This is the 1revelation of Jesus Christ His unveiling of the divine mysteries, which aGod the Father gave to Him to bshow to His bond-servants (believers) cthe things which must soon take place in their entirety; and He sent and communicated it dby His angel (divine messenger) to His bond-servant eJohn,The God-given disclosures contained in this book relate to both Christ and future events.John 17:8; Rev 5:7Rev 22:6Dan 2:28f; Rev 1:19Rev 17:1; 19:9f; 21:9; 22:16Rev 1:4, 9; 22:8 2 who testified and gave supporting evidence to athe word of God and to bthe testimony of Jesus Christ, even to everything that he saw in his visions.Rev 1:9; 6:9; 12:17; 20:41 Cor 1:6; Rev 12:17 3 1aBlessed (happy, prosperous, to be admired) is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and who keep the things which are written in it heeding them and taking them to heart; bfor the time of fulfillment is near.This is the first of the seven promised blessings (beatitudes) of the Revelation. See also 14:13; 16:15; 19:9; 20:6; 22:7, 14.Luke 11:28; Rev 22:7Rom 13:11; Rev 3:11; 22:7, 10, 12
4 1aJohn, to bthe seven churches that are in the province of 2cAsia: 3dGrace be granted to you and peace inner calm and spiritual well-being, from eHim Who is existing forever and Who was continually existing in the past and Who is to come, and from 4fthe seven Spirits that are before His throne, Is 11:2John and his brother James were among the first apostles chosen by Jesus, and were the sons of Zebedee and Salome. In addition to the Revelation, John wrote the Gospel and the three letters that bear his name.The Roman province of Asia (now western Turkey) was formed in 129 B.C.Like Paul, the apostle John takes the standard Jewish greeting of “Peace +[Heb shalom+] to you” and modifies it by adding grace, without which no one could obtain peace with God.A literal translation, perhaps referring to the perfect fullness of the ministry of the Holy Spirit.Rev 1:1, 9; 22:8Rev 1:11, 20Acts 2:9Rom 1:7Rev 1:8, 17; 4:8; 16:5Is 11:2; Rev 3:1; 4:5; 5:6; 8:2 5 and from Jesus Christ, athe 1faithful and trustworthy Witness, the 2bFirstborn of the dead, and the cRuler of the kings of the earth. To Him who always dloves us and who has once for all 3freed us or washed us from our sins by His own blood (His sacrificial death)— Ps 89:27Lit the witness, the faithful.Jesus was not the first person to be brought back to life, since He raised others from the dead (the most notable being Lazarus, John 11), but they had to experience death again. Jesus is the first to be restored to life with a glorified (immortal, everlasting) body, never again to die. The word Firstborn may point not only to Jesus’ own resurrection but also to His divine power to resurrect others. The Firstborn (preeminent) is given power over all things.Some manuscripts use “freed” (lusanti) while others use “washed” (lousanti). Either reading conveys a similar theological conclusion: Jesus has taken away our sins by His blood.Rev 3:14; 19:111 Cor 15:20; Col 1:18Rev 17:14; 19:16Rom 8:37 6 and formed us into a akingdom as His subjects, 1bpriests to cHis God and Father—dto Him be the glory and the power and the majesty and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Ex 19:6; Is 61:6All Christians become priests to God in order to offer spiritual sacrifices (1 Pet 2:5) and proclaim His praises (1 Pet 2:9), and they will reign with Christ in the Millennium (20:6).Rev 5:10; 20:6Rom 15:6Rom 11:36 7 aBEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and bevery eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes (nations) of the earth will cmourn over Him realizing their sin and guilt, and anticipating the coming wrath. 1So it is to be. Amen. Dan 7:13; Zech 12:10Lit Yes, amen.Dan 7:13; 1 Thess 4:17Zech 12:10-14; John 19:37Luke 23:28
8 “I am athe 1Alpha and the Omega the Beginning and the End,” says the bLord God, “cWho is existing forever and Who was continually existing in the past and Who is to come, the Almighty the Omnipotent, the Ruler of all.” Is 9:6An expression of God’s absolute supremacy over all things.Is 41:4; Rev 21:6; 22:13Rev 4:8; 11:17Rev 1:4
