“The Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass” (Revelation 1:1).

It seems very evident that St. John prefixed the title of the book after he had seen all the visions, and after he had recorded them. In these introductory words we have a very convincing statement that the book is a Divine prophecy, that it was given by God to Jesus Christ, and that it is for his servants the Church — for their benefit, for their instruction, for their guidance.

Some hold the view that the expression “The Revelation of Jesus Christ” has reference to the person of the Savior; that it means not a revelation in the sense of a communication of truth, but rather a manifestation of Christ’s person at his Second Advent. A noted Futurist expositor has expressed this view: “The Apocalypse, or Revelation of Jesus Christ, means Jesus Christ revealed and uncovered to mortal view, and not merely Jesus Christ revealing, and making known hidden things to be recorded for our learning. … The book is not the Apocalypse of the Apocalypse, but the Apocalypse of Jesus Christ.” This, he says, “is the key to the whole book.” This view is readily seen to be erroneous for the reason that the title reads, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass.” It is not, then, the Revelation of Christ’s person, but rather a revelation in the sense of a communication given to him by God, his Father. It can not refer to a revelation of him in person, for the reason that the revelation which was given to him was a revelation of “things which must shortly come to pass.” It is true that in the book, the person of Jesus Christ is frequently portrayed in the visions. However, these visions in which he is seen in person are designed to show his relation to the Church in the various operations of his office. For instance, his performing certain duties of his office as a priest is represented in his walking among the candlesticks (Revelation 1:13); his receiving the revelation of future events from the Father is portrayed in his receiving the sealed scroll (Revelation 5:7); his intercession in heaven in behalf of his Church on earth is seen in the vision where he is represented as presenting the incense and prayers which go up to the Father from the saints on earth. There are other instances in which he appears in vision, performing the duties of his office to his Church in her suffering, witnessing state on earth, as also those which show his authority as King and Judge, which we need not mention.

Very truly has the meaning of the word revelation as used in this text been explained to be “a disclosure of an extraordinary character, beyond the mere ability of man, by a special communication from heaven. This is manifest, not only from the usual meaning of this word, but by the word prophecy in verse 3, and by all the arrangements by which these things were made known. The ideas which would be naturally conveyed by the use of this word in this connection are two: first, that there was something which was before hidden, obscure, or unknown; and second, that this was so disclosed by these communications as to be seen or known. The things hidden or unknown were those which pertained to the future; the method of disclosing them was mainly by symbols.”

The well chosen language of another is interesting in this connection: “Note the simplicity of the introduction to this most wonderful book. The Apostle did not write the title as it appears in our Bibles — ‘The Revelation of St. John the Divine.’ On the contrary, he claims no credit for the revelation; for it was not his. As he distinctly explains, it was from our Lord Jesus Christ, and to him from God the Father. Nor was it even to St. John in any special sense; but, as he again declares, unto God’s servants, sent by his ‘servant John.’ This simplicity, common to all the Apostles, commends them to us as men of humble mind — the very kind we should expect our Lord to use as special messengers to his people. This simplicity, this absence of boastfulness, so noticeable in the writings of all the Apostles, marks them as being in the ministry, not for the gratification of vanity, or for earthly rewards of any kind, but simply as the servants of God, who delighted to do His will, and to tell the Good Tidings, to the utter ignoring of themselves, except in so far as mention of themselves and their affairs might be necessary.”

The revelations are given in symbols: “And he sent and signified it [revealed by signs or symbols] by his angel unto his servant John.” To signify is to show or make known by signs or symbols. It is then a book of symbols — symbolic visions. Its true meaning, therefore, is veiled in symbols, and to understand it, a process of translation must take place. One has said as illustrating this: “If on opening a letter from a friend, the first sentence that met the eye was, ‘I write in Latin in order that my letter may not be understood by all,’ we should at once be prepared to translate as we read; we should not pore over a certain combination of letters and syllables, trying in vain to make some intelligible English word out of them; we would say the word is so and so, but the meaning is so and so. In reading the symbolic portion of the Apocalypse, we are bound to do the same; on no other principle can anything like a consistent interpretation be attained.”

The symbols employed are drawn from nearly every phase of life. We have the sun, moon, and stars in the celestial world, and the earth, sea, rivers and their sources, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and fearful electrical storms, in the terrestrial. We have a pure, chaste woman representing the true Church, and an impure, harlot woman and her daughters representing the nominal, false Church. We have victorious Roman warriors, rebel conspirators, and unjust, oppressive civil rulers also employed as symbols; while strange and unnatural beasts are among the most prominent.

