It’s All about Jesus

Before you start todays devotional, ask the Lord to use it to grow you up in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

In the Gospels, we meet Jesus as meek, humble, and dying on a cross. He submitted Himself to the enemies on earth. In Revelation, Jesus is in His glory in absolute control of the universe. He is still the Lamb of God, but we see the wrath of the Lamb that terrifies the earth. He fills the horizon of the total Word of God.

Jesus makes a promise to all who read and hear this book: “You will be blessed,” He said. And both the reader and the hearer are to keep these things, which are written in the book (v. 3), with a warning to those who don’t. Many are frightened by what they see and hear here, but remember Jesus says He loves us; so we have no need to be afraid of anything that is to follow.

First, please note the title of this book is Revelation—singular, not plural. It is the Revelation, that is, “the uncovering, unveiling, or revelation” of Jesus Christ.

The Gospels only tell us half the story. Revelation completes it. It takes off the veil so we can see Jesus Christ in His unveiled beauty and power and glory. This book is the opposite of a secret or a mystery. It discloses secrets and uses word pictures and symbols so we can interpret it in light of the entire Word of God.

When will these things happen? John writes, “things which must shortly take place” (v. 1). This doesn’t state a date they will happen but just that it will happen with absolute certainty, and once it begins, it will take place in a hurry, in a brief period of time.

The message of this book originated in heaven with God the Father, who gave it to His Son, Jesus Christ, who gave it to an angel, who gave it to John, who wrote about what he saw as an eyewitness of the visions. What John saw and heard and sometimes smelled, he tells us in picturesque language.

John first communicated the account of the Revelation to seven churches in Asia. Having been a pastor in this region, John knows these churches. He writes from Patmos, a small Greek island in the Aegean Sea where he was exiled from about 86 to 96 A.D. It’s a lonely, rugged, volcanic island where he is given this great vision of the Revelation.

John tells us that one day, Jesus Christ will personally and physically come back. When Jesus appears in the clouds, everyone will see Him. When Jesus earlier took the church out of the world at the Rapture, He doesn’t appear to everyone nor does He touch down on earth; believers will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. When Jesus Christ returns to earth as King, He will come to establish His Kingdom in the Millennium. But then, when everyone sees Him, not everyone will be happy. Those who reject Him on earth will wail. But nothing will stop the Lord.

Nothing will change the plan. What He started, He will finish. Jesus said, “I am the Alpha and Omega.” These Greek letters are like saying, He is the A and Z and every letter in between. He is the “Word of God”—the full revelation and intelligent communication of God. He’s the only language God speaks.

When we see Jesus on that day, coming in the clouds in His glorified body, He is coming as the Great High Priest in the Holy of Holies.

As we read the Revelation of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit is doing what Jesus promised He would do. He’s taking the things of Christ and showing them to us. Read His exact words in John 16:13-14.

John begins by saying, “I was in the Spirit” (v. 10). The Holy Spirit moved on John and gave him a panoramic picture of this great and grand revelation.

Next: What did John see and hear?

1. How could Christians possibly have peace and grace amid a chaotic and dangerous world with an even more chaotic and dangerous future?

2. What can John’s circumstances when he received the book of Revelation—alone and exiled—tell us about God and His ways?

3.How could Christians possibly have peace and grace amid a chaotic and dangerous world with an even more chaotic and dangerous future?

Additional Resources

Listen to Dr. J. Vernon McGee's complete teaching on Revelation 1:4-9, Revelation 1:1-4 and Revelation 1:1.