Overcome

Introduction to Book of Revelation
Revelation 1:1-4 May 19, 2019
I. Introduction:
A. When I think that I am starting a series this morning on the book of Revelation
there are two polar opposite thoughts in my mind:
1. First, the excitement of learning together each week from this very amazing
and important book
2. Secondly, is terror thinking “Am I nuts thinking I can preach through this
very amazing and important book”
B. Let’s jump right in as this week I want to introduce you to the book, then next
week I want to preach through the whole book in one message.
• Turn to Rev 1:1 – the last book of the Bible.
II. Introduction to Book
A. Read 1:1a- Note this is not the book of Revelations but the Revelation! That
means to properly understand this book we need to look at the book as one whole
revelation rather than a series of different revelations throughout the book.
1. Read 1:1a-b – The revelation is concerning Jesus Christ.
2. Now listen to 1c.
3. To get our heads on straight about this book we need to understand right from
the beginning that the book is foremost about Jesus and the future events
reveal something to us about Jesus. This will become even clearer as we see
the book as a whole next week.
4. But so many people miss God’s intended purpose of this book because they
are so intrigued by the end time prophecies that they miss that these
prophecies are revealing something to us about Jesus!
B. We see in this verse that God gave this Revelation to Jesus, who gave it to an
angel, who gave it to John to show God’s bondservants! Read 1b and d.
C. In v2, we see what John will be doing in this book. Read v 2
1. Testified – That means that a person with direct knowledge of something
provides information about what they know, heard and saw!
2. He is going to provide for us two things he has direct knowledge of:
a) The Word of God – He is not referring to the Bible here but the idea of a
prophetic utterance from God just like it is used in the Old Testament
when God spoke inspired utterances to prophets.
b) Secondly, the testimony of Jesus – this is the content about what he
learned about Jesus through the things that the angel showed him.
3. This reinforces again that this book is primarily about the revelation of Jesus
not the end time events. Actually, the end time events reveal Jesus to us and
it may be said that at the heart of all prophecies, they point to Jesus; they are
teaching us something about Jesus!
a) Read Rev 19:10d
b) Robert Deffinbaugh says this – Christ is preeminent in prophecy. Things
to come are incidental because all of those things which are to come
occur at the power, the authority and the dispatch of Jesus Christ
Himself!
1. Some are going to be troubled by what they learn about Jesus in this book.
a) If you like the picture of Jesus we get in the gospels, a true picture of
Jesus as the sacrificial lamb, the one who is closer to us than a brother,
the one whom I can put my head on his shoulder at the beach as we listen
to Christian music together about God’s love for me, you might be a bit
trouble by the revelation of Jesus in this book
b) The same John who put his head on Jesus’ chest at the last supper is the
same one who wrote this book and this time when he saw Jesus in His
glory he fell at His feet like a dead man.
c) In this book, we will see Jesus as a judge pouring out His wrath upon all
of mankind who has rejected Him. We will see Him as a warrior who
sheds a lot of blood, we will see Him as a king who rules the nations
with a rod of iron and we will see Him as our shepherd who protects,
blesses and rewards His followers!
B. Look at the blessing that is promised to us as we go through this book. Read v3.
1. The key to the blessing is not just reading or hearing this book but heeding it,
keeping what it teaches us.
2. So that raised a question for me – what is there to heed in this book, as it just
seemed to be a book about a lot of information about Jesus and end times.
C. Actually, the next verse gives us some insight into this question. Read v4a,11
1. This book was written to the seven churches in Asia. Note the whole book
was written to them not just chapters 2 & 3.
2. When we learn a bit more about these churches, we will understand a bit
more of what we are to heed and why this book was written.
3. This book was written approximately in 95-96AD during the reign of the
Roman emperor Domitian.
4. His reign was chiefly known as a reign of terror
a) It is alleged that he insisted on his own divinity, demanded worship of
himself and persecuted Christians who did not participate in the imperial
religion.
5. And while they were suffering persecution from the outside, they were
struggling on the inside with their own purity and loyalty to Jesus.
D. So when you put all of this together this is my stated theme and purpose of the
book:
1. Theme – The return of Jesus Christ in glory as judge and king to destroy evil
and set up His kingdom
2. Purpose – To encourage the seven churches to persevere in holiness,
allegiance to and worship of Jesus.
