My Commentary on Revelation
This commentary is based on the 1984 edition of the New International
Version of the Bible. The chapter titles herein correspond with the NIV,
making for easier comparison.
There are four historical view-points in how to approach the
interpretation of Revelation. The Idealist view-point merely sees
Revelation as a symbolic struggle between good and evil, with no real time
frame in mind. The Preterist view-point interprets Revelation as a
symbolic vision of what happened to the church and the world in the first
century. The Historic view-point interprets the events of Revelation as
certain events that have taken place, and will take place in the church
age. The Futurist view-point is that this Revelation is about what takes
place in the few shorts years before the return of Christ.
I lean towards the Futurist view point. I do understand some of the
proofs given for the other view-points of which some are somewhat
convincing, yet overall, at this point in time, my leaning is towards
these events being unfolded sometime in the future.
The book consists of a vision that John received from Jesus while on
the Island of Patmos. This island was a colony for prisoners. The
prisoners would work in the mines that were on the island. The text does
not say that John was a prisoner, but most commentators believe he was.
There are a few commentators that think the John might have been a
missionary to the prisoners.
Like John’s gospel and his thee letters, we don’t know exactly when
they or Revelation was written. We do know that it was written somewhere
between 81 and 96 AD, probably closer to 96 AD.
My commentary is based on the idea that the events in this book are
presented as scenes in a movie. You have one scene. You switch
to another scene that takes place at the same time as the last
scene. You then switch to yet another scene, and that two takes place
at the same time as the first two scene. My point is that I've
written this commentary as if wasn't meant to be taken in chronological
order from beginning to end. That being said, I might well be wrong
on that point. I'm not closed to the idea that each chapter follows
each other in a chronological time sequence
Prologue (ch.1:1-3)
We translate our English word "revelation" from the Greek
word "apokalupsis" which in its simplest definition means to
"uncover". You can see that our English word
"apocalypse" comes from this Greek word.
John’s account opens with the words "the revelation of Jesus
Christ which God gave…" This phrase tells you that God the Father
has given the revelation. This revelation is the "revelation of Jesus
Christ". First and foremost this revelation shows us who Jesus is,
what He has to say, and what He will do. This is the first important thing
to understand about
this book, even beyond its prophetic importance.
The last part of this sentence says that this revelation of Jesus was
shown "to His servants what must soon take place". The nature of
this uncovering of Jesus is concerning His intervention into world
affairs, which would "soon take place", thus the prophetic
nature of the revelation.
If
you notice, I left out a couple very important words in the quote of the
last paragraph. I did so
because most commentators and readers of the book of Revelation do the
same thing. The quote really
is worded this way. "The revelation of Jesus Christ who God gave to
Him to show to His servants …"
Notice who the revelation was given to.
It was given to "Him", and in context, "Him"
refers to Jesus. This
revelation was first given to Jesus and then Jesus passed it on to His
servants. This might help
explain something. People
often can't figure out why Jesus said that not even He knew the day or the
hour of His return. I believe
He does know that now, even though He didn't know that while He was on
earth. He knows it now because
He was given this revelation, that He now passes on to the apostle John.
"Soon take place" is a relative phrase. What it exactly means
is a matter of debate, or so I think. Some say that the word soon should
be seen as "very soon", as in John’s lifetime. For these
people, they have to look in history past to find the fulfillment of what’s
found in this revelation.
If "soon to take place" is seen through the eyes of God, then
"soon" is almost irrelevant. "Soon to God" should not
be seen as the same as "soon to us". So just when the events of
this book take place might be a matter of interpretation, that is, does
the word "soon" refer to God’s time or ours.
Verse 1 also tells us that this revelation was sent by an
"angel". The Greek word translated as "angel" can also
be translated as "messenger". For this reason some suggest that
the messenger might even be the Holy Spirit.
John says that the messenger came "to His servant John".
John, as well as other first century Christians viewed themselves as
"servants", something that we might want to think about these
days. I think at times we think of ourselves too highly as Christians,
when in fact we are merely servants, or slaves of Jesus.
