The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2 who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.
On this epiphany, January 6th, which is also my daughter Lauren’s birthday, the memory of opening Christmas gifts 12 days ago is still fresh; the anticipation of something hidden being revealed and possibly returned. Now consider the Revelation to be one long Christmas card. I have often wondered why the first sentence of this prophecy from John is not a complete sentence. Now I think I know why. It is not a sentence. It is a title. This is the story of the Lord Jesus Christ hidden in the prophets, revealed in a manger, hidden in a tomb, revealed alive again, hidden at the ascension, to be revealed in glory. This will soon take place. We know this because he made the hidden revealed via angel to John, and to us.
Just as Christmas is an imperfect holiday the way we celebrate it, with commercialism, as a shadow of the real Christmas, our concept of the end times is imperfect. We all have our idea of what it will be like, raptured before, during, or after the Great Tribulation. What we can all agree on is what John wrote here. What is hidden will be revealed, the gift given to us to show us what is coming soon. When this gift is returned…
The sentence will be complete.
Pastor Brad Boyer
Cape Community Church