Revelation 1-3: The First Facet

Week 2, Wednesday: He is Coming!
In our passage for today, John is already looking forward to the end. The great advantage believers have over all other people is that we know the end from the beginning. And when you know where things are heading, and that you stand on the eternal-joy-and-blessing side of their outworking, well, you can endure a lot.

And this is what Jesus, speaking through John, wants us to understand.

Read Revelation 1

Meditate on Revelation 1.7, 8
1.      What is your immediate reaction to the phrase, “Behold, He is coming with clouds…”? Where does this promise touch you? In your thinking? Your affections? Your priorities and plans?

2.      John mentions that “they who pierced Him” will also see Him. How will they respond? In what sense will Jesus’ return be a “vindication” of His claims while He was on earth?

3.      Jesus is the “Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.” What does that mean? What does it mean for:

-        the teaching of the Bible?

-        the Christian life?

-        the course of history?

-        the church?

-        you?

4.      Jesus is “the Almighty” (in the Greek, pantokrator – Sovereign-Over-All)? What’s the relationship of this to the grace and peace John intends us to gain from Revelation? Do you think most Christians really believe that Jesus is Sovereign-Over-All, “a great King over all the earth”? Why or why not?

5.      The book of Revelation will give us many everyday objects that can remind us of the grace and peace Jesus intends us to know, so that we can fulfill our callings as priests and kings. For example: clouds. Jesus will come again on the clouds. How can clouds prompt us to rest in the grace and peace of Jesus and to live for Him as priests and kings?

My Reflection
Look at yourself, and at your fellow Christians, in the light of Revelation 1.7, 8. Do you look like a person who trusts in Jesus as the Sovereign-Over-All? Why or why not?

The Glory of God
The glory attributed to Jesus is here expressed in titular (His titles) and temporal (in terms of time) forms. How should you expect see His glory in these ways?

Glory to Glory
The book of Revelation will continuously encourage us to look up, look ahead, and look around. Write a prayer, based on your study of Revelation 1.7 and 8, concerning how you expect to practice this kind of outlook today:

Memorize
Review the memory verses for this week, Revelation 1.18, 19. Note the emphasis on the fact that Jesus lives. How do you hope to see more of Him living through you as a result of this study of Revelation? Share your answer to this question – and your memory verse – with a Christian friend today. Ask your friend to pray for you as you work through this study of Revelation.

Closing Prayer
Psalm 2.7-12 (Agincourt: “O Love, How Deep, How Broad, How High!”)
Proclaim the message far and wide that God has exalted the Crucified!
From heav’n He sent us His only Son, Who has for us salvation won!

To Christ, the Lord, be given all who humbly embrace Him and on Him call.
Be wise, be warned: His judgment comes to break the prideful, sinful ones.

Rejoice with fear in Jesus’ grace, and worship before His exalted face!
Beware His anger and judgment grim; how blessed are all who rest in Him!

(Taken from The Ailbe Psalter)

T. M. Moore

Download your free copy of this week’s study, Revelation Week 2, by clicking here.

The book of Revelation is the culminating episode in the story of God’s covenant. To learn more about that covenant, and to discover the way it integrates all of Scripture into the Gospel of Jesus Christ, order a copy of T. M.’s book, I Will Be Your God, by clicking here.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.