The Epistle of Jesus to the Church: A Commentary on the Revelation

By James D. Quiggle

The Epistle of Jesus to the Church is a commentary on the book of Revelation that assumes Jesus was the author and John the reporter of the words and events described. Here one will not find an explanation of an anti-Roman message written by John in hidden codes and apocalyptic motifs to fool Roman authorities. John the apostle and prophet was the faithful scribe, who did not create the message but faithfully and accurately described all that he saw and heard. This commentary follows the principle that the Scriptures explain themselves, because the Revelation is a word from Jesus to his church--a word that is grounded in the Scriptures. The Epistle of Jesus to the Church has been written with teachers, students, and pastors in mind. The interpretation of the book of Revelation is thorough; difficult passages are addressed, and plausible answers are provided to the questions posed by in-depth study of the biblical book. This is a commentary for personal study or classroom instruction, one that may be confidently used to preach and teach the Revelation of Jesus to the church.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Release date: Jan 1, 2008
• ISBN: 9781621892243

James D. Quiggle

James D. Quiggle was born in 1952 at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. He grew up in Kansas and the Texas Panhandle. In the early 1970s he joined the United States Air Force. At his first permanent assignment in Indian Springs, Nevada in a small Baptist church, the pastor introduced him to Jesus and soon after he was saved. Over the next ten years those he met in churches from the East Coast to the West Coast, mature Christian men, poured themselves into mentoring him. In the 1970s he was gifted with the Scofield Bible Course from Moody Bible Institute. As he completed his studies his spiritual gift of teaching became even more apparent. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Bethany Bible College during the 1980s while still in the Air Force. Between 2006–2008, after his career in the Air Force and with his children grown up, he decided to continue his education. He enrolled in Bethany Divinity College and Seminary and earned a Master of Arts in Religion and a Master of Theological Studies.As an extension of his spiritual gift of teaching, he was prompted by the Holy Spirit to begin writing books. James Quiggle is now a Christian author with over fifty commentaries on Bible books and doctrines. He is an editor for the Evangelical Dispensational Quarterly Journal published by Scofield Biblical Institute and Theological Seminary.He continues to write and has a vibrant teaching ministry through social media.

Book preview

Revelation One

¹ The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, . . .

Charles Hodge (1797–1878) wrote, "It [the exposition of Revelation¹] requires great humility and soundness of judgment, great familiarity with the scriptures, and great spirituality of mind."² As we study this book may we seek the wisdom, humility, and fellowship with God and the Scripture that Hodge recommended.

The first seventeen verses of the book are from John’s inspired hand (vv. 1–17a). They comprise a title, greeting, blessing, introduction, and the circumstances in which John received the prophecy. John’s introduction was written after he received the prophecy, and is based on what he had heard and seen. The phrase ‘the apocalypse [revelation] which God granted him [Christ]’ is without parallel in the rest of the book and has a distinct Johannine ring: God is the ultimate source of revelation, and Christ, the agent of that revelation, transmits it to believers.³ The word revelation is the translation of the Greek apokalypsis. The word refers to a disclosure of what had been concealed . . . and is a convenient vehicle to express the further ideas of ‘a disclosure of divine truth,’ or ‘a manifestation from God.’⁴ The book has been categorized as apocalyptic, partly because of its self-contained title and partly because of the subject matter. The writing, however, is quite distanced and distinct from the world’s definition of this literary genre. Here is a creation of God, not a man-made product forcing history to masquerade as prophecy. Revelation, then, describes itself as the revealing or disclosure of that which was once hidden but is now made known by Jesus Christ. The Apokalypsis of Jesus Christ, refers to data that Jesus Christ was inspired to reveal to his servants.⁵ John recognizes that the book is God revealing the future by identifying it as a prophecy, 1:3. Prophecy is not the work of a human author. In the revelation of prophecy the human author is the scribe of the Holy Spirit, as Tertius was the scribe of Paul, Romans 16:22. John the apostle is not the author of the Revelation in the usual and expected sense of that word; this prophecy is the work and words of Jesus Christ. He is the author and John is the scribe of the book.⁶ Per the instructions of his Savior, 1:19, John wrote the things he saw and heard. This means that John did not interpretively filter the things he saw and heard through the matrix of his own experience and understanding. His memory and writing skills were superintended by the Holy Spirit in those processes collectively known as divine inspiration.

The true author of the Revelation, God the Father, is revealed in this first verse. We must take care not to diminish the Son’s nature as God-man. During his time on the earth, Jesus had knowledge of future events, but self-limited his knowledge on certain details (e.g., Matthew 24:36; Mark 13:32; Acts 1:7). Now, having completed his earthly mission to make a propitiation for sin, Jesus is exalted and glorified, and all self-limitations are gone. Why then is it said God gave the Revelation to Jesus Christ? Because it is his offices, and not his essential deity, that are in view. Jesus Christ, who is very God and very man, is the Head of the Church, Savior-Redeemer of sinners, and coming Lord of lords and King of kings. In his offices the Son is subordinate to the Father, thus the Revelation was given to the God-man by the Father. He in turn, as the Head of the Church, gives the prophecy to his people. Jesus Christ, as the mediator of the prophetic word to his servants, has sent his messengers, the angels, to reveal it to his servants, Christians, through his servant John. Here is the answer to the apostles’ question in Acts 1:7.

