The Blessing

INTRODUCTION

"I can’t understand the rest of the Bible, but I can explain Revelation to you." That’s what he said! I am as serious as I can be. The man had stopped by my house to tell me all the things he didn’t like about the former pastor. As a matter of fact, he didn’t care too much for his wife either. It seemed that they had taken part in an effort to persuade people in the community to vote to keep the area dry. This man had to drive some distance to get his beer and he wasn’t happy about it. I don’t know how we moved from beer to the Revelation - and I don’t know how I responded to the man’s statement. Since the man never attended Sunday School or worship services,

I would have been surprised if he had told me he could understand the rest of the Bible but had a problem with Revelation. Let’s face it, Revelation is - shall we say, an unusual book - and because it is so unusual it has been a challenge to believers throughout the ages. One lady confided, Revelation scares me. I was attending a meeting of the board of trustees for LifeWay Christian Resources when I heard another trustee say he was teaching Revelation for the eighth consecutive time to his church. Unless he keeps changing his mind between studies, his people should be learning a little about the book by now.

Why is the Book of Revelation so complicated? Well, for one thing there is the apocalyptic language. We are simply not used to dealing with that, either in the rest of the Bible, in devotional books, or history books. It is filled with images, metaphors, and symbols. The next question is, why, if the Lord wants us to understand the book, did Jesus reveal this message to John in such symbolic language? Didn’t He know that people were going to be struggling with the message until He returns? Didn’t he know that people would adopt different positions on end-time events and defend them so adamantly that they would break fellowship over the interpretation?

There are three basic positions with reference to end-time events, and all have been preached with conviction, defended with fervor, and at times argued with an intensity often bordering on fanaticism. A friend told me years ago that in some places in east Texas when he was growing up, when a church was considering calling a new pastor, other pastors would contact them to see if they knew whether or not he was a premillennialist, postmillennialist, or amillennialist. If he didn’t hold their position they would try to persuade the church not to call that preacher. There is no doubt in my mind that a lot of Christians have been guilty of some very sinful attitudes in their defense of their position on the Rapture, the Great Tribulation, the Second Coming to wage war on the enemies of the Cross, and the millennial reign of Christ.

Someone asked the late Dr. Howard Spell, academic dean at Mississippi College, what his position was and he answered, "I am pro-millennial - any way the Lord works it out, I am for it." Some will say, "I am a pan-millennialist - I believe it will all pan out in the end."

Let me stress that I hold a pretribulation, premillennial position. I did not inherit that position from a pastor or from my parents. I did not adopt that from college or seminary professors - almost all of them were amillennialists. I listened to various views, studied God’s holy, inspired, inerrant Word and asked God to help me understand the issues and to lead me to the scriptural answer. I remember, as a young pastor, questioning other pastors. I spent some time with Dr. Wayne Ward at Ridgecrest (Conference Center) when I was still very young, asking him questions about his position. I spent a lot of time with the late Dr. H. Leo Eddleman, who had been president of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary when I was a student there. Dr. Eddleman confided, "If you used the word premillennial when I was there they made you feel like you needed to go out behind the chapel and wash your mouth out with soap."

Several years ago, I picked up a copy of the Mississippi Baptist Record and read an article about one of my all time favorite professors, Dr. E. R. Pinson. Dr. Pinson had celebrated his 92nd birthday and there was a very nice write-up about it. I called him and wished him a belated happy birthday and we visited for some time on the phone. I knew he had been interim pastor of churches since he retired at MC, and that he had been a conference speaker. I asked what he had been doing lately and he told me he was teaching a Sunday School class, and that he had just begun a study of the Book of Revelation. Then, Dr. Pinson said something I will never forget. He said, "Johnny, last Sunday for the first time in my life I stood in front of a class and said, ‘I am a premillennialist." I am amazed when a man reaches 92 years old and is willing to change his mind about anything. How had he arrived at that position? He had been studying his Bible, praying, and letting the Holy Spirit lead him.

Now let me stress one thing at the outset of this series. If you plant seeds of discord, water plants of strife, and cultivate a narrow minded, divisive attitude within your heart or within your church, you may well expect to reap the harvest of the seeds sown and attitudes cultivated. The Holy Spirit will be your teacher, and the Bible your guide in your study of end-time events, a study theologians call Eschatology. If the Holy Spirit convicts you of the fact that you are producing the works of the flesh rather than the fruit of the Spirit, you can be sure you did not get it from God.

