◄ Revelation 1:2 ►
who testifies to everything he saw. This is the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Study Bible
who testifies to everything he saw.

The phrase indicates the role of John as a witness, emphasizing the reliability and truthfulness of his account. In biblical context, the act of testifying is significant, as it aligns with the legal and prophetic traditions of bearing witness to divine revelations. The Greek word for "testifies" (marture?) is often used in the New Testament to denote a solemn declaration of truth. John's testimony is comprehensive, covering "everything he saw," which underscores the completeness and divine origin of the visions. This aligns with the prophetic tradition seen in the Old Testament, where prophets like Isaiah and Ezekiel were called to faithfully report their visions. The act of witnessing is also a key theme in the New Testament, as seen in Acts 1:8, where believers are called to be witnesses of Christ.

Jhn 21:24 This is the disciple who testifies to these things.…
1Jn 1:1-3 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard,…

This is the word of God

This phrase affirms the divine authority and inspiration of the message. The "word of God" is a central theme throughout Scripture, representing God's communication to humanity. In the Old Testament, the phrase often refers to the messages delivered by prophets (e.g., Jeremiah 1:4). In the New Testament, it is associated with the teachings of Jesus and the apostolic message (e.g., Hebrews 4:12). The use of this phrase in Revelation underscores the continuity of God's revelation from the Old Testament through the New Testament. It also highlights the authority of the message, as it is not merely human words but divinely inspired truth.

1Th 2:13 when you received the word of God that you heard from us…
Heb 4:12 For the word of God is living and active.…

and the testimony of Jesus Christ.

This phrase connects the revelation to Jesus Christ, emphasizing His role as both the source and subject of the prophecy. The "testimony of Jesus Christ" can be understood as the revelation given by Jesus and about Jesus. In Revelation 19:10, it is stated that "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy," indicating that all prophecy ultimately points to Him. This phrase also reflects the early Christian understanding of Jesus as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies and the central figure in God's redemptive plan. The testimony of Jesus is foundational to the Christian faith, as it encompasses His life, death, resurrection, and future return. This connection to Jesus Christ underscores the book's focus on His ultimate victory and the establishment of His kingdom.

Rev 19:10 So I fell at his feet to worship him. But he told me…
Jhn 15:26-27 When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you…

Persons / Places / Events
1. John the Apostle
The author of the Book of Revelation, who is traditionally understood to be John the Apostle, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. He is the one who "testifies to everything he saw."

2. Jesus Christ
Central to the testimony, Jesus is the one whose revelation is being communicated. The testimony is about Him and from Him.

3. Patmos
The island where John received the revelation. It is a place of exile, symbolizing isolation but also divine encounter.

4. The Vision
The event of receiving the revelation, which John describes as a vision from God, encompassing future events and divine truths.

5. The Word of God
Refers to the divine message that John is conveying, emphasizing its authority and truth.
Teaching Points
The Authority of Revelation
The message in Revelation is not just John's opinion but is the authoritative Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. Believers should approach it with reverence and obedience.

The Role of a Witness
John serves as a model for believers in being a faithful witness to what he has seen and heard. Christians are called to testify to the truth of the Gospel in their own lives.

The Centrality of Christ
The testimony focuses on Jesus Christ, underscoring His central role in God's plan. Our lives and testimonies should also center on Christ.

The Importance of Vision
Spiritual vision is crucial for understanding God's purposes. Believers should seek to cultivate spiritual insight through prayer and study of the Scriptures.

Endurance in Isolation
Like John on Patmos, believers may face times of isolation or trial. These can be opportunities for deeper revelation and communion with God.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does understanding John as a witness to the revelation impact your view of the Book of Revelation?

2. In what ways can you be a faithful witness to the testimony of Jesus Christ in your daily life?

3. How does the authority of the Word of God influence your approach to reading and applying the Bible?

4. What are some practical ways to keep Christ central in your personal testimony and witness?

5. Reflect on a time when you felt isolated or in a "Patmos" experience. How did that time impact your spiritual vision or understanding of God's purposes?
Connections to Other Scriptures
John 1:14
Connects to the concept of "the Word" as Jesus Christ, emphasizing the divine nature of the message.

