The Revelation of Jesus Christ

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The Revelation of Jesus Christ (Rev 1:1-3)  

This Book of the Bible is entitled, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ” (Rev 1:1a). It was given by God, Himself, to Jesus Christ (see capital “H” on “Him,”) to show or present to His bond servants (the saved of Jesus Christ) the things which must soon take place (Rev 1:1:1b,). In other words, these words come directly from God’s Word. The title of the Book is God-inspired, through John to us, the believers in Jesus Christ – the saints of God. The things which are in this Book are those things which God says will happen soon. How much closer this timing must be than when John first wrote it. The third phrase of verse 1 says that God “sent and communicated it by His angel (messenger) to His bond-servant, John” (vs, 1:1c). The “send” verse says more about why God gave this revelation to John. It says that God gave it to John because he testified or communicated “the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw” (vs. 2). 

So, we know that this Book is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, and it was brought by an angel to John because he would take it to everyone he saw. Many have called this Book by several names and many of those are equally true. For example, some have called this Book “The Apocalypse.” The Greek word used here for “Revelation” is, in fact, ἀποκάλυψι or apokálypsis, which is exactly the word from which we get our word “apocalypse.” Using that name also helps define the Book well. It means, “disclosure:—appearing, coming, lighten, manifestation, be revealed, revelation.” But it also reveals the type of literature we are about to study. Apocalyptic literature is a separate type of literature characterized as containing language as symbols and figures to better illustrate important views or themes. It will apply numerology to express ideas of secular or religious wholeness or partial wholeness, and secular or religious organizations or people. For example, The Trinity represents the Holy or unholy trinity of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost or Satan, the antichrist and the false, respectively. Seven is a perfect and holy number while six is incomplete and unholy.  For example, the number of the Beast is three times unholy or 666 (Rev 13:18). Twelve is organizational completeness, like the 12 gates, 12 apostles, 12 tribes, etc. 

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This first point closes with the promise from God that the one who reads this Book, hears the words of the prophecy and heeds (or applies) the things written in it is blessed because the time is near. So, we are to receive the blessings of this Book because we read it thoroughly, heard it with the mind’s intellectual ear – not just the physical ear, and heeded or understood and applied the things we read, heard and applied. Lastly, verse 3 tells us we will be blessed because the timing of its message is near. Therefore, if we know the time is near, we can use the warning signs to know the truth of this Book and its prophecies will begin when the signs are presented. For example, Chapter 13 describes an Antichrist who will erect a statue of himself on Jerusalem’s Temple Dome and demand that all people of all religions worship him through that statue, i.e., a one-world religion. We saw moves of this truth, to unite Christians, Jews and Muslims in the Middle East, as recently as last week (third week of December 2025). This is what it means to “read, hear and heed the words of this Book.” God promises blessings to us  as we do.

Message to the Seven Churches (Rev 1:4-8)  

 Hear John tells us to whom the Book was addressed first; they are the seven churches that are in Asia. He wishes God’s grace and peace to them from Him (the Christ) who is and who was and who is to come and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne (vs. 4). John continues the list of from whom this Book is sent by adding “and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth” (vs. 5a). Verse 5b adds the “To” list beginning with “Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood” (This is certainly referring to Jesus Christ). Adding to the description of Christ in a somewhat parenthetically, John says, “and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father – to Him be the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. So, the brief section addressing this letter would be, “From: The Apostle John, To: The Seven Churches.”  

And the first line of the message to the seven churches would be, “Behold, Jesus Christ is coming to you in the clouds!” What a fantastic start of the multitude of Good News that comes from God through Jesus Christ, Our Lord. This great message is backed up scripturally through the words of the angels gathered at the Ascension of Jesus in Acts 1:9-11. The “two men dressed in white apparel” in those verses have been unanimously accepted as angels of God, and here they have a message that everyone wants to hear, that is, “Jesus is coming back, He’s coming back on a cloud, He’s coming back so that every eye can see Him, including those who crucified Him and all the tribes of the earth can mourn over  Him. So, it is to be, Amen” (vs. 7). Then, Jesus finishes the sighting by saying, “I am the Alpha and Omega who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty!”

