C. The First Vision (1:9-20)
C. THE FIRST VISION (1:9-20)
We may profitably consider the opening vision in two stages, the first telling of the command to John to write (he did not write of his own volition), and the second of how he saw the glorious Lord.
i. The command to write (1:9-11)
John begins by disclaiming any place of eminence. He is writing not because he is some superior person but because ‘in the Spirit’ he received a command to write.
9. John first underlines his lowliness, speaking of himself as your brother, and going on to remind his readers that he shared with them in suffering. This word means sore trouble and in the Greek it is linked under one article with kingdom and patient endurance (this last means an active and manly endurance not a negative resignation; it is translated ‘perseverance’ in 2:2 where see note). The three in some sense are linked: the trials and the kingdom go together. John’s further statement that he was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God ... probably means banishment and, in the case of one so insignificant as a Christian preacher, that would have meant hard labour in quarries or the like. Was may mean that he was no longer there. Patmos is one of the Dodecanese Islands off the coast of Asia Minor. It is crescent-shaped and about 8 miles by 4 miles.
10.
I was (egenom
n) means ‘I came to be’ (as also in the previous verse). In the Spirit is an expression not uncommon in the New Testament, though elsewhere it is used of such things as prayer, love, or even baptism. The use here is peculiar to Revelation and is found again in 4:2; 17:3; 21:10. It may denote something like a trance. It is certainly a state in which the Seer is specially open to the Holy Spirit and ready to see visions.
n) means ‘I came to be’ (as also in the previous verse). In the Spirit is an expression not uncommon in the New Testament, though elsewhere it is used of such things as prayer, love, or even baptism. The use here is peculiar to Revelation and is found again in 4:2; 17:3; 21:10. It may denote something like a trance. It is certainly a state in which the Seer is specially open to the Holy Spirit and ready to see visions.This vision took place on the Lord’s Day. This is the only use of the expression in the New Testament and John does not explain it. Some see a reference to the day of judgment or to Easter, but the best suggestion is that this is the first use of the term for a day of worship, a weekly commemoration of the resurrection. (For the first day of the week as a day for Christian assembly and worship cf. Jn. 20:19; Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2.) Some think that John means that he was at worship, but he gives no indication that he was with a company of worshippers. But on this day and in this state he first heard a voice, coming from behind him, a loud voice like a trumpet. Trumpets are mentioned more often in Revelation than in all the rest of the New Testament put together, and they are usually associated with the last things.
11. John records the command to write what he sees and to send the resulting scroll to the seven churches. These are now named, probably in the order in which they would be visited by a messenger taking the letters to them.
ii. The vision of the glorious Lord (1:12-20)
The placing of this vision of Christ right at the beginning of the book is significant. This book is an unveiling or revealing (see on v.i). The Christians were a pitiably small group, persecuted by mighty foes. To all outward appearance their situation was hopeless. But it is only as Christ is seen for what he really is that anything else can be seen for what it really is. So for these persecuted ones it was important that first of all the glory and the majesty of the risen Lord be made clear. In doing this John persistently makes use of words and concepts associated in the Old Testament with God. He does not hesitate to employ divine attributes to describe the glorious Christ. And he does not do this and then forget it. The titles used of Christ in this vision are taken up and used elsewhere, notably in the addresses to the churches in chapters 2 and 3 (only that to the church of Laodicea is not drawn from this chapter).
12. The voice had come from behind the Seer so he turned to see who it was that spoke (to see the voice is a most unusual expression and does not appear to be paralleled, but the meaning is not in doubt). He saw seven golden lampstands. Some have seen the origin of this in the Old Testament (Ex. 25:31 or 1 Ki. 7:49 or Zc. 4:2 ), but none of these passages speaks of seven separate lampstands. John’s language has coincidences with such passages, but his thought is his own.
13.
The lampstands are the seven churches (v.20); Christ is in the middle of his people (cf. Mt. 28:20; Jn. 14:18). John says he is ‘like a son of man’, which is not exactly the same as Jesus’ expression ‘the Son of man’ (in Greek this has two articles, ’the Son of the man’; here there are none). It seems to be taken directly from Daniel 7:13 where we read of a heavenly Being coming with the clouds and receiving a mighty dominion. Clearly John ascribed the highest place to Christ. The robe reaching down to his feet is the mark of a person of distinction. Some argue from this robe and the golden sash round his chest that John sees Jesus in priestly dress. Against this, others than priests wore long robes. Further, though priests did wear the girdle higher than others, in their case it was a woven sash (Ex. 39:29) and not a golden one. John speaks of angels (who were not priests) as girded in this way (15:6). And he does not refer to Christ’s priestly office throughout his book.
14. Like ‘the Ancient of Days’ (i.e. God himself, Dn. 7:9) his hair is likened to white wool. White hair conveys ideas like wisdom and the dignity of age (Stoffel sees it as ’the symbol of holiness’ and Ladd as representing deity). Wool, of course, is not necessarily white, but when pure wool is white it is very white, and this is reinforced by adding the comparison to snow. White hair by itself might leave the impression of calmness and dignity, but not of energy and spiritedness. This is rectified by the information that his eyes were like blazing fire (cf. 2:18; 19:12; Dn. 10:6).
15. The feet are likened to chalkolibanon. This word is not found anywhere before this book, and neither here nor in its other occurrence (2:18) does the context make clear what it means. Bronze glowing in a furnace may be right but we have no way of knowing. The chalko- points to an alloy of copper (chalkos = copper), but the evidence does not permit us to say with any certainty which alloy. The reference to the furnace strengthens the conviction that something metallic is in mind. John next says that his voice was like the sound of rushing waters, a description applied by Ezekiel to the voice of God (Ezk. 43:2). Incidentally, this description is singularly appropriate for one living on the small island of Patmos and never far from the sound of the breakers.
