Revelation is one of the most studied books of the Bible and has likely had the most impact on generations aside from the book of Romans and the canonical gospel accounts. To this day, it continues to captivate with its profound imagery and promises of amazing things to come. This is the beginning of a series exploring the pages of John’s visions, a personal commentary aiming to interact with the text and allow it to freshly speak for itself before modern eyes. Verses 1:1-3 stand apart from the rest of the text of Revelation. These are a note from someone who copied the text for a wider audience and is being utilized to ensure anyone willing to explore the subsequent pages is familiar with what he or she will find as well as both the specific author and the higher Author. The pericope underscores an important insight into the early church. By the end of the first century and into the second century AD, it was well accepted that Christ Jesus had continued to visit his apostles after the resurrection to provide them with additional knowledge regarding the Gospel and the Kingdom of God on earth, including events to come. That Jesus is listed before John stresses that he was considered the primary speaker of the Word, and John was merely the mouthpiece.
Revelation 1:1-3: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.”Compiler’s Note
Revelation 1:1-3 Meaning & Commentary
The copyist can confidently say that John’s letter is prophecy because this acting as the voice of God is consistent with the Old Testament prophetic writings. John even seems to share this understanding, viewing himself as akin to the Old Testament prophets, especially Ezekiel. As Tremper Longman III summarizes in his commentary Revelation Through Old Testament Eyes:
“John clearly situates himself in the apocalyptic prophetic tradition of Ezekiel. In the opening of the book that bears his name, Ezekiel shares his prophetic commissioning which included a dramatic vision of God surrounded by his heavenly servants, including the cherubim. He reports that in his thirtieth year while he was near the Kebar River (in Babylon) among the exiles “the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God” (Eze 1:1). While not necessarily an allusion to Ezekiel, John on several occasions tells us that the heavens were also opened to him with the result that he too experienced visions of God (Rev 4:1; 11:19; 15:1; 19:11). Along with this, we may see a similarity with Ezekiel in John’s fourfold assertion that “I was in the Spirit” when he experienced his heavenly visions (Rev 1:10; 4:2; 17:3; 21:10, compare Eze 3:12–15; 11:24; 37:1).
Besides other incidental echoes, Ezekiel’s unique influence on the book of Revelation concentrates in four areas: the depiction of the glorified Christ, the scroll of judgment, the vision of Gog and Magog, and the measuring of the temple.”
The compiler/copyist is firmly aware of this feature, stressing that the words to follow were provided through an angelic messenger relaying the word of God in Christ. As we get further on in the articles to follow, we will explore this connection more deeply. But from the first three verses, we can already gather the prophetic similarities since their own words spoken to Israel were revelations from God that they were tasked to spread. They were the messengers; He was the originator. And John assumes this role for the final book of the canon.
God or Man
Much controversy has been made over the tendency of New Testament writers to make statements like “which God gave unto him” in reference to Christ Jesus, which some suggest implies that Jesus was not God in the flesh.
Jesus was very much God in the flesh and it is said so before the Sanhedrin in the Gospel of Matthew. See Matthew 26:64: “Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” Thus we see applying the Old Testament promise of the “Son of man” in Daniel 7 to himself. See Daniel 7:13: “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.”
There the figure was seen as equal to the Ancient of Days in every way, and it was no secret to the Sanhedrin that Jesus’s words were intended to convey that he was Yahweh standing before them. This is what inspired the high priest to tear his robes and claim blasphemy.
So, why did the New Testament writers and their copyists tend to speak of Jesus and God separately when spreading the Gospel to the Jews and Gentiles?
Two reasons: First, the ancient world had no problem grasping divinity. To say that Jesus was God was an easy sell. To say that he was God and man was not as easy. Some, especially among the Greeks, pictured Jesus as a demigod, akin to the ancient fallen Nephilim; others, like the Gnostics, conflated his divinity as if he was barely human at all.
There was rarely anyone who would say he was merely a man since His miracles and exorcisms were known throughout the land of Israel. The latter did not become a serious matter until much later during the Arian and Nestorian controversies, so the New Testament writers tended to speak of Jesus and God separately in their writings in order to stress his humanity, making sure that the Gentiles and Jews understood fully that he was both wholly God and man.
