Revelation Part 1: The Blessing

Revelation Chapter 1 verse 3 "Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near." This is the first promise in Revelation. Lets take full advantage of this promise and begin to see what God is communicating to his Church. We are not blessed because we hear and read the prophecy, but we are blessed because we read, hear, and heed the words in the prophecy! This promise is not only found in chapter one, but in two and three as well. "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches". Christ makes this admonishment each time he addresses one of the seven churches. Within each context their is a promise of judgment or blessing for disobedience or obedience. If the prophetic relevance of Christ revelation can only be "uncoded" by a generation 2000 years removed from it's declaration, does this mean Christ has deprived the church of blessing for two millennia? Christ made a similar declaration in the Gospel of Mathew, chpt. 11:15. "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." The storms were brewing at this time in the ancient world. John explains to his readers that he is their "companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus", and that he is on the Island of Patmos because of the gospel. The blessing that is being promised in this chapter is overcoming the current persecution the Church was experiencing, and escaping the judgement that was about to come on the whole world. The current application for this promise is self evident. No matter what storms are beating upon our lives if we are established on the words of Christ we will prevail! In my next post on this topic, I would like to discuss judgment because that is exactly what is happening throughout Revelation.