“REVELATION”Series

“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His

servants-things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to

His servant John” (1:1)

IntroductionSermon 1

Reason From

FROM THE 1ST TWO VERSES OF REVELATION Title Dispensation Timing Style Author

NOTICE1. TITLE: “The Revelation”

singular not plural ex: “fruit of the Spirit” (Gal. 5:22; Eph. 5:9) all of the pictures make up the complete

“revelation” Gk. apokalupsis

“to uncover” or “reveal” something the supernatural unveiling of divine truth “But now, brethren, if I come to you speaking

with tongues, what shall I profit you unless I speak to you either by revelation, by knowledge, by prophesying, or by teaching” (1 Cor. 14:6; 2 Cor. 12:1; Gal. 1:12; etc.)

1:1

NOTICE2. DISPENSATION

God Jesus Angel John Church

See Ephesians 3:1-5

1:1

“…which God gave Him to show His servants…”

NOTICE3. TIMING: “…things which must

shortly take place.” (cf. 22:6)bulk of book already fulfilledFuturist Interpretation is out of harmony

with John’s statement “time is near” (v. 3) compare: Genesis 41:32, “And the

dream was repeated to Pharaoh twice because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.”

1:1

Futurists

Hal Lindsey interprets the fourth bowl to be an atmosphere that is radically upset by a full scale nuclear exchange.

(Lindsey, Hal. There’s A New World Coming. New York: Bantam Books, p. 208.

1975.)

How is that going to help Christians of the first century to

“remain faithful?”

NOTICE4. STYLE: “…And He sent and

signified it by His angel to His servant John…”

SIGNified – “to give a sign” “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth,

will draw all peoples to Myself. This He said, signifying by what death He would die” (Jn. 12:32, 33)

1:1

‘Lifted Up From Earth’

Was A Sign

Of Death By

Crucifixion

NOTICE5. AUTHOR: “…His servant John.”

Four times “John” is said to be the author (1:1, 4, 9; 22:8)

NOT John the Baptist (Jn. 3:23) John Mark (Acts 12:12) John who opposed the apostles (Acts

4:6) BUT John the apostle, the son of

Zebedee (Mk. 3:17) authored four other New Testament

books (John, 1st John, 2nd John, 3rd John)

1:1

UNIQUE SIMILARITIES OF “JOHN” AND “REVELATION” Referring to Jesus as “The Word” (John 1:1;

Rev. 19:13) Referring to Jesus as “The Lamb” (Jn. 1:29,

36; Rev. 5:8, 12, 13, etc.) Exhortation to “overcome the world/Satan”

thus a keynote for the Book of Revelation (Jn. 16:33; 1 Jn. 5:4; Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21; 12:11; 21:7)

“The Greek diminutive for "Lamb" (arnion, literally, "lambkin") occurs twenty-nine times in the Apocalypse, and the only other place where it occurs is Joh 21:15” (JFB)

OTHER PERTINENT POINTS ABOUT THE AUTHOR addressed seven churches of Asia

(1:4)suggests apostolic authoritybecause the book remained, it shows they

accepted the writer’s authority speaks authoritatively on identifying

and testing legitimate apostles (Rev. 2:2)appears to claim apostolic authority for

the writer!

JOHN: THE TESTIFIER TESTIFY:

“to make a factual statement based on personal experience or to declare something to be true from personal experience” (Encarta)

“who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw” (Rev. 1:2) John’s work was presented as a

testification (cf. Jn. 19:35; 21:24)

JOHN’S TESTIMONY based on his literal & direct senses

“…to all things that he saw” (v. 2)“For we cannot but speak the things

which we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20)

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life” (1 Jn. 1:1)

this evidence is laid before the world’s courtroom for a reason…

PURPOSE OF THE TESTIMONY “And we have seen and testify that

the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world” (1 Jn. 4:14)God sending His Son was seen and

verified it’s a matter of history

the Son was sent “as Savior of the world” it’s a matter of salvation implicates world is lost

IF WE STUDY THE TESTIMONY OF THE BIBLE: and do not see ourselves as lost and in

need of a savior, we have studied in vain! and do not see Jesus is the Savior, we have

studied in vain! “He who believes in the Son of God has the

witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son” (1 Jn. 5:10)

and do not see how to get saved, we have studied in vain!

if we never study the testimony of the Bible, we have lived in vain!

HOW JESUS SAVES THE WORLD through the gospel (Rom. 1:16)

by: trusting/believing (Eph. 1:13) repenting (Mk. 1:15) confession (2 Cor. 9:13; initially in

confessing Christ, Rom. 10:9, 10; 1 Tim. 6:15)

baptism (Mk. 16:15, 16)burial (Rom. 6:3, 4)in water (Acts 8:36-38)