Welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the book of Revelation. This is study #2. We are going to be reading from Revelation chapter 1, verse 1:

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:

The Greek word, "apokalupsis," which is translated as "revelation" here in Revelation 1:1, is also translated as a few different English words, and we will take a look at these words later on.

But one way that this word is translated is as "to reveal." So we could understand this verse where it says "the Revelation of Jesus Christ," to mean "the revealing of Jesus Christ." Actually, when we think about it, that is exactly what the Bible does! It reveals Jesus Christ, from its beginning to its end, and the Bible itself tells us this in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 24, and we read in verse 44:

And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,

All the Bible concerns Jesus Christ, and this is what Jesus Himself is saying here, as He mentions the Law of Moses, which would be the first five books, and the prophets, which would be Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, the Psalms, etc. Three different terms are used, and all of them are basically describing the word of God, the Bible. All things concerning Him must be fulfilled, and all the Scripture is concerned the Lord Jesus Christ. All the Bible focuses on Christ, and that is why whenever we learn a truth from the Bible, we are actually learning about Him, about Jesus.

This is one of the reasons that Bible study is such a great blessing to the child of God. It is the reason God's people search so diligently for truth. What are we searching for? What are we hoping to uncover, when they see the amount of time that a child of God puts into studying his Bible? They shake their heads and they do not understand! "Why are you reading and re-reading that? Why are you taking the time to be so careful with each word? I see you using a concordance and checking that word out and seeing how it is used in other places." And they just do not understand.

They do understand the idea of diligence in the study of law, if you are going to be a lawyer, yes. They understand the idea of diligence in the study of medicine, if you are going to be a doctor, and study in other areas of profession. But, when it comes to the Bible, well, maybe if you are going to be a preacher, yes, then they could probably understand putting time and effort into studying. "But you are not a preacher," they are thinking, "you are just a Christian. Why are you so involved and going so in-depth into Bible study?"

What they will never understand is what Christ told His disciples in Luke 24, that ALL Scripture is concerning Him. Therefore, when we search the Scriptures, and when we are digging into them, and studying to shew ourselves approved and rightly dividing the word of God, "comparing spiritual things with spiritual," the goal is to uncover truth, which is, in turn, uncovering Jesus Himself, because Christ is truth. In other words, when we learn something correctly from the Bible, and when we learn a truth from the Scripture, it is as if we are learning another part of Christ; we are getting to know Him in a more intimate way. He is "revealing" Himself to us; it is the "revelation" of Jesus Christ!

So, when we learn something in the book of Revelation, or we learn it in the Gospel of Luke, or if we learn it in the Psalms, or we learn it in Genesis, or wherever we learn it within the Bible, we have learned something about Jesus. That is exciting to the child of God! That is fulfilling to the child of God.

It is like learning about the one that you greatly love; you want to learn everything you can about the one who has saved you, about the one who has died for you and paid for your sins, and the one who has given Himself for you! What an incredible Person He is and, as you learn the Bible, you learn about Him. So, is it any wonder that God's people are always searching the Scriptures?

Let us continue looking at how God uses this word "apokalupsis," translated as "revelation" in our verse, in other places. Let us turn also in Luke to chapter 2, and in this passage we read of a man, a Jew named Simeon. God had revealed to him that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ, and then the baby Jesus was brought into the temple "to do for him after the custom of the law," and we read in Luke 2, verse 28:

Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.

Now the word "apokalupsis" is translated as "lighten" in verse 32. A light, referring to the baby Jesus, to "lighten" the Gentiles, or to "reveal" to the Gentiles. That is the idea of light, anyway, that Christ, who is the Light of the world, came into the world to do what? To make manifest or to "reveal" things about Himself, about the Godhead, about the salvation of God for sinners. So this word is used here in this passage to describe the Lord Jesus' role toward the Gentiles, the nations of the world. God had already given the Jews His oracles, and they were the caretakers of the Scriptures of the Old Testament. But now Christ came to shine the "light" of truth into the darkness of the world, and to "reveal" Himself to the nations. We could say that Jesus' entry into the human race was designed for the purpose of enlightening the people of the nations of the world of things concerning Himself.