1 John 1:1-3
Relates to the idea of testimony and witnessing, as John speaks of what he has seen and heard.

Hebrews 1:1-2
Highlights the continuity of God's revelation through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Acts 1:8
Speaks to the role of believers as witnesses, empowered by the Holy Spirit to testify about Jesus.
Sermons
Advantage of RevelationBp. Williams.Revelation 1:1-3
Aspects of Human HistoryD. Thomas, D. D.Revelation 1:1-3
Aspects of Human HistoryD. Thomas Revelation 1:1-3
Christ's Cabinet CouncilJ. Trapp.Revelation 1:1-3
Divine RevelationsJ. S. Exell, M. A.Revelation 1:1-3
Keeping the Word of GodJames Young.Revelation 1:1-3
Prophecy, Though Difficult to Understand, Must Yet be StudiedH. A. Buttz.Revelation 1:1-3
Reading the RevelationCanon Furse.Revelation 1:1-3
The Apocalypse to be ReadJ. Trapp.Revelation 1:1-3
The Christianity of St. JohnJ. Foxley, M. A.Revelation 1:1-3
The Design of the Book and Reward for its StudyD. C. Hughes.Revelation 1:1-3
The PrefaceG. Rogers.Revelation 1:1-3
The RevelationR. Green Revelation 1:1-3
The Revelation of Jesus ChristJames Young.Revelation 1:1-3
The Seven Blesseds in the RevelationT. L. Cuyler, D. D.Revelation 1:1-3
Three Aspects of RevelationJames Young.Revelation 1:1-3
Timely WarningJas. Wells.Revelation 1:1-3
People
John
Places
Ephesus, Laodicea, Patmos, Pergamum, Philadelphia, Sardis, Smyrna, Thyatira
Topics
Account, Bare, Bore, Christ, Faithful, God's, John, Record, Taught, Testified, Testify, Testimony, Truth, Witness
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Revelation 1:2

     8105   assurance, basis of

Library
May 10. "I am Alive Forevermore" (Rev. I. 18).
"I am alive forevermore" (Rev. i. 18). Here is the message of the Christ of the cross and the still more glorious and precious Christ of the resurrection. It is beautiful and inspiring to note the touch of light and glory with which these simple words invest the cross. It is not said I am He that was dead and liveth, but "I am He that liveth and was dead, but am alive forevermore." Life is mentioned before the death. There are two ways of looking at the cross. One is from the death side and the other …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

The Glorious Master and the Swooning Disciple
If our conceptions of the Lord Jesus are very enlarged, they will only be his due. We cannot exaggerate here. He deserves higher praise than we can ever render to him. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high is be above our loftiest conceptions. Even when the angels strike their loudest notes, and chant his praises most exultingly on their highest festal days, the music falls far short of his excellence. He is higher than a seraph's most soaring thought! Rise then, my brethren, as on …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 18: 1872

10Th Day. Dying Grace.
"He is Faithful that Promised." "I have the keys of hell and of death."--REV. i. 18. Dying Grace. And from whom could dying grace come so welcome, as from Thee, O blessed Jesus? Not only is Thy name, "The Abolisher of Death;" but Thou didst thyself die! Thou hast sanctified the grave by Thine own presence, and divested it of all its terrors. My soul! art thou at times afraid of this, thy last enemy? If the rest of thy pilgrimage-way be peaceful and unclouded, rests there a dark and portentous …
John Ross Macduff—The Faithful Promiser

Swooning and Reviving Christ's Feet.
AN ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE CLOSE OF ONE OF THE PASTORS' COLLEGE CONFERENCES. "And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His right hand upon me saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold. I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death."--Revelation i. 17, 18. SWOONING AND REVIVING AT CHRIST'S FEET. WE have nothing now to think of but our Lord. We come to Him that He may cause us to forget all others. …
Charles Hadden Spurgeon—Till He Come

The Fear of God.
And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as one dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying, Fear not; I am the first and the last and the Living one.'--Rev. i. 17, 18. It is not alone the first beginnings of religion that are full of fear. So long as love is imperfect, there is room for torment. That lore only which fills the heart--and nothing but love can fill any heart--is able to cast out fear, leaving no room for its presence. What we find in the beginnings of religion, will hold in varying …
George MacDonald—Unspoken Sermons

