(Revelation) Revelation 1:1-18 — Zac Poonen

The Revelation of Jesus Christ

Today we want to start the study on the book of Revelation, so we turn to the last book of the Bible, Revelation chapter 1. I think Satan hates this book because it's the one book that describes his final destiny and judgment more than any other book in the Bible.

And so he doesn't want us to know too much about it, so he hates it, and that's why he allows us to remain ignorant of it and prevents us from taking the study of this book seriously. So let's turn to Revelation chapter 1.

The first three verses are an introduction to the whole book, and I want you to notice seven things in these first three verses, which we must bear in mind throughout the study of the book. Because many people approach the study of this book in the wrong way, and if you don't follow the principles laid down in this first paragraph, then you'll study it the wrong way and with the wrong purpose and probably get a wrong understanding.

First of all, it's called the revelation of Jesus Christ. It's not the revelation of John. It was a revelation given to John. It's the revelation of Jesus Christ. And the first word I want you to notice here is the word revelation.

And the word revelation is a word, it's a Greek word called apokalapsis, which means an unveiling. It's like something which is veiled, and then the veil is lifted. That's the meaning of the word revelation.

And that's the first thing that we need to bear in mind when we study this book, and for that matter all the books of Scripture, that we cannot understand it with human cleverness. We read here about dragons and lambs and beasts and creatures and bowls of wrath and trumpets and angels, and we can't use our human understanding to explain it.

We need the revelation of God. It says the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to Jesus Christ, our Lord, to show to his bondservants. It must be shown to us. It's hidden otherwise. You can be a PhD, a clever person in the things of the world, but you can't understand this book unless God reveals it.

And basically, if we want revelation from God, we need to fear him and we need to be humble. God gives revelation to those who are humble and those who fear him, those who fear to sin, who want to please him.

So that's the first thing we need to bear in mind as we go through the whole book. Your cleverness and my cleverness is no use. So we need to approach the book in humility, great humility, acknowledging our stupidity when it comes to spiritual things, and also with a great reverence for God.

Bondservants Who Belong Entirely to God

And then the second thing I want you to notice there in verse 1 is it is shown to his bondservants. It's not shown to everybody. It's not, as I said, not shown to the clever people. It's shown to his bondservants.

Now, the word bondservant means a slave. There's a difference between a slave and a servant. A servant is one who works for wages and one who can expect certain rights. He can work from 9 to 5, etc. A slave is one who belongs to his master.

And we read in the first verse that this book is going to be explained by God through Jesus Christ only to those who have given themselves, as they say, lock, stock and barrel, completely, totally to God.

Say, Lord, every part of me is yours. My whole life is yours. My future plans are yours. My money is yours. My time is yours. My home is yours. Everything I have is yours. Those are the ones who will understand this book the best.

We can come to a teaching session and hear about this book, but it is only to those who have given themselves to God like this who will understand it fully. Thirdly, it says in the first verse, the last part, that he sent, Jesus Christ sent and signified it by his angel to his bondservant John.

And that's an important word, signified. And signified means it was shown through sign and symbols. And so that's something we must bear in mind as we go through this book, that this book is full of signs and symbols which have a spiritual meaning.

And we need to understand those symbols and signs if we are to get the meaning of what the Lord Jesus is trying to say to us. We must bear that in mind, because many things that we see in this book as we go, they are not literal.

They are in sign language. And we need the help of the Holy Spirit to interpret those signs, unlike most of the other parts of the New Testament which are not in sign language. Then fourthly, verse 2, John who got this revelation says, bore witness to the word of God.

Revelation as the Word of God for Christian Maturity

And so this book we need to bear in mind is the word of God. Now very often we don't think, many people anyway, don't think of this as God's word as much as certain other passages of Scripture. The whole Scripture is God's word, but here it is specifically written, this is the word of God.

For example, you turn to chapter 19, verse 9. It's repeated there again, in the last part of chapter 19, verse 9. These are the true words of God. Now you never find a book in the New Testament or in the Bible where this is repeated so much, because people have a doubt about it.