He did this "to make manifest" or "to reveal" the things of God's mysteries. Yes, the world had the creation of God, which testified to the Creator, that He did exist, that there was a God. But, concerning so many things, the world was in darkness! They were ignorant of the truths of God. They did not know many things about the Person of God. Now it was God's plan to begin evangelizing the nations of the world. What does that mean? It means to send forth the Gospel, the word of God, the Bible, into all nations. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 28, verse 19, the command given by Christ?

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

God's plan of evangelization was to teach the nations of the world the things of God, the things concerning the "revelation" of Jesus Christ. This was the "light" that shined into the world, and the church did accomplish this in a very big way, to a high degree, by establishing congregations in many nations of the world, by translating the Bible into the many tongues or languages of the world, and by teaching the inhabitants of these nations the things concerning Christ. At least, they were good at teaching the "first principals" of the Bible, so that it could be said that most of the world developed, at least, an association with Christ, with God, as the Bible become widely known all over the earth, and even into our present day. This was the "revealing" of Jesus Christ.

And, so, the word translated in Luke 2, "apokalupsis," was as "lighten." We find it translated as "revelation" again in the book of Romans, and in Romans chapter 16, it says in verse 25:

Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith:

Here we find it said very well: it is the "preaching of Jesus Christ," and notice that it is "according to the revelation of the mystery," the mysterious God! Remember, in Athens Paul found a monument to "the unknown god," whom Paul said, "ye ignorantly worship." And that was true of much of the world that had developed gods out of their own minds. "Great is Diana of the Ephesians!" They thought gods came down from Jupiter and Mercury. They had gods of wood and stone, gods decked with gold and silver, gods of their own making, from their own minds. The "revelation" of Jesus of Christ is that God can be known. God can be understood, to a degree. Of course, He is infinite and eternal, and He supremely surpasses our ability to comprehend Him completely. Yet God could be understood to the degree that God wanted man to understand Him, and He "revealed" Himself to mankind that the world created by Him might begin to have some right understanding of exactly who He is. So Christ came to make these things "manifest."

The Scriptures were given, written by God, composed by Him (as He moved holy men to write down these things), and protected by God so that there could be one complete communication from God to man that would be faithful and true and trustworthy. God watched over it and protected it, throughout the centuries, and sent forth that written, recorded word to all men, so that the nations might know and, if it were God's will, become obedient to the faith, the faith of Jesus Christ!

This is just some of the purposes for the Bible, and it is just wonderful of God - He was so kind and gracious not to leave the world in darkness, and leave all of us in the blackness of our sins, in total ignorance of His Person and of His character. We could have been like anyone else and, certainly, we could have been(and still would be) ignorantly worshipping idols and gods of stone, "gods that are no gods," that cannot see, nor hear, nor speak, nor help the sinner at all.

But God "revealed" an intimate, personal God, a God who is brilliant and eternal, an everlasting God who is good and right and just and pure and holy, a God of the Bible, a Creator who created this world. God explained the fall of man into sin and purposes behind it, and God explains His salvation plan and how it is out of great love toward mankind that He has saved an Elect people for Himself, redeeming them, paying for their sins, and that this eternal, almighty, everlasting God of the Bible has even entered into the human race, and taken the form of man, and became a man and lived amongst us. How incredible and amazing and awesome God is, that He would so humble Himself to do this, in order to make things "manifest," to shine the "light" into the darkness of this world, and to "reveal" the revelation of Jesus Christ, the "revelation" of God Almighty! This is the God that is the true God, that is, the God of the Bible. And we can only thank Him and offer up praise to Him, that in His mercy He has done this.

