The Witness of John Via the Angel

Revelation 1:1-3 NASB “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, who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, everything that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads, and those who hear the words of the prophecy and keep the things which are written in it; for the time is near.”

There are so many witnesses to the truths that Jesus conveyed to us in the New Testament, which obviously includes the four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles and the other epistles and letters, but I would like you to notice something in the first verse of Revelation Chapter One, verse 1-3 and it is that God the Father gives this message to Jesus, Jesus gives it to His personal angel, the angel gives the message to John, and John writes this message to all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. 

The fact that Jesus Himself never directly wrote down anything that He said or taught has always been noteworthy to me. If Jesus was just an ordinary man, that would not have been something, to my way of thinking, that an ordinary man would have left for others to do. That in itself should tell you something. Of course, we know that Jesus was not ordinary and because the witness that Jesus gave us, came from His Father, we see Jesus telling His disciples, as recorded in John 14:26 “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and remind you of all that I said to you.” Emphasis is mine.

Would an ordinary man actually have said something like this, knowing full well that because he was ordinary, he would have no way in which to actually bring this remembrance about, after He had left this world? I’m thinking that answer to that should be obvious. And of course, because Jesus was exactly who He said He was, and because God’s Holy Spirit did teach and remind them of what Jesus had said, we do have literally thousands of copies of the recorded written testimony of the New Testament authors, with us today.

And then we have the Apostle John, who as you know, authored several books in the Bible besides Revelation. The Gospel of John, and First, Second, and Third John are all written by him, as well. John was the beloved of Jesus. He and James were the sons of Zebedee, the sons of thunder. John was one of the younger of the disciples. It was John that Jesus entrusted His mother to. Whenever three disciples went aside with Jesus, as they did at the transfiguration, John was one of them. John was also there at the Garden of Gethsemane, waiting while Jesus prayed. And John was also present at the crucification.

Of course, having read through the Gospel of John, we know that John over and over again lets us know who exactly Jesus was and is. And we also clearly know that John testifies to the resurrection of Jesus in a number of instances, one of which is where Jesus appears to Thomas and Jesus challenges him to touch him, put his finger in the wounds and believe, as recorded in John 20:28 where Thomas says, “My Lord and my God.” Only John’s gospel and Revelation refer to Jesus Christ as the Word (Revelation 19:13; John 1:1) and only the Gospel of John describes Jesus as the Lamb (Revelation 5:6, 5:8; John 1:29); both describe Jesus as a witness (compare Revelation 1:5; John 5:31-32).

The thing that really stands out is that John was so bold for Jesus that he was banished to the Isle of Patmos, off the western coast of Asia Minor. Patmos is about 60 miles from Ephesus. The authorities assumed that there was nothing he could do out there to promote this Jesus. How wrong they were. Why? Because this is where God chose to reveal to John the contents of the book of Revelation, which would serve as a witness to all of us until our Lord returns.

And it is this chain of custody that caught my eye. God the Father gives this message to Jesus, Jesus gives it to His personal angel, the angel gives the message to John, and John writes this message to all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Revelation 1:1 NASB: “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,”

Revelation 22:8-9 is also noteworthy as it pertains to this angel: “I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book.”

An angel, sent to John, the message originating from God the Father, given to Jesus, Jesus gives it to His personal angel, the angel gives the message to John, and John writes this message to all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, revealing future events, especially the end of the Gentile age, the end of the world, and the 1000 year reign of Christ on the earth, then all of eternity in heaven.

This is the same witness who gave us the Gospel of John. This is the same witness who spells out the deity of Jesus, the Messiah. This is the same witness who testifies to the resurrection of Jesus. Does John know what he is talking about? I’d say he does.
Trustworthy? I’d say he is.

And the angel. . . remember who announced the virgin birth? (Luke 1:30-31)
Remember who heralded the birth of the Messiah? (Luke 2:9-10)
Remember who validated the resurrection of Jesus? (Matthew 28:5-7)
And who announces the testimony of Jesus Christ for what is to come? (Revelation 1:1)

Tell me that isn’t something else!

Worthy is the Lamb! Blessings!