Having said all of that, let me stress that I have a plan and an approach I am committed to as I preach this series of messages from Revelation. My purpose is not to answer all of your questions. I cannot answer all of my questions. What I will do is preach to the person in the pew, rather than present arguments for or against other preachers. From the beginning of this series to the end, I will try to keep one promise before you. We find it in the third verse of the first chapter: "Blessed is the one who reads and blessed are those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep what is written in it, because the time is near!" I may not go very deep, but I seek to skim the surface, looking for the blessing.

In this first message from Revelation, I am going to provide a little background information, and then move quickly through several verses. I love expository preaching, but what I am going to be doing in the first chapter may really be just a running commentary.

I will be using the Holman Christian Standard Bible in this series. I love the KJV, the NKJV, and for years I have used the NASB as my study Bible. The HCSB is as readable as the NIV and it is as accurate as the NASB.

I. THE BACKGROUND IS IMPORTANT.

1) First, Let Us Look at the Title. When you turn in your Bible to the Book of Revelation, you may see the caption: THE REVELATION OF SAINT JOHN THE DIVINE. If you want the know what the title should be, and what the book really is, look at the first verse: it is "The Revelation of Jesus Christ." It is both the revelation of Jesus Christ and the revelation by Jesus Christ, given through the Apostle John on the Isle of Patmos about A. D. 96.

2) Now, Let Us Look at the Times. Jesus had been crucified in A. D. 33. Peter had been crucified, according to tradition, upside down, a victim of Nero’s persecution about A. D. 66-68. Paul had been beheaded around the same time. Jerusalem had fallen to the Roman army under Titus, and the temple destroyed in A. D. 70. All the apostles had been martyred but John. His brother had been the first apostle to be martyred, in A. D. 44. John was the lone survivor.

3) Next, We Must Look at the Circumstances. Rome was the last of those great empires the Lord would use to fulfill His Messianic Covenant. He revealed to the ancient prophets His plans for the Assyrian Empire, the Babylonian Empire, the Medo-Persian Empire, the Greek Empire, and finally, the Roman Empire. He had used Assyria to judge Israel, the Northern Kingdom, and Babylon to take Judah into captivity for seventy years. He used Persian to return the remnant to Jerusalem to rebuild His temple and to reestablish the nation. He used the Greek Empire to give the world a common language (the language in which the New Testament would be written). Then He used Rome to give the world three things that He would use to serve His purpose when the Messiah came. First, there was the great highway system. Second, Rome gave the world the greatest postal system in the history of the world. Third, Rome gave the world the safest travel by land and sea it had known. The New Testament would be written in Greek and mailed through the Roman postal system. Christian missionaries would travel by land and sea to spread the Gospel, and they would follow Paul’s mission strategy by following the major Roman highways to the major Roman cities. From there, the Gospel would be spread to small towns and villages.

Rome was a vast empire, covering much of what some refer to as the "known world." They had conquered many nations. These nations had their own languages and their own gods. Rome looked for something to use to command the loyalty of the people from all these nations and at some point decided to require all citizens to honor the spirit of Rome and worship the goddess Roma once each years. As emperor worship began to grow, Rome required all citizens to come before an altar of Caesar once an year and burn a pinch of incense and say, "Caesar is Lord." Pagans had no problem adding yet another god to their pantheon of gods. Jewish leaders appealed to Caesar, explaining that they were a monotheistic people and could not worship other gods. They received an exemption and Judaism was declared a legal religion. Christians sought the same status but Jewish leaders convinced the Roman authorities that Christianity was a heresy and it was declared an illegal religion. When Christians refused to worship the emperor they were imprisoned, slaughtered by Roman gladiators for the amusement of fans in the Roman arena, or eaten by half starved lions as the Roman citizens cheered.

