Churches in the United States in the year 2013 were not the primary audience Jesus had in mind when the book of Revelation was written. For the most part, white Christians in this land have known incredible religious freedom since the founding of this country in 1787. It’s one of the bedrock principles of our Constitution. In the ensuing years, minorities in this nation have come to enjoy this privilege as well.
However, Jesus’ bottom-line message in this final book of the Bible is to encourage Christians facing persecution, especially those alive during the end-times. In the various times I have heard Revelation taught, this emphasis has hardly even come up. Instead, the sermons or lectures have been filled with timelines and prophecy charts. That’s because we haven’t known persecution, and therefore the subject hasn’t seemed that relevant to us. Unfortunately, while we have been experiencing great liberty in the way we exercise our faith, large parts of the rest of the world haven’t.
I am told that more Christians suffered martyrdom in the 20th century than in all the previous centuries combined. That statement alone makes Revelation a most-relevant text for believers worldwide to be studying.
In our short lessons, there won’t be a lot written about when the return of the Lord will take place. There are more than enough places where such opinions can be found. But we will be sensitized to the spiritual war that is heating up between the powers of light and darkness, and what our response should be.
With that said, we are now ready to look at chapter one of this amazing book.
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