‘Revelation’ and ‘apocalypse’ both mean unveiling. What was hidden is in the process of becoming visible. Jesus Christ is unveiled and becomes visible to everyone. That is what the last book in the Bible is about.
God gives. He gives His Son to mankind. He promised to do so from the very beginning of the Bible. The seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent, the devil.
God gives to Jesus and Jesus gives to His servants. We are called ‘bondservants’ literally, slaves. This presupposes a relationship in which Christ has absolute authority. He has the final say. Indeed we must obey.
The above verse in NKJV reads ‘which must shortly take place.’ There is a ‘must’ in the history of the world in that it cannot be otherwise. History has to happen this way. God guides and leads history.
Angels play an important role in the Bible and in the history of our world. They bring messages from Heaven to people and help in various ways, visibly and invisibly. Children have their own angels in Heaven, who continually behold the face of the Father, who is in Heaven.
John, the servant of Jesus Christ, His bond-servant, had reached a ripe old age. This was the disciple whom Jesus loved. That the relationship between Jesus and John was especially close can be deduced from the observation that while hanging on the cross in His dying moments, the Lord entrusted His mother, Mary to John’s care.
John bore witness to the Word of God. He says right at the beginning of his Gospel that the Word was with God and that the Word was God. Paul speaks of the Lord Jesus existing in the form of God, ’…being in very nature God…’ (NIV), when He was with the Father from all eternity, the exact representation of His being.
The word ‘testimony’ resonates with martyr and blood-witness. The testimony of Jesus Christ is all He has said and done. The two always go together.
John did not only testify to everything the Lord Jesus Christ said and did during His lifetime, but he also claimed to have seen everything with his own eyes. That qualified him to be an apostle.
This is the first of the seven beatitudes in the book of Revelation on how one may be: truly blessed, be full of eternal joy and enjoy divine happiness. This is a beatitude separate from those in Matthew 5:1-11.
The NIV translates the above as ‘and take to heart what is written in it’. Keeping the words of prophecy, as Mary kept the words of the shepherds in her heart, has a special meaning.
Following the Apostolic prelude, the impressive overture to the Book of Revelation, and the special beatitude to the reader, John now starts to speak directly. He greets the seven churches in the Roman province of Asia, and, in doing so, he clearly anchors the book in history.
