Revelation 1:1-3

Well, good morning Saylorville! Are you ready for a brand new series? Then open your Bible to the very last book you’ll find there, the book of the unveiling, the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ.

Earlier this year, in fact in May of 2024, in the US Capitol, A seven-foot bronze statue, covered up, was unveiled of none other than Billy Graham, the great evangelist. His son, Franklin, was there for the event and all the applause that took place. And the first words out of his son, Franklin’s, mouth were, “My father would be a little uncomfortable with this.” I love that, because his father’s calling and ours is to unveil Jesus Christ in all of His glory and not ourselves.

We are embarking in a book that by definition unveils the Lord Jesus Christ in all of His second coming glory. And by the way, it’s “Revelation,” not Revelations [plural]. The Revelation of Jesus Christ. So without further ado, let’s look at this introduction in the very first chapter, the very first verse, one through three.

Revelation 1:1-3

1 “The revelation (or the unveiling, that’s what the word revelation means) of Jesus Christ, (Apocalypses. That’s the word. We get a word, “apocalypse” from this, but when we think of  apocalypse, we think of something catastrophic. Just the opposite issue. That’s not what the word means. It means to be uncovered or unveiled. So that’s, hence, the word.) which God gave Him (that is, the Father, gave this to Jesus as a gift, so to speak) to show to His servants the things that must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, (The angel referred to here Jesus tells us on the flip side of this book is His own personal angel. Pretty cool! And so…)

2 who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things 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.”

How many of you like Christmas songs? Raise your hand if like Christmas songs. All right? What’s your favorite? [indistinguishable] We’re done right here right now! That’s the greatest of all the songs. It’s the most Westley song, “Hark the herald angels sing. Glory to the newborn…” That is so theologically rich! In it we have the line, “Veiled in flesh the Godhead see. Hail the incarnate deity.” Great line! Great truth! To “veil” something means “to cover it up”. It means “to hide it.” It means “to conceal it.” And when Jesus came, He wrapped Himself in flesh. Right?

[John 1:14] “And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. And we beheld His glory…“

What kind of glory? A veiled glory. And why would He do that? Well, in a word because Jesus is God, and God in all of His resplendent glory would not just blind you. He would kill you! Remember Moses? When he got so chummy with God, he said, ‘Hey, can I see Your glory?’ In Exodus 33, God says, ‘You can’t see My glory. It’ll kill ya!’ And He sticks him in a rock and lets him see His back parts sort of trailing. In other words, He does… Moses does get a glimpse of the glory of God, as does John, the author of the book of Revelation, the Apostle John, the surviving Apostle who… the only one not martyred for his faith. He’s the writer here. He caught a glimpse along with his brother, James, (Remember that?) and Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration in Matthew 17. Jesus goes up on the mountain and He transfigures Himself. He sort of opens up the curtain, tears back, sort of the flesh so to speak, and they just go goofy, and Peter says, ‘Can I make a couple of huts?’ and it’s just really kind of weird. But he got a glimpse of the glory of the second coming of Jesus Christ in that moment. And when Jesus returns, this very passage tells us a few verses from here;

[Revelation 1:7] “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.”

(Every eye!)

Now I’m just gonna be very personal and candid with you for the next couple of moments. This book, this series, this subject of eschatology, that’s the theological term for study of last things, is deeply and theologically personal to me. Were it not for the truths in this book, humanly speaking, I would not have leaned into the Gospel. So it grieves me when godly men sort of downplay or even scoff at times, the idea of the imminent,  anytime return of Jesus Christ, which I am convinced with every fiber of my being, the Bible teaches.

In 1980, my sister showed up in our trailer home where my wife and I lived. We hadn’t started our family yet, but she had just read a book on prophecy. I said, “Prophesy… What is that?” And so she started laying out what the scripture had to teach about prophecy. I was all in, you know, I was just drawn! I mean, I was a drug addict at the time! I wasn’t drugged up at the time, but I was just so… geeked out over the whole thing! It was drawing me in! I wanted to know more! In fact, that led me to a two year search for God. Only did I find out later, it was God searching for me! I didn’t know the theology of it at the time. But I’m just sort of groping around, grabbing stuff, listening, studying, and in September of 1982, because of the use… God’s use of eschatology, of prophecy, of the study of future things in my life, the light switched on, and I trusted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior. So as I said, it’s deeply and theologically personal to me.

