Rev 1:1-3. The superscription. Ἀπ. Ἰωάννου is the ecclesiastical title (distinguishing it from the apocalypse of Peter, or of Paul, etc.) of what professes in reality to be an ἀπ. Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ (subjective genitive), i.e., a disclosure of the divine μυστήρια (Dan 2:19; Dan 2:22; Dan 2:28, Theod.) in the immediate future (ἃ δεῖ γ. ἐν τάχει) which has been communicated (ἔδωκεν, cf. on Rev 3:9) by God to Jesus (cf. Rev 5:7) and which in turn is transmitted by Jesus (Gal 1:12) to John as a member of the prophetic order.
Rev 1:2. ἐμαρτ. (epistol. aor., cf. Phm 1:19, cf. further Thuc. i. 1 ξυνέγραψε). λόγ. τ. θ., like דבר יהוה (LXX λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ, e.g., Jer 1:2), a collective term for God’s disclosures to men (τοὺς λόγους, 3), or as here for some specific revelation more exactly defined in ὅσα εἶδεν, all that was seen or even heard (Amo 1:1) in visions being described by this generic term. The double expression the word of God and the testimony borne by Jesus Christ (Rev 22:16; Rev 22:20; cf. Rev 19:10) is an amplified phrase for the gospel. The subject upon which Jesus assures men of truth is the revelation of God’s mind and heart, and the gospel is that utterance of God-that expression of His purpose-which Jesus unfolds and attests. The book itself is the record of John’s evidence; he testifies to Christ, and Christ testifies of the future as a divine plan. For the revelation of God, in the specific form of prophecy, requires a further medium between Jesus and the ordinary Christian; hence the role of the prophets. On the prophetic commission to write, cf. Asc. Isa. i. 4-5 and i. 2, παρέδωκεν αὐτῷ τοὺς λόγους τῆς προφητείας οὓς αὐτὸς εἶδεν, κ.τ.λ. The primitive sense of μαρτ. (= oral confession and proclamation of Jesus by his adherents) thus expands into a literary sense (as here) and into the more sombre meaning of martyrdom (Rev 2:13, Joh 18:37-39; Joh 19:19; cf. Lightfoot on Clem. Rom. v.). It is significant that the λόγος τ. θ. of Judaism was not adequate to the Christian consciousness without the μαρτυρία Ἰησοῦ.
Rev 1:3. The first of the seven beatitudes in the Apocalypse (Rev 14:13, Rev 16:15, Rev 19:9, Rev 20:6, Rev 22:7; Rev 22:14), endorsing the book as a whole. In the worship of the Christian communities one member read aloud, originally from the O.T. as in the synagogues, and afterwards from Christian literature as well (apostolic epistles, Col 4:16, and sub-apostolic epistles), while the rest of the audience listened (Eus. H. E. iv. 23). In its present form the Apocalypse was composed with this object in view. Cf. Justin’s description of the Christinn assemblies on Sunday, when, as the first business, τὰ ἀπομνημονεύματα τῶν ἀποστόλων ἢ τὰ συγγράμματα τῶν προφητῶν ἀναγινώσκεται (Apol. i. 67). The art of reading was not a general accomplishment in the circles from which the Christian societies were for the most part recruited, and this office of reader (ἀναγνώστης), as distinct from that of the president, soon became one of the regular minor positions in the worship of the church. Here the reader’s function resembles that of Baruch (cf. Jer 22:5-6). τηροῦντες τὰ, κ.τ.λ., carefully heeding the warnings of the book, observing its injunctions, and expecting the fulfilment of its predictions, instead of losing heart and faith (Luk 18:8). Cf. Hipp. De Antich. 2 and En. civ. 12, “books will be given to the righteous and the wise to become a cause of joy and uprightness and much wisdom”. The content of the Apocalypse is not merely prediction; moral counsel and religious instruction are the primary burden of its pages. The bliss of the obedient and attentive, however, is bound up with the certainty that the crisis at which the predictions of the book are to be realised is imminent; they have not to wait long for the fulfilment of their hopes. This, with the assurance of God’s interest and intervention, represented the ethical content of early Christian prediction, which would have been otherwise a mere satisfaction of curiosity; see on Rev 1:19.
[Note on Rev 1:1-3. If this inscription (absent from no MS.) is due to the author, it must have been added (so Bruston, Jülicher, Hirscht, Holtzm., Bs.), like the προοίμιον of Thucydides, after he had finished the book as a whole. But possibly it was inserted by the later hand of an editor or redactor (Völter, Erbes, Briggs, Hilg., Forbes, Wellhausen, J. Weiss, Simcox = elders of Ephesus, Joh 21:24) rather than of a copyist (Spitta, Sabatier, Schön), who reproduced the Johannine style of the Apocalypse proper. At the same time, the change from the third to the first person (Rev 1:9) is not unexampled (cf. Jer 1:1-4 f.; Eze 1:1-4; Enoch repeatedly), and forms no sure proof of an original text overlaid with editorial touches; nor is a certain sententious objectivity (cf. Herod, Rev 1:1, Rev 2:23, etc.) unnatural at the commencement of a book, when the writer has occasion to introduce himself. The real introduction begins at Rev 1:4 (cf. Rev 22:21).]
Rev 1:4-8. The prologue.
Rev 1:5. ἀπὸ, κ.τ.λ., another grammatical anomaly; as usual the writer puts the second of two nouns in apposition, in the nominative.-ὁ μ. ὁ π. Jesus not merely the reliable witness to God but the loyal martyr: an aspect of his career which naturally came to the front in “the killing times”. ὁ πρωτότοκος (a Jewish messianic title by itself, Balden-sperger, 88) τ. ν., his resurrection is the pledge that death cannot separate the faithful from his company. The thought of this and of the following trait (cf. Mat 4:8 f.) is taken fröm Ps. 88:28, κἀγὼ πρωτότοκον θήσομαι αὐτόν, ὑψηλὸν παρὰ τοῖς βασιλεῦσιν τῆς γῆς. On the two allied functions of ruling and witnessing (Isa 55:4) cf. the different view of Joh 18:37. At the inspiring thought of Christ’s lordship the prophet breaks into adoration-ἀγαπῶντι κ.τ.λ. The eternal love (cf. Rev 3:19) which Christ bears to his people is proved by his death, as a revelation of (a) what he has done for them by his sacrifice, and (b) what he has made of them (so Eph 5:25-26 = Rev 19:7-8). The negative deliverance from sins (cf. Psa 129:8) at the cost of his own life (ἐν instrumental) is a religious emancipation which issues in (6) a positive relationship of glorious religious privilege.-βασιλείαν, ἱερεῖς, a literal (cf. Charles on Jub. xvi. 18) and inaccurate rendering of ממלכת כחנים (Exo 19:6) to emphasise the royal standing of the Christian community in connexion with their Christ as ἄρχων, κ.τ.λ., and also (Tit 2:3) their individual privilege of intimate access to God as the result of Christ’s sacrificial death. καὶ ἐποίησεν, the harsh anacolouthon breaks up the participial construction, ἡμᾶς, emphatic. “We Christians are now the chosen people. In us the Danielic prophecy of a reign of the saints is fulfilled and is to be fulfilled.” This is a characteristically anti-Jewish note. Persecution (cf. 1Pe 2:5) deepened the sense of continuity in the early Christians, who felt driven back on the truth of election and divine protection; they were the true successors of all noble sufferers in Israel who had gone before (cf. the argument of Heb 11:32 to Heb 12:2). In the Apocalypse the Christian church is invariably the true Israel, including all who believe in Christ, irrespective of birth and nationality. God reigns over them, and they reign, or will reign, over the world. In fact, Christians now and here are what Israel hoped to become, viz., priest-princes of God, and this position has been won for them by a messiah whom the Jews had rejected, and whom all non-Christians will have to acknowledge as sovereign. According to rabbinic tradition, the messianic age would restore to Israel the priestly standing which it had lost by its worship of the golden calf; and by the first commandment (Mechilta on Exo 20:2), “slaves became kings”. There may also be an implicit anti-Roman allusion. We Christians, harried and despised, are a community with a great history and a greater hope. Our connection with Christ makes us truly imperial. The adoration of Christ, which vibrates in this doxology (cf. Expos. ver. 302-307), is one of the most impressive features of the book. The prophet feels that the one hope for the loyalists of God in this period of trial is to be conscious that they owe everything to the redeeming love of Jesus. Faithfulness depends on faith, and faith is rallied by the grasp not of itself but of its object. Mysterious explanations of history follow, but it is passionate devotion to Jesus, and not any skill in exploring prophecy, which proves the source of moral heroism in the churches. Jesus sacrificed himself for us; αὐτῷ ἡ δόξα. From this inward trust and wonder, which leap up at the sight of Jesus and his grace, the loyalty of Christians flows.
