Revelation 1:12-16 The Son of Man unveiled

Revelation 1:12-16 In his visionary condition, John turns to see Jesus, the Son of Man (huio anthropou). (See Daniel 7:13, Matthew 24:27-31) The symbolism of all the elements of His appearance speaks to us.  The lamp stands represent the Holy Spirit in Zechariah 4:2-6, but here they represent the seven churches (Rev 1:20). The golden girdle speaks of divinity or royalty. (See Exodus 25:10-21) White hair, with presumably a white beard as well (His whole head was like white wool), implies age, as of the Ancient of Days. (See Daniel 7:9) Fire in His eyes implies purification. (See Luke 3:17) Bronze feet symbolize judgment (see Daniel 10:6) The voice sounding like many waters links to Ezekiel 43:2, but represents a change from the voice sounding like a trumped (Rev 1:10). The seven stars are the messengers to the seven churches (Rev 1:20).

          The important message of this vision is that Jesus is in the midst of the churches; He is right there, not distant. And the messengers to the churches are in His right hand. Although the Greek word aggeloi is usual translated angels, the messengers to the seven churches could just as easily mean the pastors or prophets who spoke to these local churches. These who speak to the people of Jesus are in the His right hand.

          Out of His mouth came a sharp, two-edged sword, clearly identifying this as the word of God (Ephesians 6:17, Hebrews 4:12), which John had previously identified as Jesus. (John 1:1 & 12)  His face was shining like the sun, just as in the transfiguration on the mount.

Revelation 1:9-11 John's salutation to his readers

Revelation 1:9-11 John had been exiled to Patmos because of his faith (the Word of God) and ministry (testimony of Jesus) according to early church history, by Domitian, who was the Roman emperor from 81 to 96 AD.

          John identifies three aspects of common experience in Jesus with his readers: tribulation, kingdom, and perseverance. Being a fellow participant in Jesus' kingdom implicitly assumes that this is connected to the tribulation and perseverance that were the common lot of anyone identifying themselves with Christ during this period in history. This certainly colors the nature of the rest of the book. John was not writing to believers who were at peace with the world system to warn them of coming tribulation, but to those already experiencing it.

          John was in the Spirit. We can take this to be that he was under the anointing of the Holy Spirit in such a profound way that he was open to hearing Jesus' voice and seeing both Him and visions of heaven and of future scenes. In the Revelation, John records things told to him as narration throughout, but the things spoken to him are predominant in chapters 2-3; visions of heaven in chapters 4-5,15 and 21-22; and visions of things which will shortly take place both in heaven and on earth (and the connection between them) in  chapters 6-14 and 16-20.

          The voice then announces the mailing addresses for the following words. Although each local church is usually associated with a handful of verses in chapters 2-3, the voice tells John to write what he sees to these churches; what John sees are visions recorded in chapters 4-22.

          These are churches that were geographically located in what was then called Asia, modern Turkey. John was on Patmos, a small Greek island only 50 km off the coast of Turkey. So the immediate context of the prophecy is that John was in exile but not too far from the Roman province of Asia, in which the Roman persecution of Christians was an ongoing experience. He receives a revelation of Christ which he is directed to record and send to these churches. The purpose of this entire book appears to be to encourage them to persevere even as they jointly partake of this suffering. 

Revelation 1:4-8 Greetings! To God be glory & power forever

Revelation 1:4-5 John specifically addresses this unveiling to the seven churches in Asia (named below in Rev. 1:11). Perhaps the later prophecies are primarily intended for these people, and have application to us in the same way that the epistles of Paul have broader application than the specific circumstances of the addressee. In all cases, we have to discern the relative applicability of the words to the specific circumstances or to all of us.

          John next proceeds with an homage to the Trinity: The eternal Father who is outside of time; the Son who is the first-fruit of those rising from the dead and also ruler over all earthly kings (see also Revelation 19:16); and the Holy Spirit represented by the seven spirits before the throne (see also Revelation 3:1 and Zechariah 4:2).

Revelation 1:6-7 John elaborates on worship of Jesus. He is worthy of glory and dominion (archon) because He loved us and washed us in His blood from the power and penalty of sin, and then made us a kingdom of priests to the eternal Father. (See also Revelation 5:9-10) During His earthly ministry Jesus talked frequently about the arrival of the kingdom of God on earth, but it is only in retrospect after His death and resurrection, and the culmination of the plan of redemption that  Jesus' purpose and plan was to implement the kingdom of God became clear.

          Jesus' return will be seen by every eye. Usually this is understood to mean a visible appearance in the sky. But an alternative view might be that the clouds Jesus returns with are clouds of believers, in whom He dwells, and every eye will see Him manifest in the lives of His people. And so every language-group and ethnic group will mourn because when they see the kingdom of Jesus manifest in the lives of His people in their own tribe, they will mourn over the fruitlessness and barrenness of their own lives and culture and kingdom, lived apart from Jesus. This includes the Jews, who rejected Jesus as their Messiah and crucified him, when they see the kingdom fruit manifest in those Jews who did receive Him.

          And so this final outcome is fore-ordained and He will come and He will reign. So be it.

Revelation 1:8 YHWH is the first and the last. He created everything that exists because He was before the universe existed. He will at the last rule His creation. He is now currently engaged in His great campaign to defeat evil and sin and establish His eternal kingdom. He was, is, and always will be sovereign.

Revelation 1:2-3 The time is at hand

Revelation 1:2-3 God's revelation was subsequently communicated by His messenger to John, His love-slave (doulos). John obediently and faithfully testified in writing to all that he saw concerning the logos of God (cf John 1:1) and Jesus Christ. Since John had previously (in the beginning of the gospel) identified Jesus Christ as the logos of God, why are they called out as two separate things here? Perhaps the answer is that this verse parallels John 1:1, in identifying Christ as the logos of God, to tie the gospel of John and the revelation together.

          The blessing that is promised to those who read, hear, and heed these words is based on their temporal imminence. Perhaps reading or hearing is an option, but heeding (terountes) seems the essential link. Keeping, guarding, heeding the words written within the prophecy because the kairos (time, season, era, epoch) is near.

          The temporal imminence might be a stumbling block since these words were penned around 90-100 AD and the events have not come to pass in over 1900 years. What John means by this statement could be taken a couple of ways.

•    Since the resurrection of Christ, there are no further events of Biblical stature that will happen before these events begin to take place. The church age, which began on the day of Pentecost, will culminate in these events, as part of a continuum. The end times began with the sending of the Holy Spirit to the church. Note that the seven churches to which Jesus speaks in chapters two and three were contemporaneous with John.

•    The individual events do not all necessarily have a literal fulfillment only in a worldwide paroxysm of rebellion and war against God followed by His judgment manifested in physical cataclysms and culminating in His physical return to rule and reign over the whole earth. In other words, the individual events depicted in revelation may have a fulfillment on an individual scale in the lives of believers and unbelievers, including persecution of believers (common through the entire church age), overt rebellion against God (essentially the human condition for all of recorded history), and God's judgment of nations and individuals for their rebellion. Perhaps even the coming of Christ in the clouds and standing before Him in heaven occurs in the death of the individual believers.

Heeding these words ought not to be applied only to this unveiling of Christ, it ought to be an admonition relative to all that is in Scripture. Indeed, in Luke 6:46, Jesus asked, “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?" The importance of heeding the words that unveil Christ is that the more we see and understand about Him, the more in tune we are with His kingdom, the more responsibility we have. (See Luke 12:48)

The Revelation of Jesus Christ

John's written record of the Revelation of Christ shows us future of mankind, and you what your future holds. Jesus! Not Just a little child lying in a manger, nor just a good teacher, nor even the savior dying on a cross for the sins of mankind. He is King of kings and Lord of lords. What is unveiled? There are five categories:

          One, the attributes of Christ.

          Two, the commendations, critiques, and admonitions that Jesus has for His churches and His followers.

          Three, what true worship of Jesus looks like when all pretense and all inhibitions have been removed. John describes his vision of this worship in which the reasons for worship of Jesus are incorporated explicitly; these speak primarily of His wonderful actions as manifesting and growing out of His divine love and perfect holiness.

          Fourth, the way that Jesus will work in our lives to remove the hold of the world (symbolized by the wildbeast and the system he sets up), the flesh (symbolized by the great harlot), and the devil (played by himself, but cloaking his actions in the world and the flesh). These forces want to control our lives; to free us, Jesus is going to trash them in our lives so that they no longer have any influence on us. This conflict ends with judgment of all that is right and destruction of all that is wrong.

          Fifth, a glorious future in which we will be united eternally with Jesus in a love covenant.

Revelation 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ. Apokalupsis can have several meanings according to Strong. Laying bare (unveiling), disclosure of truth, or manifestation. So the rest of verse 1 must be used to infer which meaning in this case. God gave Jesus this apokalupsis to show to His servants, John and his readers, what must soon take place. The rest of the book of Revelation includes all of these aspects: what must soon take place is a disclosure of truth; but we find in subsequent chapters that the nature and character of Christ is laid bare [chapters 4-5]; and the things that must soon take place include the manifestation of Jesus Christ in the world. [1:7, 14:1, 19:11-16] But from the outset, the disclosure of truth refers first and foremost to Jesus Christ, before it refers to the things that must soon take place.

