The Hero & Theme of Revelation: Revelation 1:4-8

Happy Father’s Day!  Last week we began by trying to set our bearings properly before entering the waters of the book of Revelation.  We said that this was important so that we could make sense of where we are at any given point and so that we can end up where we need to be.  Today we are going to see two more crucial bearings that we need to establish, and they are the Hero of Revelation and the theme of Revelation.

In Revelation 1:4-8, John wrote to point believers to both the Hero of the book of Revelation and the theme of the book of Revelation.  Fathers, as well as any other person present here today, need to be pointed to this Hero and this theme as well because the Hero and theme of Revelation is really the Hero and theme of all of Scripture.  My prayer today is that God would make the Hero and theme of this book the Hero and theme of your life.  

[4] John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, [5] and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood [6] and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

[7] Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. [8] “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” (Revelation 1:4-8 ESV) So who is the great Hero of Revelation and what is its epic theme? 

I.              Know the Great Hero of Revelation (4-6)

We are first to know His identity.  The great Hero of the book of Revelation is the Trinitarian God of the Bible in general, but Jesus Christ in particular.  In verses 4-5a, we see a Trinitarian greeting given. The doctrine of the Trinity is the teaching that there is only one true God, but that He eternally exists in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each being fully and equally God, but separate persons at the same time.  As we make our way through these descriptions, I’m confident that you will see all three members of the Trinity present. 

First, we see the Father, or “Him who is and who was and who is to come.”  This title is an allusion to Exodus 3:14-15 much like Revelation 1:1 was an allusion to Daniel 2:28-29.  Commentators call this statement a paraphrase of the divine name, “Yahweh,” because in some very similar wording in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament), God identifies Himself in this way: [14] God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” [15] God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations. (Exodus 3:14-15 ESV) This title highlights the truth that God is eternal, and reminds us that all time exists within God’s eternal presence.  God created time and is Lord over all time. 

John also sends grace and peace from the Holy Spirit to these believers.  Now while we cannot be absolutely certain that “the seven spirits who are before his throne” is a symbolic reference to the Holy Spirit, that is most likely the case.  These “seven spirits” are called “seven torches of fire,” the “seven eyes” of the Lamb, and the “seven spirits of God” in Revelation 3:1, 4:5, and 5:6.  This description in Revelation 1:4 seems to be an allusion to either Zechariah 4 or Isaiah 11:2, or both.  Zechariah 4 speaks of seven lamps, which are the “seven eyes of the LORD,” and seems to identify them as God’s one Spirit.  Isaiah 11:2 identifies God’s seven-fold Spirit as the one who will equip the Messiah to establish His end-time reign.  So think of this phrase as an ICON for the “perfect” Holy Spirit in Revelation.

Finally, John sends grace and peace from the Son, “Jesus Christ.”  Jesus is given a three-fold description that (1) forms the basis of our grace and peace, (2) serves as an example and a comfort to these suffering believers, and (3) is most likely an allusion to Psalm 89:27,37.  He is first called “the faithful witness.”  The Greek word here is “martys,” which is where we get the word “martyr.”  Jesus is the model witness of standing firm in the midst of being persecuted, being faithful even to death.  His faithfulness to the death earned righteousness for us and also satisfied God’s wrath towards our sin, establishing the basis for the grace and peace with God that we enjoy as Christians.  This description also reminded these believers of the example they are to follow in suffering for the faith.  But not only is Jesus’ obedience to the point of death on a cross highlighted, so is His resurrection.  He is “the firstborn of the dead.”  Notice that the ideal martyr is also the firstborn from the dead!  His sure victory over death would remind these believers that even in losing their lives, they are only sealing their victory because death is an enemy that Jesus has already conquered (Rev. 12:11).  Jesus is also described as “the ruler of kings on earth.”  Jesus is seen as the sovereign King of kings in the book of Revelation (Rev. 17:14,19:16).  His reign over the kings of the earth would remind believers that He rules over Caesar and any other pagan enemy even when it doesn’t seem like it.

Notice that in these descriptions, John’s aim is not so much that we know this great Hero’s identity, as it is that we know His grace and peace.  John offers “grace” and “peace” to his readers from these members of the Trinity.  His perfect life, His victory over death, and His rule form the basis of the grace and peace that we experience with God.  Do you know His grace (unmerited favor) and peace (the state of spiritual well being that follows) today?  As we are going to see, Christ’ work is not only the basis for our grace and peace with God, it is also the basis for why He deserves glory. 