Now, much has happened since 1982. (Laughter) It wasn’t that funny! But a futuristic view of Revelation, a futuristic view of Revelation, is no longer as popular as it once was. So I’m here to say, right from the get-go, I am convinced the Bible teaches Jesus Christ is physically coming again! I am convinced the kingdom of God is both spiritual and physical in the return of Jesus. And I am convinced that Jesus and His return to set up His future kingdom is pre-millennial. I have some big words. I’ll explain that. “Pre” means before. ‘Millennial” means a thousand. I believe Jesus Christ is coming physically to this earth to set up His 1000 year reign! — Just as this book declares He’ll do.

And though I have studied eschatology from the very beginning, I have since re-studied it, because this position of a futuristic view of the book of Revelation is not nearly as popular as it once was. I’ve gone back, not to the drawing board, but to the Word of God itself, and I’ve done my best to push aside all of my preconceived ideas to be able to get fresh eyes on this thing. And I’m here to tell you that I have not changed my theological outlook on eschatology. I have changed. I’ve changed in the area of respect.

There was a time, and to my shame, that I disrespected virtually every other position on the return of Jesus Christ and subsequent kingdom to come. I no longer do that. And though I have more respect for some positions than others, I don’t respect men of God who take seriously the word of God regardless of their understanding and interpretation of end time events. Does that make sense?

So just a word on timing, because timing is a big issue. Timing… the timing of Jesus’s return. Okay? Look at this. The timing on the return of Jesus and the nature of the coming kingdom is a secondary issue. It’s a secondary issue. By that I mean, your salvation is not contingent upon your view of eschatology. You can disagree with me and still go to heaven. Hallelujah! It’s a secondary issue. And so it doesn’t affect my fellowship with you, unless you’re divisive about it, and then you’re wrong, (audience laughing) — yet, not because of your theology, but because of your attitude! And to my discredit, I used to be one of them.

So take the a-millennial position. And by “a,” the “a” negates the word “millennial.” No thousand years. That’s a position that believes that all of this is spiritual. The kingdom is a spiritual kingdom entirely. And while I wholeheartedly disagree with that position, I acknowledge those men of God and women of God who use the same Bible I use to come to that conclusion. And I get it. Pre-millennial… Post-millennial… A-millennial… You’re just blowing my mind here!

I had somebody after the first service gave me a $20 bill. I said, “What’s that for?” “That’s for all the 50 cent words you just used.” (audience laughing) What kind of friend or you, anyway?

Hey, we’re gonna explain this stuff as we go. Okay? We’ll explain it in messages and podcasts, so don’t get overwhelmed. That’s the last thing I want you to do is get overwhelmed by terminology. That’s why it’s always good in a church like this to have an Abe Miller walking around, ’cause it doesn’t matter what you’re purporting, no matter what theological construct you’re working on. He’ll say, “So how does this change my life?” — And that is the right thing to ask, because if it doesn’t change my life, if it doesn’t have any impact, what do we even talk about it for?

Well, number one, it’s in the scripture, and we will preach the Bible. Amen? But practically speaking, just the issue at hand in my mind at least is imminency. Imminency is living… to live life with imminency means to live your life with the expectation that Jesus Christ could come back anytime. Anytime! So for many, for a-millennialists… for example, those who don’t believe in a physical millennium to come, many of them are… here’s another word… Preterists. Wow! Here we go, unrolling all these words. Right? But if you’re a preterist, when it comes to looking at the book of Revelation, this is basically a non-practical book. It doesn’t really serve a whole lot of purpose. They view Revelation as fulfilled prophecy. Everything in this book has already taken place. It’s already all happened. Jesus has already come, and hence, there’s very little use for this book.

But did you know that the Bible is fully one fourth plus prophetic? That is, one out of every 30 verses you read in the Bible have something future tagged onto them. You wanna lose that? And even though we’re constantly being urged in Scripture of living in the light of Jesus’s return, those who take that position don’t see any practical value in this book.