Certain Divine laws must govern in the correct interpretation of these symbols. First, we must study the symbols themselves. When the sun is employed as a symbol, we need to study the relation the sun sustains to the material universe and man; if an earthquake, we need to become familiar with its effects upon the earth and its inhabitants. Second, we must remember that the fulfillment of the symbol, as a rule, must be looked for in another phase of life from that in which it is drawn. It will, we believe, be found that all or nearly all the symbols of Revelation are used and explained in other Scriptures, especially in those of the Old Testament prophecies. It will also be found that the various things employed as symbols are not always used to describe the same things; as waters sometimes mean peoples, and at other times, Gospel truths and blessings.

The symbolic pictures of Revelation were not given for the world to understand, nor even for those who are merely nominal Christians. They were given rather for the purpose of showing unto God’s servants things that are shortly to come to pass. “The Lord God of the holy Prophets hath sent his angel to show unto his servants things which must shortly be done.” “I, Jesus, have sent mine angel, to testify unto you these things in the Churches” (Revelation 22:6,16). Every statement in the book itself that has any bearing on this point shows that it is addressed to Christ’s servants, the Church. The Epistles of Paul, Peter, John, James and Jude are all addressed to the “saints and the faithful in Christ Jesus,” or to the Church, in such and such a place. We reason rightly from the Epistles that they are not for the world, not for the Jews, but for consecrated believers in Christ alone. Confusion has been and will always be the result if unbelievers, either Jew or Gentile, take these Divine messages as addressed to them. Why does not this argument apply with equal force to the Apocalypse? It certainly does.

“To show unto his servants.” Who were Christ’s servants at the time St. John saw the vision? There can be but one answer — those who were serving him at that time; those from among the Jews and those from among the Gentiles, who had become Christ’s followers, his disciples. Some Futurists have endeavored to avoid this most natural interpretation of these words, by saying that if the words were addressed to Christ’s followers, the address would read, “to show unto his sons”; in other words, because the Jews of the Jewish dispensation were called servants and not sons, therefore Jews are meant.

We think this is unsound reasoning. In the first place, the Jews had been rejected, cast off from favor at the time St. John saw these visions. They were no longer God’s servants, they were never Christ’s servants. They could become his servants only by receiving him as their Messiah and by yielding themselves entirely unto him. They would then become sons, serving sons, not serving servants. No one doubts that St. Paul, while a son of God, and an Apostle, was also a servant. The same is true of St. John and the other Apostles and, indeed, all who have come into harmony with God through Christ.

Again, we read that the Revelation was addressed to the seven Churches of Asia Minor, not to Jews or assemblies of Jews living in Asia Minor. St. John was told, “What thou seest, write in a book, and send unto the seven Churches.” Now who constituted the Churches of Asia Minor? There can be but one answer — Those who had received Christ as their Savior and Lord, whether from among the Jews or Gentiles.

“I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the Churches,” not to testify these things to Jews, or Jewish assemblies.

And finally, as confirmatory of this particular point, we have the Savior himself saying, at the close of each of the seven messages: “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches”; not what the Spirit saith unto the Jews at that time, or even of some future time, as Futurists would have us believe (Revelation 2:7,11,17,29, 3:6,13,22). It seems a reasonable conclusion “that Jews and unbelievers have no more to do with this prophecy than they have with the Epistle to the Ephesians. They may possibly be alluded to in the one as in the other, but it is not for them, it is not mainly concerned with them; it is for us; Christians alone were Christ’s servants in the days of Domitian, when John saw and heard these things; to Christians alone was it sent; the seven Churches represented the whole Church; and they take the children’s bread to give to outsiders, who would rob the Church of her Lord’s last gift.

“It is no use to say, ‘Yes! but though given to the Church, it might still be a revelation of the counsels of God about others than herself.’ It might, the Epistle to the Ephesians might have been a treatise on the state and prospects of the lost ten tribes, but it was not; the vision of Nebuchadnezzar might have been a vision of the restoration of Israel, but it was not; the visions of Daniel might have been visions of the seven Churches in Asia, but they were not, nor was it likely they would be, nor is it likely that the Lord Jesus in his last prophetic communication to his cherished Church, from whom for eighteen hundred years he was to be hidden, would have nothing more pressing, personal, and important to reveal to her, than the destiny of a future Jewish remnant, with which she has nothing in common.”