These things Jesus and his angels will reveal are things which must shortly take place. Some have understood this phrase as indicating the events recorded in the book must take place within a short period of time after John received the Revelation. Accordingly, they have adopted the preterist view: the prophecies detail the church’s struggle against the Roman Empire, and were fulfilled when the Roman Emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan in 313 allowing freedom of worship. The preterist view must adopt a less than literal interpretive model in an effort to overcome the immovable opposition of history: certain events of the prophecy have not yet happened. The preterist view seems sound on the surface, because a general application of the prophecies to certain past and present events is frankly admitted, for history is ever repeating itself.⁷ However, the inescapable conclusion one draws from history is that all these prophecies have not been fulfilled by any series or combination of historical events. This same objection is applicable to the historicist view.⁸

The word shortly indicates the sure accomplishment of God’s purposes.⁹ When these events begin to occur, they shall be completed in a short period of time. This is the same as Daniel 12:6. The question, ‘How long shall the fulfillment of these wonders be?’ refers not to, ‘how long before this prophecy takes effect’ [but], ‘how long will these things continue when they begin to occur.’¹⁰ The answer is shortly i.e., with haste, or rapidly. The prophecies of Daniel provide guidance to the proper interpretation of shortly in the Revelation. Shortly takes place within Daniel’s seventieth seven. Events in Revelation 4–19 are specifically in Daniel 9:27, the seventieth seven of Daniel’s prophecy of the seventy sevens. The purpose of the seventieth seven is to bring earthly schemes and rebellions to the climax of their power and make an end to man’s domination of God’s people.¹¹ The prophetic line of end-time events leading to Messiah’s kingdom is clearly outlined in Daniel 2, 7, 9, 11, and 12. The culmination of these events—the filling in of the outline—is described by Revelation. When the time for the seventieth seven arrives, the shortly of Revelation will take place. Shortly also defines the intended audience of the prophecies. Although Revelation is an encouragement to every Christian of every age, because God wins, the prophetic part of the vision has the greater application to those who shall experience the fulfillment. Within the context of their circumstances these things will take place rapidly. Therefore, the intervening years between John and the fulfillment are not part of shortly. Christ’s encouragement and admonition to the seven Churches is always applicable to the church, and there are spiritual lessons in Revelation 4–22 that may be applied at any time. But the literal fulfillment of the prophecies will occur during a specific time in man’s future history. When the time is reached, these events described by John will shortly take place.

Biblical prophecy is not primarily three-dimensional but two; it has height and breadth but is little concerned with depth, i.e., the chronology of future events. There is in biblical prophecy a tension between the immediate and distant future; the distant is viewed through the transparency of the immediate.¹² The prophets saw the immediate and the distant future as one event without seeing the intervening events and years (Daniel 10:1 is a rare exception). Thus, we may also understand shortly in the sense of imminent. From the prophetic perspective believers always stand at the door of fulfillment. From God’s perspective the events are in readiness to be fulfilled. Therefore, the most satisfying solution is to take the word in a straightforward sense [suddenly, without delay once the appointed time arrives], remembering that in the prophetic outlook the end is always imminent.¹³ From an imminent perspective, the next event on God’s prophetic calendar is marked when the Lamb opened one of the seals (6:1). The book, then, is a revealing of future events, as told by Jesus Christ. They are, the things which must happen, a reference to future events (Daniel 2:29, 45; Matthew 24:6; Revelation 4:1; 22:6¹⁴). From both John’s perspective and from the perspective of the living church, the Revelation reveals future events.

The purpose of the book is threefold. First, the high priest and judge of the church, her Savior and Master Jesus Christ, will judge his church, Revelation 2, 3. He will set forth the eternal principles and precepts by which his church is to conduct its business in the world, and by which its success and failure, reward and loss of reward, will be evaluated at the Judgment Seat of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:9–11; 1 Corinthians 3:5–16). Second, the Revelation will reveal God’s plans to bring salvation to multitudes, bring an end to the dominion of Satan, evil angels, Antichrist, and unsaved man, and inaugurate the kingdom of Messiah. Third, but hardly last in importance, the Revelation is a revealing of things about Jesus. The primary understanding of apokalypsis is a revelation by Jesus Christ; Jesus reveals the things written in the book. However, the word also has two secondary meanings: a revealing of future things about Christ not revealed before; a revealing of Christ himself, that is, when he is revealed from heaven.¹⁵

Jesus sent and signified the Revelation by his angel. The word translated signified, semaino, means to indicate or declare,¹⁶ (John 12:33; 18:32; 21:19; Acts 11:28; 25:27), which communication includes words and symbols. In John 12:32, 33, Jesus says, "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself. This He said, signifying (semaino) by what death He would die. The use in Acts 25:27 is especially clear, For it seems to me unreasonable to send a prisoner and not to specify (semaino) the charges against him. Smalley states this word as used in Revelation 1:1 has the force of disclosing deep truths. The seer will inevitably and consistently interpret the truth he receives symbolically; and this should warn the reader against an interpretation of Revelation which is literal and (although anchored in history) purely historical.¹⁷ This is stretching the meaning of the word beyond its use. The seer (John) is not the interpreter. Jesus is the one making known (semaino)" the truths to be disclosed in the Revelation. Therefore he is the one who will provide the interpretation (in the normal way, through illumination by the Spirit). A literal interpretation is not excluded by the use of semaino.

Jesus sent and signified the Revelation by his angel, angelo. The Greek word, angelo,¹⁸ means messenger. The pronoun he in the phrase And he sent could refer to the Father. This interpretation would mean angelo refers to Jesus Christ as God’s messenger. However, the Scripture usually uses angelo to refer to the sentient spirit beings known as angels. In the Revelation angelo usually indicates these sentient spirit beings. Their abode is the spirit plane of existence, as opposed to the material plane where human beings live. The Greek word angelo is usually transliterated as angel, not translated as messenger. The identification of angels as messengers has more to do with their function versus form or personality. From the point of view of Christians, the holy angels are messengers sent by God to minister to believers (Hebrews 1:14). We should not assume only one angel received a commission from Christ to reveal the Revelation to John. The words his angel, though singular in number, is probably used as a generic to indicate several angels. This agrees with what we see in the book: several angels working together to present the message. Jesus sent his messengers, the sentient spirit beings, to present the Revelation (the identity of the angels of the churches will be discussed at 1:20).