And so besides, there are at least five parables that Jesus gave… five of them! — that deal with readiness. Be ready! In fact, he uses that word, that phrase. Besides that, you have the letters that take place after the Gospel accounts, after the book of Acts. Here’s just a sampling on imminency, that is, if you believe in the anytime return of Jesus as I do, as we do as a church, here are some examples.

[Philippians 3:20] “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.“

Here’s another.

[Titus 2:13] [We’re] waiting (that Greek word means to wait with expectation) for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior (Notice, our Savior is called God) Jesus Christ…”

And here’s how James puts it.

[James 5:8] “You too be patient; strengthen your hearts for the coming of the Lord is (what?) is near.”

And then a favorite of mine you hear me quote from time to time where John writes in his epistle;

[1 John 2:28] “And now, little (tech non) little children, (little born ones. That’s what it means.) “Now little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears (that perusia… when He comes back) we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him (that word “before” means away from Him, like as if, ‘Oh no!’ I’m ashamed!’ — at His appearing.)

And then besides all that, in these first three verses we just read,

[Revelation 1:1-3, “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, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. 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.“]

…three times you have the things that must soon take place… prophecy…  and for the time is near. Clearly, and right out of the shoot, John is telling us this book is futuristic.

Now, no other book… just the same… No other book in the Bible… No other book is so misunderstood. No other book is so neglected. No other book is so misinterpreted, and no other book is so ignored as this one. Martin Luther doubted its inspiration. John Calvin, who gave us a commentary on virtually every other book of the Bible, wouldn’t give us a commentary on Revelation… refused to do that. And so, I get it of the making of many theological whack jobs there is no end. And they’ve been out there since time immortal, predicting the coming of Jesus; ‘He’s coming next week, get ready!’ Well, I love that expectation… not the prediction! I mean, the Jehovah’s Witnesses predicted He’s gonna come in 1914, and when he didn’t they picked four more dates over the next 80 years!

In fact, two years into my pastorate in the 1980s, 1988 to be exact, I was preaching and all of a sudden, this book showed up in my mailbox. And I found out later, every pastor got this book… Every pastor in the land got this book! It became a runaway bestseller, plus he gave away… This was written by a NASA scientist. 88 Reasons the Rapture Will Occur in 1988,  and when he got it wrong, he wrote the same book for 1989, hoping he could… he didn’t get his… that one wasn’t so popular. (audience laughing)

But there was a pastor in our fellowship of churches that in 1988 in September, in this month, urged all of his people to stay home from work, from school, take your kids out of school, stay home on that day for the coming of Jesus. And so I called him up and rebuked him. I know that’s a shocker to many of you! (congregation laughing) I said, “That was a sin what you just did. What you did was dishonoring to the Word of God and to your flock. You should go before them and repent of what you did!” — Because all of that was in the face of the words of Jesus Himself who told us in…

Acts 1:7, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.“

As long as that is in the Bible, nobody should predict today as much as we should be expected.

Now admittedly, if you look at the text, admittedly, the word “soon,” some of your Bibles may translate it “shortly,” has thrown a lot of people off. So preterist, for example, those are the people who believe everything in this book has already happened. It’s already taken place, and they base that off of Matthew 24, and they see the destruction of Jerusalem by Rome and Titus, the general, as that which fulfilled all of the prophecies in this book, including the second coming of Jesus. And the reason they’re thrown off, oftentimes, is because of that word right there, “soon.” So if I say something is going to soon happen, you expect it like soon. Right? But that word is the word “tekas.” We got our word “tachometer” from this word. What it means is “speed.” So when we get to the judgments of the seals and trumpets and bowls that we see in the middle of this, we go, ‘Whoo! What is this all about?’ All of that’s going to happen in rapid fire staccato fashion. That’s the idea. It’s going to come with speed when it comes.

And by the way, John concludes this book with the words of Jesus when he prays this in chapter 22.

[Revelation] 22:20, “He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I’m coming quickly.” (That’s the word.) Amen! Come Lord Jesus!”

This was written in 90 to 95 AD. Titus sacked Jerusalem in 70 AD. So there’s that.

