REVELATION 1

Because Jesus said, "The first shall be last and the last first" (Matthew 19:30), I have chosen the rather daunting task of writing about the book of Revelation first. Neither Martin Luther nor John Calvin ever attempted to write a commentary about Revelation, but I will boldly (boldly, not foolishly, I hope) go where they dared not go. When I first read the Bible in 1973, I read it from cover to cover, except that Revelation is the only book I made a special point of reading before I was even done with Deuteronomy. To some extent, when I first read it, I was looking for clues to the world's future as I saw it. How would the cold war end, will there be a nuclear war, etc? From a purely short-term human perspective, Revelation is a bit disappointing, because it doesn't tell us when the Berlin wall would go up or come down, and it doesn't even give us any information as to whether the United States is a prominent nation during the tribulation, or whether the United States no longer even exists. It doesn't address the short-term concerns of the world, which seem so significant to us as we're living through them, but are actually little more than footnotes to other generations, and Revelation leaves us with many unanswered questions about the future.

During my years as a Christian, reading and studying the book of Revelation has gone from being very much in fashion, at a time when many Christians expected Jesus to return almost immediately, to a point today when it is largely and dangerously ignored. There are three primary reasons why Revelation sometimes seems out of favor with Christians themselves. One is the delay, from a human perspective, of Christ's return, obviously a delay in our plans, not God's. The second reason is because disputes about the chronology of eschatological events and the precise meaning of some of the symbolic language have created nearly as many interpretations of Revelation as it has readers, and many of the disputes can't be resolved with certainty. The final reason, I believe, is that Revelation is a book of stark contrasts. The good news is very, very good, and the bad news is very, very bad, and we're in a time where people really don't like to hear very, very bad news, whether it applies to them or not.

I have not taken a firm and complete eschatological position about the events described in Revelation and elsewhere, or the church's precise role in those events, and I can't even claim to be well-versed regarding all of the schools of thought about Revelation. But I can at least make a pretty good case about why Revelation is fascinating, and why it shouldn't be neglected. Reading Revelation is sort of like visiting the White House in comparison with visiting the houses in our own neighborhood. It is a very memorable and enriching experience.

Based on commentaries I have read about Revelation, there are four general approaches to the book, with many variations on each one of them. Futurists believe most of the events described in Revelation have not yet occurred. Preterists believe most of the prophecies in Revelatoin were fulfilled in a.d. 70 with the fall of Jerusalem. Idealists believe the language of the book is symbolic and the book is supposed to be encouraging, with very little literal fulfillment. Historicists believe much of the prophecy is symbolic of the entire church age, so they dismiss literal interpretations, particularly of passages which include numbers like 144,000 sealed, 42 months or 1,260 days. We all have biases, and none of us exist outside of space and time, as God does, so we are subject to the limitations of our own generation and experience.

I tend to regard Revelation from a futurist standpoint. However, I also believe there may be multiple fulfillments or meanings to some passages, and there may be some value in viewing Revelation from differing perspectives. Though Revelation clearly uses symbolic language at times, I don't have much sympathy for the view that Revelation is purely a poetic abstraction, much fury which signifies nothing. I tend to interpret the book as literally as the text seems to allow.

Other eschatological camps include premillennialists, who believe in a literal thousand year reign of Christ on earth, postmillennialists, who believe Christ will not come to reign for a thousand years until the church has brought God's kingdom to earth, and amillennialists, who do not believe in a literal thousand year reign of Christ. I am a premillennialist.

The most well-known eschatological controversy is between those who believe in a pre-tribulation rapture, a mid-tribulation rapture or a post-tribulation rapture. I do not have a hard and fast position about this, but I will try to explain the strengths and weaknesses of each position, as I understand them.

In spite of interpretational differences, Revelation has three indisputable underlying themes, upon which all Christians should agree. First, in John 4:23, Jesus says that God's true worshipers will worship him in Spirit and in truth, and the Father is seeking such people to worship him. Revelation chapters 4, 5, 7, 14, 15 and 19 teach that the Father and the Son are to be worshiped by men, as they are worshiped by the angels in heaven, and no one should study Revelation without pausing to think about the content of the worshipful passages in it.