God gave Jesus Christ this revelation to show to his servants, Jesus then declared it (semaino) to his servant John through the angels. John calls himself a servant (doulos, literally slave) aligning himself with the believers who are also called ‘servants’ above.¹⁹ The designation servant (slave), "may also be understood from the Old Testament and early Jewish literature and in New Testament epistolary literature as a title of honor . . . [It had become] a common self-designation for Christian leaders in epistolary subscriptions, a self-designation that gained stature by association with the term ‘apostle,’ clearly a title of honor."²⁰ These thoughts probably never occurred to John; Christians were and are by nature the servants and agents of Jesus Christ. John’s relationship to Jesus was certainly as servant and disciple (John 21:20).

² . . . who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, and to all things that he saw.

John is anonymous in his other four writings, though well known by his descriptions of himself. Here, John affirms that he both saw and heard the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. John uses a verbal tense known as an epistolary aorist²¹ (a tense unknown in English) to describe his witness. By using the epistolary aorist John places himself at the moment when his book is read in the churches as the written record of him who ‘testified.’ We should use the perfect [tense], ‘has testified.’²² His is an eyewitness testimony. The character of the prophetic visions-words and the nature of the revelation as seeing far into the future made such a validation necessary. John affirms that he did not create the visions and words of this book; he was simply the witness who wrote down all the things that he saw and heard. The double witness, i.e., the word and the testimony, are of singular importance. What John has written in testimony is no less than ‘the Word of God,’ no less than ‘the testimony of Jesus Christ.’²³ Scott writes, "as the apocalypse treats mainly of the public government of God, both the ‘word’ and the ‘testimony’ refer especially to the display of divine authority and rule over the earth. We [Scott] regard the Word of God as that which he directly or mediately expresses, and the testimony of Jesus Christ that which he himself, or by his angel, announces."²⁴

³ Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.

On the brink of a prophecy that speaks of terrifying and horrible events, John thinks it wise to remind his readers that they are not the cause of this world-wide tribulation. Reading the prophecy is a blessing, not a warning or a chastisement to the church, as so many Old Testament prophecies were to Israel. All too many times in Israel’s history their calamity was caused by their sin; compare Daniel 9:1–19. However, one should not think of the events shown in the Revelation as caused by the sins of the church. The New Testament church has not failed in its mission to mediate salvation to the world. The life of the church was prophesied to be one of trouble, persecution, and rejection. Let no one think the current popularity of Christianity in some parts of the world is genuine or lasting. Many will call themselves Christians of whom the Lord will say I never knew you. This revelation—the Revelation—of world-wide tribulation was given to encourage the church that there is an end to its labors when believers will enter into the rest of their Lord.²⁵ The success of the church has never been measured, in God’s eyes, by the number of conversions, but rather by perseverance in being a faithful witness. Christians are stewards of the gospel, and it is required of stewards that they be found faithful

(1 Corinthians 4:2). Testimony is the work of the church, conversions are the work of the Spirit. The time is coming when the New Testament church will pass its cause to others—not because they are better suited to the task, but because the time will have come for others to wear the mantle (cf. 1 Kings 19:16).

The cause of the Tribulation is the sin of the world. Nowhere in the Revelation are the transgressions of believers listed as the cause. The view that sees the church as having failed, and departed from the character in which they would have been true light-bearers, in suffering witness to a rejected Christ,²⁶ or as compromising with the world,²⁷ misses the point.²⁸ The world has rejected Christ. The point is to save some sinners out of the mass of unrepentant sinners, and to bring to an end the evil that currently defiles God’s creation. The church has not failed in the sense that its failure is the cause of the Tribulation. The church has failed in many things during its long history. The church has not always maintained its holiness, doctrinal purity, stewardship, and evangelistic fervor. Parts of the church today fail in these same areas. These, however, have not caused the Tribulation. The cause is that the world continues to reject God’s love in Christ. The longsuffering of a holy God will come to an end. The time will come for his long-delayed wrath to execute justice against a world that has rejected his offer of love in his Son. In that light, the beatitude in this verse takes on new meaning. The words of the prophecy spell out doom for mankind but salvation for those sinners who repent and believe.

The blessedness (a beatitude) that will accompany the experience of reading, hearing, and keeping the words of this book is unique. All Scripture promises a blessing when one reads/hears and keeps the words. For example, Jesus told his disciples (by implication every believer), You are my Friends if you obey my commandments. Psalm 119:2 encourages the believer to know the testimonies of God, Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with the whole heart! Proverbs 8:34 expresses the same thought, Blessed is the man who listens to me [wisdom], watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. All these involve reading and obeying the word of God. This verse, however, is specific, blessed is he who reads, he who hears, and he who keeps this testimony of Jesus Christ. Such a benediction is attached to no other book of Scripture . . . a special kind or degree of blessing [is] to be secured by its devout study, or at the very least a gracious warning against some special danger of neglect, and of spiritual injury arising there from.²⁹ One finds it hard to believe, given this promise, that so many believers avoid the Revelation. One doesn’t have to understand all of Revelation to see Christ glorified, the church instructed, evil vanquished, and Christ’s servants made secure. The chief value of prophecy, as well as its first, direct and most evident design, has been to cheer and sustain the faith and fainting hopes of God’s people during the long ages of trial and sorrow that precede the glorious consummation it predicts.³⁰

John’s threefold injunction, to read, hear, and keep, may have in mind a practice of the synagogue and the early church. Although literacy was high in the ancient world, the rate of functional literacy diminished among the domestic and laboring classes, the vast majority of whom were slaves. For every domestic slave who kept the family finances, taught the children, or practiced medicine, there were dozens who simply labored at cooking, cleaning, farming, or attending to the various needs of their mistresses and masters. These had little use for or training in reading and writing. Literacy was even less among those who worked themselves to an early death in the fields, mines, and quarries. The early church was in the main composed of the slave and lower socioeconomic classes. Also, books and manuscripts were laboriously copied, not printed, so individual copies were unavailable to every church member. Thus, there was an established position of public reader in the church. The position was drawn from the synagogue practice of using various readers, the number of which was set by tradition (later codified in the Mishnah), to read the scriptures to the worshipers. By the second century the public reader had become an officer of the church; in John’s day it was less formal. When Paul asks the Colossians to read the letter he had sent to the Laodiceans (Colossians 4:16) he was referring to this practice. The Revelation was intended to be read during the church service. John pronounces a benediction upon the person or persons in a church who would be the one to read the Revelation, and also a benediction to the listeners, and an admonishment to all to keep the word they had read/heard. To keep may have more than one sense. In the first sense, to keep means to be obedient. Secondarily, it means to preserve and maintain; to preserve in the heart by faith, to let no one tamper with the treasure . . . to let what is kept mold and shape our lives.³¹ They were to be obedient, and to be careful to remain obedient; they were to preserve and pass this Word and Testimony to succeeding generations.