9 aI, John, your bbrother and ccompanion in the 1tribulation and dkingdom and patient eendurance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos, exiled there fbecause of my preaching of the word of God regarding eternal salvation and the testimony of Jesus Christ.I.e. persecution because of one’s faith.Rev 1:1Acts 1:15Matt 20:23; Acts 14:22; 2 Cor 1:7; Phil 4:142 Tim 2:12; Rev 1:62 Thess 3:5; Rev 3:10Rev 1:2 10 I was ain the 1Spirit in special communication with the Holy Spirit and empowered to receive and record the revelation from Jesus Christ on bthe 2Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice clike the sound of a trumpet,Or spirit. The Greek wording is not decisive, so John could be referring either to being in special communion with the Holy Spirit, or to being in a trance-like state in his own spirit like that experienced by Peter at Joppa (cf Acts 10:10, 11).The early church used this term to refer to Sunday, the day of Jesus’ resurrection. The term Kyriake is also the regular word for Sunday in modern Greek.Matt 22:43; Rev 4:2; 17:3; 21:10Acts 20:7Rev 4:1 11 saying, “aWrite on a scroll what you see in this revelation, and send it to the 1bseven churches—to cEphesus and to dSmyrna and to ePergamum and to fThyatira and to gSardis and to hPhiladelphia and to iLaodicea.”These were actual churches in Asia Minor (now western Turkey), and in John’s time there would have been only one church body in each of the cities. They are mentioned in the order in which they would be visited by a messenger traveling northward on the imperial road from Ephesus to Laodicea.Rev 1:2, 19Rev 1:4, 20Rev 2:1Rev 2:8Rev 2:12Acts 16:14; Rev 2:18, 24Rev 3:1, 4Rev 3:7Col 2:1; Rev 3:14
12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And after turning I saw aseven golden lampstands;Ex 25:37; 37:23; Zech 4:2; Rev 1:20; 2:1 13 and ain the midst of the lampstands I saw someone 1blike the Son of Man, cdressed in a robe reaching to His feet, and with a golden sash dwrapped around His chest. Dan 7:13; 10:5Or like a son of man. The phrase is a translation of a Hebrew idiom which refers to a man, and John could simply be describing his first impression. But since this proves to be a vision of Christ (v 18), John probably is referring to Him by the title that Jesus so often applied to Himself, a title originating in the Messianic prophecy of Daniel.Rev 2:1Ezek 1:26; Dan 7:13; 10:16; Rev 14:14Dan 10:5Rev 15:6 14 His head and His ahair were white like white wool, glistening white like snow; and bHis all-seeing eyes were flashing like a flame of fire piercing into my being. Dan 7:9Dan 7:9Dan 7:9; 10:6; Rev 2:18; 19:12 15 His afeet were like burnished white-hot bronze, refined in a furnace, and His bvoice was powerful like the sound of many waters. Dan 10:6Ezek 1:7; Dan 10:6; Rev 2:18Ezek 1:24; 43:2; Rev 14:2; 19:6 16 In His right hand He held aseven stars, and from His mouth came a bsharp two-edged sword of judgment; and His cface reflecting His majesty and the 1Shekinah glory was like dthe sun shining in all its power at midday. Ex 34:29The visible, divine Presence.Rev 1:20; 2:1; 3:1Is 49:2; Heb 4:12; Rev 2:12, 16; 19:15Matt 17:2; Rev 10:1Judg 5:31
17 When I saw Him, I afell at His feet as though dead. And He bplaced His right hand on me and said, “cDo not be afraid; dI am the First and the Last absolute Deity, the Son of God, Is 44:6Dan 8:17; 10:9, 10, 15Dan 8:18; 10:10, 12Matt 14:27; 17:7Is 41:4; 44:6; 48:12; Rev 2:8; 22:13 18 and the aEver-living One living in and beyond all time and space. I bdied, but see, I am alive forevermore, and I have cthe keys of absolute control and victory over death and of Hades (the realm of the dead) .Luke 24:5; Rev 4:9fRom 6:9; Rev 2:8; 10:6; 15:7Job 38:17; Matt 11:23; 16:19; Rev 9:1; 20:1 19 So awrite bthe things 1which you have seen in the vision, and the things 2which are now happening, and the things 3which will take place cafter these things.I.e. the vision of ch 1.I.e. the events of the present moment (chs 2; 3).I.e. the events to come in chs 4-22, after the messages to the churches in chs 2; 3.Rev 1:11Rev 1:12-16Rev 4:1 20 As for the amystery of the bseven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the cseven golden lampstands: the dseven stars are the angels (1divine messengers) of ethe seven churches, and the seven flampstands are the seven churches.The Greek word for “messenger” is aggelos. When the word is referring to a heavenly being, it is usually not translated, but rather transliterated as “angel”; that is, the Greek letters are converted to their English equivalents, based on the sound of the Greek word. When the word is referring to a human, it is instead translated as “messenger” or the equivalent. So whether “angel” or “messenger” is used depends on the context.Rom 11:25Rev 1:16; 2:1; 3:1Ex 25:37; 37:23; Zech 4:2; Rev 1:12; 2:1Rev 1:4, 11Matt 5:14f