This idea of Jesus returning for His saints is one of the most important in the Christian canon of Scripture. This issue separated the seventy-one members of the Jewish Sanhedrin in Jesus’ time because the Pharisees believed in resurrection and the Sadducees did not (that is why they were sad, you see!). So first, they could not accept that Jesus was resurrected from the dead, and furthermore, since He could not have been resurrected, He certainly could not be coming back for anyone. Concurrently, one of the issues that divides Christians is the sequence of events of the end times of which Jesus’ return is certainly a big part. As we will study later, there are actually two times that Jesus will return. The first is called “The Rapture of the Saints” and the second is called “The Second Coming of Christ” (Rev 4:1 & 19:11).  Paul covers the separation of these very well in 1 Corinthians 15:22-24. Paul says simply, “22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. 24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.” So, we all agree that Christ was the first resurrected person who remains alive forever. He was, therefore, the first fruit of the Resurrection. Then Paul says in the same verse, “afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.” That is the Rapture of the Saints and it is addressed again later in 1 Corinthians 15:51-57, in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and Revelation 4:1. Jesus comes back on a cloud with the souls of those who had already died but does not come to the earth, but rather, calls for His saints and the bodies of those who are dead are raised and join their souls on the cloud to be completed. Next, He calls for the living saints and they are raised to join Him on the cloud, but their bodies are changed (glorified) on the way to the cloud. With that, all the believers are taken to Heaven with Christ. Non-believers are left behind, and they must go through the Tribulation Period of seven years on earth (Rev 4-19. The Second Coming is in Revelation 19. That time Jesus does come to earth and defeats all evil including chaining Satan and sending the Antichrist and the False Prophet into the eternal Lake of fire (Rev 19:20). That’s the order of the two more times Jesus comes for His people. 

The Patmos Vision (Rev 1:9-13) 

 The Apostle John identifies himself as a person just like all others. He reminds the readers that he is their brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation, kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus Christ. He adds that he is now on the prison island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea because he preached the word of God and provided frequent testimony regarding the life and works of Jesus Christ. Nero likely sent him to Patmos around 65 AD, and he was released when Domitian died around 95 AD. Patmos was a small island where Rome banished its political enemies to a life of hard labor. When John was released, he went to Ephesus where he published the notes he had from Patmos. He authored the fourth Gospel, 3 New Testament letters and the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Revelation 1:10 says that John was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day when he heard the voice of one sounding like the voice of a trumpet from behind him.  Now, “the voice that sounds like a trumpet” is one of the first figures we see. A voice that sounds like a trumpet is a loud voice that almost demands the hearer to listen. It is penetrating and authoritative. The trumpet is the instrument used to announce the great leaders. Allow these descriptions to generate a vision in your mind that will repeat whenever you read of another trumpet later in the Revelation.

In verse 11, John describes what the voice of the trumpet was saying to him. The voice told him, “Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.” These were the seven churches in Asia that the voice of the trumpet told John to use in his book documenting what he received from the Lord. Looking at the names of the seven churches, there are at least two interesting truths. First, the order of the churches is clockwise beginning with Ephesus and finishing with Laodicea, no the order in which they were founded. Second, there are about twice as many cities in the area of these churches than those selected by God for John’s book. 

So, John turned around to see the source of the voice he was hearing. Verse 12 finishes saying that John saw seven golden lampstands. The example of lampstands to represent each of the churches is fitting in that the lampstands provide physical light for those all around, just as the churches provide spiritual light. In the middle of these seven, light-producing lampstands, John sees “one like the Son of Man.” The man was dressed in a white robe reaching all the way to his feet. The vision also had John seeing a golden sash across the man’s chest. The white robe signifies the holiness or sinlessness of the wearer. The Son of Man is the name used often by Jesus when He is describing Himself. The golden sash represented His value, purity and righteousness.

The Patmos Vision, Cont. (Rev 1:14-20)  

The hair on the head of the Son of Man was like white wool (vs. 14). The white showing the wisdom of the ages lived and the consistency of wool showing the thickness and completeness. Together they signify the wisdom of age with the virility remaining despite the years. Add to those the flame of full focus and force in His eyes. His feet were like burnished bronze, when it had been made to glow in the heat of the furnace. To see Jesus of Nazareth was to see a person with whom there was nothing strange or unusual (Isa 53:2). He looked like a person who was born and lived in the middle east; not the western European Jesus as depicted in earlier movies of Him. His voice was like the sound of many waters; attractive but powerful. He held seven stars in His right hand – the hand of honor and security for the pastors of each of His churches. From His mouth was a sword with two edges (vs. 16). His face looked like the sun shining in its full strength.

