Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

1:4-6 Epistolary Opening. This greeting identifies author and recipients, then pronounces blessing upon the recipients. the seven churches that are in Asia. Since churches existed in other cities of Roman Asia (e.g., Colossae, Troas), Christ's selection of "seven," symbolizing completeness, implies that he addresses the whole church through them. him who is and who was and who is to come. God is eternal, and in Christ he will come at the end of history to judge and save. the seven spirits. Revelation presents the Holy Spirit as one person (3:6, 13; cf. Eph. 4:4), but he also appears as "seven spirits" (cf. Rev. 3:1; 4:5; etc.), representing perfection, and as "seven torches of fire" (4:5) and "seven eyes" (5:6) to express his omnipresence and omniscience. from him who is . . . from the seven spirits . . . and from Jesus Christ. John's greeting comes "from" all three persons of the Trinity. the faithful witness. Witness (cf. "testimony," 1:2) is central to the church's calling amid suffering. As Jesus was the faithful witness even to death (1 Tim. 6:13), so must his followers be (Rev. 2:13; 12:11; 20:4). Christians are called to be faithful witnesses, but Jesus is "the" faithful witness par excellence. John comforts his persecuted readers with the truth that Jesus has triumphed over death (the firstborn of the dead) and that he is sovereign over all earthly powers, even Caesar, since he is the ruler of kings on earth (cf. 19:16). made us a kingdom, priests. Israel's roles now belong to those of all nations who are freed from sins by Jesus' blood (5:10; Ex. 19:6). From the outset, Jesus' death is central to the message of Revelation.