Revelation and You

A few years before I discovered Jesus as my savior in 1972, I remember being curious about the New Testament. So, I found a copy and opened to the first page. This is what I read:

The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham: Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez was the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram. Ram was the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon. 

That was as far as I got. Just a bunch of names – names that meant nothing to me beyond a distant familiarity with the name of Abraham. But the others? Nothing.

I closed the book and thought the New Testament had to be THE most boring book in the world. What did anyone see in it of value?

Oh, if only I had read just a little further. But I fell for Satan’s seductive whisper that there was nothing for me in the book of Matthew – or the New Testament itself.

My point? Many Christians fall for an equally seductive lie when they believe what they hear from some pulpits and Bible commentators that the Book of Revelation is an indecipherable mystery.

But that opinion is not only nonsense – it is spiritually dangerous nonsense. If Revelation is indecipherable, if no one can understand the book’s message, then Jesus would never have said what he did about reading it, hearing it, and obeying it. Turn to the first chapter and here is what the Lord Jesus immediately tells us in verse three:

"Blessed is the one who reads aloud and blessed are those who listen to this prophetic message and heed what is written in it, for the appointed time is near.” (Revelation 1:3)

If the central message of Revelation was incomprehensible, then Jesus’ warning in that first chapter makes no sense. And neither does His warning at the end of the book: “Behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the prophetic message of this book.” (22:7)

 The Lord would never command us to obey something that we cannot understand.

I think I know why Satan wants Christians to avoid reading Revelation. There is so much in that prophecy that is applicable to the 21st century church, that the fewer Christians who read and heed that message, the further Satan can advance his evil.

Christian, I implore you – do not be like I was the first time I read the New Testament. God ensured that the book of Revelation is in the New Testament canon because He has a message in that book for us in the 21st century.

Let me suggest this to you: In the next day or so, read the first three chapters of the book, and as you read Christ’s messages to the seven churches in chapters two and three, ask yourself how those messages might apply to your own life of faith.

You might not know names such as Nicolaitans, or Balaam, Balak, or Jezebel – and that’s okay for now. Remember, I didn’t know virtually any of the names when I first read Matthew’s gospel. But names aside, look for the message of Christ to those churches. His message – which is timeless – surely applies to us today.

Don’t let Satan’s seductive lies keep you any longer from hearing the Holy Spirit’s voice through the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ to the 21st century church.

He has so much to tell us.