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 who
bare record of the word of God, and of
the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all
things that he saw. 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 1:1-3
There cannot be doubt as to who wrote the book of Revelation; it was John the apostle. There cannot be doubt as to its authenticity. There cannot be doubt as to it being inspired by the Holy Spirit. As to verify that the apostle John wrote this book one only has to read verse 4 of chapter 1"John to the seven assemblies which are in Asia:.....(Revelation 1:4a). Who better is qualified to write this book? John the loved apostle of Jesus Christ who lived to 100 years of age, who wrote his letter John that gave an apologetic that Jesus Christ is God, is the Savior and that eternal life, salvation only comes by means of our conversion to Jesus Christ. John who wrote those three little letters that packed so much punch as to teach us how we are to live and love. The authenticity of the book of Revelation is strongly authenticated by the earliest of Christian writers, so much so that we can be satisfied that they understood, believed and taught that this book is inspired of God and is for our edification. One only has to read this book to see that only if it was inspired could such a writing take place, that it contains what God communicated to His Church because the line of apostles, those who spoke the words of God before were no longer needed to communicate God's word. First, it was the apostles and others who wrote about this event, Jesus Christ, His life, His death, and His resurrection and His ascension into heaven and then in time came the printing press making the manuscripts available to everyone who desired to read them. The internal evidence is indisputable. How? The imagery found in Revelation corresponds in doctrine with other books of Divine authority. The style of writing is the same as the apostle John.
Yet, this book, Revelation, has more discussion, controversy, theories, revelation by many different faiths, Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, the Seventh Day Adventist, The Church of God, and other Protestant and Catholic Churches. This makes it a hard task to get to the truth. Remember it is context, context, context, and not just from the surrounding verses, the book also, the Bible as a whole for this book that contains many books is only one Book, it is the word of God for His people, those in antiquity, and those in the present, and those who will come before the coming of Jesus Christ on the last day.
There are some modern scholars that hold to a theory that the author of Revelation is a putative figure, they call him, "John of Patmos." They are write for the writer of this book tells us: "I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ" (Revelation 1:9). Who was on the isle of Patmos? The apostle John. Patmos is an small island made of rock and is barren, a place where criminals of Rome were sent to serve their sentences and were forced to work under harsh conditions in the mines. John was sent there due to the persecution be the Roman emperor Domitian who in his mind had reasons to persecute Christians he considered to be a cult who were causing trouble. Domitian (81-96 A.D.) and John was known to have lived during the time of Domitian.
Before we can venture into the idea of God we must come to understand that for some they know about God and others know God. It is not enough to just know about something or someone, a person who knows is one who knows as a child knows his/her parents. To "know" God is an experiential knowing, relational knowing. It is this "knowing" about Jesus Christ a person obtains eternal life.This "knowing" is not as does a person who knows the answer to a question, no, it is a "real, relational, knowing."
The book of Revelation is definitely a book about prophecy and prophecy is also an aspect of revelation because God's proclamation is not only predictive, it is revelation. Today, as has been in the past for some, prophecy is treated as divine blueprints and this so that they can make contemporary events making the Bible to have predicted those events. Many have placed their hopes in someone's prediction about the book of Revelation and other prophecies only to be disappointed due to failure of those predictions. Jehovah Witnesses went so far in their prediction of prophecy to teach that some of the old men of the Bible would come to live in a house in San Diego, Beth Sarim, only to later have to sell this house as that prediction failed. Many men and women have profited greatly due to their ability to have followers who believed in their supposed "truth," or "keys," to prophecy.
We must be careful, I must be careful in attempting to teach on this book. But as the opening Scriptures testify: you will benefit if you read it and we will read it with good critical thinking. This will take time but in the end the goal of strengthening our faith will be accomplished.
Are you ready? This will be a ride!
Surely the Lord God will do nothing,
but He revealeth His secret unto
His servants the prophets.
Amos 3:7
God's word: His revelation to His children
Richard L. Crumb
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