The reason given for this beatitude and exhortation is that the time is near, thus we have much blessing to gain in a short time. The word near speaks of imminence. These events may start at any moment. Throughout, the focus is not just on eschatology but on ethics. In other words, in the light of the fact that ‘the time is near,’ we are called to live decisively and completely for God.³² It matters not that time has passed between John and succeeding generations. The message always blesses, because the knowledge of victory sustains us and the exhortation to the churches instructs us. Each generation is to be prepared for the coming of the Lord, because it is imminent: Sanctify yourselves: for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you, Joshua 3:5. Prophecy annihilates time, and all intervening and even opposing circumstances, and sets one down on the threshold of accomplishment . . . it might seem at times as if God had let slip the reins of government and ceased to intervene in human affairs. But it is not so . . . God’s lengthened delay of nigh two thousand years has proved a rich season of grace to the world . . . the hand of God, although unseen, is working out a scheme of good (Romans 8:28), which will result to his eternal glory, the true end of all.³³

The time is at hand. It cannot be meant by these words that the whole of the prophecies of this book were to be accomplished immediately . . . It can only mean that the conflicts and triumphs, which were to end only when death and hell were to be cast into the Lake of Fire, were even then about commencing; and that very soon the whole of the principles of the long and fearful strife would be developed in events of stirring interest and importance to the church . . . the mystery of iniquity was already at work; already had the malice of Satan been stimulated to stir up false brethren within, and excite violence without the church; and storms fierce and furious as hell could raise would soon be bursting over her,—storms that, even when calmed, would again and again repeat themselves. The time, therefore, was at hand when all these warnings of danger and glorious promises of triumph would be needed. And if needed then, they would be needed always. In every age, as the conflict waxed hotter and the final victory drew nearer, there would be the same or increasing need of the light which this revelation alone would be able to throw on the pathway and progress of the spiritual kingdom. Hence in all ages, blessed would every soul be who would hear and keep these words of warning and encouragement.³⁴

John described the revelatory message from Jesus as prophecy. What is prophecy? The prophets were sent by God to perform a threefold work. The necessity for this work was the spiritual condition of the people: they had turned away from their worship of the one true God to worship idols; they had adopted a life of immorality; they had begun to live according to worldly principles. God sent prophets in an effort to recover his people from their sins. The first work of a prophet was to preach the message of repentance, faith, and salvation; in short, the good news of worship, obedience, and faith toward YHWH. This was the work of forth-telling, that is, preaching. If the people responded appropriately the prophet’s work was completed. However, if the people rejected the message, the prophet moved to his second work, warning. The work of warning followed two paths that all too soon became well-worn in the history of Israel. In the first path the prophets forcefully rehearsed the various warnings, curses, judgments, and historical examples of Scripture concerning God’s past judgment of sin. Then, the prophets threatened that the same would happen to this generation should they continue in their course of sin. Should this first message of warning be rejected then the prophet’s turned to second path, they predicted immediate judgments to come. Jeremiah’s prophecy of the captivity of Israel and destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar is a classic example of preaching repentance, warning, and judgment. Should the people continue to forsake their God and reject his message of judgment, then the prophet began his third work. His fore-telling passed beyond the present times and immediate future, away from the doomed sinners now ignorantly and in unbelief awaiting the coming predicted judgments, to the far future. The prophet began to fore-tell the distant future when God would bring about an era of everlasting righteousness and gather his erring people unto himself in an everlasting salvation. Most of these prophetic messages included trials and persecutions for the faithful, before judgment on God’s enemies and the inauguration of God’s kingdom took place.

Thus the order of the prophets’ work was a call to repentance, warning, prophetic judgment, then prophecy of far away future bliss, usually reached through a period of tribulation. This call to faith, this warning of judgment, and this prediction of a better future on the other side of tribulation, is what John meant by prophecy. The Revelation follows this pattern of prophetic activity. Throughout there is the work of God and the necessity of a moral response from man. The church, then and now, is called to faith via the letters to seven churches. There are warnings of judgment should they turn back from faith, and blessings to those who are faithful. Then prophetic judgment followed by the message of blessedness on the other side of tribulation. The main difference in this prophecy is that the coming tribulation is not the result of the church’s failure, but is due solely to the failure of the world to heed the gospel message. For the gospel, in addition to being a call to faith in the good news of salvation, is a prophetic warning of judgment, and a promise of eternal blessings after enduring tribulation. The wise shall understand and be righteous; those who reject the message will fall into everlasting shame. Revelation is thus prophecy in the fullest and truest senses of warning and judgment followed by a prophecy of tribulation and blessing, given by the One who instructed the prophets, for the (Holy) Spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Christ.

As we leave John’s introduction, it may be well to mark for a moment that tendency to divide his matter into three parts which peculiarly distinguishes St. John . . . There are obviously three parts in the Introduction,—the Source, the Contents, and the Importance of the revelation; and each of these is again divided into three. Three persons are mentioned when the Source is spoken of,—God, Jesus Christ, and the servants of Jesus; three when the Contents are referred to,—the Word of God, the Testimony of Jesus, and All things that he saw; and three when the Importance of the book is described,—He that readeth, They that hear, and They that keep the things written therein.³⁵

⁴ John, to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, to the seven churches which are in Asia . . .

Grace to You and Peace . . .