Verse 2 tells us that John "testifies to everything he saw".
John didn’t leave anything out. He wrote it all down for us. What did
John see and testify to? He says that he testifies to the "word of
God and the testimony of Jesus". There’s two things here that can
almost be seen as one thing. Jesus gives a testimony to John in this
revelation, and the testimony of Jesus is in fact the Word of God as well.
You really can’t separate the two.
In verse 3 John tells us that those who read, hear, and take to heart
this prophecy will be blessed. Why does John say this? He says,
"because the time is near". If one takes heed to the letters to
the seven churches and do as they say, then one will surely be blessed.
The Book of Revelation is not a book to avoid. Many often do avoid
reading the book because it is hard to understand. Yet if we read, hear,
and take it to heart .the things in the book, we’ll be blessed. Some
avoid the book because of its difficulty, while others avoid it because
they place prophecy low on the list of importance of theological issues.
The fact of the matter is that we should take this book to heart.
I understand that the prophecy is hard to understand, and how can we
not avoid it when we don’t understand it. The answer is found in
something Jesus told His disciples at the last supper. He told them that
what He was presently telling them would not be understood by them until
those things took place. But when they did take place, they’d remember
and believe. The same should apply to us. If we have some kind of
knowledge of this book even though we have little understanding, when the
things are being fulfilled, we’ll understand and believe. It is thus
imperative that we take the book of Revelation seriously.
There is one important thing to know and understand
when trying to understand this book, and that is, if you know your Old
Testament you will have a better grasp on the book of Revelation.
Many, if not all of the symbols and concepts in Revelation are
explained in the Old Testament.
Greetings And Doxology (ch. 1:4-8)
John doesn’t mention his name to tell us who wrote this book until
verse 4. He just calls himself John, adding no other descriptive
adjectives.
He then states that he is writing these verses to seven churches that
are found in western Asia Minor. These churches are found in these cities;
Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.
You will note number seven, as in these seven churches, and the seven
stars and lampstands. The number seven in the Bible is seen as the number
of completion by most scholars. For example, seven days make a complete
week. Many scholars suggest these seven churches represent seven churches
of history – seven churches that complete the church age, which ends in
the return of Jesus.
These churches were all located in the western part of Asia,
strategically located in that part of the Roman Empire. Just why these
churches were chosen to receive a letter by God is unknown. There were
many other churches that could have been written to. It might be possible
that these seven churches with their good and bad points best represented
the seven historical churches of the church age. Thus both the individual
church and the churches throughout history were addressed at once.
There’s controversy over the significance of the messages to these
churches. First of all, if you take things literally, you would have to
say that God wanted to say something specific to these particular
churches, and I believe this should be the first mode of interpreting this
passage.
There is a secondary significance that most would agree on and that is
the words of the letters to these churches apply to anyone who has an ear
to hear the words. This would apply to you and I.
Yet as I already mentioned, these letters to the churches may be
interpreted as prophecies to the churches throughout the church age. In my
thinking this is quite possible, although the text does not say this. Many
scholars see this type of prophecy throughout the Old Testament. The
prophecy is directed towards a literal historic event in the Old
Testament, but has another future prophet significance.
However you view these letters to the churches in your particular
prophetic scheme of things, there is much to be learned from them on an
individual level and corporate level, and that is what I will major on in
this commentary.
In the second half of verse 4 we see that John speaks on the behalf of
God, where this revelation originated. He says, "from Him who is, and
was, and is to come". Here we see the eternal nature of God. The
Greek word "ion" is translated many times as "eternal"
in our English Bible. It is not used here. Some suggest, because of the
basic meaning of "ion" that eternity is not really eternity, but
only an age, because that is what "ion" means.
With this in mind, they say that the Lake of Fire as seen later in
Revelation is not eternal. The problem with this is that "ion"
is used in reference to God Himself in many places in the New Testament,
and if you say that "ion" is not eternal, but a specific period
of time, you have a problem with God concerning "ion". Is He
only in existence for a period of time? This verse clearly says otherwise.