But on the other hand, And just as they… A-millennial and Preterists, wrongly interpret revelation as totally past, so do we do wrong when we read current events into prophecy. Something happens… the towers go down in 2011… you know… we’ve got things that are happening in this world today over in Israel that clearly and by design get up our alertness, and that’s of God. But we don’t necessarily read prophecy nor should we read prophecy into all of these things. John MacArthur is right when he said current events are no guideline to interpreting scripture. History is not our hermeneutic. When I talk about hermeneutics, I’m talking about the way you look at the Bible, the way you study the Bible. History isn’t your hermeneutic. And this is one of my issues, by the way, with some of the other constructs, understandings, paradigms and interpretations of the future. A lot of our friends look at the Bible the same way we do in the middle of it. They look at it… they take it literally, they take it grammatically, they take it historically, they take it culturally from… Exodus to Jude. And then when you get the bookends, you look at Genesis and Revelation… they look at it allegorically, spiritually. In other words, their hermeneutic is not consistent, and that’s one of my biggest issues with our friends who are godly and they’re well-intentioned, but I think they’re wrong! You have to be consistent in your Bible interpretation. A literal understanding of scripture recognizes figures of speech and metaphors and whatnot, but it still takes it literally.

And speaking of history… So back to the text. When Jesus came, there was a high expectation that Messiah was coming amongst the Jews. The problem is, when He came He didn’t fit their expectations. Right?

[John 1:10-12]

10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him.

11 He came to His own, (the people of Israel) and His own people did not receive Him.

12 But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God…”

They were given everlasting life! Amen?

So what is it about this book? — What is it about this book that draws so many people to it and repels others from it? — Because it does both. Right? Solomon told us what it is in Ecclesiastes when he said,

[Ecclesiastes 3:11] “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, He has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.”

‘(God) has put eternity into the hearts of men.’ Have you ever read that? You know what that means? This is what that means. Every single one of you think about the future, some more than others, but every single one of you wonder about — Heaven and hell and what’s going to happen in the future — The return of Jesus — What would that kingdom look like? — What’s all these cosmic activities that are… going to be taking place or predicted day? — What’s it going to be like? We naturally wonder about these things. Don’t we? Let me tell you something. God put that in you! God put it within all of us to wonder about the future because He put eternity into our hearts. And by the way, as a preacher of the Gospel and many of you are that way and should be if you know Jesus, you have an ally in every person you talk to Jesus about. There’s an ally within them. Every one of them have a homing device placed within them by God Himself to think about the future.

So we’re gonna get into this book where there’s angels, and armies, and Antichrist and Armageddon, and over it all, the Almighty Himself! We love the sovereign God who supersedes all of this! Amen? It’s a book that’s filled with both beauty and the bizarre, admittedly. I’m not here to tell you I get it all, because I don’t! We’re going to see Jesus in all of His resplendence, and we’re going to see Satan and all of His evil and scheming. It’s also the perfect bookend to the Bible with Genesis on the other side of the bookshelf.

You ever had a bookshelf like I have where you have like bookends and then one falls… if you’re pulling one off, you know, they all start falling off? Genesis and Revelation, they pull the Bible together. And this is the perfect bookend. Revelation is the perfect bookend to Scripture, because Revelation foretells the recovery of everything we lost in the book of Genesis. It’s beautiful! In Genesis, you have the beginning of sin and death. But in Revelation, the end of sin and death and everlasting life! In Genesis, you have the beginning of sorrow and tears, but in Revelation, all the tears are wiped away! In Genesis, the Tree of Life placed in the midst of the garden of Eden was taken away. But at the end in chapter 22, it’s put back in! Everything we lost is being restored! The Tree of Life is like the fountain of youth, the part where we age and we die. In Genesis, paradise is removed and Revelation, it’s restored.

This was the whole thought process behind the naming of our last church plant, Eden Church The idea; bring the Gospel and give them a sense of the glory of God which was taken away in Eden to come back. In Genesis, God’s face is hidden. But here in

[Revelation] 22:4, “They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.“

…we will see His face! And God has dwelt with us on two separate occasions, in the Garden of Eden, with Adam and Eve walking in the cool of the day having conversations face to face, and then sin took it all away, and then comes veiled in flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ. In Revelation, He comes in all of His fullness forever and ever and unveiled!

