THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST TO HIS SERVANT JOHN
The Unveiling of the Kingdom on Earth and in Heaven
Lesson 2
The Preamble of the Covenant Lawsuit Continued
Chapter 1:9-20
John's Vision of the Glorified Christ
Holy and Eternal Lord,
As the children of a Holy
God, it is our goal to walk in Your presence daily. But we are especially
thankful for the special day set aside from the ordinary days of the week devoted
to fellowship with you and our brothers and sisters in the covenant family. In
the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus asked His disciples if they could only spend
one hour with Him in prayer. We answer "Yes" to His request by spending that
one hour in liturgical worship, reading and listening to the Holy Word of our
Father. We also gather around Your altar table for a family meal that gives us
the very life of Your Son to nourish us on our journey to salvation. We thank
and praise You, Lord, for Your loving care of us, Your children, and we ask You
to send Your Holy Spirit to guide us in today's study of Your message to St.
John "on the Lord's Day." We pray in the name of God the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit. Amen.
+ + +
The Savior is working mightily among men, every day He is
invisibly persuading numbers of people all over the world, both within and
beyond ... to accept His faith and be obedient to His teaching. Can anyone, in
the face of all this, still doubt that He has risen and lives, or rather that
He is Himself the Life?
St. Athanasius, On the Incarnation, 30
From the outset, two problems confront us when we attempt
to study the Book of Revelation. First is the question of ensuring that our
interpretation is correct, placing checks on our imagination so that we do not
force God's holy Word into a mold of our own inventions. We must let the Book
of Revelation say what God intended it to say. The second problem is the issue
of ethics: what to do with what we've learned.
David Chilton, Paradise Restored, page 151
Revelation 1:9-16 ~
The Preamble Continued: The First Vision of the Glorified Christ
9 I, John, your brother and partner in hardships, in the
kingdom and in perseverance in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos on account of
the Word of God and of witness to Jesus; 10 it was the Lord's Day,
and I was in ecstasy [in the spirit], and I heard a loud voice behind me, like
the sound of a trumpet, saying, 11"Write down in a book all that you see, and send it to
the seven churches of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia,
and Laodicea." 12 I turned around to see who was speaking to me, and when
I turned I saw seven golden lampstands 13 and, in the middle of
them, one like a Son of man, dressed in a long robe tied at the waist with a
belt of gold. 14 His head and his hair were white with the whiteness of
wool, like snow, his eyes like a burning flame, 15 his
feet like burnished bronze when it has been refined in a furnace, and his voice
like the sound of the ocean [many waters]. 16 In his
right hand, he was holding seven stars, out of his mouth came a sharp sword,
double-edged, and his face was like the sun shining with all its force.
[...] = the literal Greek; Interlinear Bible: Greek-English,
vol. IV, page 657.
9 I, John, your brother and partner in hardships,
in the kingdom and in perseverance in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos on account of the
Word of God and of witness to Jesus
This verse gives the fourth mention of John's name in the first chapter. John's name will appear five times in the
book (Rev 1:1, 2, 4, 9, and 22:8).
Question: Why does John call himself our "brother"?
Answer: We are brothers (and sisters), united in the blood of Christ in God's family of the New Covenant Kingdom.
Covenants create families. In the Old and New Testaments, only one word appears for "brother" no matter what the degree of relationship. In the New Testament, it is the Greek word adelphos, meaning "from the womb," but it is the same word used for brothers in the same family (John and James Zebedee), for kinsmen (the relatives of Jesus), for the disciples and apostles (Acts 1:15-16), and for members of the nation of Judah and the Israelites of the Galilee (Acts 2:37). Therefore, when this word refers to Jesus' relatives (i.e., Mt 13:55-56; Mk 6:3), it is wrong to assume that Jesus had brothers and sisters from His mother, Mary. See the document "Did Jesus Have Brothers and Sisters."
Question: In Revelation 1:9-16, what three things united us as
brothers/sisters? In this verse, we have a concise summary of the theme of the
Book of Revelation as well as John's worldview.
Answer: 1. tribulation, 2. the Kingdom, and 3. perseverance.
