A. SUPERSCRIPTION (1:1–3)
1The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2who testifies to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. 3Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.
The book begins with a statement of the origin and transmission of God’s revelation through Jesus Christ and an angel to John, who in turn is to make it known to others. Vv.1–3 form an introduction or prologue to the entire book. They tell how and for what purpose the revelation was given, and then pronounce a blessing on both reader and obedient listener. The earliest manuscripts of Revelation carried the simple title, “The Apocalypse of John.” Later manuscripts modified and expanded the title in various ways. The Textus Receptus has, “The Apocalypse of John the theologian.”1 There is no compelling reason to believe that the prologue is the work of some later redactor.2 It was written by the author himself, probably after having completed the rest of the book.
1 The work designates itself as “the revelation of Jesus Christ.” It is an apocalypse3 or unveiling. Had God not taken the initiative, the human mind could never have understood the real forces at work in the world. Nor could anyone have known how it would all turn out. The term “revelation” (as used here) is not a literary classification but an indication of the nature and purpose of the book. Modern scholarship has appropriated the term “apocalyptic” to describe a specific body of literature widely diffused in Judaism from about 200 B.C. until A.D. 100 or a bit later. This literature is pseudonymous, pseudo-predictive (the writer placed himself at some point in the past and by means of symbols rewrote history under the guise of prophecy), and pessimistic.4 It deals with the final catastrophic period of world history when God, after mortal combat with the powers of evil, emerges victorious. It is clear that Revelation has much in common with such Jewish apocalypses as 1 Enoch and 2 Esdras. However, that it is not apocalyptic as opposed to prophetic is established by v. 3, which promises a blessing to those who hear “the words of this prophecy” (cf. Rev 22:7, 10, 18, 19).
The work is a revelation mediated by Jesus Christ rather than a revelation of Christ himself. The following clauses in v. 1 indicate that God gave it to him for the purpose of showing to his servants “what must soon take place.” Although Hort argues that in the NT both verb and noun are used for “the unveiling of the hidden Christ to man,”5 he goes on to say that “the revealing of Jesus Christ would be at the same time and for that reason a revealing of things shortly to come to pass.”6 Christ is the revealer, not in the sense that he accompanies John on his visionary experiences (angels play this role), but because he alone is worthy to open the scroll of destiny (Rev 5:5, 7) and disclose its contents (Rev 6:1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 12; 8:1).
The full designation, “Jesus Christ,” is found three times in Rev 1:1–5 but nowhere else in the book. It is appropriate in the elevated style of the prologue. Throughout the rest of the book the simple name “Jesus” is used (11 times).
God is the source of all revelation. He is, as Daniel declared to Nebuchadnezzar, the one who reveals mysteries and makes known what is going to happen (Dan 2:28, 29, 45; cf. Amos 3:7). In Revelation this disclosure is mediated by Jesus Christ. (In the Fourth Gospel the role of taking the things of God and showing them to people is often assigned to Christ: John 1:18; 5:19–23; 12:49; 17:8; cf. Matt 11:27.) The express purpose of God in giving the revelation is to “show his servants what must soon take place.” History is not a haphazard sequence of unrelated events but a divinely decreed ordering of that which must take place. It is a logical and moral necessity arising from the nature of God and the revelation of his purpose in creation and redemption.
John writes that the events that constitute the revelation must “soon take place.”7 That almost 2,000 years of church history have passed and the end has not yet come poses a problem for some. One solution is to understand “soon” in the sense of suddenly, or without delay once the appointed time arrives. Another approach is to interpret it in terms of the certainty of the events in question. The suggestion that John may be employing the formula of 2 Pet 3:8 (“With the Lord a day is like a thousand years”) involves the Seer in a verbal scam. Others believe that the coming crisis was not the consummation of history but the persecution of the church.8 Indeed, that did take place before long. Yet another approach is that for the early Christians the end of the present world-order had already begun with the resurrection of Jesus and would be consummated with his universal recognition—an event John believed to be imminent.9 While it is certainly true that in one sense the kingdom of God is a present reality, that still does not answer the problem of the extended delay in the final consummation.
The most satisfying solution is to take the expression “must soon take place” in a straightforward sense, remembering that in the prophetic outlook the end is always imminent.10 Time as chronological sequence is of secondary concern in prophecy. This perspective is common to the entire NT. Jesus taught that God would vindicate his elect without delay (Luke 18:8), and Paul wrote to the Romans that God would “soon” crush Satan under their feet (Rom 16:20).11
The servants who are to receive the revelation are primarily the Christian prophets (in the sense of Amos 3:7, “Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets”; cf. Rev 10:7; 11:18),12 although the term as used elsewhere in the book includes all believers (Rev 7:3; 19:5; 22:3).