And speaking of which, in Genesis, Jesus is veiled. But here he is unveiled in all of his second coming glory! No other book in the Bible comes nearly so close to exalting Jesus Christ! Even John… (we’re going down to verse 17) John, who knew Jesus… John, who wrote in first John in his letter,

1 John 1:1-2

1That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—

2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—“

That which we’ve seen, we’ve handled, we touched their eyes and be held. He’s trying to describe to his readers the fact that he got to hang out with Jesus! That same John sees the second coming Jesus, and falls down like a dead man! That’s how incredible it is! Jesus is given… How many of you have a nickname? Raise your hand if you have a nickname. Okay, okay. There’s just a few of you. I had a couple, and in fact, they don’t even use them anymore. He [Jesus] has 24 names in this book! He is the indescribable One! 24 names are assigned to Jesus in the book of Revelation!

As they said, this book was written between 90 and 95 AD. John, the only apostle not martyred, he’s been exiled to a penal colony on the island of Patmos. The seven churches that he’s writing to, and we’ll take up a whole bunch of time in the next several months leading up to Christmas, those seven churches in chapter two and three, those churches were vibrant churches planted by the Apostle Paul, and they’re all in decline just 30 years later… which is very sobering! There are many lessons to be learned here.

[Revelation 1:1-2

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.]

And from the first three verses, there’s just a couple of musts that we need to have as we buckle down in this book of Revelation. Revelation must be read. It is scripture! Amen? And…

[2 Timothy 3:16-17] All scripture is given by inspiration of God. It’s useful for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction and righteousness that the person of God will be complete, Equipped for every good work.

And that makes this worth studying. In the book of the Revelation, it must be read and it must be obeyed. James says,

[James 1:22] “But be doers of the word, and not (what?) hearers only…“

We’re not here just to be tantalized with prophecy. We’re not here just to dig into the imagery and the bizarre. We’re here to be obedient children of God. And so look at verse three, here it is again.

Revelation 1:3,  “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,] (We heed what we read, in other words, because) for the time is near.”

And when he says “blessed,” (he says it twice) that’s the Greek word “makarios.” It literally means “to be happy.” It carries the idea of God’s good fortune extended to you. And don’t you want God’s good fortune extended to you? This is the only book in all of the Bible, the only book that promises a blessing to you if you read it and you obey it.

Just the other day, a man came to me and talked to me about how anxious he was as he looks at what is happening in our world that is coming unraveled as we speak. Let me tell you something. If you are a Christ follower, one of the greatest anecdotes… for your anxiety is a study and obedience to the book of Revelation. It will calm your fears! It will tell us… It will tell us who wins too! Amen? So, as Jesus said,

[Luke 12:40] “You too, be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect.”

Just the other day, my wife and I were in the home of a woman who came to know Jesus just a few days ago. And she shared her story with us. And she had been hearing the Gospel. She had had several studies. She was contemplating the truth and the necessity of the new birth that you must be born again. And I’m telling all of you here, if you want to experience the glories of heaven and see the second coming of Jesus in all of its splendor and love, you must be born again! She was contemplating John chapter three, sitting in her chair, she pointed to her chair, and she said, she just told us this the other day… she goes;

“As I sat there, I kept thinking “My time is running out! My time is running out!”

A new believer’s testimony

Well, what does John tell us here? “The time is near.” Are you ready? Let’s pray.

Our Father, only You can make us ready and I pray that You would. Thank you for leading us to this great book end to Your book of books, the unveiling of Jesus Christ. Thank You for admonishing us through this text that we will be blessed just for the reading and the heeding of this book, and help us to read it and help us to heed it. Give us a spirit of obedience to the things that we learn and give us, Lord… make us true worshipers, because, Lord, we know that You’re going to take those of us who know You and you’re going to… You’re going to fashion us in such a way that we’ll be able to take… we will be able to take You in all of your glory. We can’t take that now. We’d fall like dead men… like John, but we look forward to that day, and help us to get some really good practice in between now and then, to be true worshipers of You. I pray for those who are here in this room watching online, and you know who you are, you do not have a relationship with Jesus, and your time is running out. You don’t know when it’s going to run out. Today, and with all of your heart, would you acknowledge your sin before God? Would you believe that Jesus shed his blood for you? He died for you. Would you believe He rose again from the dead for you? Would you place your heart’s trust in Him? If you do, you’ll be ready. Lord, we pray all these things in Jesus’ name. And all God’s people said, “Amen.”  Let’s stand.