JESUS REVEALS HIS IDENTITY
Dr. Stephen R. Phinney
The critical point we need to remember is that God gave this Revelation to His Son, not to John. For whatever reason, it was shown to John, the Beloved Disciple of Jesus. Events were revealed to him that must happen, which will soon come to pass. These things were revealed to John by an angel, sent by God, for John to write them down for our benefit.
The Revelation of Jesus was not just revealing Christ Himself, but the final events that have, are, and will be occurring around Him. While Jesus was still with His disciples, He spoke of the things written in this book. The disciples had a human curiosity and wanted to know what He meant by some of the things that He was saying.
Mark 13:4-6 says, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are going to be fulfilled?” And Jesus said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you. Many will come in My name saying, ‘I am He!’ and will mislead many.”
A lot of people, when they read the book of Revelation, actually become frightened. Jesus has made it very clear to us not to be frightened.
An interesting note is that Jesus Himself, as well as the angels, did not know of these things until He ascended unto His Father. As far as we can tell, Jesus was not given the details of Revelation until the same time that John was given the vision. That makes the writing of this book extremely significant. John was given the finality of the Holy Scriptures in one setting. John, the Beloved, was chosen by God to pen the final Words of God Himself. No Words of God were ever re-recorded. If anyone decides to either add a few of their own words or delete a few from this book for their benefit, God will permanently remove them from the Book of Life.
Jesus said, “When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be frightened; those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will also be famines. These things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. But be on your guard; for they will deliver you to the courts, and you will be flogged in the synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them. The gospel must first be preached to all the nations.” (Mark 13:7-10)
As I said before, John was given the finality of the holy scriptures in one setting. John, the Beloved of Jesus Christ, was chosen by God to pen the final Words of God Himself. We must understand the potency of this particular doctrinal statement that I am making. The writings that John produced were the last Words that God had, particularly for the seven churches. One interesting point is that the full story is in seven days.
What about these “things that must soon take place” when it has been almost 2,000 years since John penned these words? The answer is given to us in several passages in the Word, but the passage of 2 Peter 3:8, clearly defines it for us.
If you take a look at 2 Peter 3:8, you’re going to find something very interesting—the whole “meal deal” takes place in seven days. Now keep in mind that a thousand years for mankind is one day for the Lord. Let’s just assume, but I don’t think it’s much of assumption, that seven thousand years are given to the earth—that is seven days to the Lord. We think of one thousand years, and the many generations that fulfill one thousand years is a very, very long time. But for God, it’s only a day. Keeping this in play, when we talk about the Day of Judgment, it is the 1,000-year reign of Jesus Christ. When we talk about how long this world will last, at the end of the seventh day or seven thousand year mark, is when things are going to close off permanently for the earth.
Another point of interest is “Blessed are the ones who read and listen” (Rev. 1:3). The actual translation is “Blessed are those that read this aloud to an assembly.” If we want to be blessed, we are to make public these words written by John, from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. If we want to be cursed, just try to add or delete a few words—that’s the simplicity of John’s instructions. Everything that John wrote needed to be the exact words that were dictated to him to write and give to the seven churches.
One of the questions I had early on in my Christianity was, “Why wasn’t this book written to the world?” They seem to be the group that is being addressed the most in the book of Revelation, so why the seven churches? The seven churches were given the commission to advance the gospel, and the lion-share of these seven churches became side-tracked in the wilderness. There was only one church that seemed to rise and shine the true colors of Jesus Christ, and that was the church of Philadelphia.
In the greeting in Revelation 1:4-6 it says, “John to the seven churches that are in Asia: ‘Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood—and He had made us be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen!’”
John’s greeting was written to the seven churches because the seven churches were supposed to bring this message forward so that you and I can read it aloud, proclaim it in our sermons, and warn the church.
Unbelievers are not going to understand the book of Revelation unless the Spirit of the Living God makes it clear to them, and that usually requires a born-again experience to receive the life of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit into their mortal beings. It is the Spirit who will grant understanding to some of the descriptives like dragons, and ten horns, and seven heads—things that seem to be coded and a bit of mystery for unbelievers. But if you are a believer and you have the Holy Spirit living within you, this greeting is to you. You are a descendant of one of these seven churches.