John goes on to say that the following revelations is from the
"seven spirits" and Jesus Christ. The question to be asked is,
"who are the seven spirits". An alternative reading can be
"sevenfold Spirit". If you consider the alternative reading as
some translations do, then you view these seven spirits as the Holly
Spirit who has seven aspects to His nature. Some suggest that this can be
seen in Isa. 11:2 where there are seven aspects of the Spirit’s nature
mentioned. They are as follows; the Spirit of the Lord, wisdom,
understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, and fear of the Lord. This is a
very common interpretation.
If you consider this to be seven distinct spirits, then you believe
that there are seven spirits before the thrown of God, and that this
reference is not to the Holy Spirit. I personally believe the translation
could easily be "sevenfold" Spirit, which tells me that this is
the Holy Spirit. I don’t believe we see any other Scripture that even
suggests that there are seven spirits before the throne, but this in
itself is not proof enough. You can’t defend a point from silence.
John says that the seven spirits stand before the thrown. About Jesus
he says, that He is a faithful witness, the first born from the dead, and
ruler of the kings of the earth. Jesus is the most accurate witness to the
things of God in the entire universe, whether it be the physical or
spiritual universe.
Concerning the word "first", this does not mean that He was
first in the sense of being born. Most commentators believe the Greek
idiom for first means "the source". Jesus is the source of all
things. He was also the first one to be raised from the dead into a new
glorified body. We will follow Him at the day of resurrection.
Jesus is also ruler over all the kings of the earth. This may be hard
to understand at this moment, but the Bible clearly teaches that Jesus is
the final authority in the universe. Right now, He is over all kings,
prime ministers, and presidents, even if these people don’t know it or
recognize it. Jesus may be more active than we think in the political
affairs of man. At least we can say that He will have the final word of
authority, even if He is not so active in the present political affairs of
men.
The next few verses is what theologians have called a
"doxology" over the years. Doxology comes from a Greek word that
means "to give, or to speak glorious things to". In this sense
the doxology is to God. Thus John is speaking glorious things about Jesus.
He says, "to him who has loved us and has freed us from our sins
by His blood". This is the crux of salvation, that is, God becoming a
man. The man Christ Jesus lived the perfect life on our behalf and died as
punishment on account of our sins. This is the love of Christ Jesus.
In verse 6 John says that He has "made us to be a kingdom and
priests". It is important. For us to realize that as Christians we
live in two kingdoms, the kingdom of men and the Kingdom of God. As a
Canadian, I live in the kingdom of Canada. As a Christian I live in the
Kingdom of God. As a matter of fact, John is saying that Christians are a
kingdom unto themselves. We make up a kingdom that does not have a land
mass. Our kingdom is spiritual and eternal.
John also says that we "are priests". We all are priests. In
Old Testament days God established priests to represent us to Him and Him
to us. We are now all priests. We don’t need to have a man set aside as
one who represents us to God. We can come to God on our own.
Over the years man has tried many times to go back to Old Testament
days and have tried to establish this priesthood in the name of church
authority. The abuse of pastoral leadership by some dictatorial leaders is
not right. No Christian leader can claim that they stand before us and
God. We are all priests.
Yet even as I say this, the book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus Himself
will be our high priest forever. We are our own priest, but Jesus will
always be our high priest for eternity. He will always represent us before
God. Just why we will need a high priest in Heaven, I’m not sure of.
John adds the reason why we are a kingdom of priests, and that is so
"we can serve God the Father". That is the main purpose of our
lives. As Christians we exist to serve God, not ourselves.
The last part of verse 6 says, "to Him be glory and power for ever
and ever. Amen". Note the words "for ever and ever". The
RSV Greek Interlinear uses the words "ages of the ages". This is
probably the best way that the common Greek language of the day could
express the concept of eternity. Glory and power is found in Jesus, and
will be for ever and for ever, without ever ending.