The revelation is said to be made known by an angel sent to John. If “He,” the subject of the verb, is Christ, then there is an angel who acts as an intermediary between Christ and John. It would undoubtedly be the angel who appears again in chapter 22 to rebuke John for falling at his feet to worship. (In Rev 22:16 Jesus says, “I Jesus have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches”). In this case there would be four stages in the transmission: God to Christ, Christ to his angel, the angel to John, and John to his servants.13 It is possible although less likely that “made known” is parallel to “gave” in the previous sentence, which would make God the subject of both clauses. In that case, the term “angel” would have the general meaning of messenger (as in 1:20; 2:1, 8; etc.) and refer to Christ himself. As mediator of the revelation, Christ would be performing the function of an angel in the general sense of messenger.14
The revelation is said to be “signified” (AV) to John. The Greek verb (sēmainō) carries the idea of figurative representation. Strictly speaking, it means to make known by some sort of sign.15 Thus it is admirably suited to the symbolic character of the book. This should warn the reader not to expect a literal presentation of future history, but a symbolic portrayal of that which must yet take place. It is important for an adequate understanding of Revelation to remember that God is communicating his message by means of visions that are symbolic rather than literal. What they portray exists in actuality, but the vision itself is simply the medium used by God to transmit that reality.16
2 John is further designated as one “who testifies to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.”17 The reference is to the revelation given by God and testified to by Christ.18 It is also possible that the writer is following his customary mode of making a general term (in this case, “word of God”) more specific by adding another phrase for clarification (i.e., the “testimony of Jesus Christ”). In either case, the final clause of the verse (“everything he saw” is brought forward in the NIV) is appositional and limits the scope of both. The message of God attested by Jesus consists of everything that John saw in his vision. Although the Greek verb in the first clause is in the aorist tense (ematyrēsen), the present tense translation in English (“testifies”) is appropriate since the prologue was probably composed after John had written down the visionary experiences described in the book. It is unnecessary to conjecture some prior incident when John may have testified to the word of God with the result that he was banished to Patmos.
3 A blessing is pronounced on the person who will read “the words of this prophecy” to the church and upon those who will hear it and take to heart what it says. In John’s day the vast majority of people could not read and therefore learned aurally. The responsibility of those who heard it read in church is clear from the final instructions in 22:18–19. The beatitude in 1:3 is the first of seven beatitudes in Revelation. (The others are found in 14:13; 16:15; 19:9; 20:6; 22:7, 14.) It virtually reproduces the words of Jesus in Luke 11:28, “Blessed … are those who hear the word of God and obey it!” The public reading of Scripture was taken over from Jewish practice (Neh 8:2; Luke 4:16; Acts 13:15; cf. Col 4:16; 1 Thess 5:27).19 At first the reader was probably someone chosen from the congregation who had acquired some proficiency in the art. Later the office of reader became an official position in the church.20
That the congregation was to “take to heart” the things written in the prophecy indicates that the work was considered to be moral instruction, not simply prediction. John viewed his work as prophetic literature on a par with the prophetic books of the OT and possessing an authority that required the obedient response of all believers.21 Although the beatitude is certainly true in a general sense, here it takes on special significance in view of the fact that “the time is near.” The Greek kairos (“time”) was commonly used in an eschatological sense to indicate a time of crisis or a decisive moment. The statement seems to have come from the standard Jewish messianic expectations of the day. In Mark 13 Jesus warned his disciples that many would come in his name claiming to be the promised Messiah (v. 5). A bit later in the chapter he spoke of the time of his return, telling them to be on guard because they did not know when that time (kairos) would come.22 The critical moment for the fulfillment of all that John had seen in his visions had drawn near. Hence the urgency of hearing and obeying the words of the prophecy.
B. SALUTATION AND DOXOLOGY (1:4–8)
4John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, 5and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.
7Look, he is coming with the clouds,
and every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him;
and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him.
So shall it be! Amen.
8“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
The book of Revelation now takes on the form of a letter that begins with a normal salutation in 1:4 and continues through the benediction of 22:21.1 It differs from other letters in that the initial vision (1:9–20) is followed by seven rather stylized letters to specific churches in the Roman province of Asia (2:1–3:22). That each of these seven letters is intended for the moral and spiritual progress of all seven churches, follows from the repeated exhortation to each, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22: note the plural, “churches”). Apart from the prologue (1:1–3) Revelation is an epistle, so the usual format (From A To B—Greetings) is followed.
The salutation itself is unusual in that after beginning in a normal fashion it highlights the role of Christ as faithful witness, firstborn from the dead, and sovereign over the kings of the earth. This christological emphasis anticipates the centrality of the Lamb in the chapters to follow. In vv. 5b–6 the salutation verges into a doxology honoring the one who has set us free from sin and made us priests to serve his God and Father. Since redemption inevitably points forward to its final state (as well as backward to its source), we hear the announcement of the Redeemer’s glorious return. Then in v. 8 God himself speaks, reminding us of his eternal existence.
4 The author refers to himself simply as John. His close relationship with the seven churches and his intimate knowledge of their affairs make it unnecessary to add any identifying phrase. The authority with which he writes indicates his role as a leader in the Asian church.
