the books in a class. The first question you will ask is ‘have you read the book?’

Read the book of Revelation. We need it as Christians and as churches. The first three chapters are addressed to us, the church-age people. The book of Revelation begins with you and me and makes us aware that we are going to be judged by Jesus as to how we ran His churches. Notice I said churches; there is no such thing as a Universal church. The church has always been local.

Notice that each church is addressed as a church at a specific location: the church at Ephesus, Laodicea, Pergamos, etc. Each local church is a visible assembly of saved and baptized persons who have gathered together for worship, edification, and the promotion of the Gospel of Jesus. Each church is headed by Jesus, as we can see in chapter 1-3, as Jesus pronounces blessings and judgments on each church.

Lastly, while these churches do represent dispensations of churches – for instance the church at Laodicea represents the kind of churches that will be dominant nearer to the beginning of the Tribulation – there have been churches like all seven churches throughout the last 2,000 years since the ascension of Jesus.

Once again, I emphasize the importance of simply reading the book of the Revelation. God offers us a blessing just for doing so. Go be blessed by God today.

The Reminder: verses 1, 4

We are reminded twice in the first 4 verses that the things in the Revelation must soon happen. In verse 1 we are told these things must “shortly take place,” and in verse 4 we are told “the time is near.” Wow, you say! It has been 1900+ years since this Revelation was written; John sure got it wrong! These things did not happen soon; and in fact, most of them have not happened yet, so what is this about soon?

Time is relative for us. As an adult, we can look at a week and it does not sound long to us. We promise our children that we will take them to the newest ride at the local amusement park, and it is only a week away for us. But to them a week sounds like forever, so we break it up into sleeps – only 7 sleeps to go. When we are teenagers, being thirty years old is just that, old. But when we get to thirty and see how fast it went by, we do not think it is old.

Time is the same way for God. He is not bound by it. He is the First and the Last; they are the same for Him. He sees time like a chess board. He is above it and can actually see the end of the game even while it is still playing. To God, who is not bound by time and who has no past and no future, 2,000 years is near and soon. We must get the right perspective or we lose context, and then we lose the proper interpretation. Without the right understanding we lose sight, and then we lose our faith.

For us, the things in the Revelation are closer than ever before. Truthfully, they must shortly come to be, and we will begin to see some of the preparations in our time. We have seen so much of the Old Testament fulfilled in the last 100 years that one has to be deliberately blind to deny that all God has said will happen has happened. As such, we should expect everything else to fall into place as well.

Jesus is coming soon; He is coming for His churches, then He will refocus the world on Israel—and in particular, Jerusalem. Then He will show up and judge the nations, set up a new kingdom, and then prepare for a final battle royal with Satan and his cronies. He, Jesus, will destroy Satan and usher in the true New World Order—one of righteousness and Holiness and one that will last forever.

Are you ready? Do you know Jesus as Savior?

Now is not the time to waste; now is the day of salvation. God’s free offer will soon come to an end for many; but for now the grace of God offers you and I salvation paid for in Jesus’ blood. In it you and I are redeemed; our sins are completely and forever washed away, and we are covered in Jesus’ righteousness.

Do you know Jesus? Rather, does Jesus know you?

2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

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