Chapter 1: Revelation 1

I’ve decided to do a series of explorations of “chapter 1″s of each Bible book, starting from the end and going backwards. I’m funny like that 😄.

I’ll use the World English Bible (WEB) because it’s copyright free, and it’s modern. But you can look up these verses on any version on Bible Gateway.

Here’s a nice introduction to the book.

I’m only going to comment on verses that particularly interest me in this reading. My comments are in pink – this is very much my “off the top of my head” thinking. There are many excellent commentaries available. I won’t attempt to replicate these. I like reading academic commentaries, but I also like hearing the thoughts of ordinary people like me 😄.

Rev 1:1-2
1 This is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things which must happen soon, which he sent and made known by his angel to his servant, John, ² who testified to God’s word and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, about everything that he saw.

• It seems that God the Father gave this revelation to Jesus, who gave it to an angel, who gave it to John. Though Jesus is God, he is also human, And as a human there were, and perhaps are, things that he has chosen not to know, particularly relating to the end times – perhaps to identify with the rest of us. As God, he plainly has access to all knowledge, but this is just how things are done.
  • Matthew 24:36
    ³⁶ “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 
• Will the events in the book happen soon? Some believe that many of them did. It’s a highly symbolic book about the battle between good and evil. Terrible things happened to the early church. Others see it as happening throughout church history, and some see it as happening at the end of the world. From an eternal perspective, we’ll probably see 2,000 years as a short space of time. Maybe the best way of seeing it is that these things will begin to happen soon from John’s perspective.

Rev 1:3
³ Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things that are written in it, for the time is near.

• I always feel blessed when I read the Book of Revelation. I don’t worry about being very literal and trying to figure it all out. It’s the overall flavour of it that I cherish, the triumph of good over evil.

Rev 1:4-6
⁴ John, to the seven assemblies that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from God, who is and who was and who is to come; and from the seven Spirits who are before his throne; ⁵ and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us, and washed us from our sins by his blood— ⁶ and he made us to be a Kingdom, priests to his God and Father—to him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

• The letter was initially sent to seven fellowships in what is now Turkey. The term “who is and who was and who is to come” is used of God the Father and of Jesus in different parts of the book, reminding us that they are co-equal and co-eternal.
• Seven Spirits is puzzling because there is only one Holy Spirit, but some translations have it as seven-fold spirit. The seven spirits could also relate to seven angels or it could be just a highly symbolic term. The number “seven” is used frequently throughout the book.
• Firstborn of the dead means that Jesus is the first of millions who will rise from the dead.
• The last few verses remind us that we’re all priests. We all have access to God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Rev 1:7
⁷ Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, including those who pierced him. All the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. Even so, Amen.

• This verse seems to suggest that when Christ returns, hopefully, he’ll have followers from every nation, but generally speaking, people will be shaken and will mourn. Perhaps most people won’t have availed of the offer of salvation. But the Bible doesn’t always give a precise picture. Some verses are more optimistic. We live in hope but there’s no room for complacency either.

Rev 1:8
⁸ “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

• Alpha and Omega were the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. Both the Father and Jesus use this term to describe themselves. If Jesus wasn’t God, it would be appalling for him to use such a term for himself. Some New Testament verses explicitly state that Jesus is God, but many simply imply that he is God. Some people focus on the fact that Jesus didn’t go around telling everyone that he was God. He allowed people to see it for themselves.

Rev 1:9
⁹ I John, your brother and partner with you in the oppression, Kingdom, and perseverance in Christ Jesus, was on the isle that is called Patmos because of God’s Word and the testimony of Jesus Christ. 

• John was exiled to the Island. It’s thought that he was the only one of the apostles who wasn’t martyred. Eusebius, the “father of church history” (AD 265–340), reports that John was released from Patmos under the emperor Nerva (96–98)

Rev 1:10-11
¹⁰ I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, like a trumpet ¹¹ saying, “What you see, write in a book and send to the seven assemblies: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”

• “In the Spirit” might mean being in a state of worship, but clearly, something very special and unusual was happening to John.
• The Lord’s day seems to be one of the few references to what we call “Sunday” nowadays, the first day of the week. The early Christians celebrated “The Lords’ Day” as their sabbath.
• Though the book was initially sent to these specific churches, it’s clearly intended for all of us.

Rev 1:12-17
¹² I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. Having turned, I saw seven golden lamp stands. ¹³ And among the lamp stands was one like a son of man, clothed with a robe reaching down to his feet, and with a golden sash around his chest. ¹⁴ His head and his hair were white as white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire. ¹⁵ His feet were like burnished brass, as if it had been refined in a furnace. His voice was like the voice of many waters. ¹⁶ He had seven stars in his right hand. Out of his mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining at its brightest. ¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man.

• There’s lots of apocalyptic-style imagery here with references to similar passages in the Old Testament. But the key thing is the person that he’s observing. He falls at his feet. When people bow down to men or angels in the New Testament, they are rebuked and told to worship God alone. Clearly, it’s the Son of God before him.

Rev 1:17-18
He laid his right hand on me, saying, “Don’t be afraid. I am the first and the last, ¹⁸ and the Living one. I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever and ever. Amen. I have the keys of Death and of Hades.¹⁹ 

Write therefore the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will happen hereafter. ²⁰ The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lamp stands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven assemblies. The seven lamp stands are seven assemblies.

• Who are these angels? Some think that it refers to the pastors of the churches. Others think that churches might have guardian angels. But then, it could be that these are specific to the vision.

Here are a couple of other hymns based on Revelation 1.