Rev 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants – things which must shortly take place.

In this first verse of the Book of Revelation, we noted that this is the revelation of Jesus Christ.  It involves “things which must shortly take place”. It reveals to His servants, those who acknowledge Jesus as their Lord and Savior that He is coming back for them, and He will rule and reign as the King of kings and Lord of lords – Rev 19:16.  When we are first saved by the precious blood of Jesus, we start off our journey of knowing Him, first as our Lord and Savior. In our journey of progressive intimacy with Jesus, we progress from servanthood to friendship, from friendship to sonship and finally, from sonship to be His bride (more of this in later sharing).

The question that remains in this important first verse is the timing of Jesus’ return, is not from Him, but given to Him by His Father God. To understand this important point, we must go back to the Jewish betrothal process where the bridegroom after he has chosen his bride, returns to his father’s house to prepare his marriage home for his bride – John 14:2. According to Jewish tradition, the bridegroom does not know when he is to return for his bride until his father instructs him. Hence, with this understanding of the Jewish betrothal process, we can now understand why in this first verse of the Book of Revelation, it is “The Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave to Him …”