Chapter VII REVELATION 1 : THE SON OF MAN
REVELATION 1: THE SON OF MAN
1. The Introduction (verses 1–3)
THE first chapter of the Apocalypse consists of seven easily recognized parts. The introduction covers the first three verses. It contains the title of the book, a statement of its origin, and the first beatitude. The title of the book is ‘The Revelation of Jesus Christ’. It is a revelation or unveiling of the plan of God for the history of the world, especially of the Church. It is, therefore, a direct communication from God and is not derived from any human source.[1] It is called the Revelation of Jesus Christ because Jesus Christ showed it to John and through him to the Church.
Notice the various links in the chain of origin and communication. First, there is God. We read: ‘which God gave to him’.[2] It was God who highly exalted the Mediator and committed to Him the government of the world in the interest of the Church (1 Cor. 15: 24–28; Phil. 2: 9). God also gave the Mediator the plan for the history of the world and the Church (Rev. 5: 1, 7). God gave Him this plan in order that He should make it known, in its general principles, to His servants. This plan pertains to things which must soon occur. They begin to happen at once.[3]
Secondly, there is Jesus Christ. This is not the Revelation of John. It is the Revelation of Jesus Christ. He both reveals this plan to His Church, and as Mediator enthroned in glory causes it to be realized in history. He reigns on high.
Thirdly, there is His angel. Jesus, in turn, commissions an angel to guide John and to exhibit to him, by means of visions, the elements of the plan which are to be revealed. This angelic guide shows John a vision of heaven; then, of earth, of the wilderness, and of the new heaven and earth.
Fourthly, there is His servant John. The apostle John is meant.[4] John did not conceal these visions. He ‘bare witness of the word of God and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, even of all things that he saw’.[5]
Fifthly, there is the reader or lector: ‘blessed is he that reads’. Books had to be copied by hand, so they were few in number and very expensive. Besides, many Christians were not able to read. So a lector was appointed to read to the people assembled for worship. The lector who reads with a believing heart is pronounced blessed. This is the first of seven beatitudes.[6]
Sixthly, there are those that hear and keep the words of the prophecy. All believers who read and study this book with the proper attitude of heart are pronounced blessed. Remember, the time is at hand; the predictions begin to be fulfilled immediately.
2. The salutation and adoration (verses 4–6)
The book is addressed to ‘the seven churches that are in Asia’. These churches are mentioned in verse 11. They were located in the Roman proconsular province of Asia, that is, the western part of Asia Minor. The seven, beginning with Ephesus, which was nearest—and perhaps dearest—to John in Patmos, then proceeding north to Smyrna and Pergamum, then south-east to Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea, formed a kind of irregular circle. It is helpful to consult a Bible map here. These seven churches represent the entire Church throughout this dispensation.[7]
Notice the peculiar and very beautiful form of the salutation: ‘Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come.’ Grace is God’s favour given to those who do not deserve it, pardoning their sins and bestowing upon them the gift of eternal life. Peace, the reflection of the smile of God in the heart of the believer who has been reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, is the result of grace. This grace and this peace are provided by the Father, dispensed by the Holy Spirit, and merited for us by the Son. Therefore all three are mentioned in the salutation. Literally we read: ‘Grace to you and peace from “He who is and was and is coming”.’ This is both good Greek and good English.[8] It very beautifully indicates the unchangeable God of the covenant (cf. Ex. 3: 14 ff.). The expression ‘the seven spirits’ refers to the Holy Spirit in the fullness of His operations and influences in the world and in the Church. With respect to Christ we notice He is described first with reference to His ministry on earth as the faithful witness; then in connection with His death and resurrection as the firstborn of the dead; and finally, in terms that express His present exaltation, as the ruler of the kings of the earth.
In this salutation we have the order of Father, Spirit, Son. The reason for this order, probably, is that God is viewed as dwelling in His heavenly tabernacle or temple (7: 15). Grace and peace are represented as coming from the Father, who dwelt above the ark in the holy of holies; and from the Spirit, indicated by the candlestick with its seven lamps in the holy place; and from Jesus Christ, whose atonement was symbolized by the blood under the altar of burnt-offering in the court.
The mention of Jesus Christ in the salutation results in this spontaneous adoration: ‘Unto him that loves us... be the glory and the dominion for ever and ever. Amen.’ Notice that believers are said to be loosed, not merely washed, from their sins. In that one observation, properly understood, there is material for a whole sermon. Observe also that the characterization ‘kingdom... priests’, which was formerly applied to Israel (Ex. 19: 6), is now applicable to believers collectively, that is, to the Church. In the Church Israel lives on. Can anyone read these words and still maintain that Christ is not the King of the Church?
Throughout this book the glory is ascribed not to the creature but to God in Christ (1: 6; 4: 8, 11; 5: 9, 13; 7: 10, 12, etc.).
