Revelation - a Theme Statement

About a year ago, I wrote this about the central purpose of the Revelation. My thought was that, since John announces that the book is "The revelation of Jesus Christ" - maybe we ought to think of our experience in the Revelation as being a Jesus-centered phenomenon.

As Sheila and I were preparing to do our first week in our bible class this morning, I started paying a lot of attention to the following verses in Chapter 1, which describe Jesus as "the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth."

Really, this verse covers about 90% of the picture of Jesus that follows:

- He was a faithful witness - he spoke the words of God, even though they were unpopular. And he asks us to also be "faithful witnesses" in the same way.
- He is the firstborn from the dead. God is making a new creation, and his resurrection signals the beginning of that process. There is the promise that we follow him through death to new life.
- He is the ruler of the kings of the Earth. Now, in a mysterious, not fully realized way. But later, in a complete way as the Kingdom becomes fully established.

Thats it, in a nutshell. That is the picture of Jesus that this vision portrays.

Next week, Sheila is going to lead us through a reading of the book, followed by some quiet reflection on our experiences in hearing it. Its going to be a powerful thing, I think, as we get a chance to experience the blessing of hearing this book read aloud.

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