The Revelation of St. John the Divine

The contention over the title of the book of the Revelation is generally not over the human “authorship” of John. Yet, many people who would be considered Bible believers have strong opinions against the use of John’s name after the phrase “The Revelation of.” They point to the first verse and suggest that the title should match the first five words of the verse:

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: (Revelation 1:1)

There should be absolutely no contention with the text above, nor should there be any contention with the title of the book. After all, the word "of" as found in the title of the book of Revelation does not signify that John was being revealed. As should always be the case, this can be proven by looking into the words of God. This small sampling from scripture demonstrates the point that the word following the preposition of often demonstrates the ownership rather than the receipt of an action.

JOHN’S BAPTISM: The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe him? (Matthew 21:25)

PREACHING OF JONAS: The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here. (Matthew 12:41)

PROPHECY OF ESAIAS: And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: (Matthew 13:14)

“The baptism of John” (Matthew 21:25) speaks not of the time that John was baptized (the receipt of an action), but of the fact that John administered the baptism (ownership). “The preaching of Jonas” (Matthew 12:41) does not suggest that someone was preaching about Jonas (the receipt of an action) or to Jonas (the receipt of an action), but that Jonas did the preaching (ownership). “The prophecy of Esaias” (Matthew 13:14) does not insinuate that someone prophesied about Esaias (the receipt of an action), but that Esaias delivered the prophecy (ownership). And The Revelation of St. John the Divine does not suggest that John is being revealed (the receipt of an action), but instead denotes that the Lord gave the revelation unto John (ownership). In the spirit of food for thought, one should also understand that the first verse of the book of Revelation does not suggest that Jesus Christ is being revealed, but that God gave Him ownership of the Revelation.

Pastor Andrew Ray