John, along with Peter and James, was among Jesus’ closest friends. As you read through the Gospels, you will see this inner three play a more significant role than the other nine disciples. And John was the one that Jesus entrusted the care of His mother to instead of counting on His unbelieving half-brothers to do this (see John 19:25-27).
Fast forward several decades after John’s three-year journey with Jesus in the Gospels to the Island of Patmos. John had not seen Jesus, his Master and his friend, for a long time. We can’t miss what happened when he did.
He fell at His feet like a dead man (Revelation 1:17). Why? Because John saw Jesus—the One he knew so well—in a different way.
John knew Jesus as the suffering servant. He knew Jesus as the slaughtered, and resurrected lamb. But he had not yet come to know Jesus as the conquering king. As the roaring lion of Judah. And this is what he got a glimpse of in the opening of Revelation, and what he would see in much greater detail, and record for us, throughout the rest of this book.
This week as you teach kids from Revelation, you might feel a little intimidated. You might be a little nervous to dabble into the murky waters of this perplexing book. While we will not go too deeply into where the real confusion lays, we are still going to challenge our abilities a teachers as we also challenge our kids.
But we cannot forget this: we are looking at Revelation not primarily to develop an eschatological doctrine (end times), but to refine our Christological one (the Person of Christ). We are looking at Revelation so that we too, like John, can see Jesus in fullness. We love and appreciate the Lamb, but let us also love and marvel the Lion.
He is a God worthy of our worship, worthy of our service, worthy of all we can give Him. He is a God whose presence gives us assurance. The Lord knows what is happening in His churches, for He is continually among them.” — Daniel Akin
Daniel L. Akin, Christ-Centered Exposition: Exalting Jesus in Revelation (Nashville, TN: B&H, 2016), 24-25.
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