Introducing the Apocalypse

Today we come to the book of Revelation. I can imagine that some of you are excited about this. Some of you may be curious. Some of you may be frightened. I can guarantee you that by the end of our time together in this book, none of you will be bored.

Right off the bat, before we say anything more, I want to answer the question, why Revelation? Why are we here, now?

The answer goes back about two-and-a-half years, when five of us rented a van and drove to Calgary for a three-day preaching workshop with the Simeon Trust, where we studied the book of Revelation together. And during our time there, we were challenged to preach something to our congregation from Revelation, or a similar part of the Bible, within the next year.

So, I'm a year and a half late, and I'm sorry. But here we are.

Since that time, though, I've encountered several people asking me questions or sending me material related to the book of Revelation, all of which has increased my desire to lead us to this book.

Then back in the spring, one of my seminary professors, Dr. Wes Olmstead, hosted a two-hour workshop on Revelation that reignited my love for this book. I registered for a class he taught on Revelation at the end of May, and as soon as I got back from the AMBER conference, I got to spend a whole week, 8 hours a day, studying this book passage at a time.

And at the end of that class, I was so captivated, and I wanted so badly to share with you what I had seen and heard. And we decided together as elders that we should follow where God seemed to be directing us, and preach through this book this year.

I want to prepare you that we are taking a break from our typical pattern of breaking up larger books into smaller sections, covering a wide swath of the Bible every two-year period. It's a good pattern and it's served us well, and it will serve us well again in the future. But breaking up Revelation into smaller pieces is really difficult.

It's so important to see how it fits together as one book with one message, and we'd really lose a lot by starting and stopping. So our plan is to preach through it from front to back. We may take short breaks here and there, but all together this journey will probably take us about a year.

And that brings me to another reason for Revelation—this is an important year for us as a church—the year we plan to send off three families to plant Redeemer Baptist Church four hours northeast from here in Flin Flon. And I believe that Revelation is going to prepare us well for the joyful sacrifice that will be required from all of us as we take this step together.

See, one of the big discoveries we're going to make about Revelation is that it is not just a book about the end of the world. It is a book about following Jesus today. And I'm so looking forward to how this book is going to help each one of us see and love and follow Jesus in these times in which we live.

The Workshop

Now as I say that, I may have turned some heads. "Of course Revelation is about the end of the world!" you might be thinking. That is the basic assumption that a lot of people make about this book. It's about the end of the age and the return of Jesus.

That assumption is what leads some people to be fixated, even obsessed with the book of Revelation. Maybe you're familiar with the stereotype of someone who reads Revelation next to the daily news, scouring the headlines for fulfilled prophecies and signs that Jesus is coming soon.

Some Christians swing the pendulum in the other extreme, avoiding the book of Revelation altogether. I've heard people say things like this. "I have no idea what it means, it frankly scares me, and so I just stay away."

So there are some big-picture things we want to talk about as we begin this series. We want to talk about how we should approach this book, and look at how Christians have approached this book over the past 2,000 years, and what we can learn from them. We want to consider what Revelation itself tells us about how to read it wisely, and whether some of our assumptions about this book need to be checked at the door.

But we also don't want to spend all of our time in these first few weeks talking about this book so that we never get to actually preaching it like we're supposed to be doing.

So the plan is, as some of you have heard already, next Sunday, September 13, at 6:30 p.m., we're going to do a workshop where we'll talk about Revelation, some of the common ways people have understood it, and some of the guideposts within Revelation for how we will be approaching it in this sermon series.

I really encourage you to be there. I expect we're going to point back to this workshop several times throughout this series, and it will really help you get the most out of Sunday mornings. Yes, we'll record it for anybody who can't be there, but it's going to be so much better if you can be in the room, ask questions, and give feedback.

So don't miss it, if you can. Next Sunday at 6:30 p.m.

Today, we're going to dive right into these first three verses, but we're going to see that they actually do a lot of heavy lifting in terms of helping us get our bearings with this incredible book.

Introducing the Apocalypse (vv. 1-2)

That's because the first two verses, which are just one sentence in the original language, are the book's own introduction to itself. They tell us what Revelation is, as well as the who, the why, the when, and the how of this book. And as we pay attention to these two very important verses, they will set us on the right track to understand how to read this book wisely.

What (v. 1a)

Let's start with those very first words: "The revelation of Jesus Christ." That's what this book is: the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Some people refer to this book as a plural: "Revelations." But it is not a series of revelations. It is one, singular revelation of Jesus Christ.

