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I am honored and blessed to have this oportunity to share the gospel and the meaning of the book of Revelation with you through this column in Rev. Joey Kelly's online magazine. I'd like to begin by thanking Rev. Joey Kelly and the Lord for giving me this opportunity.

I would also like to say that this study of the Book of Revelation is comprised of material I have put together from my studies over the past 2 1/2 years, and from the insights I have gained under the teaching and direction of my pastor, Dr. David L. Wolfe.

1. Some say that Revelation cannot be understood. If this were to be true then the Holy Spirit is falling down on His job to reveal the truth of the Scriptures.
2. Others may say that they will leave off Revelation and simply preach the gospel because of its "complications". God has charged us to preach the Word, the book of Revelation is part of the Word.
3. Some say that John was an old man when he wrote the book of Revelation and was mentally weak. I may sound brash by saying this, but any one who denies inspiration of the Scriptures is of his father, the devil.
4. Some say that Revelation was written in a time of heavy persecution of believers and John had to write the book of Revelation in symbols so he would not have been persecuted. Revelation was writien in the same decade as I, II, and III John, yet, they do not appear as books written with symbols.
5. Still others may say that it is too deep for them. I Cor 2:14 tells us why the book of Revelation is too deep for them.

The Book of Revelation was writen around 96 AD. The Apostle John wrote the book of Revelation while he was in exile on the Island of Patmos.

Those who keep the prophesies of this book are blessed according to Scriptures. I firmly believe that the believer needs to take heed to the book of Revelation and other prophecies all through out the Bible.

I will be taking the book of Daniel and Hosea in later Bible studies in the book of Revelation for comparison. I also may use other verses on prophecy to further the readers understanding with my exergesis on the topic under discussion.

Today, we will take the time to look at Revelation 1:1-2.

Verse 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:" Revelation 1:1

1. "The Revelation" The word means unveiling, uncovering, presentation, appearing, coming (as in a great performance when the curtain is pulled and the show is unveiled.) The same word was used when Paul saw Jesus on the Damascus Road. This Book, above all, shows the Lord Jesus Christ and reveals Him unto us. Hence, one who does not know Revelation cannot know Jesus as he should. I believe it is a shame that so many people are completely ignorant (without knowledge) of such a wonderful book as Revelation.

2. "Which God gave unto Him" I believe that this clearly means that God has given His Son the glory of the coming of Revelation because of the suffering that He endured. He shall avenge His death on the cross when He comes in His glory.

3. The word "servants" means literally, "bondservants." A bondservant was one who had completed his time as a slave, but out of love for his master he volunteered to continue to be a servant. This is the kind of servant God wants. This is also the kind of servant we must be; we must, out of love, seek to continue to serve the Lord Jesus Christ.

4."Shortly" The word "shortly" has been the cause of a lot of strange opinions on the book of Revelation. Because of this word many people, who are called preterists, believe that all the events of the book of Revelation were fulfilled before 70 AD. as a result of the distruction of the temple by Titus in 70 AD. I must say that the book of Revelation was authored around 96 AD. Thus, ruling out any possibility of the preterist view on the book of Revelation. In this verse, the word "shortly" means "speedily" or "surely." In other words there is no doubt that the things written in this Book will come to pass.

5. You will notice that this message was given to John by an angel. (see Rev. 2:29). Some think that this teaches that the messenger was an Old Testament prophet. This may be true. However, angels do not hold the rank that the Saints do, so this logically eliminates this possibility. I simply believe it was an angel that the Lord chose to deliever the Revelation of Jesus Christ to John on the Island of Patmos.

6. We find the writer in this verse. It was John, the apostle. We will find in verse 2 that it was John speaking.

Verse 2: "Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw." Revelation 1:2.

This verse says that the John mentioned in verse 1 is the same John who bore record that Jesus was the WORD, and wrote that Jesus was the Son of God.

We will look at verses 3 and 4 in the next issue of this column .