This enthusiasm for Jesus naturally carries the prophet’s mind forward (Rev 1:7-8) to the time when the Lord’s majesty will flash out on mankind. He resumes the line of thought interrupted by the doxology of 5b-6.
Rev 1:7. A reminiscence and adaptation of Dan 7:13 (Theod.) and Zec 12:10-14. The substitution of ἐξεκέντησαν (so Joh 19:37, Justin’s Apol. i. 52, Dial, xxxii., cf. 61., 118., adding εἰς) for κατωρχήσαντο (70 mistranslation in this passage, though not elsewhere, of דקרו)-shows that the original text was used (though Lücke and Ewald hold that ἐξ. was the LXX reading till Origen), and that it was interpreted in some (Johannine? Abbott, Diatessarica, 1259-1262, 2317) circles as a prophecy of the crucifixion. Only, the reference is no longer to repentance (Zech.), but, by a turn of characteristic severity, to remorse and judgment. There is a remarkable parallel in Mat 24:30, where patristic tradition (cf. A. C. 233-36) early recognised in τὸ σημεῖον τ. ὑ. ἀ. the cross itself, made visible on the day of judgment. The first of the three signs preceding Christ’s advent in the clouds, acc. to Did. xvi. 6 (cf. Zec 2:13 LXX), is σημεῖον ἐκπετάσεως ἐν οὐρανῷ (Christ with outstretched arms, as crucified?); and, acce. to Barn, vii. 9, “they shall see him on that day wearing about his flesh τὸν ποδήρη κόκκινον”. Note (a) that the agreement with Joh 19:37 is mainly verbal; the latter alludes to the crucifixion, this passage to an eschatological crisis, (b) No such visible or victorious return of Christ is fulfilled in the Apocalypse, for visions like Rev 14:14 f., Rev 19:12 f., do not adequately correspond to Rev 1:7, Rev 22:12, etc. (c) No punishment of the Jews occurs at Christ’s return, for the vengeance of Rev 19:13 f. falls on pagans, while Rev 11:13 lies on another plane. καὶ, κ.τ.λ.: the monotonous collocation of clauses (Vit. i. 9-16) throughout the Apocalypse with καί, is not necessarily a Hebraism; the syntax of Aristotle (e.g., cf. Thumb, 129), betrays a similar usage. καὶ οἵτ. κ.τ.λ., selected as a special class (καὶ τότε μετανοήσουσιν, ὅτε οὐδὲν ὠφελήσουσι, Justin). The responsibility of the Jews, as opposed to the Romans, for the judicial murder of Jesus is prominent in the Christian literature of the period (Luke-Acts, cf. von Dobschütz in Texte u. Unters. xi. 1, pp. 61, 62), though the Apoc. is superior to passages like 2 Clem. xvii. πᾶσαι κ.τ.λ.= the unbelieving pagans, who are still impenitent when surprised by the Lord’s descent (ἐπὶ = “because of,” cf. Rev 18:9 in diff. sense); a realistic statement of what is spiritually put in Joh 16:8-9.-This forms an original element in the early Christian apologetic. To the Jewish taunt, “Jesus is not messiah but a false claimant: he died,” the reply was, “He will return in visible messianic authority” (Mar 14:62 = Mat 26:64, significant change in Luk 22:69). In several circles this future was conceived not as a return of Jesus, nor in connexion with his historical appearance, but as the first real manifestation of the true messianic character which he had gained at the resurrection (cf. Titius, 31, 32). See on Rev 12:4 f. ναὶ, ἀμήν: a double (Gk. Heb.) ratification of the previous oracle.
Rev 1:8. Only here and in Rev 21:5 f. is God introduced as the speaker, in the Apocalypse. The advent of the Christ, which marks the end of the age, is brought about by God, who overrules (παντοκράτωρ always of God in Apocalypse, otherwise the first part of the title might have suggested Christ) even the anomalies and contradictions of history for this providential climax. By the opening of the second century πατὴρ παντοκράτωρ had become the first title of God in the Roman creed; the Apocalypse, indifferent to the former epithet, reproduces the latter owing to its Hebraic sympathies, ἐγώ εἰμι: Coleridge used to declare that one chief defect in Spinoza was that the Jewish philosopher started with It is instead of with I am. τὸ ἄλφα καὶ τὸ ὦ: not the finality (Oesterley, Encycl. Relig. and Ethics, i. 1, 2), but the all-inclusive power of God, which comes fully into play in the new order of things inaugurated by the second advent. The symbolism which is here put in a Greek form had been developed in rabbinic speculation upon תא. With this and the following passage, cf. the papyrus of Ani (E. B. D. 12): “He leadeth in his train that which is and that which is not yet.… Homage to thee, King of kings, and Lord of lords, who from the womb of Nut hast ruled the world and Akert [the Egyptian Hades]. Thy body is of bright and shining metal, thy head is of azure blue, and the brilliance of the turquoise encircleth thee.” For the connexion of a presentiment of the end (Rev 1:7-8) with an impulse to warn contemporaries (9 f.) see 4 Esd. 14:10 f., where the warning of the world’s near close is followed by an injunction to the prophet to “set thine house in order, reprove thy people, console the humble among them”; whereupon the commission to write under inspiration is given.
Rev 1:9 to Rev 3:22, an address to Asiatic Christendom (as represented by seven churches) which in high prophetic and oracular style rallies Christians to their genuine oracle of revelation in Jesus and his prophetic spirit. At a time when local oracles (for the famous one of Apollo near Miletus, see Friedlander, iii, 561 f.), besides those in Greece and Syria and Egypt, were eagerly frequented, it was of moment to lay stress on what had superseded all such media for the faithful. Cf. Minuc. Felix, Oct. 7, “pleni et mixti deo uates futura praecerpunt, dant cautelam periculis, morbis medelam, spem afflictis, operam miseris, solacium calamitatibus, laboribus leuamentum”.
Rev 1:9-20, introductory vision.