The word "revelation" comes from the Greek word ἀποκάλυψις (apokalypsis), and while I don't often use Greek works in the pulpit, this one is important because it helps us understand the nature of this book compared to how it's sometimes been misunderstood.

ἀποκάλυψις is where we get our English word "apocalypse" from, and it's why, in some older writings, the book of Revelation is simply called "the Apocalypse."

When we hear "apocalypse," what do we think of? The end of the world, right? And that comes from the understanding that much of revelation is about the end of the world.

But that's not what the word apocalypse means. ἀποκάλυψις comes from the root word καλύπτω (kalyptō), which means to cover, or hide, or conceal. ἀποκαλύπτω (apokalyptō) means to uncover, to reveal, to unveil.

In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, this word is used just over a hundred times, and often it's used to refer to the physical act of uncovering something or someone, like Ruth uncovering Boaz’s feet (Ruth 3:7).

That was an apocalypse, and that doesn't refer to how bad they smelled. The act of uncovering his feet was an act of apocalypse—unveiling.

This word is also used to refer to God's disclosure of himself in prophecy. It's the word used to speak of God revealing himself to Samuel (1 Sam 3:21, 9:15). It's used throughout Daniel chapter 2 to talk about God revealing mysteries to Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel.

And that's why we're calling this series "The Unveiling," because that's the meaning of this word "revelation." This book is about revealing things that were hidden.

Revelation was not written to obscure or confuse. It was given to us to uncover things that were previously unseen. It is an apocalypse.

b) Who (v. 1b)

Next, we want to ask "who?" Who are the people that we see in these verses? The first answer is right there in the first words—this is the revelation of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the great "who" in this unveiling.

But that needs clarification. Because there are two ways we could take the word "of." "The revelation of Jesus Christ" could mean, number one, that Jesus is the one doing this revealing, or number two, that Jesus is the one being revealed.

And there are some pretty big clues in support of the first one: that Jesus is the one doing the revealing. "The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants." God gave this revelation to Jesus to show His servants. That seems pretty clear that Jesus is the one doing the revealing.

And we're going to see that on display in a couple of weeks as Jesus Himself appears to John to give him a message for the seven churches. This is a revelation from Jesus.

But that's not all, right? Because as Jesus appears to John to give him this message, Jesus appears to John! And John tells us what He saw. And the message for the churches is all about Jesus. All throughout this book, we're going to see jaw-dropping portrayals and depictions of Jesus—in fact, some of the most important depictions of Jesus in the whole Bible.

So this is a revelation from Jesus, but it's also a revelation about Jesus. Both are true. Jesus is both the source and the content of this apocalypse.

And that's vital to remember. If we approach Revelation looking for juicy bits about current events and the end of the world, or if we treat this book like a big crossword puzzle to be solved, we miss the point. This is a book from and about Jesus.

And that is why I am so deeply expectant as I approach this book: I am so looking forward to hearing from Jesus together with you, and seeing Jesus Himself more deeply together. I believe that this year is going to be transformative for us as, because as we see the glory of Jesus, we'll be transformed into his likeness (2 Cor 3:18). And there's a lot of glory to be seen in these pages.

So Jesus is the first person in these verses. But He's not the only one. We also hear about God, His father, and the angel whom He sent to make this vision known to John.

We're going to see more about angels and how they function throughout this book, but what this mention of God and Angels does is further establish John as some kind of a Daniel, another man to whom God sent angels to unveil truths.

And, of course, John is an important person here. Notice that it just says "John." Not, "John the apostle," which is actually a pretty strong reason for why this is John the Apostle, because there weren't any other Johns well-known enough at this time to just say "John" and assume people would know who that is.

And we'll talk a bit more about John and authorship next week.

Knowing that this is almost certainly John the Apostle, look at how he is referred to here. "His servant John." "Servant" is such a polite word, but the people who first read this letter knew what that word really meant: slave. John was the slave of Jesus.

We have been so affected by the ugly history of the European slave trade that we have a hard time hearing this word "slave" without disgust—which is why most English Bibles translate it as "servant" or, at best, "bondservant."

But the word means slave. In the first century, when this book was written, slaves were everywhere. Slaves belonged to their master—even if for just a period of time—and slaved did whatever they were told.

Their masters, on the other hand, were the ones responsible for providing for their slave's needs and ensuring their protection. Slaves didn't have to worry about taking care of themselves—only doing their master's bidding.

So you can see why the New Testament authors used the word all the time to refer to their relationship with Jesus. This word captures the idea that we belong to Jesus. We do what He says. And He takes care of us.