Another very significant matter as proving that Christians and only Christians are addressed in this prophecy, is that the ascription of praise in the address recorded in chapter 1, verse 5, is none other than Christian praise, as the words, “Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,” very plainly teach. The very next statement of the Apostle shows who are referred to in this passage. It is those who are to be made kings and priests. We read: “And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father.” Are the kings and priests unto God and his Father to be Jews, taken out from either this Gospel Age or any age prior to, or to follow this? Surely not. The ones referred to here are those mentioned by St. John as subjects of the First (chief) Resurrection. “They shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years” (Revelation 20:6). Who can doubt that the ones referred to by St. John in chapter 1:5 are the same ones referred to in chapter 20 as having part in the First Resurrection?

Blessed is He that Readeth

A special blessing is pronounced upon those who read and hear it read. “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, for the time is at hand” (Revelation 1:3). Surely a book, the contents of which our blessed Lord Jesus esteemed of such great importance as to require that it be given in such a special, supernatural way, and that at its beginning should be introduced by such admonitory words as these, to study it, ought to be esteemed and prized highly. As another has said: “There is a blessing upon those who read this revelation, even though they do not understand, and a special blessing upon those who hear and understand the words of this prophecy and conform their lives to the things therein written.”

It informs us of the condition in which the world and the church systems will be when he comes to rule. It tells us what that Advent will bring to his prepared and waiting saints; what it will inflict upon lukewarm believers; what will be the end of this present order, ecclesiastical, social, and political; in fact, it tells what will be the important issues of the great Day of God Almighty. It portrays what the condition of the great professed church systems will be until he comes; what the condition of his true people will be all along through the age till his Advent as a thief in the night. It pictures in strong and glorious symbols the Church’s grand and blessed future, and the world’s uplift through the gracious reign of Emmanuel and his overcoming saints. It is true that all these things and many others are portrayed in symbols; but a promise is implied in the words, “Blessed is he that readeth” — that all these symbols can be understood in a due time. Indeed, the time has now come for these things to be more fully understood, and some are realizing the blessing promised.

These words imply that the first essential thing in order to understand the book and to derive the blessing promised is to read it, or hear it, and thus get familiar with the visions and their orderly arrangement. All the visions of this most holy and sanctifying book may well be compared to the enacting of a great drama. This great symbolical drama is nothing less than a forecasting of the outward and inward history of the true and the nominal Church throughout their long eventful career until the Second Advent, and the exaltation to glory of the one, and the destruction of the other, in connection with that momentous event. Symbolic agencies, both animate and inanimate, are the performers.

This Divine drama of symbols is most systematically arranged in three acts — seals, trumpets, and vials. Each act contains seven scenes. We believe it will be seen that the first six seals bring the history down to our times, and give us a view of the “Temple” class and of the “Great Company” in glory. The occurrences under the seventh seal are doubtless retrospective and cover much the same period as the first six. It would appear that the trumpets and vials, together with certain parenthetical visions, indeed, all the visions following the sixth seal, are included in the breaking or loosing of the seventh seal. This arrangement of the visions was doubtless the one held by the later expositors, particularly D. N. Lord and C. T. Russell, as will be seen by their expositions hereinafter set forth.

The Salutation

Verses 4 to 9, inclusive, are no part of the Revelation given by God, the Father, to Christ, but rather an inspired preface, which deals more especially with St. John’s feelings as he sat down to record or write a description of the wonderful, strange, and startling things he had seen in the visions which passed before him as he was in the spirit on the Lord’s day. Segregating the various points contained in these verses, an eminent writer has very properly analyzed them as including:

(1) An affecting salutation: “John to the seven Churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from Him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before His throne; and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth” (verses 4,5).

(2) An exultant ascription: “Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen” (verses 5,6).

(3) A solemn prophetic allusion: “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” (verse 7).

(4) A devout theological recognition: “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty” (verse 8).

Several of the matters involved in these utterances are supposed to be quite familiar to the understanding as well as to the experiences of true Christians, such being the ones for whom the visions that follow are given. As it is not the purpose in this exposition to deal specially with these lines of thought, we confine ourself to the consideration of the matters contained in verses 7 and 8.

