Faith First Media

In the following commentary, words in CAPS indicate the biblical text, while words in lower case indicate the commentary on that biblical text.

Studies in Revelation

by Dr. John H. Roller

Chapter 1

Revelation 1:1

THIS (book) IS (a record of) THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST (that last phrase should actually be thought of as the “title” of the book – it is not, as some Bibles portray it, “The Revelation of St. John;” if anything, it is “The Revelation to St. John,” as we’ll see), WHICH GOD GAVE HIM (Jesus) TO SHOW TO HIS (Jesus’) SERVANTS (Christians) THE THINGS WHICH MUST (begin to) HAPPEN (very) SOON (and continue happening from then on, which is why I reject the theory that this book is a prophecy of things that have not even begun to happen yet – over 1,900 years after the book was written), WHICH HE (Jesus) SENT AND MADE KNOWN BY HIS (Jesus’) ANGEL (just as God had revealed things to His servant, Daniel, in the Old Testament, by means of an angel) TO HIS (Jesus’) SERVANT (a Christian), JOHN (the son of Zebedee and his wife, Salome, who was the sister of Mary, the mother of Jesus, making John a first cousin of Jesus; he was the youngest of the original twelve apostles, and the last one to survive, after all the others had been killed because of their preaching about Jesus),

Revelation 1:2

WHO (John) TESTIFIED TO GOD’S WORD (the message that was revealed to him), AND OF THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS CHRIST (the message that He revealed to John), ABOUT EVERYTHING THAT HE SAW (not holding back any of the information that was revealed to him – so, if any question is not answered in this book, as we read it, we couldn’t get that information from John, even if he were alive today to speak to us; and God has not spoken to anyone, in the way that He spoke to John, in the 1,900 years since this book was written – so, if any question is not answered in this book, we simply can’t get the answer to that question).

Revelation 1:3

BLESSED IS HE WHO READS (in John’s time, that would mean the person whose job in the church was to read written documents – Scriptures and other writings – aloud, during the meetings, so that others would be able to hear them) AND THOSE WHO HEAR (since most people, at that time, were unable to read for themselves; they didn’t have public schools, like we do; only certain people had the opportunity to learn to read; and, in any case, there were very few copies of any particular book available, since copies had to be made by hand) THE WORDS OF THE PROPHECY (the content of the book of Revelation), AND KEEP (remember and obey) THE THINGS THAT ARE WRITTEN IN IT (the word “keep” – in its sense of “obey” – implies that the book contains not only “prophecies,” but also “commandments”), (and why would the reader and the hearers be blessed?) FOR THE TIME IS AT HAND (when the prophecies will begin to be fulfilled). No other book in the New Testament has such a blessing attached to it, so we should gain a lot spiritually, as well as in the way of understanding, from our studies together in this fascinating book. Everything we’ve read so far corresponds to the title page of a modern book – a section in which the contents of the book are listed and explained and a sort of “dedication” to the readers and the hearers is given. The book itself actually begins with Revelation 1:4, where it takes on the format of a typical first-century business letter, starting with the name of the writer,

Revelation 1:4

JOHN (followed by the names of the intended recipients) TO THE SEVEN ASSEMBLIES (which will be named, more specifically, later in this chapter) (followed by the address of the intended recipients) THAT ARE IN ASIA (meaning the Roman Province of Asia, which covered the southwestern corner of the country now known as Turkey): (followed by a brief greeting) GRACE (which is a translation of the word “charis,” which the Greeks used as a common greeting, equivalent to our word “hello” – except that it had a much deeper meaning for the Christians, since it refers to God’s amazing generosity to us in making salvation, including the forgiveness of our sins, available to us at no charge, based only on our trust in Jesus) TO YOU (the readers) AND PEACE (which is a translation of the word “shalom,” which the Jews used as a common greeting, equivalent to our word “hello” – except that it had a much deeper meaning for the Christians, since it refers to the health, prosperity and general well-being that results from the cessation of hostilities between us and God when we renounce our sin and submit our wills to Him as our Lord) FROM GOD (the Father), WHO IS (He exists in the present, and that is precisely what His personal Name, Yahweh, means, as revealed in Exodus 3:14) AND WHO WAS (He has always existed throughout the past) AND WHO IS TO COME (He will always exist throughout the future; but be watching for an interesting “twist” on this phrase that will occur much later in the book); AND FROM THE SEVEN SPIRITS WHO ARE (or, the sevenfold Holy Spirit who is) BEFORE HIS (God’s) THRONE (in Heaven); (What is “sevenfold” about the Holy Spirit? The answer is found in Isaiah 11:2, where the Holy Spirit is described as “The Spirit of Yahweh, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the spirit of the fear of Yahweh.” I believe John was referring to Isaiah 11:2 in speaking of the “seven spirits” who are before God’s throne.) No other book in the New Testament contains as many quotations from, and references to, the Old Testament as the book of Revelation does.

