February 1, 2010
Rev 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
The book of Revelation is about the progressive and immediate unveiling of the otherwise unknown and unknowable God--the Lord Jesus Christ. This Revelation was given to John, a person who is representative of persons in the end times who will experience all the things depicted in this mysterious book. Believers in all ages since Christ's first coming have experienced some of the things described here, that is why it says "things that must shortly come to pass," but only those who are living in the time of the end, which is now, will enter fully into these things.
How do we know this is the time of the end? The fact that the true interpretation was hidden until now indicates that we are the ones who need this understanding. The Church of ages past could not understand the Revelation because they could not enter into it. We must live the Revelation if we are to survive what is coming upon this earth.
Destruction of a magnitude never before known to humankind is even now at the threshold and will soon engulf all of us in a struggle for survival. The threats that face our civilization and the world are myriad and any one of them could wipe out multitudes of people.
We have lived with the threat of nuclear war for at least a generation. I remember in grade school in the '50s when the air raid siren sounded and all the classrooms emptied into the hallways where we were instructed to get on our knees, faces towards the floor, with our hands covering our heads. The threat of nuclear war is now an even greater probability because of all the nations who now have nuclear capability plus the possibility of terrorists detonating dirty bombs in our cities.
I could fill the pages of this book with possible scenarios of the end of life as we know it, but that is not my purpose. My purpose is to give hope and encouragement to every Christian who reads this book. No matter how bad things get in this world, God has prepared a place of safety for his people. As the world changes, we must change…not to be conformed to the world but to enter God's kingdom even while we are on earth. The world will no longer be able to sustain life as we have known it. We cannot change this. The sins and mistakes of the past have placed our world on a collision course with disaster and apart from God, no one can stop it. The only place to go is into the Kingdom of God. Jesus showed us the way. The only difference is we don't have to die on a cross in our physical body; Jesus already did that for us. We must die in another way…die to self. As we do so, Jesus will guide us each step of the way into his kingdom. Revelation will show us this process in detail.
What is life in the kingdom like? Jesus showed us glimpses of it, and Scripture is full of kingdom snippets woven symbolically in its history, wisdom, prophecies, etc. (See my book on the Four Living Creatures). Jesus was fully in the kingdom when he appeared to his disciples between the time of his crucifixion and his ascension. He had a body that could appear and disappear. He could eat and his body could be touched. People could see him and hear him speak. He could be in one place and then disappear and be somewhere else. God wants to give us bodies like the one Jesus had…glorified bodies. Revelation shows us how this will be accomplished.
This first verse of Revelation says that God is revealing this to his servants. Not everyone will be able to understand Revelation much less enter into it. Only his servants will be able to grasp the symbolism and principles laid down here. A servant, doulos in Greek, is defined as "one who was in a permanent relation of servitude to another; whose will was completely subject to the will of another. He was a doulos apart from any service he rendered at any given moment. The focus is on relationship, not the service." A servant of the Lord Jesus Christ is one who has chosen to enter into a deep, abiding relationship with him to such an extent that he is able to say, even as Jesus said, "Not my will, but thy will be done."
We are told that he sent and signified this message by his angel. The basic definition in Hebrew or Greek of an angel is "a messenger" A messenger can be a king, a pastor, an ambassador, or some other person who delivers a message. In some places in Old Testament Scripture, an angel is obviously Jesus. Angels have a very important role in Revelation. We will see that word often, and it may mean different things according to the context in which it is used.
This message was "signified." "Signified" has one definition in Webster that states, "something material or external that stands for or signifies something spiritual." All through Revelation we will see words that on the surface express something material or outward, but will actually express an inward spiritual message.
The following is my interpretation of Revelation 1:1:
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
This book depicts the progressive and immediate unveiling of the otherwise unknown and unknowable God--the Lord Jesus Christ, which God gave to Jesus to show to those who are in a permanent relationship of complete subjugation of their will unto the will of Jesus Christ, the things which must shortly come to pass. He sent this in the form of signs that must be interpreted by the aid of the Holy Spirit. This message was given to one who represents Christians living in the end times who will actually live the Revelation.