Chapter 1

Notice that the Ch1 box is right at the beginning of the flowchart, right where we would expect it to be.

V1 makes the point that what is about to be revealed "must soon take place." Some take this to refer to the entire book of Revelation, which I think is a mistake. The first verse in chapter 4 states that John is about to be shown what must take place "after this," which I take to mean after what is described in the first 3 chapters, and so "what must soon take place" in 1:1 must refer the first 3 chapters only. Verse 19 seems to further substantiate this as well, when Jesus says, "Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later."

In any event, John himself states in verses 9,10 that he was "in the Spirit" when this revelation came to him. This indicates the symbolic nature of apocalyptic language, and that we might miss the point if we literalize too much. Symbols mean things, and they convey things, but they are not intended to be taken literally, but rather symbolically. Often they will symbolize one thing by recalling something else. And here in this book much of the symbolism comes from the Old Testament. And so we'll try to get at the meanings behind the symbols while avoiding getting too hung up on the symbols themselves.

The next two chapters focus on the seven churches of Asia which, according to the map at the left, were about 50 miles apart, forming a circle in a part of Asia Minor that was then a Roman province but is now western Turkey. It is likely that this entire book, including the seven letters to these individual churches, was sent to each church. Chapter one gives us the opening and introduction of the book, while chapters two and three give us specific messages to those seven churches that, although for them specifically, have application for us today. We will look at those messages in the next two files, but for now let us recognize an immediacy that the first three chapters of this book had for the seven churches of Asia (1:1) that is fundamentally different from the rest of the book (4:1).

Much has been made of the imagery in this first chapter, but if we boil it down two basic points are made:

1.) This book is from Jesus Christ, who has redeemed us by His blood; and

2.) If we understand this book we'll be blessed. This blessing is also promised in 22:7, which is significant. Many people don't feel blessed by reading this book at all. They just feel confused. As we go through the book we'll try to find out just what those blessings are.

It has been said by some that you can't find the Gospel in Revelation. Nothing could be further from the truth. Defining the Gospel as the apostle Paul did in 1 Corinthians 15:1-8 as Jesus' life, death, burial, and resurrection, then this chapter alone has five references to it, v5 (twice), 7, 8, and 18.

So already we see that this book, the only one in the entire bible coming to us from Jesus, and not the Holy Spirit, is important. Outside of the three epistles John wrote, it had been perhaps more than thirty years since an inspired writing had been penned for the church. During that time persecutions had become quite severe, and the church was in dire need of encouragement. Seeing as how this book was from the One for whom many were suffering, and also seeing as how probably the majority in the church at this time were not even born before Jesus ascended into Heaven, this was perhaps their first somewhat direct contact from Him. What an encouragement that would be! The next two chapters will show that Jesus was not unaware of what was happening to the church.

So whatever else one might be able to get out of chapter one, the main things to remember are that this book is from Jesus the Messiah, and that if we understand it we'll be blessed. Just what the nature of those blessings might be we cannot be sure, since we're only in chapter one. As we go along it should become clearer.