Hardships: Not only will the persecution the Church will continue, as Scripture tells us in Acts 14:22 ~ through many tribulations we must enter the Kingdom of God, but for John, the "tribulation" probably refers to the war against Christianity launched by Roman Emperor Nero in AD 64 and the martyrdom of thousands of Christians, including Peter and Paul's martyrdom in AD 67. It was a persecution that led to John's imprisonment on the island of Patmos and the murder of thousands of Christians. Tribulation present and future was the subject of much apostolic writing as the days of judgment continued to advance to their climax (see 1 Thess 1:6; 3:4; 2 Thess 1:4-10; 1 Tim 4:1-3; 2 Tim 3:1-12).
For John and us, we unite our tribulations and sufferings with Jesus' Passion, just as St. Paul expressed in Col 1:24 ~ I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and I fill up what is lacking of the tribulations of Christ in my flesh, on behalf of His Body, the Church. And where do we keep our eyes focused during trials and tribulations? Like St. John, we must remain focused on the eternal Kingdom of Jesus Christ.
The Kingdom: Where the Kingdom is, there is also the King, Christ Jesus. And if we keep our hearts and lives centered on Him, even though we are in the midst of tribulation, we will perservere.
Perseverance: Perseverance amid adversity is an important theme in the Book of Revelation. John will use it the word "perseverance" seven times (Rev 1:9; 2:2, 3, 19; 3:10; 13:10; 14:12).
[John] was on Patmos on
account of the Word of God and the witness to Jesus Christ.
The Romans condemned John to imprisonment
on Patmos, a rocky, crescent-shaped, volcanic island ten miles long and six
miles wide at its widest point off the coast of Turkey, thirty-five miles from
the city of Miletus. It was because of his apostolic activity that John suffered
exile on the island of Patmos. Christianity was not one of the "approved"
religions of the Roman state. Christians refused to sacrifice to the Roman
Emperor, and the Romans viewed such a refusal as an act of treason. But it is
interesting how John phrases the reason for his imprisonment. He doesn't say
it is because of his actions, but because God spoke, and Jesus testified to the
words God spoke. The testimony/witness of Jesus Christ determines the march of
history.
10 it was the Lord's Day, and I was in ecstasy, and I heard a loud voice behind me, like the sound of a trumpet, saying, 11 "Write down in a book all that you see, and send it to the seven churches of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea."
Question: What does John mean when he says that it was "the
Lord's Day"? See Mt 28:1-6 and Acts 20:7.
Answer: It is the day of the Resurrection of Christ and the
day set aside to worship God in the New Covenant Kingdom. It was the first day
of the week we call Sunday.b
The origin of this term goes back to the first Sabbath when God rested from Creation (Gen 2:2-3). The original Sabbath was the prototype of the "Day of the Lord," the Day of Judgment and re-birth. The weekly Sabbath of the Old Testament looked forward in time to the Final Day of rest when Yahweh the Great King gathered His covenant children across the face of the earth together for judgment, forgiveness, and the proclamation of the His Word.
Question: What day of the week was the Old Covenant Sabbath?
Answer: The seventh day, Saturday.
But why did the day change for the New Covenant Sabbath? It is because Sunday is the day of Jesus' Resurrection and the 2nd great Feast of Pentecost fifty days later, when God the Holy Spirit came to fill and indwell the Church. Sunday is also the day God began creation in Genesis Chapter 1. It is significantly both the first day and the eighth day (a number representing rebirth, regeneration, and a new beginning as in the eight people saved in the Great Flood). The Lord's Day, Sunday, is the day of the New Creation in Christ Jesus.
and I was in ecstasy
The Greek phrase is egenomen
en Pneumati (Interlinear Bible: Greek-English, vol. 4, page 657) and
can also be more literally translated "in the Spirit." The phrase is both
technical and prophetic language
(see Mt 22:43; Num 11:25; 2 Sam 23:2; and
Ez 2:2; 3:24).
In 2 Pt 1:20-21, St. Peter wrote: No prophecy ever came from
human initiative. When people spoke for God, it was the Holy Spirit that moved
them. At this moment, in his dark cell on the island of Patmos, the walls
faded away, and an other kind of reality opened up to him. John, the
spirit-filled Apostle, finds himself admitted to the heavenly council-chamber
just as Isaiah was admitted 800 years earlier (Is 6:1-10).