The letter is addressed to “the seven churches in the province of Asia.” In the NT, Asia normally refers to the Roman province that occupied the entire western portion of Asia Minor stretching inland to the Anatolian plateau. It is the area represented by the ancient kingdom of Pergamum, which in 133 B.C. fell to the Romans. It is not quite certain why Revelation was addressed to seven churches, and, more specifically, to these seven churches. There were other churches in Asia (Troas, Acts 20:5ff.; Colossae, Col 1:2; Hierapolis, Col 4:13) that were of equal importance. Ramsay has argued that the Asian church had gradually evolved into an organization of seven groups and that at the center of each stood one of the seven churches to which John writes.2 Furthermore, the seven cities were located “on the great circular road that bound together the most populous, wealthy, and influential part of the Province.”3 Others feel that the number seven was chosen intentionally because it represents completeness or perfection. In Judaism seven had special significance because of the Sabbath (the seventh day), the sabbatical year (Exod 23:10–11), and the Year of Jubilee (the year of release after seven sabbatical years; cf. Lev 25:8–17, 29–31). It is also possible that these particular seven were chosen because of some specific relationship to emperor worship.
The salutation combines a religious variation of the normal Hellenistic greeting4 and the customary Hebrew shālôm. This dual salutation is found in all the Pauline letters (with “mercy” added in 1 Tim 1:2 and 2 Tim 1:2). Grace is the divine favor showed to the human race, and peace is that state of spiritual well-being that follows as a result. Metzger calls attention to the fact that grace and peace always stand in that order and observes that “it is because of God’s grace that his people can enjoy peace.”5 More than a casual greeting, it bestows what it proclaims.
Grace and peace proceed from a threefold source. First mentioned is the one “who is, and who was, and who is to come.” This paraphrase of the divine name (YHWH) stems from Exod 3:14–15 and calls attention to the fact that all time is embraced within God’s eternal presence.6 While it contains grammatical difficulties,7 it does not merit Farrer’s verdict of being “the most tortured piece of Greek [the] book contains.”8 In the Greek world, similar titles for the gods are found. In the song of the doves at Dodona we read of “Zeus who was, Zeus who is, and Zeus who will be.”9 Since the finite cannot conceive of the eternal in other than temporal terms, John paraphrases the divine name in such a way as to remind his readers that God is eternally existent, without beginning or end. Such a reminder would be especially appropriate at a time when the church stood under the shadow of impending persecution. An uncertain future calls for One who by virtue of his eternal existence exercises sovereign control over the course of history. Indeed, so important is this theological reminder that the salutation-turned-doxology concludes by repeating this same word, as a word spoken by God himself to his people (v. 8).
The invocation of grace and peace also comes from the “seven spirits before [God’s] throne.” From the perspective of a fully developed trinitarian theology it is tempting to interpret the seven spirits as the one Holy Spirit represented under the symbolism of a sevenfold or complete manifestation of his being. The source would be the LXX rendering of Isa 11:2.10 This interpretation goes back at least to Victorinus of Pettau in the late third century, and is still widely accepted.11 The primary argument is that it would be improper to bracket anyone less than deity with the Father (v. 4a) and the Son (v. 5), especially since in this context all three are given as the source of grace and peace. The argument loses force, however, in view of such passages as Luke 9:26, which speaks of the return of the Son “when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels,” and 1 Tim 5:21, in which Paul charges obedience “in the presence of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels.”12
Other interpreters understand the designation as a reference to the seven archangels of Jewish tradition. In 1 Enoch 20:1–8 they are listed as Uriel, Raphael, Raguel, Michael, Saraqâêl, Gabriel, and Remiel (cf. Tob 12:15; 2 Esdr 4:1; Dan 10:13). But this would represent a strange intrusion of Jewish tradition into Christian thought (cf. also Rev 8:2).13
Reference to the seven spirits of God is found in three other places in Revelation. To the angel of the church in Sardis John is told to write, “These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars” (3:1). Since in the address of each of the seven letters the exalted Christ is designated in terms taken from the initial vision (1:12–16), we might hope to find some help by turning to that vision. In 1:16 we learn that there are seven stars, which are held in the right hand of the “someone ‘like a son of man’ ” (v. 13), and in 1:20 that these seven stars are the angels of the seven churches. The seven stars are mentioned again in 3:1 in conjunction with “the seven spirits of God.” Only if the “and” in this verse is taken as epexegetic rather than copulative would the seven spirits be identified with the seven angels, but this is highly unlikely.
The other two references to the seven spirits of God are found in the throne-room vision of chapters 4 and 5. In 4:5 they are identified as “seven lamps” that blaze before the throne and in 5:6 as “seven eyes” of the Lamb. The background for this imagery seems to be Zech 4:2b, 10b, where “seven lights” are “the eyes of the LORD, which range throughout the earth” (cf. “sent out into all the earth” in 5:6). But since John is never in bondage to the source of his symbolism but “with sovereign freedom he bends and reshapes it to serve his special purpose,”14 little help would come from a careful exegesis of the OT passage.
Thus a survey of the four places in Revelation where the seven spirits of God are mentioned fails to provide sufficient information to arrive with any certainty at an understanding of this enigmatic phrase. Although only a conjecture, it would seem that “the seven spirits before [God’s] throne” are best understood as part of a heavenly entourage that has a special ministry in connection with the Lamb.15
5 Not only does grace and peace proceed from the eternal God and the seven spirits before the throne, but from Jesus Christ as well. The latter is designated by the threefold title “faithful witness,” “firstborn from the dead,” and “ruler of the kings of the earth.”16 The doxology that immediately follows (vv. 5b–6) indicates that the order of mention in no way subordinates the Son to the seven spirits.
