Revelation 1: The Unveiling of Jesus Christ

PHIL HARRIS

Purpose

Understanding  that many people are troubled concerning what is revealed in the book of Revelation, we begin an exploration of this last book from the apostle John. We have several purposes as we begin our study:

1. For those who are not yet in the kingdom of God, the appeal is for you to respond to the biblical gospel of Jesus Christ.
2. For those who are in the kingdom of God, we encourage you to study and understand the message that Jesus Christ gives us in this last book of the Bible, especially His promise to return to eternally put away all sin, pain, and death.
3. We will focus on the promise of Jesus Christ that the Holy Spirit, who personally indwells every sinner who responds to the gospel message, will never separate or depart from any believer, leaving him or her to face the end time tribulation alone.

Therefore, as we examine the promises in Revelation, it is important to expose the lies of Seventh-day Adventism as it relates to this book.

First, as we start going through these passages, it is important to have an understanding of what these Scripture say and mean, acknowledging that there are some mysteries that will only become clear as we move more fully into the end times.

Second, In Matthew 24:45-51 Jesus taught us that the “wise servant” is blessed. This wise servant is the one whom the Master finds caring for his “household” when he returns, something we as believers should always be doing now. In fact, Jesus gave his followers a “new commandment” which gives us our marching orders as we live our lives on earth:

 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ’Where I am going you cannot come.’ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:33-35)

The Revelation of Jesus Christ

Revelation, in concert with all of the other books of the Bible, contains the very words that Jesus the Son of God placed within the mind of His appointed writers, in this case the Apostle John. In fact, God spoke in the very same way to all His true prophets including the Prophet Jeremiah, as we learn in Jeremiah 1:1-10. Let’s compare what we learn about God’s inspiration of Jeremiah and compare it to His inspiration of John:

Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the LORD said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth… (Jer. 1:9).

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw (Rev. 1:1 & 2).

When God places his words in the mind and mouth of a prophet, even the very small words matter and are recorded exactly as given. Furthermore, in Hebrews 1:1 we are reminded that in previous times God spoke to mankind through the prophets of old, but in these last days God speaks to us through his Son Jesus Christ. We see in the book of Revelation what God gave to his Son to show to his servants about what must soon take place. The Lord Jesus delivered these revelations through an angel who came to the Apostle John in a vision. This vision has been recorded by John just as it was given to him by Jesus Christ. 

In other words, God gave Jeremiah His own words to speak, and the Lord Jesus gave His own testimony of Himself to the apostle John. These words from God are trustworthy, and they are exactly the words God wanted Jeremiah and John to write.

For those who have ever believed in the prophetic ability of Ellen G. White, this question of inspiration, or how God gives His words to His prophets, brings up the question of EGW’s self-proclaimed title, the “spirit of prophecy”. Let’s take a look at the passage in Revelation where Adventism has made a very small but deadly interpretive change to validate Ellen White’s claim. Here is the passage:

Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy (Rev. 19:10).

The whole book of Revelation, even the very small words, is ’”he testimony of Jesus Christ”. Furthermore, it is only the testimony of Jesus Himself that is called “the spirit of prophecy” as stated in Rev. 19:10. It is heresy for Ellen G. White to claim this title.

Sometimes Adventists say that Ellen White was “a” spirit of prophecy—and they use Revelation 19:10 as their proof text that Ellen White’s claim to be the “spirit of prophecy” was a biblical claim. 

One cannot quote this verse, exchanging the word “a” for “the”, and thereby falsely claim she was a spirit of prophecy. Neither can Ellen herself legitimately call herself what Scripture ascribes to the witness of Jesus! My own conclusion is that Ellen G. White could not hear the voice of Jesus because she was not one of Jesus’ “sheep”. His own sheep would not claim His title for themselves.

Those who hear and know the voice of Jesus are those who belong to Jesus (John 10:22-39).

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one” (John 10:27-30).

When the Jews asked if Jesus claimed to be the Christ, Jesus said He was able to give eternal life to His “sheep”, that they (his servants) would know His voice, and that none would be able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. The Jews were ready to stone Him because of what He said. They could not “hear” (understand) what Jesus told them because none of them was one of His sheep.

Even today, God’s word is obscure to those who are not the Lord’s sheep. The key to understanding the book of Revelation, therefore, is to be one of Jesus’ sheep—His “servants”—and thus to be able to hear His voice in the words He has given.