Compare the concept of the Old Testament "Lord's Day" to the celebration of the Mass: For Catholics, it is also a day of judgment and forgiveness. On earth, we "lift up our hearts" and come before God's throne in Heaven to be forgiven and restored, to hear His Word, and to be reunited to Him in the family meal of the Eucharist. However, if we try to receive God's gifts in a state of sin instead of a state of grace, we face judgment (see 1 Cor 11:27-29 and Jesus' Parable of the Wedding Feast concerning the improperly dressed wedding guest in Matthew 23:11-14). In the worship of the Mass, we are all, like St. John, caught up to the throne room of God in the heavenly Sanctuary where we are also invited to partake of the experience in the ecstasy of the Spirit.
and I heard a loud voice behind me, like the sound of a trumpet, saying
Trumpets are mentioned more
in Revelation than in any other book of the Bible. They are usually associated
with the "Last Things," with the revelation of God, and judgment as they were
at Jericho in the Book of Joshua (Josh 6:6-20) and on the annual Feast of
Trumpets when the sound of a hundred trumpets sounded the warning that the
Feast of Atonement began in ten days.
It is significant that the Glory-Cloud, the most basic Biblical image for God's presence and His divine judgment, is generally associated with three other images: The Spirit, the Day (or light, since the light initially originated from God's presence in Gen 1:3) and the Voice of God, which often sounded like a trumpet. It is the same imagery as the Theophany at Sinai; see Exodus 19:16-19, especially verse 18: Yahweh had descended on it (the mountain of Sinai) in the form of fire. The smoke (cloud) rose like the smoke from a furnace. And the whole mountain shook violently. Louder and louder grew the trumpeting. Compare this verse with the trumpet sound in other eschatological passages (see Heb 12:18-19a; Is 27:13; Joel 2:1; Mt 24:31; 1 Cor 15:51-52; 1 Thess 4:16, etc.).
You may remember these same images in the Garden of Eden when The man and his wife heard the sound (actually the word is "voice," kol in Hebrew) of God walking in the Garden in the cool of the day (Gen 3:8). The Hebrew word translated here as "cool" is ruah, which means spirit/breath/or wind. The passage is then: The man and his wife heard the voice of God walking in the Garden in the wind of the day. It wasn't a gentle, refreshing breeze that floated through the earthly Sanctuary that was the garden of Eden, it was the explosive thunderclaps and trumpeting of the God of heaven and earth that Adam and Eve heard; no wonder they hid (Gen 3:8)!
11Write down in a book all you see and send it to the
seven churches of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea.
Jesus commanded John to "write
down" his visions in a book and "send" letters to seven churches in Asia Minor
(modern-day Turkey) just as God commanded Moses to write down all the
stipulations of the covenant treaty at its ratification ceremony at Mt. Sinai
(Ex 24:4). John's heart must have leaped at the naming of these churches
because he knew them. The seven churches were probably part of his archdiocese
(to use a modern term). The Roman city of Ephesus was John's "home church"
before his imprisonment, and he returned there after his release to spend his
remaining days. Jesus names the seven churches in an order that matches the
circular pattern of their geographic locations. It was probably the route a messenger
would take or even the way St. John might travel when visiting each of these
faith communities.
12 I turned around to see who was speaking to me and when I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands
13, and in the middle of them, one like the Son of Man dressed in a long robe tied at the waist with a belt of gold.
These verses contain the only
physical description of Jesus in the New Testament. Notice that at first John hears
and then he sees. After John's revelation in 22:8, he will tell us
again: I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. Perhaps the
verbal revelation is necessary to understand the visual revelation.
Question: What was the most important golden lampstand for the
Jews?
Answer: There was a single golden lampstand with seven lamps
in the Holy Place in the Jerusalem Temple.
We know what it looked like
because precise instructions for its construction is in Exodus 25:31-40. And before
the Romans destroyed the Jerusalem Temple in AD 70, General Titus took the
Lampstand and carried it back to Rome where its image is on the Arch of Titus.
But in John's vision, why are there seven golden lampstands? Perhaps it is because John has entered the Heavenly Sanctuary, and he sees seven lampstands connected to each other in the Person who stands in their midst. We'll discuss the symbolism when we reach verse 20, but for now, in the vision John saw, Jesus Christ is the one Lampstand, uniting the seven lampstands; therefore, light surrounds Jesus! What an awesome vision it must have been of Christ clothed as the High Priest but perhaps also as a King (see 1 Macc 10:89). John's vision recalls the Prophet Daniel's vision in Dan 10:5-11 ~ I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, there was a certain man dressed in linen, whose waist was girded with a belt of pure gold of Uphaz. His body also was like beryl, His face like lightning, His eyes were like flaming torches. According to the first century AD Jewish priest/historian, Flavius Josephus, the priest wore the sacerdotal sash around his chest when he was at rest from his Temple duties (Antiquities of the Jews, iii.vii.2). Also see the description of the High Priest's vestments in Leviticus 16:4ff and in Sirach 50:1-21/23.