Is this the word of God? These are the true words of God, it says. And then when you come to chapter 22, the last page of the Bible, chapter 22, verse 18, I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book.

Now although what is written in verse 18 and 19 applies to the whole Bible, it applies specifically and specially to the book of Revelation. Because when it says, I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book, he's not talking about the Bible there, he's talking about the book of Revelation.

What does he say? If anyone adds to this book, God will add to him the plagues written in this book. And if anyone takes away something from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city which are written in this book.

Now there's no book in the Bible about which there is such a solemn, serious warning given as of the book of Revelation. I'm just pointing out those verses to you to show you the importance that God has given to this book.

It is God's word. And if it is God's word and it is scripture, why has it been given to us? I want you to turn to 2 Timothy 3, verse 16 and 17, where it tells us why God has given us scripture. God has given us scripture, it says here, for these reasons.

2 Timothy 3, 16, all scriptures inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, complete, equipped for every good work.

What is the ultimate goal with which God has given us the scriptures? Here it is in 2 Timothy 3, 17, that we might become perfect and complete. Complete means like a vessel which is filled up to the brim.

God wants to fill us up. Many believers are just a few drops of water at the bottom of the bowl. God wants to fill us up and for that he's given us scripture. And the book of Revelation has also been given with this purpose.

Not for us to speculate about the future, but to make us perfect. I want to approach the study of the book of Revelation, not to have a lot of information about all the various signs, but primarily what it says in 2 Timothy 3, 17, that I might become perfect.

I hope that's your goal also. Because God says in 2 Timothy 3, 16, 17, that is the reason with which God has given the whole scriptures, that we might become perfect. And if that's your goal, then we can get some profit out of the book of Revelation.

Many people study it to have an understanding of the prophetic timetable and charts for the future. But that's not my aim. My aim is to obey what the word of God says, that God's word might make me perfect.

So for that intention we study it. Then fifthly, verse 2 of Revelation 1, this book is the testimony of Jesus Christ. As I said, it's not the testimony about the future, but it is the testimony of Jesus Christ.

In other words, throughout the book of Revelation, we are not going to be looking at the future. We're going to be looking at Jesus Christ as the one who controls the future. You see, if you just look at the future, it can be a terrifying thing.

I don't want to look at the future. I want to see Jesus Christ as the one who controls the future. And then there is no terror in the future. There is a peace and a rest. And so it is a testimony of Jesus Christ.

That is the fifth thing we must bear in mind. There is a beautiful verse in Revelation 19, verse 10, which says that the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus. Always true prophecy will testify to Jesus Christ.

Not to events primarily, but to Jesus Christ who controls those events. And so as we study the book, we want to keep our mind and our eyes set on Jesus Christ, not so much on events. And when will this happen?

When will that happen? When will the other thing happen? Some of these things we don't know. But we can see Jesus Christ a little more clearly as we read this book. Then sixthly, very important, verse 3, blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy and keep the things which are written in it.

Obedience and Sharing as the Purpose of Revelation

This book is given for obedience. Not for understanding primarily, but for obedience. Obedience is more important than understanding. Many people go into the book of Revelation in order to understand.

That's wrong. There's no blessing. Read verse 3 very clearly. It doesn't say blessed is the one who understands what the vials of wrath symbolize, what the trumpets symbolize, and what the beasts symbolize.

There's no blessing on that. The blessing is on those who keep what's written here. In other words, there are things written in the book of Revelation, if we have ears to hear and eyes to see, for us to keep.

Blessed are those who find those things and keep them. In other words, our aim in studying the book of Revelation must be obedience to God. And that's put right at the beginning of the book, in the introduction.

Blessed is the one who obeys. Now it's true of the whole scriptures. Blessed are those who obey any part of scripture, but especially there's a blessing put upon those who obey the things that are written in this book.

And that's why it's very important for us to keep that in mind. Lord, I want that blessing. Don't you want it? Don't you want the blessing of God that comes upon those who obey the things that are written in this book?

