The
Salutation
1:4
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 to the
seven churches that are in
ASIA:
Seven is the number of
completeness or perfection. So while this book (Revelation 1:11)
is to seven
churches - each
with
their own individual "letters" in
Revelation
chapters 2 and 3, it is in a broader sense to all churches and
believers
(Revelation
1:1). The
area "ASIA" was the
region of
greatest missionary activity to
both
Jews and Gentiles. Paul explains why the Gentiles accepted the gospel
while
the Jews didn't (Romans
11:25-32). It will be interesting to discover how much of
Revelation,
especially
the middle chapters, is based upon the Jewish tabernacle and
traditions.
Yet it is the Gentiles who receive the Word most readily.
GRACE to you and PEACE,
"GRACE" was the Greek way
of greeting someone; "PEACE" the Hebrew way.
Both
can only come from God; man is only capable of receiving them.
It is GRACE which allows us
to participate in and have
God's
riches.
PEACE
results from a close fellowship with Jesus Christ (see verse
5); He leaves it with us - John
14:25-27
. It removes trouble and fear.
from
HIM who
is and who was and is to
come; and
We find God, the Son,
described similarly in
John 1:1-2
.
from the
seven spirits who are before
His Throne;
The completeness of the
Holy Spirit is shown here. There is only one
Spirit (Ephesians
4:4-6), yet He has several ministries. Some believe they are
listed
in
Isaiah 11:1-2
.
In any case, the placement
of this phrase between God,
the
Father
and God,
the Son (verse
5),
clearly makes this God,
the Holy
Spirit. He has a prominent position
before
God's Throne meaning that the peace He brings is directly from God. See
John
14:25-27 that the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, and Jesus
Christ
work closely together.
The Old Testament, in Zechariah
4:1-7
, prophesied of the sevenfold nature of the Holy Spirit and this close
relationship to Jesus Christ, the Top Stone. Note, the salutation of
"GRACE, GRACE" given
at the end....just like our salutation here.
1:5
and from Jesus
Christ, the faithful witness, the
first-born of
the
dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us, and
released
us from our sins by His blood,
and from
Jesus Christ
The continuation of
the trinity from the previous verse.
1) the
faithful witness
Past
- His earthly life of obedience as
given in the
gospels.
Present - His witness to the condition of the churches both in chapters
2 and 3 and present day.
Future - His finality when all things are consummated under
His
control.
The world doesn't like His witness (John
7:7) because its the truth (John
18:37) in spite of religious or political leaders who
crucified Him
(1
Timothy 6:13).
2) the
firstborn of the DEAD and
Christ was the first
one to be raised from death...those of us who
believe this have the same opportunity of resurrection -
Revelation 7:13-14.
This verse is the only
place John uses this expression,
"firstborn".
Paul
was fond of it. He used it in Romans
8:29, Colossians
1:15-18, and Hebrews
1:6. Christ conquered death in all its forms - creation,
human, and
even/especially
spiritual.
Rabbinic tradition
also believes that Psalm
89:27 really refers to the Messiah even though it is written
about
David.
3) the
RULER of the kings of the
earth.
John is not clear
which of the above he meant. Maybe all of them.
TO HIM who
a) LOVES US
(present tense)
Romans 8:37-39 and
b) RELEASED
US
(past tense) Revelation
5:9
and Revelation
7:14
from our SINS
by HIS BLOOD,
We, as believers,
do/will overcome the devil
because of
the
BLOOD of
the Lamb (Revelation
12:11).
The devil
can NEVER undo that act of SALVATION
that Jesus Christ did at Calvary and His subsequent resurrection!!
1:6and He has made us to be a
kingdom, priests
to His God
and
Father; to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
and
He has
MADE US to be a KINGDOM,
PRIESTS to HIS GOD and FATHER;
This verse indicates one
of the greatest transformations that takes
place in a believer's life. While here on earth locked in our physical
bodies, and at times not feeling very royal, Christ through His blood (see previous
verse) and its
release makes us
into a
priestly kingdom. The four living
creatures
and twenty four elders sing of it before the throne in
Revelation 5:10.
In our priestly function,
we, as a group (kingdom), are
to
offer up
spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God (1
Peter
2:4-10). One of these sacrifices is intercessory prayer. Is
it a
sign of the
times
that this kind of prayer is so seldom seem among believers today?
The result of our kingdom is
to reign with Him for a
thousand
years
- Revelation
20:6.
