The Title
Verses 1 and 2 of Revelation chapter 1 are the title of the whole book. We are accustomed to short titles in our language and culture today. They are short in order to be easily remembered, but at other times and places in history, they were much longer in order to convey to the reader the exact content of the book. If I were to have written this two hundred years ago, instead of calling it The Coronation of the King, I might have entitled it The Coronation of the King, Being a Study of the Book of the Revelation Of Jesus Christ, Pitting Satan, the Usurper, against the True King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Such was the case with the culture in which John lived, and therefore the title to the Book of Revelation is longer than what we today expect in a title. It is:
Revelation 1:1-2
1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bondservants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bondservant John,
1:2 who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.
The revelation is the revelation of Jesus Christ. The Greek word translated as "revelation" is the word ἀποκάλυψις, which means uncovering what has been hidden or revealing of something not seen. Jesus Christ is both the one who does the revealing and He is the one who is revealed. This book is the revelation of Him as King of kings and Lord of lords. While John and other believers during our Lord's first advent realized that He was the Messiah, the one who would rule on David's throne, they knew Him; however, as a servant, the one who came to die as a sacrifice for sinners. Now before His second advent, He is revealed as the King as we witness His coronation ceremony in the courtroom of heaven. This book reveals His second coming and the events that transpire on earth and in heaven in association with it. It also reveals in brief: the millennial reign of our Lord on earth, the delivery of the kingdom to God the Father and the establishment of the new heavens and the new earth.
At His resurrection, our Lord was declared to be the Son of God, that is, the Messiah. When Jesus Christ ascended following His resurrection, He was indeed a glorified savior, but He was not crowned King of kings and Lord of Lords at that time, nor has He yet been crowned, even today, or taken up His rightful position as the King of Israel. This book is the revelation of that coming event.
God, the Father, gave this revelation to our Lord in order that He might reveal it to His servants. This He did in order to encourage them as they went about the difficult task of living in a culture that opposed them. It is stated to be about the things that must shortly take place, yet nearly 2000 years have passed since that revelation was given! This gives us pause for thought, or at least should. And in doing so, there are a couple of errors in thinking we might make at this point.
We might be tempted to think the writer was wrong because these things did not occur to our thinking within a short period of time of their announcing by John. However, it must be remembered that 2000 years is a short time in God's grand scheme. Peter tells us that a day is like a thousand years with God. He exists outside of and independent of time. He views it as a whole, seeing the beginning and the end and all that is between as one thing. Furthermore, even for us, how long are one or two millennia in view of eternity to come? A very short time indeed! But being short-lived, two millennia is for us a very long time.
We might also be tempted to take, therefore, what is revealed in this book as only an allegory, as the eternal struggle of good against evil. The reasoning for this is they did not take place immediately in a literal sense; they must have then been fulfilled in an allegorical sense. This, too, must be rejected. The only valid method of interpretation is a literal historical method. All other methods are more subject to one’s own personal interpretation, and no Scripture is of private interpretation. The best policy is to take what is written as literal unless the text itself states it to be symbolic or it was a very common symbol used in John’s day and to recognize the normal usage of figures of speech of that day.
Finally, we might be tempted to dismiss what we read as something that will not occur any time soon since so much time has already elapsed. This is the mistake Peter warns against in 2 Peter 3:3-4.
3:3 Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts,
3:4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.”
It hasn’t happened in 2000 years; it isn’t going to happen today or any time soon. Some will dismiss this with the comment that Scripture itself says we will not know that day or hour. This is indeed true! We will not know the day or hour, but Scripture does indicate that we can know that the day is approaching, that it is drawing near. Hebrews 10:24-25, for example, tells us:
10:24 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds,
10:25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
As I look at history and the present state of affairs of the world in which I live, I am convinced that the day is drawing near, very near, that we are on the doorstep; we are in the last seconds, so to speak, of the church age. It is an exciting time in which to live and yet a very perilous time, as Scripture states. The message of this book is thus very relevant to us.
