Revelation 1:4-5a

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, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.

Ἰωάννης ταῖς ἑπτὰ ἐκκλησίαις ταῖς ἐν τῇ Ἀσίᾳ·

χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη ἀπὸ ὁ ὢν καὶ ὁ ἦν καὶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος, καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἑπτὰ πνευμάτων ἃ ἐνώπιον τοῦ θρόνου αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀπὸ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὁ μάρτυς ὁ πιστός, ὁ πρωτότοκος τῶν νεκρῶν καὶ ὁ ἄρχων τῶν βασιλέων τῆς γῆς.

John begins to address the intended recipients of the book of Revelation: the seven churches in Asia, that is, the churches in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. These are seven historical churches in Asia Minor, arranged in order of increasing distance from the island of Patmos, where John was exiled. Furthermore, the number seven represents fullness or completeness, and therefore these seven churches also represent all the churches in Asia Minor, or the entire new covenant people of God in general (i.e. the church universal).

In standard epistolary language, John extends grace and peace to the churches from “him who is and who was and who is to come”. This somewhat lengthy title for God finds its origins in the OT Jewish tradition, though it is more often expressed as “him who was and who is and who will be”. The traditional title makes sense in that the verbs are the past, present, and future tense of “to be”; John’s version of this title changes the future verb to “is to come”. This change is subtle and usually goes undetected in the minds of readers, though it is quite a significant amendment. It seems that John intentionally changed the title to “him who is and who was and who is to come” to relate this passage with the previous verses in Revelation 1:1-3 in which John stated that Revelation concerns things that must soon take place. Just a few verses later, we will see that Jesus is coming with the clouds (judgment language from Daniel), which supports the premise that John is emphasizing the near-term time expectation that Christ is coming soon in the period of John’s immediate audience.

The seven spirits who are before the throne represent the Spirit of God in fullness. Furthermore, the mention of a throne in this introduction directs readers to the fact that God is not only sovereign as King of all creation, but there appears to be a judicial nature to the book of Revelation.

Jesus is once more described as a “witness”, though this time with the descriptor “faithful witness”. Readers might notice in the Greek a definite article before both “faithful” and “witness” (ὁ μάρτυς ὁ πιστός), emphasizing the faithful character of Christ and of His witness. The use of “witness” together with a “throne” image further supports the premise that Christ is here presenting a legal charge before the throne of God against apostate Israel (see v. 7, against those who “pierced Him”).

Furthermore, Jesus is described as the “firstborn of the dead”, meaning that He is the first of this kind of people who are raised from the dead. This implies that there are those after Him who will also be raised from the dead. This provides much hope to John’s immediate audience who, as we shall see in the book of Revelation, suffer persecution from the Jews (and Romans), even unto death for some.

Jesus is also described as the “ruler of kings on earth”, the English translation of which I am not fond of. As can be seen in the Greek (ὁ ἄρχων τῶν βασιλέων τῆς γῆς; ho archōn tōn basileōn tēs gēs), there is definite article before “kings” and before “earth/land”. A direct translation would be “the ruler of the kings of the earth/land”. For John’s immediate audience, the expression “the kings of the earth/land” could point to either the religious leaders of the Land of Israel (who had considerable political power) or to the Gentile kings reigning throughout the Roman Empire or the whole earth. Considering that τῆς γῆς, when used in a Jewish context, refers to the Land [of Israel] more often than not, it makes more sense to understand this expression to refer to the religious rulers of Israel, over whom Christ is the ultimate ruler.

Taking into consideration the background of John’s immediate audience, Jewish Christians who were persecuted by the Jewish religious rulers throughout the Roman Empire (as can be seen in the book of Acts for example), this passage provides immense assurance to John’s audience that Jesus reigns even over the Jewish leaders. In fact, we will see in the next few verses that the book of Revelation has to do with the near-term coming of Jesus in judgment upon those who pierced Him, these evil-doers being none other than the “kings of the Land” who not only rejected Christ, but also coerce their fellow Jews to reject their Messiah.

Soli Deo gloria!