We are also admonished here to know His glory.  John breaks into doxology in verses 5b-6, giving another three-fold description of why Jesus Christ is worthy of “glory and dominion forever and ever.”  The first reason is because He “loves us.”  What an incredible thought!  How was this love expressed?  [6] For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. [7] For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—[8] but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8 ESV) [9] In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. [10] In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:9-10 ESV) 

This expression of Christ’s love is exactly what John highlights, that Jesus “has freed us from our sins by his blood.”  In dying in our place and shedding His blood for our sins, Jesus bore the wrath of God that was aimed at our sin so that we could be set free from it.  Colossians 2:14 says something similar in saying that on the basis of Christ’s work, God canceled “the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.  This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”  But it gets better! 

Not only does Jesus love us and has He free us from our sins by His blood, He has also “made us a kingdom” corporately and “priests to His God and Father” individually.  This is an allusion to Exodus 19:6, where God expresses His desire for Israel to become a “kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”  The implication is that Jesus has made the church what Israel failed to become, and that His disciples are now the true people of God (Rom. 2:28-29, Gal. 6:16, 1 Pet. 2:9-10).  That is clearly John’s meaning here.  This is what the work of Christ has accomplished and this is why He is worthy of all glory and dominion forever!  We never move away from the victory of Christ in His finished work in Revelation or in our lives, because it is the ground for our eternal victory. 

This is the gospel: that your sins have been paid in full by the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ.  By turning to Christ in faith and repentance, you can experience the outpouring of God’s love, grace, & peace as His royal child.  Hallelujah, what a Savior! Do you know His grace and peace?  Do you know His glory?  Only through a sufficient knowledge of the gospel and a proper response to the gospel can a person come to know the God who is the great Hero of this book. 

II.            Treasure the Great Theme of Revelation (7-8)

The great theme of the book of Revelation found in verses 7-8 is two-fold.  First, Jesus is coming to rewards His servants and to judge His enemies.  After his introductory greeting, John makes this announcement: “Behold, He is coming with the clouds” (7).  This is at the heart of Revelation and the Bible’s message: HE’S COMING!  John says that when He comes, it will be “with the clouds” and that “every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him.”  This Old Testament allusion combines Daniel 7:13 and Zechariah 12:10.  The allusion to Daniel 7:13 refers to the coming of the “Son of man” with the clouds to receive everlasting dominion over all nations from the Ancient of Days (the Father) and how His kingdom will never be destroyed or ever pass away.  This is the same thing we saw last week in Daniel 2. 

The allusion to Zechariah 12:10 speaks of a day when God will pour out upon the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a “spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.”  This wailing, or mourning, is either mourning due to their repentance or due to their judgment, or both.  In Zechariah 12:10, this seems to be a or mourning of repentance on the part of the Jewish people, which John expands this to include “all tribes of the earth.”  Some see the wailing in Revelation 1:7 as a wailing over their own judgment because the judgment of the nations is a common theme in Revelation.  It’s most likely that both will take place at the coming of Christ.  Jesus is coming to judge His enemies and to reward His servants, even those who repent at the very last moment.  I see Jesus’ coming as rewarding to His servants in John’s words here: “Even so. Amen.”  John longs with excitement for Christ’s coming.  May God give us more fathers who speak like this!  But make no mistake, it will the worst possible day for anyone who has not repented of their sins and put faith in Jesus Christ for salvation.  The reason the nations are the objects of God’s mission is because they are the objects of God’s judgment without the gospel. 

A second part of Revelation’s great theme is that along with the truth that Jesus is coming, we also see the truth that God is sovereign.  This is the main point of the description of God in verse 8.  God speaks here reminding us that He is great “I AM” of Exodus 3:14, “who is and who was and who is to come.”  He also brings attention to the fact that He is “the Alpha and the Omega.” These are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, and they bring attention to the fact that God is “the first and the last” and “the beginning and the end” (Rev. 21:6, 22:13).  This description reminds us that the God who spoke the first word in creation will also have the last word in the universe.  This is what it means to be SOVEREIGN.  God’s sovereignty is also seen in the title, “the Almighty.”  This means just what it says, that God is all mighty, or omnipotent.  That this is a great theme in Revelation is clear from the fact that of the 12 times this word appears in the New Testament, nine of those appearances are in the book of Revelation.  What an encouragement this description of God would have been to these believers who received this letter and what an encouragement they are to us today as well!  What an encouragement to know that when the future seems uncertain, when your spouse says, “it’s over,” when your doctor says, “cancer,” when your parents say, “you’re worthless,” when the executioner says, “death,” that it is GOD and not them who WILL have the last word! 

History is His-story, and it is the story of His glory.  He created the universe, sustains the universe, and will judge every being in the universe one day.  No matter what life or history may ever look like, one truth you can take to your grave is that the future is never uncertain; it only appears to be at times.  God is only every moving history forward according to His plan for the good of His people and the glory of His name.  May we come to treasure this Hero of Revelation, who is, who was, and who is to come, who has come, who has won, who is coming, and who is ruling over every second of history as He writes the story of His glory.  Even so, Amen!!!