What is the first thought that comes into your head when I mention the book of Revelation? We’re going to be looking at it for the next few weeks, so I wonder how that makes you feel?
A few folk here have not been coming to church for long, and quite possibly you’ve never heard of Revelation, or you’ve heard of it but know very little about it. If that’s you, you’re in for a treat. It’s a fantastic book, as I’m about to show us.
Others are maybe baffled by it. You’ve read enough to know that it’s full of weird and wonderful visions, with coloured horses, dragons, earthquakes and all sorts of things. You’ve not read all of Revelation, but what you have read has been a bit of a mystery. Perhaps you’re intrigued at the thought of looking at it together. Intrigued, but not quite convinced it has any relevance beyond being intriguing.
Others don’t like it. In the Harry Potter movies, one of the class textbooks was called ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’. In 2001, J K Rowling published a book of the same name in aid of comic relief, and a spin-off film is planned for this Autumn. ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ belongs in the world of Harry Potter. Revelation is fantasy writing, and fun though it may be it doesn’t belong in the Bible.
Lastly, a few love it. It’s a favourite book of theirs, because it’s there that they find their favourite doctrines. A particular view of the end-times, or of politics, the secrets of history unlocked in the book of Revelation. Revelation has a long history of being hijacked to support quirky beliefs held only by a few. Sadly, that’s then put a lot of people off the book. Revelation breeds crackpots, and has no constructive purpose in todays’ church.
What comes into your head when I mention the book of Revelation? How does the thought of looking at it over the next few Sundays make you feel?
Today’s reading was short. Our Bible calls it the Prologue. Others call it the Title. It sets out for us the kind of book that Revelation is. It tells us how we should view it, how we should read it.
I’ve got 4 headings for us.
Revelation is the Word of God
Firstly, Revelation is the Word of God. Revelation is the Word of God.
Verse 1: “The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who testifies to everything he saw – that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.”
There’s something here that God wishes to reveal. When I first Revelation as a boy, I got stuck on the very first word. I had to stop reading, get out my dictionary, and look up the word “revelation”. It means something which is revealed. Something which you would not have known, except that the person who did know chose to make it known.
Sir John Chilcot wrote his report into the Iraq war. Nobody knew what was in his report, except him. Which is why he held a public meeting last Wednesday to announce his findings. He needed to reveal them.
Or, the tabloid papers publish some bit of pointless and demeaning celebrity gossip, and everyone says what a revelation it was.
Well, this book is a revelation. God has something he wants to make known to us that we would not otherwise have known. And as he makes it known, there’s a chain.
“The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him.” God gave this revelation to Jesus. Jesus is always the one who makes God known. And what did Jesus do with this revelation? “He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John.” Jesus sent an angel to a man called John. Brother of James. Son of Zebedee. The fisherman.
The angel showed him some visions, and also spoke to him directly. So what did John do with this? Verse 2: He “testifies to everything he saw – that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Notice that pairing. “the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.” This is what God want to say, and it’s what Jesus Christ bears witness to. This is God speaking to us through his Son, the person of Jesus.
So there’s the chain. God, to Jesus, to an angel, to John, to us. And that includes us. God wants to reveal these things to his servants. If you number yourself among those who seek to serve God, then the book of Revelation is for you.
And so this comes to us as the word of God. The book of Revelation is what God wants to speak to us.
Revelation is the Word of God.
Revelation is a Message For Our Era
Second, Revelation is a message for our era. Revelation is a message for our era.
Did you notice the detail in verse 1: “… to show his servants what must soon take place”?
This is another reason why some people are suspicious of Revelation. It claims to be about events that will take place soon. So either it was talking about events that have happened long ago. Or it predicted that the return of Jesus was just around the corner, so it was clearly wrong. Either way, we don’t need to worry ourselves with this misguided and outdated book.
Well, let’s look at those two possibilities.
Is Revelation about events that were literally about to take place, and therefore are in the past for us?
In some cases, quite possibly, yes. In 3 of the 4 Gospels, Jesus predicts at length the Roman destruction of the city of Jerusalem. He said it would occur within one generation, and it happened 40 years later, almost exactly as he said. And we may well find that parts of the book of Revelation are predicting that same event. Or other events from the first century.
But that doesn’t make it irrelevant. We don’t chop Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21 out of the Gospels. Jesus may have been predicting an event that happened in the first century, but he didn’t predict it only so that the people of his day knew what would happen. He wanted to apply that prediction, have people take it on board and draw out the lessons for daily life. And those lessons still apply today, even though the events being predicted happened long ago.
In fact, lots of the Bible works like this. Revelation calls itself a prophecy in verse 3. That means it’s a bit like the prophetic books in the Old Testament. There are prophecies of the virgin birth and the crucifixion in Isaiah. We still read those prophecies; God still speaks to us through them. And in the New Testament, we still read Jesus predict Peter’s denials and Judas’s betrayals.
We recently commemorated the centenary of the Battle of the Somme. We did not do that because we are just curious to learn a few dry facts about history. We did it because it’s so very relevant for today.
