REVELATION 1:2, PART 11

We find the CHURCH in the beginning, ISRAEL in the middle, and the saved NATIONS at the end.

and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John, ²who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, everything that he saw. (New American Standard Bible - NASB)

We’re starting off in the early 20th century:

“and He signified it] i.e., God, see xxii. 6.”

King James says: “and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John.” Not very informative…it’s clear from the passage that God is the One sending and “signifying.”

“The word means (etymologically) to show by signs: but it must not be restricted to this meaning, as the other occurrences of the word clearly show. See John xii. 33; xviii. 32; xxi. 19. Acts xi. 28; xxv. 27. Rev. i. 1.”

Now He was saying this to indicate what kind of death He was going to die. (John 12:33; NASB)

This happened so that the word of Jesus which He said, indicating what kind of death He was going to die, would be fulfilled. (John 18:32; NASB)

Now He said this, indicating by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when He had said this, He said to him, “Follow Me!” (John 21:19; NASB)

One of them, named Agabus, stood up and indicated by the Spirit that there would definitely be a severe famine all over the world. And this took place in the reign of Claudius. (Acts 11:28; NASB)

For it seems absurd to me in sending a prisoner, not to indicate the charges against him as well.” (Acts 25:27; NASB)

Yes, clearly it doesn’t mean to use “signs,” thus the NASB translates it “communicate.”

“The restriction referred to has caused the Apocalypse to be looked upon as a book of signs and symbols which no one can understand. The fact is that about half the symbols (14) are definitely explained (though these explanations are often again taken by expositors as being symbolical!) Being Divinely explained, they serve as a key to those which are unexplained.”

This is exactly my argument.

“sending by His angel to His servant John] John, like Paul and others, was singled out for this special service to his own fellow-servants. Compare Isa. xlix. 5. Amos iii. 7.

And now says the LORD, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, to bring Jacob back to Him so that Israel might be gathered to Him (For I am honored in the sight of the LORD, And My God is My strength) (Isaiah 49:5; NASB)

Certainly the Lord God does nothing unless He reveals His secret plan to His servants the prophets. (Amos 3:7; NASB)

“2. who testified] The past tense shows that the Introduction, though coming first, was necessarily written last. The word connects the Introduction with the Conclusion. Compare i. 1 with xxii. 16, 20. The only three occurrences in this book. It means here not only testified, but published and made known.”

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John (Revelation 1:1; NASB)

¹⁶I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you of these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”…²⁰He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. (Revelation 22:16,20; NASB)

I don’t think he meant Revelation 1:1, he really meant Revelation 1:2.

²who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, everything that he saw. (Revelation 1:2; NASB)

“of (or, as to) the Word of God] We have seen above that this is the common idiomatic phrase for a direct prophetic communication. This, therefore, stands first, and is used of the whole book.

“and the testimony of Jesus Christ] i.e., which He testified when on earth. This book or prophetic word does not go outside the scope of what Jesus bare testimony to, in His own prophetic teaching. That is the essence of the prophecy of this book, and the ‘spirit’ of it. See xxii. 6.”

Exactly! Revelation says nothing that doesn’t fit entirely within the teachings of Jesus, though it is an expansion of the teachings.

"what things soever he saw] Not only what he heard as a direct prophetic message, but what he saw represented in vision. God gave the Revelation to Christ, Christ signified by His angel to John; and John hereby makes it known. He says, in xxii. 8 (where we have another connecting link between the Conclusion and the Introduction), ‘I John saw these things, and heard them.' We have also another proof, in this past tense (i. 2), that the Introduction was written last; or, at any rate, after the seeing and the hearing referred to.” [from COMMENTARY ON REVELATION, by E. W. Bullinger, 1909]

I am usually in agreement with Bullinger, and I find his writings highly informative, yet easy to read. I have to disagree mildly with his focus on the “past tense” really saying anything about when the introduction was written. As I’ve said before, the past tense being used only indicates that John wasn’t writing while looking at the visions (which would have been unlikely anyway). In the normal course of events, the intro would most likely be written, or at least revised, after the body of the book was written. But was this a “normal course of events?” If John was writing under the influence of the Holy Spirit (very likely), then the intro could have easily been written first.

“This ‘He sent and signified by His angel unto His servant John.’ Now angels were God’s medium of communication with Israel. Stephen says they ‘received the law by the disposition of angels’ (Acts 7:53); and in Hebrews, ‘the word spoken by angels’ is contrasted with God speaking by the Son. (Chapter 1:2; 2:2).”

you who received the Law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it.” (Acts 7:53; NASB)

in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom He also made the world. (Hebrews 1:2; NASB)

For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every violation and act of disobedience received a just punishment (Hebrews 2:2; NASB)

The author left out “prophets” as a medium for God to communicate with Israel.

