The last book of the Bible is “The Revelation to John,” or most
often called, “Revelation.” It was
written by John, the Apostle, while he was imprisoned on the island of Patmos, a
Roman penal colony in the Aegean Sea.
John was about 92 years old when God gave him a vision of the risen
Christ (chapter 1), who told him of things that are (chapters 2 & 3) and
things that are to come (chapters 4-22).
This is definitely a prophetic book, and it has a lot of symbolism that
I will not attempt to address in this short study. There are as many interpretations of the
symbolism and the prophesies in this book as there are denominations within the
church, so I will simply continue as I started, about 65 weeks ago, to show how
Christ is revealed in Revelation, just as He is in every book of our Bible. I would encourage you, though, to study this
book deeply, preferably with a group of believers. This is the only book that comes with the
promise of a blessing to those who read it:
Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy,
and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near (Rev. 1:3).
But this book also comes with a
warning. No one is to add anything to
this book or take anything away from it. For that reason, when we study this
book, we need to be very careful that we use scripture to interpret scripture,
rather than placing our faith in the words of men. If we try to make the scripture fit our own
opinion or point of view, or in any other way distort what Jesus told John, we
become one of the false teachers or false prophets that we have learned about
in the previous letters to the churches over the last several weeks:
For I testify to everyone who hears the words
of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to
him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from
the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the
Book of Life, from the holy city, and from
the things which are written in this book (Rev. 22:18-19).
There are at least 33 names, titles, or
descriptions of Jesus Christ in this book.
It was hard for me to decide which one I would use in my title, because
they are all so precious, so wonderful, so dear to my heart, and so descriptive
of the divinity, the holiness, the sovereignty, and the work of Jesus Christ, beginning
with “Creator” and ending with “King of Kings and Lord of Lords!” But the bottom line is this: It doesn’t matter what name or title we use
when we refer to Him, as long as we remember who He is, what He has done for
us, and what He will do for us in eternity.
John tells us that what he wrote was given
to him by Jesus:
“I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to
you these things in the churches (Rev. 22:13a).”
So we can trust that what is written here is
true. Jesus gave John the vision and
spoke His words to John. The words Jesus
spoke and the vision He gave tell us about His divine nature. In the very first verses of the introduction
to this book, Jesus reminds us that He is pre-existent, lives today, and will
live eternally:
…Grace to you and peace from Him who is and
who was and who is to come… (Rev. 1:4).
And that description is repeated:
And He said to me, “It is done! I am the
Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End (Rev. 21:6a).”
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last (Rev.
22:13).”
He is Creator:
‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful
and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God (Rev. 3:14b).’
He is Messiah, The Lion of the Tribe of
Judah, The Root of David:
But one of the elders said to me, “Do not
weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed
to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals (Rev. 5:5).”
“I am the Root and
the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star (Rev. 22:16b).”
In His divine nature, He was the Root from
which David sprang, and at the same time in His human nature, He was the
offspring of David! This goes back to
His eternal existence – both eternal past and eternal future. Remember, time was created by Him for
us. He is not subject to time, but time
is subject to Him!
He is The One Who is Worthy of Praise and Worship:
Then I looked, and I heard the voice of
many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the
number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands,
saying with a loud voice: “Worthy
is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches
and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and
blessing!” And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the
earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying:
“Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who
sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!”
Then the four living creatures said, “Amen!” And the twenty-four elders fell
down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever (Rev. 5:11-14).
He is the Sacrificial Lamb, the Atonement For
Our Sin:
To Him who loved us and washed us from our
sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father,
to Him be glory and dominion
forever and ever. Amen (Rev. 1:5b-6).
So he said to me, “These are the ones who
come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white
in the blood of the Lamb . . . for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne
will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will
wipe away every tear from their eyes (Rev. 7:14b, 17).”
He is the Victorious Warrior:
Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a
white horse. And He who sat on him was
called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His
eyes were like a flame of fire,
and on His head were many
crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in
blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven,
clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out
of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And
He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress
of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name
written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS (Rev.
19:11-16).
These descriptions and titles only scratch
the surface of the beautiful, majestic, victorious book of Revelation. I pray that you will study it for yourself,
knowing that those who trust Him will have their names written in the Lamb’s
Book of Life and will spend eternity with Him.
Although the details of the prophecy are important – He would not have
given them if they were not – don’t worry if you don’t understand all that is
written there. The main point is that
Jesus is who He says He is, He came to be the only Perfect Sacrifice for our
sin, He is coming again to judge this fallen world, and when He does, every
knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is King of Kings and Lord of
Lords forever and ever. Even His enemies, those who say He does not exist, will bow in submission to Him!
I hope that you have enjoyed this trip
through every book of the Bible that we began on January 20, 2014. I hope that you have learned something about
the nature of God – that He never changes.
The God of Genesis is the same God of the manger, of the cross, of the
resurrection, and of Revelation. He
showed mercy to Adam and Eve, to Noah, and to the children of Israel. And He continues to show mercy to our world
today as He delays His final judgment on this earth until every single person
has had an opportunity to come to Him in repentance and in faith. He gave Moses the Law to show us how hopeless
we are to keep the law. He gave a system
of sacrifices to point the way to the only eternal sacrifice that would save us
for once and for all. And He showed His
matchless mercy and grace when He came as a baby expressly to die on a cross in
our place – the only Sacrifice that can take away our sin. We have seen the consistency of God’s love
and mercy and compassion and forgiveness in a book that was written by about 40
different writers in three different languages over a period of about 1,500
years, without contradiction or error. And we have seen His word withstand the test
of time, spread all over the world in every language and in every dialect, published
both in print and electronically. No other book has ever been so widely
available or so widely read. And no
other book has had such an impact on those who read it.
My prayer this week is from Revelation
22:20b-21:
Even so, come, Lord Jesus! The
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be
with (all who read this book). Amen.
All Scripture references are from the New
King James Version.
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