Rev 1:9. The personality of the seer is made prominent in apocalyptic literature, to locate or guarantee any visions which are to follow. Here the authority with which this prophet is to speak is conditioned by his kinship of Christian experience with the churches and his special revelation from God. ἀδελφός (cf. Rev 6:11, Rev 12:10): for its pagan use as = fellow-member of the same (religious) society, cf. C. B. P. i. 96 f., and Dittenberger’s Sylloge Inscr. Graec. 474, 10 (ἀδελφοὶ οἶς κοινὰ τὰ πατρῷα). θλίψει, put first as the absorbing fact of their experience, and as a link of sympathy between writer and readers; καὶ βασιλείᾳ, the outcome of θλίψις in the messianic order: distress no end in itself; καὶ ὑπομονῇ, patient endurance the moral condition of participation in ἡ θλίψις and ἡ βασιλεία, by which one is nerved to endure the presence of the former without breaking down, and to bear the temporary delay of the latter without impatience. While μακροθυμία is the absence of resentment at wrong, ὑπομονή = not giving way under trials. See Barn, ii., “the aids of our faith are fear and patience, long-suffering and self-control are our allies”; also Tertullian’s famous aphorism, “ubi Deus, ibi et alumna eius, patientia scilicet”.-ἐν Ἰησοῦ (a Pauline conception, only repeated in Apocalypse at Rev 14:12), either with all three substantives or merely (cf. 2Th 3:5) with ὑπομονή. In any case ὑπ. is closely linked to ἐν Ἰ.; such patience, as exemplified in Jesus, and inspired by him, was the cardinal virtue of the Apocalypse and its age. In the early Christian literature of this period “we cannot name anything upon which blessedness is so frequently made to rest, as upon the exercise of patient endurance” (Titius, 142). ἐγενόμην ἐν (“I found myself in”: implying that when he wrote he was no longer there), not by flowing waters (as frequently, e.g., En. xiii. 7), but in the small, treeless, scantily populated island of Patmos, one of the Sporades, whither criminals were banished sometimes by the Roman authorities (Plin. Hist. Nat. iv. 12, 23). Relegatio to an island was not an infrequent form of punishment for better-class offenders or suspects under the black régime of Domitian, as under Diocletian for Christians (cf. Introd. § 6). No details are given, but probably it meant hard labour in the quarries, and was inflicted by the pro-consul of Asia Minor. Why John was only banished, we do not know. As “the word of God and the witness of Jesus” are not qualified by any phrase such as ὅσα εἶδεν (Rev 1:2, and thereby identified with the present Apocalypse), the words indicate as elsewhere (cf. διὰ, κ.τ.λ., reff.) the occasion of his presence in Patmos, i.e., his loyalty to the gospel (cf. θλίψις), rather than the object of his visit. The latter could hardly be evangelising (Spitta), for Patmos was insignificant and desolate, nor, in face of the use of διὰ, can the phrase mean “for the purpose of receiving this revelation” (Bleek, Lücke, Düsterdieck, Hausrath, B. Weiss, Baljon, etc.). Either he had voluntarily withdrawn from the mainland to escape the stress of persecution (which scarcely harmonises with the context or the general temper of the book) or for solitary communion (cf. Eze 1:1-3), or, as is more likely, his removal was a punishment (cf. Abbott, 114-16). The latter view is corroborated by tradition (cf. Zahn, § 64, note 7), which, although later and neither uniform nor wholly credible, is strong enough to be taken as independent evidence. It can hardly be explained away as a mere elaboration of the present passage (so, e.g., Reuss, Bleek, Bousset); the allusion to μαρτύριον is too slight to have been suggested by the darker sense of martyrdom, and it is far-fetched to argue that the tradition was due to a desire to glorify John with a martyrdom. Unless, therefore, the reference is a piece of literary fiction (in which case it would probably have been elaborated) it must be supposed to be vague simply because the matter was perfectly familiar to the circle for whom the book was written. It is to those exercised in prudence, temperance, and virtue that (according to Philo, de incorrupt, mundi, § 1, cf. Plutarch’s discussion in defect. orac. 38 f.) God vouchsafes visions, but John introduces his personal experience in order to establish relations between himself and his readers rather than to indicate the conditions of his theophany.
Rev 1:10. Ecstasy or spiritual rapture, the supreme characteristic of prophets in Did. xi. 7 (where the unpardonable sin is to criticise a prophet λαλοῦντα ἐν πνεύματι), was not an uncommon experience in early Christianity, which was profoundly conscious of living in the long-looked for messianic age (Act 2:17 f., cf. Eph 3:5), when such phenomena were to be a matter of course. Throughout the Apocalypse (Rev 21:5, etc.) John first sees, then writes; the two are not simultaneous. While the Apocaiypse is thus the record of a vision (ὅρασις, Rev 9:17), the usual accompaniments of a vision-i.e., prayer and fasting-are significantly absent from the description of this inaugural scene, which is reticent and simple as compared, e.g., with a passage like Asc. Isa. iv. 10-16. It is possible, however, that the prophet was engaged in prayer when the trance or vision overtook him (like Peter, Act 10:9-11, cf. Ign. ad Polyc. ii. 2, τὰ δὲ ἀόρατα αἴτει, ἵνα σοι φανερωθῇ), since the day of weekly Christian worship is specially mentioned on which, though separated from the churches (was there one at Patmos?), he probably was wrapt in meditations (on the resurrection of Christ) appropriate to the hour. The Imperial or Lord’s day, first mentioned here in early Christian literature (so Did. xiv., Gosp. Peter 11, etc.) contains an implicit allusion to the ethnic custom, prevalent in Asia Minor, of designating the first day of the month (or week?) as Σεβαστή in honour of the emperor’s birthday (see Thieme’s Inschr. Maeander, 1906, 15, and Deissmann in E.Bi. 2813 f.). Christians, too, have their imperial day (cf. Introd. § 2), to celebrate the birthday of their heavenly king. With his mind absorbed in the thought of the exalted Jesus and stored with O.T. messianic conceptions from Daniel and Ezekiel, the prophet had the following ecstasy in which the thoughts of Jesus and of the church already present to his mind are fused into one vision. He recalls in spirit the usual church-service with its praises, prayers, sudden voices, and silences. (Compare Ign. Magn. ix. εἰ οὖν οἱ ἐν παλαιοῖς πράγμασιν ἀναστραφέντες εἰς καινότητα ἐλπίδος ἦλθον, μηκέτι σαββατίζοντες ἀλλὰ κατὰ κυριακὴν ζῶντες, ἐν ᾗ καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ἡμῶν ἀνέτειλεν διʼ αὐτοῦ καὶ τοῦ θανάτου αὐτοῦ … καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ὑπομένομεν.) John’s service of God (Rev 1:2) involved suffering, instead of exempting him from the trials of ordinary Christians; the subsequent visions and utterances prove not merely that in his exile he had fallen back upon the O.T. prophets for consolation but that (cf. 2Co 11:28-29) he was anxiously brooding over the condition of his churches on the mainland. Cf. Dio Chrys. Orat. xiii. 422, where the philosopher dates the consciousness of his vocation from the period of his exile. Upon the other hand, the main criterion of a false prophet (Eus. H. E. Rev 1:17; Rev 1:2), apart from covetousness, was speech ἐν παρεκστάσει, i.e., the arrogant, ignorant, frenzied rapture affected by pagan Cagliostros, who were destitute of any unselfish religious concern for other people. ὀπίσω μου, the regular method of spiritualistic voices and appearances: σάλπιγγος, loud and clear, not an unusual expression for voices heard in a trance (cf. Martyr. Polyc. xxii. 2, Moscow MS). The following Christophany falls into rhythmical expression. As a revelation of the Lord (Rev 1:1, cf. 2Co 12:1), with which we may contrast Emerson’s saying (“I conceive a man as always spoken to from behind and unable to turn his head and see the speaker”), it exhibits several of the leading functions discharged by Jesus in the Apocalypse, where he appears as (a) the revealer of secrets (Rev 1:1 f., Rev 5:5), (b) the guardian and champion of the saints (Rev 1:2-3, etc.), (c) the medium, through sacrifice, of their relationship to God, (d) associated with God in rewarding them, and (e) in the preliminary overthrow of evil which accompanies the triumph of righteousness. Compare the main elements of the divine nature as conceived by the popular religion of contemporary Phrygia, viz., (a) prophetic power, (b) healing and purifying power, and (c) divine authority (symbolised by the axe): C. B. P., ii. 357.
Rev 1:11, γράψον (cf. Herm. Vis. II. iv. 3); this emphasis put upon the commission to compose and circulate what he sees in the vision, is due to the author’s claim of canonical authority and reflects a time when a literary work of this nature still required some guarantee, although at an earlier date smaller oracles had been written and accepted (e.g., that which determined the flight of the early Christians to Pella, Eus. H. E., iii. 5, 3). John’s role, however, is passive in two senses of the term. He seldom acts or journeys in his vision, whereas Jewish apocalypses are full of the movements of their seers; nor does his vision lead to any practical course of action, for-unlike most of the O.T. prophet-he is not conscious of any commission to preach or to reform the world. The prophet is an author. His experience is to be no luxury but a diffused benefit; and as in Tob 12:20 (“and now … write in a book all that has taken place”) and 4 Esd. 12:37 (“therefore write in a book all thou hast seen, and thou shalt teach,” etc.), the prophet is careful to explain that composition is no mere literary enterprise but due to a divine behest. The cities are enumerated from Ephesus northwards to Smyrna (forty miles) and Pergamos (fifty miles north of Smyrna), then across for forty miles S.E. to Thyatira, down to Sardis, Philadelphia (thirty miles S.E. of Sardis), and Laodicea (forty miles S.E. of Philadelphia). Cf. on Rev 1:4 and Introd. § 2. Except Pergamos and Laodicea, the churches lay within Lydia (though the writer employs the imperial term for the larger province) which was at that period a by-word for voluptuous civilisation.
