Revelation 1

Chap. I. ver. 1. The Revelation &c.] The book opens (ver. 1-3) with the title or inscription of the book itself; the scope and design of it to foretell things which should shortly begin to be fulfilled, and succeed in their due season and order, till all were accom-

Christ. 14 His glorious power and majesty. THE Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to Anno DOMINI 94.

pliabed; and the blessing pronounced on him who shall read and explain it, and on those who shall bear and attend to it. Bp. Newton.

• The Revelation of Jesus Christ.] We have many revelations from our Lord Jesus Christ: this, delivered

John’s salutation to the seven churches of Asia.

shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

— which God gave unto him.] The scheme of the Christian revelation is mediatorial throughout. God “giveth” unto the Son, (John iii. 35; v. 19, 27; viii. 28, &c.) dispensing knowledge and favour through Him. Dean Woodhouse.

— things which must shortly come to pass:] Meaning that the beginning of the events to be revealed was not to be sought in any distant period, but concerned the very times in which the prophecies were delivered; and that they were to follow in succession until their final consummation. Daubus, Dean Woodhouse.

— unto God and his Father;] ‘Unto God, even His Father.’

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2. Who bare record of the word of God.] Who was the faithful and beloved disciple of Christ, while He was here on earth; and who had hitherto borne testimony to the miracles which he saw Him work, and to the holy doctrines which he personally heard Him preach. Pyle.

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3. Blessed is he that readeth, &c.] Happy will it be for every one who seriously studies, and duly attends to, the matters here treated of: for they are of infinite concern to him, whatever be the age of the church in which he lives, as carrying in them the best cautions, the most reasonable warnings, the most true consolations, and the most useful knowledge, that can possibly be wanted in any times and circumstances. Pyle.

The distinction is remarkable of “him that readeth” and of “them that hear:” for since, at the time when this was written, there were no books but manuscript, they were in fewer hands; and it was a much readier way to publish a prophecy by publick reading than by transcribing copies. Also it was the custom of those ages to read all the apostolical writings in Christian congregations. Bp. Newton. The same kind of blessing is pronounced in Matt. xiii. 16; Luke xi. 28; 2 Pet. i. 19, on those who cultivate spiritual knowledge, who attend with faith to “the light of prophecy shining in a dark place until the day dawn.” Dean Woodhouse.

— and keep those things &c.] The Holy Ghost has thought fit to intermix with these prophecies exhortations to Christians to beware of idolatry and carnal pollntions, and sets forth the rewards due to them that shall take heed. Daubus.

— for the time is at hand.] The time when the accomplishment of them shall begin. See notes on ver. 1. Pyle.

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4. John to the seven churches which are in Asia:] This book, being written in an epistolary form, begins, like other apostolic epistles, with a salutation, followed by a glorification, ver. 6. It is addressed to the seven churches, which are afterwards mentioned by name, in chap. ii, iii, (see the notes there,) situated in the pro-

consular province properly called Asia, (see note at Acts ii. 9,) which, at the time when the Apocalypse was written, is reported by historians to have contained fire hundred great cities. Of these, Ephesus, Smyrna, and Pergamos, (being three out of the seven,) long contested for the pre-eminence. The number of churches, to which the Epistle is addressed, is seven. The same number we shall find frequently employed in this sacred book, for we read of seven Spirits of God, seven angels, seven thunders, &c. These particular seven churches being now sunk in Mahometan superstition, all the Christian churches inherit the advice given, the threatenings denounced, and the blessings promised by their Divine Lord. Dean Woodhouse.

— from him which is, &c.] From the eternal God, whose name Jehovah signifies, He that is, and was, and shall be. Dr. Hammond. This description of God the Father occurs at chap. iv. 8; from which place the Apostle seems to take it here. It has the same meaning with the great “I am” of Exod. iii. 14. Dean Woodhouse.

— and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne:] To understand this expression we must refer to chap. iv. 5, where, in the glorious representation of the Deity, are exhibited “seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.” But at chap. iii. 1, God the Son describes Himself as “having the seven Spirits of God;” and when He appears under the emblem of the Lamb, chap v. 6, He is described as “having seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth.” But what can we account this universal, holy Spirit of God, proceeding from the Father and the Son, to be, but that which, in the plainer language of the sacred Scriptures, is called the Holy Ghost. The comment of the venerable Bede on this passage appears just and forcible. ‘The one Holy Spirit is here described as sevenfold, by which is intimated in prophetic language fulness and perfection.’ Dean Woodhouse.