In Old Testament times,
after the children of Israel
left
Egypt, God
promised
the same kingdom and priestly function to the nation of Israel in
Exodus 19:3-6
. Centuries later it was confirmed through the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah
61:4-9). That is not to say that present day believers
replace the
Israel
kingdom;
that promise was forever and irrevocable -
Romans 11:28-29.
TO HIM be
the GLORY and the DOMINION
forever and ever. Amen.
Yet even though we are a
priestly kingdom, we still are His servants. (Revelation 22:3).
As for the earth, Adam was given dominion over it -
Genesis 1:24-26. Adam with his wife Eve, in turn, sold out to
the serpent (Satan) -
Genesis 3:1-7, and now John is saying it really belongs to
God, and He is reclaiming
it
(Hebrews
2:5-10); in fact, that is what the book of Revelation is all
about!
1:7Behold,
He is coming with the clouds, and
every eye will
see
Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will
mourn over
Him. Even so. Amen.
BEHOLD,
This is an attention
getter. John is saying, Listen up! I have
something important to relay to you.
He is
coming with the clouds,
This is the way Daniel saw
it, Daniel
7:13-14, and as Christ Himself said it will be,
Matthew 24:27-30. The cloud has always shielded mankind from
the complete and awesome
power
and glory of God. We cannot look upon Him directly in our current human
state.
But He (God) has led His children of Israel from Egypt to the promised
land
using a cloud. Moses was the only one to go up into that cloud to talk
with
God. He saw flashes of lightning from His right hand (Deuteronomy
33:1-5) just like Christ said His return would be like
lightning
flashes from
the
east to the west.
and EVERY
EYE will see Him, even those
who pierced Him, and all the tribes of the earth will MOURN over Him.
His coming will be visible
worldwide...and what every eye will see is
given in Revelation
19:11-16. Jude in Jude
14-16 lists some
of those whose eyes will see Christ's coming. He even says that
as far back as Enoch (seven generations from Adam) this was prophesied.
Daniel
(Daniel
7:9-12) sees the coming in a spiritual light against the
beast
(devil).
While it is felt that the
reference to "those who
pierced Him"
is an
indictment
against the Jews and Gentiles (Pilate, Annas, Caiphas, and the Jewish
leaders
of the Sanhedrin) directly involved with Christ's death, the
immediately
following phrase "and all the tribes of the earth" includes all of us
in
the "piercing" process.
The physical piercing of
Christ's side by the Roman
soldier
must
have made
an impact on John. For he writes about it in
John 19:31-37 and it shows up here in Revelation again.
Whether
John was aware of Zechariah's
prophecy of Christ's return (Zechariah
14:4), of the wounds inflicted by "the house of my friends" (Zechariah
13:6) or of the recognition that the house of David was
responsible
and
will
mourn over Him (Christ) for having done this (Zechariah
12:10-14), is not known. At any rate, all our sins put Christ
on
the cross
where
He received this piercing; we all will mourn over Him.
Even so.
Amen.
1:8"I
am the Alpha and the Omega," says the
Lord God, "who
is and
who
was and who is to come, the Almighty."
"I am the
ALPHA and the OMEGA," says
the Lord God,
Here we have the first
words directly spoken by God in the Revelation.
They
impart the meaning that God is the Beginning and the Ending; Everything
created,
destroyed, transformed, brought to life, and submitted to death as far
as
we humans are concerned is within God's purview.
This phrase implies
complete occupation of the time
spectrum - Matthew
28:20; but God also occupies all physical space as well -
Matthew 18:20
"who is and
who was and who is to come,
If this sounds familiar,
it should be because it is used in
verse 4 as the description of God, the Father. This phrase
expands
God out beyond
just the Alpha and the Omega (alphabets are uniquely tied to human
intellect;
that is, it is our way to express concepts, ideas, feelings and
emotion).
This phrase says that existence of the spiritual is beyond ALL human
knowledge
and wisdom - Colossians
2:3.
the
ALMIGHTY."
Literally, this means `the
One who has His hand on everything". The
ALMIGHTY is used 10 times in the New Testament. Nine of them are in the
Revelation...when judgment is pending, we need to know Who is in
control:
References
to the Revelation of Jesus Christ
are in bold
italics.
All
other
references
are
in bold only
"Scripture taken
from the NEW
AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation,
1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 Used by
permission."