Revelation 1:4

"John to the seven churches that 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;" (NASB)

Well seven is a number that occurs quite often in the scripture. It is generally symbolic of completion. J.Vernon McGee in his Thru the Bible commentary makes the following statement: "However, in the Word of God the number seven is prominent." "It does not denote perfection, but it does denote completeness."

The Greek word that is translated "churches" here is Ekklesia (Strongs 1577) This word is derived from another Greek Word ekkaleo which means to call out.  The early Christian community was designated as Ekklesia to differentiate it from the Jewish community (sunagoge) There are two aspects of Ekklesia:

1. The world-wide church of Christ ( all who are called by and to Christ in the fellowship of His salvation)
2. Individual Churches

This two-fold aspect of Ekklesia makes this a little difficult for me in regard to interpretation. I have to agree with commentators that I have read in that according to the context here, this verse is quite likely referring to individual churches in Asia that actually existed at the time of the writing. That does not however in any way mean that the message is not applicable today! 

 The verse goes on to read, "Grace to you and peace"

The Greek word that is translated to the English word "Grace" here is Charis (Strongs 5485) . Interestingly, it is from the Greek root words "chario" which means to rejoice. Charis is a favor done without expectation of return.

The Lexical Aids to the New Testament in the Hebrew- Greek Study Bible makes the following observation regarding Charis: "Charis stands in direct antithesis to erga, works, the two being mutually exclusive." " God's grace affects man's sinfulness and not only forgives the repentant sinner, but brings joy and thankfulness to him."

The Greek word translated to the English word "Peace" here is Elrene (Strong's 1515) As far as I can tell this word is pretty much identical to the English word. It is remarkable however, that peace is a blessing brought to us by Christ through God's Grace. The distress of the wages of sin is removed through God's Grace and Peace remains. In fact the message of salvation is called the Gospel of Peace for this very reason.

J. Vernon McGee observes; "Peace flows from Grace and Grace is the source of all our blessings today".

"Him who is and who was and who is to come" is an obvious reference to Christ.

But who are the "Seven Spirits" ? This is the Holy Spirit. The Greek word which is translated here to the English word "Spirit" is Pneuma (Strong's 4151). An interesting note here is that this word literally means  wind or breath or blow. It is the Greek word that we use as a root word for English words such as Pneumatic and Pneumonia. This word is also used in the New Testament  to refer to the Holy Spirit. It is unseen but strong analogous to the wind, I suppose.

In his commentary, our old buddy Matthew Henry observes: "The Holy Spirit, called the seven spirits, not seven in number, nor in nature, but the infinite perfect Spirit of God, in whom there is a diversity of gifts and operations".

Our old buddy Matt also observes that the Spirits are before the throne because God governs all things by Spirit. Makes logical sense to me!

Revelation Chapter 1 Outline and Verse 1 -3

Welcome to my new blog! This is simply a place where I put my Bible Study Notes. I will probably also, from time to time add my personal observations and opinions.

Here are some notes for Revelation 1:

Chapter 1

Chapter 1 has four distinct divisions:

·         Introduction

o   Verse 1-3

·         Salutation

o   Verse 4-8

·         Christ and His Glory

o   Verse 9-18

·         The instruction to write

o   Verse 19-20

Introduction:

Verse 1

“[This is] the revelation of Jesus Christ [His unveiling of the divine mysteries]. God gave it to Him to disclose and make known to His bond servants certain things which must shortly and speedily come to pass [a]in their entirety. And He sent and communicated it through His angel (messenger) to His bond servant John,” (AMP)

This is a single revelation. The word translated as revelation is the Greek word, Apokalupsis (strong 602) which means an uncovering, unveiling or a disclosure. Apokalupsis refers not only to the thing shown and seen but to the interpretation or unveiling of the same.

The Amplified Bible Translation of this verse shown above brackets this as Christ’s “unveiling if the divine mysteries”.

This revelation is given to Christ by God. This, for me is a difficult concept. I understand this as God unveiling this revelation to the human mind of Christ while he was on earth. I am not certain if that is exactly correct but this concept seems to make the scripture make the most sense to me. In John 17:8 Christ says the following in a prayer, “for the words which Thou gavest me I have given them; and they received them, and truly understood that I came forth from Thee and they believed that Thou didst send me.” (NASB) . It seems that He is talking about a revelation here. Also it seems that he is saying that His purpose is to pass the revelation on to us.