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5. And from Jesus Christ.] He seems to be here mentioned last of the three Persons in the Godhead, because His character and description are longer dwell upon, ver. 5—7. Dr. Hammond, Dean Woodhouse.

— who is the faithful witness, &c.] That is, who died to seal with His blood the truth of His doctrine, and after that rose again the first from the dead, to give an earnest and certain assurance of the resurrection which He hath promised us; and by His death and resurrection hath for Himself obtained glory and immortality, rule and power, and a seat at the right hand of God. Daubus.

— him that loved us.] That so loved us, as to die for our salvation. Pyle.

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6.— hath made us kings and priests] Hath sanctified John relateth his vision of the Son of man. Anno DOMINI 96. ● Matt. 34. 50. 7° Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.

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7. Behold, he cometh &c.] In this verse, the Prophet, enraptured with his subject, passes from the glorification of Christ, which he had delivered in the form of a prayer, to the description of the awful event, when, (as foretold in Scripture, see Dan. vii. 13; Matt. xxiv. 30,) He shall come in the clouds of heaven, in the glory of the Father, to preside at the general judgment. Dean Woodhouse. — they also which pierced him:] Meaning not only the Jews who demanded His crucifixion of Pilate, but likewise all those who wound Him by their transgressions, “who cruelly to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame,” Heb. vi. 6. Dean Woodhouse. — all kindreds of the earth shall wail] All obstinate idolaters and opposers of Christ, who shall persist in their enmity, at His second coming shall be the subject of His judgment and vengeance, and shall therefore have cause to lament. Dambus.

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8. I am Alpha and Omega,] Christ is the first and the last, the original Creator and the final Judge of the world; and to His illustrious advent and final triumph over His enemies, as being the grand catastrophe of the Apocalypse, the Prophet, who had already seen it exhibited in vision, exultingly adverts before he begins his narration. Dean Woodhouse. — Alpha and Omega,] These are the names of the first and last letters in the Greek alphabet, and are therefore used to express “the first and the last,” generally. That it is God the Son who here speaks, admits of no doubt, see ver. 17, 18, where He says “I am the first and the last, I am He that liveth and was dead;” also chap. xxii. 13—16, where He repeats this description of Himself, and, in order that none might doubt who it is that thus describes His eternity, continuing to speak in the same person says, “I Jesus have sent Mine angel.” All these expressions are the common description which Scripture gives of the eternity of God, whose being is commensurate with duration past, present, and to come. Here therefore we have a most clear and undoubted proof of the Divinity of our Serious. Abp. Tillotson. He which is expressly styled Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, without any restriction or limitation, was, after and before any assignable time, truly and essentially God. For by this title God describes His own being, and distinguishes it from all other. See Isaï. xli. 4; xlviii. 12; xliv. 6. But Christ is in various passages of the Revelation styled expressly the first and the last. See ver. 11, 17; chap. ii. 8; xxii. 13, &c. And in all these places the title is attributed to Him absolutely and universally, without any limitation, in the same latitude and eminence of expression, in which it can be attributed to the supreme God. Whence it follows, that Christ is declared to be the Supreme, Almighty, and Eternal God. Bp. Pearson.

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9. I John, who also am your brother,] I John, who am a brother to every Christian believer, a fellow sufferer with all who do now, or shall hereafter, endure persecution for the sake of Christ’s religion, was banished into the isle of Patmos, for being an Apostle and preacher of the same faith. Pyle. — the isle that is called Patmos,] Patmos is an island south of Samos, in the Archipelago; it is now called Palmosa. In this island, as in some others in different parts of the world, the Roman emperours used to confine offenders. The inhabitants of the principal town pretend to show a house where St. John wrote the Revelations, and, not far from it, a cave where they were made to him. Dr. Wells. — for the word of God, and for the testimony &c.] The sense of this expression becomes clear by comparing it with chap. vi. 9, where the martyrs are represented as having suffered “for the word of God and for the testimony which they held.” St. John was, like them, a persecuted sufferer and confessor, being banished for his adherence to the faith. Dean Woodhouse.

