Revelation 1:1–5 — Verse-by-Verse Introduction
Source: A2K Online Church Archive
Format: Wednesday night Bible study — lecture + Q&A
Context: Third session in the series. Opens with a brief recap of the three axes, then begins the verse-by-verse study of Revelation, covering 1:1–5.
Quick Recap: The Three Axes
Before moving into the text, the teacher briefly reviewed the interpretive framework from the previous session. Apocalyptic literature operates on three axes simultaneously:
| Axis |
Two Poles |
Purpose |
| Temporality (Time) |
Time of crisis → Time of peaceful resolution |
Comfort the afflicted; warn the comfortable |
| Space |
Heaven (God’s realm) ↔ Earth (realm in need of redemption) |
Reveal God’s perspective to those below |
| Morality |
The righteous ↔ The wicked |
Show the righteous how to live; warn them not to backslide |
A key pastoral insight: good preaching is supposed to afflict those who are comfortable and comfort those who are afflicted. Revelation does both — it encourages the persecuted faithful and warns those living comfortably in sin that a time of judgment is coming.:
The Problem with Modern Interpretation
Popular culture has reduced Revelation to a coded calendar of end-times events — a puzzle to decode so you can know what’s happening just before Jesus returns. This misses:
- The original recipients — real people in real crisis who needed practical guidance
- The function of persecution — the book is written to people under pressure to abandon their faith
- The practical application — the book is meant to change how you live now, not just inform you about the future
Revelation 1:1a — About and From Jesus
“The revelation of Jesus Christ…”
The phrase “revelation of Jesus Christ” can mean two things — and it means both:
- A revelation about Jesus — we will learn who Jesus is throughout the book. Notably, the most common image of Jesus in Revelation is not “King” or “Lord” but the Lamb — a weak, slaughtered animal. This image of Jesus as a Passover lamb is woven through the entire book.
- A revelation from Jesus — Jesus is the one communicating this message to John, having received it from God.
“Jesus Christ” is not his first and last name. Christ means “the Anointed King.” Yet the most common image Revelation gives us of this King is a weak, slain animal — that paradox is intentional.
The Hierarchy of Revelation
The chain of communication follows a clear order:
God → Jesus → Angel → John → Bond-servants (churches)
This is consistent with the definition of apocalyptic literature: truth revealed from heaven through otherworldly figures to human recipients.
Revelation 1:1b — The Meaning of Tachos (“Soon”)
”…to show his bond-servants the things which must soon take place.”
The Greek word tachos (from which we get “tachometer,” and related to “taxi” — a vehicle that gets you there quickly) can mean two things:
- Soon in time — events that will happen quickly
- Close in proximity — something right in front of you, like a pin dropped on your head approaching you rapidly
Neither meaning limits the book only to the first century, nor does it reduce it to a distant future event irrelevant to the original readers. The word creates a sense of urgency — whether temporal or spatial, the decisive moment is close.
A related concept: Kairos (the word for “time” in verse 3) means a decisive, opportune moment — not just any moment on a clock. The decisive time is always near. For a believer, it could be the moment to preach the gospel, to forgive, to speak a word of witness — right in front of you.
Revelation 1:1c — Communicated by Signs (Sēmainō)
”…he communicated it by his angel to his bond-servant John.”
The Greek word translated “communicated” is sēmainō — which means to signify, to give a sign. This is not ordinary verbal communication. From the very first sentence, Revelation is telling the reader how it works:
This book communicates through signs and symbols — not through plain speech.
Reading anything in Revelation as woodenly literal is already against the grain of the text itself. The proper question is always: What does this sign or symbol mean? How would it have functioned for the original audience?
Revelation 1:2 — The Testimony of Jesus and the Word Martyria
“John, who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.”
Two important observations:
1. The Word of God = The Gospel
“The word of God” here is not a reference to the Bible. It refers to the gospel message — the proclamation about Jesus, specifically Jesus’ own testimony.
2. The Linguistic Shift of Martyr
The Greek word martyria (testimony/witness) is the root of our English word “martyr.”
- Before Revelation: martys simply meant a witness — someone who gives testimony, like a legal witness. It carried no connotation of death.
- After Revelation: The word gradually came to mean someone who dies for their testimony.