Secondly, Revelation calls for the faithfulness and endurance of the saints. Jesus acknowledges the suffering of the church, but he also insists on faithfulness, even in the face of death. He does not call us to a shallow faith, but to a deep pervasive commitment of our lives to him. He promises rewards to those who remain faithful to him, and he promises that our faithfulness and good deeds will be remembered, e.g., Revelation 14:12-13.

Finally, no one should read Revelation without coming away with an overwhelming sense of God's holiness, his call for repentance, and an understanding that all sin will be dealt with. Revelation 1:5 tells us he loves us and has freed us from our sins by his own blood, yet he rebukes most of the seven churches for their failures. Revelation is also a powerful warning to the unsaved, culminating in Revelation 21:8 which says the faithless, murderers, the sexually immoral, idolators, sorcerers and all liars are destined for the lake of fire. Though the plagues in this book are grim and terrifying, God seems to plead with men to repent, so he might be merciful to them instead.

Jesus gave us signs to watch for prior to his return, and he told us all to watch. Even if we never agree about the interpretation of this book or the chronology of prophetic events, we can be certain this prophecy will be fulfilled and we can all benefit from this book's call for endurance, faithfulness and commitment to Christ.

Revelation is about the events which culminate in Jesus being revealed to the entire world as God, and it describes in some detail the blessings for those who accept Christ, and the consequences for those who don't. So although it doesn't answer many of the questions we might want to ask about the future of the world, it does have a personal significance to each of us, because Revelation states emphatically that we are each headed toward a personal meeting with Jesus Christ for judgment, resulting in eternal blessings for some and in eternal separation from God for others. If "every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess Jesus as Lord" (Romans 14:11), Jesus is the central figure in the future for each one of us.

In Acts 1:7, Jesus says, "It is not for you to know times or seasons, which the Father has fixed by his own authority." But Revelation 1:1 says, "The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his bond-servants the things which must soon take place;", So although we may not know times or seasons, we do know there is a sense of urgency and suddenness about the events described later, and that alone should get our attention.

Revelation 1:3 says, "Blessed is he who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written therein; for the time is near." The Amplified Bible indicates that reading aloud refers to reading the book in church. The real significance here though is that this is the only place in scripture where a special blessing is pronounced on those who read the book aloud, those who hear and those who keep the word, presumably both in their hearts and in practice. That also should help convince us Revelation shouldn't be ignored.

Revelation 1:4-5 says in part, "Grace to you and peace from his who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits (or sevenfold Holy Spirit) who is before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the first-born of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth." It seems to me that each member of the trinity is offering grace and peace to us here, and the him who is, who was and who is to come refers, in this case, to God the Father, though the scripture makes it clear that Christ also existed before time, as we know it.

The other interesting thing about this passage, though, is the reference to the seven spirits of God or alternately, in the Amplified Bible, the sevenfold Holy Spirit. It does not mean that there are nine members of the trinity. Rather, it means that the Holy Spirit has a sevenfold ministry, or perhaps even two sevenfold ministries. Isaiah 11:2 says: ""And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest on Him--the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the reverential and obedient fear of the Lord." John 14 also tells us that the Spirit gives us comfort, is our Counselor, is the Spirit of truth, lives in us, manifests both Jesus and the Father to us, teaches us and gives us peace. Although there isn't any conflict between their writings, it is interesting to note in passing that John writes about the Holy Spirit's ministry without speaking about spiritual gifts such as speaking in tongues, whereas Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14:5, "I wish you all spoke in tongues, but even more that you would prophesy." John's emphasis is on the Spirit's ministry to us, and Paul's is on the Spirit ministering through us to others.

Revelation 1:5-6 reads in part, "To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his own blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever, Amen." The phrase "To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his own blood" seems particularly significant to me, because it reveals God's will and motivation toward his people, as well as the price Jesus willingly paid for our redemption. It not only reminds us that God loved us while we were still sinners, but also how unfortunate the judgments of God later in this book are for those who have rejected the lordship of Christ in their lives.