4) Now, Look at the Results. The more Christians were persecuted, the more they were scattered, and the more they were scattered, the more churches they started. They would persecute the church in one area and before they knew it other churches would spring up as believer were forced to move to new towns. The church has always grown during persecution, and stagnated when it became at ease in Zion. Dr. Draper, president of LifeWay Christians Resources, recently sent members of the board of trustees the following note:

"The interview was wrapping up when a reporter with the International Mission Board asked a prominent leader in the rapidly expanding Chinese house church movement how American Christians could pray for house churches in China. "Stop praying for persecution in China to end," he responded, "for it is through persecution that the church has grown."

"What astounding faith!" I thought when I heard the story. However, my admiration of his faith was quickly tempered by what he said next.

"We, in fact, are praying that the American church might taste the same persecution." he said, "so revival would come to the American Church like we have seen in China" (My emphasis added).

5) We Need to Look at the Type of Literature We Find in the Revelation. The Revelation is often called the Apocalypse, because it is apocalyptic in nature. Some are quick to state that apocalyptic literature is written to reveal certain mysteries. The purpose is really both to reveal and to conceal. It was written to reveal God’s purpose to those who were initiated in this type of symbolism, and at the same time to conceal it from those who were a threat to the saints. The church, especially the Jewish believers, would understand the message, but those Romans who were persecuting the church would not understand it. Since they would not understand it, they would deliver the book to the churches, even though they had exiled John on Patmos to try to silence him.

6) Let Us Now Look at the Apostle John. In the Gospel According to John, he calls himself the disciple the Lord loved. He and his brother James, the sons of Zebedee, were called the Sons of Thunder because of their nature and personality. John out lived all the other apostles and for many years served in Ephesus, where Paul had founded the church and served there for some time. Timothy had been left there by Paul to help settle some issues in the church. This church had a rich history: Paul, Timothy, Priscilla and Aquilla, Apolos, and finally, John, now called John the Elder. At the time of the Revelation, John was on the Isle of Patmos where he was living in exile because he persisted in preaching the Gospel in Ephesus and they could not silence him. They just thought they had silenced him when they sent him to Patmos! The Romans tried to silence him, but the Roman postal service delivered this Revelation to the churches addressed and then to all the other churches - without understanding that God was using this means to tell His people to be faithful and never compromise.

II. NOW LET US LOOK AT THE INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK, 1:1-8.

In the first chapter, I would like to move from verse to verse, reading the Scripture and then making a few comments as the Holy Spirit leads 

1) " The revelation of Jesus Christ that God gave Him to show His slaves what must quickly take place. He sent it and signified it through His angel to His slave John"(vs. 1). This is "the revelation of Jesus Christ," and Jesus is the One who is revealing this message to John on the Isle of Patmos toward the end of the first century A. D.

We are more familiar with the KJV, "servants." I was attending a regular meeting of the board of trustees in Nashville. It was noon on Tuesday, I believe it was the February meeting in 2000. I had spent the morning with members of the Broadman and Holman Committee, in which we had listened to Dr. Ed Bloom, the General Editor of the new Holman Christian Standard Bible. We asked questions about the translation and Dr. Bloom answered them. That Dr. Bloom is a very intelligent man goes without saying, but he is also a very humble man, and yet a man of deep convictions who will defend his position. After he left our meeting we voted to stay the course and complete the HCSB. Some of us were sitting together at lunch when Dr. Jimmy Draper brought Dr. Bloom to our table and pointed out a Hispanic man from Florida who had a question. Dr. Bloom sat down and listened as the trustee, a Director of Missions from Miami, expressed his concern about the use of the word slave instead of servant or bond servant. Dr. Bloom pointed out that the HCSB is a literal, word for word translation, and that they were faithful to the Greek.

The word slave is not a popular one in modern day America, but we have to remember that in ancient Rome there were 60,000,000 slaves. They were everywhere and everyone knew that a slave lived to serve his master. Some were given a lot of responsibility and those who served well were promoted and blessed with honor among the slaves, as well as security. Dr. Bloom pointed out that we belong to Jesus, we are bought with a price.