Scholars have identified the Book of Revelation as the historical turning point that caused this semantic shift. The book so closely ties faithful testimony to the risk of death that the word itself changed meaning over time.
John as evangelist is introduced from verse 2 as a model witness. Jesus will shortly be called the faithful witness — the one whose testimony led directly to his death. The book is laying the groundwork for its central ethical call: witness faithfully, even to the point of death.
Running notes so far:
- John is a faithful evangelist
- Jesus’ testimony = the gospel
Revelation 1:3a — Blessed Readers and Hearers
“Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy and heed the things written in it.”
How the Book Was Experienced
One person reads aloud; the congregation listens. This was the normal experience of Scripture in the first century — literacy rates were extremely low. Even in the most educated cities like Athens, literacy at its peak was around 10%. The vast majority of church members would have experienced Revelation as an oral performance, hearing it read aloud.
This has implications for how the book was designed — it was meant to sound powerful, not just to be decoded quietly in private study.
“Prophecy” Doesn’t Mean “End-Times Prediction”
Revelation is called a prophecy — but prophets in the Bible primarily functioned as:
- Spokespersons between God and the people
- Preachers calling for repentance and faithfulness
- Warning agents: “If you don’t repent, judgment comes; if you do, blessing follows”
Prediction of distant future events was secondary. Think of Samuel, Nathan, Elijah, Elisha — they preached to the people in front of them. Even predictions like those in Isaiah and Jeremiah were conditional: if people repent, the judgment doesn’t come (see Jonah and Nineveh as proof that prophetic judgment is conditional by nature).
The Verb Tēreō — “To Heed/Keep”
The verb translated “heed” (tēreō) means to keep, maintain, and obey. This verb appears in 10% of all its biblical occurrences inside the Book of Revelation — a striking concentration. The book is fundamentally a book of practical commands to be obeyed.
Every occurrence points to concrete behavior:
| Reference |
What Is to Be Kept |
| Rev. 1:3 |
The words of this prophecy |
| Rev. 2:26 |
Jesus’ deeds, until the end |
| Rev. 3:3 |
What you have received and heard (the gospel) |
| Rev. 3:8 |
Jesus’ word; not denying his name |
| Rev. 3:10 |
The word of Jesus’ perseverance |
| Rev. 12:17 |
The commandments of God + testimony of Jesus |
| Rev. 14:12 |
The commandments of God + faith/faithfulness of Jesus |
| Rev. 16:15 |
Staying awake and keeping your clothes (moral alertness, identity) |
| Rev. 22:7 |
The words of the prophecy of this book |
Every single “keep” in Revelation refers to things you could have learned from reading Paul’s letters or the Gospels — faithfulness to the gospel, obedience to God’s commands, perseverance in witness. Nothing is novel or hidden. The book reinforces what disciples are already called to.
Revelation 1:3b — The Time Is Near and Jesus Is Present
”…for the time is near.”
Kairos = a decisive, critical moment — not a random tick on a clock.
The teacher makes a provocative point: nearness does not only mean time. Jesus said “where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there in their midst.” Revelation 1:20 reveals that the seven lampstands are the seven churches — and Jesus is described as walking in the middle of them (1:12–13). Jesus is near now. He is present in the churches.
This means:
- He can see what they’re doing (“I know your deeds” — said to every church)
- He can rebuke and judge immediately, without waiting for a final second coming
- The church in Ephesus that didn’t repent lost its lampstand — it no longer exists. Jesus judged it in real time.
- Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5) and the Corinthians abusing the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor. 11) are New Testament examples of present-tense judgment, not deferred judgment
“The time is near” doesn’t mean the end of history is imminent. It means the decisive moment — for obedience, for witness, for repentance — is always right in front of you.
Revelation 1:4a — The Epistolary Greeting
“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…”
This is a standard Greek letter opening — identical in form to Paul’s epistles (“Paul to the church in Corinth, grace and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ”). This confirms the book’s genre as an epistle written to real, specific communities in the first century.
The seven churches were real historical congregations in Asia Minor (modern Turkey). Archaeological evidence confirms their existence. These were not symbolic future churches — they were communities Paul and others knew and cared for.