This word "apokalupsis" is found several more times. We are not going to be able to look at them all in this study, but we will look at a couple of more, hopefully, and then in our next study we will look at some other verses that will give us something to think about concerning this word. But let us move on, as we follow this word in the Scriptures (and this is what God would have us to do in order to define His terms; to see how it is used in one place contrasted with another, and to learn from the Bible itself as God defines the word we have in view).

We find that this word is used a few times with the Apostle Paul. Paul was an individual that God used to write many of the New Testament epistles. It says in Galatians, chapter 1, in verses 11-12 (actually, I am going to back up because these words are so important for us today), and it says in Galatians 1, starting in verse 7:

Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Now, historically, we know exactly what Paul is referring to - he was Saul of Tarsus, on his way to Damascus to hail men and women of the faith (who were Christian) to cast them into prison or, perhaps, to compel them to blaspheme. He was extremely angry toward Christians, and on the road to apprehend these followers of Christ, the Lord Jesus "revealed" Himself from Heaven in a miraculous way, as a light that shined, and He blinded Saul of Tarsus, so that he could not see anything. Then Saul needed some to lead him about, and he was blinded for some period of time, and then Christ had a man named Ananias, a Christian and child of God, come to Saul and lay his hands upon him so that he would receive his sight.

Saul received his physical sight, but Christ also gave him spiritual "sight," and the scales fell from his eyes and he now understood and realized that the one he was persecuting, Jesus Christ, was actually the Great JEHOVAH of the Bible. He was the God that the Jews worshipped. And this revelation, Saul (who became Paul the Apostle) declares was not given him by man, but it was the "revelation" of Jesus Christ. Jesus "revealed" Himself and Paul understood it very well. He said, "Who art thou, Lord?" And Christ told him, "I am Jesus whom thou persecutest."

Only God could have communicated in that tremendous way to the man Saul. It was only God who blinded him, and only God who gave him his sight back! So this "revelation" was from Christ Himself, and it was of Christ. Now Paul realized that this man who did all those miracles when He was living amongst us (He gave sight to the blind, ears to the deaf, and raised the dead), was the Messiah; He was Eternal God, Emmanuel, "God with us," and God in the flesh. What a wonderful "revelation" of Jesus the Apostle Paul had!

But God wasn't done with him. The Lord Jesus gave Paul much "revelation." He moved him to write many things in many epistles. We read in another epistle in the book of Ephesians, chapter 3, and it says in verse 1:

For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)

Here we see that Paul is declaring that Jesus Christ made known unto him the mystery. Remember in Romans we read of the mystery that had been kept secret from before the world began? These things of God are called a mystery because they are unknown to man, hidden from man, kept from man, due to our sinful state. We lack tremendous knowledge of things concerning God, and, yet, God in the Bible is "revealing" Himself, and "revealing" aspects to the mystery of God, and increasing our knowledge of these things.

One of the things had to do with the nations of the world, the Gentiles. It was God's plan to mainly operate within the nation of Israel for hundreds and hundreds of years - they were His people. They were His outward representatives of the Kingdom of God upon the earth. God did not work so much in the various nations; He allowed them to remain in their ignorant state and to worship their idols. He "winked" at these things, the book of Acts tell us. But, now, God commands "all men every where to repent," and how can you repent unless you know what to turn from, and what to turn to? And, so, God "revealed" Himself to the Gentiles, and He made the Apostle Paul the apostle to the Gentiles, to go forth and to declare to them the one true God, the only God, Christ the God "manifest," God in the flesh.

So it said in verse 4-6 of Ephesians chapter 3:

Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:

God's secret "revealed" to the nations was that they, also, could become His people. They, also, could be part of the chosen people of God, His Elect. He was not saving just Jews. The salvation of God was not exclusive to the Jewish nation. It could be had by any man, and anyone could, potentially, be one of these Elect. "So be encouraged and be hopeful," God sent forth His word to the world, "you, too, might be one whose name was written down in the Lamb's Book of Life. Perhaps, God has saved you, so go to Him and beseech Him for that salvation."