Revelation 1:5

AND FROM JESUS CHRIST (the Messiah), THE FAITHFUL WITNESS (see Psalm 89:35-37 for the origin of this “title” for Jesus, where the physical sun is used as a symbol for God the Father and the physical moon, which reflects the light of the sun, is used as a symbol for Jesus as God’s Son), THE FIRSTBORN OF THE DEAD (He is the first – and, so far, the only – human being to be raised from death to immortality; see 1 Corinthians 15:20), AND THE RULER OF THE KINGS OF THE EARTH (as opposed to any of the other men who have claimed that title, such as Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Charlemagne, and so on, as we studied in the book of Daniel; indeed, much of the book of Revelation is concerned with the conflict between Christ’s claim to be “the King of Kings” and the Antichrist’s claim to be “the King of Kings”). TO HIM (Jesus) WHO LOVES US (see 1 John 4:10), AND WASHED US FROM OUR SINS (see Psalm 130:8 and Titus 3:5) BY HIS (Jesus’ own) BLOOD (his death on the cross);

Revelation 1:6

AND HE (Jesus) MADE US (Christians) TO BE A KINGDOM, PRIESTS TO (serve) HIS (Jesus’) GOD AND FATHER (which is what the nation of Israel was originally intended to be; but, because of the Israelites’ sin, the priesthood was restricted to just one of their tribes – the tribe of Levi); TO HIM (Jesus) BE THE GLORY AND THE DOMINION (the authority to rule the world) FOREVER AND EVER (as opposed to the limited time that each of the other men who claimed the title “king of kings” was allowed to rule it). AMEN (This word means “So let it be!” or, as the younger people might say, “Right on!” or, as the still younger ones would say, “Yes!”).

Revelation 1:7

BEHOLD (This word means “Look!”), HE (Jesus) IS COMING (back to Earth) WITH THE CLOUDS (that represent the glory and the power of the presence of God, like the pillar of cloud that led the Israelites through the wilderness in the books of Exodus and Numbers), AND EVERY EYE WILL SEE (and recognize) HIM, INCLUDING THOSE WHO PIERCED HIM (that has to mean that the dead will be raised to life when He comes, since the soldiers who pierced Him with a spear when He was hanging on the cross had probably already died before this book was written, and have certainly died since then, and long before His second coming). ALL THE TRIBES OF THE EARTH WILL MOURN OVER HIM (as it says in Zechariah 12:10, which is another prophecy of the second coming). EVEN SO! AMEN. This is the key verse of the book of Revelation; it states the theme of the book, which is the Second Coming of Christ.

Revelation 1:8

“I AM THE ALPHA (the first letter of the Greek alphabet) AND THE OMEGA (the last letter of the Greek alphabet),” SAYS THE LORD (Yahweh) GOD, “WHO IS AND WHO WAS AND WHO IS TO COME, THE ALMIGHTY (El Shaddai).” (This statement, which might be paraphrased as, “I am the beginning and the end,” is an idiom which amounts to a claim to be “everything.” God is really saying, “I am the only Being that actually exists, always has existed and always will exist. Everything else that exists is only temporary – merely something that I created and that I can just as easily destroy.”)