Yes, even if we don't understand it. Just like the food we eat. The food I eat goes through my digestive system and gets converted into blood, flesh, bones. I can't explain how. Maybe a doctor can do that.

I can't. But even though I can't explain it, it still gets converted into bones and flesh and blood. Understanding is not necessary. In the same way when we come to the scriptures, understanding is not the main thing.

Obedience is the main thing. The digestive system must be working. That's the main thing, not that we can explain it. There are doctors who can explain the digestive system and their own digestive system is not working.

Now, it's no use becoming like that, where we study the book of Revelation and we understand it and we can explain everything, but we don't know how to obey God in our daily life. So it's very important as we come to the word of God in the book of Revelation, the blessing is not on those who understand, but on those who obey.

And then seventhly, what is written in the first part of verse 3, that is, blessed is he who reads. Now we need to understand that verse clearly, because what that means is, blessed is he who reads it aloud.

And the reason for that is, when this book was written in the first century, you know that there was no such thing as printing in those days. The people who were sitting in the churches in those days didn't have a Bible in their hands like you and I have.

It wasn't even printed. There was one copy that John had written and sent to these churches. And there was one man up there who would gather the people together in the weekly meeting and read it aloud and teach people what was written in that letter.

In other words, the seventh thing it says here is, we must share with others what we receive from this book. That is the meaning of blessed is he who reads aloud, because there are others who don't know about what's written here.

In our case, it is not just a question of reading aloud, but of telling others what we have learned. Many Christians are like the Dead Sea. They receive, but they don't give out, and so they die spiritually.

You see, it's like if you keep on receiving and you don't give out, you die. What we receive, we need to give out. Now, if we keep these seven things in mind as we study the book, I believe we can be protected from a lot of unprofitable by-paths and side lanes which we don't want to take.

We want to keep on the central track of what God wants us to get through this book. Even if we don't understand certain symbols, that won't make us lose marks at the judgment seat of Christ, but we want to major on what God is majoring on.

Those are the things we've considered here. Let me just list them quickly then. First of all, it is a revelation, an unveiling. We need the revelation of the Holy Spirit if we are to understand this book.

Secondly, it is shown to those who are born slaves of Jesus Christ, those who have given themselves completely to the Lord. Thirdly, it is shown through signs and symbols that we need to understand. They don't mean literally what they say.

Fourthly, this is the word of God, and therefore it is meant to make me perfect. Fifthly, it is the testimony of Jesus Christ, not about the future or about events. Sixthly, it is meant for obedience in my personal life.

And seventhly, it is meant for me to share with other people what I have received from God through this book. Now, I wonder if we have read through the book of Revelation and noticed these seven things in the first paragraph.

And if we study carefully, we can see these things. Then we can approach the book with a correct approach. Now we move on to verses four to six. John, to the seven churches that are in Asia, grace to you and peace.

The Trinity and the Major Doctrines of Revelation 1:4–7

Now, he says here, from three persons. First of all, grace to you and peace from him who is, that is, eternally present, who was, eternal past, and who is to come. Eternal future. That is referring to God Almighty, the Father, who ever existed from eternity past to eternity future.

And secondly, from the second person of the Trinity, from, sorry, from the third person of the Trinity, from the seven spirits who are before his throne. Now, this doesn't mean that there are seven different Holy Spirits.

Remember, the word signifies. When you come across a difficult passage in Revelation, remember the word signifies. It is sign language. It is not literal. Seven spirits means seven-fold Holy Spirit. The spirit of perfection, for seven is the number of perfection in the scriptures.

The seven-fold Holy Spirit who is before the throne of God. And five from the second person of the Trinity, that is, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

The firstborn of the dead means that Jesus Christ was the first person to have come back from the grave permanently. There were people like Lazarus and Jairus' daughter who came back from death, but then they died again.

But Jesus Christ was the first person who came back from the dead never to die again. That's the meaning of the firstborn from the dead. And the ruler of the kings of the earth. Very important for us to see that.

It's the testimony of Jesus Christ. Remember this book? We need to see as we go through the book of Revelation and see about the Antichrist and see about many things that are going to happen in the coming days that we see right at the beginning that the one who rules the kingdoms of the earth is Jesus Christ, our Lord.