3. The announcement of Christ’s second coming (verse 7)
This is not the central theme of the book.[9] Yet it constitutes a real source of comfort for afflicted believers. It is the hope of believers and the consternation of the enemies of the Church. He comes ‘with the clouds’, that is, with glory (Dn. 7: 13; Mk. 14: 62; Ezk. 1: 4–28; Rev. 14: 14), and with anguish, wrath, judgment (Zp. 1: 15; Ps. 97: 2). The Bible knows nothing about an invisible or secret second coming. Nowhere is this taught. On the contrary, ‘every eye shall see him’. Those who pierced His side shall also see Him. It is possible that the expression ‘and they that pierced him’ also indicates all others who have pierced the Christ by means of their disobedient lives. The expression is taken from Zechariah 12: 10 ff. (Cf. Jn. 19: 34, 37; 20: 25, 27.)[10] The Jews who rejected Him are then going to see that Jesus of Nazareth, whom they crucified, is, indeed, the Christ!
‘And all the tribes of the earth shall mourn for him.’ This is not the mourning of repentance but that of hopelessness: ‘as one that is in bitterness for his first-born’. (See Zc. 12: 10.) The expression refers to beating the breast in mourning and despair. Unbelievers will hide themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains and will say, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the lamb...’ (6: 16).
4. Christ’s self-designation (verse 8)
That this glorious tide refers to Christ should not be open to doubt. Both the immediately preceding and the immediately succeeding contexts have reference to Christ (see verses 7, 13). The expression ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega’ is found in a slightly modified form in verse 17—‘I am the first and the last’—where it refers to Him who was dead and is alive for evermore. Observe also the parallel passages, 21: 6–8 and 22: 13.
John hears the Lord Jesus Christ Himself speaking to him and saying, ‘I myself am the Alpha and the Omega.’ Alpha and Omega are the first and the last letters of the Greek alphabet. Thus Christ here describes Himself as being the complete and perfect and eternal revelation of God. He says, as it were, ‘I am from the very beginning to the very end, that is, the Eternal One. Take courage; your enemy cannot destroy your Christ.’ He Himself tells us that He is fully equal with the Father, for He adds: ‘declares the Lord God, who is and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.’ Notice that the same phrase which in verse 4 described the Father here designates the Son. ‘I and the Father are one’ (Jn. 10: 30). Was this, perhaps, the voice which caused John to be ‘in the Spirit’?
5. John’s commission to write the Apocalypse (verses 9–11)
In verse 8 it was Christ who was speaking. Here, in verse 9, John himself again begins to speak. Observe the amiable way in which the apostle addresses his fellow Christians in order to gain their full confidence and to make them feel that he is standing on common ground with them: ‘I John, your brother and partaker with you in the tribulation and kingdom and patience which are in Jesus.’ He tells us that he was in the isle that is called Patmos for the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus. Does this mean that the apostle had been sentenced to hard labour because he refused to drop incense upon the altar of a pagan priest as a token of worshipping the emperor.[11] We are not sure. We do know that in some way or other his loyalty to Christ and His gospel had resulted in cruel exile.
It is the Lord’s day, that is the first day of the week, the day on which we commemorate the Lord’s resurrection.[12] John is probably thinking about Ephesus and the other churches in Asia Minor. Suddenly the earth seems to sink away under his feet, and his soul seems to be liberated from the shackles of time and space. He is taken out of contact with the physical world round about him; he is ‘in the Spirit’. He sees, indeed, but not with physical eyes. He hears, but not with physical ears. He is in direct spiritual contact with his Saviour. He is alone... with God! (Cf. Dn. 8: 2; Is. 6: 1; Ezk. 1: 4; Acts 10: 10; 11: 5.) He is wide awake and every avenue of his soul is wide open to the direct communication coming from God.
In this condition John hears behind him a great voice as of a trumpet. Whenever God had anything to impart to His people during the Old Testament dispensation, He gathered them by means of a trumpet-sound (Ex. 19: 16, 19; Lv. 25: 9; Jos. 6: 5; Is. 58: 1; etc.). Yet notice: ‘as of a trumpet’.
The voice said, ‘What thou seest write in a book and send it to the seven churches’, etc. The voice was that of Jesus Christ Himself. He ordered John to write what he saw and to send to the churches what he had written. We believe that John wrote down these visions while he received them (10: 4) or shortly afterward (1: 19).
