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Verses 1 - 3: Authorship and blessings.
Verse 1:
The first verse gives us a lot of information that we must keep in mind about Revelation.
1. Who from? God.
2. Who given to? Jesus Christ
3. For whom? His servants (Christians)
4. The deliverer? His angel
5. The recipient? John, the apostle and prophet
Verse 2: This is what a faithful prophet of God must do: bear witness to God and Christ; even ALL that he saw.
Compare this with Paul's statement in Acts 20: 26 - 27:
"Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you, for I did not shrink from declaringto you the whole counsel of God."
Verse 3: There are two blessings and the reason for the blessings.
1. The reader is blessed.
2. The hearer is blessed.
Why? "For the time is near." Near, NOT 2000 years in the future! The words "near" or "at hand" are from the Greek eggoos (eng-goos) which means "so close you could easily squeeze it in your hand."
Some did not read, but had to listen. There were many in that time who could not read, and even if they could, books were scarce and very expensive. How blessed we are today!
Verses 4 - 8: The greetings of the revelators: Christ and John.
Verses 4 - 6: To whom does John address the Revelation? The seven churches of Asia.
Why seven? There were seven known churches in the Roman province of Asia. He lists which seven he means in verse 11. Asia here means western Asia Minor, which is modern-day Turkey. (See map of the Roman world.)
NOTE: The number seven.
Seven is the most important number in Apocalyptic literature. It represents fullness or completeness, especially the fullness of God. It is the sum of 3 (as in the three members of the Godhead) plus 4 (as in the 4 corners of the earth). Therefore it is complete or perfect since it shows God over all creation. The number seven (or seventy) appears over 400 times in the Bible. In Revelation it appears over 50 times. Wow!
Note the eternal nature of God here. ". . .who is and who was and who is to come. . ." God is not bounded by time like we are. Some say this is Jesus, but it is not, not here, for all three of the Godhead send their greetings in this section.
1. God (". . .who is and who was and who is to come. . .").
2. Seven spirits before the throne. Most take this to be the Holy Spirit. Seven not in actual number, but in the
figurative sense of seven as representing completeness.
3. Jesus Christ (The faithful witness). Jesus has 7 traits here:
a) faithful witness
b) first-born from the dead
c) prince of kings
d) lover of mankind
e) savior
f) maker of the kingdom
g) the one who made us to be priests.
The word "amen" appears at the end of verse 6 and verse 7.
What does it mean? The Hebrew word (basically the same as our word and the word in the Greek manuscripts) means "firm and faithful."
Why is it there? To let us know the words of the prophecy are sure to be fulfilled.
Verse 7: ". . .he is coming in the clouds. . ."
Who is? Jesus.
When? Ah, there's the question! Many have taught that this is referring to the "Last Day" when Christ will come at the end of time. However, this is exactly the same way Jesus talked of himself in Matthew 24: 30, which refers NOT to the Day of Judgement, but to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Every eye shall see him is further defined as "every one who pieced him." In other words Jesus would be coming when those who had crucified him were still alive. Compare this with his statement in Matt. 24: 34. Clearly this "coming" is not "The Second Coming" that so many denominationalists say happens just before the "rapture." This verse, like those in Matthew
24, speak of the end of the "age," that is, the end of the Jewish Age, NOT the end of the world. We will see much more evidence for this later on in the study of Revelation.
Verse 8: Here Christ is given the same name as God: "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." He
is also called the alpha and omega . What does this mean? First and last. Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet and Omega is the last letter.
Verses 9 - 20: John's first vision.
Verse 9: John tells three things:
What he is: a Christian.
Where he was when the revelation was given: on Patmos.
Why he was there: because of his faith.
Note that John says he WAS on Patmos. (See map of Patmos.) He received the visions when he was on Patmos, and then returned to Ephesus (his home) where he wrote these things down. He was exiled to Patmos by Nero (or Domitian, according to others). After Nero died, he returned to Ephesus. John may also have been exiled a second time under Domitian.
Verse 10: "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day."
The Lord's Day. What does that mean?
1) Sunday, the first day of the week, was called "the Lord's Day" by almost all early Christian writers and teachers. It was called that because that was the day when Jesus rose from the grave.
Or possibly:
2) "The great and terrible day of the Lord:" the day when God would visit his judgement upon his enemies. The same time when Christ would "come in the clouds." This great day of God's wrath is one of the central ideas in Revelation. This is the time when all (most?) of the prophesies of the book will be fulfilled.
Notice that John does not hear a trumpet, but a loud booming voice that seemed as loud as a trumpet.
Verse 11: What did the loud voice tell John to do?
1. Write what you see in a book. Book is the Greek biblion, from which we get our word Bible.
2. Send this book to the seven churches of Asia.
Verse 12: John turns to see who is speaking (the voice came from behind) and sees 7 golden lampstands (candlesticks). Golden signifies what? Value and purity, IE., sanctification.
Verses 13 - 16: The appearance of "the Son of Man." In the middle of the seven lamps was "one like the son of man." Notice his appearance and accouterments:
1. A long robe. Signifies royalty, just as when the soldiers put the robe on Jesus and mocked him as "king of the Jews."
2. Girt about the paps with a golden girdle (KJV). Can this be anything else except the "breatplate of righteousness" as pictured in Ephesians 6: 14?
3. White hair and beard. White hair always symbolizes what? Venerability.
4. Eyes like fire. Indicates what? Purifying power of God. (Fire either destroys or purifies.)
5. Feet like polished brass. Strength.
6. Voice like the sound of many waters. A loud voice. We will hear this loud voice many times in the book.
7. He held seven stars in his right hand. What does this mean? (See verse 20.)
8. From his mouth issued a sharp 2-edged sword. What is this? (See Heb. 4: 12.)
9. His face was like the sun at full strength. (See Exodus 34: 28 - 35.)
So, who was this one "like the Son of Man?" [The glorified "Son of Man" -- Christ the Risen Savior.]
Verse 17: John reacts to the vision by keeling over as if he had ben struck dead! Why? He was overwhelmed by all he had seen.
Notice the gentleness of Christ: "Do not be afraid. . ." Again he states that he is first and last. In
what sense is Jesus first and last?
Verse 18: ". . .the living one." Compare this with John 1: 14. He is alive forevermore! Compare this with Luke 24:
5, 6. Hell and death. Why the keys? Either to open or to shut them. Which is it? We will find out later.
Verse 19: Again the injunction: ". . .write what you see, what is and what is to take place hereafter."
Verse 20: As I said earlier, Revelation sometimes interprets itself, but not always clearly.
Seven stars: "Angels" of the seven churches. Angels is a transliteration of the Greek aggelos (ang gelos) which means "messenger." This same word is translated "messenger" in Luke 7: 27 where it undoubtedly refers to the
Holy Spirit. Does each church have a "guardian angel?" Or is he here referring to seven "messengers?" Since the elders teach the Word of God (see I Tim. 3: 2 and Titus 1: 9) is it seven elders in the churches? I honestly don't know. The traditional explanation that they are the seven "pastors" of the churches is founded on a faulty premise,
namely, that they had "pulpit preachers" in their churches as we do today. That was NOT the case. The word "pastor" only occurs once in the Bible (Ephesians 4: 11) and it is from the Greek word for shepherd, which clearly means an elder. However, there are to be ELDERS not 1 elder in each church (Titus 1: 5), so the idea that each church had
only one elder is false. We will talk more about these "angels of the churches" later.
Seven lampstands: The seven churches themselves.
-- end of chapter one --
PROCEED TO CHAPTER TWO
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