Bethel Baptist Church of Tillamook, OR
May 17, 2026
  • All Hail The Power Of Jesus' Name
  • Immortal Invisible
  • To God Be the Glory

  • A. Superscription with a Promise (1:1-3)

    The beginning of this epistolary prophecy is not a full sentence.

    1. Its Title and Origin (1:1-2)

    This first line is more like a phrase or heading to lead of this amazing book. Another example of this can be found in Mark 1:1, which begins...
    Mark 1:1 NASB95
    The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
    Key word: “revelation.” This word denotes an unveiling or disclosure of something, in our present text referring to the content that is to be revealed. The noun here and related verbs used frequently in the NT always have the sense of divine disclosure of what is otherwise hidden from humans. Here it is used in referring to the “unveiling “ that will come in the future consummation of all things.
    The Greek word is transliterated into our word “apocalypse.” It is both an alternate title for this book as well as a name of a genre of ancient prophetic literature. It describes accurately Revelation in two ways: (1) as to content, it is God’s disclosure of the events that will fulfill His sovereign plan for the destiny of the world, and (2) as to character, it is an unveiling communicated in a dramatic, highly symbolic, and (often) enigmatic ways.
    Its source is from Jesus Christ, the immediate context points to Revelation “given by” or “from” Jesus Christ. Continuing on in the sentence, we see a full chain of agents of communication: from God to Jesus to God’s angel to John, then to God’s servants. These agents are centering in on what Jesus Christ reveals to John about events that are coming.
    Ultimately. this comes from God and sometimes angels take a role in mediating what John sees, but the wider recipients are God’s people. Jesus Christ is seen as the primary revealer; therefore it has value for all who give attention to its message.
    The Father initiates this disclosure and gives it to Jesus with the intent “to show” the coming events “to His servants” who are the ultimate recipients of the revelation.
    “Servants” of the Lord are those who, figuratively, “duty bound only” to Him, who owe Him “total allegiance.” This was true and used of the prophets of God specifically, and more generally here of the churches, God’s people. who belong to Him and serve His purpose, 1 Cor 7:22
    1 Corinthians 7:22 NASB95
    For he who was called in the Lord while a slave, is the Lord’s freedman; likewise he who was called while free, is Christ’s slave.
    also 1 Pet 2:16
    1 Peter 2:16 NASB95
    Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God.
    The next phrase, “what must happen soon,” is an allusion to Daniel 2:28-29
    Daniel 2:28–29 NASB95
    “However, there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will take place in the latter days. This was your dream and the visions in your mind while on your bed. “As for you, O king, while on your bed your thoughts turned to what would take place in the future; and He who reveals mysteries has made known to you what will take place.
    There are three important theological themes appearing in Daniel 2 which are mirrored in this prologue and throughout Revelation:
    (1) God is the only one who can reveal the mysteries of the future.
    (2) God has predetermined all the events of earthly history. Dan 2:21
    Daniel 2:21 NASB95
    “It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men And knowledge to men of understanding.
    There are certain events that “must happen” because they are set out by God in His sovereign plan for this world and its inhabitants.
    (3) The seemingly invincible kingdoms of this world will be swept away by God’s kingdom that will be established forever. Dan 2:44
    Daniel 2:44 NASB95
    “In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.
    Daniel 2:47 NASB95
    The king answered Daniel and said, “Surely your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, since you have been able to reveal this mystery.”
    When will this happen? The timing of these events is in God’s calendar; they will occur “soon” or “without delay.” It is best to understand it in a prophetic time frame; what is certain to occur and could occur at any time without delay, subject to God’s calendar, not ours.
    What follows is the unveiling of the future that God gave Jesus Christ to show His people, made known through angelic mediation to John, who is serving here as Christ’s prophet, through visions and interpretations. Amos 3:7
    Amos 3:7 NASB95
    Surely the Lord God does nothing Unless He reveals His secret counsel To His servants the prophets.
    Compare to Rev 10:7
    Revelation 10:7 NASB95
    but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His servants the prophets.
    John has been faithful as one who testified to the word of God and of Jesus Christ. He will faithfully record the divine message; all that he heard and saw.