This revelation was to be shown to our Lord’s bondservants, that is, to believers. The major thrust of the book is to bring comfort and give hope to those who believe during the Tribulation Period. They, as well as we, are the bondservants of our Lord. They, however, will be facing times and pressures that we cannot imagine. Indeed, we are told that Satan will deceive the whole world and almost the elect as well. This book will mean much more to them than it does to us, and they will no doubt understand much more of it than we can today. However, God did not wait until for the Tribulation to begin to send this revelation but sent it early in the church age. Thus it was sent to us as well. We are to learn and be instructed by it.
This revelation was sent to the disciple John, the brother of James. He is the last surviving apostle. The rest have all been martyred. It is through John that it was delivered to the church. God authorized most if not all of the New Testament books through apostles or those closely associated with them. It is fitting that this last book of the New Testament canon came from the pen of John.
Verse 1 states that He (Jesus) sent this revelation by His angel. This idea is also found in 22:16, where our Lord says, “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches.” The vision that John had was brought to him by an angelic messenger. Jesus Christ did not return to earth to tell John these things; instead, a vision was sent to him by means of this angel.
John states that he bears witness to three things; to the Word of God, to the testimony of Jesus Christ and to all that he saw. It is John’s testimony that God the Father indeed did speak and reveal His Word to John. John also states that Jesus Christ spoke, and he is a witness to that. Finally, John states he will vouch for everything that he saw.
The book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ is the revealing of Jesus Christ as the King of kings and the Lord of lords, and it deals in large with events yet to take place. There are many lessons for us to learn and apply. Apply them we must if we are to be blessed in the study of this book.
The Introduction
Revelation 1:3-8:
| 1:3 | Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near. |
| 1:4 | John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, |
| 1:5 | 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 released us from our sins by His blood- |
| 1:6 | and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father-to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen |
| 1:7 | BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen. |
| 1:8 | “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” |
John’s introduction has four major parts:
| A. | A blessing directed to those who read and heed this book (1:3) |
| B. | The salutation of the letter (1:4-5a) |
| C. | Two short doxologies, or statements of praise (1:5b-7) |
| D. | The statement of the authority of the Lord (1:8). |
The Blessing
Before stating the salutation, John penned a blessing for those who would make this book a part of their lives. In John’s day, very few people owned their own copies of the Book of Revelation. Printing presses had not yet been invented; all copies of manuscripts were tediously made by hand. Because of this, books were extremely expensive. Most people did not read the Book of Revelation, not because they were necessarily illiterate, but because they simply did not own a copy of it. Instead, they listened as it was read to them during a church gathering. This is why John includes both the idea of reading and the idea of hearing in this blessing.
One must realize that two things are required if one is to receive this blessing that John invokes in verse three. First, one must read or hear the words of this prophecy; then, one must heed the things written in it. Hearing or reading this does not in itself bring about a blessing. Knowing what it said is the first step; the second step is heeding the Word or putting it into practice. Obedience is a prerequisite for blessing. Jesus, after teaching the crowd many things in what is called the Sermon on the Mount, declared the following about those who had heard His teachings in Matthew 7:24-27:
| 7:24 | “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. |
| 7:25 | “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. |
| 7:26 | “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand |
| 7:27 | “The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell-and great was its fall.” |
Reading or studying the Book of Revelation in itself brings no blessing. A verse a day does not keep the devil away! If knowledge is all that you are after, you are acting foolishly. We must, each of us from the oldest to the youngest, from the most mature believer to the newest babe in Christ, continually ask ourselves in our study of this book, what does this mean to me, how should I live differently in light of what I have learned and then implement that truth.
Because of how we use the term blessed today, many people do not realize that this does not mean what they usually think it means. It does not necessarily mean they will be showered with good fortune, nor does it mean they will necessarily feel happy or good. Being blessed can mean those things, but that is not the basic Biblical meaning of being blessed. Being blessed means to be going straight down the road; it means being on the right path, in the right way. Believers living in the Tribulation Period will be blessed when they hear and heed this book, yet most will be tortured and die for their faith. Think about this! Will they be showered with material blessings during this time? No! Not for the most part. Will they feel good? Most of the time, no! However, they will be on the right path, the path to life eternal. They will be right with God. Although He will someday wipe away all tears and heal all hurts, being blessed does not mean that happens right away. But it will come.
