The Doxologies of Revelation - Part 1

The Doxologies of Revelation (Part 1)

The first doxology

Revelation 1:6 NKJV

… to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Stated in its simplest terms, a doxology is “a form of words that offers praise to God, especially for his work of creation and redemption.”[i]

From δόξα, doxa, "glory" and λογία, logia, "saying"

If you came from a Latin background you might have heard it called the glorificatio.

The Bible is full of doxologies; here are a few examples:

1 Chronicles 29:10-13 is a doxology of David used in the formal worship of Israel.

1 Chronicles 29:10–13 NKJV

10Therefore David blessed the Lord before all the assembly; and David said: “Blessed are You, Lord God of Israel, our Father, forever and ever.

11Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, The power and the glory, The victory and the majesty; For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, And You are exalted as head over all.

12Both riches and honor come from You, And You reign over all. In Your hand is power and might; In Your hand it is to make great And to give strength to all.

13“Now therefore, our God, We thank You And praise Your glorious name.

Romans 11:33-36 is a doxology of Paul’s spontaneous praise.

Romans 11:33–36 NKJV

33Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!

34“For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become His counselor?”

35“Or who has first given to Him And it shall be repaid to him?”

36For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

Sometimes they are very short as in Psalms 57:5

Psalm 57:5 NKJV

5Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; Let Your glory be above all the earth.

Sometimes they represent the worship of Heaven as in Luke 2:13-14

Luke 2:13–14 NKJV

13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:

14“Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

Revelation also contains doxologies. We are going to look at how they escalate as we go through the book.

The first doxology

Revelation 1:6 NKJV

… to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

I. The cause for the doxology

Revelation 1:5–6 NKJV

5and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood,

6and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

A. To totally understand this doxology, we must look at the lead up to it.

1. First is the salutation – as you will remember in New Testament times the salutation of the letter was not at the end of the letter as in modern times, but rather at the beginning of the letter.

Revelation 1:4–5a NKJV

4John, to the seven churches which 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,

5and from Jesus Christ…

2. Here is what we learn from vv. 4-5a: this letter to the seven churches and it is from:

a) John (John, to the seven churches which are in Asia)

b) The Eternal God (Him who is and who was and who is to come) – I like what Michael Wilcock wrote concerning this title: Perhaps John was seeing God as one who is always ‘he’, the subject of every sentence, who governs every other part of speech and is himself governed by none.[ii]

c) From the Holy Spirit (from the seven Spirits who are before His throne)

d) and from Jesus Christ

B. Now, it almost feels as John paused a moment and began to think about that simple title, “Jesus Christ,” and started to give a commentary about His Lord and Master.

1. The faithful witness (ὁ μάρτυς ὁ πιστὸς ho martoos ho pistos)

a) You may have heard in that phrase ho martys and thought to yourself, “that sounds like the word ‘martyr.’” Well, you are exactly right; it is the word from where we get “martyr.” But, there are two different meanings.

(1) Today, we use the word to describe someone who has died for their beliefs—usually religious.

(2) But in the time of John, the word was a legal term and carried the meaning of “one who can and does speak from personal experience about actions in which he took part and which happened to him, or about persons and relations known to him.”[iii]

b) This title is referring to Jesus in His role as a Prophet of God who never failed to reveal the truth about the Father.

c) Jesus taught us so many things about the Father; consider these few things:

(1) He loves us - John 3:16

(2) He forgives – Matthew 6:14

(3) He knows what we need - Matthew 6:32

(4) He knows how to give good gifts and the best gift He gives us, outside of salvation, is the Holy Spirit - Luke 11:13

(a) The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is something Abraham never experienced

(b) The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is something Moses never experienced

(c) The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is something David never experienced

(d) The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is something The Prophets never experienced

(i) Elijah never experienced it.

(ii) Elisha never experienced it.

(iii) Isaiah never experienced it.

(iv) Daniel never experienced it.

(v) Jeremiah never experienced it.

(e) But you have experienced it just like Jesus said we would.

2. The firstborn from the dead

a) Firstborn – (πρωτότοκος prōtotokos) this is the word from which we get our word “prototype.”

b) The idea of resurrection from the dead did not originate with Christianity.

(1) Most Jewish people expected all the righteous dead to rise at the end of the age (Dan. 12:2)[iv]

(2) Furthermore, Jesus was not the first person to come back to life from the dead.

(a) We have record of three people being dead and coming back to life in the Old Testament

(i) In 1 Kings 17 we have the account of Elijah bringing the Widow of Zarephath’s Son back to life.

(ii) In 2 Kings 4:32–36 we have the account of Elisha raising the Shunammites’s Son back to life.

(iii) In 2 Kings 13 we have the very interesting account of a man who had died and was in the process of being buried when the burial party spotted a ban of Moabites invading the land. They abandoned the idea of giving the man a “proper” burial and instead simply tossed his corps into the tomb of Elisha. As soon as the dead man touched the bones of Elisha…”he revived and stood on his feet.”

(b) In the New Testament we have three records of Jesus resurrecting someone from the dead.

(i) In Matthew 9:18 a “ruler,” probably from the synagogue at Capernaum,[v] came to Jesus and told Him that his daughter had died, but testified his faith in Jesus that if He would only come and lay His hand upon her, she would live.

(a) When Jesus and the ruler arrived at the house the professional mourners had already started the mourning ritual - Matthew 9:23

(b) Jesus told them to step aside and give Him passage for the girl was not dead but is simply “sleeping”; but, the unbelievers being who they are, simply ridiculed Him - Matthew 9:24

(c) Jesus put them out of the room and took the girl by the hand and she arose - Matthew 9:25

(i) Side Note: The reason that often we do not see miracles in our life is that we do not put the ridiculing people out of the room, so the Master can perform a miracle.