    2. The Promise of Blessing (1:3)

    There is pronounced a benefit both to the one who proclaims the words which follow and to the one who hears and obeys. The one who reads (aloud; that is the sense of the word here) and the one who first hears (attentively) and heeds (obeys, speaking of resulting intent) what is written in the revelation of Jesus Christ. To those ones a special blessing from God is promised. It is the first of seven blessings found in Revelation. John used the number seven, which commonly signifying divine origin and authority, 54 times.
    “Time” translated from Greek kairos describes a period of time rather than a point in time. The time when these prophecies of God will be fulfilled was near relatively speaking. “Near” is the translation of a Greek word, meaning “at hand, imminent.” The emphasis is that the fulfillment could begin at any time, not that it definitely would begin soon.

    B. The Greeting with a Doxology (1:4-6).

    Starting in verse 4, we have the standard epistolary greeting of first-century letters.

    1. From Writer to Recipients with God’s Favor (1:4-5a)

    The writer is John, the recipients (as commanded by Christ) is seven specific churches in the province of Asia (western Turkey), within a hundred miles of Ephesus. The specific, actual, churches are mentioned in chapters 2 and 3, but the use of the number seven suggests a completeness or totality, so that these seven particular churches represent all God’s churches in general. The message that they receive is ours as well.
    Grace and peace is extended through John from God the Father, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ. Here God is described in majestic language that is only found in this book: “Him who is and who was and who is to come.” This is the Self-Existent One who has all authority. who always existed in the past, and will be the same in the future, who will enter human history soon, intervening in judgment and redemption in the culmination of all things, the sovereign who is in control of all history, and the source of true grace and peace.
    The seven spirits is a metaphor of fullness drawn from Isaiah 11:2
    Isaiah 11:2 NASB95
    The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
    They are described as resting on God’s ideal king from the Davidic line to guide and direct his future rule. Around the throne symbolizes majesty, dominion and power. The Spirit is seen ready to do God’s will.
    Jesus Christ is described as
    (1) the faithful witness - this context refers to His public testifying about who God is and what He is doing in this world. a mission encompassing His earthly life as well as His death on the cross in fidelity to God’s calling. Jesus Christ was faithful to the very end in revealing God’s righteousness and redemptive love to the world, a calling which we too should embrace.
    (2) the firstborn of (from among) the dead - This oxymoron refers to Jesus’ resurrection and what it means to Christians. His victory over death is prototypical because it guarantees resurrected life to those who are His followers. His resurrection and exaltation demonstrates His ascension to kingly rule as well as His victory over death.
    (3) the ruler of (over) the kings of earth - This refers to Jesus’ status as the ultimate Davidic king, whose reign over the world’s kingdoms is soon to be accomplished in full. This phrase reflects the vision of God’s rule expressed through a king of David’s line as seen in Psalm 89:26-27
    Psalm 89:26–27 (NASB95) “He will cry to Me, ‘You are my Father, My God, and the rock of my salvation.’ “I also shall make him My firstborn, The highest of the kings of the earth.
    Psalm 2:2 NASB95
    The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying,
    Psalm 2:6–7 NASB95
    “But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain.” “I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.
    For the kings of the earth, resistance is futile; Christ’s triumph is sure.

    2. Praise to Jesus Christ (1:5b-6)

    This doxology highlights Christ’s ongoing, eternal disposition toward people that caused Him to act in the specific event of the cross to bring release from sin.
    The focus is His love expressed in the action: He released us (set us free) from our sins. The cost was His blood, poured out for us in His death on the cross. We were once held captive by the power of sin (including guilt and its penalty), from which Christ’s death has set us free.
    John then describes the vocation Christ has now bestowed upon us. As those who are redeemed, we now constitute a community under God, who benefit from and respond to his rule and so represent him to the wider world.

    C. Two-fold Theme of Revelation

    1. Jesus is Coming (1:7)

    2. God is Sovereign (1:8)

      • Mark 1:1NASB95

      • 1 Corinthians 7:22NASB95

      • 1 Peter 2:16NASB95

      • Daniel 2:28–29NASB95

      • Daniel 2:21NASB95

      • Daniel 2:44NASB95

      • Daniel 2:47NASB95

      • Amos 3:7NASB95

      • Revelation 10:7NASB95

      • Isaiah 11:2NASB95

      • Psalm 2:2NASB95

      • Psalm 2:6–7NASB95

      • Daniel 7:13NASB95

      • Zechariah 12:10NASB95

  • Blessed Assurance
Bethel Baptist Church of Tillamook, OR
revrlcasper@gmail.com
(503) 842-5598
https://bbc-tillamook.faithlifesites.com
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