For centuries, preachers have stressed the fact that believers are challenged to choose to be faithful to the Lord. When you were saved, you were purchased with a price and that price was the blood of Jesus Christ. You are not your own, you belong to Him. He is the Master, and he has chosen you, you have not chosen Him. Once you become a Christian, the choice to serve Him is His, not yours. He has already determined that you are His slave - the question is, will you be a faithful slave to your Master, or will you be an unfaithful slave? Is your highest commitment in life the honor and glory of your Lord, are do you really think He should be impressed with you because you abstain from alcohol, drugs, and immorality - and go to church most Sundays - well, Sunday mornings, anyway?

I am convinced that if we knew how many church members in America are really born-again Christians we would be shocked. A staggering percentage of church members are going to hell! There are 16.5 million Southern Baptists in America. How many do you think are in worship services today? And, no one becomes a member of a Southern Baptist church because he was christened when he was an infant, and no one becomes a member without publicly professing faith in Jesus Christ. If you are a Christian, you belong to Jesus Christ - He either has all of you or He has none of you.

This Revelation was given by Jesus Christ to His slaves so that they would know that which would "quickly" take place. Time will not permit a discussion whether or not this deals with events that would "soon" take place, or events that would take place "quickly", but keep this in mind as we go through the entire book.

The revelation of Jesus Christ is given through His angel to the apostle John, the lone surviving apostle, and if we can trust tradition, he would soon be boiled in a pot of oil. Now let me hear your complaints when everything does not go your way! I am appalled when I hear people talk about being angry with God, and with counselors who tell them that is a natural response to disaster or a loss. And, don’t tell me you are angry with God because he let your mother lie in a nursing home for two years. I watched my mother witness from her bed in a nursing home as long as she had strength to do so. I watched her for eight long years, first at home, and then in the nursing home. I can assure you she did not blame God for her cancer - she just found a new mission field! The next time you are tempted to complain because God permitted you to suffer, I want you to go back and read about the price Paul and John paid for being a slave of Jesus Christ.

2) "Who testified to God’s word and to the testimony about Jesus Christ, in all he saw" (vs. 2). John had been testifying to God’s Word, and sharing his testimony about Jesus Christ for many years. He had written in the Gospel According to John what he had seen during the earthly ministry of the Lord. Now he will testify to that which he is about to see in this Revelation.

3) "Blessed is the one who reads and blessed are those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep what is written in it, because the time is near!" (Vs. 3). This is the promise of Jesus Christ to every believer who reads this book - and this is going to be a banner I am going to raise up from time to time as we go through the book. You may not understand some of the images of the book. You may not be able to follow the sequences, and you may not understand why sincere Christians, including pastors, may defend different interpretations with such fervor and passion, and you may not know which position you should take when it comes to the Rapture, the Great Tribulation, the Second Coming, or the millennial reign of the Lamb of God. Please do not worry about that at this time.

Here is what I would like for you to do. Read the book looking for the promised blessing. Then go back and read the Gospels, and then read this book again. Listen to the messages from Revelation, but, by all means, read it your self. The promise was made to those who read the book and those who hear it read. Until the invention of the printing press the average person could not imagine holding the entire Bible in his hand as we do today. You may listen to the book on tape or CD, and you can read it often. Always, bear in mind this promise. The promise is not even that you will understand it, or be able to explain it - the promise is that you will be blessed for reading it. The more you read it the more you will understand it, and the more you will appreciate how you are being blessed.

4) "John: To the seven churches in the province of Asia. Grace and peace to you from the One who is, who was, and who is coming; from the seven spirits before His throne..." (Vs. 4). The Revelation is addressed to "the seven churches in the province of Asia." The first saints to read, or hear the Revelation read, were saints in Ephesus, where John had served, preached, and taught for many years. They knew John well enough that he did not have to prove the identity of the author to these people. There were many other churches, but the number seven is the perfect number, or the complete number. It would be read at Ephesus. A copy would be made and then the original would be send on to the next church, until all seven churches had a heard the message and made a copy. It would then be sent on to other churches until all churches would know the promises, and share the hope given in the Revelation.

Let me stress that these seven churches were literal, historical churches. To some, each church represents a distinct dispensation. Others see the seven churches as representing the entire church. Without getting into that debate here, let me stress that if you want to be blessed, read these seven letters and look around and see if you see in your own life and in your own church any of the strengths commended in these letters, any of the weaknesses condemned in them, and the corrections demanded by the Lord.