The first element in the title assigned to Jesus indicates that he is “the faithful witness.”17 This designation applies in the first place to his role in mediating the revelation he received from God (Rev 1:1; the “testimony for the churches” referred to in 22:16). But it also refers to the larger purpose of his life as the one who bore witness to the truth from God (John 3:32–33; 18:37) with special emphasis on his death that followed as a result. The Greek word for witness (martys) has come over into English as “martyr,” one who suffers death for allegiance to a cause. Throughout Revelation the word is associated with the penalty of death that results from a firm and constant witness (cf. 2:13; 11:3; 17:6).18 To the Asian Christians about to enter into a time of persecution, Jesus is presented as the faithful witness. He is the model of how to stand firm and never compromise the truth of God (cf. 1 Tim 6:13).
Secondly, Jesus is “the firstborn from the dead.” This title is also found in Col 1:18, where Christ is declared sovereign over the church by virtue of his resurrection from the dead. Lightfoot points out that the two main ideas in the designation are priority and sovereignty and that in messianic contexts the latter predominates.19 The messianic interpretation stems from Ps 89:27, which says of David (and extends to his descendants culminating in Jesus the Messiah), “I will also appoint him my firstborn.” If faithful witnessing should result in a martyr’s death, the believer is to remember that Jesus, the ideal martyr, is the firstborn from the dead. As the risen Christ now exercises sovereign control, so also will the faithful share in his reign (Rev 20:4–6).
Ps 89:27 is the source of the third element in the title as well. As firstborn from the dead, Jesus becomes “the most exalted of the kings of the earth.” The expression looks forward to his open manifestation as King of kings (Rev 17:14; 19:16). What the devil offered in return for worship (“all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor,” Matt 4:8) Jesus achieved through faithful obedience that led to death. Vindicated by the resurrection, he is, at the consummation, to be universally acknowledged as supreme ruler (cf. Phil 2:10–11). The threefold title is intended to encourage and sustain believers about to enter a time of severe persecution for their faith in Jesus. It reminds them that Christ has gone before and opened the way through death to victory.
5b–6 The reference to Christ in turn gives rise to the first of a number of doxologies (4:11; 5:9, 12–13; 7:10; etc.). That this first doxology is addressed to Christ alone has significant theo/christological implications. The redemptive work of the Son is central to the eschatological drama about to open. He is the one “who loves us and has freed20 us from our sins.” The change of tense between the two participles (agapōnti, present; lysanti, aorist) is instructive, although it should not be pressed. Christ’s love for us is a continuing reality that in point of time expressed itself in the redemptive act of Calvary. This release was purchased by the blood of Christ. Translations that follow the TR and read “washed” rather than “loosed” were probably affected by the Greek preposition normally translated “in.” Here, however, it is used in the Hebraic sense of denoting a price, thus, “by.” John’s interest at this point is not in the washing away of “our sins,” but in Christ’s death freeing us from their bondage and misery. The ransom paid to redeem the faithful was the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ (cf. 5:9).
By means of his death Jesus constituted his followers a kingdom.21 On Mt. Sinai God had promised that if the emerging Jewish nation would obey his voice and keep his commandments, he would make them “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exod 19:5–6; cf. Isa 61:6). The early church understood itself to be in the true succession of Israel and thus the inheritors of all the blessings promised to their spiritual predecessors (1 Pet 2:5, 9). Corporately they are a “kingdom” (stressing their royal standing in connection with the exaltation of Christ as ruler of all earthly kings), and individually they are “priests”22 (emphasizing their role in serving God as a result of Christ’s sacrificial death).
The doxology concludes with the ascription to Christ of glory and dominion forever and ever.23 In this context, “glory” is praise and honor, and “dominion” connotes power and might. The two are likewise joined in the doxology to God and the Lamb in Rev 5:13. The statement is both a confident assertion about the exalted Christ and an exhortation to regard him correspondingly. “Amen” transliterates the Hebrew word meaning “so let it be.”24
7 The focus of vv. 5b–6 on the redemptive work of Christ leads naturally to the expectation of the glorious day when he will return in triumph and bring history to a close. In Daniel’s vision of the four beasts, the prophet saw one like a son of man coming “with the clouds of heaven” (Dan 7:13). Zechariah prophesied that on the day of the Lord the inhabitants of Jerusalem would “look on the one they have pierced” and “mourn for him” (Zech 12:10). These two prophetic motifs are joined by John and adapted to describe the impending advent of the victorious Christ and the response of a hostile world to the revelation of his universal sovereignty.25 The event is so immediate and certain that John can announce, “Look, he is coming” (cf. 3:11; 22:7, 12, 20). Note that, like the man-figure of Dan 7:13, he comes with the clouds rather than on or in them.26 Thus the clouds are probably not to be taken as his means of transportation (as in Ps 104:3). Hort suggests that the rather unusual phrase means that “he compels all the clouds into his retinue.”27 In any case, the cloud in Hebrew thought is commonly associated with the divine presence (Exod 13:21; 16:10; cf. Matt 17:5; Acts 1:9).
