This chapter, Revelation 1, contains a general introduction to the whole book, and comprises the following parts: I. The announcement that the object of the book is to record a revelation which the Lord Jesus Christ had made of important events which were shortly to occur, and which were signified... [ Continue Reading ]
THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST - This is evidently a title or caption of the whole book, and is designed to comprise the substance of the whole; for all that the book contains would be embraced in the general declaration that it is a revelation of Jesus Christ. The word rendered “Revelation” - Ἀποκ... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO BARE RECORD OF THE WORD OF GOD - Who bore witness to, or testified of ἐμαρτύρησεν emarturēsen the Word of God. He regarded himself merely as a “witness” of what he had seen, and claimed only to make a fair and faithful “record” of it. “This is the disciple which “testifieth” (ὁ μαρτυρῶν ho... [ Continue Reading ]
BLESSED IS HE THAT READETH - That is, it is to be regarded as a privilege attended with many blessings, to be permitted to mark the disclosures to be made in this book; the important revelations respecting future times. Prof. Stuart supposes that this refers to a public reading, and that the phrase... [ Continue Reading ]
JOHN TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES WHICH ARE IN ASIA - The word “Asia” is used in quite different senses by different writers. It is used: (1)As referring to the whole eastern continent now known by that name; (2)Either Asia or Asia Minor; (3)That part of Asia which Attalus III, king of Pergamos, gave to... [ Continue Reading ]
AND FROM JESUS CHRIST, WHO IS THE FAITHFUL WITNESS - See the notes on Revelation 1:2. He is faithful in the sense that he is one on whose testimony there may be entire reliance, or who is entirely worthy to be believed. From him “grace and peace” are appropriately sought, as one who hears such a tes... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HATH MADE US KINGS AND PRIESTS UNTO GOD - In 1 Peter 2:9 the same idea is expressed by saying of Christians that they are “a royal priesthood.” See the notes on that verse. The quotation in both places is from Exodus 19:6; “And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests.” This idea is expressed he... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD HE COMETH WITH CLOUDS - That is, the Lord Jesus, when he returns, will come accompanied with clouds. This is in accordance with the uniform representation respecting the return of the Saviour. See the notes on Matthew 24:30. Compare Matthew 26:64; Mark 13:26; Mark 14:62; Acts 1:9, Acts 1:11.... [ Continue Reading ]
I AM ALPHA AND OMEGA - These are the first and the last letters of the Greek alphabet, and denote properly the first and the last. So in Revelation 22:13, where the two expressions are united, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.” So in Revelation 1:17, the speak... [ Continue Reading ]
I JOHN, WHO ALSO AM YOUR BROTHER - Your Christian brother; who am a fellow-Christian with you. The reference here is doubtless to the members of the seven churches in Asia, to whom the epistles in the following chapters were addressed, and to whom the whole book seems to have been sent. In the previ... [ Continue Reading ]
I WAS IN THE SPIRIT - This cannot refer to his own spirit, for such an expression would be unintelligible. The language then must refer to some unusual state, or to some influence that had been brought to bear upon him from without, that was appropriate to such a day. The word “Spirit” may refer eit... [ Continue Reading ]
SAYING - That is, literally, “the trumpet saying.” It was, however, manifestly the voice that addressed these words to John, though they seemed to come through a trumpet, and hence the trumpet is represented as uttering them. I AM ALPHA AND OMEGA - Revelation 1:8. THE FIRST AND THE LAST - An expla... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I TURNED TO SEE THE VOICE THAT SPAKE WITH ME - He naturally turned round to see who it was that spake to him in this solitary and desolate place, where he thought himself to be alone. To see the “voice” here means to see the “person” who spake. AND BEING TURNED, I SAW SEVEN GOLDEN CANDLESTICKS -... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IN THE MIDST OF THE SEVEN CANDLESTICKS - Standing among them, so as to be encircled with them. This shows that the representation could not have been like that of the vision of Zechariah Zechariah 4:2, where the prophet sees “a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his sev... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS HEAD AND HIS HAIRS WERE WHITE LIKE WOOL, AS WHITE AS SNOW - Exceedingly or perfectly white - the first suggestion to the mind of the apostle being that of wool, and then the thought occurring of its extreme whiteness resembling snow - the purest white of which the mind conceives. The comparison... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HIS FEET LIKE UNTO FINE BRASS - Compare Daniel 10:6, “And his arms and his feet like in color to polished brass.” See also Ezekiel 1:7, “and they” (the feet of the living creatures) “sparkled like the color of burnished brass.” The word used here - χαλκολιβάνω chalkolibanō - occurs in the New... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE HAD IN HIS RIGHT HAND SEVEN STARS - Emblematic of the angels of the seven churches. How he held them is not said. It may be that they seemed to rest on his open palm; or it may be that he seemed to hold them as if they were arranged in a certain order, and with some sort of attachment, so tha... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN I SAW HIM, I FELL AT HIS FEET AS DEAD - As if I were dead; deprived of sense and consciousness. He was overwhelmed with the suddenness of the vision; he saw that this was a divine being; but he did not as yet know that it was the Saviour. It is not probable that in this vision he would imme... [ Continue Reading ]
I AM HE THAT LIVETH, AND WAS DEAD - I was indeed once dead, but now I live, and shall continue to live forever. This would at once identify him who thus appeared as the Lord Jesus Christ, for to no one else could this apply. He had been put to death; but he had risen from the grave. This also is giv... [ Continue Reading ]
WRITE THE THINGS WHICH THOU HAST SEEN - An account of the vision which thou hast had, Revelation 1:10. AND THE THINGS WHICH ARE - Give an account of those things which thou hast seen as designed to represent the condition of the seven churches. He had seen not only the Saviour, but he had seen seve... [ Continue Reading ]
THE MYSTERY OF THE SEVEN STARS - On the word “mystery,” see notes on Ephesians 1:9. The word means, properly, “what is hidden, obscure, unknown” - until it is disclosed by one having the ability to do it, or by the course of events. When disclosed, it may be as clear, and as capable of comprehension... [ Continue Reading ]