We see in verse 7 that Jesus is coming in the clouds and that every eye
will see Him. These words should remind us of what the angels told the
disciples in Acts 1:11 when they said that "this same Jesus … will
come back in the same way you have seen Him go into Heaven". Jesus
departed from this earth by ascending into the clouds and disappearing. He
will return from the clouds at the appropriate time.
The verse says that every eye will see Him. This question is often
asked, "how can every eye see Jesus return because the earth is
round"? "How can one see His return in North America, if He
returns in the middle east"? Luke 17:24 gives us the simple answer.
Luke tells us that as the lightning flashes from one part of the sky to
the other part of the sky, so shall the Son of Man return. Lightning
streaks across the sky. It’s my thinking that Jesus will come back
through the sky, streak across and around the world, maybe a number of
times. The sky will be lit and as He streaks across the sky and around the
world, everyone on earth will see Him.
John says that "even those who "pierced" Jesus will see
His return. How can this be since they will not be living on earth? It’s
simple. The return of Jesus will be so majestic and all powerful that even
the spiritual world, the angels, and the physically dead will see Him
return.
Then John says that "all the people on the earth will mourn"
because of Jesus’ return. I believe all will mourn out of fear and awe.
Many will mourn from great sorrow as well since they’ve rejected Jesus.
Even Christians may mourn at this moment out of great awe and respect, and
maybe even a sense of fear. Imagine a big 747 jet, or a large wide body
airplane flying 100 feet above your head. The noise would be extremely
loud and maybe even painful. The earth beneath your feet would shake and
fear might pass through your heart. This would be nothing in comparison to
the return of Jesus.
To this point in Revelation John has been speaking, but God Himself
speaks in verse 8, or should I say, John writes what God Himself spoke.
Verse 8 says, "I am the Alpha and the Omega…" Alpha and omega
are the first and the last letters in the Greek alphabet. This suggests
that God is the first and the last. He existed before the beginning and
will exist after the end.
The verse continues, "says the Lord God". It is God the
Father who is speaking. He calls Himself Lord God. He is God over all
things and He is Lord over all things. Even though this particular verse
is speaking of God, Jesus Himself is known by the same words.
The verse ends with, "who is, who was, and who is to come".
Once again we see the eternal nature of God as seen earlier in verse 4.
One Like A Son Of Man (ch. 1:9-20)
In verse 9 and 10 we see that John was on the island of Patmos for the
word of God when this vision took hold of him. This island was a prison
camp and John was in prison for the sake of the gospel message he
preached. He says, "I John, your brother and companion for the
sufferings…" John, like many other Christians at the time was
experiencing great persecution because they preached Jesus.
He also adds the words, "and the kingdom and patient endurance…"
John was part of the Kingdom of God which included his brothers in Christ,
all of which were enduring much for Jesus. Being a Christian in those days
meant that your life would not be easy. The cost of becoming a Christian
was great.
In verse 10 John says that "on the Lord’s Day I was in the
Spirit". The NIV says, "I was in the Spirit", but John was
in the Spirit because "he came into the Spirit", which is a more
direct translation of the Greek. John was on the island and maybe while in
prayer, or maybe not, "he found himself coming into the Spirit".
While in the Spirit, he had the revelation that he was writing.
John tells us that when this happened it "was on the Lord’s
Day". This is the only place in the New Testament that we have the
phrase "Lord’s Day" used. So what does it mean? If you were a
Jewish Christian reading this verse, you might think that it was the
Sabbath. I think we can rule that out. I believe there is much New
Testament thinking that shows us that the Jewish Sabbath was laid aside by
Christians, especially Gentile Christians. This was because they believed
that Jesus fulfilled the requirements of the Law and Sabbath rules no
longer applied.
The term "Lord’s Day" apparently was used in secular Roman
society at the time. The term referred to the first day of the week when
taxes and other obligations were paid to the Emperor and the Roman
government. Was John referring to the Lord’s Day in terms of the Emperor’s
Day? Probably not.
