Of all the books in the Bible, I suppose the book of Revelation is the most controversial, and also one of the most significant. It’s the book of Revelation that has given us Handel’s famous “Hallelujah Chorus” and the very title of the book has been used in movies and will often sometimes be used in news reports of apocalyptic events taking place in the world. It has provoked fascination and frustration in equal measure. 

Some have tried to find it in it clues to what is happening currently in the political economic climate we find ourselves in. Sometimes the message of Revelation has been so sensationalized, certainly in my lifetime, so sensationalized as to evacuate it of any ultimate importance. But the book of Revelation contains timeless truth. It is Holy Scripture. It addresses the church in every age. It describes the spiritual battle that is being played out both in the world system around us and in the spiritual realm that pervades it. 

I think the book of Revelation is particularly relevant in our day, since human life has been downplayed – shrunk down – until human existence in many areas of our modern world especially in the West has been reduced to the level of the “psychological self” as Carl Truman calls it. What I mean by that is that our authentic authenticity is found not in something outside of us, not in something greater than us – the nation state, or a cause, or even the church. But our authenticity is found by us being able to act outwardly as one feels inwardly; that who we are, our identity, is a matter of our personal choice. What I call myself is what I am. If you dispute that, you want me dead, you’re not only attacking my point of view, but you are also attacking my identity as a person. This is a reality in the world we’re living in which is why conservative people, for example, and old-time liberal people struggle so much with the arguments that are put forward for freedom of speech. If anything you say that disagrees with me is an attack on my identity, your freedom of speech is freedom to slay me, freedom to kill me to eradicate me. It’s an instrument, in other words, of hatred. 

Now this had a knock-on effect on our view of science and politics. Science and politics have almost become irrelevant, since the prevailing narrative is who and what I think I am. Science, of course, has fed that narrative, because the theory of evolution leaves humanity much diminished, in any case man is only a naked ape and it has provided us with the argument for our view that is the idea of gender fluidity. In the world of politics, of course, politics itself has become increasingly irrelevant, where the center of the world is within me. Now this inward turn has led not only to challenging, if not a demise really, of science as an objective reality and politics as something insignificant for us in our daily lives, but this inward turn has led to the demolition of the very concept of transcendence, that is, of something bigger, than we are something outer from what we are. And it’s precisely this idea of transcendence that is addressed in the book of Revelation.  

The focus of these three opening verses of the book are upon Jesus Christ on his Revelation, his testimony, and his prophecy. I’m going to look at those individually. First of all, this book then is about the Revelation of Jesus Christ. That word Revelation you will notice is singular. I say this for some people who are watching my live stream who have written to me and said you’re looking forward to me studying the book of Revelations. I don’t know that book, but we are studying the book of Revelation. It is singular because it is a literary unit, in fact, one of the most unified works in the entire New Testament. It has a single plot line; it has a coherent pattern of imagery and symbolism. It is Holy Scripture, which means to say that it operates within the world, the language, and the history of sacred Scripture. To study Revelation is to study the Bible, for you will need the whole Bible to understand what you’re reading.  

Now look at this introduction then as it’s given to us. It is, it says,  

“The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him, to reveal to his servants.” 

Revelation 1:1

So the order here is a kind of, is played out something like this, God gives the revelation to Jesus, who gives it and turned to his servants by means of an angel. Now this concept, we struggle with this but, in fact, there’s help for us later on in the book if you look at chapters 4 and 5 – don’t look at them, literally look at them, look at them later – but if you look at chapters 4 and 5, they help us understand what’s going on in this opening phrase. 

In chapter 4, we have a description of the throne of God. We don’t see God, but we see that which makes us think of God. And it’s God considered absolutely so the angels, or the beings – the heavenly beings who are near the throne, they sing or cry, 

“Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.” 

Revelation 4:8

So the vision of chapter 5 is the vision of Yahweh. It’s the vision of the Lord, the One Who is, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Perhaps being led by the Father, who is the fountain of the Godhead, the source of the Godhead; but it’s a description of the singular life of God as he is. But then it moves seamlessly into chapter 5, where we see a human being approaching the throne of God. He’s identified – he is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, he is the Root of David, he is the Lamb who was slain. It’s a reference to Jesus Christ. He in his risen life now, as he comes fresh from the cross, as if he has just been slain, it says, he comes to the throne of God. 

Here is Jesus Christ as the mediator between God and man, the God-man. It is to Jesus Christ therefore, as the mediator that the revelation comes. The Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave to Jesus Christ that he might reveal to Jesus’ people. Here he is in his role as the mediator, acting to reveal God’s will and purpose to his people in the world.  

