David Guzik
Study Guide for Revelation 1
B. Greeting.
1. (4-5a) A greeting of grace and peace.
John, 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, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth.
a. To the seven churches which are in Asia: This letter was originally addressed to these seven selected churches of Asia. This was the Roman province of Asia, which is the western part of modern day Turkey.
b. Grace to you and peace: “Grace represents standing; peace represents experience.” (Walvoord)
c. From Him who is and who was and who is to come: John brings a greeting from God the Father, who is described with this title. Him who is and who was and who is to come speaks to the eternal nature of God. It has the idea of a timeless Being, and is connected with the name Yahweh found in the Old Testament (Exodus 3:14).
i. The Greek construction of who is, who was and who is to come is intentionally awkward in the Greek. It seems that John searched for a phrase to communicate the Old Testament idea of Yahweh.
ii. It is never enough to just say that God is, or to just say that He was, or to just say that He is to come. As Lord over eternity, He rules the past, the present, and the future.
iii. The description Him who is and who was and who is to come applies to God the Son and God the Holy Spirit as much as it does to God the Father. In fact, the title Yahwehdescribes the Triune God, the One God in Three Persons. Yet it seems that John focuses on God the Father with this title because he specifically mentions God the Son and God the Holy Spirit in the following words of this verse.
d. From the seven Spirits who are before His throne: John brings a greeting from God the Holy Spirit, who is described with this title. The seven Spirits who are before His thronespeaks to the perfection and completion of the Holy Spirit. John uses an Old Testament description of the Holy Spirit.
i. The idea of the seven Spirits quotes from the Old Testament. Isaiah 11:2 describes seven aspects of the Holy Spirit: The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel andmight, the Spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord. It isn’t that there are seven different spirits of God, rather the Spirit of the Lord has these characteristics, and He has them all in fullness and perfection.
e. From Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth: John brings a greeting from God the Son, who is described by who He is and by what He has done.
i. Jesus is the faithful witness: This speaks to Jesus’ utter reliability and faithfulness to His Father and to His people, even unto death. The ancient Greek word translated witnessis also the word for a martyr.
ii. Jesus is the firstborn from the dead: This speaks to Jesus’ standing as pre-eminent among all beings, that He is first in priority. Firstborn from the dead means much more than that Jesus was the first person resurrected. It also means that He is pre-eminent among all those who are or will be resurrected. Jesus is the firstborn among many brethren (Romans 8:29).
iii. The use of firstborn does not mean that Jesus had a “birth date” and is therefore a created being, and not God. The ancient Rabbis called Yahweh Himself “Firstborn of the World” (Rabbi Bechai cited in Lightfoot’s commentary on Colossians). Rabbis also used firstborn as a Messianic title. “God said, ‘As I made Jacob a first-born (Exodus 4:22), so also will I make king Messiah a first-born’ (Psalm 89:28).” (R. Nathan in Shemoth Rabba, cited by Lightfoot in his commentary on Colossians)
iv. Jesus is the ruler over the kings. Before the Book of Revelation is over, Jesus will take dominion over every earthly king. At the present time, Jesus rules a kingdom, but it is a kingdom that is not yet of this world.
f. In this greeting, with its systematic mention of each Person of the Trinity, we see how the New Testament presents the doctrine of the Trinity. It doesn’t present it in a carefully defined, systematic theology kind of way. It simply weaves the truth of the Trinity - that there is One God in Three Persons - throughout the fabric of the New Testament.
2. (5b-6) A statement of praise to Jesus.
To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
a. To Him who loved us: What a beautiful title for Jesus! Whenloved is used, in the past tense, it points back to a particular time and place where Jesus loved us. It should be pointed out that many translations have loves us (such as NASB, NIV, and NLT), but there is something beautiful about loved us. It looks back to the cross. Every believer should be secure in God’s love, not based on their present circumstances (which may be difficult), but based on the ultimate demonstration of love at the cross. This is worth praising Jesus about!
i. Paul put it like this in Romans 5:8: But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. The work of Jesus on the cross for us is God’s ultimate proof of His love for you. He may give additional proof, but He can give no greater proof.
ii. No wonder many believers are not secure in knowing the love of Jesus towards them! They look to their present circumstances to measure His love. Instead, they need to look back to the cross, settle the issue once for all, and give praise to Jesus, to Him who loved us!