Catalogue of his Works.
There is no absolutely complete edition of Eusebius' extant works. The only one which can lay claim even to relative completeness is that of Migne: Eusebii Pamphili, Cæsareæ Palestinæ Episcopi, Opera omnia quæ extant, curis variorum, nempe: Henrici Valesii, Francisci Vigeri, Bernardi Montfauconii, Card. Angelo Maii edita; collegit et denuo recognovit J. P. Migne. Par. 1857. 6 vols. (tom. XIX.-XXIV. of Migne's Patrologia Græca). This edition omits the works which are …
Eusebius Pamphilius—Church History

The First and the Last
This title is used in Rev. i. 11. It is used again in 1. 17, ii. 8, and xxii. 13, but is never found in connection with "the Church of God." On the other hand, it is a title closely associated with "the Jew and the Gentile," as the following Scriptures will testify. Is. xli. 4, 5: "Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I, Jehovah, THE FIRST AND LAST; I am He. The isles saw it, and feared; the ends of the earth were afraid." Is. xliv. 6: "Thus saith the Lord, the …
E.W. Bullinger—Commentary on Revelation

The Lord's Day
In Rev. i. 9 we are told that John saw and received this revelation on "the Lord's Day." Leaving the former part of this verse for the present, let us notice the latter expression, "the Lord's Day." [4] The majority of people, being accustomed from their infancy to hear the first day of the week called the Lord's Day, conclude in their own minds that that day is thus called in Rev. i. 9 because that was the name of it. But the contrary is the fact: the day is so called by us because of this verse. …
E.W. Bullinger—Commentary on Revelation

A Great Voice
This expression links on the book of Revelation to the book of Deuteronomy, especially if we regard it in the connection with the fire, with which it is associated in each case. Ten times is the voice of God speaking "out of the midst of the fire" heard in Deuteronomy: viz., chaps. iv. 12,15,33,36; v. 4,22(19) [36] , 23(20), 24(21), 25(21), 26(23). Here, in Rev. i. 10, John hears "a great voice," and it is connected with fire, for the eyes of the speaker were "as a flame of fire" (ver. 14) and his …
E.W. Bullinger—Commentary on Revelation

Call to China and Voyage Hence
The known facts in regard to John Talmage's boyhood and youthful days are few. Of the known facts some perhaps are too trivial, others too sacred to bear mention. The sapling grew. Of the inner and outer circles of growth there is but brief record. He spent his boyhood at a quiet country hamlet, Gateville, New Jersey. On the ridge swung the toll-gate, and a little beyond might be heard the hum and rattle of the grist-mill. His father kept the toll-gate. John was a fine horseman, and found great sport …
Rev. John Gerardus Fagg—Forty Years in South China

Within the Holiest
Gerhard Ter Steegen Rev. i. 5, 6 His priest am I, before Him day and night, Within His Holy Place; And death, and life, and all things dark and bright, I spread before His Face. Rejoicing with His joy, yet ever still, For silence is my song My work to bend beneath His blessed will, All day, and all night long-- For ever holding with Him converse sweet, Yet speechless, for my gladness is complete. …
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen, Suso, and Others

Moreover, to Give a Fuller Demonstration of this Point...
[2829] Rev. i. 5 [2830] 1 Cor. xv. 23 [2831] 1 Cor. xv. 42-4 [2832] animale. [2833] Phil. iii. 21 …
Various—Life and Works of Rufinus with Jerome's Apology Against Rufinus.

The Fire of Love --Book I
Chapter I Note iii., p. 16--C. reads: for thai vnmanerly wyth warldly mone has armyd tham self.' But L. quia terrenas pecunias immoderate amauerunt'; which is probably correct, and which I have therefore followed. Note iv., p. 17--an omission in C. L., reads: Erumpit enim in ostensione operis feruor amoris.' Note v., p. 18--Another omission L. et qui ad amandum deum semper sunt auidi.' Chapter II Note vi., p. 20 The Bible references are to the Vulgate of Sixtus V and Clement VII, and where the …
Richard Rolle—The Fire of Love

The Source of Power
'And the Angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep, 2. And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold, a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps which are upon the top thereof: 3. And two olive-trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof. 4. So I answered and spake to the Angel that talked with …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

