Revelation 1

Chapter 1. Heaven OpenedBlessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it. (Revelation 1:3)Such is God’s special benediction on the work in which we are about to be engaged, the study of the Apocalypse. May we hear its revelations aright; may we hear its wondrous words with quickened spiritual ears, and may we keep its warnings and commandments with holy vigilance and humble obedience; so that we will inherit this blessing in all its fullness and find this last volume of inspiration, not a scroll of vague unintelligible mystery, but a manual of spiritual and practical helpfulness, “useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). The title of the book is deeply significant. The Apocalypse literally means, the unveiling of something covered, the unveiling of something hidden. It suggests that back of the blue firmament there is a world above which spiritual eyes may see. Beyond the narrow horizon of human sight there is a future world of living, solemn realities profoundly affecting and concerning our present life. This book lifts the mysterious veil and opens to our view those two infinities, God and eternity. Let us approach the vision with deep solemnity, with chastened spirit and humble dependence upon Him who must give the sight as well as the light. It is commonly accepted that the book of Revelation is too mysterious for the ordinary mind to understand, and that it is scarcely practical or profitable for the study of the unskilled and unscholarly. On the contrary it is here presented to us as God’s message to all His people, with a special blessing pronounced on those who read, hear and keep it. Like the whole precious Bible it is the book of the common people, and if we read it aright the Holy Spirit will make it plain to the humblest capacity and the simplest mind. Indeed a special and emphatic blessing is pronounced upon this more than any other message of the Scriptures, and if we look carefully at the character and purpose of the Apocalypse we shall perhaps be able to understand why God has promised to thus bless it.

God’s Last Word

God’s Last WordIt is God’s last word to His people in the present dispensation. Sixty-six times has He spoken from heaven through His inspired messengers. This is the last message till He Himself shall come and close the dispensation. Islam claims that it has a later message. Science and philosophy lightly talk about the new light of culture and the inspiration which exalted genius gives to certain men; but all their light is as the flashing of a meteor or the firefly of the summer night. This is the final message of heaven to man, and he that dares to add another sentence to the word of inspiration will inherit the fearful curses pronounced in this awful volume. With what intense interest, with what prompt obedience, should we wait to hear God’s final word as He speaks to us once more by His Son!

Specially for Our Times

Specially for Our TimesThis word is God’s special message to the last times. It was not written for the apostolic age, for that had passed. It was not written for the Jew, for Jerusalem had fallen. It was given to the Church and was intended for the Church to the end of the Christian age. It is especially addressed to seven churches of Asia which represent the whole body of the Church to the end. It is therefore our manual of divine instruction and commission and claims our special attention and careful obedience. It is intimated in the very terms in which it is given that the times for which it was intended were to begin immediately and were to be most critical and momentous. It starts out with the significant statement, “The time is near” (Revelation 1:3). Literally this means the crisis time is at hand. It is that Greek word so specially used in the New Testament to indicate the time of peculiar privilege, opportunity and crisis. It is the same expression used when the apostle bids us “redeem the time,” buy up the opportunity, make the most of the crisis. It is therefore a message written for momentous times and calling for the most careful attention and the most significant action. Well may we give heed to such a message.

Christ’s Own Revelation

Christ’s Own RevelationMore especially than any other message, it is Christ’s message. It was not given through an angel merely, although angelic ministry was used in connection with it, but Jesus Christ Himself came down personally, 60 years after His ascension, to the Isle of Patmos, making a second visit to earth—after He had been more than half a century in heaven—telling with His own living voice to John the words of the Apocalypse, and was speaking in His own person to the churches for whom the message was primarily intended. It is therefore our own Master’s personal message to us, the people of these last times. And we can see that face which is “like the sun shining in all its brilliance” (Revelation 1:16), and hear that voice which is “like the sound of rushing waters” (Revelation 1:15), as He calls to each of us: “I know your deeds” (Revelation 3:8). “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 3:13).

An Unsealed Vision

An Unsealed VisionThe message which Daniel gave was sealed and the prophet was specially told that it was for later times and would not be understood until the end drew near. But a very different command is given to John, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, because the time is near” (Revelation 22:10). And again, “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place” (Revelation 1:1). This is translated literally: “Things which in swift, successive haste come to pass.” The events were to begin immediately. The message of the Apocalypse is a present truth. The Church needs it. The world should know it. The action is suited to the word. The vision becomes a swift reality. The panorama is already moving on to its final consummation: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it” (Habakkuk 2:2). It means action, preparation and cooperation with God, and it is fitted to inspire and encourage in the trials and tests that we are called to meet, and to prove as practical as it is sublime.

God’s Picture of the Ascended Christ

God’s Picture of the Ascended ChristThis book gives a view of the Lord Jesus Christ as He is now in the heavenly world and on the throne. In the other books of the Bible, except the epistles, we see Him either coming or already present in the world; but here we behold Him in His glory as our Prophet, Priest and King, administering the government of the age, representing His people at God’s right hand and preparing for His coming. Would we see Jesus as God’s enthroned Lamb? Would we see Him in His almightiness and gentleness? Would we see Him as our Great High Priest presenting the incense of our prayers before the Father? Would we see Him in His victorious power silencing our accusers and pleading our cause? Would we see Him making all His enemies His footstool and coming in His glory soon to reign? Let us read this prophecy and hear the words that are written in it, and in its sublime visions behold the Lamb of God, to whom it is specially dedicated in the opening paragraph, “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen” (Revelation 1:5-6).