We are blessed, as well as they, if we read and heed. We may not win the lottery; we may continue to struggle materially and financially. We may not be healed of our weakness now or any time soon. The problems and struggles we face most likely will not go immediately away, but we are on the right road! Someday, perhaps today, we will reach our destination.
The Salutation
The salutation is the usual opening part of a letter. In our day, we usually begin with the phrase, “Dear Such and Such,” and then we sign our name at the end of a letter. In John’s day, the salutation came at the beginning of a letter and had three parts: first, the writer declared his name, then, he stated to whom the letter was addressed, and last, he added a greeting to those to whom he wrote.
The writer of this book is John the Apostle. Modern liberal scholarship would deny this; however, there is no internal evidence to do so in the text, nor any historical evidence to support this idea. All historical records indicate that the writer was exactly who he claimed to be. John simply states his name without identifying himself further. Everyone in that day would have known who John was, the last of the Apostles. There was no need to state anything else.
The letter is addressed to the seven churches in Asia (Minor). This is modern-day Turkey. At the time of John’s writing, about AD 95, there was a strong Christian presence in this area. This is where the Apostle Paul traveled on his missionary journeys. The work begun through him had grown. Although there were undoubtedly more churches located in this area than these seven, these are the ones God chose to address. They are identified for us later in chapters two and three as the churches that were in Ephesus, in Smyrna, in Pergamum, in Thyatira, in Sardis, in Philadelphia and in Laodicea. Perhaps these were the largest or strongest ones at the time of John’s writing, or perhaps, as is more likely, they were representative of the issues God addresses and the times about which He speaks. Other churches undoubtedly read these letters as well and what was stated in them also applied to them if their situation was similar. What is written to them also applies to churches in our day and age and each of us as individuals. Remember, this book was to be given to our Lord’s bondservants. Such we are if He has become our Savior.
The greeting is a short prayer that asks for grace and peace to be given to the recipients. In the greeting given by John, there is a very clear reference to the Trinity. The Trinity is described as He who is and was and who is to come (God the Father), the Seven Spirits who are before His throne (God the Spirit) and The Faithful Witness, the Firstborn of the Dead, and the Ruler of the Kings of the Earth (God the Son).
Note: The term Trinity is not a Biblical word; that is, it is never used in the Bible itself. The concept, however, is very Biblical. It is the term that is used to describe the three-part nature of God and signifies that there is ONE God who exists in three separate coeternal equal persons. It is admittedly a complex idea to comprehend because it is so far outside of our experience.
God the Father is identified by the description, “Who is and Who was and Who is to come.” This description declares God the Father’s eternality and unchanging nature. He always was, He is, and He always will be. He does not change. He is the God of the Old Testament; He is the God of the New, and He will be the God of eternity to come.
The Spirit is identified by the phrase, “the seven Spirits Who are before His throne.” This phrase is also used in Revelation 3:1, 4:5 and 5:6. Another probable reference to this same description is found in Zechariah 3:9 and 4:10. Many have attempted to explain this cryptic reference in various ways, most often using the number seven in the sense of completion or perfection. The seven spirits of God would then mean the complete and perfect Spirit of God. It seems much more likely that we simply do not yet know what this means. We certainly do not know all there is to know about God’s person. It may well be that the Holy Spirit of God is a seven-part person in some way. As there were mysteries in the Old Testament, things hidden and not understood by those of that day; so also it is only reasonable to assume that there are some mysteries for us today that will be revealed when the right time has come.
The third person of the Trinity is described as “Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first-born of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.” Jesus Christ is our Lord's name and title. His name is Jesus; His title is Christ or Messiah. The three descriptions all refer to Him in His humanity. He is the faithful witness, that is, the one who was faithful to God in every detail unto His death. He lived an absolutely perfect life. He is the first-born of the dead, that is, the first to be resurrected, never to die again of all who will be resurrected. He is the ruler of the kings of the earth. As Messiah, He will inherit the earth, and all the kings and rulers of its kingdoms will bow to Him.
