what does revelations say

IT IS, "THE Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to Him," that is, the unveiling of things to come, for the simple meaning of revelation or apocalypse is unveiling. It is of course true that the unveiling of these future things all hinges on the unveiling or revelation of Jesus Christ in His glory, but the primary meaning is that God gave to Jesus this revelation of things to come that He might show it to His servants. Every clause of this first verse is worthy of careful notice.

Rev. 1:1. The "revelation" (unveiling, uncovering, manifestation, as in Romans 8, "manifestation of the sons of God") "of Jesus Christ" (in this book to show the way in which He meets all God's desires in the midst of the wreck and ruin of the Church) which God gave unto Him, to show unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass." There is a great meaning in the manifestation being especially made to the servants, this applying to those gathered out from the churches — "He that hath an ear, let him hear." There may be a difficulty in the last clause of this verse. Perhaps the meaning is, God signified by Christ to His servant John. The revelation of Jesus Christ in this book is of a different character to that which we get in the epistles. This goes beyond the scope of what is unfolded there.

Every Christian of spiritual intelligence must have felt more or less fully the peculiar character of the book on the study of which we now enter. It is a "revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave him." It is evident that the Lord Jesus is viewed here, not in His place of intimacy as the only begotten Son in the bosom of the Father, but in one of comparative distance. It is His revelation, but, moreover, the revelation which God gave Him. Somewhat similar is the remarkable expression which has perplexed so many in the Gospel of Mark (Mark 13:32), "But of that day and that hour knoweth no man: no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father." He is the servant Son of God all through that Gospel; and it is the perfection of a servant not to know what his lord does — to know, if we may so say, only what he is told. Here Christ receives a revelation from God; for, however exalted, it is the position He took as man which comes out conspicuously in the Revelation. And what makes this the more striking is that, of all the inspired writers of the New Testament, none dwells with such fulness upon His supreme and divine glory as John in his Gospel. In the Revelation, on the other hand, it is the same John who brings out with the greatest detail His human glory, but without hiding that He is God.

In keeping with this, the Revelation is "to show his servants things which must shortly come to pass." How very different is the tone of John 15:15 "Henceforth I call you not servants;" and also of John 16 speaking of the Spirit, "He shall glorify me, for He shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine; therefore said I that He shall take of mine and shall show it unto you." So we see through the Gospel from first to last, that the design of the Spirit is to give the disciples the title and consciousness of their sonship with and through Jesus, the Son of God in the highest sense. Thus in John 1:11-12, "He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the children of God." And again, after His death and resurrection, the Lord says, John 20:17, "Go to my brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father; and to my God and your God." Of course they were servants also, and there is not a shade of incongruity. Still the difference of the relationships is immense, and the Revelation clearly is addressed to the lower of these relations. The reason, I presume, is, partly because God is therein making known a certain course of earthly events with which the lower position is most in harmony (the higher one of sons being more suitable to communion with the Father and with His Son); and partly because God seems here to prepare the way for dealing with His people in the latter day, when their position as His servants will be more or less manifested, but not the enjoyment of nearness as sons — I allude to the interval after the removal of the church.

"The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him." This is the first sentence with which this last book in God's Word begins. The best title therefore is, "The Revelation of Jesus Christ." Our Lord received, according to this opening statement, a revelation from God. This must be understood in connection with Himself as the Son of Man. As the Only-Begotten He had no need of a revelation; in His deity He is acquainted with all the eternal purposes. One with God He knows the end from the beginning. But He, who is very God, took on in incarnation the form of a servant, and thus being in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself (Phil. 2:7-8). And as the Man who had passed through death, whom God raised from the dead, and exalted at His own right hand, God gave Him this revelation concerning the judgment of the earth and the glory of Himself. "God raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory" (1 Peter 1:21). What this glory is which He received from God is fully and blessedly revealed in this book. It is the revelation of His acquired glory and how this glory is to be manifested in connection with the earth. And this revelation He makes known to His servants, because His own are sharers with Him in all He received from God.

