Revelation (Apocalypse) #1: Introduction (Chapter 1)

sermon Book of Revelation 1 : Pierre Constant, 2022_09_19, AB Lausanne church

Revelation Bible Study #1: Introduction (Chapter 1)

A book apart

A book to warn, to console
A book addressed to the Christians of Asia Minor of the first century to warn them, to console them because of the persecution of Christians.

It is the revelation of Jesus Christ, that is to say from Jesus Christ or about Him.

An underrated literary genre

The apocalyptic genre was used in contemporary literature from 200 BC to 200 AD.

Some examples :

1 Enoch (in Ethiopian language)
4 Esdras (4th book of Esdras)
2 Baruch (Greek Apocalypse of Baruch)

The same literary genre is already present in the Old Testament, example:

Isaiah 24.14-23, 26.15, 27.1 and 65.17-25
Ezekiel 8.1-4

Daniel 7:13-18

Joel 3.1-5

Zechariah 1.8-13

A similar modern literary genre in fantasy literature: Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, C. S. Lewis’s Tales of Narnia

Read while respecting the literary genre

The literal meaning is rarely the most appropriate.
Images and symbols are often explained.
Numbers are rarely explained literally.
The plot is not necessarily chronological (very similar to movie trailers).
Not necessarily a book that announces the future.

A text that cannot mean today what it did not mean in the first century.

A mix of genres

Prophetic: Announcing the future and announcing the will of God (like the action of the prophets)
The epistolary genre: the letters to the seven churches in chapters 2 and 3 (like the epistles).
The apocalyptic genre.
A Literature of Prophetic Revelation
Use of sometimes esoteric symbolism
Mix of time perspectives: past, present and future.

Mixture of geographical perspectives: sky, skies and earth.

Angelic mediation: about 2/3 of written apocalypses.

Speech cycles: about 80% of written apocalypses.

A literature very often pseudonymous, the exception of which is that of Jean, who uses his personal name.

here is your king
Revelation 1

Revelation 1.1-3

A revelation”
A Revelation “God Gave Him”
A Revelation “of Jesus Christ”
Verse 3

The book is commonly addressed to the churches. It was to be read by a person in the first recipient churches and the believers listened.

Revelation 1.4-8

Verse 4: introduction to the typical book of the time (cf. Paul’s Epistles)

Major Themes of Revelation

has. The person of God (Father);

b. The Seven Spirits of God (Holy Spirit);

vs. Jesus Christ:
• faithful witness,

the firstborn from the dead,
the ruler of the kings of the earth.

Fundamental verse of the book

verse 5c: “the firstborn” = the most important, the highest (Ps 89: 28)

Verse 6: Victory (I noted deliverance?) is not to be expected. It has already taken place “He loves us, he has delivered us”.

Christ has set us free from sin (Colossians 2 )

This victory is more important than chapter 19 which speaks of His return (there would have been no return if there had not been the victory before)

Chapter 5, the slain lamb, is the turning point of the story.

The rest is determined and what follows is inevitable.

Verses 7-8

The Final Perspective of Revelation “He comes with the clouds: “He is both savior and judge”

• one of many allusions to the OT, Exodus 19
• the text of Dan 7.13 also speaks of the Son of man
• an expression often used about God himself: “every eye will see him”

Revelation 1.9-11

Circumstances:

in the island called Patmos,
“in spirit”.
In Revelation, this expression appears here (1.10), in 4.2 (led to heaven), 17.3 (led to the desert) and finally in 21.10 (carried up a great and high mountain). It is therefore a celestial journey that John undertakes.

This heavenly journey takes place “on the Lord’s day” (Sunday).
The voice John hears sounds is like a trumpet, clear and distinct.

Revelation 1.9-16

We are now entering into full apocalyptic vision. Even the grammar is difficult to follow

John first sees seven golden candlesticks. Their identity will be revealed a little later.

In apocalyptic literature, there are many symbols and mysteries:
• sometimes they are explained immediately,
• sometimes they are explained a little further,
• sometimes their explanation must wait several paragraphs (even a few chapters),

• sometimes they remain unexplained,

• sometimes a vision can be repeated.

John sees someone in his vision among the candlesticks:

Someone like a Son of man. Jean presents it in detail:

verse 12, Son of man (a human appearance),

verse 12, the dress (the length is a sign of authority and importance)

Revelation 1:17-20

Explanation of certain elements of the vision

recorded in verses 12-17.

Verse 18 presents the identity of this Son of man

The structure of v. 19

The explanation of the seven stars and the seven candlesticks:

• the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches,

• the seven candlesticks are the seven churches.
An echo of a vision reported in Zechariah 4 , with nuances

Conclusion

The churches are in his hands, he stands in the midst of them.

Key Bible Passages

Revelation 1 / KJV Bible

1. The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
2. Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.
3. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
4. John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;
5. And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
6. And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
7. Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.
8. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
9. I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
10. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,
11. Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.
12. And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;
13. And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.
14. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;
15. And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.
16. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.
17. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:
18. I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
19. Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;
20. The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.