It has been understood by most expositors that the words, “Behold he cometh with clouds and every eye shall see him,” are to be fulfilled literally — that Christ will appear in literal clouds and every human being will see with the physical eye the Son of God, at his Second Advent. It is our thought, however, that while a personal advent of the Divine Christ is taught in this and other passages, it should not be understood that human beings will literally see him. “I go my way [he once said] and the world seeth me no more.” He being the express image of the Father, no human being could look upon him and live. The word translated “see” is the Greek horao, which, according to Dr. Young, means more frequently, to perceive, to discern, to take heed; and it seems to be in the sense of discerning that the word is used in this text. Many writers have taught that the Second Advent will be invisible to mortals and will be made known to the true Church through an understanding of the “sure word of prophecy,” some time before the world will discern that it has taken place. The world will know later on through the great troubles, clouds, the like of which will never have been known before; also through the supernatural sights and occurrences that will be in evidence in connection with the overthrow of the present world or order of things and the establishment of the new. We quote two writers of note, whose statements present splendid elucidations in regard to this. One of these wrote in 1856, and while it was his understanding that at the later stage of the Second Advent all will literally see him, yet it was his view that in its earliest stages Christ will be present for some time, and the world be utterly unconscious of it:

“We are repeatedly told [in Scripture] that the Day of Judgment shall come ‘as a thief in the night.’ And how does a thief come? He not only comes stealthily, and at such an hour as we think not, but he is already on the premises, in the house and doing his work, before we are aware of his presence. And so shall it be with the coming of Christ and the Day of Judgment. He will be here judging the nations before we [many] know it. …

“Of this one thing, brethren, I am fully assured, that the stupendous occurrences of the Day of Judgment will glide in upon the world as by stealth, and before a great number of even pious people shall be aware, that these great scenes have commenced; whilst the great mass of worldlings and politicians will not believe to the very last. ‘As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came and took them all away.’ Perhaps it had rained a month before those wicked scoffers began to feel any special alarm. Perhaps many of them beheld the ark taken up by the swelling waters, and yet stood upon the hilltops laughing at the old preacher’s folly. Though the valleys were all covered and the waters rose higher and higher every hour, ‘they knew not’ until all were swept away by the shoreless waves. And so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man. The nations shall be undergoing their judgment, the sainted dead shall be raised, the sainted living shall be translated, and the whole earth shall heave with the throes of judgment already present; and yet multitudes will go on as before, and refuse to believe what is transpiring. Nations in their desperation will continue to declare war, and make treaties, and form alliances, and join their armies, and gather together their warriors against the Lamb and his people, until at last … the Son of Man will appear with his sainted host. If it is not to be so, why have Peter and Paul told us that the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night? If it is not to be so, why has the Savior told us so earnestly to watch, and pointed out so many signs by which we are to be guided, and so repeatedly admonished us to take heed lest that day come upon us unawares? All these things prove that the Day of Judgment will come upon the world unknown except to the devoutest and most watchful of the children of men. How important, therefore, that we should study with the profoundest care what the inspired Prophets have written upon this subject for our learning! With what absorbing interest should we ponder the given signs by which we are to know when the great Day of the Lord shall come! Would it not be an awful calamity for the Church, which professes to be waiting for Christ, to be plunged in the midst of the scenes of that great Day, without so much as knowing that that Day has come?” (Joseph Seiss).

He Dwells in Light that No Man can Behold

Another, of more recent date, whose ministry has been of inestimable value to God’s people in these last days, has expounded the text under consideration, “Behold he cometh with clouds and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him; and all kindreds … shall wail because of him”:

“This Scripture is generally quoted as a proof that our Lord Jesus at his Second Coming will be visible to the whole human family; that they will all have great mourning when they see him; that it will be a sad day for them especially for the Jews. Our thought respecting the passage, in the light of other Scriptures, is different from this. In the first place, the Lord himself said, ‘Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more, but ye shall see me.’ Only the Lord’s faithful followers were to see him. The Apostle Paul explains that Jesus’ followers will see him because they are to be changed in the First Resurrection, ‘in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.’ The Scriptures clearly indicate that our Lord’s present condition is the Heavenly, the spirit condition, not only as high a condition as before he came into the world, but still higher.

“The Lord prayed to the Father that he would glorify him with the glory that he had with him before he came into the world — ‘before the world was.’ The Father assured him that he had glorified him and would glorify him again (John 17:5, 12:28, Vatican MS). The Scriptures also assure us that our Lord in his glorified condition is far above angels, principalities, and powers (Philippians 2:9,10). When he was a man, he was ‘a little lower than the angels’ (Hebrews 2:6-9). The Scriptures declare that the Lord is now the express image of the Father’s person (Hebrews 1:3), and also declare of him, ‘Whom no man hath seen nor can see.’

