John Gill Commentary Revelation 1

The Revelation of Jesus Christ
Either of which he is the author: for it was he that sent and showed it by his angel to John; it was he, the lion of the tribe of Judah, that took the book, and opened the seals of it, and which is a very considerable proof of his deity; since none but God could foreknow and foretell things to come, or declare the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet, as is done in this book: or of which he is the subject; for it treats much of his person, offices, and grace, and of Christ mystical, of the state of his church, in the several ages of time; or it is that revelation which was first made to him, to which sense the following words incline:

which God gave to him ;
not to him as he is God, for as such he is omniscient, and foreknew whatever would come to pass, and needed no revelation to be made to him, but as he was man and Mediator; and this was given him by God the Father, and put into his hands, to make known as being a part of the administration of his prophetic office: the end of its being given him was,

to show to his servant things which must shortly come to pass :
the Arabic version adds, "in future ages"; things that were to be hereafter, the accomplishment of which was necessary, because of the certain and unalterable decree of God, the good of his people, and his own glory; and these were to come to pass quickly, in a very little time; not that they would all be fulfilled in a short space of time, for there are some things not fulfilled yet, though it is nineteen hundred years ago and more, since this revelation was made; and we are sure there are some things that will not be accomplished till a thousand years hence, and more, for the millennium is not yet begun; and after that is ended, there is to be a second resurrection, and a destruction of the Gog and Magog army; but the sense is, that these things should very quickly begin to be fulfilled, and from thenceforward go on fulfilling till all were accomplished.

Now to show, to represent these things, in a clear manner, as the nature of them would admit of, to the servants of Christ, all true believers, read and hear and diligently observe them, and especially to the ministers of the Gospel, whose business is to search into them, and point them out to and particularly to his servant John, was this revelation made by Christ, who immediately answered this end:

and he sent, and signified [it] by his angel to servant John ;
he who is the Lord of angels, and to whom they are ministering spirits, sometimes sent one angel and sometimes another; and by various emblems, signs, and visions, represented and set before John, a faithful servant, and a beloved disciple of his, the whole of this revelation.

Who bore record of the word of God
Of the essential and eternal Word of God, his only begotten Son; as John the apostle did in his Gospel, and in his epistles, and also in this book; and which is a clear evidence of his being the writer of it.

And of the testimony of Jesus Christ ;
that is, the Gospel, which testifies of the person of Christ, of the truth of his divinity, and reality of his human nature; of the union of the two natures, divine and human, his person: of his several offices, of prophet, priest and King; of what he did and suffered for his people; and of the blessings of grace which they receive by him:

and of all things that he saw ;
with his bodily eyes, as the human body of Christ, the miracles he wrought in it, the transfiguration of it on the mount, the crucifixion of it, and the piercing of it with a spear, and the resurrection of it from the dead; and also the visions recorded in this book; and such a faithful witness serves greatly to confirm the authority of this book, and to recommend the perusal of it. The Complutensian edition and the Arabic version read, "which are, and which shall", or "must be hereafter", as in (Revelation 1:19) .

Blessed [is] he that reads
This book the Revelation, privately, in his closet or family, carefully and diligently, with a desire of understanding it; or publicly in the church of God, and endeavours to open and explain it to others; and may allude to the reading of the law and the prophets in the synagogues, which were not barely read, but expounded; see (Acts 13:15) (15:21) ; This may be thought to be the sense, especially since there is a change of number in the next clause,

and they that hear the words of this prophecy ;
that listen attentively to the reading and exposition of this book, and have ears to hear, so as to understand the prophecies contained in it: for the whole, when delivered to John, was a prophecy of things to come: but some versions read the number alike in both clauses; as either, "blessed is he that reads, and he that hears," as the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions have it; or "blessed are they that read, and they that hear," as the Arabic version.

and keep those things which are written here ;
the last version adds, "concerning this frail world"; who not only read, and hear, but put in practice what they read and hear; for there are some things in this book which are of a practical nature, especially in the epistles to the seven churches; or the sense is, happy are those persons that observe and take notice of what is written here, meditate upon it, weigh it well in their minds, and retain it in their memories. Now, though eternal happiness does not depend upon, nor is procured by any of these means, as reading, hearing, and observing; yet there is a real happiness, a true pleasure, that does attend these things, which may stir up to a regard unto them; and for which purpose the following words are added:

for the time [is] at hand ;
when these things should begin to be fulfilled.

John to the seven churches which are in Asia
In lesser Asia; their names are mentioned in (Revelation 1:11);

grace [be] unto you, and peace ;
which is the common salutation of the apostles in all their epistles, and includes all blessings of grace,and all prosperity, inward and outward: (See Gill on Romans 1:7). The persons from whom they arewished are very particularly described,

from him which is, and which was, and which is to come ;
which some understand of the whole Trinity; the Father by him "which is", being the I am that I am; the Sonby him "which was", which was with God the Father, and was God; and the Spirit by him "which is to come", whowas promised to come from the Father and the Son, as a Comforter, and the Spirit of truth: others thinkChrist is here only intended, as he is in (Revelation 1:8) by the same expressions; and is he "which is",since before Abraham he was the "I am"; and he "which was", the eternal Logos or Word; and "is to come", asthe Judge of quick and dead. But rather this is to be understood of the first Person, of God the Father; andthe phrases are expressive both of his eternity, he being God from everlasting to everlasting; and of hisimmutability, he being now what he always was, and will be what he now is, and ever was, without anyvariableness, or shadow of turning: they are a periphrasis, and an explanation of the word "Jehovah", whichincludes all tenses, past, present, and to come. So the Jews explain this name in (Exodus 3:14) ; SaysR. Isaac ^F11 , the holy blessed God said to Moses, Say unto them, I am he that was, and I am hethat now is, and I am he that is to come, wherefore (hyha) is written threetimes.'' And such a periphrasis of God is frequent in their writings ^F12 .

