Revelation 1:3 – The Blessing that Comes with Reading Revelation
Rev 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
As we look at this verse, it encourages us to not give up as we read this enigmatic book because even if we don’t understand it, we must continue seeking to understand it for a blessing is contained therein if we persevere.
Why would such a blessing be said to be in this particular book of the Bible? Maybe because we can’t understand it without the aid of the Holy Spirit, and therefore we must keep on asking, keep on seeking, and keep on knocking. When we choose to do so, God will not disappoint us. He will give us a revelation of something in Revelation and to me, that is a tremendous blessing. I love it when God gives me a revelation of something hitherto unknown to me.
The word “revelation” in the Greek is apokalypsis which means “the removal of a veil so that something can be seen.” It means “to uncover something” so it can be known and especially of the Lord revealing truth about himself, truth we could not have discovered on our own.
This reminds me of something I experienced in regards to this word. Many years ago when my husband was the senior pastor of a church in Ohio, we had a prophet in for a series of meetings. He would teach for a while and then he would have specific prophetic words over individuals in the congregation. I don’t remember exactly how many days he was with us, but we had a very nice parsonage and he stayed in our guest room.
The time of his ministry at our church was coming to a close, and it seemed he had had a prophecy for everyone but me. I was the pastor’s wife and there was no word for me. Finally on the last night, he had a word for me that he said came to him when he saw me making up a bed in our house. God told him that I would be taking the covers off things that have been hidden.
No wonder I love it so much when God gives me a revelation of something in his Word; it’s because that is part of his call over my life! I’ve also been used by God to take the covers off of the phenomenon of satanic ritual abuse and write books about it so others can understand and know how to minister to those who have suffered such egregious abuse.
But, getting back to our verse, I’m going to restate it here and then we can see what else we might uncover about this interesting verse:
Rev 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
There are three major verbs here: (1) read, (2) hear, and (3) keep. So this is what we are to do to have this blessing; we must read, hear and keep the things written in the book.
The Greek word for read can mean “to know again.” So as we read we are to know what we are reading. We must not read it just once, but again and again in order to know again. One danger in a book so filled with allegory and simile as this one, is that people can easily just give up and skip over it. Many of us may use a Bible reading plan that takes us through the Bible in one year, so when we get to the book of Revelation we may be tempted to just read somewhere else.
I would like to suggest that if you want to study a portion of this book, don’t read what others have written about it, but seek the Lord on your own as to what it might mean. I have found this to be when revelation comes. I look up the words in their original languages and I know a few guidelines for how to study for hidden revelation. One guideline is that numbers must be understood according to their spiritual meaning and not literally.
For example, I have written a book on the four living creatures which is the subject of Ezekiel 1. These beings also appear in the book of Revelation. If I were to take the number four literally, there would only be four of these beings, but if I use the spiritual meaning for the word as it is used throughout Scripture, then I understand that four means “man in relation to earth as created.” Therefore, the four living creatures turn out to mean people living on earth in the end times who are in heaven at the same time. This is because their spiritual side has been quickened by God and their spiritual mind has been opened to see and experience things in heaven that they can in turn minister out to people on earth who have not yet experienced this quickening.
I have used this principle of using the spiritual meaning of numbers as a tool to unlock many difficult passages of Scripture. I get the meaning of a number by seeing how it is used all throughout the Bible. One great help is the book, Number in Scripture by E.W. Bullinger. For example, he shows every usage of “four” throughout the whole Bible and also throughout nature. He also shows its usage in context of the spiritual meaning with the three numbers preceding it and the one following. (The Father – one in sovereignty; the Son, the second person, in incarnation and salvation, delivering from every enemy; the Holy Spirit, the third person, realizing in us and to us divine things. Four being 3 + 1 as being that which follows from the Godhead which is creation—all created things and especially man as related to the world in creation.)
Everything else about the four living creatures must be understood allegorically so we can know more about what these people are like. For example, they are said to have four faces. This must be understood spiritually in order for that to make any sense at all. The Hebrew definition for the word “faces” is “the part that turns.” In our natural life, if we want to see something, we turn our face towards that which we want to see.
In our spirit, if we want to have understanding (see) about something, we turn our heart towards that thing. If I want to see what Jesus is like, I have to turn my heart towards him in order to understand him more in a spiritual sense. It’s not about him having a beard or the color of his eyes; it’s about who he is as a person and I see this in my heart as I continue in relationship with him.
How can these creatures have four hearts? By using our spiritual understanding of four, we now know they have a heart that relates to creation and are therefore on earth. How can their bodies be covered with eyes as stated in Revelation? It is all to be understood spiritually. And this is where the great blessing comes as we take the covers off of the meaning of all these things. We are uncovering things that have been hidden since before the foundation of the world, and they have been hidden in allegory.
“The time is at hand.” It is time to uncover these things because we are to live these things now and we can begin now to use allegory to learn more about the secret things of God. An allegory is like a parable. It tells a truth in a story form that must be explained by the heart of God to our heart. Jesus said in Matthew 13:35, 36:
“All these things Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables; and without a parable he did not speak to them that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: ‘I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things kept secret from the foundation of the world.’”
Considering all I have said thus far about the spiritual meaning of things in Scripture, it becomes evident that there are two ways of looking at the book of Revelation. We can try to understand it literally or we can try to understand it on a more spiritual level—or both. As I have studied every verse of Revelation with this in mind, I have come to the conclusion that there are at least two understandings of Revelation and both can be right and both can be happening concurrently.
There is another key we should know regarding spiritual and literal, and that is that what is spiritual is going on within a person and is therefore inward. The literal interpretation is usually outward.
Therefore, it seems to me that great blessings come when we read the book of Revelation. When we seek God by asking him to show us the meaning of these allegorical, parable-like events described in the book of Revelation, it draws us closer to him. This to me is what it means to read—to know again. We go back again and again seeking God to show us the true meanings of these things so we can know them.
And as we seek to know, we must hear this knowledge from God. We have to hear their meaning from God in the first place because only he can reveal them to us by his Holy Spirit. In Scripture to hear something implies we are to also obey what we hear. Hearing does not necessarily mean an audible voice, but it does mean understanding that can come to us from God in many ways as we seek him daily and do our best to keep him uppermost in our minds and hearts at all times.
And lastly we are told we are to “keep those things which are written therein.” This word “keep” (tereo, in the Greek) in New Testament usage can mean “to attend to carefully, take care of, to guard [from loss or injury, properly, by keeping the eye upon], to preserve, to maintain, to hold fast.”
This gives us some idea of how valuable this book of the Bible is. Even though we may not understand a lot of the passages therein, we must take care of it, attend to it carefully, guard it from loss or injury by keeping our eyes upon it, preserve it, maintain it and hold it fast.