That he's got all authority in heaven and earth in his hands. And it says here, to him who loves us and released us from our sins by his blood, and he has made us to be a kingdom, priest to his God and father, to him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever.

Now in those three verses, we have a tremendous concise summation of New Testament doctrine. First of all, of the Trinity. There we have Father, Son and Holy Spirit, which is a New Testament doctrine.

Second, about the love of Christ for us. Middle of verse five. To him who loves us. That's one of the great themes of the New Testament. God loves us. It's not loved us in the past tense, but present tense.

Notice, loves us is present tense and released us from our sins is past tense. He loves us forever. That's a great theme of the New Testament. We need to remember that. And another great theme of the New Testament is this.

Released us from our sins. One of the greatest themes of the New Testament is that Jesus Christ has come to not only forgive us. Notice the word there is, in some translations, is translated as washed us.

But the correct translation is loosed us from our sins. The first promise in the New Testament is Matthew 1 .21, where the angel told Joseph, thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall not forgive his people their sins, but save his people from their sins.

And it's the same thing that we find in the first page of the last book of the Bible. The first page of the last book of the Bible and the first page of the first book of the New Testament. To be loosed from our sins is the great theme of the New Testament.

We praise Jesus Christ who has released us from our sins. How? By his blood. By his death on the cross. By his shedding his blood. That's another great theme of the New Testament. What the blood of Jesus Christ has accomplished for us.

Now the reason why I'm saying that is to see how the book of Revelation begins with some of these prominent themes that the New Testament teaches and that should be found in any New Testament church. What the blood of Jesus Christ does for us to loosed us from our sins.

Another prominent theme of the New Testament is what we just considered in the middle of verse 5, that Jesus Christ has got all authority in heaven and earth, that he is the ruler of the kings of the earth.

It's one of the great themes of the New Testament that Jesus Christ is Lord. Jesus Christ is Lord. He's got total authority. And another great theme is the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the first born of the dead.

Throughout the New Testament we find this testimony to the fact that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. And verse 4, two of God's great gifts for us are grace and peace. You don't find these words much in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament there's so many places where it speaks about grace.

Grace means, in simple words, God's help available to me according to my needs. Is my need forgiveness? God forgives me. Is my need victory? God gives me victory. Is my need strength? Strength. That's grace.

Is my need encouragement? Encouragement. That's the meaning of grace. Grace from God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And peace, that's another great gift of God, peace of heart and mind. And then verse 6, another great theme of the New Testament is this, that not only is Jesus Christ the ruler of the kings of the earth, he has made us to be kings on this earth.

Not physical kings ruling over a physical kingdom, but spiritual kings ruling over the lusts and passions that I find in my body. What a tremendous thing it is to be a king over anger, to be a king over lust, to be a king over bitterness, to be a king over covetousness.

To rule these things so that they do not rule me. The world is full of slaves, full of slaves, slaves to lust and passion. But Jesus has loosed us and made us kings. Not only kings, but priests. Every believer, listen to this.

This is a predominant teaching of the New Testament. There is no such thing as a special category of people being priests. That is a completely wrong teaching. It's a tradition of man which you must throw into the garbage bin.

What does it say here? We have been made priests. 1 Peter chapter 2 teaches the same thing. Jesus Christ has made everyone a priest. In the Old Testament it was different. Certain people were priests, but not in the New Testament.

In the New Testament every believer is a priest. By priest we don't mean that we have to wear a special dress. No, that was in the Old Testament. In the New Testament the priest wears a special dress inside.

You know what dress that is? It's a garment of holiness. Worship the Lord, it says, in the beauty of holiness. Not in the beauty of some white or purple shirt, but in the beauty of holiness. That's the true priest of the New Testament.

In the Old Testament the priest used to sacrifice on the altar. In the New Testament we as priests sacrifice inwardly. We sacrifice our lust on the altar so that we can please God. We sacrifice ourselves so that we can please God.

