“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to Him to show to His servants things which must soon take place. He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, who bears record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written in it, for the time is near” (Rev. 1:1-3).
Revelation is an instruction to His servants. That means any believer can benefit from the message of Revelation. God wants to give a blessing to His servants, and the word He uses for “blessed” is makarios, which means “happy.” We all want to have a happy life. God tells His servants three things they need to do to be blessed, or happy: No. 1, read this letter; No. 2, hear (or understand) this letter; and No. 3. keep (or do) the things written in this letter.
Perhaps the biggest key to understanding that Revelation is a simple book with a simple message is the next word: Keep. Would it make sense for God to give us a prophetic word for us to keep, or do, then not give us anything to do? If God gave us a prophetic word so that we could read, understand and keep or do, then it must be readable, understandable and doable.
Revelation has many predictions about the future, but we cannot do in the future. We can only do in the present. The main purpose of Revelation is not to give us a future-events puzzle to untangle. Rather, the primary purpose is to show us what to do now, in the present.
The great blessing of happiness promised to God’s servants in Revelation is a great reward from Jesus that He has reserved for faithful servants—In other words, for followers who do what God asks us to do. Blessing or happiness comes from obedience.
The bottom line of Revelation is very simple: being a faithful servant, living in obedience, brings great happiness—real happiness, the kind that lasts forever and no one can take away. No matter the circumstances, God calls His servants to walk in faithful obedience so that they can receive a great blessing.
The book of Revelation centers around a very simple message. This podcast episode of the Yellow Balloons podcast on the Charisma Podcast Network is the first in a devotional series on the value and message in Revelation. We pray it spurs you on toward faithful obedience to Christ. {eoa}
The Yellow Balloons team is committed to influencing individuals and organizations towards choosing a true perspective. Throughout all the diverse circumstances of life, we have the power to make choices and live life above our circumstances. Yellow Balloons provides free resources such as books, podcasts and devotionals which can be found at yellowballoons.net.