Rev 1:12. The seven golden lamp-stands are cressets representing the seven churches (20), the sevenfold lamp-stand of the Jewish temple (cf. S. C. 295-99) having been for long used as a symbol (Zec 4:2; Zec 4:10). The function of the churches is to embody and express the light of the divine presence upon earth, so high is the prophet’s conception of the communities (cf. on Rev 2:4-5); their duty is to keep the light burning and bright, otherwise the reason for their existence disappears (Rev 2:5). Consequently the primary activity of Jesus in providence and revelation bears upon the purity of those societies through which his influence is to reach mankind, just as his connexion with them on the other hand assures them of One in heaven to whom out of difficulties here they can appeal with confidence.
Rev 1:13. The churches are inseparable from their head and centre Jesus, who moves among the cressets of his temple with the dignity and authority of a high priest. The anarthrous ὑ. ἀ. is the human appearance of the celestial messiah, as in En. xlvi. 1-6 (where the Son of man accompanies God, who, as the Head of Days, had a head “white as wool”) and Asc. Isa. xi. 1. The difficult ὅμοιον is to be explained (with Vit. ii. 127, 223, 227) as = ὡς (Rev 2:18, Rev 6:14, Rev 9:7-8; Rev 9:11) or οἶον, “something like,” a loose reproduction of the Heb. (“un être semblable à nous, un homme”). The whole passage illustrates the writer’s habit of describing an object or person by heaping up qualities without strict regard to natural or grammatical collocation. ποδήρης (sc. χιτὼν or ἐσθής), a long robe reaching to the feet, was an oriental mark of dignity (cf. on Rev 1:7, and Eze 9:2; Eze 9:11, LXX), denoting high rank or office such as that of Parthian kings or of the Jewish high priest who wore a purple one. High girding (with a belt?) was another mark of lofty position, usually reserved for Jewish priests, though the Iranians frequently appealed to their deities as “high-girt” (i.e., ready for action = cf. Yasht 15:54, 57, “Vaya of the golden girdle, high-up girded, swift moving, as powerful in sovereignty as any absolute sovereign in the world”). The golden buckle or πόρπη was part of the insignia of royalty and its φίλοι (1Ma 10:8-9; 1Ma 11:58). The author thus mixes royal and sacerdotal colours on his palette to heighten the majesty of Christ’s appearance. New, golden (as in Iranian eschatology), shining, white-are the usual adjectives which he employs throughout the book for the transcendent bliss of the life beyond and its heavenly tenants; “golden” had been used already in Greek as a synonym for precious, excellent, divine.
Rev 1:14. ὡς χ.; another conventional simile for celestial beings. ἡ κ. κ. αἱ τ., a pleonastic expression; either = “his head, i.e. his hair,” or “his forehead and his hair”; scarcely a hendiadys for “the hair of the head” (Bengel). Jewish tradition rationalised the white hairs into a proof of God’s activity as a wise old teacher (Chag. 14, cf. Pro 20:27 f.), and the Daniel-vision might suggest the fine paradox between the divine energy and this apparent sign of weakness. But such traits are probably poetical, not allegorical, in John’s vision; they body forth his conception of Jesus as divine. In Egyptian theology a similar trait belongs to Ani after beatification. The whole conception of the messiah in the Apocalypse resembles that outlined in Enoch (Similitudes, xxxvii.-lxxi.), where he also possesses pre-existence as Son of man (xlviii) sits on his throne of glory (xlvii. 3) for judgment, rules all men (lxii. 6), and slays the wicked with the word of his mouth (xlii. 2); but this particular transference to the messiah (Rev 1:14; Rev 1:17-18, Rev 2:8, Rev 22:12-13), of what is in Daniel predicated of God as the world-judge, seems to form a specifically N.T. idea, unmediated even in Enoch (xlvi. 1), although the association of priestly and judicial attributes with those of royalty was easy for an Oriental (it is predicated of the messiah by Jonathan ben Usiel on Zec 4:12-13). ὡς φλὸξ πυρός, like Slav. En. i. 5, from Dan 10:6; cf. Suet. August. 79, “oculos habuit claros et nitidos, quibus etiam existimari uoluit inesse quiddam diuini uigoris; gaudebat-que si quis sibi acrius contuenti quasi ad fulgorem solis uultum submitteret”. Divine beauty was generally manifested (Verg. Aen. ver. 647 f.) in glowing eyes (insight and indignation), the countenance and the voice; here also (Rev 1:15) in feet to crush all opposition. The messiah is not crowned, however (cf. later, Rev 19:12). χ. = some hard (as yet unidentified) metal which gleamed after smelting. The most probable meaning of this obscure hybrid term is that suggested by Suidas: χαλκοίβανον· εἶδος ἠλέκτρου τιμιώτερου χρυσοῦ, ἔστι δὲ τὸ ἤλεκτρον ἀλλότυπον χρυσίον μεμιγμένον ὑέλῳ καὶ λιθείᾳ (ἤλ. actually occuring in LXX, Eze 1:27). The reference then is to amber or to some composition like brass or (copper) bronze; only, it contains gold (cf. vulg. = aurichalcum, a valuable and gleaming metal). Abbott (201) sees a corruption of some phrase like χαλκὸν ἐν κλιβάνῳ, while others suggest χαλκός and לבן (i.e., glowing white brass). Haussleiter would upon inadequate grounds omit ὡς ἐκ. κ. πεπ. (219-24).
Rev 1:16. The care and control exercised by Christ over the churches only come forward after the suggestions of majesty and authority (13-15) which followed the initial idea of Christ’s central position (ἐν μέσῳ) among the churches. Cf. Rev 5:6 (ἐν μέσῳ) for another reference to Christ’s central authority-ἔχων, κ.τ.λ. For the astrological background of this figure, cf. Jeremiah 24 f. The traditional symbol, of which an interpretation is given later (Rev 1:20), probably referred to the seven planets rather than to the Pleiades or any other constellation. If the description is to be visualised, the seven stars may be pictured as lying on Christ’s palm in the form of the stars in the constellation of Ursa Major-ῥομφαία, κ.τ.λ. By a vivid objectifying of the divine word (corresponding to that, e.g., in Isa 9:8 f., Rev 9:4, and suggested by the tongue-shaped appearance of the short Roman sword or dagger), the figure of the sharp sword issuing from the mouth is applied (in Ps. Sol. 17:27, 39, as here) to the messiah, as in Jewish literature to God (Psa 149:6, etc.) and to wisdom (Sap. 18:15), elsewhere to the λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ (Heb 4:12, cf. Rev 19:13-15): Christ’s power of reproof and punishment is to be directed against the church (Rev 2:12 f.) as well as against the world of heathen opposition (Rev 19:21, where the trait is artistically more appropriate). As a nimbus or coronata radiata sometimes crowned the emperor (“image des rayons lumineux qu’il lance sur le monde,” Beurlier), so the face of Christ (ὄψις as in Joh 11:44, cf. below, Rev 10:1) is aptly termed, as in the usual description of angelic visitants (reff.), bright as sunshine unintercepted by mist or clouds. This is the climax of the delineation.