So Jesus Christ has made us kings and priests. To God our Father. That's another great theme of the New Testament. In the middle of verse 6, God our Father. To His God and Father who is also our God and Father.

In the Old Testament they did not know God as Father. And then finally verse 6, to Him, that is to Jesus Christ be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Another great theme of the New Testament that all the glory must go to Jesus Christ.

So we can say in verses 4, 5 and 6 we have almost the entire New Testament in condensed form. It's fantastic how the book of Revelation begins with that. Endorsing everything that's gone before in the New Testament.

You can just read verse 4, 5 and 6 and get every major doctrine of the New Testament in those three verses. And John the Apostle, there you see the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Condensing it all down in three verses.

The entire teaching of the New Testament. Wonderful. So we can see how much more lies in this book. One more thing. Verse 7, another great theme of the New Testament. I should have said verses 4 to 7, not verses 4 to 6.

Verses 4 to 7 we have the entire teaching of the New Testament. This is one of the great themes of the New Testament. The second coming of Christ. Jesus Christ is coming again. One of the great themes of the New Testament.

He is coming with the clouds. And every eye will see Him. Every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will moan over Him, even so. Amen. So from verse 4 to 7 we get a condensed version of the entire New Testament teaching.

Every important teaching of the New Testament is there in verses 4 to 7. And any New Testament assembly, any New Testament church must always major on these doctrines that are presented in verses 4 to 7.

These are the major doctrines. There are many other things mentioned in the New Testament, but they are not as major, like speaking in tongues, for example. That's not mentioned here. It's a good thing.

We praise God for it, but it's not one of the major things that we have to major on. It's not here. But these are the major doctrines in the New Testament. And then we move on to verse 8. I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is, who was, who is to come, the Almighty.

The Almighty God Controls History

There again, right at the beginning of the book of Revelation, we have this vision given to us that God is Almighty. We need to see that very clearly. The one who is in control of all these events is the Almighty God.

Notice the emphasis there. I am the Alpha and the Omega. And the Alpha and the Omega are two Greek words, the equivalent of which in English would be A and Z. That means I am the beginning and I am the ending.

I am the first and I am the last. I was there when nothing existed and I'll be there when everything is completed. God is saying, I'm in control of the whole thing. I see the end from the beginning. There's nothing that's going to happen next year that's going to take me by surprise, says the Lord.

There's nothing that's going to happen 2 ,000 years from now that's going to take me by surprise. He tells John that. So that we see very clearly, right at the beginning, this emphasis on the Lord God Almighty being in control.

Now you may think that that's not a very important thing. We all know about it. Yes, we all know about it in theory. But when we get into a panic in some situation, in our home or in office, that is an indication that I don't believe in the Almighty.

In the Almighty power of God. That's why I get into a panic. That's why I get anxious. And that's why it's very important for me to be firmly rooted. I believe the most important requirement for believers to face the days that are coming in the world in the future is to know that our God reigns above.

That Jesus Christ is the ruler of the kings of the earth. That our God is Almighty. That He is not only the Alpha, He is the Omega. He is the beginning and the end. He sees everything right on till the end.

There's nothing which He does not know. He knows everything. When you come to the end of the book of Revelation in chapter 19, chapter 22, verse 13, He says the same thing there. Chapter 22, verse 13, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.

We can say that the book of Revelation is put in brackets between these two statements at the beginning and at the end of the book. What is that? I am the Almighty God, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

And within those two brackets, you have the whole book of Revelation. If we don't see it as within those two brackets, then we can get into a lot of panic in the days to come. I don't mean just when we study the book, but when we see things happening in the world around us.

And so, God begins with a revelation of Himself. Then we move on to verse 9, where John says, I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus.

John’s Suffering, Perseverance, and Revelation on Patmos

Here we read that John calls himself your brother. Very important for us to see that. That though he was the last of the twelve apostles now left, all the other eleven had died. This book of Revelation was written about sixty or sixty-five years after Jesus Christ had risen up and gone up to heaven.

