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Verse 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" (Revelation 1:3)

I ask that the reader please take very special notice to the promise God issues to those who study Revelation. He promises to bless three kinds of people:

• Those who read
• Those who hear.
• Those who keep ("keep" means to guard with care)

So you can see that God will bless anyone who will observe or study Revelation.

You will also notice that we are to study these things because "the time is at hand." It is always at hand. In other words, it could happen at any minute. We are to WATCH at all times because it could be today.

The word "blessed" in this verse means happy, contented, etc. The reason is that those who are looking for Jesus to come are the happiest people in all the world. Communism, atomic bombs, wars, etc., cannot keep a person from being happy who is looking up every day for the return of the King of Kings. And God will bless that abundantly.

God also seems to abundantly bless churches who believe and study Revelation.

Now, as we move into verse 4, I ask that you remember from our previous study that the meaning of revelation is to manifest or reveal.

Verse 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;"

In these verses John is greeting the churches to whom he is writing. There were many things wrong with these churches, yet John takes the time to greet each of them in a courteous way. There is a lesson here: we as Christians must remain courteous, just as John did. We must not come off as unfriendly or curt toward others, but friendly and courteous in a real Christian manner.

John is seen here writing to seven Churches, which signifies that he is writing to the entire church, no matter where they are located or when they existed. Many churches have used the excuse that the book of Revelation should not be read by believers for the reason that is was written to only to these seven churches. However, it was written to all churches, and the church is all believers, regardless of denomination. It was written for all believers of all ages.

Revelation was written to young churches. Nowadays, people say that Revelation is too hard for us to understand, yet the book was written to new believers.

Notice how John says, "grace be unto you and peace." It was the custom of Jews to greet each other with the phrase, "peace be unto you." John went a step further and added grace to that because there can be no real peace unless there has been grace for our sins first. In other words, a person who has never been saved cannot know true peace.

"And from the seven spirits." The number seven is a symbol that stands for divinity, and is used to describe the Spirit of God and His work. There were seven days of creation, seven feasts of Isreal, etc.. Here John refers to the seven Spirits of God, which is taken from Isaiah 11:2 which says, "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 of the fear of the LORD;" No, there are not seven Holy Spirits. These are attributes of the person of the Holy Spirit, and describe Him completely, at least in the context of what Isaiah was speaking about.

Verse 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, "

"And from Jesus Christ" Think of it, a letter from One so important as Jesus Christ.

"Who is the faithful witness" I believe that this means that Jesus is our legal witness before God. In a trial, there is always a "key witness." When we stand before God, Jesus will say that He witnessed our conversion experience, and will be our witness.

Notice the word "prince". It should be "ruler." He is the King of Kings and is going to reign someday on the earth for a thousand blessed years.

"Unto him that loved us" Not only did He love us enough to die for us (past tense), but He loves us as much as ever, His love never grows stale.

"And washed us" can be rendered as "He freed us." On the cross, Jesus freed us when we accept the washing power of His sacrifice for us on the cross.

"In his own blood"--- it is the blood of Christ which covers and cleanses us, just as the skin of the lamb covered the nakedness of Adam and Eve. His blood is our clean covering, our robe of righteousness.

This is a direct fulfillment of God's promise in the Old Testament: "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool" (Isaiah 1:18).