When he comes, his sovereignty will be openly manifested to all, for “every eye will see him.” The following clause (“even those who pierced him”) is parenthetical. The Fourth Gospel indicates that the piercing of Jesus’ side by the Roman soldier fulfilled the scripture, “They will look on the one they have pierced” (John 19:37 quoting Zech 12:10).28 The reference in Revelation should not be limited to that incident or, as in Zech 12:10, to the tribes of Israel, but extends to all those of every age whose careless indifference to Jesus is typified in the act of piercing. At his coming all the tribes of earth (not the twelve tribes of Israel but the non-Christian world represented in terms of ethnic divisions) will mourn for him. The mourning of Zech 12:10–12 was that of repentance, but the mourning of Revelation is the remorse accompanying the disclosure of divine judgment at the coming of Christ (cf. 16:9, 11, 21).29
The thrust of the verse is that at the imminent return of Christ unbelievers will mourn the judgment that results from their having rejected him. The final “So shall it be! Amen” combines the Greek and Hebrew forms of affirmation (cf. “grace and peace” in 1:4). It is an expression of vigorous approval.
8 As the divine response to what has been said about Christ and his relationship to believers and the unbelieving world, God himself now speaks. Only here and in 21:5ff. does God speak. He declares that he is “the Alpha and the Omega” (the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet). In 21:6 the same title is expanded and interpreted by the parallel expression, “the Beginning and the End.”30 Alpha and Omega represent the Hebrew Aleph and Tau, which were regarded not simply as the first and last letters of the alphabet, but as including all the letters in between. Hence, the title sets forth God as the sovereign Lord over everything that takes place in the entire course of human history. Knox translates, “I am Alpha, I am Omega, the beginning of all things and their end.”31 By means of these descriptive titles God is not revealing his eternality for the theological edification of believers, but stressing his timeless sovereignty for the encouragement of Asian Christians who are facing persecution for their faith.
As sovereign Lord he is “the Almighty.”32 Although the title occurs extensively throughout the Greek OT, it is found only twelve times in the NT, and nine of these occurrences are in Revelation (1:8; 4:8; 11:17; 15:3; 16:7, 14; 19:6, 15; 21:22). Pantokratōr is a regular LXX rendering of “Yahweh Sebaoth” and is the Seer’s favorite title for God.33 Like the other titles in the verse it is intended to encourage and support believers in a time of crisis. The reference is more to God’s supremacy over all things34 than to the related idea of divine omnipotence. The latter portion of the verse is not spoken by God but about him. The use of the threefold title in 1:4 and the third person in “and [he] was” supports this position.
What strikes the reader as unusual in this salutation-turned-doxology (vv. 4–8) is that what begins as a normal greeting is immediately transformed into a lyrical hymn of praise to Christ. While God the Father is first to be mentioned, the emphasis quickly shifts to the redemptive work of the Son. He is singled out as the one whose love purchased freedom from sin. He is the one who by his death and resurrection has equipped us to serve the Father. It is to him that glory and power are ascribed. He is the one who will come on clouds of glory, and the entire human race will witness that triumphal return. God himself, the eternally existent one, indicates his approval of the praise and adoration directed to the Son. So the salutation/doxology prepares the reader for the exalted vision about to occur.
C. INAUGURAL VISION AND COMMISSION TO WRITE (1:9–20)
9I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, 11which said: “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.”
12I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13and among the lampstands was someone “like a son of man,” dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. 14His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. 15His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. 16In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.
17When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
19“Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later. 20The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
Verses 9–20 record John’s vision of the exalted Christ and his commission to write to the seven churches what he is about to see. John finds himself exiled to the island of Patmos and is in the Spirit on the Lord’s day when suddenly he hears a trumpetlike voice behind him telling him to write on a scroll all he is about to experience and send it to seven churches in Asia. Turning, he sees seven golden lampstands and standing among them one like a son of man. The resplendent figure with face shining like the noonday sun is dressed in priestly garments. His snowy-white hair, blazing eyes, bronze-like feet and resonant voice cause John to fall at his feet as though dead. The visionary figure identifies himself, counsels John not to be afraid, and commissions him to write down the visions. The vision ends with an interpretive clue—the seven stars are seven “angels,” and the seven lampstands are seven churches.
9 Both Isaiah and Ezekiel began their ministry with a great vision of the glory of God (Isa 6; Ezek 1). John now proceeds to do something very similar, in language very reminiscent of Daniel’s similar experience in Daniel 10, indicating his own sense of prophetic calling to pass on to the churches this “revelation of Christ.” After the direct statement by God in the preceding verse, John once again identifies himself.1 He writes to the churches as one who has paid the price of exile for his faithfulness in proclaiming the word of God. He can fully understand the difficulty in which they find themselves in that he is a participant with them (synkoinōnos) in the tribulation that accompanies the Christian faith. “Brother” was a common designation among believers and reflects the close relationship they experienced as members of the same religious body. Commitment to a common goal had removed the artificial barriers of position and status.
