The Apostle John, the writer of the Book of the Revelation, was imprisoned in Patmos, an island in the Aegean Sea off the coast of Asia Minor, where tradition says he worked in the copper mines. The date (A.D. 96) at the top of our Bibles shows that the Revelation is one of the very last books written to complete the canon of Scripture.
The Revelation is the great prophetical book of the New Testament, as Daniel is of the Old, in connection with the detailed course of future events.
The book is stamped with a precious character:
“The Revelation of Jesus Christ.”
We are told that God gave it to Him in order to show to His servants things that must shortly come to pass, and He committed it to the Apostle John. The book begins as no other book in the Bible does by saying: “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 [near, JND]” (Rev. 1:33Blessed 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. (Revelation 1:3)). Doubtless the reader is “blessed” as he peruses any part of God's Word, but this definite promise is significant, and encourages us in the study of this book.
Next we notice that John can say of himself, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet” (vs. 10). And again later on he says: “And immediately I was in the Spirit” (Rev. 4:22And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. (Revelation 4:2)), thus emphasizing in a remarkable way the character of the book.
Further, it was addressed to the seven assemblies grouped together in Asia, which was a small province in the western part of what is known today as Asia Minor. As we shall see later on, the seven epistles of Revelation 2 and 3, whilst addressed to seven existing assemblies and dealing with the state which characterized each at that time, also present a prophetic history of the Church from the end of the Apostolic Age to the Rapture. It will be thus seen how directly this wonderful revelation is addressed to all Christians at all times.
The Divine Division Of The Book Is Threefold.
The Lord Jesus Himself says to John: “Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter” (Rev. 1:1919Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter; (Revelation 1:19)).
Nor are we left in any doubt as to where these three divisions begin and end. Revelation 1 gives us “the things which thou hast seen”; Revelation 2 and 3 “the things which are”; Revelation 4 to 22 “the things which shall be hereafter.”
Revelation 4 commencing with the invitation: “Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter,” clearly indicates where the third division begins.