Revelation 1:9

Now we have the account of how the book of Revelation came to be written, told by the author himself. I, JOHN, YOUR BROTHER (notice John’s humility – he was the only living apostle of Jesus Christ, virtually the leader of all of the Christians in the world at that point in time, yet he simply calls himself a “brother” – on an equal level with all the other members of the Christian church) AND PARTNER WITH YOU IN (the) OPPRESSION (that was then coming to Christians because of their belief in), (the) KINGDOM (of God), AND (the) PERSEVERANCE (that they needed to have in their faith) IN CHRIST JESUS, WAS ON THE ISLE THAT IS CALLED PATMOS (the first-century equivalent of America’s Alcatraz – a prison island, where he had been sent by the persecuting Roman government, probably to do forced labor in the mines, although he was about 85 years old at the time) BECAUSE OF GOD’S WORD AND THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS CHRIST (the message that John had been proclaiming throughout the world at the time when the persecution began, which led to his being exiled to this prison island).

Revelation 1:10

I WAS IN THE SPIRIT ON (thinking about) THE LORD’S DAY (the Day of the Lord – the day of the Second Coming of Christ) (I believe this is the correct interpretation of those words, rather than the more commonly accepted interpretation, which is, “I was engaging in worship on a Sunday morning,” which doesn’t make any sense to me in a first-century context, especially not when you consider that John was on a prison island – he certainly wasn’t allowed to hold “church services” there!), AND I HEARD BEHIND ME A LOUD VOICE, LIKE (as loud as) A TRUMPET (blast)

Revelation 1:11

SAYING, “WHAT YOU SEE (John was told to expect to see something – to have a vision), WRITE IN A BOOK (John was told to write a book describing his vision) AND SEND (copies of the book) TO THE SEVEN ASSEMBLIES (Christian churches): TO (the churches in the cities of) EPHESUS (where John had been serving as an elder before he was exiled to Patmos), SMYRNA, PERGAMUM, THYATIRA, SARDIS, PHILADELPHIA, AND TO LAODICEA.” These seven cities lay along a postal route that the Roman government had set up to facilitate official communications.

Revelation 1:12

I TURNED TO SEE THE VOICE THAT SPOKE WITH ME. Wouldn’t you? HAVING TURNED, I SAW (this is where the vision itself begins) SEVEN GOLDEN LAMPSTANDS (probably similar to the lampstand that had been in the Temple, which had been destroyed by the Romans in AD 70, as Daniel had predicted that it would be – see Daniel 9:26).

Revelation 1:13

AND AMONG THE LAMPSTANDS WAS ONE LIKE A SON OF MAN (see Daniel 7:13), CLOTHED WITH A ROBE (most men, in that time, wore robes on a regular basis; but this robe was unusual because it was) REACHING DOWN TO HIS FEET (most men’s robes reached down only to their knees, so they wouldn’t get in the way as the wearer went about doing his work; only rich men, and priests, and kings, who didn’t have to do manual labor, wore robes that reached all the way down to their feet – so this is a “clue” that the “One like a son of man” is really the King, the Messiah, Christ Jesus), AND WITH A GOLDEN SASH AROUND HIS CHEST (again, only a man of extreme wealth and power could afford to wear such an expensive item, and only a man who didn’t have to do manual labor for a living would wear such an item around his chest – where it would make him look tall, and thus imposing – rather than around his waist).

Revelation 1:14

HIS HEAD AND HIS HAIR WERE WHITE AS WHITE WOOL, LIKE SNOW (as people get older, their hair tends to lose its original color – red, brown or yellow – and gravitate toward gray or white; when they get to the stage where their hair is pure white, then they must be very old; so when their hair is as white as wool or snow, they must be as old as they can possibly get; this statement is a symbol to teach that Jesus is infinitely old; He is eternal). HIS EYES WERE LIKE A FLAME OF FIRE (this speaks of His ability to “see right through” things, like Superman, with his “X-ray” vision – not so much that He can see the inside parts of our bodies, but that He can “see” our thoughts and intentions; it’s a reference to the characteristic that theologians call His “omniscience”).

Revelation 1:15

HIS FEET (His ability to move, to go from one place to another) WERE LIKE BURNISHED BRASS (a recognizable Old Testament symbol for judgment – the altar in the Temple, where sin was judged, and penalties for it were paid, was made of brass), AS IF IT HAD BEEN REFINED IN A FURNACE. This means that when Jesus “moves” from Heaven to Earth – at the Second Coming – He will be coming to execute judgment on this sinful world. HIS VOICE (in addition to being “like a trumpet”) WAS LIKE THE VOICE OF MANY WATERS (like a roaring waterfall – have you ever been to Niagara?). His speech is full and complete; He says everything that needs to be said. When He has spoken, there is nothing else to say.

Revelation 1:16

HE HAD SEVEN STARS IN HIS RIGHT HAND (the place where, in John’s time, a man would keep whatever was of most importance to him). A king would keep his scepter in his right hand. A soldier would keep his sword in his right hand. A merchant would keep his moneybag in his right hand. A craftsman would keep his tools in his right hand. So, whatever is represented by the seven stars, it is the thing that is of most importance to Jesus. Keep an eye on this fact! OUT OF HIS MOUTH PROCEEDED A SHARP TWO-EDGED SWORD (the word of God – see Hebrews 4:12). HIS FACE WAS LIKE THE SUN SHINING AT ITS BRIGHTEST (see Judges 5:31 and Acts 26:13).

Revelation 1:17

WHEN I SAW HIM (remember how Daniel reacted when he saw a vision of Jesus, hundreds of years before Jesus was born? – see Daniel 10:9), I FELL AT HIS FEET LIKE A DEAD MAN (fainted). HE LAID HIS RIGHT HAND (the one He’d been holding the stars in) ON ME, SAYING, “DON’T BE AFRAID (see Daniel 10:12 and Daniel 10:19). I AM THE FIRST AND THE LAST (notice how Jesus, in this vision, made essentially the same claim for Himself that the Almighty God had made in Revelation 1:8),

Revelation 1:18

AND THE LIVING ONE (these words are essentially a translation of God’s personal name, Yahweh – the name that is translated “I AM” in Exodus 3:14). I WAS DEAD, AND BEHOLD (“Look!”), I AM ALIVE FOREVERMORE (Jesus is the only Being in the universe Who could, in John’s time, make this statement – even God the Father could not say, “I was dead,” and no other human being could say, “I am alive forevermore”). AMEN (“So let it be! Right on! Yes!”). I HAVE THE KEYS OF (authority over) DEATH (He can decide who will die at any given moment, and He could even tell “Death” to let go of Him so that He could rise again; and He can decide who else will rise from the dead at any given moment, and who will die the second death, and who will live forevermore, as He will, when He comes in judgment) AND OF HADES (the place where dead people are; that is, the grave).

Revelation 1:19

WRITE THEREFORE THE THINGS WHICH YOU HAVE SEEN (this is a repetition of the command that John had been given in Revelation 1:11), AND THE THINGS WHICH ARE (some of the things that John saw in this vision already existed in his own time), AND THE THINGS WHICH WILL HAPPEN HEREAFTER (others of the things that John saw in this vision didn’t yet exist; they only came into existence in John’s future);

Revelation 1:20

(Here is) THE MYSTERY (the revealed meaning) OF THE SEVEN STARS WHICH YOU SAW IN MY RIGHT HAND (the thing that is of most importance to Jesus), AND THE SEVEN GOLDEN LAMPSTANDS: THE SEVEN STARS ARE THE ANGELS OF THE SEVEN ASSEMBLIES. In the book of Daniel, we learned about individual angels who carry messages from God to man and from man to God, and we learned about national angels who supervise the affairs and the destinies of the various nations to which they are assigned. Here we have a reference to “angels” of churches. Each of the seven churches has an angel who represents it before God and supervises its affairs and destiny. THE SEVEN LAMPSTANDS (among which John had seen Jesus standing, in Revelation 1:12-13) ARE (the) SEVEN ASSEMBLIES (the churches in the seven cities to which John was instructed to send copies of this book, in Revelation 1:11). See Matthew 5:15. God does not “light a lamp” (save a person) in order to “hide him under a bushel” (keep him isolated from other believers), but in order to “put him on a lampstand” (get him into the church, where his light will be able to shine, along with the light of all his fellow believers).

Conclusion

There is a lot to be learned from Revelation 1, but not much of it relates “prophetically” (to events of the future); rather, Revelation 1 is the “introduction” to an entire book that is largely concerned with events that would occur in the future (from the point of view, in time, of the author, John). As you will see, in future studies, I believe that almost all of these prophecies have already been fulfilled, and that the only important one that hasn’t yet been fulfilled is the one recorded in Revelation 1:7.