Sermon Tone Analysis

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