Revelation

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NASB	Revelation 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John,
AMPLIFIED 2015	Revelation 1:1 This is the revelation of Jesus Christ [His unveiling of the divine mysteries], which God [the Father] gave to Him to show to His bond-servants (believers) the things which must soon take place [in their entirety]; and He sent and communicated it by His angel (divine messenger) to His bond-servant John,

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Subject: My thoughts

Bible Note: Here are my thoughts about this verse, as promised:

Rev 1:1:
"The revelation of (from?) Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John" NIV
"This is a revelation from (of?) Jesus Christ, which God gave him concerning the events that will happen soon. An angel was sent to God's servant John so that John could share the revelation with God's other servants." NLT

Who revealed, what and to whom?
- God the Father revealed what is to come to His Son, Jesus Christ.
- Jesus Christ revealed what He heard from the Father to John, by sending an angel to him.
- John revealed to the other servants of Christ what Jesus had told him through the angel.
C.v: Luke 10:22: "All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him."

Who is John? Who is he writing to?
John, the author of the book, is traditionally identified with the author of the Gospel of John, who is supposedly the 'disciple whom Jesus loved' (John 21:20-24). There is however no clear reference to confirm this in the Book of Revelations.
The Greek 'bond-servant' also means 'slave'; so whoever John really was, he was definitely writing exactly what was revealed to him; we can trust that he was writing the truth. (See also Rev 22:18-19.) I would mention that God sent the original message to be disclosed to His [God's] 'bond-servants', not 'believers/bond-servants of Christ'. To me that means two things:
1) People of all ages are included, not only those who lived while Jesus was on earth. So it was meant to be read by us as well, not just the disciples of Jesus living at the time (though the letter is actually sent to the 7 churhces in Asia).
2) Also people of different religions, who claim to be 'bond-servants of God' (eg. Muslims) should be reading this book; as I was saying, John confirmed that he was writing the truth, and his book testifies of Jesus. (I know from experience that one of the greatest possibilities of a missionary is to talk to people about the end of the times - it usually makes them think!)

What is 'to come'?
The end of the times.. This is what the book is about. :-)

What does 'soon/speedily/shortly' mean?
Good question! 2000 years have passed and this has not happened yet. But God states that He is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End (1:8) - my sincere belief is that He is not limited by time as we are.
Measurement and perception naturally originate from a comparison of something with something else. We can measure time because we know the difference between 'yesterday' and 'today'; with each second we get closer to our earthly death, so we know how to define time is. But does such a thing exist for an always-existing God? Remember His proper name, 'Yahweh', that is, 'The Existing One' - why that, have you ever wondered? But of course, this is just like the question: "Can the Almighty God create a stone that He Himself cannot lift?" We must accept that He has His own secrets! :-)
As for us, our earthly life is rather short in comparison to eternity, so our death is indeed 'soon to come'. If we suppose that by our earthly death, we also stop perceiving time (can no longer die, become the children of resurrection, the children of God, like angels, etc, see Lk 20:35-36), then 'soon' also starts to make sense in this context.

How was the revelation 'given' to John?
- John reports that the angel, and elders in some places, speak to him, and most of the time he is passively watching all that is happening.
- He is commanded throughout about what to and what not to write. (many examples)
- He is, like many OT prophets, asked to do certain tasks (eg. eating up the little book, 10:8-9), which possibly help him understand the revelation more as he is personally involved in it. Again, he is given all the tools to write the truth.

Rev 1:1 is part of John's prologue for the Book, in it he gives an idea of what he is going to write about, how he received the revelation, who sent it, who it is aimed at, and what purposes God and he [John] had with it. Theoretically it should be studied in the context of Rev 1:1-3...

Just by this verse alone it is difficult to say much more than this. Hope this starts some thoughts.

Blessings,
Zsuzsi