We don’t have a clear picture of how Christians began to celebrate
Sunday as being a special day, but by the 300‘s AD we know that Sunday
became the Christian special day. The beginnings of this thinking probably
came into being very early in church history, so by the time John wrote
this book, Christians probably celebrated Sunday as the Lord’s Day,
because it was Sunday that He rose from the dead.
We should say something at this point concerning Sunday. Nowhere in the
New Testament does it actually teach that Sunday should be a special day.
You might want to see what Paul says in Romans 14 where he speaks of
special days. He understood that there was some controversy and
differences on this point and he told his readers that they needed to be
convinced in their own thinking. It is implied in Romans 14 that Paul
believed that every day was equal, that every day was special.
The point I’m making is that the New Testament does not teach or have
a doctrine concerning the Lord’s Day, but it evolved outside of the
pages of the New Testament as a tradition, thus to make a doctrine out of
it to apply to all Christians as the Old Testament Sabbath is beyond the
scope of New Testament thinking.
In verses 10 and 11 John says that he heard "a loud voice like a
trumpet". The voice told him to write down on a scroll what he was
about to see and send it to the seven churches so named.
The voice came from behind John and so when he turned around as he says
in verse 12, he saw seven golden lampstands and saw someone like the
"Son of Man". Verse 20 clearly states that the seven lampstands
are the seven churches to which the book is directed to and the one like
the Son of Man is in fact Jesus as seen in verse 18.
We have a picture of Jesus standing in the midst of the seven churches
and along with Jesus are seven angels.
The description of Jesus is exceedingly majestic to say the least. He
was dressed "in a robe down to His feet and a golden sash around His
chest". Are we to make anything out of the way Jesus was dressed?
Without overly symbolizing His apparel such clothing was worn by
dignitaries, and those of importance. Of course Jesus is very important.
There is also some similarities between what Jesus wore here and what the
high priest would wear in Old Testament days.
In verse 14 we see that Jesus’ head and hair were as white as snow.
Scripture does suggest that our sins will be as white as snow. White as
snow suggest complete purity and so Jesus in His appearance is seen as
completely pure.
His eyes were like "blazing fire", as if He could see right
through you, and of course He can. It’s like if Jesus stood in front of
you, not as He was on earth, but as He is now, His eyes would pierce and
burns their way into your very soul.
In verse 15 John says that His "feet was like bronze, burning in a
furnace". We stand on our feet. Our feet take us places. Our feet
help keep us in balance. Our feet helps us to be stable. The feet of Jesus
endured the fire of God’s judgment and He has survived to tell the
story. This is a picture of Jesus standing firm in who He is.
Also in verse 15 we see that Jesus’ voice is like the "sound of
rushing water". Niagara Falls would be a good descriptive way to
suggest what the sound of His voice was like. Jesus was no wimp.
In verse 16 we see that a double edged sword came out of his mouth. It
is like His tongue was this sword. And so we see in the Book of Hebrews
that the Word of God is a double edged sword. (Heb. 4:12) God’s word
cuts into our souls even to the dividing of soul and spirit, so says the
same passage.
One of the greatest sins we commit as Christians is not taking the Word
of God seriously. Someday when we all stand before Jesus, His words will
penetrate our very souls and we will experience the reality of this
two-edged sword that cuts on both sides. His words are from His tongue and
are words of judgment.
Then John says that His face was like the sun. A brilliant light came
from Jesus’ face. His purity is so pure that it is most likely hard to
look at Jesus.
We need to realize that John says that Jesus’ head, hair eyes, feet,
and voice "were like"… It doesn’t mean that Jesus had bronze
feet, but his feet were like bronze in a representational way.
Back to verse 16, we see that in Jesus’ right hand were seven stars.
