The first ten verses of Revelation are a “pace setter” for the rest of the book. There is general agreement that Revelation was partly written to encourage the Christians of Asia to resist the demands of emperor worship. It was written towards the end of rule of Emperor Domitian (81-96 AD) who instigated the first empire-wide persecutions against Christians. (An early persecution by Nero, although severe, was restricted to the vicinity of Rome).

John was likely a pastor of the Church of Ephesus who was exiled to the Isle of Patmos. This John is generally believed to be St. John the Apostle, the beloved disciple of Jesus and the author of the Gospel of John. John knew how to turn trouble into triumph. God can turn our troubles into triumph.

1 – John’s tribulation (vs. 9)

John is the author of five books in the Bible. John came to be a disciple at an early age. He dropped everything to follow Jesus Christ. It is never too early to follow Jesus Christ. John became a pastor at the church of Ephesus. He was banished but he was blessed. He continued into his nineties with his Christian ministry. He was still excited! John knew how to finish well.

John was under pressure. It was a word used for the crushing of grain or grapes. They were all facing tribulation together. There was unity in the storm. There is a cross for everyone. John was exiled to a small island called Patmos. The Romans used it to exile their political prisoners. It was an ancient Alcatraz. He was not allowed to leave the island. The conditions would have been poor. Why did they banish John? It was because of his preaching of the Word of God and his testimony of Jesus Christ. John was preserving when the going got tough. He was determined to not give up. God is with John and He can turn misery into majesty, grief into glory and trouble into triumph. Our God takes you when you are down and lifts you up in His hand.

2. John’s inspiration (vs. 10)

John was in the Spirit. He was not in a pulpit he was on the Island of Patmos. He was out of his church but he was not out of the Spirit! John had God’s protection. God was using the storm to perfect John’s character. When in the storm we need to be in the Spirit and not in the flesh. Have your eyes on God and not on yourself. They can shut John off from his church but not from his God! God turns our eyes off the storm and onto Him. They thought they were shutting John up. God used this opportunity to bring us the book of Revelation.

We are in the world but we are also to be in the Spirit. We have two places of residence and we need to keep it in balance. If we put too much stress on the world then we get caught up in material things. If too much stress on Heaven then we are no earthly use. We need to get the balance right – until the Lord comes. We are not to give up. John was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day. We are to walk in the Spirit every day. You life will be all that God wants it to be when we are in the Spirit.

Daniel kept his eyes on Jesus and didn’t look at the lions. There may be a storm in our lives but we need to look to Jesus who can rescue us and bring our feet back to solid ground.

Categories: Revelation