A special blessing for you when you READ THIS BOOK
A special blessing on the public reading of Revelation
Rev 1:2 Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.
Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
How was Revelation recorded?
…who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, and
to all things that he saw. v2
John was the author of this work. He recorded both what he was shown and what he
heard in vision.
Jesus Christ – the First and the Last 5 Revelation Chapter 1
Understanding Revelation
The Word of God, which was revealed through the prophet John, is also called the
testimony.
…the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Revelation 19:10
This spirit of prophecy is the Word of God revealed through His prophet.
A special blessing on the public reading of Revelation
Revelation opens with a blessing on the reader and it closes with a curse upon any who
add to or subtract from any part of it.
Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep
those things which are written in it…
This text refers to the public reading of the book. Documents were rare and expensive to
duplicate, and a good number in any congregation were illiterate. As a consequence
important materials were read publicly to its audience. In the synagogue service at
Nazareth for example, Jesus was given the Scripture to read publicly (Luke 4:16-17).
Even today, as a matter of custom, the word of God is still publicly read in most church
services.
There is a blessing accorded to the hearers of the book. This blessing was possibly
necessary to encourage people to listen to its message. No doubt God foresaw how
unpopular the truths of the book of Revelation would be once they were fully understood.
Finally, a blessing is given upon those who keep the things that are written in the book.
The word keep in the Greek means ‘to continually or habitually observe’. This
necessarily calls for our investigation into what God commands His followers to
habitually keep.
