Revelation 1:6

 

The Bible says in Revelation 1:6, "And has made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen."

 

This verse starts out by saying two things that Jesus Christ has done for us who believe in Him. He has made us to be kings and priests. We know that Jesus is the King of kings, and now we are told that we also are kings. The salvation that Jesus gives us is so great that He is going to save us from the damnation of hell and also elevate us to positions of authority and honor in His kingdom. Don't be so concerned if you have not been given much in this life, because this life is very short. As far as God is concerned, you are already royalty and you will reign with Him in His everlasting Kingdom. If Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior, my friend the royal blood of heaven flows in your veins even now. A supernatural blood transfusion took place in the spirit realm the moment you were washed in the blood of Jesus.

 

The gracious giving nature of God has made us kings. In the world of politics and power: the believers will inherit it all. After all of the power struggles are over, and after all of the elections have come to an end: the ones who will be given rule and power are the believers in Jesus Christ because they are the kings. Jesus has made us kings, and He has also made us priests. In the world of religion, the ones who have the real connection with God are His believers. Most religions have a clergy: a group of people who have the power and the influence in the religious organizations. But in the spiritual kingdom that now is, the true priests are the believers, whether male or female and whether young or old. If you are His then you are also His priest. You are among the ones that He has chosen to represent Him among a needy human race. I hope that you look for opportunities to use the authority that God has given you by virtue of your standing as royalty and your standing as a part of His priesthood. In the book of Hebrews we read that we are a royal priesthood and a chosen generation.

 

Because of these wonderful things that he has done for us and that He will do for us in His coming earthly kingdom; we can only agree with the Apostle John and say just as he said in the last phrase of verse 6 about Jesus, "To Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever." Human beings who do not believe or who are not spiritually-minded often give the glory to other humans that they lift up, but we know who really deserves the glory and who will ultimately receive the glory.

 

The day will come when Jesus will be revealed to all the world, and there will be none who will be able to run and hide from His majestic presence. Rev. 1:7 says, "Behold, he comes with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also who pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen."

 

The phrase "he comes with clouds" means that when he returns, He will first be seen in the clouds. He will be seen by the entire earth, and He will be known for who He is. A little later in the book of Revelation we are going to have described for us a time of great sorrow and a tribulation that will come upon the earth. One of the reasons that the whole earth will be ready for the return of Christ is because there will be no place to look for help except up. On an individual basis the same thing has happened to many people. It's one of the good things that results from sorrows and difficulties. We need the Lord every day, but some people only turn to Him when they are at the end of their rope. Yet that is not an altogether bad thing, for we must come to the understanding that we are at the end of our rope, whether we realize it or not. Without Him it is impossible to do anything. Our only hope is in Jesus, not in the strength of our flesh.

 

Many people will die during the time of the great tribulation, and many people shall be killed at the battle of Armageddon; but for those who are left alive and who stand firm in their new-found faith in Jesus and are willing to reject the Mark of the Beast and refuse to worship the Beast will be saved out of this Great Tribulation. For many years I believed and even taught in error that if one missed the rapture it was all over, that all unbelievers would be crushed and destroyed in the Great Tribulation, but that is wrong. Though there is a huge element of judgement attributed rightfully to the time of the Great Tribulation, there is also a great display of God’s mercy as He reaches out one last time to try to get man’s attention and turn him around and back to Him. Yet we read on over in the book of Revelation that despite many of the terrible judgements falling upon them, many will continue on headlong down the broadway to Hell.

 

Of the many people who will believe on Jesus in that time, no small number will come from the Jewish people. Many of them rejected Him when He came the first time, but that will not be the case during the Great Tribulation. In fact God is going to raise up an army of 144,000 evangelist from the Jewish people. The Apostle Paul wrote of this great conversion at the end-time and he said in Rom. 11:26, "And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, there shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob, for this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins."

 

In Rev. 1:8 Jesus is speaking, "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty." We live in in a time which theologians have entitled "The age of the Grace". It's a wonderful age in which to live. It's a time of opportunity, of second chances. It's a time when the mercy of God has been revealed as never before. Where sin abounds, grace does much more abound. In this age you will find that sometimes the greatest saints were once the greatest sinners. This would never have happened in the time of the law, but it has happened many times in the age in which we live. And it all started with Jesus. John 1:17 says, "For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." This age started with Jesus and it will end with Jesus. It started with the first coming of Christ to the earth, and it will end with the second coming of Jesus. Yes there will be a time of mercy during the Great Tribulation when many will be saved, but the Age of Grace will be over when Jesus plants His feet on the Mount of Olives.

 

The future is known and planned by God. There is nothing to fear because it’s in His hands. The uncertainties of this life are more than offset by the certainty that Jesus will be there at the end of the age to take care of everything. He will be at the end just as He was at the beginning, because He is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end.

 

In Rev. 1:9 the apostle John wrote, "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." John knew very well what the Christians to whom he was writing had to go through as believers in the heathen Roman Empire. He suffered many of the same things. He was their brother and their companion in tribulation. If you follow Jesus, you will have tribulation. There will be difficulties and obstacles and sufferings. Sometimes things will just not work out the way that you want.

 

John was a prisoner on the island of Patmos, and he gave two reasons why he was a prisoner. He was a prisoner for the Word of God, and he was a prisoner for the testimony of Jesus Christ. Things have not changed so much, have they? The same forces of opposition to the truth still exist. It’s the Word of God and it’s the testimony of Jesus Christ that bring contention and opposition in this world. Some of the most notable characteristics of a heathen society are the absence of the Word of God and the absence of the name of Jesus, and the unbelieving powers will by nature be opposed to them. They will be willing to fight against them to the death.