Let's look more closely at St. John's use of Jesus' favorite title for Himself: "Son of Man." In the Gospels, Jesus refers to Himself this way about 80 times. Outside of the Gospels, this title only appears in the New Testament in three other places: in Acts 7:56; Rev 1:13 and 14:14. The Aramaic (the language of Judea in Jesus' time) is bar'nishah and originally meant "man" or one descended from Adam. But the use of the title "Son of Man" in this passage recalls Daniel's vision of the divine Messiah: I was gazing into the visions of the night when I saw, coming on the clouds of heaven, as it were a Son of Man. He came to the One most venerable and was led into His presence. On Him was conferred rule, honor, and kingship (Dan 7:13-14).
In addition to the Daniel passage, where the "Son of Man" title refers to a divine Messiah who has the appearance of a man, the expression only appears in the Old Testament Book of Ezekiel. God addressed Ezekiel as "son of man" 93 times (beginning in Ez 2:1) and the term appears one other time in the Book of Daniel where the angel Gabriel called Daniel "son of man" in Daniel 8:17 ~ Son of man, He said to me, understand this: the vision shows the time of the End. Jesus used this title to stress His humanity, but He also used it to allude to Daniel's vision of the glorified Messiah, receiving all power and authority from the Father. In verse 12, the glorified Christ dressed as high priest, king, and prophet/judge fulfills Daniel's prophetic vision. Remember, God's prophets were His prosecuting attorneys; speaking God's words and bringing warnings of God's judgment.
But there is the question concerning the words "the End" spoken by the angel Gabriel; "the End" of what? Is it the End of Time and the Second Advent of Christ or the end of something else? According to the prophecy of the angel Gabriel in Daniel Chapter 9 and the vision of the "man" dressed in fine linen with a golden belt in Chapter 11, it is the end of both the liturgy of the Tamid twice-daily sacrifice in the Temple and the Old Covenant. The "man" dressed like Christ is John's vision tells Daniel: Armed forces shall move at his command and defile the sanctuary stronghold, abolishing the daily sacrifice [Tamid] and setting up the horrible abomination (Dan 11:31). In AD 70, the prophecy Daniel received was fulfilled. Roman General Titus defiled the Temple. Before fire engulfed the Temple, he entered the Temple's with his legions' standards bearing the images of pagan gods and, setting them up by the Temple's eastern gate, offered sacrifices to them. Then, he took the sacred furniture in the Holy Place (which he carried to Rome), and then entered the Holy of Holies, setting up the pagan standards within the Temple's holiest space; this was the "the horrible abomination" (Josephus, The Wars of the Jews, 6.4.7 [260]; 6.6.1 [316])
14 His head and His hair were white with the whiteness of
wool, like snow, and His eyes like a burning flame, His feet like burnished
bronze when it has been refined in a furnace, and His voice like the sound of the
ocean [many waters].
Compare John’s vision to Ezekiel’s vision of God (Ez 1:27-28).
"Many waters" or "abundant waters" is the literal translation rather than "ocean."
"Many
waters" is a key Biblical phrase symbolizing abundant grace and blessings; it is
repeated four times in Revelation and once in the Old Testament (see Ez 43:2;
Rev 1:15; 14:2; 17:1 and 19:6).
This fiery passage of the glorified Christ not only recalls Dan. 7:13 but also
Dan 7:9: While I was watching, thrones were set in place and the One most venerable (Ancient of Days) took His seat.
His robe was white a snow, the hair of His head as pure as wool. His throne was a blaze of flames, its wheels were a burning fire.
A stream of fire poured out issuing from His presence. A thousand thousand waited on Him, ten thousand times then thousand stood before Him.