(ii) Sometimes, that ridiculing person is our own self.

(ii) Luke gives us record of a funeral procession that Jesus was passing in the village of Nain. The deceased was the son of an un-named widow who was weeping. Jesus seeing her, was moved to compassion and simply “touched the bier” and said to the corps “Young man, I say to you, arise.” Luke records: “So he who was dead sat up and began to speak.” - Luke 7:11–15 NK

(iii) John records the event that is so well known where Jesus came to the tomb of Lazarus and commanded “Lazarus, come forth!” Lazarus came hopping out of the tomb—he had to hop, his feet were bound together—and Jesus told them, “Loose him, and let him go.” - John 11:43–44

c) With all this in mind you might be wondering, “How can Jesus be the prototype of being raised from the dead?” - Revelation 1:5

(1) It is simple, with everyone of the examples that have been cited, they returned to life only to die again at some point.

(2) Jesus is the firstborn from the dead, because He resurrected never to die again!

(3) That is why He will announce Himself to John as:

Revelation 1:18 NKJV

I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.

(4) And, because Jesus is “the firstborn from the dead”, the prototype of a new class of resurrected people He could tell His disciples, “Because I live, you will live also.” - John 14:19

(5) That’s why I can sing with confidence

Ain’t no grave, gonna hold my body down.

Ain’t no grave, gonna hold my body down.

When I hear that trumpet sound,

Gonna get up, gonna get up, gonna get up out of the ground.

Ain’t no grave, gonna hold my body down

3. And the ruler over the kings of the earth - Revelation 1:5

a) This title which John uses to continue to describes Jesus with depicts Jesus as the absolute sovereign over all the earth and all the Kings of the earth.

(1) If President Donald Trump was in a room and Jesus walked in, President Trump would have to bow to Jesus as his sovereign.

(2) If Queen Elizabeth was in a room and Jesus walked in, The Queen would have to remove her crown and bow to Jesus as her sovereign.

(3) If Vladimir Putin was in a room and Jesus walked in, Putin would have to bow to Jesus as his sovereign.

(4) If Prime Minister Theresa May was in a room and Jesus walked in, Theresa May would have to bow to Jesus as her sovereign.

(5) If Prime Minister Angela Merkel was in a room and Jesus walked in, Angela Merkel would have to bow to Jesus as her sovereign.

(6) If Bashar al-Assad was in a room and Jesus walked in, Assad would have to bow to Jesus as his sovereign.

b) Do you get the picture, Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

c) In Revelation 5 we see Him as the only one who can take up the scroll which shows He holds the title deed to the earth.

d) In Revelation 19 we see Him on a white horse;

His eyes are a flame of fire;

On His head are many diadems;

His robe is dipped in blood;

His name is called The Word of God;

A sharp sword goes out of His mouth;

He comes to rule the nations with a rod of iron;

He treads the winepress of the wrath of God;

And He is waring a name on His robe and thigh:

KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS!

e) And on that day, every knee shall bow, and every lounge will confess that Jesus is Lord! - Philippians 2:9–11

II. Now, John is about to work himself-up into a shouting fit as he writes:

Revelation 1:5b–6 NKJV

5…To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood,

6and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

A. He loved us enough to wash away our sins with His own blood.

1. Through His sacrificial death He released us from our sin.

2. Gordon Jensen wrote well when he wrote:

I was guilty with nothing to say,

And they were coming to take me away.

But then a voice from heaven was heard, which said,

“Turn him loose, and take me instead!”

Chorus:

And I should have been crucified,

I should have suffered and died.

I should have hung on the cross in disgrace,

But Jesus, God’s Son, took my place.

B. Jesus did not stop with just washing away our sins with His own blood, He then made us in to a Royal Priesthood.

1. To be a kingdom of priests was God’s plan for Israel – Exodus 19:6

2. However, because of Israel’s rebellion and idolatry, they never achieved that status.

3. But through the redemptive work of Jesus we, the gentile outsiders, have been made into that which Israel could have been.

C. Through that work, Jesus gave us direct access to the Father - 1 Peter 2:9–10

III. The two-fold Doxology

A. That’s all that John can take…Here comes the shouting’ fit!

Revelation 1:6b NKJV

…to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

1. “Glory” is praise and honor, and “dominion” connotes power and might.[vi]

2. Harry Ironside: “John’s heart was full and could hold in no longer. Adoration and praise were the spontaneous result of contemplation of Christ’s person and offices as Prophet, Priest and King.”[vii]

3. John is saying, “Only Jesus is worthy of praise; Only Jesus is worthy of worship.”

B. Then, John nails everything shut with an “amen.” So let it be.

[i] Martin H. Manser, Dictionary of Bible Themes: The Accessible and Comprehensive Tool for Topical Studies (London: Martin Manser, 2009).

[ii] Michael Wilcock, The Message of Revelation: I Saw Heaven Opened, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1986), 34.

[iii] Hermann Strathmann, “Μάρτυς, Μαρτυρέω, Μαρτυρία, Μαρτύριον, Ἐπιμαρτυρέω, Συμμαρτυρέω, Συνεπιμαρτυρέω, Καταμαρτυρέω, Μαρτύρομαι, Διαμαρτύρομαι, Προμαρτύρομαι, Ψευδόμαρτυς, Ψευδομαρτυρέω, Ψευδομαρτυρία,” ed. Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964–), 476.

[iv] Craig S. Keener, Revelation, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1999), 71.

[v] Louis A. Barbieri, Jr., “Matthew,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 40.

[vi] Robert H. Mounce, The Book of Revelation, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1997), 50.

[vii] H. A. Ironside, Lectures on the Book of Revelation (Neptune, N. J.: Loizeaux Brothers, 1920), 16.