The Revelation is from the Trinity, from God the Father, God the Spirit, and God the Son. "One who is, who was, and who is coming" is the Father. This holds before us the significance of the name God gave to Moses at the burning bush. He is the great I AM. A Hebrew scholar explained that this means I am that which I am, I was that which I was, and I shall be that which I shall be - but, he added, "It means more than that. He is also saying, I am the source of my own being - and I am the source of your existence." The "seven spirits before His throne" is the Holy Spirit (the number seven testifies to the fullness, the perfection, and completeness of the Spirit). In chapter four we will see the throne room of heaven, and we will be fully aware of the Trinity in that scene.

We will not take the time here to try to prove there is a Trinity. When I was in seminary there were professors who denied the Trinity. One of my more "conservative" professors was with me in a revival a number of years after I graduated. He made the statement to me personally, "There is no Holy Spirit in the Old Testament!" I didn’t know that! I thought I had read about the Spirit of God in the Old Testament – I still think so. Those who reject the Trinity like to remind us that the world "trinity" is not used anywhere in the Bible. If that is proof, I can use the same argument to prove that automobiles, computers, and professors of theology do not exist. I cannot explain the Trinity, but I find the great Three-in-One God everywhere in the Bible. What I do not find is the unitary theory of God: that there is one Person who plays three different roles.

Francis Shaeffer wrote that it was discovering the reality of the Trinity that led him from agnosticism to theism. When he came to understand the Trinity he knew that God did not have to create man in order to have fellowship with someone. That would have made God incomplete. There is a horizontal fellowship within the Trinity and there is vertical fellowship between the Trinity and the redeemed.

Grace and Peace combined both the Greek and the Hebrew greeting. Paul was inspired to give the world the Christian letter style, which included this greeting which was more than a greeting. It was the earnest prayer of the writer that the readers would know the grace of God and the peace that comes with a personal knowledge of Jesus Christ. Grace is the unmerited love of God. The peace the Lord desires for His slaves is not negative - you leave me alone and I’ll leave you alone. The world may call a non-aggression treaty peace. God’s peace is positive - I will seek your highest good without asking whether or not you deserve it, or if you will appreciate it.

5) "And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and has set us free from our sins by His blood.." (Vs. 5). The order is interesting here. Jesus Christ is mentioned last. As we have already noted, this is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, and it is the Revelation by Jesus Christ. Jesus identifies Himself as the "faithful witness." John may have been the only person alive who had heard Jesus make a similar statement while He was on earth: "Even in your law it is written that the witness of two men is valid. I am the One who testifies about Myself, and the Father who sent Me testifies about Me" (John 8:17-18). Jesus bears witness here that this Revelation is from Him and that he is a faithful witness. The Revelation is true. We have His word on it.

In identifying Himself as "the firstborn from the dead," Jesus is holding before the readers a major doctrine of the early church. Read the New Testament and you will see that the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the crowning miracle of the New Testament, was continually stressed in preaching the Gospel.

Jesus is "the ruler of the kings of the earth." Jesus is identified in Revelation as the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. Any king who denies Jesus Christ is going to stand before Him and answer for it. America today is living in denial! Anyone who bothers to read the Founders is aware of the fact that they were very conscious of the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and they founded the nation on Christians principles, but today America is at war with Jesus Christ. President George W. Bush appointed Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court, pending approval by the senate. When the president stressed that she is a Christian, the news media went into a feeding frenzy. The ACLU is at war with God and they have become more and more aggressive in their attacks on any and everything that testifies of Jesus Christ in public - and whenever and wherever they attack His name, His Cross, or a nativity scene in a public place, the Rev. Barry Lynn jumps to their aid. A display of the Ten Commandments had to be removed from the supreme court building in Alabama - and the US Supreme Court, in whose building the Ten Commandments are prominently displayed, sided with the enemies of the Cross. Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who was responsible for the display, refused to compromise and was forced out of office. The Rev. Barry Lynn could only think our how terrible it would be if an atheist walked by the display an saw the Ten Commandments and it make him feel bad.

Any president, any congressman, any senator, any governor, any judge who does not acknowledge Jesus Christ as King of Kings will have an opportunity to try out all their ludicrous arguments before Him. He will make all enemies His footstool - and that will not stop at Hitler, Stalin, and Saddam Hussein. This points to the time when His reign will be unchallenged.