“Him Who Is and Who Was and Who Is to Come”
Instead of writing “God the Father,” John uses this word-picture. Its meaning:
- Eternal: God always has been, is, and always will be
- Contrasted with false gods: Several Greco-Roman gods were described in similar terms in the first century:
- Isis: “All that has been and is and shall be”
- Zeus: “Zeus is, Zeus was, Zeus shall be”
- Aion (god of time): “The one who is, was, and will be”
John’s formula is a polemical counter-claim: the God who revealed himself to Israel — not Isis, not Zeus, not Aion — is the true eternal God who controls history and reveals himself through Jesus.
Notably, later in Revelation at the moment of judgment, God is described only as “he who is and who was” — no longer “who is to come” — because he has already arrived.
Revelation 1:4b–5a — The Seven Spirits and Jesus’ Three Titles
The Seven Spirits
”…and from the seven spirits who are before his throne…”
Some read “seven spirits” as a reference to the Holy Spirit. This is unlikely for two reasons:
- The number: The Holy Spirit is never described as seven of anything. Seven is the number of fullness — but “seven spirits” in the plural points to distinct beings.
- Epistolary convention: In every Pauline letter, greetings come from God and Jesus — never from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does not send greetings in letters.
Later in Revelation (chs. 3–4), these seven spirits are identified as seven angels. Angels are described as “ministering spirits” elsewhere in the New Testament (Heb. 1:13–14). These are the authorized angels — the heavenly intermediaries consistent with apocalyptic literature — sending greetings alongside the Father.
Jesus: Three Descriptions (Rev. 1:5)
Jesus is introduced with three titles that form a deliberate progression:
| Title |
Meaning |
| Faithful Witness (martys) |
Jesus preached the gospel faithfully and died for it — he is the original martyr in the fullest sense |
| Firstborn of the Dead |
He is the first to be resurrected; his resurrection is the guarantee and preview of ours |
| Ruler of the Kings of the Earth |
Jesus already reigns — not just at his future return, but now, seated at God’s right hand |
On “Ruler of the Kings of the Earth”: This doesn’t look true when you turn on the news. Wars, corruption, injustice. But this is precisely what Revelation is revealing — from God’s perspective, Jesus already rules. His rule will be fully consummated at the second coming, but it has already begun. If he’s already ruling, believers must already be obedient and subservient to him — not to the empires of this world.
The Number Seven in Revelation
The book is saturated with sevens — not accidentally, but as a deliberate literary and theological structure:
| Item |
Count |
| Blessings (“blessed”) |
7 |
| Occurrences of “testimony of Jesus” |
7 |
| Occurrences of the name “Jesus” |
14 (2 × 7) |
| Occurrences of “Christ” |
7 |
| Occurrences of “Lamb” (referring to Jesus) |
28 (4 × 7) |
| Occurrences of “God and the Lamb” |
7 |
| Occurrences of the universal phrase “peoples, tribes, nations, tongues” |
7 |
Seven signals completeness and fullness. The seven churches don’t represent only those seven communities — they represent the fullness of the church in all times and places.
Summary: What Revelation 1:1–5 Establishes
| Element |
What It Tells Us |
| “Revelation of Jesus Christ” |
Both about and from Jesus; the primary image of Jesus = the Lamb |
| Hierarchy |
God → Jesus → Angel → John → Churches |
| “Communicated by signs” (sēmainō) |
The entire book works through signs and symbols, not literal description |
| “Soon” (tachos) |
Close in time and/or in proximity — creates urgency without limiting audience to one era |
| “Testimony” (martyria) |
Revelation is where the word “martyr” began its shift to mean “one who dies for their witness” |
| “Blessed… if you heed” (tēreō) |
The book is fundamentally practical — its words are commands to obey |
| “The time is near” (kairos) |
The decisive moment is always in front of you; Jesus is already present in his churches |
| Epistolary greeting |
A real letter to real first-century communities — not a coded future prophecy |
| “Him who is and who was and who is to come” |
A polemical claim against Greco-Roman gods — the God of Israel is the true eternal ruler of history |
| Three titles of Jesus |
Faithful witness → firstborn of the dead → ruler of the kings of the earth (already, not only future) |
“What I want you to walk away with today is that Revelation is intentionally and deliberately practical for your life. It was practical for them 2,000 years ago and it’s still practical for us today. How can I use this book to make me a better disciple? How can I use this book to help me be more allegiant to God and obedient to the Lamb?”
