Revelation 1:1

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John
 

God Made Known to John Things That Were Soon To Take Place

One of the key words in this verse is “soon”. When God’s Holy Spirit inspired John to write these words, they were written to the seven church’s along a Roman postal route. Certainly God intended future generations to read these words and the words certainly have meaning to all generations beyond John’s but this fact cannot discount or eliminate altogether the importance they bore to that generation and those church’s. Throughout the New Testament, letters are written to churches and the content of those letters pertain to those churches in those days. The letters address issues and even problems that those particular churches were dealing with and the purpose of the writing of the letters was to inform those specific churches of those specific issues or problems. There is nothing inherent or found within the book of Revelation that would indicate that this letter written to these seven churches did not contain information that pertained to their specific situation at the time the letter was written. There is certainly nothing explicit within the letter that indicates God inspired John to write this letter to these seven church’s giving them a message for a generation that was more than 2000 in their future.

This pattern is not limited to the New Testament. Centuries earlier, God gave a similar revelation to Daniel (Daniel 2:27–45). This was a direct revelation to Daniel in the same way John’s revelation was direct from God to John. In Daniel’s revelation, God revealed many things to Daniel. Some things were to happen in the near future (while Daniel was still alive), while others were to happen in Daniel’s distant future. God’s revelation to John pertains to those same events but was a more detailed account of those events which were to happen in John’s future. In John’s vision, God omitted those things of Daniel’s vision which had already happened. In Daniel 8:26, God gives Daniel a vision of things that will happen in the distant future; distant to Daniel and his generation. With this vision, God gives Daniel specific instructions to keep this vision secret since it is not meant for his generation but for a generation to come. If God had intended the revelation He gave to John as a communication to generations in John’s distant future, certainly He would have communicated this to John in a similar manner. This is a major element that supports the Covenantal view of eschatology.

 A few years after John wrote this letter God destroyed the Temple, all of its contents, and all that was done and accomplished in the Temple on a daily basis. This destruction came through the Romans in the year 70AD. He reveals in John’s letter the mystery of why He would be doing this and He is revealing this directly to John. The events described in John’s revelation are a good and accurate description of the events of 70AD and the timeframe certainly fits the description of “soon”.

God Sends Angels To Communicate To His People

God communicates to His people in a variety of ways including sending angels to individuals with specific messages. In some records of this type of angelic communication God sends a named angel; other times, as in this passage, He just sends “an angel”. Who delivers the message is not nearly as important as the message itself and especially He who sent the message.

This angel came directly from God and spoke to John. This was not a dream or a vision, but a direct visit and a direct communication.

In a very similar way, centuries earlier, God sent an angel to Daniel with a very important message. In Daniel 9:21-22, while Daniel was in the middle of praying, the angel Gabriel interrupted Daniel to bring him this message. This too was not a dream or vision but a direct visit and a direct communication. What the angel Gabriel spoke to Daniel was essentially the same message that the angel in the book of Revelation delivered to John. It is a message regarding the end of the age known as the Old Covenant. There are differences in the details communicated to Daniel and the details communicated to John, but the essence of the message is the same. Much of this difference can be attributed to the time between communications. The angel Gabriel communicated to Daniel many things that took place by the time the angel came to John. As a result, in the message delivered to John, many of the details already fulfilled were omitted. The content of John’s message was things that were yet to happen and that were to happen soon.