What makes Revelation unique is that Jesus no longer keeps his messiahship a secret. The hidden has become manifest. He is the ascendant Lord. And to his churches, he reveals himself in his full splendour. Consider a few points to explain this idea further.
Most of us read the four Gospel books to hear the recorded words and deeds of Christ. Yet few of us think about reading Revelation for the same reason. That is a mistake. Revelation is an epistle from Jesus Christ that not only records his words but also his deeds throughout. In this sense, it is like a fifth Gospel book.
What makes Revelation unique is that Jesus no longer keeps his messiahship a secret. The hidden has become manifest. He is the ascendant Lord. And to his churches, he reveals himself in his full splendour. Consider a few points to explain this idea further.
Revelation unveils Christ
In Revelation, Jesus reveals or unveils (revelation means unveiling) himself as the ascendant Christ. The epistle records the speech and acts of Christ our Lord—being a fifth Gospel as it were. But unlike the Gospels where his messiahship remains a guarded secret until the end, Revelation *reveals* Christ in his fullness. It is the capstone of the revelation of Jesus Christ—the end of the Gospel story.
And this is one reason why Jesus’s identity no longer remains a secret, but Revelation has the clearest affirmation of Christ’s deity than other book. Small wonder, for Christ no longer keeps hidden what was made manifest in the resurrection. Christ rules from heaven.