John begins his letter (of introduction to the Revelation) with the usual and customary greeting of the times, grace and peace. God’s grace in Jesus Christ has brought the believer into peace with God; John wishes for the condition of peace through grace to continue and grow into more blessedness toward every believer. The letter is addressed to the seven churches which are in Asia. By this time in the church’s history there were more than seven churches in Asia, e.g., Troas (Acts 20:5), Colossae and Hierapolis (Colossians 1:1; 2:1; 4:13), Miletus (2 Timothy 4:20), and probably in the city of Magnesia. Not all of the churches in this list of seven were previously known to the reader of the New Testament Acts and epistles—Pergamos, for example, is mentioned only in Revelation. Note also, Revelation 22:16, the message is intended for the churches, i.e., all the churches, the church universal. So, why these particular seven out of so many that John would have known? John did not select them; Jesus told John to write to each one, 1:11; 2:1, 8, 12, 18; 3:1, 7, 14. So the question of John’s knowledge of, or association with, these seven churches is of little value with respect to the choice of these seven as recipients of the letters. Why did Jesus select these seven churches as the initial recipients of the Revelation?

One reason may be their location. Ramsay long ago pointed out that traveling and communication, of course, are inextricably involved in the road system: they are carried out, not along the shortest lines between the various points, but according to the roads that connect them. And all the Seven Cities stand on the great circular road that bound together the most populous, wealthy, and influential part of the province, the west-central region.³⁶ Communication was carried by foot and these were the cities one would need to contact to spread a message throughout the region. This is the road a messenger—perhaps John himself—would travel to take copies of the Revelation to the prominent churches in the region. In fact, the order listed, 1:11, is the order in which a messenger would encounter these churches as he made his circuit along the great road from the seaport at Miletus or Ephesus. From these key churches more copies would spread to all the churches in the region; and spread further west via this road’s connection with the main roads to and from the center of the empire, Rome, and further east and south along similar roads.

Another, better, reason as to why Jesus selected these seven churches was their spiritual condition. Anticipating chapters two and three, I find these churches reflect a variety of spiritual conditions and worldly circumstances. Leaving aside for now the question of the prophetic nature of these conditions and circumstances, it is fair to say that these churches demonstrate the trials and triumphs, successes and defeats, persecutions and martyrdoms, and the spiritual ups and downs that the universal church experiences as individual local churches. The known history of the church reveals that the spiritual conditions and worldly circumstances of any local church in any age may be found as represented by one or more of these seven churches. The principles and precepts of faithful living that Jesus expounded to each of the seven churches adequately reflects the standards by which Jesus will judge believers at his judgment seat (2 Corinthians 5:10). "The ‘seven churches’ indicate representative assemblies, both as to history and as to spiritual state . . . Let us, therefore, at once take these seven churches as representing all the assemblies of the church’s history."³⁷ This view (of the churches as representative) relieves us of the necessity to assign a symbolic reason to the number seven³⁸ (at this point), because these seven churches capture the essential conditions that may be found in any local church at any time. However, both views (location on the Roman road and spiritual condition of each church) have merit, and one need not exclude the other.

From Him Who Is and Who Was and Who Is to Come

The blessings of grace and peace are extended from the godhead, Father, Spirit, and Son (v. 5), in a complicated formula used by John that occurs nowhere else but the Revelation. Based on its use in 1:8; 4:8; and 11:17 it is apparent John adopted it for his opening salutation upon hearing it in the words and visions he experienced. Aune says, "Revelation 1:4–5c is distinctive [from other apostolic greetings] because it mentions no fewer than three divine sources of grace and peace . . . First, rather than explicitly mentioning the name ‘God’ or ‘God the Father,’ he has substituted a title consisting of three elements, which he himself formulated. Second, he has qualified the name ‘Jesus Christ’ with three titles

. . . that focus on the three central moments in the story of Jesus . . . Third, the author has inserted a third source of grace and peace [not seen in other epistles], ‘the seven spirits before the throne.’ The result is a highly formal arrangement of three ultimate sources for the grace and peace wish, emphasized by the threefold repetition of the proposition apo, ‘from,’ with the entire structure framed by three titles of God and three titles of Jesus Christ."³⁹ John was a profound theologian who significantly contributed to our understanding of God and made a significant contribution to our worship, praise, and adoration of the godhead.

Him who is and who was and who is to come is a statement about God,⁴⁰ but the Father is the divine Person who is in view. This statement is the New Testament counterpart of Exodus 3:14, I Am who I Am. The Greek is a quaint and deliberate violation of grammar to preserve the immutability and absoluteness of the divine name from declension.⁴¹ These words seem intended to represent as far as possible that incommunicable and mysterious name by which God revealed himself to Moses . . . The words used in the original Greek . . . violate the most ordinary and fixed rules of grammar, as if . . . indeed no human language can bear the burden of this name.⁴² What is in view is not merely God’s eternal nature, but his essential nature as a self-existent Being. God has life in himself; he is the origin and source of all life in his creation. The grace and peace which flow from this divine Person are as unchangeable and eternal as the Father’s nature and eternal purpose of love, whence they sprang.⁴³

And from the Seven Spirits Who Are before His Throne

If John intended to represent grace and peace as coming from the holy Trinity, then this representation must be symbolic of the Holy Spirit. The position of the seven spirits before the throne is one of subordination. Because of this subordinate position, several commentators assume that these seven spirits must be angels. The appearance of seven angels in 8:2 is sometimes used to justify this position⁴⁴ (however, as 8:2 itself explains, there are seven angels because there are seven trumpets⁴⁵). The identification of the seven spirits as the Holy Spirit is obvious when one understands angels are never referred to as pneumata, spirits, in Revelation, but always as angelo. Moreover, one must consider the theological implications of identifying the seven spirits as seven angels. The most decisive consideration against a reference to angels is the impossibility that created beings could be seen as a source of an invocation of grace and peace in 1:4–5. This would place them alongside the Father and Son as equals, and the strict prohibitions against angel worship elsewhere in the book (19:10; 22:9) make it inconceivable that angels would be placed side-by-side with the Father and Son in such a role.⁴⁶

