Revelation 1:1-2 The
Revelation of Jesus Christ
Translation: 1.The Revelation of Jesus
Christ, which God gave Him to show to
His Bond-servants the things that, must soon take place; and He sent and communicated
it by His angel (messenger) to His
Bond-servant John 2 who bore witness to the word of God and to the
testimony of Jesus Christ, even to
all that he saw. 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.
Verse 1, reveals the true author of this revelation, God. The
revelation was given to Jesus, and then it was sent through His angel to His
Bond servant John. In return John was told to write down and send it to seven
churches in Asia Minor .
The process of
Revelation: God Jesus Angel John Seven
Churches. Osborn attempts to explain the connotation of “apocalypses” In the NT
the word group occurs 44 times (Verb 26; noun 18) nearly always with the basic
thrust “to uncover what has formerly been hidden.”[1]
The
words “to show” seemed to explain that the medium of communication was not only
words but also signs and symbols. John was to write down whatever he was going
to hear and observe. (Bible Works). This sort of symbolism was not new to the
Jewish readers; some O.T books such as Ezekiel, Ezra, and Daniel contain
symbols: Ezekiel 12:3, here God communicates through a sign about the imminent
exile of the Israelites.
The
purpose of this revelation was to show His servants the things that were going
to take place shortly. The
expression “must shortly take place”
essentially do not mean “at once” or “shortly” but mean with speed, swiftness
or quickness.
Verse 3, explains
a special blessing on the one who reads and on those who hears and even more so
on those who keeps the words of the prophecy. Osborne states, The Greek word
for blessing is followed by both singular (the reader) and plural (the hearers)
subjects. As Ruiz(1992:663) states, “the emphasis on reading/hearing in Vs 3
and Vs10 shows that John intended the book for oral reading in ritual setting,
namely Christian worship.” There are seven blessings spread out throughout the
book of Revelation: (1:3; 9:9; 14:13; 16:15; 20:6; 22:7; 22:14)”[2]
The
time is near therefore we are called not only to read, hear but also to heed
the words of the prophecy. Osborne notes, “In Revelation the word (Near) appears only twice here in
1:3 and 22:10, indicating the “nearness” of the Lord’s return, this phrase is
frequently used in the NT to call believers to live responsibly toward God (Rom
13:12; Heb 10:25; James 5:8; 1 Pet 4:7)”[3]
Revelation 1: 4 Greetings
Vs 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;”
John’s message to all the seven churches begins with a
greeting, “Grace and Peace.” According to Osborn, this form of greeting is
common in the NT letters. Grace, was the common Hellenistic greeting and
‘Peace’ the common Hebrew greeting. In the NT, however, these terms carry
more significance, with each one being also an eschatological promise of
spiritual blessings sent from God.”[4]
John’s greeting to the churches has
some unusual pattern of verbs “the one who is, and was and is to come” Here we
see some parallelism to the OT encounter of Moses with God. When asked, God
revealed his name, as “I AM WHO I AM” (Ex 3:14)
Indicating God is always in the
present. Padilla notes, “John begins in his greeting starting with “who is,
instead of who was” perhaps to assure the believers who were undergoing severe
persecution for their faith, that God is present in their circumstances.”[5]
Osborne notes, “God is given the unique titular formula. The formula occurs four other times in the Apocalypse (Rev 1:8;
4:8; 11:17; 16:5). In Rev 1:4 it is out
of chronological order, with the present (who is) placed before the past (was).
This is probably to assure the persecuted believers that God is in control of
the past, present and future even though for now it may not seem like it.”[6]
What are the seven Spirits who are
before His throne? The seven spirits are before his (God’s) throne is also debated. In the light of Isaiah we might understand
what these seven spirits are. Isaiah 11:2 “And the Spirit of the LORD will rest
on Him, The spirit of wisdom
and understanding, the spirit
of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. Where is the
seventh spirit? In some ancient Hebrew Bible adds a seventh virtue, godliness
The word seven appears several
times throughout the book, in the first chapter alone it occurs eleven times
describing, the fullness of God’s spirit, angels/messengers of the churches and
Churches in general. The word seven indicates “completeness.” Beale notes,
“Seven as a number of completeness is also apparent from the seven days of
creation in Genesis 1. The OT uses ‘seven’ repeatedly for the figurative notion
of completeness. (Gen 4:15, 24; Ps 79:12). For our study when we read about the
seven spirits before His throne we can safely conclude that this is the
sevenfold Spirit of God which has all the seven virtues mentioned above.
Let’s keep applying what we are learning than
to seek for complete understanding as we may not fully understand certain
mysteries of God with our finite mind.