Verse 20 tells us what these seven stars are. They are seven angels or
messengers of the seven churches. I will comment on this in verse 20/
In verse 17 we see John "fall at His feet as if he were
dead". John experienced the awesome power of Jesus. He could not
stand in His presence, and I believe this will be the same for us when we
meet Jesus. Everyone will fall to their knees as Paul puts it. (Phil
2:10-11) When John says he fell as if he were dead, this is not a simple
falling by choice. The very presence of Jesus knocked him over. And it
wasn’t like he fainted. His breathe was taken away as if he were dead.
It’s like John got hit by a freight train.
As powerful as Jesus was, and still is, He is gentle enough to
understand what was happening to John. Jesus touched John with His right
hand and told him not to be afraid. We see the nature of Jesus here. He is
almighty in power, yet is sensitive to the human condition and reaches out
in love and tenderness.
Then Jesus tells John, "… I am the First and the Last. I am the
Living One. I was dead and behold I am alive for ever and ever".
These words are very similar to the words that God spoke about Himself in
verse 8. As God is eternal in greatest and power, so is Jesus.
When Jesus uses the word "first", that doesn’t mean first
as first one to be created, because Jesus was not created.
"First" means "source" in this instance. Jesus is the
sources of all things, both in the past and throughout eternity
Then Jesus said that He "holds the keys to death and Hades".
At this point we need to distinguish between death and Hades. Death is
easy. We know about death. Death is the door into Hades, the place of the
dead. The English word Hades comes from the Greek word "Haydees",
meaning place of the dead.
Hades in Greek mythology is actually a god of the underworld and thus
the whole underworld was seen as Hades. This is how the first century
person understood Hades.
Hades in the Old Testament seemed to represent the place of the dead,
while in the New Testament it seems to represent the place of the wicked
dead – a further revelation.
There is another Greek word that relates to this subject and it is
"gehenna" and is translated as hell. Gehenna was an actual place
south of Jerusalem. It was a dump where garbage was burned. Thus Gehenna
became synonymous with a place of burning.
There is still another word translated into English as hell too and it
is "tartaroo". This word is used once in the New Testament, in 2
Peter 2:4. It is a classical Greek word that refers to a place under the
ground where the wicked are punished.
The three Greek words, "gehnna, hadyees, and tertaroo" appear
to be all used interchangeably in the New Testament. The same applies to
the 2 Greek words, "Hades and Hell" in English. Although much is
said about Hell an Hades, there’s more that is unknown than known in my
thinking. The one thing we know from verse 18 is that Jesus has power and
authority over both death and Hell, or Hades.
In verse 19 Jesus tells John to write three things, one, "what you
have seen, two, "what is now", and "what will take place
later. This is simply the outline of the book of Revelation. The thing
John just saw was the likeness of Jesus – chapter 1. The things that are
now, are the letters to the seven churches found in chapters 2 and 3. Then
the things that are to come is the rest of the book of Revelation,
beginning in chapter 4. So you might say that Jesus Himself has divided
the prophetic book into three parts.
In verse 20 Jesus reveals the mystery of the seven starts and the seven
lampstands. He says that the stars are the angels or messengers of the
seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. We should
note that a lampstand is not the light but holds the light. There can be a
lampstand with light or without light. Jesus provides the light of the
Spirit to the lampstands, unless He takes the light away.
He Greek word "angelos" is translated as "angle".
In its simplest form it means a messenger. Many places in the New
Testament it is translated as angel, but it can also be translated as a
messenger. The NIV writers translate "angelos’ as angel. Some
believe the messenger is an angel that has some kind of authority over the
church and have some responsibility. I believe this thinking is
problematic in the sense that we don’t see anywhere else in Scripture
that each city church has an angel. Then in today’s fragmented church,
does every little group have their own angel.
Others believe the messenger is a human being sent to deliver this
prophetic message to the churches, or its leader or leaders. Many, if not
most scholars believe this.
The individual churches are seen as "lampstands". Once again
note that they aren’t the light. They hold the light, and so it is with
the church. We are to be the stand that holds the light of Jesus. We have
no light in ourselves, and if we neglect the true light then our reason to
exist is no more.