Blessed

We turn now to verse three of Revelation 1:

Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near (Vs. 3).

The book of Revelation is the very last prophecy Jesus gave to His servants, and it begins with a two-part blessing. In fact, Revelation mentions a blessing seven times. The first blessings comes to those who simply read this prophecy aloud. In other words, taking the time read these words of prophecy out loud will bring a blessing. The second blessing is promised to those who both hear and keep what is written in this book. In fact, James, Jesus’ half-brother, says it is folly to do otherwise:

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. (James 1:22-25)

Greetings to the seven churches who are in Asia

The apostle John, acting under the instructions of Jesus Christ, records and sends a message of grace and peace to each of seven selected churches within the Roman province of Asia which is now the modern-day country of Turkey. John writes this letter in the name of the one “who is and who was and is to come” and from the seven spirits who are before his throne (see verse 4).

How are we to understand the “seven spirits” before the throne?

We receive insight from Isaiah who mentions the Spirit of God seven ways in this passage where Jesus Christ is prophesied as the Branch of the stump of Jesse:

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD (Isaiah 11:1-2).

In other words, the “seven spirits” represent the Spirit of God who imparts God’s attributes including wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, and the fear of the Lord.

Salvation and firstborn of the dead

Next, in verses five and six, John writes this:

…and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen (Vs. 5-6).

In order to understand the significance of Jesus’ being the firstborn of the dead, we need to look back to Genesis to discover what it means to be “dead” and to learn why Jesus had to be the “firstborn”. 

The first and only command God gave to mankind in the Garden of Eden is contained within what is sometimes called the Edenic Covenant (Gen. 1:26-30 & 2:15-17):

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them (Gen. 1:26-27).

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:16-17).

In spite of God’s warnings, Genesis 3:1-7 tells us that they did eat of the forbidden fruit, and they did die that very day as God had said—their spirits died, and they knew shame and guilt. They were spiritually separated from God and even from each other. In John 3:1-15 we learn from the words of Jesus that fallen mankind is born with a dead human spirit that must be re-born if he or she wishes to become part of the kingdom of God and have eternal life. The gospel of Jesus Christ—the blood shed by him on Calvary and His resurrection—is the one and only “good news” that restores the spiritual relationship with God that was lost that day Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. In fact, this gospel of Jesus’ work of atonement and propitiation is the one and only gospel to be preached by the saints of God.

In fact, we find in Genesis 3:14–15 the first promise from God that He would send a human, a son of Eve, who would crush the serpent who deceived them—after that serpent bruised the promised Seed. 

The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Gen. 3:14-15).

This good news, that God would send a deliverer to crush the deceiver and to save the humans he had deceived, is the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the good news that makes it possible for people to be born again, as Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3:1–15. There is no other gospel.

Nevertheless, Seventh-day Adventists insist that their “health message” is part of the gospel, even calling it the “right arm of the gospel”. They deceive unsuspecting people into their false religion by preaching their dietary and lifestyle beliefs, calling them “health” lessons, and then presenting their doctrines to them after they have convinced them to adopt vegetarianism and exercise regimens. 

Although God’s words to the serpent were still veiled in mystery, we now know they pointed to Calvary. The death of Jesus on the cross was a temporary “bruising of His heel”, but when Jesus arose from the grave three days later, Satan became aware of his own fatal head wound. He had failed to destroy Eve’s Son. Satan knows his time is short, and He will soon be cast eternally into the Lake of Fire.

In 1 Corinthians 15 we find the central passage that defines the gospel, and we also find Paul’s detailed discussion of Jesus’ resurrection and the promise of our own. The gospel definition is in verses 1–4:

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures… (1 Cor. 15:1-4)

Salvation, the gospel message of Jesus Christ, is that he died for our sins, was buried, and that he was raised three days later—all in accordance with Scripture. His resurrection, a singularity which demonstrated that His sacrifice had been sufficient to atone for human sin, designates Jesus as the firstfruits, or the firstborn, from the dead:

For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. (1 Cor. 15:21-23)

Adam, the first man, brought death. Jesus, the second man—the incarnate God the Son—brought eternal life. Without Jesus there would be no eternal life for fallen mankind. Therefore, Jesus is the firstfruits from the dead. This astonishing fact is why He is called the “firstborn from the dead”.

The Alpha and the Omega

After identifying Jesus as the firstborn from the dead and the Source of salvation, John reveals that Jesus is coming again. He is the beginning, and He is the end!

Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen (Vs. 7).

This is the event that all the saints are looking forward to. All will see him, even those those who are headed to the Lake of Fire—and all will finally recognize who He really is. Those who did not believe in Him will be terrified by His appearing, but those who know Him will rejoice!

I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” (Vs. 8)

This designation is the signature of Jesus Christ, the author of this book, the Son of God, the Almighty. Jesus is the eternal “Alpha and Omega”.

It is important to note that never, as Ellen White claims, was Jesus ever elevated to the side of the Father. Jesus the Son of God has always been  the eternal, almighty Alpha and the Omega, the Creator of all that exists.

John receives the vision

In verses 9–11 we learn a bit about John’s circumstances on the day the Lord gave him the message of Revelation.

John, who is writing in exile from the island of Patmos, calls himself a brother to those to whom he is sending this letter. Even though the original recipients where in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea, the overall context of the vision makes it clear that this is a personal letter sent to each individual member of the worldwide universal church, the “bride of Christ”. Furthermore, John is “in the Spirit on the Lord’s day” when he hears a loud voice from behind instructing him to write what he sees in the vision and to send it to the seven churches.

Contrary to the false claims of Adventism which insist that John was in vision on the seventh-day Sabbath, history records the Lord’s Day as being the first day of the week and not the Jewish Sabbath. In fact, church history reveals that from the earliest days Christians, especially those who were gentiles, met primarily on “the eighth day” in commemoration of Jesus’ resurrection. A good resource to verify the meaning of the “Lord’s Day” is the well-documented book, The Lord’s day From Neither Catholics Nor Pagans by Dudley Marvin Canright. Significantly, the Roman Catholic Church does not make the claim that their pope (in or around 350 years after the age of the Apostles) changed the Sabbath as claimed by Ellen G. White.

John writes further: 

Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. (vs. 12-16)

This shocking vision overwhelms John, and we learn in verse 17a that he recognizes that this is Jesus speaking, and he falls down as though dead. Jesus lays his right hand on him and says; “Fear not”. 

One can only imagine what John felt as he witnessed His Lord, on whose shoulder he had leaned at the Last Supper, appearing to him in His glory, not veiled for human eyes as He had been during His ministry. 

We then learn in verse 17b that Jesus is the “First and the Last”—in other words, He is the eternal Son of God. Verse 18 reveals that Jesus is the Living One, the One who died but is alive forevermore. Because of He conquered death, He has “the keys of Death and Hades”.

Then, in verse 19, Jesus Christ personally commissions His beloved apostle John to write what he has been shown, and in verse 20 John sets the stage for Jesus’s letters by describing what he sees. Jesus is holding seven stars in His right hand, and John tells us they are the angels of the seven churches, and Jesus is walking among seven lampstands that represent the seven churches.

Summary

As we look at this introduction to the book of Revelation, we can take away six important points:

1. The very words of the book of Revelation constitute our Lord Jesus Christ’s final unveiling of the end time events that precede His return.
2. This prophecy is directed and addressed to seven churches who represent the entire body of Christ in all ages leading up to Jesus’ return. Therefore, it is important that each member of the body of Christ read, hear, and understand this prophecy.
3. It is important to know that no saint of God will ever stand alone in the end-time events because the Holy Spirit will never depart from those who know and love Jesus.
4. Those who simply read these words of Jesus Christ will be blessed. Those who respond to the warnings (become doers) within this prophecy will receive an additional blessing. As we study through this prophecy, “blessing” is mentioned a total of seven times.
5. The apostle John received this vision on the Lord’s Day. Early history of the church clearly records this day as being Sunday, the first day of the week.
6. As the source of this prophecy, Jesus Christ is the one and only Spirit of Prophecy. It is heresy for anyone else to claim this title.

—All biblical quotes taken from the ESV

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Phillip Harris

Phil Harris and his wife Janeane have been married 57 years and have three children, six grandchildren and 6 great grand children. Phil dropped out of Adventism at age 16 and didn't learned the biblical gospel until 10 years later. After 3 years in the Marine Corps he spent 25 years as a Shipfitter followed by another 23 years in a local food processing plant. He and Janeane now live quietly on two-and-a-half wooded acres on Puget Sound, Washington, where Phil gardens and writes for Proclamation! and for BibleStudiesforAdventists.com.

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