16. The seven stars are explained as ‘the angels of the seven churches’ (v.20). Their situation in his right hand indicates favour and protection. This is all the more interesting in view of the strong criticisms to be urged in the next couple of chapters against some of them. They have their defects, but the strong Son of God has not abandoned them. Rather he holds them still in his hand. But the sharp double-edged sword that went out of his mouth is a reminder of sterner things. The sword is a weapon of offence and points to decisive action against those who oppose his will. This imagery ’is not so strange as appears at first sight, for the short Roman sword was tongue-like in shape’ (HDB, art. ‘Sword’; cf. also Is. 49:2; Heb. 4:12). John now goes on to the face, which he likens to the shining of the sun (cf. 10:1; Mt. 13:43). Brilliance is really ‘strength’ (dynamis), a distinctly unusual expression (but cf. Jdg. 5:31). The appearance of the Lord, then, is dazzling, and terrible for his foes.
17. Indeed, John, his servant, could not stand the sight, but fell at his feet as though dead. ‘As dead’ shows that this is not an oriental prostration designed to show respect, but the physical effects of the tremendous vision. John was comforted by Christ himself, who put his right hand on him. We have already been told that Christ held the stars in his hand (v.16) and we are told so again (v.20). We should not preoccupy ourselves with the question of how he could do both these things with the one hand. John is talking in symbols and it is the symbolism that is important, not the possibility of our reconstructing the picture. At one and the same time Christ has the whole church in his hand and he takes action for the needs of the individual. Both truths are important. John often uses pieces of imagery difficult to reconcile with one another (e.g. 6:8; 8:7 with 9:4; 8:12; 14:4; 17:1 with 3; 20:3; 20:13).
The words Do not be afraid (‘Stop fearing’) are familiar from the Gospels, where Jesus spoke to several people in this way. The First and the Last (again in 2:8; 22:13) means very much the same as ‘the Alpha and the Omega’ used of God in verse 8 (cf. Is. 44:6; 48:12). It is another application of divine terms to Christ.
18. The bearing of the resurrection is now brought out. Christ’s victory over death meant a great deal to the early Christians as we see from Acts, and the stress on the resurrection thus early in Revelation is quite in character. In this verse there is the thought of Christ’s continuing life (cf. Jn. 1:4; 14:6; etc.). The same expression is used of the Father in 4:10; 10:6 (cf. Dn. 12:7), so that we have another example of the use of identical qualities of the Father and the Son.
Hades is the place of departed spirits as in Acts 2:27,31 (where NIV translates as ‘the grave’). It is not the place of torment (‘Gehenna’), but in this book it is always linked with death and regarded as something of an enemy. But keys symbolize authority and Christ holds the keys of death and Hades. He has the power to send people to death and to Hades or to deliver them from them. He is supreme, and a supremacy over the spirit world and over death itself is a supremacy such as the tyrants who persecuted John’s readers never dreamed of.
19. The command to write (v.11) is repeated and enlarged. John is to include what you have seen (the vision of Christ), what is now (the true state of present events; we see this especially, though not exclusively, in the next two chapters where the condition of the seven churches is ruthlessly exposed), and what will take place later (it was important that some indication of future events be given to the suffering saints; a good deal of this book looks to the days ahead).
20. Mystery does not mean what is ‘mysterious’ in our sense of the term, but something that people could never work out for themselves but which has now been made known by God (see the notes on 1 Cor. 2:7; 2 Thes. 2:7, TNTC). It is often used of the content of the gospel message. Here it means that Christ makes known the meaning of certain symbols which we could not have guessed.
The seven stars are first explained as the angels of the seven churches. The word angel means ‘messenger’ and can be used of human messengers (Lk. 7:24; 9:52). But it is much more often used of heavenly beings, God’s ’essengers‘. Indeed in Revelation, apart from the references in the first three chapters to the angels of the churches, there is no place where it does not refer to heavenly beings, and as the term is found sixty-seven times this consideration is important. Some suggest that it means something like ’guardian angels’ of the churches (cf. Mt. 18:10), but there is no evidence that churches have heavenly beings associated with them in this way. Moreover in the next couple of chapters the letters to the churches are in each case addressed to ‘the angel’ of the particular church, which is a strange way to treat a guardian angel. So it is suggested that the expression may point to the essential ’spirit’ of the churches. Thus Swete can say: ‘In this symbolical book the angel of a Church may be simply an expression for its prevailing spirit, and thus be identified with the Church itself,’ and Sweet: ‘the churches seen as spiritual entities.’
Others prefer to think of some earthly representative of the churches. The great advantage of this view is that such a person is a much more natural recipient of a letter to the church than is any heavenly being. The disadvantage is in seeing who it can be. The messengers who took the letters are mentioned, but there seems no reason for addressing the letters to these ‘post-men’. There is more to be said for the view that the angels are the bishops or pastors of the churches (Hoeksema, ‘the overseer or elder’; LB, ‘leader’). This would be a good solution except that we do not know whether the churches had bishops or individual pastors as early as this. And if they did, why call them angels? There are difficulties in the way of all views, but perhaps fewest in that of seeing the angels as the spirits of the churches, standing for and symbolizing the churches. The seven lampstands are the seven churches, the actual existent churches. The churches are no more than lampstands. The light is Christ, and they are to show him forth.