About fifteen or twenty years ago the Magic Eye craze captivated me. I can remember strolling through the local mall and seeing entire displays of these intriguing pictures. These computer-generated pictures (known as autostereograms) revealed a hidden three-dimensional picture if you stared just the right way. I can still think of receiving a book with Bible story versions of these hidden icons, which I enjoyed deeply.
What caught my attention was the number of people who couldn’t see the hidden picture. It was as if the picture would remain out of their view forever. For us who could see the images, it was apparent there was more than meets the eye in these magical pictures.
As we begin our journey through the book of Revelation, we will …show more content…
From the first verse of the book we read that it is a revelation of Jesus Christ. This signals one of two ideas. It could be taken as a revelation from Jesus Christ or as a revelation about Jesus Christ. So which is it? I believe it is both. In the book of Revelation, Jesus is portrayed as the Revealer. Revelation 1:1 tells us that God the Father gave this book to Jesus, who in turn gave it to an angel who gave it to John. Later in chapters 2 and 3, the messages given to the seven churches are by Jesus Christ, who reveals Himself and His message to them. These are Jesus’ words and they carry the full weight of His authority as the Son of God. This is further substantiated by Jesus’ words in Revelation 22:16, indicating that He sent His angel to testify to John the things he saw. Jesus is the Revealer. Jesus is also the Revealed. In 1:12ff, we experience a traumatic vision of who Jesus actually is. In 5:5, He is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, and in 5:6, He is the Lamb standing as having been slaughtered. Throughout this book we will encounter Jesus often and learn more about who He is and what He does as the unique
What caught my attention was the number of people who couldn’t see the hidden picture. It was as if the picture would remain out of their view forever. For us who could see the images, it was apparent there was more than meets the eye in these magical pictures.
As we begin our journey through the book of Revelation, we will …show more content…
From the first verse of the book we read that it is a revelation of Jesus Christ. This signals one of two ideas. It could be taken as a revelation from Jesus Christ or as a revelation about Jesus Christ. So which is it? I believe it is both. In the book of Revelation, Jesus is portrayed as the Revealer. Revelation 1:1 tells us that God the Father gave this book to Jesus, who in turn gave it to an angel who gave it to John. Later in chapters 2 and 3, the messages given to the seven churches are by Jesus Christ, who reveals Himself and His message to them. These are Jesus’ words and they carry the full weight of His authority as the Son of God. This is further substantiated by Jesus’ words in Revelation 22:16, indicating that He sent His angel to testify to John the things he saw. Jesus is the Revealer. Jesus is also the Revealed. In 1:12ff, we experience a traumatic vision of who Jesus actually is. In 5:5, He is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, and in 5:6, He is the Lamb standing as having been slaughtered. Throughout this book we will encounter Jesus often and learn more about who He is and what He does as the unique