And yes, I'm saying "us" because according to verse 1, we should all see ourselves as slaves of Christ. "The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants the things that must soon take place." That's the same word—slaves. Every true Christian is a slave of Christ.

This is important because it sets us up for how to receive this book. We are not scholars bent on speculation, but slaves, ready to obey.

Why (v. 1c)

The next question we ask is "why? What's the reason for this apocalypse?" And the answer is right there in verse 1. Why did God give us this revelation? "To show his servants the things that must soon take place."

That's why. It is to show us events. This book does not just show us the person of Jesus and nothing more. It does show us the things that Jesus is doing and will do.

When (v. 1d)

And that leads us into the next question: when? When are these things going to take place? And the clear and simple answer is: soon. "To show his servants the things that must soon take place." Or, as the end of verse 3 says: "the time is near."

Do those words get you excited? Or scared? All of this is about to happen soon?

Well, just pause a moment and remember that these words were written over 1900 years ago. The things written about in here were going to happen soon for John and his audience.

Now, we don't want to assume that means everything in this book was going to happen right away. These words—"soon" and "near"—could point to the beginning of these things, but not necessarily their conclusion.

But at the very least, these words do push back against the very popular reading of this book that assumes that everything after the letters to the churches is about things that are still in the future for us. And what's so interesting is that this view is often advanced by people who insist they are taking the book of Revelation literally.

But if we're taking Revelation literally, and letting it tell us how to understand itself, then we need to grapple with the fact that the events revealed by Jesus were at least going to begin "soon" and "near" from the perspective of the people who lived 1900 years ago.

More on that in the workshop next week.

How (v. 1c-2)

Finally, let's ask "how." How was this revelation made? How did this "uncovering" happen? We've seen the chain, from God the Father to Jesus to the angel to John to us.

But there's a really key word we don't want to miss in the middle of verse 1. We see it in the English Standard Version translation as "made it known." "He made it known by sending his angel."

This is one of the cases where an older translation of the Bible can be helpful. The King James version says here, "He signified it by his angel unto his servant John." The New King James says the same.

And that's a great translation. If you'll forgive me again, I have to talk about the fact that there is a Greek verb used here, and it's connected to the noun for "sign." Just like our word "signify" has the word "sign" at the beginning.

And this is important because it begins to suggest to us how God communicated this revelation. He signified it. He used signs.
And we can see this if we turn back to the gospel of John to see how John uses this same word "signify" in that gospel, which is where most of the other uses of this word in the New Testament are found.

John 12:32-33 says, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’ He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.’ (John 12:32–33).

"Show" there is the same word. "Signify." Jesus signified how he was going to die. How? By saying very clearly "I am going to die on a cross?" No, but by using a figure of speech: he would be lifted up from the earth, like the bronze snake in the day of Moses. And that is a figure, a sign, of how he would die on the cross.

Something similar happens in John chapter 18, and again in 21:18, where Jesus says to Peter, “Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.’ (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.)’” (John 21:18–19).

The word "show" there is the same Greek word. "Signify." Jesus signifies how Peter will die, not by describing it directly, but by using figures of speech about stretching out his hands and being carried where he doesn't want to go—which points to crucifixion.

It's significant that this word is used, once again, in Daniel chapter 2, where Daniel says that King Nebuchadnezzar's vision was how God showed or signified to him the things that will happen at the end of days.

And of course God didn't describe things to Nebuchadnezzar directly. He showed him what would happen at the end of days by showing him something else: a vision of a great statue that gets destroyed by a stone not cut by human hands.

Jesus' figures of speech and Nebuchadnezzar's dream are two important examples of the kind of thing that we should expect in the book of Revelation.

And please note, I'm just getting this from the Bible and the ways that these words are used. I'm not bringing my own assumptions to the table. We're letting the text tell us that we should not expect Revelation to describe events the way that a newspaper or an encyclopedia describes events.

We should expect it to describe events the way the book of Daniel does: through symbols and signs.

Which, by the way, everybody agrees with. I've never met anybody who thinks that antichrist is literally a beast with ten heads who comes up out of the ocean. Everybody agrees that there are a lot of symbols in this book. And yes, we'll talk about that a lot more in the workshop next week.

The Great Blessing (v. 3)

And with that, we conclude this brief introduction to Revelation. This is an unveiling, about and from Jesus, to show His slaves the things that would happen soon, through signs.

And that brings us to verse 3, which gives us this great statement of blessing, right at the beginning of this book. “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.’ (Revelation 1:3).

Blessed is the one who reads aloud—because that's how most people would have gotten this back then. They couldn't each get a copy. Someone came and read this to them.