 

John was faithful to the Word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, and because of it he had a very big influence on the people that he met. Therefore, the Roman government attempted to reduce his influence by putting him into exile on the island of Patmos. He was removed from the mainland. He was banished to an isolated spot on the earth. But even though the governments of this earth oppose the Word of God, they cannot stop its progress. They can only change the physical and material circumstances, but God will use what they do to accomplish His purposes. Without their knowledge, the governments of this world are under the control of the great God of the universe. John was banished to the island of Patmos, but God used him there to write the great book of Revelation, and the influence of John on believers both then and now was only increased. The godless purpose of the Roman government was overturned by the power and purpose of a holy and righteous God.

 

Those who believe in Jesus look for a city and a country whose builder and maker is God. We know just like the apostle John that the ultimate fulfillment of our hopes and dreams will not take place in any nation that this world could possibly conceive. We are told in the scriptures as penned by the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Church at Rome, to honor those in authority, and we should be honest citizens of whatever country in which we find ourselves; but our greatest allegiance is to the kingdom of God and His Christ. John told the Christians in the seven churches that he was their companion in the kingdom, and he was not talking about the kingdom of Rome. He was talking about the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

The general tendency of the kingdoms of this world is to persecute and to oppose the kingdom of Christ. The kingdom of Jesus Christ right now is a spiritual kingdom, but the day is coming at the return of Christ when His kingdom will be revealed as the last and the greatest of all kingdoms.

 

When John mentioned the kingdom of Christ, he also mentioned patience. Anything that is worth having is worth waiting for. If you hope for something, then you must with patience learn to wait for it. Therefore, we go through this life as faithful citizens of the nations where we live, always trying to make a better life and a better place: but what we are really waiting for and what we are really looking forward to is the return of Jesus Christ and the establishment of His kingdom on the earth.

 

In Rev. 1:10-11 John wrote, "I was in the spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What you see, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamus, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea." John said that he was "in the spirit on the Lord’s day." When John said, "in the spirit," he was talking about the Holy Spirit. The inspiration that John had and the capacity to write the book of Revelation came to John from the Spirit of God. The book of Revelation has the same source as all other books of the Bible: "holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit."

 

John said that "he was in the spirit on the Lord’s day." This means that John was in the spirit on the day of the Lord. The day of the Lord is a special phrase used in the Bible to refer to the end-time.

 

Ezekiel 30:3 says, "For the day is near, even the day of the Lord is near, a cloudy day; it shall be the time of the heathen."

 

Joel 1:15 says, "Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come."

 

Joel 2:1-2 says, "Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord is coming, for it is near at hand."

 

Isaiah 2:17 says, "And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day."

 

According to Rev. 1:10 John heard two things: the sound of a great voice and the sound of a trumpet. John was given a message about the end-time. The first thing that John heard was a great voice, and then he heard a trumpet. How shall they believe except they hear, and how shall they have a message from God unless God gives them the message? The trumpet that John heard may have been the same trumpet that we will all hear at the return of Christ. The voice that John heard was the voice of Jesus, and what Jesus said to John are most of the things that are recorded from this verse all the way to the end of Revelation Chapter 3.

 

The first thing that Jesus said to John is the same thing that was already said earlier in this chapter, "I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last." Anything that is said by the Lord more than once is said for emphasis and believers over the centuries have gotten the message, from the multiple enunciation of points by the Holy Spirit. This is one of the great sayings from Christ and about Christ, and it has often been one of the favorite sayings that believers remember. You know it is just like Jesus to give us words that are so easy to remember and that have such a great depth of meaning. Are you troubled or discouraged? Do you face obstacles or difficulties? Have you suffered some great sorrow? Then think of this and dwell upon its great message: Jesus said, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end."

 

In Rev. 1:11 Jesus told John to write a book. The idea to write a book did not come from John. It came from Jesus. This is true of all the books of the Bible. The Word of God originated from God. The men who wrote it were chosen of God. The information that they recorded was given to them by God through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

 

Jesus also told John to be especially careful to take this message to the seven churches. It’s no wonder that God chose the means of a written Word to communicate His truth to the human race. What better way to insure that the truth would be preserved, and that the truth would be available to all following generations. When Jesus told John to send the book to the seven churches in Asia, Jesus named them one by one. He knows all of our names. He cares about each of us individually and personally. He is watching out for us, and He has a plan and a purpose for each of us. Remember the words of Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you, saith the Lord…" We will see the ultimate fulfillment of that purpose when Jesus returns and establishes His great kingdom, and makes all of His believers a part of that kingdom.

 

When John heard the voice of Jesus behind him, John turned to look at Him who was speaking. In Rev. 1:12 John wrote, "And I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks." There were seven golden candlesticks because there were seven churches. They were golden because the gold represents how precious and valuable each believer is to God. They were candlesticks because a candlestick is a light and this symbolizes the fact that every believer is to be a light to the world around us. It also indicates that we are always represented in the presence of God and of Christ. The light is always on, because the Lord is always there for us. Don’t ever think that no one knows what you are going through or that no one cares. God knows and God cares, and Jesus has a plan whereby He will work things out. In the end it will all work for the better, because Jesus is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega.