Revelation 1

I.  Chapters 1-11, Sections one through three.

     Section 1.  Chapters 1-3.  Christ in the Midst of the Seven Golden Lampstands.

     1:1-3.  God gave to his Son (the Mediator) this revelation of what must take place shortly.  It is for the bondservants of Jesus Christ, given to John (his apostle), who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus.  Jesus also sent his angel to communicate his message to John by these visions.  In this way, the general principles of God’s plan for the history of the world and of the church are made known to those who read or hear these things.  It was not a prophecy distant to them in time, but of immediate importance, just as it is to us (cf. 22:8-10).

     1:4-7.  John addresses the seven churches of Asia (a province in western Asia Minor).  The message is not his, but a message of grace and peace from the eternal living God the Father, and the Holy Spirit (4), and from the Son (5).  The Holy Spirit being called seven Spirits symbolically signifies his complete possession of all the infinite attributes of God (see WSC, questions 4-6).  The Son is identified by his mediatorial name, Jesus Christ, faithful in witness, victorious in his conquest over sin and death for us, and who rules over the kings of the earth in sovereign power.  Vv. 5b-6 are praises to him for his love and atoning work, having made sinners to be kings and priests before his Father (cf. Jer. 33:22; 1 Pet. 2:9; Rev. 5:10; 20:6).  V.7 continues to praise Christ for what he is about to do.  His people rejoice in his victory over all his and our enemies.  Every eye shall see his coming, all the Jews who rejected and pierced him, and all the rejecting Gentiles, the tribes of the earth, will mourn over him, like the virgins who had no oil for their lamps and were shut outside at the bridegroom’s coming (Mt. 25:1-13).  And his persecuted people, rejoicing in their salvation, say, “Even so.  Amen.”

     1:8  These are the words of Jesus Christ, who speaks as the Lord God, the eternal One, the Almighty, who rules over everything by his providence from beginning to end.  He is the first cause and the last (cf. Eph. 1:11).

     1:9-11.  John explains his circumstances, and describes the symbolic vision that he saw in the Spirit as Jesus spoke.  John knows about tribulation, past and present.  It is by this door (the cross) that we enter the way, and perseverance is the narrow road that takes us to the kingdom.  If the church is under persecution, John has never been exempt.  He is now the last remaining apostle of Jesus, an old man in exile.  To him is revealed the last message of Christ to his church until he comes.  And the sum of it is himself, he who says, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last….” (17).  The victorious Christ is the message.

     1:12-20.  Christ is veiled in symbols of his divine attributes, and even these are more than John can bear except the Lord quickly extends grace, strength, and reassurance to him (17).  The voice of the Lord, like a trumpet used to direct an army, tells him to write on a scroll what he sees, and send it to these seven churches.  Though actual contemporary churches, the number seven indicates that they are representative of the entire visible church.  The message to them is also for any church in this age (see the time scope, 19) that finds the word applicable, both the warnings and the promises.  Christ still walks among the lampstands (12, 20; 2:1; cf. Ex. 25:37; Mt. 5:14-16).

     1:13-16.  The symbols and metaphors by which the Lord reveals himself to John in this vision probably speak pretty clearly to the minds and hearts of most of his people.  Certainly they are not new to those who know the Scriptures.  He is clothed to the feet by the robe of righteousness and girded about by the golden girdle of truth (13).  Like the Ancient of Days, his white hair crowns him with wisdom; his eyes like fire burn into the inner thoughts and heart (14).  With his feet of burnished bronze he tramples down empires with his irresistible decrees of providence, and strides across the restless sea of the nations.  He commands them to be still with a voice more powerful than their roaring, for by his word the waters were created (15).  His word goes forth from his mouth like a double-edged sword, “piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joint and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb. 4:12).  His face shines forth with glory so intense that the eyes of man cannot look (16).  (See Job 12:12; Ps. 110:1; Dan. 7:9, 13, 14; 10:5, 6; Hos. 6:5; Eph. 6:14, 17; Heb. 4:12).

     1:17-18.  Like others before him (e.g. Daniel and Paul), the glory of the living One strikes John down at his feet like a dead man.  But Christ yet comes not to judge, but to save (cf. John 12:47).  He comes as king and priest to save and redeem his people.  His right hand of power reaches out in grace, and his words speak peace.  “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One….”  He has died for us, yet is alive forevermore, and he has the keys of authority over our last and worst enemies — death and that which follows after it, Hades (see Appendix 3).  Death is the awful event, the dissolution of the body, and Hades is the place or condition the soul finds itself in after that event.  But Christ ever lives to make intercession for those that rest in him.  As for the body, “the all-seeing eye of this Redeemer watches the sleeping dust, till His voice shall call it forth in a form of eternal youth and vigor.”  As for the soul in Hades, “…all the powers of that unseen world are under His control” (Ramsey, p.68).  “Fear not,” says our Lord (cf. Ps. 23).

     1:19-20.  John is instructed again to write down the visions, visions that apply to past, present, and future (19).  The seven stars; as symbols, stars always represent authority figures, a fact which probably explains our like use of the word luminary.  The angels (messengers) of the churches are probably those who preach the message of the church, the light that shines from the church into the world.  (See how the word angel [trans. messenger] is used of a priest in Mal. 2:7, and of John the Baptist in Mal. 3:1; Mark 1:2).  The seven golden lampstands are the seven churches.  Their purpose is to spread the light of the gospel into a dark world.  They are like the golden lampstand with seven lamps that always lighted the outer holy place of the tabernacle where the priests continually entered to perform divine worship under the old covenant (Heb. 9:2, 6).  Both the sacred oil in the lamps and the light they gave signified the Holy Spirit, his unction and illumination.  Where he is not present, there is no church (cf. 2:5).