“Another Scripture tells us that the coming of Christ will be for the blessing of the world. The very object of his coming will be for the lifting up of the poor and fallen race. St. Peter tells us that there will be ‘times of refreshing,’ ‘times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy Prophets since the world began’ (Acts 3:19-21).

“How shall we harmonize this last statement with that of our text, which says that he shall come with clouds; that every eye shall see him; and that all mankind ‘shall wail because of him’? The answer is that in harmony with other Scriptures the coming with clouds would signify the coming in a period of trouble — the word ‘clouds’ being used to signify trouble — in the dark day. He is coming in clouds, in that the time in which he will first manifest himself to the world will be a very dark day to the world — ‘a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation,’ and, we are told, never shall be again (Matthew 24:21). That will be a dark, cloudy day.

“In that day, ultimately all eyes shall be opened; and all mankind shall see him with the eyes of their understanding — see him in the sense that we [the Church] see him now, and have knowledge of him and of the Father. A blind man sees in the same sense. He says, ‘I see now’ — meaning that he sees with his intellectual sight. It is far better to see with the intellect than with the natural sight. …

“There is first of all to be a parousia, or presence, of Christ, which will be known only to his Church, his Bride class. The culmination of his work in the parousia will be the gathering of the Church to himself in the First Resurrection. The Scriptures go on to say that he shall be revealed in flaming fire, taking vengeance.

“The ‘clouds of heaven’ well represent the confusion in general. The world for a time will be in ignorance of his presence. But gradually they will come to know that they are in the time of trouble, the day of wrath, in which this age is to close. Then they will mourn. The whole world will be in mourning. If the world has mourned in the past, much more shall we expect it to do so when the trouble will be general. In the midst of that trouble, they will gradually learn of the grace of God. Human selfishness, they will find, has been so overruled as to lead up to the glorious Kingdom of Messiah, through which are to come all the blessings which God has promised” (C. T. Russell).

“The Alpha and the Omega”

“I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8).

Commentators differ in their interpretation of this passage, some applying it to the Lord Jesus, others to the Father. Mr. Barnes has said, “As there is

… a difference of reading in this place in the Greek text, and as it cannot be absolutely certain that the writer meant to refer to the Lord Jesus specifically here, this cannot be adduced with propriety as a proof text to demonstrate his divinity.” As we find the same expression in Revelation 22:13 applied to the Lord Jesus, also practically the same in 1:17, we see no reason why it does not refer to the Lord Jesus. Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. And the thought of their use here is explained to mean that Christ was the first and the last. In the light of other Scriptures we learn that reference is here made to the fact, as stated by St. Paul, that he was “the firstborn of every creature” (Colossians 1:15), and by St. John, that he was “the beginning of the creation of God” (Revelation 3:14). This is also what is implied in the expression so frequently employed in the Scriptures concerning Christ, that he was the only begotten Son of God, meaning evidently that he was the only direct creation of God, all other creatures and things being created by the Son, as stated by St. Paul, “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him and for him” (Colossians 1:16). “Our Lord’s great honor is shown in that he was not only the first of God’s creation, but the last. From this we are to understand that the great Jehovah did not directly employ His own power in creating either men or angels; but that He delegated His power to His only begotten Son.”

The title Almighty is properly explained, we believe, as “an appellation often applied to God, meaning that he has all power,” and used here with reference to our Lord Jesus to denote that he is able to accomplish what is disclosed in the book of Revelation. “It is since his [Christ’s] resurrection that the message has gone forth — ‘All power in heaven and in earth is given unto me’ (Matthew 28:18). Consequently it is only since then that he could be called the Almighty.”

Adore and Praise the Lord

Praise the Lord! ye heavens, adore Him;
Praise Him, angels in the height;
Sun and moon, rejoice before Him;
Praise Him, all ye stars of light.

Praise the Lord, for He hath spoken;
Worlds His mighty voice obeyed;
Laws which never shall be broken,
For their guidance He hath made.

Praise the Lord, for He is glorious;
Never shall His promise fail;
He shall make His saints victorious;
Sin and death shall not prevail.

Praise the God of our salvation; Hosts on high,
His power proclaim;
Heaven and earth, and all creation,
Laud and magnify His name.