Their common lot is described as “suffering and kingdom and patient endurance … in Jesus.”2 “Suffering” refers to the difficulties and afflictions of everyday life that result from faithfulness to Christian principles (John 16:33, “In this world you will have trouble”; 2 Tim 3:12, “Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted”; cf. Acts 14:22) but it also extends to include that final period of intense affliction which precedes the establishment of the millennial kingdom.3
With suffering, John joins kingdom and patience. “Kingdom” refers to the coming period of messianic blessedness, and “patience” is the active endurance required of the faithful. The order of the three is instructive. Since the present is a time of suffering and the kingdom a period of future blessedness, believers must during the interim period exercise that kind of patient endurance which was exemplified by Jesus.4
The place of John’s exile was Patmos, a small, rocky island (approximately ten miles long and five miles wide) in the Aegean Sea some forty miles west-southwest of Miletus. Its rugged terrain enters the imagery of the Apocalypse in its emphasis on rocks and mountains (6:15–16; 16:20). In addition to its significance for navigation between Ephesus and Rome, it may have served as a penal settlement to which the Roman authorities sent offenders.5 John says that he was on the isle of Patmos “because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.”6 Apparently the Asian authorities had interpreted his preaching as seditious and removed him from the mainland in an attempt to inhibit the growth of the early church. Tertullian’s statement about John’s being exiled to Patmos by Domitian “after suffering no hurt from being plunged in boiling oil”7 is legendary at best. The suggestion that he went to Patmos for the purpose of preaching is unlikely. In Rev 1:2 “the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ” described the content of the Apocalypse. Here the phrase refers more broadly to the content of John’s preaching. The message originated with God and was testified to by Jesus.
10 John records that he was “in the Spirit” on the day of his revelation. This expression refers to a state of spiritual exaltation best described as a trance.8 Berkeley translates, “I became Spirit-possessed.” Peter at Joppa (Acts 10:10; 11:5) and Paul at Jerusalem (Acts 22:17; cf. 2 Cor 12:2–4) had similar ecstatic experiences. Caird suggests as a stimulus for John’s vision Domitian’s edict that insisted on the worship of the reigning emperor. John saw in it “the emergence of a new totalitarianism which Christians were bound to resist, and which would therefore result in war to the death between church and state.”9 Or perhaps it was simply that the messianic era had dawned in which it was to be expected that “young men will see visions” and “old men will dream dreams” (Acts 2:17). Following the letters to the seven churches in chapters 2 and 3 John continues “in the Spirit” for subsequent visions (cf. 4:2; 17:3; 21:10).
The vision takes place “on the Lord’s day.” Some have interpreted this as a reference to “the day of Yahweh.” That is, John is carried forward by the Spirit to the day of consummation when Christ is unveiled and the judgment of God falls on the human race. It is more probable that this is the first mention in Christian literature of the Lord’s day as a technical term for the first day of the week.10 It is the Lord’s day because on the first day of the week Christ rose victorious from the grave. As paganism had set aside a day on which to honor their emperor (Sebastē), so Christians chose the first day of each week to honor Christ (kyriakē). The Lord’s day should be understood over against the emperor’s day.
In this state of existential openness to the Spirit of God, John hears a loud voice behind him. There is no possibility of misunderstanding the command because the voice is as clear and unmistakable as the sound of a trumpet.11 Since Christ’s voice is later said to be “like the sound of rushing waters” (1:15), some have held that the voice in v. 10 must have been that of an angel. In the verses that follow (vv. 17–19), however, it is Christ who commands John to write, and it is therefore natural to assume that it is also he who speaks in vv. 10 and 11.
11 The voice like a trumpet instructs John to commit to writing what he is about to see.12 The completed scroll is then to be sent to the seven churches. Ramsay’s suggestion that the seven cities named by John were chosen because they were the distribution centers for the seven postal districts of west-central Asia Minor13 is attractive and quite plausible. The cities were located roughly thirty to fifty miles apart along a circular road that went north to Pergamum, turned southeast to Laodicea, and returned full circle to Ephesus through the valley of the Maeander. The seven letters written to the seven churches (chaps. 2 and 3) should not be taken as a group of covering letters, each one to be read only at the appropriate location. The entire scroll including all seven letters was to be read at each church. That there were seven letters (rather than six or eight) may stem from the fact that that was the number of postal districts on the circular route. At the same time, however, seven is a decidedly symbolic number. It stands for completeness and is especially appropriate for the Apocalypse. The order in which the churches are addressed is strictly geographical. They do not portray seven successive periods of church history. Although the letters are written to real churches of the first century, they are relevant to the church universal, for the strengths and weaknesses of the seven are characteristic of individual churches throughout history.
12–13 Upon hearing the loud voice, John turned to see the one who was speaking to him.14 There in the midst of seven golden lampstands15 was someone “like a son of man.” Exod 25:31–37 records the instructions given to Moses for making the seven-branched lampstand of pure gold (cf. Zech 4:2). In John’s vision, however, there are seven separate lampstands, perhaps like those placed before the inner sanctuary by Solomon when he dedicated the temple (1 Kgs 8:49). From Rev 1:20 we learn that the lampstands signify the seven churches to whom the letters are addressed. The purpose of the church is to bear the light of the divine presence in a darkened world (Matt 5:14–16). Failing this, its reason for existence has disappeared (cf. Rev 2:5).
In the midst of the lampstands was someone “like a son of man.” The background of the phrase is Dan 7:13, which describes the presentation to the Ancient of Days of “one like a son of man” who had come with the clouds of heaven. Commentators differ on what the designation intends. Swete holds that it means “a human being,”16 while Charles takes it as a technical term in apocalyptic for “like an angel” (1.27).17 In either case, the One who speaks is none other than the exalted Christ, for in subsequent verses (17–18) he identifies himself in terms of preexistence, death, and resurrection. The description that follows draws heavily upon Dan 7:9 and Dan 10:5.