3. Thus, the “heeding” in this book is made up of the exhortations to the seven
churches and visions and interludes of worship throughout the book.
4. Again, we will see this a bit clearer next week in one message of the whole
book at once.
• There are
II. Two other key purposes for the book of Revelation!
A. The consummation of all the Biblical prophecies are found in the book of
Revelation.
1. Apart from the book of Revelation, we find no complete prophetic
fulfillment.
a) Listen to 10:7
b) Read 1 Peter 1:10-11 – The two major categories of prophecies can be
broken down into prophecies about Jesus’ suffering or prophecies about
Jesus’ glory!
(1) The book of Revelation is prophecies about His glory!
(2) In His first coming, He fulfilled the prophecies about His
sufferings.
c) Turn to Acts 3:
(1) Read 17-19 – suffering prophecies fulfilled - first coming
(2) Read 20-21 – When Jesus returns He will fulfill the prophecies
about the restoration of all things. Thus the book of Revelation
2. The major categories of prophecies are found in the covenants that God made
with Israel, the particular prophecies in the Old Testament find their roots in
these covenant promises. We learn in Revelation about the fulfilment of
these covenant promises. We see from:
a) Abraham – a land forever, God being their God forever
b) Deuteronomy – restoration to the land, Israel’s enemies being judged and
the nation receiving full blessings
c) David – a forever king, reigning forever over a forever kingdom
d) New Covenant – Israel being saved and abiding blessings in the land.
B. And that leads us to the other key purpose of the book of Revelation and that is
the consummation of the story of the Bible. We learn the end of the story that
God restores to man what was lost at the fall and much more! Without the book of
Revelation, the Bible would be incomplete.
1. In the beginning of the story we see in Gen 1-2 that …
a) God created the heavens and the earth – a perfect and fruitful
environment
b) God created man with a body perfectly suited for this earth
c) God created man with a soul perfectly suited for a relationship with God,
self and others.
d) God created man with a spirit that was alive to and walked with God.
e) God ruled as king over man
f) Man was a loving subject of God’s kingdom
g) God gave man the responsibility to reign over His creation.
2. But something happened in Genesis 3 that changed everything; Satan, God’s
#1 enemy, who rebelled against God, was seeking to get man to rebel against
God’s rule over them as his king. He succeeded by deceiving man to drink
the poison – sin which left deep consequences upon himself and the earth.
a) The earth was cursed and subjected to futility resulting in it not being as
fruitful as God intended.
b) Man’s perfect body was subjected to death and all the sickness and
diseases that come with it.
c) Every area of man’s soul was affected, it became depraved.
d) Man’s spirit, the source of life with God died. Life with God was cut
off.
e) Satan became the god of this world
f) Man’s membership was transferred from the kingdom of God to the
kingdom of Satan
g) Man’s reign over God’s creation was perverted.
3. From Genesis 3 on we read about:
a) Both man and the earth being under a curse and our relationship with
ourselves, others and God has been deeply affected!
b) But we also read a story about the fulfillment of a promise that God
made that He would send a ‘seed’ someone born of a woman who would
totally crush Satan and deliver man from the mess that sin created in his
life!
4. For many thousands of years this condition and conflict continues until we
come to Revelation 19 & 20 where God finally, fully and forever deals with
sin and Satan.
5. Then we come to Revelation 21-22, where once again sin and Satan have no
part just like Genesis 1-2. The curse upon man and the earth will be totally
removed forever. And we find:
a) A new heaven and a new earth, this is a perfect and fruitful environment
for God’s eternal purposes. Read Revelation 21:1
b) We will have resurrected bodies that are perfectly suited to live on this
eternal earth.
c) With sin removed, we will live in perfect fellowship and harmony with
God, self and one another. Read 21:3
d) Man shall live with God forever Read 21:4b
e) God will be king forever with His throne right here on earth among His
people. Read 22:1,3
f) The only people there will be members of God’s kingdom. Read 21:27
g) Man will be reigning with God forever and ever. Read Revelation 22:5
C. The story of the Bible is God glorifying Himself through Jesus the Redeemer by
restoring His original plan for man and the earth by reversing the effects of sin
and the curse upon them and God Himself reigning forever as King.
III. Conclusion
A. In closing, I want to pray for us Titus 2:11-13. Read.
1. May God give MVC a heart to focus on Jesus and not trying to solve the end
times puzzle of who’s who and when will it happen!