The representation does symbolize the Holy Spirit. The godhead explains its internal relations and workings in language that finite man may understand. The Holy Spirit and the Son are co-essential, co-equal, and co-eternal with the Father. In the relations among the Persons of the godhead respecting man’s redemption, there appears to be an agreement (a covenant) as to how each Person will act: the Father proposed the plan of salvation, the Son accomplished the plan, and the Spirit applies salvation to man. Within the boundaries of this relationship the Son is shown as subordinate to the Father in his office of Redeemer. The portrayal of Christ the Redeemer as subordinate to the Father is so complete and so persuasive that various cults have denied Christ deity. So too, here and in Revelation 4:5, the portrayal of the Holy Spirit is that of an office or offices the Spirit himself fulfills as a member of the Trinity. John 14 presents an example of the Spirit’s subordination. Jesus says that he will pray to his Father (an example of Jesus’ subordination) to give you another Helper, and that the Father will send the Helper, the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ name. The offices in view are the Minister of Christ and Teacher of believers. This is even more plainly said in John 16:13, the Holy Spirit will not speak on his own authority but what he hears, from Christ, that he will speak. In these offices the Spirit is represented as subordinate to the Father and the Son. This representation has nothing to do with the Spirit’s essential deity and co-equality with the Father and Son, but is part of the plan of man’s redemption. In his offices the Spirit is sent by the Father in response to the Son’s prayer and acts on Christ’s behalf. Therefore, the portrayal is one of subordination as he fulfills the offices.

Viewed in relationship to the world-wide events of the Tribulation, the seven-fold representation of the Spirit indicates his action in the government of the world. The Spirit is before his throne, writes Scott, because the primal thought in [Revelation] is the public government of earth . . . the Spirit acts governmentally from heaven on earth.⁴⁷ Thus, the plenitude of his power and diversified activity are expressed in the term ‘seven spirits,’ the fullness of spiritual activity (compare Isaiah 11:2; Revelation 3:1; 4:5; 5:6).⁴⁸ I have previously suggested (footnote 38) that seven is a number which symbolically represents completeness. Wilson’s view is, the number seven occurs very frequently throughout the book of Revelation, and in each case it indicates the perfect character of God, his perfect integrity, equity and justice in all his dealings with man.⁴⁹ In Zechariah there are several examples of the use of seven as explanatory of the ministries of the Holy Spirit. Zechariah speaks of seven eyes, which Wilson understands as the perfect omniscience of the Holy Spirit.⁵⁰ Note in this passage the office of the Spirit is associated with Christ, who is the Branch of Zechariah 3:9. This association is found in Revelation 3:1 and 5:6. The latter reference, seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth, is also from Zechariah, 4:10. The omniscience and the judgment of God are evident in this verse. The sevenfold Spirit is sent both by the Father and the Son to be the Son’s eyes and presence in this world.⁵¹ The Old Testament Scripture has many references to the eyes of God, and I submit that the primary reference in each case is to the omniscient Holy Spirit at work in the world. In relationship to believers Zechariah 4:6 indicates the Spirit’s work: Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of hosts. We again find an association with Christ, for he, in his offices as the messianic king-priest, must be one of the two anointed ones pouring the oil of the Holy Spirit (Zechariah 4:6) into the lampstand: These are the two anointed ones, who stand beside the Lord of the whole earth. Though the immediate reference is to Zerubbabel and Joshua, the figure looks to Christ and the Holy Spirit as the anointed ones who empower believers to perform the will of God.

As to Revelation 1:4, the seven Spirits which are before his throne [are] not so much the Spirit viewed in his individual personality, in the eternal relations of the Divine existence, as that Spirit in the manifoldness of his operation in the church, the Spirit of the glorified Redeemer, not one, therefore, but seven.⁵² "By ‘the seven spirits’ we must understand, not indeed the sevenfold operations of the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit sevenfold in his operations.⁵³ Jesus Christ is the head of the church, its Lord, high priest, and judge, and the Holy Spirit is the administrator of the church. The seven spirits are a picture of the Holy Spirit at work in the world and in the church. The number seven reveals the fullness of his operations; in the church teaching, illuminating, guiding, and empowering. The Spirit is holiness, truth, life and glory. He is the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, counsel and might, knowledge and fear of the Lord. His ministries in the church are sanctifying, regenerating, indwelling, empowering, fructifying, illuminating (teaching, preaching, meditation, devotion), and carrying the believer’s prayer, praises and worship. The many offices and ministries of the Spirit are summed up in Revelation 1:4 in this one symbolic representation of completeness. As related to the grace and peace extended to the believer by the godhead, these will be as mighty and efficacious as the manifold influences of the omnipotent Spirit."⁵⁴

EXCURSUS:

Identifying the Relevant and the Incidental in Prophecy

The careful Bible student should recognize that some details and facts of any prophecy are not relevant to an interpretation. Such thinking should guide us throughout the Revelation. To mistakenly identify the seven spirits before his throne as angels, with an appeal to Revelation 8:2 brings up the issue of the incidental and the relevant in interpretation. The interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s statue in Daniel provides a good example. "There is a danger in interpreting every detail of a prophecy. For example, in Daniel seven, the Median-Persian Empire is represented as a bear. While we might, with caution, take some of the essential and prominent attributes of a bear as characteristic of the Medo-Persian, should we also apply, for example, the fact a bear hibernates, or is omnivorous, or protects her cubs with a murderous ferocity? The statue Nebuchadnezzar saw is the statue of a man because the empires represented are man’s empires. The two arms and two legs are incidental, because they are a natural part of a man.⁵⁵ To seal their fate as incidental they are not specifically called out as part of Daniel’s interpretation, and are therefore are not essential to the prophecy."⁵⁶

The same is true regarding the identification of the seven spirits. It is true that angels are spirit beings, and it is true that there are seven angels before the throne in Revelation 8:2. There are seven angels because God has seven trumpets. If there had been six or eight trumpets, the number of angels would have been six or eight. Therefore, the number of angels in 8:2 is probably not relevant to an interpretation of the seven spirits in 1:4. Both here and in 8:2, it is an incidental fact. When we add the other facts, using the seven angels of 8:2 to interpret the seven spirits falls apart:

The paragraph (1:4ff) speaks of the Father and Son, therefore the most natural interpretation for the seven spirits is that this symbol represents the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is always represented symbolically in the Revelation; angels are always seen in distinct angelic form.