The court was in session, and the books lay open. "The books" record human deeds, good and bad: see
Jer 17:1; Ps 40:8;
56:8; Dan 12:1;
Mal 3:16; Lk 10:12;
Rev 20:1). It is also interesting to compare these visions to Jesus Ben Sirach's
description of the glory of the High Priest in Ecclesiasticus (Sirach). It starts: How splendid he was with the people thronging around him,
when he emerged from the curtained shrine (Holy of Holies), like the morning star among the clouds, like the moon at the full, like the sun
shining on the Temple of the Most High, like the rainbow gleaming against brilliant clouds (Sir 50:5-12).
| Revelation | Daniel |
| in the middle of them, one like a Son of man, dressed in a long robe tied at the waist with a belt of gold (Rev 1:13). |
I was gazing into the visions of the night when I saw, coming on the clouds of heaven, as it were a son of man (Dan 7:13a). A man dressed in linen, with a belt of pure gold round his waist (Dan 10:6a). |
| His head and his hair were white with the whiteness of wool, like snow, his eyes like a burning flame, 15 his feet like burnished bronze when it has been refined in a furnace, and his voice like the sound of the ocean [many waters] (Rev 1:14). |
His robe was white as snow, the hair of his head was as white as pure as wool (Dan 7:9b). His body was like beryl, his face looked like lightning, his eyes were like fiery torches, his arms and his face had the gleam of burnished bronze; the sound of his voice was like the roar of a multitude (Dan 10:6bc). |
Let's look at the individual parts of Revelation 1:14-15 and compare them to the Old Testament passages linked to the images described in the verses:
How extraordinary it is that St. John completes the description of Christ with the statement that His voice was like the sound of many waters, perhaps resembling the earthly sounds like, wind, thunder, trumpets, armies, waterfalls, or maybe these earthly sounds were the most familiar ones to John in attempting to describe various facets of the Voice of God. However, in any case, the significance of St. John's vision is apparent: he has seen the resurrected, transfigured, glorified Jesus Christ who is the Incarnate Glory of God.
But why does John bring us back to all these Old Testament references? Why all these patterns of repetition? These patterns will be presented again and again in Revelation. We have also seen the first reference to the title "Alpha and the Omega," which is repeated four times (see Rev 1:8, 11; 21:6; 2:13) . Saying a thing twice intensifies it; repeitition is like underlining to add emphasis. But repetition is more that in Holy Scripture. Repetition between the Old and New Testament is continuity. We understand that there is continuity between Daniel's "Son of Man" vision of the divine Messiah and St. John's "Son of Man." We should also understand when we read the reference to the false prophet in the letter to the Church at Pergamum: some of you are followers of Balaam who taught Balak to set a trap for the Israelites so that they committed adultery (Rev 2:14), that the reference to the false prophet Balaam (Num 22:2ff) is a warning. It is telling us that what happened in the time of Balaam (over a thousand years before the birth of Jesus) could happen again in John's time. Therefore, it would be wise for us to be on our guard because it is equally likely to happen in our day with the same resulting judgment.
It is what God reveals continuously in Scripture. He has just one fundamental message for humanity: the good news of salvation. But in His desire that we should truly understand it, and also discern our limitations, He knows the one statement will not be enough as in Psalm 62:11 ~ Once God has spoken, but twice have I heard. That is why Joseph's Egyptian Pharaoh had two different dreams concerning the same message (Gen 41:1-7). Joseph, empowered by the Holy Spirit, interpreted the them as one message. It took two dreams to impress Pharaoh with the its validity and the urgency of action. Joseph's message was one message: "famine is coming," and he explained to Pharaoh: The reason why Pharaoh had the same dream twice is that the event is already determined by God, and God will shortly bring it about (Gen 41:32).
In the same way, Jesus uses repetition with His disciples who see two separate miracles that convey the same truth: the miracle feedings the five thousand and the four thousand (Mt 16:5-12). Jesus used repetition to teach them a particular lesson. The purpose of hitting the same nail several tines is to drive it home. But it may be more than that. The reason for repeating the Old Testament patterns in the Book of Revelation may be to reveal the truth conveyed in this book to be intensive rather than extensive. What we read here may be the working over in color, so to speak, of a picture we already know but only in outline. Instead of adding an extra piece of canvas onto the original picture, He gives it life by intensifying its prophetic message through repetition.
16 In His right hand He held seven stars
Jesus will interpret this for
John in Revelation 1:20. There are two aspects of the seven stars that are
worth noting. First, in the first century AD, seven stars appeared on the
Roman Emperor's coins as a symbol of his political sovereignty. By putting
seven stars in Jesus' hand instead, the message may be that power and dominion
over the earth belong to Christ the King of kings alone and not the human Roman
Emperor. There may also be a connection to the seven stars that make up the
cluster of stars known as the Pleiades that makes a chain that forms part of
the constellation Taurus, the Bull. They are mentioned by name in Job 9:5-9;
38:31-33; and Amos 5:8. The sun is with the constellation Taurus in the spring
(Easter time), and so the Pleiades are a fitting symbol in connection with the
celebration of the Resurrection of Christ.
out of His mouth came a
sharp sword, double-edged and His face was shining like the sun in full force.