Now that’s very appropriate, since the one who came to be Jesus Christ is the eternal Word and wisdom of God in whom are found all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. It’s appropriate that as God he is wisdom and Word, that he when he becomes human should be the great prophet of our God to dispense wisdom and the Word of God to us as our mediator and as our great prophet.  

Back in chapter 5, it’s to this One who sits upon the throne, for he sits upon the throne alongside God.  

“To him who sits on the throne unto the Lamb be
blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever.” 

Revelation 5:13

He partakes of the praise of God himself and the elders fall down and worship him. So when we read the words Jesus Christ here, we’re thinking of him as the God-man, Jesus, the Lord, our Savior Christ, the Anointed one who comes from Israel, from Judah and from David, and comes into the world to be the Savior. 

Well, God gave the revelation to Jesus, who in turn shows it to his servants. And this divine revelation is given, first of all, to his servants the prophets, but then it’s given to all of his servants, we are his servants. Later on in the book, the servants of God refers to all of God’s people who have been sealed by the Holy Spirit on their foreheads, sealed with the promised Holy Spirit with a view to their eternal inheritance. 

This revelation concerns things that must soon take place. Now let’s look at the word revelation again. It means apocalypse, the original word is the apocalypse, it refers to apocalyptic writing. Apocalyptic writing is writing that reveals things that would not be known otherwise. In the case of the book of Revelation it reveals a reality that will not be immediately accessible to our senses, our touch, our eyes, our ears, and so on. It reveals to us a universe that is simply bristling with life and activity – an unseen realm that coexists with a visible realm we are familiar with, and this unseen realm bristles with beings – demons, and angels, and spiritual beings – angels and archangels. 

It reveals not only two realms, it reveals two kingdoms: the kingdom of this world, this world that is ruled by human figures and human structures, and the kingdom of God and of his Christ. It reveals two humanities: one humanity drawn from every nation, every tribe, every tongue, every part of this planet who confesses Jesus Christ as Lord, and as life, and as truth. These in this human society, the church, these witness to the truth. They invariably therefore to one degree or another suffer the consequences. On the other hand there is another humanity, a humanity that rejects the truth, a humanity that believes in man, believes in humanity, believes in self rather than the Lord, the Truth the Life. This society, the society of this age, of this world follows the dragon who is the ancient serpent, the Devil, and Satan. And they follow the beast, that is, Satan’s creation, a world system that is an enmity against God with all its commercial, political interests. They follow the dragon and the beast wherever they lead, unwittingly surrendering their human freedom in favor of the bondage to the will and ways of sin and Satan that lead to death. Two humanities. 

The apocalypse reveals that we are living in the last days; that the last days are ushered in by Jesus’ resurrection. Now what is happening in history in these days is as Jesus unseals the book, and he lets loose the pages that have been written and the purposes of God on humanity; as these things unfold, we are moving inexorably toward the end, to that final future that God has ordained.  

The book of Revelation will help you to understand where you are. It’s the history of the world as it unfolds during this entire age until Jesus returns. Therefore the book is also about two destinies:  the end of this world system – heralded by wars and plagues and pandemics and false gospels — culminating in Christ’s return and a final judgment. 

On the other hand, the other destiny is a new heavens and a new earth – a thoroughly transformed, renewed, natural universe inhabited by thoroughly transformed, renewed, and perfected human beings. This mystery originates in the mind of God, is communicated to us through Jesus Christ the mediator by means of an angel speaking to John in a vision. 

And so it takes the shape or form of a curtain being drawn or being torn even to show us both what is and what is to come. But we also read that this revelation was signified to John by the angel. That’s the word that’s used. It doesn’t appear in the ESV – it does in other translations — but it’s the word in the original Greek. It’s the same word that is translated by sign in the Gospel of John. When you remember John doesn’t refer to the miracles so much as works of wonder or works of power, he calls them “signs”. They’re symbols, they’re pointers — they point away from themselves to something that transcends the senses. 