Some writers hold that in the introductory verses of Revelation Jesus is presented in the threefold office of prophet, priest, and king. As recipient of God’s revelation in v. 1 he is a prophet. As “ruler of the kings of the earth” in v. 5 he is king. And the high-priestly garments of v. 13 present him as priest (cf. Exod 28:4; 29:5).18 The Greek word translated “a robe reaching down to his feet” (podērēs) occurs only here in the NT. It is found seven times in the LXX, and in every case but one it refers to the attire of the high priest. The sash of the priest was made of fine twined linen and embroidered with needlework (Exod 39:29), while the sash that gathered together the long robe of the exalted Christ (it probably came down diagonally from one shoulder to the waist)19 was of gold. Josephus speaks of the priest’s girdle as being interwoven with gold.20 This, plus the fact that high girding (“around his chest”) denotes the dignity of an important office, suggests that this part of the description is intended to set forth the high-priestly function of Christ.
14 The description of the celestial visitor continues with statements about his hair, eyes, feet, and voice.21 Caird wisely cautions against overinterpretation, noting that to track down the source of each descriptive phrase and compile a catalogue would be “to unweave the rainbow.” John uses his allusions “for their evocative and emotive power.… His aim is to set the echoes of memory and association ringing … to call forth from his readers the same response of overwhelming and annihilating wonder which he experienced in his prophetic trance”22—as did Daniel before him (Dan 7:7, 10).
The expression “his head and hair” should be translated “his head, that is, his hair.”23 In Dan 7:9 the Ancient of Days is described as having hair “white like wool” and clothing “white as snow.” With minor modification (the hair of Christ is both “white like wool” and “as white as snow”;24 cf. Isa 1:18) this description is transferred in Revelation to the exalted Christ. The ascription of the titles and attributes of God to Christ is an indication of the exalted Christology of the Apocalypse. Ancient expositors attempted to find in the reference to white hair an allusion to the eternal preexistence of the Son. This was not intended. The hoary head was worthy of honor and conveyed the idea of wisdom and dignity (Lev 19:32; Prov 16:31). Continuing with the description, we learn that his eyes “were like blazing fire” (cf. Dan 10:6), an item repeated in the letter to Thyatira (2:18) as well as in the account of the victorious return of the conquering Messiah (19:12). It expresses the penetrating insight of the one who is sovereign, not only over the seven churches but over the entire course of history as well.
15 Below the long robe the feet of Christ appeared like “bronze.” The etymology of this Greek word (which occurs nowhere in the literature apart from Revelation) is difficult25 but best understood as an alloy of gold or fine brass. Considerable textual uncertainty exists in the companion phrase. The NIV follows the most commonly accepted reading and translates, “like bronze glowing in a furnace.”26 A slightly different, but reasonable, reconstruction reads, “like bronze taken out of a heated furnace.”27 In any case, the shining, bronzelike feet portray strength and stability. The voice of Christ is said to be “like the sound of rushing waters,” suggesting the awe-inspiring power of a great waterfall. The same description is used of the voice of God in Ezek 43:2 and also of the great multitude in Rev 19:6 (cf. 14:2).
16 In his right hand Christ holds28 seven stars (cf. 2:1). Four verses later we are told that “the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches” (1:20). The number of stars is determined quite simply by the number of churches to which the Apocalypse is being sent. There is no need to search for a mythological or astrological background such as Pleiades (the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione, placed by Zeus among the stars) or the seven planets (sun, moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn).29 That Christ has the full complement of stars in his right hand indicates his sovereign control over the churches.30 It may also imply protection (John 10:28: “no one can snatch them out of my hand”).
A sharp, double-edged sword proceeds from the mouth of Christ.31 In the letter to the church at Pergamum, Christ warns that unless they repent he will come and fight against them with the “sword of [his] mouth” (2:16; see comm. on 2:12). Chapter 19 pictures the return of Christ from whose mouth comes a sharp sword (19:15, 21). The sword in these vignettes symbolizes the irresistible power of divine judgment.32 The authoritative word of Christ is to be understood over against the fraudulent demands of the imperial cult.33 It is the word of Christ that will ultimately prevail.
John’s account of the inaugural vision now reaches its high point. The countenance of the exalted Christ is described as being “like the sun shining in all its brilliance.” The Greek term (opsis) occurs but three times in the NT. It may mean “face” as in John 11:44, or “[outward] appearance” as in John 7:24. In the context of Rev 1:13–16 its primary reference is to the face, but it should not be limited to that alone. There was a brilliance about Christ that surrounded his entire person. Once before, on the Mount of Transfiguration, John beheld the Lord when “his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light” (Matt 17:2; cf. Exod 34:29; Judg 5:31; Matt 13:43).
17 John’s response to the vision was to fall at the feet of Christ as though dead. Similar responses are found in Josh 5:14; Ezek 1:28; Dan 8:17; 10:15; Matt 17:6; Acts 26:14; and 1 Enoch 14:14. But to call the response “stereotyped behaviour in such apocalyptic trances”34 would incorrectly imply that John was playing out a role rather than experiencing a supernatural phenomenon of such magnitude that to stand as an equal would be tantamount to blasphemy. It could even lead to death (cf. the OT belief that for sinful man to see God was to die; Exod 19:21; 33:20; Judg 6:22–23).
