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,”

(Revelation 1:1)

The revelation of Jesus Christ could mean "the revelation by (or from) Jesus Christ" or "the revelation about Jesus Christ" or both may be included. The word revelation (or "apocalypse") expresses the subject and nature of the book. The book is a heightened form of prophecy which can be referred to as "apocalyptic". 

John begins by describing his vision as a revelation which God gave him to show his servants things which must soon take place. The roots of this verse are in Daniel 2:28-30, 45-47, where in the Greek translations of the OT the verb "revealed" appears five times, the verb "show," ("signify," "communicate,") twice in the phrase "what must come to pass" three times. The key to the significance of these allusions to Daniel is that Daniel is speaking there of the kingdom of God which will come to pass in the latter days. But what Daniel explicitly states will come to pass "in the latter days" John rewords: these events will take place quickly or soon. These words do not connote the speedy manner in which the Daniel prophecy is to be fulfilled, nor that mere possibility that it could be fulfilled  at any time, but the definite, imminent time of fulfillment, which likely has already begun in the present. What Daniel expected to occur in the last days, John is announcing as Imminent, or beginning to occur now. The change of phraseology implies that the final tribulation, defeat of evil, and establishment of the kingdom, which Daniel expected to occur distantly in "the latter days," John expects to begin in his own generation- and, indeed, it has already started to happen. 

There is no doubt that John saw the resurrection of Christ as fulfilling the prophecy of Daniel regarding the inaugurating of the kingdom of God. This indicates that what is about to be written concerns not just the distant future, but what is before us here and now. 

The chain of communication in v. 1 is from God to Christ to His angel to John and on to God's bond-servants. The latter phrase (bond-servants) refers to the community of faith as a whole, which has a general prophetic calling, rather than to a limited group of prophets. Where later in the book it is sometimes difficult to determine whether God, Christ, or an angel is speaking, the reality is that the message comes from all three. Therefore, John's book is a prophetic work which concerns the imminent and inaugurated fulfillment of OT prophecies about the kingdom in Jesus Christ. 

(G.K. Beale)