iii. William Newell on loved us, in Romans 8:37: “It is this past tense gospel the devil hates . . . Let a preacher be continually saying, ‘God loves you, Christ loves you,’ and he and his congregation will by and by be losing sight of both their sinnerhood and of the substitutionary atonement of the cross, where the love of God and of Christ was once for alland supremely set forth.”
b. And washed us from our sins in His own blood: This is what happened when Jesus loved us at the cross. He washed us - cleansed us from the deep stain of sin, so that we really areclean before Him. This is worth praising Jesus about!
i. If we understand our own deep sinfulness, this seems almost too good to be true. We can stand clean before God - clean from the deepest of stains. No wonder the same Apostle John would write, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).
ii. In His own blood: If there was any other way to wash us from our sins, God would have done it that other way. To wash us in His own blood meant the ultimate sacrifice of God the Son. It wouldn’t have been done unless it was the only way. “The priests could only cleanse with blood of bulls and goats; but he has washed us from our sins ‘in his own blood.’ Men are willing enough to shed the blood of others. How readily they will enter upon war! But Christ was willing to shed his own blood, to pour out his soul unto death, that we might be saved.” (Spurgeon)
iii. Notice the order: first loved, then washed. It wasn’t that God washed us out of some sense of duty, and then loved us because were then clean. He loved us while we were dirty, but then He washed us.
iv. In fact, washing proves love. If you had an old pair of pants, and got them covered in paint, you would only wash them and keep them for two reasons. First, you might wash them and keep them if you were poor. You can’t, or won’t, spend money on another pair of pants, so you wash them and keep them. Second, you might wash them and keep them if you really loved those old pants. Money isn’t the issue. You could go down and buy a new pair of pants any time. But you love that pair so much that you spend the time and the effort to clean them, and use them again. God loves us so much that He washed us. God certainly is not poor. With merely a thought, He could obliterate every sinner and start over with brand-new creatures. But He doesn’t. He loves us so much that He washed us.
v. Some scholars believe that John wrote and loosed us from our sins. There is only one letter different between the words washed andloosed in the ancient Greek language. Both words are show up in ancient manuscripts, so it’s hard to say which one John wrote. But we know that both are true - we are both washed and loosed from our sins.
c. And has made us kings and priests to His God and Father: This is status Jesus gives to those whom He loved at the cross and who are washed . . . in His own blood. It would have been enough just to love them and cleanse them. But He goes far beyond, and makes us kings and priests to His God and Father. This is more than Adam ever was. Even in the innocence of Eden we never read of Adam among the kings and priests of God. This is worth praising Jesus about.
i. We are kings, so we are God’s royalty. This speaks of privilege, of status, of authority. We are priests, so we areGod’s special servants. We represent God to man and man to God. We offer sacrifice unto Him (Hebrews 13:15). We have privileged access to the presence of God (Romans 5:1-2).
ii. Kings and priests: In the Old Testament, it was forbidden to combine the offices of king and priest. King Uzziah of Judah is an example of a man who tried to combine the two offices, and paid the penalty for it (2 Chronicles 26:16-23). But under the New Covenant, we can be like Jesus in the sense that He is both King and High Priest (Luke 1:31-33;Hebrews 4:14).
d. To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever: In light of all that Jesus has done for us, shouldn’t we praise Him? Shouldn’t we honor Him will all glory and dominion forever and ever? When we say this, we aren’t giving Jesus glory and dominion. We are simply recognizing that He has it, and honoring Him for it.
i. To recognize the glory of Jesus is come out-and-out for Him. “Some of you are very like a mouse behind the wainscot. You are in the Lord’s house, but you are not known as one of the family: sometimes you give a little squeak in your hiding-place, and sometimes come out at night, as the mouse does, to pick up a crumb or two, without being seen. Is this worthy of yourself? Is it worthy of your Lord and Master?” (Spurgeon)
ii. To recognize the dominion of Jesus is to let Him rule over us. “Again, if we truly say, ‘To him be glory and dominion,’ then we must give him dominion over ourselves. Each man is a little empire of three kingdoms - body, soul, and spirit - and it should be a united kingdom. Make Christ king of it all. Do not allow any branch of those three kingdoms to set up for itself a distinct rule; put them all under the sway of your one King.” (Spurgeon)
e. Amen: This word - in the ancient Greek language, brought over from the Hebrew of the Old Testament - simply means “Yes.” It isn’t a wish that it may be so, but it is an affirmation that, through God, it will be so. Jesus will be praised.