Christ now lays his right hand on John and speaks a word of strong assurance (cf. Dan 10:10). That Christ is described in the previous verse as holding seven stars in the same right hand should cause no problem. The entire account is visionary and symbolic, and as such should not be expected to conform to literalistic requirements. The laying on of the right hand communicated power and blessing. It is a commissioning hand that restores John’s confidence and prepares him to hear the words of consolation and command.
The celestial visitor speaks, and his very words remind the prostrate Seer of earlier days when as Jesus of Nazareth this one had shared his earthly ministry with the twelve. More than once John had heard the familiar “Do not be afraid,” for example, when Jesus approached the disciples walking on the water (Matt 14:27) and when they had fallen on their faces having heard the voice of God from heaven (Matt 17:7). There is no cause for fear because he who speaks is “the First and the Last.”35 This title is essentially the same as the divine self-designation in 1:8, “the Alpha and the Omega.” In 22:13 both titles are joined by a third, “the Beginning and the End.” In Isa. 44:6 God declares, “I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God” (cf. Isa 48:12). The title emphasizes the absolute sovereignty of God. Thus, in Revelation, the words “Do not be afraid” come from a sovereign being. Even death holds no terror because he is the Living One who has conquered death and holds it in his power (v. 18).
18 The idea involved in the title “the First and the Last”36 is expanded epexegetically by, “I am the Living One.”37 The designation is based on OT references to “the living God” (Josh 3:10; Ps 42:2; 84:3; etc.) and is used freely in the NT (Matt 16:16; Acts 14:15; Rom 9:26; etc.). It declares that in his essential nature Christ possesses life and therefore is to be understood in sharp contrast to the dead (or inanimate) gods of paganism. Even though he experienced death in the course of his earthly ministry, he is alive forever.38 He has in his possession “the keys of death and Hades.”39 This grants him power and authority over their domain (cf. Matt 16:19). According to Jewish literature, power over these keys belongs to God alone.40 That they now are in the possession of Christ is evidence of the high Christology of the Apocalypse.
19 The initial command to write what is about to be seen (v. 11) is repeated and expanded. Many commentators find a threefold division of the verse interpreting “what you have seen” as a reference to the vision of the Son of man (in the verses immediately preceding), “what is now” as referring to the present condition of the church in chapters 2 and 3, and “what will take place later” in reference to the visions beginning with chapter 4 and continuing to the end of the book.41 The proper division, however, is twofold, not three.42 The first statement (“Write, therefore, what you have seen”) is the essential unit and parallels the earlier command in v. 11 (“Write on a scroll what you see”). The two relative clauses43 refer to the visions to be unfolded in the coming chapters. They are epexegetical and make more specific what John is to write. So translate, “Write, therefore, the things you are about to see, that is, both what now is and what lies yet in the future.”44 This relationship between present and future underlies the entire Apocalypse. It recognizes that the great throne-room drama of chapters 4 and 5, the vision of the woman giving birth to the man-child in chapter 12, and much of chapter 17 belong in the past and the present as well as the future. The Apocalypse is an unveiling both of the great principles at work in the world at the present time and of the final eschatological conclusion to which they point. Moffatt is right in holding that “the contents of the vision … consist of what is and what is to be.”45
20 The punctuation of the ASV connects the first half of v. 20 with the preceding verse, making the mystery of the seven stars part of the command to write. The RSV (and many others) places a full stop at the end of v. 19 and begins v. 20, “As for the mystery of the seven stars.” In Dan 2:47 Nebuchadnezzar acknowledges that Daniel’s God is a “revealer of mysteries.” It is in this same sense of the “inner meaning of a symbolic vision”46 that Christ now supplies the interpretation of the seven stars and seven lampstands. The lampstands are the churches. In v. 13 we learned that Christ stands among (AV, “in the midst of”) his churches. Facing persecution in a hostile environment, they are to realize his abiding presence. The seven stars are said to be the angels of the seven churches. Many explanations have been proposed for the angels. If they are human beings (Matt 11:10 and other verses would allow this), they could be prominent officials of the local congregations or delegates sent to Patmos to be entrusted with the letters. The use of “angel” in the book of Revelation (it occurs some 60 times) favors identifying the angels as heavenly beings. They could be guardian angels (cf. Dan 10:13, 20–21; Matt 18:10; Acts 12:15) or perhaps heavenly counterparts that came to be identified with the church.47 The most satisfactory answer, however, is that the angel of the church was a way of personifying the prevailing spirit of the church.48 This interpretation is strengthened by the fact that all seven letters are addressed to separate angels, a strange phenomenon if they refer to anything but the church since the contents are obviously intended for the congregation as a whole.
With the awesome vision and his own commission John is now prepared to write what he has seen. Caught up in the Spirit on the Lord’s day John encountered the risen and glorified Christ, who personally commissioned him to write to the seven churches. He was to share with them not only this initial vision of the one “like a son of man” but also the subsequent visions that would reveal what was about to take place.