The seven spirits in 1:4, are bracketed by the Father and the Son. Angels cannot be part of that divine company.

Peace and grace do not come from angels but from God. To suggest the seven spirits are angels also suggests worship of angels, contra Revelation 19:10; 22:9.

The angels in Revelation 8:2 are referred to as angelo, angel, not pneumata, spirit. This is the consistent identification of Spirit and angel throughout the Revelation.

Note the several analytical tools used in making this determination: theological analysis, angels are not to be worshiped; linguistic analysis, angelo versus pneumata; literary analysis, the passage speaks to Father and Son, thus the other party mentioned is most reasonably the Holy Spirit. I also compared Scripture with Scripture. Angels are messengers. A reference to angels as the givers of peace and blessing, or as in some way causing the events of the coming conflict, would be inconsistent with all other Scripture explaining their role in God’s government. Their role in the Revelation is always that of messenger, never investigator, jury, judge, or executioner; they do not cause the (trumpet, bowl) judgments, they simply deliver them. Moreover, to infer that the angels are judges of mankind would be an intrusion of created beings into the Holy Trinity.⁵⁷ The interpreter must use all the tools in his exegetical toolbox if he is to derive the right interpretation of a passage.

⁵ . . . and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, ⁶ And has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

God’s grace comes to the believer through our Savior Jesus Christ, who is in himself the believer’s peace and righteousness. Viewed in their relationship in vv. 4–5, as Father, Son, and Spirit, we have God in the greatness of his Being, the Spirit in the plenitude of his power, and Jesus Christ in holy humanity now glorified, united in blessing the saints who are about to have unfolded to them the prophetic counsels of God respecting the earth.⁵⁸ John follows v. 4 with a description of Jesus’ person and work that prepares the reader for the revealing of Christ which is to come. The triple title applied to Christ corresponds to the three ideas of the Book—Christ the Revealing Prophet, the Life-giving High Priest, and the real Ruler of mankind.⁵⁹ The descriptions in this verse are taken from other parts of the Revelation. In 3:14 and 21:5, Jesus presents himself as the Faithful and True Witness (compare John’s Gospel, 18:37). In 2:8 Jesus is the First and Last, who was dead, and came to life. In 19:16 Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords. From a literary point of view, John, who is writing this introduction after his revelatory experience, draws from the material to come in order to introduce the reader to the message. This description of Jesus Christ, including v. 6, synopsizes the Revelation story. As the revealer of God’s word Jesus is the faithful witness, a role he also has as the high priest and judge of the church. As the firstborn from the dead, emphasizing his preeminence, Jesus is the head and leader of all believers who have been spiritually brought back from the death of sin, and will be resurrected and transformed (1 Thessalonians 4:13–18, 1 Corinthians 15:20–23, 50–57) unto eternal life. As the Ruler Jesus governs the affairs of man. These themes are repeated in a variety of representations and statements throughout the Revelation. The messianic intent of Psalm 89 may underlie these descriptions of Jesus, both in this introduction and within the message of the Revelation, to direct the reader’s attention⁶⁰ to the fulfillment of the promises made to David regarding an heir and an eternal kingdom. John makes three additional statements that are directly concerned with Jesus’ relationship with believers. First, that he loved us. This is written large in the Revelation, e.g., 7:17. His love has redeemed us from the city of destruction—this rebellious world—to an eternal relationship with God, 5:9. The use of the past tense, loved us, does not mean that Jesus has ceased to love his people in the present, but views redemption as an accomplished and fully completed fact, compare Romans 8:37, 39; Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 5:2; Titus 3:4–7. Second, John states that Jesus washed us from our sins in his own blood. This follows from his love, for he shed his own blood (Matthew 26:28; John 15:13) to propitiate God that sinners might through faith receive the remission of sins through his death. Here is the one unambiguous evidence [in a world of persecution and evil experiences] of the fact that God is a God of love who conveys his love to men through his Son,⁶¹ Romans 5:8. The NIV translates, To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood. As noted in the Introduction, the Byzantine texts (KJV, NKJV) read luou, washed, and the Alexandrian texts (NIV) read luo, loosed. Either word clearly indicates the teaching of Scripture, that Jesus redeemed believers from the penalty, power, and pleasure of sin, and will shortly deliver the believer from the very presence of sin. My preference is to luou, washed, because this word picture fits the Old Testament type of the shed blood of the sacrifice, Hebrews 9:22. The priests followed purification by blood with water at the laver of washing. The typological picture is cleansed from sin by Jesus and cleansed from defilement by the washing of water by the word, Ephesians 5:26, and the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, Titus 3:5. One may see in this verse John’s use of Revelation 7:14, These are the ones who . . . washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

The third descriptive John provides is that Jesus Christ has made us kings and priests to his God and Father. The church, as Peter so clearly stated, is a royal priesthood. Our kingly and priestly status is due solely to our relationship with Christ. Christ’s death and resurrection (v. 5) established a twofold office, not only for himself (cf. also vv. 13–18) but also for believers.⁶² He is the heir and we joint-heirs with him. He is the Ruler over the kings of the earth, and our rule is derived from his mighty position as King of kings. He is the high priest. The Christian is a priest offering sacrifices (of worship, praise, and devotion) and mediating the saving love of God in Jesus Christ to an unsaved world. The believer’s destiny is to be like him, 1 John 3:2, Romans 8:29. Therefore as he is King and Priest, believers are kings and priests to God.