In his commentary, Matthew Henry writes : “Our Lord Jesus is the great trustee of divine revelation; it is to him that we owe the knowledge we have of what we are to expect from God and what he expects from us.”

Regarding revelation see Daniel 2:28 : “However, there is a God in Heaven who reveals mysteries and he made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will take place in the latter days. This was your dream and the visions in your mind while on your bed” (NASB).

As with the revelation to Nebuchadnezzar, these things are relevant to us and must “shortly take place”.

The Greek word which is translated to “bondservant” in this verse is the word Doulos (strong 1401). Doulos means slave. It is a little more than just that though. Slave here is not a temporary relationship. Slave in this sense is a permanent relationship role. The Strong’s Concordance says of the slave, “his will altogether consumed in the will of the other”.

This revelation was given to Christ for the benefit of us, His bondservants or doulos.

This message was to John by an angel. The Greek word translated “Angel” here is Aggelos. Literally this means messenger. But, it does not mean a human messenger. It is a created spiritual angel sent to deliver an announcement or proclamation to John.

Verse 2

“who bore witness to the Word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw” (NASB)

 The Greek word that is translated “Word” here is very interesting. It is the Greek word Logos (strongss 3056).

The Lexical Aids to the New Testament in the Hebrew-Greek Keyword Bible states about Logos: “Logos, when it refers to discourse is regarded as ordinary linking and knitting together in connected arrangement of words of the inward thoughts and feelings of the mind. The animals produce sound, laloun, while God and human beings and those that have intelligence produce thoughtful expressions logoun. ”

In John 8:43, Christ says to the Pharisees , “Why do you not understand what I am saying ? It is because you can not hear My Word.”

The Greek word that is translated “what I am saying” is different from the one translated as “My Word”.

“My Word” is Logos. What I am saying is lalia (stongs 2981) which simply means talking or to talk.

The Pharisees did not understand what Jesus was saying because they did not understand His Logos or the interconnected thoughts and feelings of God’s mind. In other words they did not understand because they did not believe in Him. Jesus being the manifestation of God in the flesh was the Logos or Word of God.

The Greek word that is translated “testimony” here is the Greek word Maturion (strong’s 3142).

It is literally a form of witness. The “testimony” here is based on direct knowledge coincident with reality.Ver

Verse 3

"Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand." (KJV)

Blessed is translated from the Greek word Makarios (Strong's 3107). The Lexical Aids to The New Testament in the Key Word Study Bible makes the following comments regarding Makarios:

"Makarios differs from happy because happy is the person who has good luck...The blessed person is the one whom God makes fully satisfied, not because of favorable circumstances but because He indwells the believer through Christ."

"Makarios is the one who is in the world yet independent from the world; His satisfaction comes from God and not from favorable circumstances."

In Luke 11:28 the same Greek word is translated to blessed. Christ says, "On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it" (NASB) 

Later in the book of Revelation, using the same translation of blessed, Christ says, "And behold, I am coming quickly, Blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book" Revelation 22:7 (NASB).

The one who is blessed here in Revelation 1:3 are those who read, hear and keep the words of prophecy contained in this book. But, what is prophecy?

The Greek word that is translated to prophecy here is Propheteia (Strong's 4394). In the context that it is used in this verse, it simply means that which is foretold.

We are to hear the words of the prophecy and keep the things that are told in the prophecy. The verse goes on to indicate that the "time" is at hand (or near).

The Greek word that is translated to the English word "time" here is Kairos (Strongs 2540). This Greek word makes the translation a little difficult. There is really no direct English equivalent for the Greek word Kairos.

In English the word time is really chronological time. It is simply a progression of moments. We measure this in seconds, hours, days, months, years, decades, centuries, etc. 

Kairos is kind of like a season... but that is not it precisely either.

The Lexical Aids to the New Testament in the Hebrew-Greek Keyword Study Bible makes this observation: "Kairos, however, implies not the convenience of the season but the necessity of a task at hand whether the time provides a good convenient opportunity or not."

Kairos is also translated to the English word "time" in Romans 13:11.

"And this do knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer than we believed" Romans 13:11 (NASB)