“Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near”
and those who hear the words of this prophecy,
God blesses those who “hear” prophecy. It is one thing to “read” prophecy but it is another thing to “hear” prophecy.
Revelation is not history; it is prophecy. Revelation is essentially prophecy. All of us take interest in the future. God is gracious to reveal to us something of the future.
John repeats this pronouncement of blessing at the end of the book as well.
“Behold, I am coming quickly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book” (Revelation 22:7).
No prophecy of the past deemed to fulfilled already has failed to come true. Scores of prophecies of the first coming of Christ came true in full detail. Not one of the thousands of prophecies of Scripture has ever failed to come true.
God not only blesses us if we read Revelation but He blesses us if we “hear” this prophecy.
Principle:
God expects us to listen to prophecy, not render it into oblivion.
Application:
We live in a day that minimizes prophecy. There are many reasons for the demotion of God’s prophecy, but whatever the reason, they are the opposite of John’s point.
There are those who obsess over prophecy. That is a different kind of distortion. However, do you have a heart for God’s prophetic program? This passage is a command to “listen” to prophecy. Can you perceive that it will have great impact on your spirituality? Is there positive volition in your heart toward the message of Revelation?
First, I would like to say that I thoroughly enjoy reading your commentaries and your illumination of the Word. However, in reading your commentaries on Revelation 1:1 and 1:3, I must admit I’m a little confused. In your commentary on 1:1c you state, “There are two kinds of prophecy in the Bible — fulfilled and unfulfilled.” Yet, in the commentary for verse 1:3b you state, “No prophecy of the past has failed to come true. …Not one of the thousands of prophecies of Scripture has ever failed to come true.”
These statements seem to be in conflict with each other as I would assume that an unfulfilled prophecy is one that hasn’t come true yet. Can you please elaborate further on these statements?
Thank you and GOD bless.
Howard, thanks for your question. What I mean is that of the prophecies that were predicted to come true previous to this time, each one has come true. There are over 300 prophecies of the first coming of Christ such as being born in Bethlehem and these have come true. There are prophecies yet to be fulfilled such as the Tribulation, Millennial Kingdom, Rapture, Second Coming, etc. You can read an article on prophecies by going to “Other Articles” on the main page and the article “The Greatest Gift.” To clarify, I have revised this sentence: “No prophecy of the past deemed to fulfilled already has failed to come true.” Thanks for your contribution to clarification of this study.
What does it mean to hear prophecy?
thanks
Ronald, by "listen" I mean to listen or apply the prophecies of the Bible and not current day prophets.
Hi grant. Are you planning to do more commentaries of the bible? I think that would be great
Ronald, I am working on Romans right now and should be finished with that book in a couple years! 🙂 There are hundreds of studies through Romans 10 so far.