This is a vision of the Word
that works to "save" as well as to bring "divine judgment." The image is from the
prophecy of the prophet Isaiah: He will strike the Land with the rod of His
mouth, and with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked (Is 11:4). A
passage from the Letter to the Hebrews also has this same imagery: The word
of God is something alive and active: it cuts more incisively than any two-edged
sword: it can seek out the place where soul is divided from spirit, or joints
from marrow; it can pass judgment on secret emotions and thoughts. No created
thing is hidden from Him; everything is uncovered and stretched fully open to
the eyes of the one to whom we must give account of ourselves (Heb 4:12-13).
Revelation 1:17-20 ~ Prologue/Preamble Conclusion
17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead, but
he laid his right hand on me and said, "Do not be afraid; it is I, the First
and the Last, I am the Living One. 18
I was dead and look, I am alive
forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and Hades. 19 Now write
down all that you see of present happenings and what is still to come. 20 The
secret of the seven stars you have seen in my right hand, and of the seven
golden lamp-stands, is this: the seven stars are the angels of the seven
churches, and the seven lamp-stands are the seven churches themselves."
17 When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though dead, but
he laid His right hand on me and said, "Do not be afraid;"
What would your reaction be
to such a vision of the glorified Christ? The prophet Daniel had a similar
experience, and his response was: I fell into a deep sleep with my face to
the ground. Then behold, a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands
and knees.... And when He had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling
(Dan 10:9-11). Then came Jesus' words of love and encouragement to John: "Do
Not Be Afraid!"1
it is I, the First and the
Last; I am the Living One. 18 I was dead and look, I am alive forever and ever, and
I hold the keys of death and of Hades.
Again, Jesus uses the phrase the
"first and the last" with the same meaning of the Alpha and Omega as He did in verse
8 and will again in 21:6 and 22:16 for a total of four times. The Old Testament
references to this phrase appear in the Book of Isaiah part II, often called
"The Book of the Consolation of Israel" in which Isaiah prophecies the coming
of the Messiah and the salvation of God's people:
Jesus also refers to another Old Testament title for God in this passage: the Living One, who has life in Himself (see Jn 1:4; 3:15; 5:21, 26). The phrase stresses the fact that the risen Christ is alive and present. It is a phrase that appears in Deuteronomy: For what creature of flesh could possibly live after hearing, as we have heard, the voice of the Living God speaking from the heart of the fire? (Dt 5:26).2 St. Paul was probably thinking of this title in his letter to the Romans when he wrote: [Christ] having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death is no longer master over Him (Rom 6:9).
Question: How many titles does Jesus use to identify Himself to John in Revelation 1:5-17?
Answer: Jesus identifies Himself by seven titles:
As mentioned in Lesson 1, "faithful witness" refers to Messianic Psalm 89:37 and the Davidic Covenant. Jesus fulfills the promises God made to David in 1 Samuel 7:12-29 (repeated in 2 Sam 23:5; 2 Chr 13:5; Sir 45:25; 47:11/13 and by the angel Gabriel to Mary in Lk 1:32-33) in His person and His mission.
Jesus is not only the heir of David, but by His resurrection, He is the "firstborn of the dead" (Col 1:18) who will reign over Heaven and earth as the "highest of earthly kings" (Dan 7:14; Rev 19:16; also see Is 55:3-4, and Zec 12:8 and 10).
Jesus is the "Alpha and Omega" (first and last letters in the Greek alphabet), meaning the beginning and end of all things in Creation (see Col 1:15-20; Is 41:41 44:6; Rev 2:8; 21:6 and 22:13).
He is the "Son of man" of Daniel’s vision of the Divine Judge (Dan 7:13 and 10:6), the "First and the Last," the same meaning as Alpha and Omega; and He is the "Living one," the One who has life in Himself with the power to transmit that life to others (Jn 1:4; 3:15; 5:21 and 26). Using this title, Jesus is telling John that in real-time, He is alive and present before His servant, John.
17b and I hold the keys of death and of Hades.
The Greek word Hades means the "abode of the dead."
