Day 1 of Revelation Study: Introduction

First Things First

The book of Revelation opens by clearly stating its overall theme, the revealing of Christ, which is indicated in the title. Revelation is a term which suggests or implies the giving of new information. Thus, whatever came next, was likely to grab the audience’s attention in a new way since they had never heard most of this information specifically described in the Scriptures. While much had been written regarding the last days throughout both the Old and New Testaments, nothing like what is described in Revelation had ever been revealed to man. The Apostle John was highly honored and privileged by the Lord to be the vessel through which Christ would declare the events surrounding His Second Coming.

His Servant John

This prophecy was given to the Apostle John. This was the same John who wrote the Gospel of John and the three Johannine Epistles [those really short letters that people tend to ignore]. In all, he recorded five books of the Bible. His Gospel account is a compilation of his past reflections of Christ’s earthly ministry [the things he saw and experienced years before]. His three epistles were distinct letters which he wrote to both local and living churches [i.e. the current, at least during his time, body of believers]. Revelation, on the other hand, is primarily about what is to come. In all, during John’s book-writing ministry phase, he wrote about past, present and future events.

John is the one “…who bore witness to the Word of God….” He spent three years in the physical presence of Christ [who, by the way, is Himself the Word of God (John 1:1)]. He also devoted his entire life to teaching God’s Word, as is seen in his writings, which would have caused him to continually bear witness to its fruit and impact on the world around him. Now, as we will see throughout this book, he personally bore witness to all that he wrote about here in this prophecy. Right off the bat, John claims in 1:2 that this is both the Word of God and his own personal “…testimony of Jesus Christ….” This is his firsthand written account of Christ’s Revelation.

Everything that is held within these twenty-two chapters is summed up in the words, “…even to all that he [John] saw.” This is the Revelation of Jesus Christ that was given to John so that he would write it down and distribute it out to the churches. To find out exactly what he saw, come back tomorrow as we continue our study through the book of Revelation.

Continue on to read about chapter one.

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