The Book of Revelation Overview: Greeting [cf. Rev. 1:4-8]

THE BOOK OF REVELATION Overview: Greeting
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GREETING [cf. Rev. 1:4-8]
Saint John then immediately moves from the prologue into a general greeting “to the seven churches in Asia” who are the recipients of this revelation from Christ. He begins with a Trinitarian blessing over them arranged in the order of their positioning in the heavenly sanctuary:

- God the Father (= “Him Who is and Who was and Who is to come”): John highlights God’s unchanging power and eternity.
- God the Holy Spirit (= “the seven spirits before His throne”): John describes the Spirit in terms of the menorah which highlights His seven-fold gifts.
- God the Son (= “Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and ruler of the kings of the earth”): John highlights three specific aspects of Jesus’ work and identity as the one who reveals God (= “faithful witness”), as the one who is the beginning of a new creation (= “firstborn of the dead”), and as the one who is the sovereign Master of the world (= “ruler of the kings of the earth”).

The next part of the greeting is extremely important for understanding the rest of the book of Revelation. John tells the seven churches that Jesus Christ is the Savior who “loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood.” The atoning and precious Blood of Christ is a central teaching of the Gospel message. And Jesus had not only saved us but has shared his very status as the Son of God with every Christian: “who has made us into a kingdom of priests for his God and Father.” The promise of becoming “a kingdom of priests” The Beloved Disciple then praises Christ in the same manner as that of YHWH, the God of Israel, proclaiming that “to him be glory and power forever and ever.” Then Saint John ends his part of the greeting by promising the return of Christ on the “day of the Lord”: “Behold, he is coming amid the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him. All the peoples of the earth will lament him. Yes. Amen.”

Saint John’s prayer is made up of two prophetic texts from the Old Testament that point towards the main point of the book of Revelation: that of the coming of Christ in judgment upon apostate Israel. Together the two texts highlight Jesus’ salvific death and his power as the Messiah-King:

- “He is coming amid the clouds”: This imagery comes from the prophet Daniel’s description of the coming Messiah-King who receives universal sovereignty from YHWH: “As the visions during the night continued, I saw coming with the clouds of heaven. One like a son of man. When he reached the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. He received dominion, splendor, and kingship; all nations, peoples and tongues will serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, his kingship, one that shall not be destroyed.” Jesus acknowledged that he is, in fact, the coming messianic Son of Man.
- “Every eye will see him, even those who pierced him”: This imagery comes from the prophet Zechariah’s description of YHWH’s salvation of Judah by the Messiah: “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of mercy and supplication, so that when they look on him whom they have thrust through, they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and they will grieve for him as one grieves over a firstborn.”

John interprets these Old Testament prophecies as describing the glorious return of the Risen Jesus as Judge. This idea goes back to Christ himself who taught his apostles that:

Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming upon the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a trumpet blast, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

The greeting ends with YHWH Himself proclaiming His identity to the Apostle John’s readers: “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘the One Who is and Who was and Who is to come, the Almighty.’” YHWH is the Source of all things, from Whom everything that exists is created (= “the Alpha”); and He is also the Goal of all creation, to Whom everything is called (= “the Omega”). And God the Father is the “Almighty”—the Omnipotent One Who guides all of human history and events within creation, past (= “Who was”), present (= “Who is”), and future (= “Who is to come”).