A Sight of the Crowned Christ
(Revelation, Chapter i.) "Since mine eyes were fixed on Jesus, I've lost sight of all beside, So enchained my spirit's vision, Looking at the Crucified." "The Lord Christ passed my humble cot: I knew him, yet I knew him not; But as I oft had done before, I hurried through my narrow door To touch His garment's hem. "He drew me to a place apart From curious crowd and noisy mart; And as I sat there at His feet I caught the thrill of His heart-beat Beyond His garment's hem. "Rare was the bread He broke …
by S. D. Gordon—Quiet Talks on the Crowned Christ of Revelation

Love's Complaining
Hence our Lord's fitness to deal with the churches, which are these golden lamp-stands, for no one knows so much about the lamps as the person whose constant work it is to watch them and trim them. No one knows the churches as Jesus does, for the care of all the churches daily comes upon him, he continually walks among them, and holds their ministers as stars in his right hand. His eyes are perpetually upon the churches, so that he knows their works, their sufferings, and their sins; and those eyes …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 32: 1886

Our Lord Appears after his Ascension.
^F I. Cor. XV. 8. ^f 8 and last of all, as to the child untimely born, he appeared to me also. [Since Paul reckons this among the bodily appearances of our Lord, we have included it in our work; but it borders upon those spiritual appearances which belong rather to apostolic history and may be classed with the vision of Stephen (Acts vii. 55) and John (Rev. i. 9-17), to which it was near kin. Accounts of the appearance will be found in the ninth, twenty-second and twenty-sixth chapters of Acts. For …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Living One
"I am He that liveth, and was dead" (i. 18). (...) (ho zon), THE LIVING ONE. Like the previous title, it is used as a special designation of the One whose unveiling is about to be shewn to John. Its use is peculiar to Daniel and Revelation. The two books thus linked together by it are linked as to their character and subject matter in a very special manner. It is used twice in Daniel:- Dan. iv. 34 (31 [19] ) and xii. 7; and six time in Revelation:- Rev. i. 18; iv. 9,10; v. 14; x. 6; and xv. 7. [20] …
E.W. Bullinger—Commentary on Revelation

Lord God
In i. 8 the title "god" must be added to the word "Lord," according to all the Critical Greek Texts [14] and the R.V. In chap. xxii. 6 we have the same title. Thus at the end of the book and at the beginning we have this peculiar title, which seems to enclose all that the book contains, and stamp it all with that which the title signifies. What is signifies is clear from the place where we first find it, vix., in the second of the twelve divisions of Genesis (chap. ii. 4 - iv. 26). This division …
E.W. Bullinger—Commentary on Revelation

Letter v. Yes, My Dear Friend, it is My Conviction that in all Ordinary Cases the Knowledge...
Yes, my dear friend, it is my conviction that in all ordinary cases the knowledge and belief of the Christian Religion should precede the study of the Hebrew Canon. Indeed, with regard to both Testaments, I consider oral and catechismal instruction as the preparative provided by Christ himself in the establishment of a visible Church. And to make the Bible, apart from the truths, doctrines, and spiritual experiences contained therein, the subject of a special article of faith, I hold an unnecessary …
Samuel Taylor Coleridge—Confessions of an Inquiring Spirit etc

The Royal Priesthood
Gerhard Ter Steegen Jer. xxxiii. 18; Rev. i. 6 The race of God's anointed priests shall never pass away; Before His glorious Face they stand, and serve Him night and day. Though reason raves, and unbelief flows on, a mighty flood, There are, and shall be, till the end, the hidden priests of God. His chosen souls, their earthly dross consumed in sacred fire, To God's own heart their hearts ascend in flame of deep desire; The incense of their worship fills His Temple's holiest place; Their song with …
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen, Suso, and Others

Communion Again Broken --Restoration
Cant. v. 2-vi.10. The fourth section commences with an address of the bride to the daughters of Jerusalem, in which she narrates her recent sad experience, and entreats their help in her trouble. The presence and comfort of her Bridegroom are again lost to her; not this time by relapse into worldliness, but by slothful self-indulgence. We are not told of the steps that led to her failure; of how self again found place in her heart. Perhaps spiritual pride in the achievements which grace enabled her …
J. Hudson Taylor—Union and Communion

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