Sat, 10 December, 2005: Today’s Bible readings.

Revelation 1:1-8

¹ The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, ² who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. ³ Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.

⁴ John to the seven churches that 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, ⁵ and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood ⁶ and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. ⁷ Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.

⁸ “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Today we begin the last book of the New Testament. Oftentimes we call this book Revelations, and we eagerly search the book to find interesting and exciting things revealed that are going to happen in the (supposedly near) future. But the more appropriate name for the book is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, and the main emphasis is to encourage the first century Christians in the face of tremendous persecution.

What do we learn from this?

When we focus on trying to find the future in the Revelation of Jesus Christ, we can easily miss something much more important. We can miss Jesus Christ.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Jesus Christ is all through this book. In the first eight verses quoted above, we find Him numerous times. The book is the revelation of Jesus Christ, and John bears witness to the testimony of Jesus Christ that he saw. Jesus Christ is revealing this, and there is a promised blessing upon those who hear, and who keep what is written in it.

John tells us that Jesus Christ is the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. We learn about His character (He is faithful in what He tells us), His activity (He came to earth to die and be raised for the justification of His people, becoming the firstborn of the dead), and His authority (He right now is the ruler of all the kings).

He loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father. John gives us more details of His activity of redemption as we learn that it is due to the shedding of His blood, and that due to His atonement, we are brought into His kingdom and made priests.

John then reminds us of the second coming of Jesus Christ, and eagerly calls for it.

We would do well to focus on finding Jesus Christ as we read this book of His revelation to us rather than seeking to find in it the key to predicting future events.