Revelation 1:3 Commentary and Bible Study

The person who reads here is somebody who is a public reader. That is what the term means in the original. What is in mind is a single reader and a congregation of hearers. Blessed is the person who reads this scroll out to the public in the church, because not everybody read in those days, and there were not printed Bibles of course. Whether you read it or hear it, if you hear it in your hearts, and you take it seriously, you will be blessed, supremely happy. ‘And keep those things.’ The word is the Greek for ‘guard’. Guard those things; don’t let them be stolen from you, or slip away from you. Don’t let the busyness of life, and the allurement of things, and the entertainments of this world, crowd out your reflecting on and remembering what you learn from this book. Supremely happy are those that guard their knowledge of this book. ‘For the time is at hand’, and that supports the ‘very soon’ of verse 1. It starts at once. The book is to be read straight away. The blessing is pronounced on all who read it. This confirms that it is intended for all God’s people living at all times, and is not to confined to what happens at either the start or end of the church age. What would be the point of urging us to read it, if all but a tiny fraction of readers could make nothing of it? The book is for all Christians living throughout the New Testament period. ‘For the time is at hand.’ The things revealed in the book are about to be fulfilled.