As soon as John saw Him, he fell down at His feet like a dead man. But the Son of Man in all His strength and power reached out with His right hand saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and Hades. Because of these representations He established, he said “Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things.” This establishes John’s tasking by the Son of Man: he is to write down what the Lord will reveal about the things which were, the things which are and the things which are to come shortly. This is the whole message of the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. 

But the Lord, the Son of Man, wants to reveal or solve a few mysteries before His time in this conversation ends. He says, “As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels (or messengers – pastors) of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.” So, what the Son of Man has revealed is that the seven lampstands are the seven churches of Asia and the seven stars are the seven pastors of those churches. The fact that the Son of Man is situated in the midst or the middle of the seven lampstands means that Jesus is standing prominently in the middle of His churches and associated Pastors. He lives and breaths whatever happens to the seven churches. He is with them always.  Jesus promised every believer “I am with you always, even until the end of the age” (Matt 28:20). The age the Son of Man is referring to is the Church Age, that is, the time between the giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and His Rapture of the Saints. 

Scene in Heaven (Rev 4:1-4)  

The first four verses of Chapter 4 provide a brief glimpse of the throne room of Heaven. As we have seen in the first three chapters of Revelation, the Book is written using a word-picture style referred to as apocalyptic language. This language shows images full of meanings which need to be explained to get the full message. The image that John sees immediately after the Church Age closes is that of an open door in Heaven. The voice he hears is loud and penetrating like a trumpet. It spoke loudly and clearly to John saying, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things” (vs. 4:1). Back in the first chapter, John told us, “Therefore write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things” (Rev 1:19).  So, John is invited to join Jesus in the throne room of God. He realizes in verse 2 that “he is in the spirit.”  In other words, he was not translated or raptured bodily up there, he was just there with God looking at the scene as if he was there, but it was his spirit that was actually present. This differs from the Rapture accounts in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and 1 Corinthians 15: 51-57. Those Scriptures tell us that Christ will return on a cloud, just as the angels said He would in Acts 1:11, He would bring the souls (or spirits) of believers already with Him and call forth the bodies of the dead from their resting places, regardless of where that might be. That will reunite their dead bodies with their living spirits to form their glorified bodies for eternity. Then He will call forth those believers still alive on earth, and they will be changed immediately into their glorified bodies. Then He will return to Heaven with all believers, dead and alive, as their new, glorified and everlasting selves to be with Him forever (1 Thess 4:17). 

John saw the throne and the One sitting on it. He looked like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance. Jasper was revered for its grounding, protective, nurturing and healing energies, while sardius is known for transparency and rich reddish orange color. The rainbow around the throne was emerald or green in color. There were 24 elders sitting on 24 smaller thrones dressed in white robes and wearing golden crowns. The white robes are only for those made righteous in Christ. 

Throne & Worship Creator (Rev 4:5-11)  

Verse 5 presents even more of the sensory-overloading sights and sounds John saw in the throne room of Heaven. There were blinding flashes of lightning and deafening peals of thunder. There were seven lamps of fire burning in front of the throne which are the seven Spirits of God. In front of the throne was a giant sea of crystal glass (vs. 6). In the center and around the throne four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back: they looked like a lion, a calf, a creature with a face like a man and a flying eagle (vs. 7). They each had six wings and were full of eyes within and without. They sang continuously, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.” (Sing it!)

Verse 9 states the responses of the four living creatures as they give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne for He is that One who lives forever and ever. Verse 10 picks up and adds the responses of the 24 elders as they fall down in front of Our Savior as He remains seated on the throne. They worship Him; the One who lives forever and ever; that is Our God and Savior, Jesus Christ! Note the end of verse 10 as John sees them cast their crowns before the throne saying that “He is Worthy.” (Notice the connection with Four Living Creatures in Ezekiel 1:4-14.)

When Paul was in his last days, he told Timothy that “7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith: 8 henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give to me at that day; and not to me only, but also to all them that have loved his appearing” (2 Tim 4:7-8). What the 24 elders did is exactly what Paul will do and all that follow after him in Heaven, they (we) will cast our crowns, whether they have many jewels (works for God) or just a few, we will cast the crowns at the feet of the Being who gave us to power and the reason to achieve godly recognition. And they sang, just as we will sing, “11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created” (vs. 11). It is so exciting that we can have the full knowledge and assurance that we will all give honor and glory and praise to Jesus!

