God's story in our eternity

Today, more than 380 million Christians worldwide are experiencing persecution and discrimination because of their faith. According to Open Doors’ “World Watch List 2025,” that means one in seven Christians is persecuted globally.[1] In 2025, reports indicate that 4,476 Christians have been killed for their faith, 4,744 have been imprisoned, and 7,769 churches and Christian properties have been attacked. 

Can a person be doctrinally sound and spiritually dead? Can you do significant things for Jesus, but not have a passionate love for him? Let’s consider those questions in Revelation 2:1-7.

The Revelation of Jesus Christ is from Jesus and about Jesus. In today’s passage, we see a picture of him in all his splendor. The image of Jesus was so brilliant that John fell to the ground as though dead. But Jesus, full of brilliance and majesty, laid his hand on John and said, “Fear not…” (Rev. 1:17). Let’s work our way through the passage. John begins by explaining where he was when he saw this magnificent vision.

My goal in this study is to explain the profound theological truths without getting lost in the details. Another friend has reminded me that Revelation can be summed up in five words: In the end, we win!

Today, we start a journey through the final book of the Bible—the Revelation of Jesus Christ. The word “revelation" comes from the Greek word apokalypsis. We get the words “apocalypse” and “apocalyptic” from it. We see this term used in movie titles to suggest widespread destruction or disaster. However, in Scripture, apokalypsis means to “uncover or unveil something hidden,” to supernaturally reveal what we cannot discover on our own. God wants us to understand how it all started, how sin caused a broken world, how this world will end, and what eternity will be like.