The Revelation may truly be called the book of results. In it, though Christ's faithfulness to His own abides, declension marks the Churches. Sin receives its eternal wages. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, are seen in full bloom, and pass away for ever. False religion is judged, its blazing glory extinguished, and the smoke of the torment of the unchaste woman rises up for ever and ever. Man living in rebellion is crushed under the feet of Jesus, and the dead are banished from His presence for ever. The Antichrist and his associates meet their just and most terrible abasement and misery. Satan is everlastingly consigned to the lake of fire. The created heavens and earth are cleared of evil, and Christ's power fully known, His worth fully owned. The Church is seen in glory, in untreated light and beauty, and the new heavens and the new earth speak to us only of righteousness and blessing from God to man. It is emphatically a book of judgment upon things on earth; prophetic, of course, in its character.

The Revelation may truly be called the book of results. In it, though Christ's faithfulness to His own abides, declension marks the Churches. Sin receives its eternal wages. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, are seen in full bloom, and pass away for ever. False religion is judged, its blazing glory extinguished, and the smoke of the torment of the unchaste woman rises up for ever and ever. Man living in rebellion is crushed under the feet of Jesus, and the dead are banished from His presence for ever. The Antichrist and his associates meet their just and most terrible abasement and misery. Satan is everlastingly consigned to the lake of fire. The created heavens and earth are cleared of evil, and Christ's power fully known, His worth fully owned. The Church is seen in glory, in untreated light and beauty, and the new heavens and the new earth speak to us only of righteousness and blessing from God to man. It is emphatically a book of judgment upon things on earth; prophetic, of course, in its character.

"The time is near." This book is not a sealed one in the sense in which Daniel was told to seal his prophecy. Then the time was distant; now it is at hand.

Another remarkable feature is the indirectness of the revelation. God gave it to Jesus, and Jesus signified it to John, not directly but by mediation of His angel. Moreover He did not declare it: He "signified" it. In the Gospel John uses the word "sign" for miracle. Here it is a verb formed from the same root. He signed these things to John; and this exactly gives us the character of the book. The prophecy is conveyed not in plain literal speech as elsewhere, but in symbols or signs. Now all this is surely intended to make us feel that there is reserve and distance in the method of revelation, suited to the sad defection that-had already begun in the church. How different the method of those revelations made earlier to Paul, as for instance Acts 26:16-18; 2 Corinthians 12:1-4; 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17.

The things signified are such as "must shortly come to pass." This expression helps to establish the fact that the messages to the churches in Revelation 2 and Revelation 3 have a prophetic bearing. What was signified by the church at Ephesus was beginning to come to pass when John received the prophecy, which carries us right on to the coming of the Lord, and even to the eternal state. The reader is also admonished by this expression that he must not adopt the attitude taken by the Jews when they received the prophecies of Ezekiel. Then they said, "The vision that he sees is for many days to come, and he prophesies of the times that are far off" (Ezek. 12:27). It is an inveterate tendency of our hearts to avoid the force of the Word of God, not by denying it but by relegating it to so distant a future that it can conveniently be ignored.

God gave this Revelation to Jesus Christ so that He might, as the Son of Man, communicate this to His servants. It is He who has been entrusted with the restitution of all things, and is therefore given this revelation to show to His servants the things soon to take place. Only as servants will we be shown these things. Although all believers are servants of Jesus Christ, yet we must be servants in practice if we are to properly understand Revelation. A servant above all is obedient. Thus, the measure of our obedience will be the measure of our understanding.

An angel instead of the Lord Himself is used to communicate (or signify) this to John (v. 1). This implies that there is some distance between the Lord and the people, for He is seen as judging every action, every principle according to pure truth. A judge while on the bench is not free to show his affections even to his family. The angel communicated or signified this by signs (as indicated by the Greek word). Revelation is largely a book of signs (illustrative picture language). This does not mean that we can interpret them as we please, for a sign means what God intends by it and the meaning of the signs is virtually always explained elsewhere in scripture, though not every time the sign is used.

"The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to show unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass; and He sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant John" (Rev.1:1). This verse shows us that the whole book of Revelation deals with things which must shortly come to pass; that is, it is of a prophetic character regarding future things. The subject of the messages to the seven churches of Asia, which shall be before us in these studies, is prophetical in character as well as historical. We have not only an historical account of conditions that existed in these seven churches at the time when the apostle John was given this vision and these messages, but a prophetical picture of the history of the professing Church, or Christendom, from the apostolic times down to the end. This will be before us in detail later.