Second, though Jesus was God in the flesh and was understood this way by the apostles and their own disciples, the developing thought pattern that would become the three-persons-one-substance view of the Trinity at Nicaea in the 300s AD was already present, especially in the writings of John.
Whenever the writers spoke of Jesus and God separately, the emphasis was on a distinction in personhood and the relations between the members of the Godhead, in no way degrading their equality in nature. John, in particular, was paramount in establishing the roots of said view with his adaptation of the philosophical Logos as the being of Jesus, the Word of God made flesh (see John chapter 1).
Placing “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him” at the very beginning of the note was the compiler’s way of stating that this letter was and is the authoritative Word of God the Most High, stamping it with the Name above all names.
Close in Time
Throughout the New Testament, there are indications that the apostles and the early church expected Christ’s return to be quickly upon them. That stress is also present in the Book of Revelation. Because of that anticipation, there is a sense of urgency we will see while adventuring through its pages, a sense of urgency that the apostles expected all the churches to maintain.
In our day, it is possible to become disheartened and weary because of the generations and epochs that have passed without the return of Christ, but encouragement must be found in realizing that the apostles, including John, did not know the exact time of Christ’s return. In fact, in Revelation, John speaks to the contents of that return – what it will bring and how it will happen – rather than when.
Jesus himself was cryptic when referencing the timing of his return, stating that only the Father knew. In his human form, some knowledge of the divine plan was kept from Him, and in John’s Gospel, he highlights the reasoning for this concealment being that faith would be required as the access point to salvation. Ours is not a baseless faith, since evidence of the divine plan and endless testimony of God’s will has been provided to us through the Old and New Testaments and through the testimony of God’s creation, but not all knowledge is meant to be shared with us now; some are reserved.
As Paul notes in 1 Corinthians 13, now we only see in part and later we will see in full.
Nevertheless, said realization did not keep the apostles and early churches trapped in depression and weary of taking action. To the contrary, they embraced the anticipation as a joyful hope for the full consummation of the kingdom of God on earth and in heaven, and they taught others who would come into the faith to proceed likewise, “for the time is at hand.” They and the growing church were living in the enduring moment of redemption, no matter how many years ticked away.
The Book of Revelation shares this paradigm. John writes it not to scare but to encourage. He was awestruck by the visions provided him, believing that the words would be edifying to the churches which he had come to oversee. The compiler expands this sentiment outward, inviting in anyone who would read the words.
Shema to Shema
The blessing stated by the copyist to those who both hear and keep the words of Revelation harkens back to the Shema stated to Israel in Deuteronomy 6:4-8: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.”
Though delivered by Moses (as the mouthpiece), they matched Yahweh’s own words at Sinai pertaining to the careful sustenance, maintenance, and practice of the Law. They were expected to be constantly thinking about the words of God Most High (Yahweh), placing them front and center within their everyday lives. The implication was that, as the full framework of the covenant, the words of God the Most High would be His own personal lifeforce within them, preserving, strengthening, and guiding them through every situation.
The psalmists echo this perception in Psalms 19 and 119. Both are celebratory songs/praises of the Word of God, describing it in terms of fresh flowing rivers, nurturing milk, and/or the sweetest honey, among other things. Of particular importance is how the Word of God is held up as of more value than anything known to man, offering transformation through perfect purity and righteousness to the one who meditates upon it relentlessly.
That the copyist alludes to these Old Testament passages when introducing the Book of Revelation indicates that Revelation was and is viewed as having the same authority, and the expectation is that anyone who reads it will treat it with identical reverence.
John’s prophecy is no simple document. Being described as a bearer of the Word implies that John is also a keeper, so the reader is being beckoned to join the ranks of his own holy office. Not only is Revelation the Word of God Most High; it is an enduring testimony of the New Covenant in Christ, offering both future predictions of what is to come and wise discernment intended to uplift the Body of Christ, preparing them for the Day of the Lord. Its words are the Word to live by, a new or extended object of Shema.
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- Revelation 1:1-3 Meaning: Introduction & Commentary - December 13, 2024
- To Judge or Not to Judge in the Bible: An Exploration of New Testament & Jewish Wisdom Tradition - August 10, 2024
