Revelation Chapter One, Witnessing

Revelation 1:2 who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw.

I first want to direct our mutual attention to the beginning and end of this verse, “who bore witness…to all things that he saw.” The who of course is the Apostle John. The idea of witnessing is of utmost importance both here and in all of Scripture. Why?

Because witnessing gives the testimony historical grounding and a practical efficacy. John wrote his entire gospel for the express purpose of witnessing Christ’s words and miracles so that those reading might believe, John 20:30, 31. What does it mean to witness? The Bible is not remiss about this topic. Paul gives the Corinthian Church what I refer to as the nutshell gospel in 1 Corinthians 15:3, 4. Then, grounding this testimony in daily reality, he writes, “and He was seen by Cephas…the twelve…by over five hundred brethren at once…by James…by all the apostles…by me also,” 1 Corinthians 15:5-8. These people were what we call eye witnesses. When something happens, an eye witness is an invaluable source of information when someone wants details, clarification, or objective facts. The book of Acts is replete with this idea, beginning with our Lord telling His apostles this impressive truth, “and you shall be witnesses to Me,” Acts 1:8. This theme of witnessing about Christ occurs again and again in Acts 2:32, 3:15, 5:32, 10:39, 41, and 13:31. 

Our faith is grounded in daily reality. The Man we place our faith in is also the redemptive Savior who deigned to save us purely by grace. It is not mystical or esoteric; those are human conjecture, speculation, religion or philosophy. They are refined and highly polished, but it reflects purely human beliefs and abstract notions of an intangible good that affects no inner resurrection or transformation. That is why religion can indulge the terrible burden of ecumenism; it isn’t grounded in genuine reality and therefore doctrinal purity is of less importance than syncretism.  Modern ecumenism wants to synthesize every facet of Christian or pseudo Christian (or even anti-Christian) belief into one large pale for the “greater good” to promote understanding between various belief systems. But Christianity isn’t a belief system. It is not about sacraments, tenets, or creeds. It is ultimately and purely about a Man: the Man Christ Jesus, who is God and incarnated to take away the curse of sin through the sacrifice of Himself. This actually occurred in space/time on planet Earth. It was a real event, related by those who saw it to others, who in turn related it to more people. And so we are the inheritors of this testimony as it passed into this newest generation.

The Christian faith is completely grounded in historical reality. The Man Christ Jesus was born in a manner that fulfilled prophecy, lived in said manner, died in like manner, and rose again in the same manner. HIs followers, disciples, apostles, etc., all gave testimony to the truth. Not a spiritual truth, if by spiritual you mean abstract, subjective and given to personal interpretation. No, this truth was objective and verifiable, as evidenced in the hundreds of people attesting to it, even at the cost of their lives. Many were killed for their testimony and did not recant or flee or fight back. They instead professed the Lord Jesus Christ and His victory over sin and death until their testimony was sealed by their blood. This testimony was delivered from person to person and generation to generation, each to weigh the evidence given and make a determination about the claims of Jesus of Nazareth. For instance, John himself discipled a man named Polycarp (circa. 69-155 AD), who in turn discipled Irenaeus (150?-191 AD). Polycarp sat at John’s feet, who declared the words and actions of Christ, both before and after His crucifixion. Polycarp in turn related these truths to Irenaeus. The foundation of his testimony wasn’t emotional, sentimental, or “spiritual” in the terminology formerly defined. Rather, it was factual, prophetic reality revealed before human witnesses as God accomplished what He promised to perform.

The word of God and testimony of Jesus Christ in this instance refer to the prophetic events that unfold throughout Revelation, beginning in chapter 4. These events had already been heralded by many prophets who had come before John. In fact, as we will see in a little while in this chapter, when Christ comes to John, He comes in the fullness of prophetic imagery from the Old Testament. The Christian teacher Donald Barnhouse once described Revelation as the train station of the Bible. The Biblical threads woven by Daniel, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah, Zephaniah, et al., all form a tapestry of sorts, and it is finally completed in John’s witness of the final days of planet Earth.

John, as Christ’s servant, bears testimony of his Lord’s final revelation that will complete the canon of Scripture. He is the royal scribe, who remained alive after his fellow apostles met their end–one and all–by the violence of men who rejected the truth. John was suffering for the truth on the island of Patmos when the Son of God came to him with this revelation. The same Spirit that animated the pens and tongues of the former prophets now gives him (and by virtue of that, us) a prophetic glimpse into the finalized future of our world. We would do well to carefully heed what is being said.