Every generation experiences its share of hardship and suffering. For 2,000 years, believers have been turning to the book of Revelation to help them navigate through the challenges and difficulties we face in this world. Before we approach this amazing book to help us see more clearly, we need to be aware of a few guiding principles.

The main principle is that Revelation, and especially chapter one, is all about Jesus. Before trying to deal with questions around the “beast”, the “dragon”, or the “mark of the beast”, we need to slowly read, meditate on, and prayerfully “digest” everything chapter one says about Jesus.

Compare the book of Revelation to a pair of binoculars and chapter one to the center knob; unless we use this small thumbwheel to sharpen our focus on Christ everything will be blurry and unclear. 

Chapter one helps us see that the entire book of Revelation is about the testimony of Jesus and about calling us to greater faithfulness to him.

The Apostle John wrote Revelation while exiled on the island of Patmos. The original audience of this letter was the strongly persecuted seven churches in the Roman province of Asia (modern day western Turkey). In Rev. 1:4, John introduces Jesus as the “faithful witness,” encouraging his readers to continue to be faithful to Jesus, just like Christ was faithful to his Father while on earth.

John then has a powerful and very detailed vision of Jesus where he describes him as the high priest (verse 13) who is the fulfilment of Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament. His appearance is so overwhelmingly glorious that John falls at Christ’s feet like a dead man (verse 17). With this vision of the glory of the eternal Son of God in his mind, John is now ready to write the rest of the book.

Taking it Home: How might Jesus be calling you to greater faithfulness at this time and in this generation?