Revelation 1:1-3
God blesses those who receive and keep the prophetic revelation of Jesus Christ, because it unveils what must take place and calls His servants to live in urgent faithfulness before the consummation.
1 This is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things which must happen soon, which he sent and made known by his angel to his servant, John,
2 who testified to God’s word and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, about everything that he saw.
3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things that are written in it, for the time is at hand.
God blesses those who receive and keep the prophetic revelation of Jesus Christ, because it unveils what must take place and calls His servants to live in urgent faithfulness before the consummation.
To introduce the book as a God-given revelation of Jesus Christ, communicated through appointed mediation to John for the benefit of God's servants, and to summon readers, hearers, and keepers into blessed obedience because the appointed time is near.
Revelation 1:1-3 functions as the prologue to the entire book. Before the greeting, doxology, throne visions, judgments, conflict scenes, and final new-creation hope unfold, the book identifies its source, subject, mode of communication, human witness, intended audience, and required response. This opening controls how the whole book should be read: as unveiled prophecy for servants who must hear and keep the word of God.
The next unit identifies the recipients as the seven churches in Asia, so this opening prologue should be heard congregationally and pastorally. The passage belongs to the church's present age of witness under the risen Christ while looking forward to the consummation of what God has determined must take place.
The Revelation of Jesus Christ and the Son of Man Among the Lampstands
The risen Christ unveils his glory to strengthen his suffering churches with worship, witness, warning, and hope.