The Hebrew word is Sheol, the grave which was or netherworld that also a
place of purification. See Jesus' description of Sheol in His parable
of Lazarus and the Rich Man in Luke 16:19-31. We use the Latin word Purgatory;
it is a state that will continue to exist with a purpose until Revelation 20:13-14.
The Roman Empire claimed to have all authority, even over life and
death/the grave. But Christ in His resurrection defeated sin and death. He is
now the Lord of all lords, and He holds the keys to life and death/the grave.
God first entrusted those keys
of life and death, which existed since Creation, to someone else.
Question: To whom did God first entrust the "keys" life, death,
and the grave?
Answer: Adam.b
Adam received complete dominion over God's Sanctuary in Eden and the earth (see Gen 1:28-29). He was, in a sense, God's first high priest of the earthly Sanctuary and the first covenant mediator. As the keeper of Eden, Adam s covenant obligation was to keep and guard the Garden Sanctuary and to have control over the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (Gen 1:15-17). In essence, the control over these supernatural trees gave Adam the "keys" to supernatural life, spiritual death, and the by-product of spiritual death that was physical death. Adam, therefore, had power over both death and the grave, Sheol in Hebrew or Hades in the Greek.
Question: To who did Jesus, the High Priest and King of the New
Covenant, give the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth and the power to open
or close the gates of Heaven? See Mt 16:13-20, 18:18, and Jn 20:23.
Answer: To Simon-Peter, the other Apostles, and their
successors.
With these keys, the Church, led by Christ's Vicar the Pope, will have the mission to "bind or loose" sins. The Church has the power to rescue the elect from death's dominion (from the death of the soul). The Church can forgive sins to lead them into the Kingdom of Heaven just as Jesus rescued the dead souls trapped in Sheol/Hades (the netherworld of the grave) after His resurrection (see 1 Pt 3:18-19 and Jn 5:26-28; for Old Testament references for Sheol see Gen 37:35; Num 16:33; Dt 5:26; 52:6; Is 14:9; 38:18; 1 Sam 2:6, 8:19; Ps 6:5; 16:10-11; 49:15; 88:4-5, 11-12; 89:6; 115:17; Ez 32:17-32; Amos 9:2; 2 Mac 12:38f; Wis 3:4-5, and CCC 633).
19 Now write down all that you see and what are of the
present happenings, and what is still to come.
The "present happenings" are events
that are on-going in the Roman Empire and Judea during the present time in John's
imprisonment. The "still to come" will be events in John's near future and the
near future of Judea and Rome.
Question: John received three commands "to write" in verse 19. What
are they?
Answer:
Question: What has he seen?
Answer: The vision of the glorified Jesus Christ.
Question: What will is the present situation?
Answer: The condition of the seven churches in Asia Minor
Many Bible scholars view the three commands as a natural division of the Book of Revelation. However, there is a problem with that interpretation. It cannot be a clear-cut division because the Book of Revelation, like all other Biblical prophecies, weaves past, present, and future together throughout the entire book. It is more likely that John's command is to:
20 The secret of the seven stars you have seen in my
right hand, and of the seven golden lamp-stands, is this: the seven stars are
the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lamp-stands are the seven
churches themselves."
Jesus reveals the "secret" of
the seven stars He carries and the seven golden lampstands.
Question: What are the seven stars?
Answer: They are the guardian angels of the seven churches.
Question: What are the seven lampstands?
Answer: They are the seven churches who are responsible for
illuminating through word and deed Christ in the life of the community and to
the world.
It also appears that there is a parallel to the description of the One who was and who is and who is coming. Notice in verse 20 that the seven churches, which represent the Church as a whole, are no more than seven lampstands. The "light" isn't coming from the lampstands; the light is Christ and the churches that are the lampstands (verse 20) through which He shines to illuminate the world with the Gospel of salvation.
Endnotes:
1. "Do not be afraid" were the first words spoken by the
newly elected Pope John Paul II as he stood on the balcony of the Vatican and
greeted the crowds for the first time. John Paul II took the words of Christ
to John as his motto.
2. Also see Josh 3:10, Ps 42:2, and Jer 10:10.
Michal Hunt, Copyright © 2000, revised 2019 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.
Catechism references for this
lesson (*indicated Scripture is quoted or paraphrased in the citation):
Rev 1:17 (CCC 612);
1:18 (CCC 625, 633*, 635, 2854)