Rev 1:17. ἔπεσα κ.τ.λ., the stereotyped behaviour (cf. Num 24:4) in such apocalyptic trances (Weinel, 129, 182, R. J. 375 f.; for the terror of spiritual experience cf. Schiller’s lines: “Schrecklich ist es Deiner Wahrheit | Sterbliches Gefäss zu seyn”); Jesus, however, does here what Michael (En. lxxi. 3) or some other friendly angel does in most Jewish apocalypses. There is no dialogue between the prophet and Christ, as there is afterwards between him and the celestial beings-μὴ φ. The triple reassurance is (1) that the mysterious, overwhelming Figure reveals his character, experience and authority, instead of proving an alien unearthly visitant; (2) the vision has a practical object (“write,” 19) bearing upon human life, and (3) consequently the mysteries are not left as baffling enigmas. All the early Christian revelations which are self-contained, presuppose the risen Christ as their source; the Apocalypse of Peter, being fragmentary, is hardly an exception to the rule. The present vision presents him as superhuman, messianic, militant and divine. But the writer is characteristically indifferent to the artistic error of making Christ’s right hand at once hold seven stars and be laid on the seer (Rev 1:16-17). Cf. the fine application of the following passage by Milton in his “Remonstrant’s Defence”. The whole description answers to what is termed, in modern psychology, a “photism”.
Rev 1:18. Not “it is I, the first and the last” (which would require ἐγώ εἰμι before μὴ φοβοῦ), but “I am, etc.” The eternal life of the exalted Christ is a comfort both in method and result; ἐγενόμην νεκρός (not ὡς; really dead), his experience assuring men of sympathy and understanding; καὶ ἰδοὺ, κ.τ.λ., his victory and authority over death = an assurance of his power to rescue his own people from the grim prison of the underworld (Hades, cf. 3Ma 5:50, the intermediate abode of the dead, being as usual personified in connexion with death). A background for this conception lies in the primitive idea of Janus, originally an Italian sun-god, as the key-holder (cf. Ovid’s Fasti, i. 129, 130, Hor. Carm. Sec. 9, 10) who opens and closes the day (sun = deus clauiger), rather than in Mithraism which only knew keys of heaven, or in Mandæan religion (Cheyne’s Bible Problems, 102-106). The key was a natural Oriental symbol for authority and power (cf. in this book, Rev 3:7, Rev 9:1, Rev 20:1). Jewish belief (see Gfrörer, i. 377-378) assigned three keys or four exclusively to God (“quos neque angelo neque seraphino committit”); these included, according to different views, “clauis sepulchorum,” “clavis uitae,” “clauis resurrectionis mortuorum”. To ascribe this divine prerogative to Jesus as the divine Hero who had mastered death is, therefore, another notable feature in the high Christology of this book. For the whole conception see E. B. D. ch. 64. (fifth century B.C.?): “I am Yesterday and To-day and To-morrow … I am the Lord of the men who are raised again; the Lord who cometh forth from out of the darkness.” It is based on the theophany of the Ancient of Days in Dan 7:9 f. (yet cf. Rev 10:5-6), who bestows on the ideal Israel (ὡς υἱὸς ἀνθ.) dominion. John changes this into a Christophany, like the later Jewish tradition which saw in υἱὸς ἀ. a personal, divine messiah. When one remembers the actual position of affairs, the confident faith of such passages is seen to have been little short of magnificent. To this Christian prophet, spokesman of a mere ripple upon a single wave of dissent in the broad ocean of paganism, history and experience find unity and meaning nowhere but in the person of a blameless Galilean peasant who had perished as a criminal in Jerusalem. So would such early Christian expectations appear to an outsider. He would be staggered by the extraordinary claims advanced on behalf of its God by this diminutive sect, perhaps more than staggered by the prophecy that imperial authority over the visible and invisible worlds lay ultimately in the hands of this deity, whose power was not limited to his own adherents.-Christophanies were commissions either to practical service (Act 10:19, etc.), or, as here, so composition.
Rev 1:19. οὖν, at the command of him who has authority over the other world and the future (resuming Rev 1:11. now that the paralysing fear of Rev 1:17 has been removed). Like the author of 4th Esdras, this prophet is far more interested in history than in the chronological speculations which engrossed many of the older apocalyptists. The sense of γράψον κ.τ.λ. is not, write the vision already seen (ἃ εἶδες, Rev 1:10-18), the present (ἃ εἰσὶν, Rev 1:20 to Rev 3:20, the state of the churches, mainly conceived as it exists now and here), and the future (ἃ μέλλει γενέσθαι μετὰ ταῦτα, i.e., Rev 4:1 f.), as though the words were a rough programme of the whole book; nor, as other editors (e.g., Spitta) unconvincingly suggest, is ἃ εἰσὶν = “what they mean,” epexegetic of ἃ εἶδες, or εἶδες (cf. Rev 10:7, Rev 15:1) in a future perfect sense (Selwyn). The following chapters cannot be regarded merely as interpretations of Rev 1:10-18, and the juxtaposition of μέλλει γεν. (from LXX of Isa 48:6) fixes the temporal meaning of εἰσίν here, even although the other meaning occurs in a different context in Rev 1:20. Besides, Rev 1:10-18 is out of all proportion to the other two divisions, to which indeed it forms a brief prelude. The real sense is that the contents of the vision (εἶδες, like βλέπεις in Rev 1:11, being proleptic) consist of what is and what is to be, these divisions of present and future underlying the whole subsequent Apocalypse. The neut. plur. with a plural verb and a singular in the same sentence, indicates forcibly the indifference of the author to the niceties of Hellenistic grammar. For the whole see Dan 2:29-30, also Barn. i.: “The Lord (δεσπότης) hath disclosed to us by the prophets things past and present, giving us also a taste of the firstfruits of the future”; v.: “We ought, therefore, to be exceedingly thankful to the Lord for disclosing the past to us and making us wise in the present; yea as regards the future even we are not void of understanding”. Moral stimulus and discipline were the object of such visions: as Tertullian declares of the Mortanist seers: “uidunt uisiones et ponentes faciem deorsum etiam uoces audiunt manifestas tarn salutares quam occultas” (de exhort. cast. 10).
