<p>1:3- see on Lk. 11:28.</p><p><i>Blessed is he that reads, and they that hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things that are written therein- </i>This has been misread as meaning that blessing is related to 'correctly understanding' the Revelation. The Greek word translated &quot;reads&quot; doesn't have to mean 'correctly understands'. The obvious sense is to link it with those who <i>hear</i> the words... the message is being sent by a messenger, who was to read it out loud- as we know Paul's letters were thus read to a largely illiterate brotherhood- and it was then <i>heard</i> by the ecclesias. Both reader and hearer were blessed if they kept what the prophecy implied- which was and is an awareness of God's claims upon His people, their separation from this world, and an earnest readiness for Christ's return. The 'blessing' is elsewhere applied not to those who intellectually understand something but to those who are doing and living and saying the right things at the return of Jesus. The same Greek word for 'Blessed' is used of those who are ready at the Lord's return and doing the right things (Mt. 24:46; Lk. 12:37,38,43). Rev. 22:7 links back to 1:3, the epilogue interpreting the prologue: &quot;Blessed is he who keeps the <i>logos</i> of the prophecy of this book&quot; - the essence /<i> logos</i> / underlying idea of it all, which is that God's persecuted people will remain faithful to His word in Christ, will testify it to an unbelieving world, and will live lives always prepared for their Lord's return. The blessing is in the preparedness, not in the detailed understanding. If blessing depends upon holding the continuous historic view of Revelation, then the majority of God's servants aren't blessed- seeing that it couldn't possibly have been understood throughout most of the time from the first century until now.</p><p><i>For the time is near</i>- The disciples expected the second coming within a generation of the Lord&rsquo;s death (Mt. 26:18; Lk. 21:32; Phil. 4:5; 2 Tim. 4:6; 1 Pet. 4:7; Rev. 1:3); and note the use of words indicating imminence: &lsquo;shortly&rsquo;, &lsquo;immediately&rsquo;, &lsquo;a little while&rsquo;. Could it not be that if Israel had accepted Jesus as Son of God, the Kingdom could have come then? Even after His death, had they believed the witness of the apostles and repented for what they had done, the Kingdom could have come then. Of course God foreknew this would not happen; but the disciples looked forward to it as a distinct reality and possibility. Revelation itself seems to read as if when &quot;Babylon&quot; was judged and destroyed by the day of the Lord, then the Kingdom would be established on earth. It seems that it was possible that the Roman empire be destroyed by the Lord's return; but instead the prophecy was delayed, and now &quot;Babylon&quot; must apply to some latter day system, which had an earlier incarnation in the Roman empire which <i>could</i> have been its final fulfilment but wasn't. In any case, we are to live <i>as if</i> the second coming is imminent.</p>