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10. I was in the Spirit] I was in an ecstasy or trance. Dumbus. It is in vain to inquire the exact manner in which these sacred visions were communicated. Thus far is plain from Ezek. ii. 2; iii. 24; 2 Cor. xii. 2, and other passages of Scripture, that the Prophet commonly perceived the impulse of the Spirit acting upon him in an extraordinary manner. Dean Woodhouse. — on the Lord’s day,] The Christian sabbath, on which the church used to assemble for religious worship. Lowman. See note at Acts xx. 7. On “the Lord’s day,” we may well suppose, the Apostle’s heart and affections were sublimed by the meditations and devotions of the day, and rendered more fit to receive Divine inspiration. Bp. Newton. — a great voice, as of a trumpet,] Loud as the sound of a trumpet, fearful and alarming. The trumpet was the voice of God at the awful delivery of the law on mount Sinai, Exod. xix. 16, and so will be again at the end of the world, 1 Thess. iv. 16; 1 Cor. xv. 52. Dean Woodhouse.

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11. — and, What thou seest, write &c.] Attend to the revelations which thou seest, as coming from Me; write them down to preserve them for the use and benefit of The power and majesty of the Son of man. Anno DOMINI 94.

unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.

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12. — I turned to see the voice] I turned to see who it was that uttered this voice. Daubus.

— seven golden candlesticks.] These are explained afterwards at ver. 20, to represent the seven churches, or the universal church of Christ. Spiritual knowledge is frequently represented in Scripture under the emblem of a light or lamp. See Matt. v. 14, 15; Zech. iv. 2; and the station, from which this light is communicated, is that which bears the light, or the candlestick, denoting the church. Dean Woodhouse.

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13. — one like unto the Son of man.] Our Saviour is so called at Dan. x. 16, and this is the appellation which our Lord generally adopted of Himself. Dean Woodhouse.

— clothed with a garment &c.] His clothing here described much resembles that of the Jewish high priest; and he is represented much in the same manner, as are the Divine appearances in Daniel’s visions. Bp. Newton. He is habited like the high priest, Lev. vi. 10; xvi. 4, to signify that Christ is our merciful High Priest, who has compassion on our infirmities, and intercedes and prays for us. The upper garment of the high priest was long, and he was girt with a girdle, Exod. xxxix. 5. Dr. Hammond.

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14 His head and his hairs &c.] The description is similar to that of other glorified bodies, mentioned in holy writ. Thus our Lord at His transfiguration, of which St. John was a witness, Matt. xvii. 2; and in the visions of Daniel, chap. vii. 9; x. 5, 6. In those passages we have all the original ideas which are represented in this vision of St. John, but with that varied expression which implies that St. John’s copy was not taken from these passages, but from the same original. Dean Woodhouse.

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16 — seven stars:] Which are “the angels of the seven churches,” ver. 20.

— out of his mouth went a sharp two edged sword:] This is the weapon by which our Lord and His followers are to conquer at the last; and therefore it is again described at chap. xix. 15, 21. In a passage of Isaiah,

confessedly prophetic of our Lord, it is said, “He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall be slay the wicked,” Isa. xi. 4. Agreeably to which, “the sword of the Spirit” is called by St. Paul “the word of God,” Eph. vi. 17, and is the weapon with which, according to the same Apostle, even “with the Spirit of His mouth,” the Lord will destroy the man of sin, 2 Thess. ii. 8. These passages throw considerable light on the expression before us, and shew the nature of the weapons, by which our Lord and His church are to gain their victories, not the instruments of human warfare, but the preaching of the word in evangelical purity and power. Dean Woodhouse.

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18. I am he that liveth.] Even that Christ which lived here on earth, and was put to death, and rose again to life, and now liveth never to die again, and hath all power over the invisible state of death, and over death itself. Dr. Hammond. The High Priest and Saviour of the church, who died to redeem it unto God, and consecrate it a peculiar people, and who now ever lives to protect and bless it, and who hath all authority and power in this life, and in the separate state of departed souls, after this life, to save it for evermore. Lusman.

— the keys] The power of opening and shutting, of making alive and destroying. Abp. Newcome.

— of hell] The receptacle of the dead, the place of departed souls.

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20. — the angels of the seven churches:] The pastors, ministers, or chief guides of these churches, (as representative of their Bocks,) who are wont to be called, in the Jewish language, the angels of the churches. Pyle.

The word, translated “angel,” is generally used in the Old and New Testament, as well as in profane authors, to signify a messenger, ambassadour, or representative, one who bears a deputed office or commission. Thus, at Mal. ii. 7, the priest of the Lord is styled the angel or messenger of the Lord; and in the ancient Jewish church, the forms of which were followed in the first Christian churches, the ruler or chief minister of the synagogue was called the “angel” of the synagogue. In conformity with this, the bishops or presidents of the primitive church were called angels or messengers, as holding an intermediate or delegated office between Christ the Head of all the churches, and that particular