Book with Seven Seals (Rev 5:1-10)  

Now, John tells us he saw a book (or scroll in those days) in the right hand of the Lord (vs. 1). The scroll was written on the front and the back and had seven seals on it. Invision a scroll, rolled up and sealed, with wax and the appropriate signet ring stamp before the wax cooled and was stamped. A strong angel makes entrance and shouts out, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to break its seals?” Each seal would allow the reader access to a subsequent part of the scroll. But here, the angel wants to know who is with them who is worthy to break even the first seal. John confesses that he was brought to tears when he learned that there was not one with them who had the authority to open the seals of the scroll (vs. 3). One of the 24 elders announced that the Lion of Judah and the Root of David has overcome all and therefore is the worthy One to open the seals (vs. 5)

Verse 6 says John looked and between the throne with its four living creatures and the 24 elders, he noticed Lamb standing as if slain. He had seven horns and seven eyes which were the Spirits of God sent out into the entire earth.  He took the scroll from the hand of the One on the throne. When the Lamb took the scroll, the four Living Creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb as each one was holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense which were the prayers of the saints of God (vs. 8). 

At this point, the full choir of the four beasts and the 24 elders began to sing again. They sang, “Worthy are You to take the scroll and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation (vs. 9). As with the delivery of a scroll from some high-ranking official, the deliverer must find one who is worthy to open the sequential seals of the scroll.  So, verse 9 tells us they have found and proven One who is worthy to open the Seals. They sang the new song above to celebrate that success. Notice that it was the blood of the Lamb that purchased the worthiness from God for men of every tribe, tongue, people and nation. Further, God has made these men to be a kingdom and priests (intercessors) for God, and they will reign upon the earth.

Angels Exalt the Lamb (Rev 5:11-14)  

The celebration of finding One who was worthy to break the seals in the scroll encompassed all were in Heaven (vs. 11). John says he looked and heard the voices of MANY angels around the throne plus the living Creatures and the 24 elders and the number of the whole group was myriads and myriads and thousands of thousands. They spoke with very loud voices saying, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing” (vs. 12). 

It almost sounded like the night the shepherds heard the voice of one angel telling them of the birth of the King followed by a host of angels subsequently announcing with songs of praise and glory being voiced with a great noise of all of the host singing the song of Jesus’ birth across the land. Of course, the shepherd’s response had to be, “Let us go and see this thing which God has done. Let us go experience this ‘Good tidings of great news.’” So, they left for the little stable in Bethlehem to see for themselves.  

It seemed to John that every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the sea, and everything that was under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them began singing a new song to celebrate their victory in finding One who could open the scroll (vs. 13). They could hear Him saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.” When the four living creatures heard it, they kept saying, “Amen” meaning “Let it be so.” Of course, the 24 elders followed their lead and fell down and worshipped, as well. 

Here, rather than celebrating the birth of the newly born King, the Savior of the entire universe, they were worshipping and celebrating that the earlier bad news saying that no one had the credentials to open the scroll, with the update of finding One who was worthy of opening the seven seals on the scroll to read God’s seven messages He had prepared for each member of the nearby towns and villages through the seven seals on this scroll.  

White & Red Horses (Rev 6:1-4)  

As we begin to look at the earth and the things of the earth after the Church of Jesus Christ is taken off the earth, we can see that only evil dominates the environment in a churchless society. There is no holiness to counterbalance the natural evil of man. No real influence for good remains on the earth. In this environment, everyone literally does that which is right in his own eyes. 

Now that “the Lamb that was Slain” is recognized as the only being worthy of opening the seals on the scroll, it is time to open those seals. The first four seals are frequently referred to as “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” (vss. 1-8). Each of four horsemen will come out in sequence as the first four seals are opened. The first of the four is a white horse (vss. 1-2). He came out of the heavens announced by one of the four living creatures as the first seal was opened. His rider had in his hand a bow and a golden crown on his head. He came upon the earth to conquer for the sole purpose of conquering. The Bible is clear that there was no purpose to his conquering, no revenge or righteous reason for his actions. He just went out to indiscriminately acquire land by killing anyone or destroying anything in his path. Purposeless killing to conquer is the purest form of military evil. 

Verses  3-4 show us the Lamb opening the second seal as the second living creature commands the red horse and his rider to come forth. This rider was granted the power to take peace from the earth. It establishes a global atmosphere of war and all the misery that comes with it. The rider was given a great sword to wield across the entire globe to establish the desire for all men to kill one another. Notice again there is no purpose nor grand scheme for the killing, it was simply the establishment of a global, evil drive for man to annihilate other men. So goes the opening of the first two seals of the seven seals. 