6. The vision of the Son of Man (verses 12–16)
‘And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands...’ And among these lampstands John sees—with what a rush of memories and what a rapture of surprise!—the very Saviour on whose bosom he had once reclined. He is the same Saviour, yet different from the days of His humiliation. John describes this vision of the Son of man (verses 12–16).[13] Do not destroy the unity of the symbol. For example, do not interpret the sharp two-edged sword that proceeds out of Christ’s mouth as indicating the sweet and tender influences of the gospel in its mission of conversion. Notice that in 2: 16 we read: ‘and I will do battle against them with the great sword of my mouth’. This is addressed to those who refuse to repent. The entire description must be taken as one whole and interpreted as such.[14]
Let us try to see it thus. Notice that the Son of man is here pictured as clothed with power and majesty and with awe and terror. That long royal robe; that golden belt buckled at the breast; that hair so glistening white that like snow on which the sun is shining it hurts the eye; those eyes flashing fire, eyes which read every heart and penetrate every hidden corner; those feet glowing in order to trample down the wicked; that loud, reverberating voice, like the mighty breakers booming against the rocky shore of Patmos; that sharp, long, heavy great-sword with two biting edges; that entire appearance ‘as the sun shines in its power’, too intense for human eyes to stare at—the entire picture, taken as a whole, is symbolical of Christ, the Holy One, coming to purge His churches (2: 16, 18, 23), and to punish those who are persecuting His elect (8: 5 ff.).
7. The effect of the vision on John (verses 17–20)
‘When I saw him, I fell at his feet as one dead.’ (Cf. Gn. 3: 8; 17: 3; Ex. 3: 6; Nu. 22: 31; Jos. 5: 14; Is. 6: 5; Dn. 7: 15; etc.) Yet the real purpose of the vision was not to terrify but to comfort John. We have something very similar in Habakkuk 3. After a very vivid description of the awe-inspiring march of Jehovah we read: ‘Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people.’ That also is the point here. ‘Fear not, I am with thee, O persecuted flock.’ The Son of man tenderly lays His right hand on John, an expression of love and an imparting of strength, so that the apostle’s drooping and exhausted frame revives and he arises. Then the Saviour utters these words of comfort, ‘Fear not; I am the first and the last, and the living one; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of death and Hades.’
Christ, too, had been put to death. But He had risen from the dead; glorious comfort for all those who were being persecuted unto death. Their living souls would join the ever-living Christ. He has the ‘keys’ of death, that is, authority and power over death, so that death cannot injure the believer but is to be considered gain for the kingdom; and so, also, for the believer. Not only has the Son of man the keys of death but also of Hades. Had He not Himself been in Hades? (See Acts 2: 27, 31.)
It is evident that the term ‘Hades’ as used here cannot mean hell or the grave. It signifies the state of disembodied existence.[15] It refers to the state of death which results when life ceases and when body and soul separate. Thus Hades always follows death (Rev. 6: 8). But Hades was not able to hold the Son of man. He arose gloriously and now has authority over death and Hades, and from their terrors He is able to deliver believers, through the power of His resurrection (cf. 20: 13, 14). Does not the Son of man reveal that He has the keys of death whenever He welcomes the soul of a believer into heaven? And does He not prove that He has the keys of Hades when at His second coming He reunites the soul and body of the believer, a body now gloriously transformed? What a wonderful comfort for persecuted believers, some of whom were soon to lay down their lives for the cause of the gospel.
Christ instructs John to write the things which he saw, that is, this vision of the Son of man; and ‘the things which are’, that is, the condition at that very time, of the seven churches in Asia Minor; and ‘the things which shall come to pass hereafter’, that is, the events that would happen throughout the entire future, according to their leading principles.
In harmony with the central meaning of the entire vision, there were two details needing additional comment. Christ here gives us His own explanation. He tells John that the seven stars which he had seen in the right hand of the Son of man indicate the angels of the seven churches. Angels must be taken in the sense of pastors, ministers.[16] The Lord holds them in His right hand; He exercises absolute authority over them; they are His ambassadors. He protects them; they are safe when they obey Him and are faithful in His service. ‘... And the seven lampstands are seven churches.’ The churches are lampstands, that is, light-bearers. See Matthew 5: 14: ‘Ye are the light of the world.’ (Cf. Ex. 25: 31; Zc. 4: 2.) It is interesting to observe that the very word ‘lampstand’ is used in Matthew 5: 15. Notice the context: ‘Neither do men light a lamp, and put it under a bushel, but on the lampstand (lychnia, the same word as in Revelation); and it shines to all that are in the house. Even so let your light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.’ (Cf. also Mk. 4: 21; Lk. 8: 16; 11: 33; Heb. 9: 2.)
In the Tabernacle there was one lampstand with seven lamps; here in Revelation we have seven lampstands. The reason for the difference is that during the old dispensation there was a visible unity, the Jewish church-state, whereas the churches of the new dispensation find their spiritual unity in Christ who is present and active among them in and through His Spirit. Therefore they need not fear. ‘For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them’ (Mt. 18: 20).