Matthew 24:30 says, "Then the sign of the Son of man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and beat their breasts and lament in anguish, and they will see the Son of man coming coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." Revelation 1:7 says, "Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. Even so, Amen." This may be the most memorable verse in this chapter, because it states first that Christ shall return, "every eye shall see him, even those who pierced him" implies that his return is personal for the men of all generations, from the generation of those who crucified him to those who are alive at his return. "All the tribes of the earth shall mourn over him" may have a special significance to the people of Israel, or to Jews generally, as Zechariah 12:10 says, but it is also one of the most compelling claims of Revelation regarding the general condition of mankind. When I first read this on January 6, 1973, I tried to imagine how a wide range of politicians, entertainers, athletes, personal acquaintances, and my own family, would react to the literal return of Christ, if it happened right then, and I was convinced that most people would feel a great sense of grief, rather than joy, about having lived lives pursuing many other things without looking eagerly for Christ's return. My sense that men will mourn when Christ returns is much greater today than it was then. The accurate perception of human nature is one of the most compelling and convincing proofs of the inspiration of scripture.

Revelation 1:8 says, "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." This verse speaks about the eternal nature of God, in stark contrast to the widespread human belief that everything is about us. There was a time when farmers would look toward heaven and pray for whatever weather they needed at a particular time of the year. Today most of what we hear about the weather (particularly with regard to global warming) implies that the weather is something we have created, rather than the providence of God. I don't know to what extent human activity affects weather patterns, yet it does seem to me that we are ridiculously arrogant when we blame each other or give each other credit for the weather. "The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof", including the weather.

Both Revelation and the gospel of John imply that Jesus had a special relationship with John, perhaps the closest relationship Jesus had with any of the apostles. Unlike the other apostles, John was apparently blessed with a long life and exile on the island of Patmos, rather than the martyrdom the others suffered. John is the only man who saw Jesus in human form, on the mount of transfiguration, after the resurrection and also in this vision. So it seems that he would be as prepared as anyone could be to see Christ in this vision. Yet Revelation 1:17 says that when John saw Jesus, his appearance was so startling that he fell at his feet, as though he was dead, and Jesus had to touch him and encourage him before he could stand up. Remember that Jesus referred to John and his brother James as sons of thunder (Mark 3:17), and it is unlikely that sons of thunder would be intimidated by very many things. That gives us an idea of how far we are from deity, it reminds us of a similar vision in Daniel 10, and also that Moses could not even look at the face of God and live. If those things apply to the patriarchs of our faith, how much more to the rest of us!

Jesus reminds us in both verses 5 and 18 that he was dead and he has returned to life, and verse 18 says he has the keys of death and Hades. Verse 5 says he is the first-born of the dead, implying resurrection for others, and agreeing with Daniel 12:2 that there will be resurrection of some to everlasting life and a resurrection of others to everlasting shame and contempt.

There is always some debate about what should be taken literally in Revelation and what is symbolic. My view is that when Revelation uses symbols, it generally explains what those symbols mean, as it does with the seven stars and the seven lampstands. It is fairly obvious that when John says he saw seven stars in his right hand that the seven stars refer to seven angels under Christ's authority, not that he carries angels around in his right hand. Much of the language of Revelation is symbolic, and some of it we won't know how to interpret until the events describe take place, but that shouldn't cause us to ignore the entire book, as some do, or to read it as essentially meaningless. Anyone who reads it honestly understands that it is far from meaningless.

Finally, though I don't want to spend much time on numerological considerations, it is hard not to notice that we have already seen seven spirits, seven stars and seven lampstands, and we shall go on to seven churches, seven seals, seven trumpets, seven bowl judgments, seven thunders, etc. Most Christians also believe Revelation speaks of the great tribulation, a seven year period at the end of the age, a time of completion of God's plan. As Adam and Eve were separated from God in the garden of Eden, the end of this book reunites God and man in a way even Adam and Eve probably could not have imagined.

In chapters 2 and 3, John will be given messages for seven churches, Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea. Paul also wrote to seven churches, to the Colossians, Corinthians, Ephesians, Galatians, Philippians, Romans and Thesalonians.

Another interesting point is that there are seven different beatitudes or blessings in Revelation, shown in the NKJV as follows:

1:3 "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."

14:13 "Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’”
“Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.”"

16:15 "“Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.”"

19:9 "Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’” And he said to me, “These are the true sayings of God.""

20:6 "Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God
and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years."

22:7 "“Behold, I am coming quickly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”"

14 "Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city."

I hope this is enough information to interest anyone who reads this, not only to reading and studying the book of Revelation, but all scripture in general.