It is from these three that our grace and peace come. Grace is an undeserved gift or favor. When John asks grace for his readers, he is asking that God would grant them His favor even though they do not deserve it.
Peace here refers to the inner peace of mind and heart rather than outward peace. During the times in which these believers lived, there was very little external peace for believers. They were beginning to be vigorously persecuted by Roman authorities and by their Jewish brothers as well. But the peace they had was inner peace brought by God Himself. Believers who will live in the days of the Tribulation will certainly experience no outward peace. There will be no world peace. There will be very little rest for believers who will be relentlessly pursued and persecuted for their faith. Yet, despite all this, they are at peace.
The Doxologies
Following this salutation, there are two doxologies. A doxology (from the Greek δόξα meaning praise and λόγος meaning word) is a word or statement of praise.
In the first doxology, John says that to Jesus Christ be the glory and the dominion forever. In describing why glory and dominion are to be to Jesus Christ forever and ever, John states three things. First, he tells us that He loves us (present tense). Then he states that Jesus Christ has released us from our sins by His blood (past tense). This refers to our release (being set free) from the penalty we would have to pay because of our sin. This release comes because He, by his death on the cross (His blood), paid the penalty we owed. Since the fine has been paid in full for us, we do not have to pay it. Finally, he tells us that He has made us to be a kingdom, priest to His God and Father (past tense). It was, from the beginning, God’s plan that mankind populate and rule the earth as God’s representative. That is what being created in God’s image signifies. But man rebelled and fell into darkness and sin. Jesus Christ, the perfect man, the second Adam, fulfills this and becomes what man was intended to be. It is through him we are made into this kingdom and are restored to what God intended us to be.
In the second doxology, John states that He is coming with the clouds. This is a reference to the fact that Jesus Christ will return to the earth at the end of the Tribulation Period to take up His rightful kingship, not a reference to the rapture or the catching away of believers that occurs prior to the beginning of the Tribulation. This reaction of the earth is not associated with the rapture but with the second coming.
All will see Him; they will mourn over Him. This is a reference to the fact that all will recognize their guilt in rejecting Christ as their Savior and King.
The Authority
The last verse of this introduction is a statement of the authority behind this letter. It is best to understand that God the Father is speaking at this point. In Revelation 1:4, 11:17 and 21:6, the names or titles clearly refer to God, the Father. Only in 22:13 does our Lord use these to describe Himself. One must also keep in mind that our LORD is no less God than the Father, and all that is true of the Father is true of our LORD as well.
The three names or titles are Alpha and Omega, Who is, and Who was, and Who is to come, and The Almighty. The phrase “Alpha and Omega” refers to the fact all creation and history have their source in Him and their conclusion in Him. Alpha (Α) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet; omega (Ω) is the last. He is saying, “I am the first and the last.” The phrase, “Who is, Who was and Who is to come,” as has already been mentioned, refers to His eternality and the fact He does not change. The term “The Almighty” refers to His omnipotence (all powerfulness) and sovereignty (authority over everything).
There are many authorities on many and varied subjects in today’s world. If one wishes “expert” advice, all that needs to be done is to do a search on the web. There are consultants on all sorts of topics. The one minor problem is that these experts, as often as not, give conflicting advice. One says this; another says that. Moreover, they are authorities! Who, then, can one trust and believe? Who really knows?
Well, there is one who really knows. Because of His love for us, He has not only provided the means by which we can be forgiven and reinstated before Him through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for us; He wants us to know how this world and all of its conflicts are going is going to turn out. He knows all and is in control over all. Nothing falls outside His control. He has always been that way, and despite the ages that have seemingly passed for us, he does not change at all. He has sent this message to us.
This is not a man’s message; it is God’s. Therefore we had better listen and heed it. If we do that, we will be blessed!
This then is the introduction to the Book of the Revelation. In the first part of this introduction, John tells us there is a special blessing for us if we read or hear these words and then heed them. In the second, he states his name as the writer, identifies the recipients of the letter and adds a greeting. Then he adds two short doxologies or statements of praise for our Lord. He concludes the introduction with a statement of authority. This is not a collection of John’s ideas or wishes, but it is from God Himself. The following chart of this section summarizes it:
