Revelation Study Week 2: Chapter 1:4

Revelation 1:4–8 (NLT):

4 This letter is from John to the seven churches in the province of Asia.

Grace and peace to you from the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come; from the sevenfold Spirit before his throne; 5 and from Jesus Christ. He is the faithful witness to these things, the first to rise from the dead, and the ruler of all the kings of the world.

All glory to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by shedding his blood for us. 6 He has made us a Kingdom of priests for God his Father. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.

7 Look! He comes with the clouds of heaven.

And everyone will see him—

even those who pierced him.

And all the nations of the world

will mourn for him.

Yes! Amen!

8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end,” says the Lord God. “I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come—the Almighty One.”

This is the actual start of the letter. It has all the elements of a first century letter; the address, greeting and benediction. These four verses can be divided into three sections

Salutation vs 4-5a

A doxology of adoration 5b-6

Announcement of victory 7-8

Salutation

From John, the apostle

To the seven churches in the province of Asia (resent day Turkey). While there is 7 churches listed and letters written to them, the idea is that this is for all those who are God’s servants, remember vs 1…to show his servants. We also read at the end of each of the specific letters in chapters 2 & 3 anyone who has ears are to hear what the spirit says.

After addressing John goes into the greeting Grace and peace to you from the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come; from the sevenfold Spirit before his throne; 5 and from Jesus Christ. He is the faithful witness to these things, the first to rise from the dead, and the ruler of all the kings of the world.

The grace and peace is not from John, for he cannot give that but from the trinity…

from the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come - the Lord God Creator

from the seven spirit before his throne - the Greek doesn’t say sevenfold spirits but says “seven spirits?” We also find this in

Revelation 5:6 Then I saw between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders a Lamb standing as if it had been slaughtered, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

So who are they? Three likely possibilities

The seven angles of the seven churches

Nowhere in the rest of Revelation is spirit used to describe angels.

The seven spirits of the Lord in Isaiah 11:2-3

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.

3 And He will delight in the fear of the Lord,

And He will not judge by what His eyes see,

Nor make a decision by what His ears hear;

Seven (being the number of completion or totality) referring to the totality of the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit .

from Jesus Christ

the faithful witness…[“to these things” not in the Greek]

Faithful witness to what?

John 18:37 (NLT)

37 Pilate said, “So you are a king?”

Jesus responded, “You say I am a king. Actually, I was born and came into the world to testify to the truth. All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true.”

Jesus is a faithful witness to not only what is in Revelation, but to the Truth.

the first to rise from the dead…wait he wasn’t the first to rise from the dead!

NKJV & NASB firstborn of the dead - first to be born after death with incorruptible body, and heir to all things

ruler of all the kings of the world

Revelation 1:5 (NASB95): the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

Doxology of Adoration

Revelation 1:5b-6

All glory to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by shedding his blood for us. 6 He has made us a Kingdom of priests for God his Father. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.

Praise for the Son…

Within this doxology we find the whole gospel story! Why he did what he did, what he did, and what he desires from us!

He loves us (because he loved us he shed his blood to free us from sin…)

He freed us from our sins (because we are free from sin we can be a Kingdom of Priests…)

He has made us a Kingdom of priests

Jesus talked extensively about the Kingdom of God. As Priests we are able to go directly into the presence of God, we are also to intercede for those who can not.

Announcement of Victory

Revelation 1:7-8

7 Look! He comes with the clouds of heaven. And everyone will see him— even those who pierced him.

And all the nations of the world will mourn for him. Yes! Amen!

8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end,” says the Lord God. “I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come—the Almighty One.”

Look, He Comes with the clouds of heaven.

Look is used as an attention getter...”Hey, pay attention!”

He Comes is an immediate future event

with the clouds is also found in Daniel 7; Matthew24,26; Mark 13,14; and Luke 21.

Everyone will see him - even those who pierced him.

Everyone will see him -(or every eye will see him). What about those who have died, or those who are blind?

Those who have pierced him. - aren’t they all dead already? The Greek wording is to include those who have caused his piercing.

It was not just the soldiers who pierced him, but also the religious leaders who caused it. But who caused his piercing?

All nations of the World will mourn for him.

A Handbook on The Revelation to John Revelation 1:7

Here wail means to weep loudly, but it is not clear whether the weeping is caused by remorse or repentance over what they did, or by fear or despair over what is about to happen. Commentators are divided on the question, and most translations are not specific. Commentators who prefer the idea of fear or despair point to 18:9 and Matthew 24:30, and this is probably the meaning intended. TEV, NJB “mourn over him” represents sorrow; REB, SPCL, Brc have “lament in remorse.” One may also say “weep over (because of) him with a loud voice.”