Well, the miracles of Jesus and the signs of the book of Revelation are multi-leveled, multi-layered, and they urge us to reflect deeply on their meaning. This whole introduction is drawn from Daniel, chapter 2. In Daniel chapter 2, Nebuchadnezzar has a dream that troubles him. He comes to his advisors, and he   asked them if they will interpret his dream. They say to him “What was your dream?” He says, “Well I won’t know if you’re giving me the right interpretation unless you can tell me what my dream was. You tell me what my dream was then I’ll believe you when you give me an interpretation of the dream.” Of course, none of them could do it. Then Daniel is brought in, and Daniel interprets the dream. And then in the interpretation of his dream, it was the dream of a great massive plinth with a figure on it representing four great kingdoms of the world from the Babylonian to the Persian to the Greek to the Roman. And Daniel comes forward, and he uses our word “apocalypse”. He uses it five times in his interpretation to Nebuchadnezzar. He says to Nebuchadnezzar there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has revealed them, and here’s what they’re about – what will be in the latter days what will be after these things. 

But John when he quotes from Daniel 2 here, he doesn’t quote the language of the last days; he says what shall be quickly, what will be soon – because the latter days have arrived in these last days. God has spoken to us by a Son through whom he made all things. The things in this book will not only definitely come to pass, but in John’s day were already being fulfilled. We’re living in the days of fulfillment, and these things as they unfold in history accumulate towards a final moment where the purposes of God will all come together in Christ.  

Now the link with Daniel is very important, because Daniel enables us to see in his prophecies that the personalities and the events of this age, alongside the cosmic forces and movements behind the scenes are already in play to bring us inexorably towards the final victory of God over evil and the final vindication of the saints, the Church of God. The works of God through Daniel and through John are already in the process now of being fulfilled. The little stone in Daniel in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream that Daniel’s unfolding interpretation, the little stone that he saw, that Nebuchadnezzar saw, coming from a hill somewhere to the west of Babylon in Jerusalem, that little stone has grown in size and will smash all the kingdoms of this world and bring in the kingdom of God. 

And that vision will be represented in the book of Revelation by means of signification, signs, symbols, just as it was in Daniel’s prophecy. And that’s important, that’s important for you in knowing how to read this book. The numbers, the monsters, the visions are not to be taken literally. We are to mine them for their spiritual significance, using the tools of holy Scripture itself. On the one hand this book expresses heavenly truths that will not easily be put into human words. They also express radical truth that is subversive of the power blocks of this present age.  

So look out for images, images derived from nature: the horse, the lamb, the lion, the locust, the scorpion, the eagle, the tree, the harvest, the sea, the rivers, the earth, the sky. Look for images taken from human life, from commerce, war, childbirth, and government. Images taken from the Old Testament like Babylon, Jerusalem, Jezebel, Egypt, Sodom, the Temple, manna, the tree, and the book, the water of life. Jesus is the Lion, the Lamb, and the Root. Look for numbers – numbers that are significant and symbolic numbers – four and seven and twelve and their multiples. These signs and these symbols are not so much a secret code needing decoded, rather, they’re intended to communicate truth in a multi-layered highly textured manner that conveys several meanings all at once. Some are blindingly obvious of course, such as Jesus the Lamb of God or the city with seven hills, Rome. Others take more digging. Professor Richard Bauckham of Cambridge University describes it like this:  

“The visual power of the book of Revelation effects a kind of purging of the Christian imagination, refurbishing it with alternative visions of how the world is and of how the world will be.”  

The Revelation of Jesus Christ. Verse 2 takes us deeper, the testimony of Jesus Christ, it says this:  

“He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.” 

Revelation 1:2-3

Now, I said the word signified is used in John’s gospel. There’s another word here that’s used that’s used many times in John’s gospel and it’s this word to testify or to witness. The witness of John, the testimony of Jesus, the same word in both cases. So this Revelation derived from God, disclosed by Christ through the angel messenger to John, is described here as both the Word of God and the witness or testimony of Jesus Christ. It’s delivered by an angel to John. 

The angel will come up again and again in the book of Revelation. He’s just there incidentally, he is redundant, otherwise he’s simply the instrument that Jesus uses to communicate to John. He’s self-effacing. He’s an angel, and angels when you see them as they are, are scary to human beings. They put the fear of death into you. That’s why angels always have to say to people they meet, “Fear not”. This angel appears to John and at one point in the book, John thinks it’s a divine being and he wants to worship the angel; and the angel tells him, “If you do that, I’ll have to zap you.” or words to that effect.  

The angel is only a messenger and like all good messengers of Jesus Christ, the angel preaches not himself but Christ Jesus the Lord. Well, John witnessed and testified, he tells us, to all that he saw. John did his job of testifying; the angel does his, John does his. John testifies to all that he saw and heard. 