So, yes, some of Revelation concerns events from the past, events that have already taken place way back in the first century. But it’s still a message for our own era.
What about the other possibility? Is Revelation predicting the return of Jesus? Was it therefore wrong, because Jesus did not return as soon as they expected?
Yes. And No.
Yes, some of Revelation predicts the return of Jesus, and other events right at the very end. But, no, the predictions were not wrong because Jesus did not return as soon as expected.
Let’s look at what these verses say about the timing. Verse 1: “what must soon take place.” Verse 3: “the time is near.”
It all depends on what is meant by “soon”, and what is meant by “near”.
The Old Testament looked forward to when the Messiah would come. It predicted a dramatic “last day”. The writers of the New Testament writers recognised that Jesus had come, and that one day he would come again. In the meantime, we now live in what they call “the last days”. From the distance of the Old Testament it looked like God’s Messiah would come and fix everything. And he will. But once you’re in the New Testament it’s clear that this will happen over a period of time, and not all at once.
But these are still the Last Days. Jesus has died, risen, ascended and poured out his Spirit. The next event in the history of God saving the world is the return of Jesus.
When the 2012 London Olympic Games finished, we all said: “So it’s Brazil next”. Actually, lots of things had to happen first. The 2014 Commonwealth Games. And so on. You could even say that from August 2012 onwards, the Brazil 2016 games were “soon”. You could say “the time is near”. The Brazilian authorities had to be getting ready for the games, because they’re next on the horizon. They need to be ready.
It’s the same with the return of Jesus. Now that Jesus has ascended and poured out his Spirit, it’s the return of Jesus next. We’re in the last days now. He’s coming soon. The time is near.
As we read Revelation, it will sometimes be talking about the end of time, the return of Jesus. Or of events leading up to that. Or of what will take place in the whole period between now and when he returns. Either way, Jesus is coming soon. The time is near. So this is for our era.
Revelation is a message for our era.
Revelation is Meant to be Lived Out
Third, Revelation is meant to be lived out. Revelation is meant to be lived out.
Revelation was written in a time when only a few people could read. So someone had to read it out, while others could listen.
Verse 3: “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy”. Revelation was a letter, written to all the churches in the Roman province of Asia, now western Turkey. When the letter arrived at your church, if you took it to the front, and read it aloud, you were doing a good thing. The end of the book contains stern warnings to these readers not to chop bits out.
But it doesn’t stop at those who will read in public. Revelation is a book for everyone. It’s for all of God’s servants. So verse 3 goes on: “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it”
But even hearing is not the end of the road. “Blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.”
The purpose of listening to God’s word the Bible is never our entertainment. It’s never just to fill our heads with facts. It’s that we take it to heart, work out what will look like for us to live this out, and then live it out.
The letter of James warns its readers not to listen to what God says without putting it into practice. He says that’s like looking at yourself in a mirror, going away, and forgetting what you look like. Look in mirror: Toothpaste around mouth. Hair not combed. Meat stuck in teeth. Walk away. Go to work. Toothpaste around mouth. Hair not combed. Meat stuck in teeth.
Jesus told a parable about two house builders. One built his house on the rock, and the other built on sand. The house on the rock withstood the storm, but the house on the sand did not. What did those two house builders represent? The one who built on the rock. Matthew 7, verse 24: “Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice.” The one who built on the sand. Matthew 7, verse 26: “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice.”
And Revelation is all the more to be lived out because the time is near.
This may well be a book that fascinates us. We may learn a lot by reading it. We may enjoy being caught up in its colourful visions. We might find bits of it puzzling. But first and foremost, it’s a book to be lived out. Taken to heart, and lived.
Revelation is meant to be lived out.
Revelation is Given by God to Bless us
And fourth, Revelation is given by God to bless us. Revelation is given by God to bless us.
A lot of things happen in sevens in the book of Revelation. We meet the first group of seven here. You know the famous Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount. “Blessed are the poor in Spirit”, and so on. Seven times in Revelation, God pronounces his blessing. There are seven statements in Revelation that run : “Blessed are those who…”
And the first is right here: “Blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.” God has revealed the things that are in this book because he wants to bless us. He wants us to live in step with reality. In step with where history is heading. In step with his plans and purposes for the world. God wants to bless us.
God did not give us this book to give us a riddle. Or a headache. Or a puzzle. Or a comic book. He gave us this book to give us a blessing.
Revelation is given by God to bless us.
Conclusion
Whatever your past experience of the book of Revelation, I want to start to reclaim it this morning. To reclaim it as part of Holy Scripture, as God’s word to us today. To reclaim it as a book that concerns the age we live in. To reclaim it as a book that is meant to be lived. To reclaim it as a book that God has given us to bless us.
We haven’t even got into the meat of the book yet but hopefully these opening verses are whetting our appetite. Maybe even making us want to read through the book for ourselves to start to get to know it better. And certainly making us look forward to the next few weeks, as we rediscover this part of God’s word, and learn to live it out to our blessing.