i. Jesus has done all this and more for you. You have much to praise Him for - so praise Him! “Would you not wish to be in heaven when your life on earth is over? The time will come when you must die; would you not desire to have a good hope of entering then into the felicities of the perfected ones? I am sure you would; but if you are at last to be numbered amongst the redeemed host on high, you must here learn their song. You cannot be admitted into the choirs above without having practiced and rehearsed their music here below.” (Spurgeon)
ii. “The Greek word amen is a transliteration of a Hebrew word of similar sound meaning ‘truth’ or ‘faithfulness,’ hence he meaning ‘be it true’ or ‘so be it.’” (Walvoord)
3. (7) An opening description of the return of Jesus.
Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.
a. Behold, He is coming: This is a command to look - to check it out. John moves from praising Jesus to describing His return. He wants us to behold the coming of Jesus. Jesus said that we should watch and wait for His coming (Matthew 24:42). It is something to keep before the eye of our mind, to behold.
i. This wasn’t a supernatural vision of Jesus’ return. That supernatural vision will come later. This is description is based from John’s understanding of Old Testament promises of the Messiah’s return and Jesus’ own words about His return. For example, John knew that Jesus was comingbecause Jesus said He was coming. Jesus said, I will come again and receive you to Myself (John 14:3).
ii. “Christ has not gone to heaven to say there. He has gone for the church’s benefit; and for his church’s benefit he will return again.” (Seiss)
iii. The truth of Jesus’ coming is like a magnet; it draws us closer to Him. “It lifts the heart of the believer out of the world, and out of his low self, and enables him to stand with Moses on the mount, and transfigures him with the rays of blessed hope and promise which stream upon him in those sublime heights.” (Seiss)
b. He is coming with clouds: When Jesus comes, He will be surrounded by clouds. This will be true literally, because when Jesus left this earth, He was taken up into a cloud, and God said that He would return in the same manner (Acts 1:9-11). It will also be true figuratively, because multitudes believers are calledclouds in a figurative manner (Hebrews 12:1). Clouds are commonly associated with God’s presence and glory (Exodus 13:21-22; 16:10: 19:9, and 24:15-18), relating to the Old Testament cloud of glory called the Shekinah.
i. Understanding this connection with the glory of God, it is fitting - and wonderful - that the multitude of believers is called a cloud. God’s people are His glory. They are His “cloud,” His Shekinah.
ii. John didn’t need a special vision to know He is coming with clouds. He knew this from the Old Testament (Daniel 7:13-14) and from Jesus’ own words: I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven (Matthew 26:64).
c. And every eye will see Him: When Jesus comes, it won’t be a “secret” coming. Everyone will know. At His first coming, Jesus was somewhat obscure. During His earthly ministry, He never made front-page news in Rome. But when Jesus comes again, every eye will see Him. The whole world will know.
i. John didn’t need a special vision to know every eye will see Him. John heard Jesus Himself say, Therefore if they say to you, “Look, He is in the desert!” do not go out; or “Look, He is in the inner rooms!” do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. (Matthew 24:26-27)
d. Even they who pierced Him: When Jesus comes, it will be a particularly meaningful revelation for the Jewish people. Of course, it was not the Jews alone who pierced Him. But we know John has in mind the revelation of Jesus to His own people because this is an allusion to Zechariah 12:10.
i. When Jesus reveals Himself to His own people, the Jews, it will not be in anger. By that time, the Jewish nation will have turned to Jesus, trusting in Him as their Messiah (Matthew 23:39, Romans 11:25-26). When they see Jesus, and His pierced hands and feet, it will be a painful reminder of their previous rejection of Him. It will fulfill the scene ofZechariah 12:10: And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.
ii. John didn’t need a special vision to know even they who pierced Him. He could read it in Zechariah 12:10.
e. All the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him: When Jesus comes, it won’t be only the Jewish people whomourn because of their previous rejection of Jesus. Since there will be people saved from all the tribes of the earth (