And what he saw and heard as what God says and what Christ reveals to us as the Word and the witness of God. And John’s testimony is that one with Jesus’ testimony and he draws our attention to that. Now the element, connection with the Gospel of John continues here because those phrases, the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, in many ways summarize John’s gospel. It’s about the Word, the Word that was with God, the Word that was God. The Word that became flesh. 

The entire life of Jesus Christ, his entire human life, his pre-existent life as God as it were, his human life, death, and resurrection, as well as his teaching, are bearing testimony, John tells us in the gospel, to the truth. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only begotten God who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.  

This word for testimony also carries with the weight of the cost of bearing testimony to God. It’s the Greek word “matureo” which gives us the word martyr. One who bears witness to the truth runs the risk of suffering and death. The church will find this in the book of Revelation, the church will find itself left on the streets of the world for its witness and its testimony to Jesus.  

Jesus bore witness when he was hauled up before Pilate, the Roman governor, he bore witness to the truth. He spoke the truth to power. He himself is the truth. Jesus said, 

“I am the truth; I am the way, the truth, the life.” 

John 14:6

He comes to witness to the truth and Pilate has him crucified. We’ll learn from the book of Revelation that the weight that lies upon us as his people is that we are to bear witness to the truth. Which means we’re to be alert to the ways in which, the subtle ways in which, for good reason, lies are inserted into our minds. The “big lie”, always aware that the “big lie” will one day break forth. Then Satan, who is the father of lies, will introduce the anti-Christian figure that represents “The Lie”, a lie that can even deceive even the elect. Jesus bears witness to the truth. We must bear witness to the truth. And looking to Jesus and his resurrection, know that God will raise us up as he raised Jesus.  

The revelation, the testimony, and thirdly and lastly, the prophecy of Jesus Christ. Look at these words in verse 3:  

“Blessed is the one who reads aloud the works of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.” 

Revelation 1:3

You see that John himself is self-consciously aware that he is prophesying. He’s going to receive a vision, just like Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel and Daniel did before him. This very Book is called this prophecy. Later on, he will be commanded in chapter 10 to prophesy. When the angel comes to him in chapter 19, and the angel says to him, that he, the angel, is a fellow servant with him, John, and with all those who hold to the testimony of Jesus, he goes on to say this, the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. 

Like Isaiah and Jeremiah, John loses his identity as he speaks in the person of the Lord. And there’s a sense in which whenever the Word of God is preached the preacher should lose his identity in the words of the person of the Lord to his people. And so should we all. 

Now prophecy is a distinctive form of divine communication. In the Old Testament, as in John’s case, a prophet is taken up in vision into the throne room of heaven and there he learns the secrets of God’s purposes. This is one thing that God does in every occasion. He reveals his secrets to his servants the prophets. John will be taken up into heaven to see the world from the heavenly perspective. And we will be taken up with him in this book, we will be let to see this heavenly perspective on what’s going on in time.  

As we dwell in this book, we will be given a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the unfolding manner of history, what is really going on in the events of time and space and place. And he and we will be taken forward in time to the final future of the world, so that we shall see the present in the light of that future, and the ultimate triumph of God’s purposes in human history. This is the prophecy of Jesus Christ, and it’s a word of prophecy for the church. 

John pronounces a blessing, do you notice, on those who read the prophecy and those who hear it, and he assumes that we will read it, and it will be read rather, and heard in public, when we come together as a church, to use the language of Paul in 1 Corinthians 11. Ostensibly this letter, this prophecy, comes in the form of a letter to Christians in seven different cities in the Roman province of Asia. I’m not going into the details of this now, I need to keep something back from you, but just let’s say that it’s intended for the whole church, the perfect church, the church everywhere, and at every period.  

And what the prophecy will do, what this prophecy will do, is this it will expand our minds. It will expand our mind spatially by taking us into heaven. It will expand our minds temporally, meaning in the world now, by taking us to the end of all things. It will open us up to the transcendent where God in Christ by his Spirit is everywhere present and everywhere active. In every bit of DNA, in every quark, in every plague, in every war, in every space and place in time and history. 

The time is near, John says, when the God who made and maintains and rules his creation will come, will overthrow the evil empires and establish his everlasting kingdom. And John says to us, “Church, there’s a blessing, a blessing you need, a blessedness you need in your life, that will come to you when you hear read and when you hear and go on to live in light of the realities that are revealed in this Book.  

For God himself is infinitely happy, he is the blessed and only Potentate, and he wills to share with his own people his own blessedness and happiness that turns on the truths that will be revealed in this Book. Blessed is the one who reads and blessed are those who hear.