Rev 1:20. μυστ. (as in Dan 2:27, LXX; see below on Rev 10:7) = “the secret symbol”. These two symbols, drawn from the lore of contemporary apocalyptic, are chosen for explanation, partly as an obscure and important element in the foregoing vision which had to be set in a new light, partly because they afford a clue to all that follows (especially the opening section, Rev 2:1; Rev 2:5). The seven-branched lamp-stand was a familiar symbol, frequently carved on the lintel of a synagogue. Along with the silver trumpets and other spoils of the temple it now lay in the temple of Peace at Rome. The fanciful symbolism, by which the cressets shining on earth are represented-in another aspect-as heavenly bodies, corresponds to Paul’s fine paradox about the Christian life of the saints lying hidden with Christ in God; even unsatisfactory churches, like those at Sardis and Laodicea, are not yet cast away. Note also that the light and presence of God now shine in the Christian churches, while the ancestral Jewish light is extinguished (4 Ezr 10:22): “The light of our lamp-stand is put out”). It is curious that in Assyrian representations the candelabrum is frequently indistinguishable from the sacred seven-branched tree crowned with a star (R. S. 488); Josephus expressly declares (Ant. iii. 6. 7, 7. 7) that the seven lamps on the stand signified the seven planets, and that the twelve loaves on the shew-bread table signified the signs of the zodiac (Bell. Rev 1:5; Rev 1:5), while Philo had already allegorised the lamp-stand (= seven planets) in quis haeres, § 45. This current association of the λύχνοι with the planets is bound up with the astral conception of the angels of the churches (ἀγγ. = “angels” as elsewhere in Apocalypse), who are the heavenly representatives and counterparts or patron angels of the churches, each of the latter, like the elements (e.g., water Rev 16:5, fire Rev 14:18; see further in Baldensperger, 106, and Gfrörer, i. 368 f.), the wind (Rev 7:1), and the nether abyss (Rev 9:2), having its presiding heavenly spirit. The conception (E. J. i. 593. 594) reaches back to post-exilic speculation, in which Greece, Persia and Judæa had each an influential and responsible angelic prince (Dan 10:13; Dan 10:20-21; Dan 12:1), and especially to the Iranian notion of fravashis or semi-ideal prototypes of an earthly personality (here, a community), associated with reminiscences of the Babylonian idea that certain stars were assigned to certain lands, whose folk and fortunes were bound up with their heavenly representatives (cf. Rawlinson’s Cuneif. Inscript. West. Asia Minor, ii. 49, iii. 54, 59, etc.). Afterwards (cf. Tobit) individuals were assigned a guardian spirit. This belief (Gfrörer, i. 374 f.) passed into early Christianity (Mat 18:10, Act 12:15, where see note), but naturally it never flourished, owing to Christ’s direct and spiritual revelation of God’s fatherly providence. The association of stars and angels is one of the earliest developments in Semitic folklore, and its poetic possibilities lent themselves effectively as here to further religious applications; e.g., Enoch (i. 18) had long ago represented seven stars, “like spirits,” in the place of fiery punishment for disobedience to God’s commands. As Dr. Kohler points out (E. F. i. 582-97), the determining factors of Jewish angelology were the ideas of “the celestial throne with its ministering angels, and the cosmos with its evil forces to be subdued by superior angelic forces,” which corresponds to the punitive and protective rôles of angels in the Johannine Apocalypse. But in the latter they are neither described at length nor exalted. They are simply commissioned by God to execute his orders or instruct the seer. The supreme concern of God is with the earth and man; angels are but the middle term of this relationship, at most the fellow-servants of the saints whose interests they promote (see below on Rev 19:9-10, Rev 22:8-9). Christians, unlike the Iranians (e.g. Bund. xxx. 23, etc.), offer no praises to them; they reserve their adoration for God and Christ. However graphic and weird, the delineation of demons and angels in this book is not grotesque and crude in the sense that most early Jewish and Christian descriptions may be said to deserve these epithets. Here the guardian spirit who is responsible for a church’s welfare, would, roughly speaking, be identified with itself; his oversight and its existence being correlative terms. Hence there is a sense in which the allied conception of ἀγγ. is true, namely, that the ἀγγ. is the personified spirit or genius or heavenly counterpart of the church, the church being regarded as an ideal individual (so Andr., Areth., Wetst., Bleek, Lücke, Erbes, Beyschlag, Swete, etc.) who possesses a sort of Egyptian Ka or double. By itself, however, this view lies open to the objection that it explains one symbol by another and hardly does justice to the naïve poetry of the conception. The notion of guardian angels was widespread in the early church (Hermas, Justin, Clem. Alex., Origen, etc.), independently of this passage. Statius (Silv. i. 241) says that Domitian “posuit sua sidera” (i.e., of his family) in the heaven, when he raised a temple to the Flavians-a contemporary parallel upon a lower level of feeling, but indicating a similar view of the heavenly counterpart (cf. Ramsay, Seven Letters, 68 f.) The Apocalypse, though presupposing the exercise of discipline and the practice of reading, prayer, and praise within the Christian communities, entirely ignores officials of any kind; and the following homilies are directly concerned with the churches (Rev 2:7, ἐκκλησίαις, not the angels), their different members (cf. Rev 2:24) and their respective situations. Hence the poetic idealism of the ἄγγελοι soon fades, when the writer’s practical sense is brought to bear. As the scene of revelation is ἐν πνεύματι and its author the heavenly Christ, the writer is instructed to address not τοῖς ἁγίοις (e.g., ἐν Εφέσῳ), but their patron spirit or guardian angel. The point of the address is that the revelation of Jesus is directly conveyed through the spoken and written words of the prophets, as the latter are controlled by his Spirit.
Rev 1:1. The Revelation of Jesus Christ,- The book opens with the title, or inscription, the scope and design of it; to foretel things, which should shortly begin to be fulfilled, andsucceed in their due season and order, till all were accomplished; and with the blessing pronounced on him who should read and explain it, and on them who shall hear and attend to it. The distinction is remarkable, of him that readeth, and of them that hear: for books being then in manuscripts, were in much fewer hands; and it was a much readier way to publish a prophecy, or any thing, by public reading, than by transcribing copies. It was the custom too of that age to read all the apostolic writings in the congregations of the faithful; but now this excellent book of the Revelation is seldom read, or only some few parts of it, in the congregations. Instead of and he sent and signified it, &c. the Greek might be better rendered which he signified, sending by his angel. In the stile of prophecy, whence the expressions of this book are chiefly taken, every thing is called an angel that notifies a message from God, or executes his will; a prophetic dream is an angel; the pillar of fire, which went before the Israelites, is called God's angel. The winds, and flames of fire, are angels to us, when used by God as voices to teach, or rods to punish us: so that God is properly said to reveal by his angel, what he makes known either by voice, by dream, by vision, or any other manner of true prophetic revelation. BishopBossuet has finely observed, in the preface to his Exposition of the Revelation, "that in the Gospel of St. John we read the life of Christ on earth as a man conversing with men, humble, poor, weak, and suffering; we behold a sacrifice ready to be offered, and one appointed to sorrows and death: but in the Revelation of St. John we have the gospel of Christ, who was now raised from the dead. He speaks and acts as having conquered the grave, and triumphed over death and hell; as entered into the place of his glory, angels, principalities, and powers being made subject unto him; and exercising the supreme universal power which he has received from the Father over all things in heaven and earth, as our Saviour, for the protection of his church, and for the sure happiness of his faithful servants in the end." All this he is as Mediator, being at the same time, in respect to Deity, "God over all, blessed for ever."
Rev 1:2. Who bare record- "Who, being honoured with so important a message, failed not faithfully to declare it, but testified the word of God, which, in those prophetic visions, came unto him; and the testimony of Jesus Christ, (whose messenger the angel was,) exactly reporting whatever he saw."
Rev 1:4. John to the seven churches- The apostle dedicates his book, Rev 1:4-6 to the seven churches of the Lydian or Proconsular Asia, wishing them grace and peace from God the Father, as the author and giver; from the seven spirits, the representatives of the Holy Ghost, as the instruments; and from Jesus Christ the Mediator,whoismentioned last, because the subsequent discourse more immediately relates to him. To the dedication he subjoins a short and solemn preface, Rev 1:7-8 to shew the great authority of the divinePerson who had commissioned him to write the Revelation. Grotius is of opinion, that the nominative case not being varied in the clause rendered from him which is, and which was, &c. into the genitive, as the common rules of grammar require, is designed to represent the everlasting veracity and invariableness of God, and the unchangeable majesty of Christ, in the testimony of his gospel, and the glory of his kingdom. The Holy Spirit, as is above hinted, is meant by the seven spirits which are before the throne. Seven, in the language of prophesy, often expresses perfection, and may better be understood of the most perfect Spirit of God, the Author of all spiritual blessings, than of seven angels, as a more natural interpretation of the expression in prophesy, as well as much more agreeable to the manner of the gospel blessing, from Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
This too is most consistent with the prohibition of prayer to the angels; and, if we do not take this for the true interpretation, it will be a great difficulty to account for the omission of the Spirit, whose dignity must be allowed infinitely superior to that of the highest created angel.
Rev 1:5. The faithful witness,- In the original the nominative case is again used by St. John, contrary to the analogy of grammar, to signify, that, as he had intimated the immortality of the Deity, so likewise Christ was no less immutable in his kingdom and in his testimony. Christ is called the Prince of the kings of the earth, to encourage them in the profession of Christianity, notwithstandingthe opposition made by kings, whom he could easily defeat and destroy in a moment. See Joh 13:34; Joh 15:9. 1Jn 1:7.
Rev 1:7. Behold, he cometh with clouds, &c.- This verse contains the great moral which the whole book is designed to illustrate; namely, that, though there should be great opposition made against the cause and kingdom of Christ, yet it should be utterlyin vain, and his kingdom should triumph in the most illustrious manner; so that all who had opposed him, should have the greatest reason to mourn; to lament that fatal opposition, by which, instead of prevailing in the least against him, they have only effected their own destruction: and as this series of divine prophecy begins, so it ends with this sentiment, and with the joyful consent of his faithful servants to this glorious truth, which should fill the enemies of Christ with such terror and dismay. Comp. ch. Rev 22:20. The last clause, Even so, Amen, may be thus interpreted, "Yea, Lord, we repeat our joyful assent; be it so; Come, Lord Jesus, in the clouds of heaven; take to thyself thy great power, and reign: thy faithful people shall lift up their heads with joy and triumph, being assured that their complete redemption is approaching."