And blessed are those who hear—those who listen to these words.

And blessed are those who keep what is written in it.

This verse is so important because many of these elements are repeated right at the end of the book. Turn, if you will, to Revelation 22:6-7:

“And he said to me, ‘These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.’ ‘And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.’” (Revelation 22:6–7).

Notice the parallels? God sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place, and there's a blessing pronounced on those who keep the words of the prophecy.

There's no blessing for reading or hearing it at the end, because they already did! They just finished. All that remains is the blessing on keeping these words.

And when the Biblical authors use bookends like this, we should pay attention. Bookends are their way of telling us how to understand what's in between the bookends, or what the big idea is in between the bookends. We saw this all over the place in Matthew, where bookends are a huge guide to understanding what's going on.

So don't miss this. According to the literary markers at the beginning and end of Revelation, this is the lens through which we should look at this book: these are words to be kept.

And what does that mean? What does it mean to "keep" these words?

Well, we're going to see this more as we move through Revelation, because this word "keep" is used in this sense 8 more times in the book. And each time it has to do with keeping God's word, keeping his commandments, keeping his works.

In other words, "keeping" these words isn't like "keeping a promise," where you hold the words tight. It's more like keeping an instruction, or keeping a command, which means you do what it says.

And this is how the book of Revelation begins, and it's repeated at the end. Before we get going, before we even know what it says, we're told: this is a book to be kept. To be put into practice.

Which means that this book is not primarily designed to just give us information. It does not say "blessed is the one who hears and understands the words of this prophecy." The blessing is for those who do them.

Which means that this is a book about following Jesus. This is a book about discipleship.

And that helps us understand how this blessing works. It's not like there's a magical blessing that comes to you just from reading these words that makes them more special than other parts of the Bible.

And it's not even that there's a special blessing for doing these words that's somehow different from other words in the Bible.

No. Instead, here's how we need to think about it. Several times in the Bible we hear statements of blessing on followers of God.

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.’ (Psalm 1:1–2).

“‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’ (Matthew 5:3).

“Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!’” (Luke 11:28).

And each time, these aren't different blessings for different groups of people. Rather, each time these are different ways of describing followers of God—disciples of Jesus.

The word "blessed" in these verses means "happy" or "fortunate." The idea is that these people have found the good life. We looked at this all in depth when we preached through Matthew 5.

Disciples of Jesus delight in His word. Disciples of Jesus are poor in spirit. Disciples of Jesus keep His word. And as they do those things, they have found the good life—the good life that everybody else is chasing in every other way.

So plug all of that in to Revelation 1:3. When we read here, "blessed are those who read and hear and keep the words written here," this isn't some new or different blessing. Rather, what that means is that the book of Revelation is fundamentally designed to teach us how to follow Jesus.

It's designed to teach us how to experience the good life which is found by being His disciple.

And once you see that, all of a sudden so much of this book starts to make so much more sense as we understand how this book is showing us how to follow Jesus in the midst of temptation and persecution and trouble.

Wrapping Up

And my guess is that for many of us, this is a basically new way of approaching Revelation. To see this as a book about Christian discipleship is probably different from what a lot of the things we've heard.

But I'm convinced that this is just what Revelation itself is telling us. And will tell us, over and over again, as we walk through these passages together.

Revelation will show us the good life as we follow Jesus. And the irony, as we're going to see, is that keeping the words of this book is going to mean we don't just experience suffering and persecution—we embrace it. We choose to be treated as an outsider when everybody else is following along with the siren song of the world and its lusts.

But that's where the good life is to be found. Because following Jesus means that even when we're killed for His sake, we win.

People around us are chasing after the good life. Trying to find it in money and possessions and houses and cars and relationships and likes on their videos and new identities and you name it.

Maybe that's you this morning. Maybe you've been trying to find what you're looking for everywhere else. Will you hear the call this morning to find your life in the only place you ever will—in the person of Jesus?

Because friends, here it is. True blessing is held out to us right here. And we get to enjoy that blessing together even more over this next year as this book teaches us how to follow Jesus.

That also means that this book is a great introduction to Jesus. If you know Jesus, this would be a great season to invite a friend or a neighbour to church with you. Many people are familiar with the book of Revelation. Why not invite them to come and learn about it with you, and along the way, introduce them to the good life that they've been searching for?

And now, let's take the bread and the cup and enjoy this little preview of the great wedding feast that Revelation speaks of. Let's remember what Jesus died to buy us, and what He's returning to bring us, and the blessed life that we get to enjoy today as we live as His disciples.