The Revelation of Jesus Christ
Volume 2
by
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The Revelation of Jesus Christ by Pastor Alfred J. Chompff As you know, the meaning of the word “revelation” is “the uncovering of something that was hidden”. In this book God lifted the tip of the veil covering “the mysteries of the Kingdom of God”. In the prophecy called “The Revelation of Jesus Christ”, God discloses a little more than what He has disclosed in all the previous parts of the Bible. Here is the testing stone of our understanding of the whole Bible. This is the last epistle in the Bible. It was written between 90 and 100 AD, and historically it was addressed to the seven churches in Asia. The Apostle John was the last of the Apostles still alive, and this was the last of the direct communications from God to man. It is important to realize that this was the last message from God to mankind. It begins with the words, The Revelation of Jesus Christ Therefore we should name this epistle “The Revelation of Jesus Christ”. And for that very reason many Bibles do call this epistle “The Revelation of Jesus Christ”. Revelation 1:1-3, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. 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.” Who is He who speaks with such authority to us? We are His servants. It is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is coming soon. Fear Him, for He has been appointed to be the Judge of the living and the dead. Revelation 1:8, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” Clearly you can see that the title of this epistle must be “The Revelation of Jesus Christ”. Most people take it to mean “the revelation which Jesus Christ gave, of which He is the Author”. In other words, they read it as if it is saying, “the Revelation from Jesus Christ”. But that is not what the Greek text says. When we compare this expression with many other verses where the same sentence construction in the Greek text occurs, we see that this expression must be understood in the objective sense, meaning that Jesus Christ is the object of this Scripture. It means that Jesus Christ is revealed to us in this last epistle in the Bible, and we have the privilege to hear Him. When we study it we see that “the Revelation of Jesus Christ” is the central and most important theme of this prophecy. Therefore this prophecy is not just prophesying history, but it presents history in the light of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. From the historical viewpoint this prophecy is rather gloomy and hopeless; one calamity follows another. But this is not how we should look at this epistle. We should rather see in it how all things lead to the final revelation of our Lord in glory. Then we “see Jesus” in all the events of this present time, and we shall not fail to see the blessing that is promised to them that “read”, and “hear”, and “keep” the words of this prophecy. We believe that God exists, and that He has given mankind His views on how anyone might be saved. And so without any doubt the Bible is “The Word from God”, and it is “The Word of God”. Like we read in 2Peter 1:21, “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost”. God spoke these words, and holy men of God recorded these words letter by letter and word by word and they wrote these words in Hebrew and in Greek. The inspired Word of God is that which was written by the prophets in the original languages, in Hebrew and in Greek. If God exists then He will have preserved His message to mankind. And so we have delivered to us, preserved through the centuries, the Hebrew Masoretic Text and the Greek Textus Receptus as the truly inspired Word of God, carefully preserved. The English King James Version (KJV) is not the inspired Word of God. But since it is as close as possible a word by word translation from the Hebrew Masoretic Text and the Greek Textus Receptus we use it as the Word of God, and we exclude all other modern versions of the Bible since they all are less faithful to the Bible when we compare them with the original languages. Moreover, since the Bible is One Book, then all the documents contained therein should not be called books. The Old Testament Scriptures should properly be called “Scrolls” or “the Prophecy of such and so”, and moreover none of the New Testament Scriptures are actually called “books”. Open your Bible and check me out. None of them are called “books”. They are named “The Gospel of so and so”, or they are called “The Epistle to so and so”. In the present book, exposing “The Revelation of Jesus Christ” I will carefully avoid naming any of the Scriptures as “books”, and I will only call the Bible as the One Book that God has given us. We find that this Book speaks predominantly of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is through reading and studying this Book with the help of God the Holy Spirit that we come to know Christ, and knowing Him is the hallmark of salvation. And now, when we turn to the last epistle in the Bible we find that the Lord Jesus Christ speaks in this epistle about: Things Which Must Shortly Come to Pass The first few sentences tell us where we are going and what the purpose is of this Epistle. Revelation 1:1, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to shew unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass; and He sent and signified it by His Angel unto His servant John:” God gave this “Revelation of Jesus Christ” unto Christ, the Lord Jesus in His glorified humanity, to declare this revelation to John and also to declare it us who are His servants. But what does this mean: “To shew things which must shortly come to pass”? Does it mean, “To lift the veil that hides the future from our view”? But that would again turn us to a historical interpretation of this prophecy, and we would be able to trace the fulfillment of this prophecy step by step in the consecutive events of this present time, and then we would be able to determine what time it is on the world clock. And very soon we would be able to predict the day and the hour of the Lord’s return.
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About the Book
This book is about the Lord Jesus Christ and who He really is. When we read the Bible, we should remember the principle: “The last revelation carries the greater weight.” The final revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ to the last living of His disciples, the apostle John, a short time before the apostle John was also to expire, was a final word to His beloved disciple, containing the most important things for the life of the Christian church. And since the last revelation carries the greater weight, we should embrace these last messages of the Lord with great care and believe these words, even if they would upset well-established doctrines in the churches. Only the Lord Jesus Christ is worthy to be praised, and He is the only one who deserves the attention of this book.
About the Author
Alfred J. Chompff was born in Indonesia in 1930 from Dutch parents. He finished High School in Indonesia, went to Delft, the Netherlands, where he studied Chemical Engineering. He immigrated to the United States in 1966 and eventually ended up as pastor of the Reformed Bible Church in Southern California.