6) "And made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—to Him be the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen" (vs. 6). He has made all believers His kingdom - the kingdom of God is made up of those who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Jesus Christ has also made us "priests to His God and Father." We are given the privilege of going to directly to the Father - we do not have to go through an earthly priest now, and we will need no go-between in heaven. "The emphasis is primarily on a spiritual kingdom, not a materialistic kingdom. Those in the kingdom comprise a kingdom of priests who serve God the Father. And they are kings because they are priests—their priesthood gives them a right to be kings, for they are kings in relation to man, but priests in relation to God" [New Commentary on the Whole Bible - NCWB].

He continues, "to Him be the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen." The revelation they are reading will highlight both the glory of God and the eternal nature of His dominion. The eternal nature of dominion will receive special emphasis, just as we see an emphasis on the eternal nature of our Lord. Jesus declared, "Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last, and the Living One. I was dead, but look—I am alive forever and ever" (Rev 1:17b-18a).

7) "Look! He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, including those who pierced Him. And all the families of the earth will mourn over Him. This is certain. Amen" (vs. 7). The hymn is right: "He is coming again, coming again." Amen? Amen! This verse speaks for itself. "He is coming again with the clouds." This reminds us of a prophecy from Daniel:

"I continued watching in the night visions, and I saw One like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was escorted before Him. He was given authority to rule, and glory, and a kingdom; so that those of every people, nation, and language should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His kingdom is one that will not be destroyed" (Dan 7:13-14, emphasis added).

When He comes with the clouds, "every eye will see Him." This should be no surprise to any student of the Word of God: at the Ascension, two angels appeared and "They said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you have seen Him going into heaven" (Acts 1:11). Later, John would record more on this: "Then I looked, and there was a white cloud, and One like the Son of Man was seated on the cloud, with a gold crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand" (Rev 14:14).

When He returns, every eye shall see him, "including those who pierced Him." Those who actually drove the nails into His hands are dead and cannot see him, but perhaps He has in mind their godless heirs who have opposed Him in the world. At His return, "all the families of the earth will mourn over Him. This is certain." John adds another "Amen." This seems to be an allusion to Zechariah 2:10-11):

"I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn. "In that day there will be great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the plain of Megiddo" (NASB, emphasis added).

8) "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "the One who is, who was, and who is coming, the Almighty" (vs. 8). Jesus is the "Alpha and Omega" - denoting the first and last letters in the Greek alphabet. This divine title appears again in 21:6 and 22:13. "In each context it is difficult to discern if the title applies to God or to Christ or to both. Most likely it can be attributed to the Godhead—God in Christ. God in Christ comprises all that goes between Alpha and Omega, as well as being the first and the last. This expresses God’s fullness, comprehensiveness, and all-inclusiveness" [NCWB]. Jesus is the first and the last, and everything in between. Jesus was the Agent of Creation, and He is the One through Whom the Father will being everything to His planned consummation. He started it and He will finish it.

"He is the One who is, who was, and who is coming, the Almighty." He is one with the Great I AM.

He is God. The day is coming when every knee shall bow before Him, and every tongue will confess

that He is in control. He will bring all things to His desired conclusion.

CONCLUSION

There are those who say that Revelation frightens them. If you are lost, the Revelation should frighten you! If you have been saved by the grace of God, this book be a blessing when you read it and when you reflect on it. God’s promises a blessing to all those who read it - and I do believe this refers to the redeemed of the Lord who read it. The only way it is going to be seen as a blessing to a lost person is if that person reads the book and then calls on Jesus Christ to forgive his sins and give him eternal life.

If you are a born-again Christian, this book will be a blessing to you. This prophecy was revealed to John by Jesus Himself in order to encourage the saints through whatever trials and tribulations they must face in this world. The purpose is to encourage and to strengthen our faith, not to frighten us. At the same time, I would appeal to any lost person who reads this book, or listens to these messages from Revelation, to confess your sins, repent, and call on Jesus Christ for His great salvation. Jesus is coming again at some future time - it may be today - but He will come into your heart right now if you will ask Him to forgive your sins, cleans your heart and come into your life.