          This is consistent with the Old Testament prophets, who testified to their contemporaries. The statements of these prophets were much more focused on God, His character, and His expectations and assessment of the Israelites (and the Gentiles when appropriate) than on the foretelling of things to soon take place. 

3 John 1-15 Be blessed

3 John 1-4 A letter from the presbyter to a beloved believer. Gaius is the name of at least three people mentioned in the New Testament. (Acts 19:24, 20:4, Romans 16:23, 1 Corinthians 1:14) The name is of Latin origin. John prays that Gaius will be in good health and prosper, in accordance with the condition of his soul. There is a general and a specific connection here. Paul prays these things for Gaius, but there is no guarantee this prayer will be answered. Most of the first twelve apostles suffered from persecution, poverty, and at least Paul suffered innumerable problems not despite, but because of the greatness of the revelations he received. (2 Corinthians 11:23-27, 12:7-10) On the other hand, living one's life in fellowship with the truth would eliminate many of the sources of poverty and poor health that result from wrong choices and actions. So it is not straightforward as to the general applicability of John's prayer. From John's perspective as an elder, it is far more important that believers walk in the truth. This brings him great joy.

3 John 5-8 John commends Gaius for his hospitality in receiving itinerant Christians who are strangers to him, as they come through. And he urges him to continue to show hospitality to those who go out to work for the truth, for the sake of the name of Jesus. Hospitality was a virtue in that era, since inns were not all that great (nor safe). And as the epistle to the Hebrews states, it is possible to entertain angels unaware (Hebrews 13:2)

3 John 9-10 Strong words for Diotrephes. Loving pre-eminence, he rejects John's words. Beyond this, he tells others not to show hospitality to Christians. John has just commended Gaius for this. The only question would be whether Diotrephes would cite John's instructions in 2 John 10 as his justification. But that would be missing the point of that passage. Because those who abide in the truth can recognize those who are also walking in truth and those who lie. That was the point of both of John's other epistles.

3 John 11-12 John once again cites the testimony of fruit as the evidence of people's interior condition. He cites the example of Demetrius, for whom he personally testifies. Imitate those who do good.

3 John 13-15 John's closing includes the hope of seeing them in person, a benediction of peace, and a salutation of the others who fellowship with Gaius from those who are with John.

2 John 1-13 Walk with Christ and beware of teachers of deceit

2 John 1-3 It is ambiguous whether John has addressed this letter to a specific woman and her children, or if he is metaphorically addressing the church. In and upon this assembly of believers, all who know the truth, he bestows a blessing of grace, mercy, and peace. Perhaps he is saying because of the truth that abides in us as knowers of Christ, grace, mercy and peace will be on us for the ages.

2 John 4-6 John is pleased to find that some of the children who believe are walking in truth. Inferentially, this means that their lifestyle is that of walking out their life in fellowship with Jesus who is truth (John 4:6). He asks them to walk according to the commandment of love. (John 13:34-35, 15:12, 15:17), and explicitly states that love is practiced when we walk according to Jesus' commandments. (Matthew 22:37-39)

2 John 7-11 In the same vein as 1 John 2:18-22 & 4:3, John warns about deceivers coming in the spirit of antichrist. It appears that he is warning about false teachers who claim to have teachings beyond what Jesus taught. This is a false spirituality that claims a greater knowledge of spiritual truth than mere Christianity. One litmus test is whether they acknowledge Jesus as having come in the flesh. Anyone who denies that is not a Christian, no matter what else they may say. Because the whole gospel, the good news, is that Jesus was God in the flesh, and that He came to bring the kingdom of God on earth, and that to complete this purpose, He died on the cross for the atonement and propitiation of the sins of every person who will receive Him. Without the incarnation, there is no atonement.

          John commands a rather harsh excommunication for these false teachers. But He does it in order to protect the flock. Don't let him in the house. Don't give him a greeting. In other words, don't argue with him or try to reason with him. Satan is extremely subtle and clever. He can twist God's words as he did in the Garden of Eden and with Jesus in the wilderness. To give him a greeting is implicitly to welcome him and his false teachings into the fellowship. Don't go there!

2 John 12-13 John closes with a hope of seeing them face-to-face. Perhaps the chosen sister refers to a specific person, or perhaps to another church body metaphorically, as in the salutation.