And from the seven spirits which are before his throne ;
either before the throne of God the Father; or, as the Ethiopic version reads, "before the throne of the LordJesus Christ"; by whom are meant not angels, though these are spirits, and stand before the throne of God,and are ready to do his will: this is the sense of some interpreters, who think such a number of them ismentioned with reference to the seven angels of the churches; or to the seven last "Sephirot", or numbers inthe Cabalistic tree of the Jews; the three first they suppose design the three Persons in the Godhead,expressed in the preceding clause, and the seven last the whole company of angels: or to the seven principalangels the Jews speak of.

Indeed, in the Apocrypha, ``I am Raphael, one of the seven holy angels, whichpresent the prayers of the saints, and which go in and out before the glory of the Holy One.'' Raphael is said to be one of the seven angels; but it does not appear to be a generally received notion oftheirs that there were seven principal angels. The Chaldee paraphrase on (Genesis 11:7) is misunderstood byMr. Mede, for not "seven", but "seventy angels" are there addressed. It was usual with the Jews only to speakof four principal angels, who stand round about the throne of God; and their names are Michael, Uriel,Gabriel, and Raphael; according to them, Michael stands at his right hand, Uriel at his left, Gabriel beforehim, and Raphael behind him ^F13 .

However, it does not seem likely that angels should be placed in such a situation between the divine Persons, the Father and the Son; and still less that grace and peace should be wished for from them, as from God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ; and that any countenance should be given to angel worship, in a book in which angels are so often represented as worshippers, and in which worship is more than once forbidden them, and that by themselves:

but by these seven spirits are intended the Holy Spirit of God, who is one in his person, but his gifts and graces are various; and therefore he is signified by this number, because of the fulness and perfection of them, and with respect to the seven churches, over whom he presided, whom he influenced, and sanctified, and filled, and enriched with his gifts and graces.

FOOTNOTES:

• F11: Shemot Rabba, sect. 3. fol. 73. 2.
• F12: Targum. Jon. in Deut. xxxii. 39. Zohar in Exod. fol. 59. 3. & in Numb. fol.97. 4. & 106. 2. Seder Tephillot, fol. 205. 1. Ed. Basil. fol. 2. 2. Ed. Amsterd.
• F13: Bemidbar Rabba, sect. 2. fol. 179. 1.

And from Jesus Christ
Who, though the second Person in the Trinity, is mentioned last, because many things were to be said of him; and who is described in all his offices: in his prophetic office,

the faithful witness ;
as he is of his Father, of his mind and will, with respect to doctrine and worship; of his truth and faithfulness in his promises; and of his love, grace, and mercy, to his chosen; and of himself, of his true deity, proper sonship, and perfect equality with the Father; of his Messiahship, and of salvation through his obedience, sufferings, and death; and of all truth in general, to which he has bore a faithful testimony several ways, in his ministry, by his miracles, at his death, and by the shedding of his blood to seal it; by his Spirit since, and by the ministers of his word: he is described in his priestly office by

the first begotten of the dead :
being the first that rose from the dead by his own power, and to an immortal life; for though some few were raised before him, yet not by themselves, nor to live for ever, but to die again. Moreover, he is the firstfruits of the resurrection, the pledge and earnest of it, as well as the efficient cause and exemplar of it. This character supposes that he died, as he did, for the sins of his people; and that he rose again from the dead, as he did, for their justification; and that he rose first as their head and representative, and opened the way of life for them. And he is described in his kingly office, for it follows,

and the Prince of the kings of the earth :
which is not to be understood figuratively of the saints, who have power over sin, Satan, and the world, through the efficacious grace of Christ, and of whom he is Prince or King; but literally of the kings and princes of this world, over whom Christ is King and Lord, who receive their crowns and kingdoms from him, and rule by him, and are accountable to him, as they one day must be. Next follows a doxology, or an ascription of glory to him,

unto him that has loved us ;
his own, his people, his church, his chosen, and who are given him by his Father; these he has loved with an everlasting and unchangeable love, with a love of complacency and delight, which passes knowledge, and will never end: and which he has shown in espousing their persons, undertaking their cause, assuming their nature, and in nothing more than in giving himself for them as a propitiatory sacrifice, or in dying and shedding his precious blood for them, as is next expressed:

and washed us from our sins in his own blood ;
which shows that these persons were loved before washed; they were not first washed, and then loved, but first loved, and then washed. Love was the cause of washing, and not washing the cause of love; hence it appears that they were in themselves filthy, and unclean through sin; and that they could not cleanse themselves by anything they could do; and that such was the love of Christ to them, that he shed his precious blood for them, which is a fountain opened, to wash in for sin, and which cleanses from all sin.

This is to be understood, not of the sanctification of their natures, which is the work of the Spirit, but of atonement for their sins, and justification from them by the blood of Christ, whereby they are so removed, that they are all fair, and without spot. It is afterwards said, that these same persons are made priests; and it may be observed, that the priests were always washed, before they performed their service, as such ^{n}. The Alexandrian copy and the Syriac and Arabic versions read, "and has loosed us from our sins in", or "by his blood"; that is, from the guilt of them, which was bound upon them.

FOOTNOTES:

• F14: Misn. Yoma, c. 3. sect. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.