Revelation 1:19 says:
Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter…
This is the past, the present, and the future. Write what you’ve seen and give it to the churches.
Let’s review these five steps:
I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
John was persecuted for his faith and service to God. Emperor Domitian tried to boil him alive in a caldron of oil. Some say that the book was written as a polemic against this emperor. This man deified himself and required his subjects’ worship. He was paranoid and cruel and known for his reign of terror. He exiled John to the island of Patmos in AD 97 and died two years after banishing John. John survived his cruelty and was preserved by God to continue preaching the Revelation of Jesus Christ.
What does he mean when he says:
For the word and for the testimony of Jesus Christ?
In Revelation 19:10 Gabriel defines what the testimony of Jesus is:
I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of Prophecy.
The testimony of Jesus is defined to be the Spirit of Prophecy.
Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy.
We can clearly see this fact explained in His own words in Luke 24:44:
These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.
And in John 5:39 Jesus said:
Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
John writes the book of Revelation on the small island of Patmos, the “Alcatraz” of its day.
Let’s take a look at what the Bible says about the Words we are studying.
Rev 22:6 And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.
In John 8:26 Jesus says:
HE that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of HIM.
Then the next verse tells us plainly
…He spake to them of the Father” but they didn’t understand this.
Why is this significant?
In 2Corinthians 4:3-4 it says:
But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. 4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
This is why there is such a sense of urgency in the words of God. This concerns our eternal salvation or damnation.
This is why there’s urgency in the tone of the book. Satan, the god of this world, blinds the minds of those who do not believe in the Word of God.