Revelation 1:1–3 1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified.

Revelation 1:1–3 1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, 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 he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.

• The Revelation - comes from a compound Greek word “Apo” meaning away from and “Kalupto” meaning to hide or cover. Thus the title means “a taking away of the cover” or “an unveiling.”

• The Revelation - comes from a compound Greek word “Apo” meaning away from and “Kalupto” meaning to hide or cover. Thus the title means “a taking away of the cover” or “an unveiling.”

• of Jesus Christ – This can have two meanings:1. The unveiling comes from Jesus Christ?

Does it? Let´s sort out the pronouns in this verse.





Revelation 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Jesus to show Jesus´ or God´s servants—things which must shortly take place. And Jesus sent and signified it by Jesus´ angel to Jesus´ servant John,


















• Does this message come from Jesus? Absolutely.



• Does this message come from Jesus? Absolutely

• of Jesus Christ – This can have two meanings:2. The unveiling is about Jesus, it reveals

something about Him. Does it?


something about Him. Does it?Is anything revealed about Jesus? Yes.





Therefore both meanings of The Revelation of Jesus Christ apply here. Jesus sent the message, and it reveals things about Him.

• which God gave Him to show His servants – God gave Jesus the Revelation to give to the servants of God and/or Jesus

And what is it that is being shown?

• things which must shortly take place – shortly can mean either – Soon– In rapid succession

• Which is the better understanding here? • In rapid succession. • Why? • Because we who live in this day know the

things described in this book have not all happened by the year 2015, more than 1900 years after John wrote them.





• And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, - It is interesting here to note the full route of the Revelation.

• And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, - It is interesting here to note the full route of the Revelation.– It was initiated by God the Father.–God gave it to Jesus.– Jesus gave it to His angel.–The angel gave it to John.– John will give it to the seven churches.






• John, 2 who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw. – This is possibly another identifier of John the Apostle as the human author of the Revelation. While it is possible that he is talking about his witness to this word he is writing and this testimony of the Revelation, it is far more likely that he is identifying himself to his readers who know him.

• John, 2 who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw. – This is possibly another identifier of John the Apostle as the human author of the Revelation. While it is possible that he is talking about his witness to this word he is writing and this testimony of the Revelation, it is far more likely that he is identifying himself to his readers who know him.

• John, 2 who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw. – It sounds like he is saying, I am the one who wrote about the Word of God Who came into the world. I am the one who wrote in my gospel the testimony of Jesus Christ. I wrote what I saw. I was an eyewitness.




Remember John 1:1, 14 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.



• This is also most consistent with what we know about the dates of the writing of the Gospel of John and the writing of the Revelation. Testimony of the early church fathers puts the gospel written between 80 and 90 A.D. and the Revelation around 95 or 96 A.D.



• 3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near. – While blessing comes from reading any portion of the Scriptures, the Revelation is the only book of the Bible that promises a specific blessing to

• 3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near. – While blessing comes from reading any portion of the Scriptures, the Revelation is the only book of the Bible that promises a specific blessing to–He who reads

• 3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near. – While blessing comes from reading any portion of the Scriptures, the Revelation is the only book of the Bible that promises a specific blessing to–Those who hear the words

• 3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near. – While blessing comes from reading any portion of the Scriptures, the Revelation is the only book of the Bible that promises a specific blessing to–Those who keeps those things which are

written in it

Revelation 1:4–6 4 John, to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth.

Revelation 1:4–6 To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, 6 and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

• John, to the seven churches which are in Asia: - We have already identified the churches to whom the message is first sent.

• Grace to you and peace – A book can be written on the fullness of meaning of each of these words. That is not our purpose here, but it is a rich study. These are the words commonly used in the New Testament, and mean in general “God´s unmerited favor” and “a state of satisfying contentment.”



• from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, - Here is a reference to the Trinity.

• from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, - Here is a reference to the Trinity.–God the Father – Him who is and who was

and who is to come–God the Son – from Jesus Christ–God the Holy Spirit - from the seven Spirits

who are before His throne







• What does seven mean? First we test the plain sense. Are there seven Holy Spirits? We interpret Scripture by Scripture, and a multitude of other Scriptures tell us that the Holy Spirit is a single person of the divine trinity. God is one God in three persons, not one in nine.




• Here the plain sense does not make sense because it would contradict the rest of God´s Word. Therefore, the word seven must be figurative here. If we were to do a study on the figurative use of numbers in the Bible, we would discover that seven is the number often used for completeness or fullness, both when it is used literally and figuratively (as in the seven days of a week).




• Consequently, the best way to understand the seven Spirits who are before His throne is the fullness of the Holy Spirit before the throne of God.

• Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, - the One who showed us the Father (John 14:9 … He who has seen Me has seen the Father; …)



• the firstborn from the dead, - the first One to be resurrected in a glorified body





• and the ruler over the kings of the earth. - the One to whom all authority is given (Matthew 28 …All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. )



• and the ruler over the kings of the earth. - the One to whom all authority is given (Matthew 28 …All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. )

• I find the indention technique below helpful in following the meaning of long or involved passages. Notice that modifiers are indented beneath the word they modify.

To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins

in His own blood, and has made us kings

and priests to His God and Father

• to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. - to Jesus be glory and dominion forever!



• Amen. - A word of affirmation which means “It is true!”





Revelation 1:1–3 1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified.

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