Black & Pale Horses (Rev 8:5--8)  

When the Lamb broke the third seal of the seven-sealed scroll, a third member of the four living creatures spoke saying, “Come.” John looked and saw a black horse coming forth while his rider held in his hands a pair of scales. Then John says he heard a voice sounding like it came from the middle of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not damage the oil and the wine” (vs. 6). The quotation speaks to the excessive inflation of the cost of goods (here the goods are food) during the Tribulation Period. Specifically, a Denarius was the amount of money typically paid a laborer for a single day’s labor (see Jesus’ parable in Matt 20.2). John is saying that enough wheat to feed one person or enough barley to feed three people could be had for a full day’s pay. In contrast, as a young child in 1955, I could by a foot-long loaf of Italian bread for twenty-five cents. So, John is saying that the basic essential food items went from costing roughly 15 minutes’ pay to a full day’s pay. While, surprisingly, the cost of oil or wine remained approximately unchanged.  We will learn later in Revelation that one could only buy bread at this excessive rate if one had the mark of the Beast on ones hand or forehead. People who had become Christians in the Tribulation would have to buy bread through the black market for much more.

The Lamb broke the fourth seal and John heard the fourth of the four living creatures give the command for the fourth horseman to come. This horse was an ashen or pale horse named death and Hades, and his rider went forth with authority over one-fourth of the earth to kill by the sword and famine and pestilence and wild beasts. So, the rider of the pale horse had the authority to kill one-fourth of the population of the earth by using one or a combination of methods including the sword, famine, pestilence and wild beasts. 

Fifth Seal – The Martyrs (Rev 6:9-11)  

Now, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse have completed their roles, and the fifth and sixth seals remain for Revelation Chapter six. Recall, we have the Lamb of God which was slain for the salvation of all humankind, being found to be the only One worthy of opening the seals of the scroll with seven seals. The Lamb is now breaking the fifth seal, and it revealed a view underneath the altar at the throne. John saw the souls of those who had been slain because of the Word of the God and because of the testimony they had maintained. John heard them crying out with loud voices asking how long the Lord would delay in judging and avenging their blood on those who dwell on the earth? 

This is certainly not an uncommon question. For two millennia, Christians have been persecuted and harmed greatly just because they chose to believe in Jesus Christ and practice that faith. The idea of mutual toleration of differing ideas just does not exist in many communities. The liberal communities in our country insist that we tolerate their ideas of promiscuity of all types, same sex marriage, abortion up to and including full term and many others. Christians find these practices totally intolerable but at least partially tolerate them. However, toleration on abortions is a death penalty for a child. 

So, Christians who have already passed (martyrs) are asking God to start interceding for them and taken revenge on their persecutors. God gives them the advanced reward of their white robes and asks them to wait somewhat longer. The most pungent part of the Lord’s reasoning is that there are many like them who still need to be pulled out to join them in their wait. God is saying simply that He wants them to rest and wait until the number of those who have yet to join them, can take that action. It seems reasonable to most that if there are more who can be saved, should be allowed to be saved. 

Sixth Seal - Terror (Rev 8:12--17)  

John starts here by saying he watched as the Lamb broke the sixth seal in the scroll and it resulted in a massive earthquake, the sun becoming as black as sackcloth, the moon becoming like blood, the stars of the sky falling to the earth like a fig tree releases its figs, the sky splitting apart like a scroll and every mountain and island moving out of its place (vss. 12-14). Each of these events is massive and will have far-reaching impact on the rest of the world. The first three of these natural events have occurred several times in the past, so we know something of what to expect. The “falling of the stars of the sky upon the earth” would of course look like more of a severe meteor shower than stars falling. Each of those stars we see are several hundred thousand or millions of light years away and bigger than the earth. Any one of those would more likely knock earth completely out of orbit and destroy it rather than simply showering on us. 

John says the results of these terrible natural events coming upon us would be that the kings of the earth, the great men, commanders, rich men, strong men and every slave and free man would hide themselves in caves and among the rocks and the mountains. They would cry out for the mountains and rocks to fall on them and hide them from the presence of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb (vs. 16). They would ask, ”the great day of wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

The people of the earth, regardless of how humble or how great and powerful they might be, would realize that these events coming on them all at once is no natural occurrence; it must be the promised wrath of the Lord coming on them. They would realize that none of them would be able to endure this massive attack save protection available only from God. They pray that the mountains will fall on them to hide them from this day of wrath.