1:1 What does the word "revelation" signify?
1:1 What does the word "revelation" signify?
The word revelation is derived from the Greek word apokalupsis, from which we also get the word apocalypse. This is why the book of Revelation is sometimes called The Apocalypse. Apokalupsis includes not only the thing shown and seen but the interpretation, the unveiling of the same.
The book of Revelation in its entirety is prophetic (cp Re 1:3; 19:10; 22:7, 10, 18-19). The purpose of the book of Revelation is to make known to believers, in both symbolic and literal form, Christ's second coming and the final judgments of God upon the earth and all its inhabitants.
God gave the revelation to Jesus, who sent it with an angel to John to give to the church (cp Re 1:1-2, 4-5; 22:6). The angel was not an angel of God in the literal sense, but a man. We do not know who the man was other than that he was a redeemed saint (cp Re 19:10; 22:8-9, 16).
Revelation is the only book in the bible which has a promised blessing attached for all who read, who hear, and who obey its teachings (cp Re 1:3; 22:7).