Rev 1:8. I am Alpha and Omega,- "I was before all worlds, and shall continue the same, when all the revolutions of this world are over, and the final scenes relating to it shall be concluded." This verse affords us a glorious attestation to the Divinity of our great Lord and Saviour; and, though some have endeavoured to weaken its force by interpreting the words as spoken by the Father, every unprejudiced reader must discern that nothing can be more inconsistent with the context. Besides, most of the phrases which are here used, are afterwards applied to our Lord Jesus Christ. See Col 1:17. Heb 1:3.
Rev 1:9. I John,- The apostle, in this and the subsequent verses, mentions the place where the Revelation was given, and describes the manner and circumstances of the first vision: the place was Patmos. Ecclesiastical history tells us, that St. John was here employed in digging in a mine, being banished hither by Domitian the emperor, after he had come unhurt out of a cauldron of boiling oil; but the historical evidence produced for this latter event is very uncertain. Bishop Newton is of opinion, that St. John was banished by Nero.
Rev 1:10. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day,- That is, the day which we in general call Sunday; denominated the Lord's day, in memory of his resurrection from the dead. That the primitive Christians set this day apart for religious worship, appears both from St. Paul's Epistles, and from Justin Martyr's Apology, Ignatius, Tertullian, &c. It should be observed, that this Revelation was given on the Lord's day, when the apostle's heart and affections, as we may reasonably suppose, were peculiarly sublimed by the meditations and devotions of the day, and rendered more capable of receiving divine inspiration. The heavenly visions were vouchsafed to St. John, as they were before to Daniel, (ch. Rev 9:20.) after supplication and prayer; and there being two kinds of prophetic revelation, in a vision, and a dream, the Jews accounted a vision superior to a dream, as representing things more perfectly, and to the life; so that this book is represented as the highest degree of prophetic revelation.
Rev 1:11. Saying, I am Alpha and Omega,- Dr. Doddridge's note here deserves to be particularly remarked: "That these titles (says he) should be repeated so soon, in a connection which demonstrates that they are given to Christ, will appear very remarkable, whatever sense be given to the 8th verse; and I cannot forbear recording it, that this text hath done more than anyother in the Bible toward preventing me from giving into that scheme, which would make our Lord Jesus Christ no more than a deified creature." Whether these seven were the only Asiatic churches, we do not presume to inquire; doubtless they were the principal. See on ch. Rev 2:1. It is certain, the epistles to these churches contain many things of universal concern; and as there is plainly an intention to represent the regard of Christ to ministers and churches, by his walking among golden candlesticks, and holding stars in his right hand, the number seven may be mentioned as it seems best to harmonize with some other parts of this book; namely, with the seven spirits, seven seals, seven trumpets, &c. See on Rev 1:4.
Rev 1:12. Seven golden candlesticks;- The original word here used for candlesticks, answers almost constantly to the Hebrew one used for the golden candlesticks, or chandeliers, in the tabernacle and temple.
Rev 1:13. One like unto the Son of man, clothed, &c.- The clothing here mentioned, is something like the Jewish high-priest's; and Christ is described much in the same manner as the divine appearance in Daniel's vision; Dan 7:9. The girdles were a kind of sash, which went over the neck like a tippet, were crossed on the breast, and then went round the lower part of it two or three times, like a modern circingle, and from hence they fell down almost to the feet. They were sometimes embroidered, and at other times fringed with gold. The priests were required, for coolness and decency, to wear linen garments, and gird themselves higher than others; (see Eze 44:17-18.) And this is one of the many allusions to the temple, and its forms and customs, with which we shall find this book so greatly to abound. See Exo 39:5.
Rev 1:14. His head and his hairs were white like wool,- The hairs of his head, &c. The word Λευκος, which we translate white, properly signifies "of great lustre." Thus ch. Rev 20:11. I saw a great white throne, that is, "a throne with glorious lustre." This being an appearance of the Shechinah, is to be considered, as that always was, a representation of the divine Presence, Majesty, and Glory. Therefore the glory in which the Shechinah appeared in ancient prophecy, is very properly applicable to it.
Rev 1:15. Unto fine brass,- The original word χαλκολιβανον, signifies some kind of fine copper or brass; the inferior kind of auri chalcum, in use among the Romans. See Dan 10:6 and Parkhurst on the word.
Rev 1:16. He had in his right hand seven stars:- The candlesticks, or churches, were round about him: he, in the midst of them, held in his right hand the stars; that is, the angels or bishops of the churches: stars are the hieroglyphics used to express both rulers and teachers. They may therefore, with great propriety, be used symbolically, for the bishops or pastors of the church. See on Jude, Rev 1:13.
Rev 1:17. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet, &c.- "I have just been describing the appearance of Jesus Christ to me, with which I was favoured on the Lord's day, while I was engaged in such devout sentiments as were suitable to the time and occasion: and I now add, that when I saw him in this awful, this glorious and resplendent form, I was perfectly overwhelmed with the majesty of his appearance, so that I fell down at his feet dead; and he immediately condescended to raise me up, with great indulgence; for he laid his right hand upon me, and said to me, Fear not, John, for I appear to thee for purposes of mercy; I am, indeed, as I have proclaimed myself, the First and the Last, possessed of divine perfections and glories, from eternity to eternity the same."
Rev 1:18. Amen;- This seems to have been the exclamation of St. John, testifying his joyful assent to the nobletruths which precede; after which the discourse is continued in the person of Christ. We have often observed that the word Αδης, here rendered hell, signifies, "The unseen world." Our English, or rather Saxon word, hell, in its original signification, though it is now understood in a more limited sense, exactly answers to the Greek word, as it denotes a concealed, or unseen place; and this sense of the word is still retained in the eastern, and especially in the western counties of England: to hellover a thing, is to cover it.
Inferences.-With what sublimity does this wonderful book open! which, though pregnant with inexplicable mysteries, is, at the same time, pregnant with instruction; which the weakest of Christ's humble disciples may peruse with sacred complacency and delight. For surely we are not to imagine that divine book to be unfit for our perusal, and undeserving our regard, concerning which its divine Author expressly declares, Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy! Thanks be to our Heavenly Father, that he gave it to his Son Jesus Christ: Thanks to the Son of God, that he gave it to his servant John, to be transmitted down to future generations.
Let us attentively view the divine glory of the Father, and of his only-begotten Son, who is the brightness of that glory, and the express image of his person, and of the Holy Ghost, who is here represented by the seven spirits before the throne. From us, and from all created nature, let there be glory to him that is, and that was, and that is to come, and to the First-born from the dead, who is superior to all the kings of the earth, and to all the angels of heaven, who is so intimately united with the Father in divine perfections and glories, that he also is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End: that he also is Almighty; able, by his mighty power, to subdue all things to himself; and is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. Never let us be unmindful of the condescension of the Son of God, in becoming for our redemption and salvation, the Son of man. Let the great things that he has done for us, and the great things he has taught us to expect from him, be ever familiar to our minds. How astonishing was that love, which engaged him to wash from their sins in his own Blood all persevering believers! How glorious is that exaltation to which he is raising them! rendering them, even in the present world, kings and priests to God, and inspiring them with the ardent hope of an immutable kingdom, and an everlasting priesthood in the temple of their God above. This is the sublime and transcendent happiness of all who perseveringly with lively faith look for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. This illustrious Personage is coming in the clouds, and our eyes shall see him: too often already have we pierced him; let us mourn over our sins at present, that we may not pour forth floods of unprofitable tears in that awful day, as all the tribes of the earth shall do, who have dared to set themselves against the kingdom of Christ; a kingdom which shall then be triumphant over all opposition, the last of its enemies being vanquished and destroyed.
In the mean time, what unspeakable happiness can our blessed Redeemer confer on his faithful servants, while suffering in his cause! How wretched was Caesar on his imperial throne, compared with this despised and persecuted disciple of Christ, in his old age banished to the desolate island of Patmos! There his Lord condescended to visit him, opened his eyes to prophetic visions, and diffused around him celestial glories. May we in no case be ashamed of the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ, a zeal for which was so graciously acknowledged, so gloriously rewarded.
