Read Revelation 1:1–8
What do you think of when you think of the book of Revelation? Maybe you think of fiery judgment or confusing charts determining Jesus is due back next Tuesday. Not many people think of Revelation as a book of blessing. And yet the opening of the book is a blessing (1:3), and there are seven total “blessed are” statements throughout Revelation (see 1:3; 14:13; 16:15; 19:9; 20:6; 22:7, 14). The promised blessing in verse 3 is interesting because it centers on something foreign to most modern Christians: the public reading of Scripture. While almost all churches today read some portion of Scripture in their worship services, whether it is a verse or a chapter, it is usually not a whole book in one sitting. And most of a Christian’s Scripture consumption today is reading silently by themself. There is a good reason for this shift: more people can read today. Back in the early church, you would have the one literate person among you read the book for the whole church. But in the shift from experiencing Scripture as public listening to private reading, it is easy to lose sight of something important: community. Notice the shift in verse 3: “blessed is the one” to “blessed are those.” Revelation was meant to be experienced—and its principles lived out—in community, not isolation. That is because Revelation is not an intellectual exercise in making charts and diagrams. It is a call to obedience and perseverance. It opens with a promise of blessing for obedience and ends with a promise of curse for disobedience (see 22:18–19). Revelation is primarily about what we will do today and only secondarily about what will happen in the future.
So as we go through these 40 days together, do not get so hung up on reading the headlines and fitting them into Revelation that you miss hearing the words of the prophecy and keeping them. For the time is too near to waste time worrying if the time is today.