And the apostle John was the only remaining one of the twelve apostles left. And if ever there was a man on earth who deserved to have some other title than brother, it was John. He could have called himself the reverend father or something or the other, or a pastor or a pope or something like that, but he isn't.

What is he? What is this great man of God who walked with Jesus for three and a half years and who has now walked with Jesus in the Holy Spirit for sixty-five years? What does he call himself at the end of this height of sanctity that he has reached?

What does he call himself? Your brother. Blessed are we if we can remain there. Just plain ordinary brother till the end of our earthly life. Nothing more than that. I, John, your brother. Not your pastor or your pope or anything.

Your brother. Just a brother. Ordinary brother. Jesus Christ is the only one who deserves to be called a head, who is different, who is someone greater, lifted up. We are just ordinary brothers. And sisters.

I, John, your brother, and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus. Yes, that's another thing. We are sharers together in the tribulation and suffering and endurance which is needed to be a disciple of Jesus.

Everyone who wants to be a disciple of Jesus will have to go the way of tribulation and persecution and opposition because we stand for righteousness in the midst of an unrighteous world. We stand for uprightness in the midst of a crooked world.

We stand for the truth of God in the midst of a world that worships and follows the devil. So there's going to be opposition. There's going to be persecution. And John didn't get this vision when he was sitting in an easy chair in some air-conditioned hotel.

He was persecuted. Do you know where he got this vision? When he was exiled to the island called Patmos. The last part of verse 9. He was exiled there, being persecuted by the Romans. Exiled because he preached the whole counsel of God.

It says there, because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. Because he stood up for the testimony of Jesus, he was persecuted. And in the midst of his suffering, he got revelation. And that's how God gives us revelation too.

In the midst of our own suffering and trial, God gives us revelation on his word so that that word which strengthens us in the midst of our tribulation, we can use to strengthen other brothers and sisters when they are going through tribulation too.

So, we can't understand the book of Revelation properly unless we are willing to be disciples of Jesus, unless we are willing to stand up for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, and be willing to face the opposition and the persecution that may come as a result of our standing true to the word of God in the midst of a crooked world.

Hearing God’s Voice in the Holy Spirit

Right. Verse 10. I was in the spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet, and we know that that was the voice of the Lord Jesus speaking to the Apostle John.

I want you to notice here what he says. I was in the spirit. The Lord's day refers to the first day of the week. What we know as Sunday, the day that Jesus Christ rose up from the dead. The early disciples called it the Lord's day.

The Jews used to have a Sabbath day, but the disciples had the Lord's day, which was to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, the first day of the week. And if you ask me which day the early Christians celebrated, it was only the first day of the week.

They had no Christmas, no Good Friday, no Easter, nothing else. Just the first day of the week, 52 times a year. They celebrated that because it was the day that Jesus Christ conquered death and the grave and Satan.

And so on the Lord's day, he says, I was in the spirit. It doesn't mean he was not in the spirit on other days. He's just referring to the fact that on the Lord's day, I was in the spirit, and I heard the Lord's voice.

Now, the thing I want you to notice here is this privilege is available for us, too. If I seek to live my life in the Holy Spirit, sensitive to sin, keeping a good conscience, walking in humility before God's face, and keep myself filled with the Holy Spirit, I can hear God's voice.

It's something like a radio that's tuned to the right frequency. You know very well, now we live in the age of radios, we can understand this. Do you know that right now in this room, there are lots of voices?

You know that. Lots of voices, there's music going on in this room, there's voices, there are voices from communist countries and capitalist countries, everything is in this air. We can't hear any of them because we don't have a radio set tuned to the frequency that will catch the voices that are in this room at this particular time.

If you had the radio set tuned to the frequency, you could catch a lot of voices that are in this room. It's exactly the same with the voice of the Lord. We can sit in a meeting and hear nothing, just like we sit here and we don't hear any of this that's going on in this, because we're not tuned to the right frequency.

Now if John were writing in the 20th century, he'd write something like this, I think, I was tuned on to the right frequency. I was in the Holy Spirit, I kept my conscience clean, and I heard the voice that came through on that frequency.