It was on the Lord's day that the apostle was in the Spirit: how often has the Spirit of God visited his people at that sacred season, visited them as well in their secret retirements as in the public assembly; when the hand of Providence, as in the instance before us, and not their own negligence, and indifference to divine ordinances, occasioned their absence from them!
Let our souls again bend, in humble veneration, to Him who is the First and the Last, the Alpha and the Omega. And if we have heard in effect his awful voice proclaiming himself by these illustrious and divine titles, let us turn, as it were, to behold him; and by these marvellous visions in which he manifested himself to St. John, let us endeavour to form some imperfect ideas of our blessed Lord, and the magnificence and glory with which he appears to the inhabitants of the heavenly regions. Every circumstance, not excepting the minutest and most inconsiderable, attending this appearance of Christ to his beloved apostle, seems designed to convey some divine truth, some important lesson, for the contemplation and instruction of future ages. It was, in general, beyond all question, intended to impress us with the highest reverence of our glorified Redeemer, that we may pay him our humble and devout adoration, and thus, in some degree, anticipate the pleasure with which we hope to appear in his immediate presence above.
REFLECTIONS.-1st, The book opens,
1. With a preface, declaring its sacred contents. The revelation of Jesus Christ, which comes from him, as the great Prophet of his church, and which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; some of them to be quickly accomplished, and the rest in order till the end of time: and he sent and signified it by his angel, whom he employed on this errand, unto his servant John, who bare record of the word of God, and had before, in his gospel and epistles, spoken of the glory and offices of the incarnate Word, and was one of the faithful witnesses of the testimony of Jesus Christ, of his gospel, and of all things that he saw; the miracles, life, death, and resurrection of the great Redeemer, and those amazing visions which are here recorded.
2. A blessing is pronounced on the hearers, readers, and observers of this book. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, attentively marking the prophecies here revealed, and inquiring into the mind of the Spirit; and keep those things which are written therein; retaining them in their memory, and directed by them in their practice: for the time is at hand, when their fulfilment will begin. Note; (1.) They who diligently study the scriptures, will find the happy fruit of their labours. (2.) The shorter the period of time allotted to us is, the greater diligence should we give to improve it.
2nd, The apostle,
1. Addresses the seven churches which are in Asia; and adds his benediction, Grace be unto you in all its fulness of blessings, and peace in your consciences from a sense of redeeming love, flowing from him which is, and which was, and which is to come, from the eternal Father, in his nature and perfections unchangeably the same for ever and ever: and from the seven spirits which are before his throne, even that Holy Ghost whose gifts and graces are various and perfect; and from Jesus Christ, through whom, as Mediator, all the blessings of the triune God descend upon his faithful people; who is the faithful Witness, the anointed Prophet to declare the Father's will; and the First-be gotten of the dead, who rose, as our glorious High-priest, with his own blood to appear in the presence of God for us; and the Prince of the kings of the earth, exalted to the mediatorial throne, and become the Head of all principalities and powers, as the universal King, to protect his faithful people, and subdue their enemies.
2. He ascribes glory to the incarnate Jesus. Unto him that loved us with the most unparalleled affection, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, which he shed to redeem us from all iniquity; and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father, invested us with dominion over all the power of evil, and consecrated us for his blessed service, to offer those spiritual sacrifices which are acceptable to God by Jesus Christ; to him, even to this most amiable and adorable Jesus, be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. Note; (1.) Jesus by his blood hath atoned for our sins; and this blood alone can cleanse our guilty souls from all sin. (2.) Every child of God is now consecrated to the highest office and dignity; is heir to a throne of glory, and has access with boldness into the holiest of all through the atoning blood. (3.) They who know the divine Redeemer, and are interested in his love, will be ceaseless in their habitual adorations of him.
3. With rapture the apostle looks forward to the glorious coming of Jesus as the eternal Judge; and, as seeing him present for the comfort and joy of his people, cries out, Behold, with wonder and delight, he cometh with clouds in awful majesty, surrounded with angels and archangels, ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; and every eye shall see him, seated on the throne of judgment; and they also which pierced him, with impious and bloody cruelty nailed him to the tree; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him, whose guilt unpardoned now shall stare them in the face, and horrors unutterable seize upon their consciences; while with transport the faithful shall welcome his arrival, approving and applauding all his righteous decisions; and are now wishing for the day of his appearing; even so, Amen! come quickly. Note; (1.) A day of judgment will spread terror through the wicked world. Woe then to those who have pierced the Redeemer, whether in his own person, or in the insults shewn to his people: they shall receive a fearful recompense. (2.) Blessed and happy are they who, in the prospect of this day, can comfortably say, Even so, Amen!
4. The great Judge describes his own transcendent honour. I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, saith the Lord, the sum and substance of the scriptures, possessing all perfections, and accomplishing all my pleasure; which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty, the self-existent and incomprehensible Jehovah, able to save or destroy to the uttermost.
3rdly, We have the glorious vision which appeared to the divine penman of this book.
1. He calls himself John, your brother and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ; for all his servants follow him with their cross to glory, and must expect, and be content patiently to suffer for his great name's sake. He was now in banishment in the isle of Patmos, for his fidelity to his blessed Master; and, though removed far from earthly comforters, still he found that presence of God, which made his lonely abode a paradise of delights. He was in the Spirit on the Lord's day; whilst on that holy day, observed by the Christian church, in memory of the Saviour's resurrection, he was employed in sacred meditation and prayer, he felt the descending power of the Holy One, and was filled with prophetic inspiration. Note; They who on the Lord's day employ in spiritual exercises their time and thoughts, retiring from the world and all its cares and avocations, will find a blessed intercourse with heaven, and experience that communion with God, which is a foretaste of eternal blessedness.
2. He declares what he heard and saw. A great voice, as of a trumpet behind him, awakened his attention, and he heard distinctly the voice of Jesus, saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last; and commanding him to write what in vision he was about to see and hear, and send it to the seven churches of Asia, whose names are specified. Turning to see whence the voice proceeded, a glorious Personage meets his astonished sight, whose majesty he describes. I saw seven golden candlesticks, seven branches springing from the same item, like that which stood in the tabernacle of old, the emblems of that light of truth and fire of love which Jesus sends into the midst of his churches and people, and which they in their conversation hold forth to the world. And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one stood, as the priest when he came to trim the lamps, like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, not unlike the priestly vestment; and girt about the paps with a golden girdle, far surpassing the costly girdle of the ephod, and intimating how ready and able he is to discharge his sacerdotal office on the behalf of his believing people: his head and his hairs were white like wool, as the Ancient of days, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire, piercing and penetrating into the inmost secrets of men's souls, and darting lightning against his foes; and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace, mighty to support the concerns of his church and people, and to tread down their enemies; and his voice as the sound of many waters, spreading to the distant corners of the earth his blessed gospel word, and terrible in his providences and judgments as the roaring waves. And he had in his right hand seven stars, the faithful bishops and pastors of his Church, whom he upholds and preserves, and who shine bright in the lustre of his grace; and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, even the word of his law and gospel, pricking sinners to the heart, and hewing down all opposition; and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength, reviving as the light and warmth of its invigorating beams. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead, overcome with the brightness of his glory. And he laid his right hand upon me, to revive my intimidated mind by his mighty grace, saying unto me, Fear not, I am the First and the Last, the great Origin, and ultimate End of all things. I am he that liveth, essentially possessed of life in and of myself; and was dead, in that human nature which I assumed; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen! so it is, infallibly certain and true: and have the keys of hell and of death, to save or to destroy, according to his sacred pleasure and divine perfections,-to unlock the gates of the grave to my faithful people, and shut up the wicked in the prison of eternal darkness. Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter, until the end of time; and the mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels, or messengers, of the seven churches; and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest, are the seven churches. May we by faith behold the same Jesus, and feel the enlivening influence of his presence with our souls!