Jesus "revealed God’s truth by mediating as a priest through his sacrificial death and uncompromising ‘faithful witness’ to the world (1:5a). The significance of conquering death and sin through the defeat at the cross⁶³ to reign as king should not be missed. Believers spiritually fulfill the same offices in this age by following his model as faithful witnesses mediating Christ’s priestly and royal authority to the world."⁶⁴

The NIV translates v. 6, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father. The teaching of Scripture is that Israel was a kingdom of priests, Exodus 19:6; note that Moses consecrated the nation in the same manner he consecrated the priests, Exodus 29:10–21; 24:4–8. The church is not a kingdom but is a royal priesthood, 1 Peter 2:9. A royal priest is a priest who is a king. John has once again made use of a prior declaration found in the Revelation message, Revelation 5:10, And have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth; (Revelation 17:14 is also relevant.) In 5:10 the NIV again translates kingdom and priests. However, 5:10 states these believers shall reign on the earth. Kings reign over kingdoms. The New Testament never identifies Christians as being a kingdom but rather as members of the kingdom belonging to the King. Note that in 1:9 believers do not merely exist in the kingdom, they are active participants—fellow-partakers—in the kingdom. Believers are always kings who will reign with King Jesus. Christians are also priests to God through Jesus Christ. This means Christians mediate salvation to the world through their testimony and they perform sacrifices of faith, love, praise, giving thanks, doing good, and sharing with one another (Hebrews 13:15, 16). Being a priest also means believers do not need a mediator for access to God, other than the One Mediator, Jesus Christ, through whom they have everlasting, immediate, and unrestricted access to God. The proper understanding of the text is kings and priests.

John concludes with what is known as a doxology, i.e., a statement of praise. To Jesus be glory and dominion forever and ever. This is yet another use from the body of the Revelation message, Revelation 4:11, You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power Revelation 5:12–13; Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing . . . Blessing and honor and glory and power be to him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever! John ends with Amen. This word was used among the Hebrews and Christians to show an approval of the words of others. John uses it to mark the assent and commitment of the writer and as an invitation to the reader to assent to the truthfulness of all the affirmations about Jesus Christ, his identity and accomplishments, but especially his worthiness to receive glory and strength, as expressed in the doxology of vv. 5–6.⁶⁵

⁷ Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, and they also who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.

Despite appearances, this is quite a complicated verse. One might view this statement as a prophecy, although it simply gathers together several prophecies into one place. In a sense, this verse tells us the matter revealed in the Revelation, which is the return of Jesus and the significance of that return to the Israel and the world. Jesus is understood as the subject (‘The Coming One’ was his great name in Old Testament prophecy,⁶⁶ e.g., Daniel 7:13; Malachi 3:2), and is spoken of as coming with clouds. That Jesus is returning to earth is accepted by all Christians on the basis of Scripture such as John 14:3; Revelation 19:11–14; Matthew 24:30; Zechariah 12–14; Acts 1:9–11. There are many references to clouds in both Testaments, both literal and figurative. As a symbol clouds indicate the arrival of God, usually in judgment. The clouds are the dust of his feet, Nahum 1:3, and his chariot, Psalms 104:3, 68:4. There is no one like the God of Jeshurun [another name for Israel], who rides the heavens to help you, and in his excellency on the clouds, Deuteronomy 33:26. There are some specific references to Jesus coming with clouds. Daniel 7:13, I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near before him.

Matthew 24:30, Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

Matthew 26:64, "Jesus said to him, ‘It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.’

The meaning of the clouds in relationship to the coming of Jesus is more than literal.⁶⁷ They are the clouds of heaven. We have an intimation of the symbolic meaning in Isaiah 14:14. In this passage, accepted by most commentators as revealing the rebellion of Lucifer/Satan, Lucifer declares that he will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High. A reference to literal clouds would be meaningless in the context. Lucifer declares he will assume authority as the Lord of heaven and over its angelic hosts, therefore the clouds of heaven must indicate the heavenly hosts. Jesus’ coming with clouds is not concerned with how he comes, but with whom he comes, and we see this fulfilled in Revelation 19:14, Jesus appearing on the earth accompanied by the armies of heaven. His coming with clouds is his coming in power and authority, accompanied by the heavenly hosts and resurrected, glorified believers, to execute justice and judgment on the opposing forces of sinful man and the man of sin.

There is a temptation to make reference to passages such as Zephaniah 1:15, That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of devastation and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, but that reference to clouds is as much literal as it is symbolic: there will be literal dark clouds from the devastating judgments occurring on the earth, as well as their sometime symbolic use as an indication of great judgments. In Revelation 1:7 John is thinking of the return of Jesus at the end of the Tribulation, as his reference to pierced shows. Zechariah 12:10 states, then they will look on Me whom they have pierced; they will mourn for him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for him as one grieves for a firstborn. Zechariah is speaking of the advent of Messiah. The Jews will look upon their Messiah (although neither Zechariah nor his contemporary readers would have understood the reference to Messiah as pierced) and recognize him as the one whom they rejected and crucified. Physically it was the Roman soldier who pierced Jesus, John 19:3, but John thinks only of Jesus’ rejection by the Jews, John 19:37. This is the first indication that the primary concern of the Tribulation judgments and the advent of Jesus concerns Israel, not the church. Here is the prophetic fulfillment of all the prophecies related to the advent of Israel’s Messiah: the fulfillment of the time of Jacob’s trouble (Jeremiah 30:7); the coming judgments of the day of the Lord (Isaiah, Ezekiel, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Zephaniah, Zechariah, Malachi); and the fulfillment of the promise to David (2 Samuel 7:12–16). Not only Israel, but also all the inhabitants of the earth will be involved in these events. The phrase, all the tribes of the earth will mourn, is a quote from Matthew 24:30 (John was listening at the Olivet discourse). The closest Old Testament reference is Zechariah 12:10–14, which speaks only to the mourning of Israel at Messiah’s advent. After seeing the terrible judgments of the Tribulation, John in his introduction also makes an application of Zechariah to the Gentiles, a view justified by verses such as Revelation 6:15–17; 16:9, 21. All will mourn; some in repentance, some in regret.

Let us briefly discuss every eye will see him. The return of Jesus Christ and the