God’s Thought for His Church

God’s Thought for His ChurchIt contains God’s highest, latest and largest thought for the Church. It is specially addressed to the Church. It reveals Christ’s attitude to the Church, and it unfolds the Church’s attitude to Christ and her innermost condition in the light of His searching eye. In this symbolic book the Lord appears standing in the midst of the seven golden lamps and holding the seven stars in His right hand. He is intensely real to His Church and intensely interested in all that concerns her. He is watching her spirit and weighing her character every moment. He knows her works and deals with her in faithful discipline and stern and awful warning, as well as in loving and gracious promise and reward. There is no book more fitted to arouse a slumbering Church, to search and separate a worldly Church, to comfort His suffering Church, and to awaken the ministry of the Church to a more profound sense of responsibility to God, than these seven letters of the ascended Lord to the seven churches of Asia, and through them to the Church of every century. As we shall see, these letters present a panorama of the whole Church from the apostolic age to the end of time. They show her in all her various developments of busy activity, of spiritual declension, of martyr suffering, of terrible apostasy, of reformation and revival, and finally of the lukewarmness of our Laodicean times, when the Lord is standing knocking outside the door of His own Church and just about to come in judgment and glory. If we would understand the history and the state of the Church of Christ and know how to be true to God amid all the alarming conditions of these last times, let us study this book and give heed to its faithful warnings.

God’s Thought for the World

God’s Thought for the WorldThis book gives to us God’s thought about the world we live in, as well as the Church; for after the vision of the churches we have the seals and the trumpets, the thunders and the vials and the seven-headed beast embodying in symbol the governments of earth and the Satanic power behind them. Man looks upon earth’s kings with something of splendor and luster. To God’s mind they are wild beasts ravening and devouring. In varied symbolism their power, their wickedness, their Satanic origin and their awful doom are here portrayed. And their end is the winepress of the wrath of God and the battle of Armageddon, the judgment of the nations and the new kingdom of peace and righteousness with Christ alone as Lord. If we would understand our age, if we would comprehend the mingled events of providence, if we would know the utter corruption of human politics, and the necessity of being separated from the world, and living as “aliens and strangers on earth” (Hebrews 11:13), “longing for a better country—a heavenly one” (Hebrews 11:16), let us read this book, let us hear the things that are written in it, and let us walk on earth with our heads and hearts in heaven.

God’s Program for the Future

God’s Program for the FutureThis book contains God’s plan for earth’s future. Men are talking about the future of the country. They are writing their stocks and bonds for the 20th century. They are dreaming of the marvelous things that the new gospel of science is to bring. They have their Utopian schemes, republicanism and liberty, but God’s plan for the future is very different. It is like Zechariah’s wondrous day: “A unique day, without daytime or nighttime—a day known to the Lord. When evening comes, there will be light” (Zechariah 14:7). Through clouds and darkness one purpose moves through all the ages; namely, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, earth’s promised King. This is the key of history. This is the solution of every mystery. This is the goal of providence. This is the great consummation to which the Apocalypse and the ages move. “I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True” (Revelation 19:11). “On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS” (Revelation 19:16). “Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him” (Revelation 1:7). “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20).

Practical Value

Practical ValueThis book is not visionary though it is the grandest of visions, but it is intensely practical.

1. Tells of Salvation It tells us of salvation. There is no new gospel here of second probation, or bloodless theology; but sin is as crimson as God can stamp it, and the blood of Jesus Christ is as real as the stain of sin, and the echo of every chorus is, “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb” (Revelation 7:10).
2. Tells of Deeper Life It tells us of a deeper spiritual life. It warns us against the loss of our first love. It rouses us from the curse of lukewarmness. It points us to the souls that are to enter in as the firstfruits and the wedding guests, and “no lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless” (Revelation 14:5). “They follow the Lamb wherever he goes” (Revelation 14:4). It connects the most holy watchfulness with the hope of His coming and it tells us how the spotless robe can be obtained. “His bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear. (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)” (Revelation 19:7-8).
3. Calls to Highest Service It calls to highest service. Its promises are “to him who overcomes” (Revelation 2:7). It sets before us “an open door” (Revelation 3:8) and its rewards are for those that hold fast to His truth and hold forth His name. The rewards of His coming are according to our works. We behold among its living scenes the figure of an “angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people” (Revelation 14:6); and we see in this the symbol of the great missionary movement in our rimes and the call to worldwide evangelization.
4. A Message of Comfort and Hope It is a message of comfort and hope to the suffering and the sorrowing. It offers to the martyr a crown of life. It offers to the overcomer a sevenfold promise. It tells the mourner of a time when all tears will be wiped away. It points the wanderer and the exile to a land where there will be no more sea. The poor are reminded that some day they will hunger no more, neither thirst any more; but their home will be a city of gold with palaces surpassing the glory of the sun. The sick learn that soon there will be no more pain, sorrow, crying, death. And the souls that are sick of sin and the horrid spectacle of the “open city” and the prostitution of virtue and innocence rejoice to know that in that city “nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful” (Revelation 21:27). All will be right at last. God’s remedy will be mightier than man’s ruin. “Where sin increased, grace increased all the more” (Romans 5:20), and earth and heaven and all the far-off universe will yet unite around the throne to echo the universal chorus: “Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen” (Revelation 7:12). But there is no evasion of the darker facts of sin and hell. Over against the vision of glory there is the awful judgment and the eternal abyss; and the last word of the Apocalypse, like the vision of Christ weeping over Jerusalem, is an intense and loving appeal from One whose judgment is as inexorable as His mercy is infinite, and who cannot save unless we believe and obey Him. “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life” (Revelation 22:17).