“There is, then, a return to Jewish modes of communication perfectly suitable to the character of a book which unfolds God’s dealings with the world when He restores to favor His earthly people; a book which regards the Church, not in its privileges, but in its responsibilities as a witness for Christ, a branch grafted into the good olive tree, which must either bear fruit or be broken off…The angel gives the message to John, ‘who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ,— all things that he saw.’ There is no ‘and’ before the last clause. He does not bear witness to something that he saw in addition, to the word of God and testimony of Jesus Christ, but to all that he saw of them. Here again Christ is not the Son revealing the Father, but the faithful witness testifying God’s word.” [from THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST, by Thomas B. Baines, 1911]

On the whole, a pretty good quote. There are a few places, like talking about the branch being grafted, where I would have liked more details (the part missing after the mention of the grafted branch is a paragraph on the things that “must shortly come to pass,” which we have already looked at).

“The Book is not only a ‘Prophetic’ book, it is a ‘SYMBOLIC’ book, that is, it is written largely in ‘symbolic’ language, that is the meaning of the statement in the Title—‘He sent and “SIGNIFIED” it by His Angel unto His Servant John.’ The word ‘signified’ means given in ‘signs’ and ‘symbols’ and should be pronounced ‘SIGN ́-IFIED.’ There are more ‘signs’ and ‘symbols’ in the Book of Revelation than in any other book in the Bible, but they are either explained there or in some other part of the Scriptures. No one can understand the Book of Revelation who does not understand the Book of Daniel. The Prophet Daniel was told to ‘seal up’ the words of his prophecy until the ‘Time of the End,’ not the ‘end of time,’ but the end of the ‘Times of the Gentiles.’ Dan. 12:4, 9.”

⁴But as for you, Daniel, keep these words secret and seal up the book until the end of time; many will roam about, and knowledge will increase…⁹And he said, “Go your way, Daniel, for these words will be kept secret and sealed up until the end time. (Daniel 12:4,9; NASB)

Hmmm. NASB seems to think that it’s “the end of time,” not “the time of the end.” I guess the question is: Will there be time, as we understand it, in the Millennium? I don’t have enough information to even guess…but we’ll see if there are any hints as we go.

“But the writer of the Book of Revelation was told to ‘seal NOT’ the sayings of the Book, for the TIME IS AT HAND. Rev. 22:10.”

And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. (Revelation 22:10; NASB)

To me, it’s been clear that Revelation was written to be understood by those who will experience what is prophesied. But, it has also been clear that many Christians can profit from the book even centuries and centuries before the time of the end.

Those of the Old Testament would probably not have found the information in Revelation to be helpful or even understandable in any way…the Christ had to come first, and be recognized. Just think about the people of the Old Testament being told that they would reject their Christ when He came, and that He would have to come a second time to win them over. That information alone would have caused total desolation.

“The symbolism of the Book of Revelation shows that it was written for a ‘special class,’ for those who are acquainted with the ‘Word of God,’ and who have ‘spiritual discernment,’ and not for the carnally minded reader. ‘The secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but those things which are REVEALED belong unto us and our children forever.’ Deu. 29:29.

The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, so that we may follow all the words of this Law. (Deuteronomy 29:29; NASB)

I.e., “Christians.” Not a “special class” of Christian, just Christians. As Bullinger said, the symbolism that does appear in Revelation is explained in Revelation.

“The Book of Revelation was written to reveal or disclose the purpose of God as to the earth and the nations, and we are not prying into God's secrets when we read and study it. It being the last prophecy, we naturally would expect it to sum up all previous prophecy, and as all previous prophecy had to do with the CHURCH, ISRAEL, and THE NATIONS, so we should expect this last prophecy to give us the final word as to them; and that is what it does. We find the CHURCH in the beginning, ISRAEL in the middle, and the saved NATIONS at the end. These three are also seen in the construction of the Holy City, New Jerusalem; where we have the CHURCH in the Foundation, represented by the names of the Twelve Apostles, and ISRAEL in the Gates, with the names of the Twelve Tribes of Israel written over them, and the saved NATIONS in the Streets, where they walk in the light of the City's Glory.”

This is very interesting. I hope this author will expound more on these ideas when we get to those parts of Revelation.

“The Book is largely Jewish. This is seen in its ‘signs’ and symbols, such as the Tabernacle, the Ark, the Altar, the Trumpets and Plagues, and the sealing of the 144,000 of Israel. It is Jewish because God in it, after the Church is taken out, deals again with Israel, and in chapters 6 to 19 inclusive He reveals what shall take place during the last or ‘Seventieth Week’ of Daniel's ‘Seventy Weeks.’" [from THE BOOK OF REVELATION, by Clarence Larkin, 1919]

I worry when things like plagues and 144,000 people are listed as “signs and symbols.” We’ll see how that plays out. Otherwise, I agree about the “Jewishness” of the book.

“esimanen, signified, made known: the the relative construction is dropped. The agency of Christ spoken of in the preceding words shows that Christ is the subj. of the vb.; cf. 22¹⁶. — aposteilas: sometimes, without expressed object, joined to a vb. to mark the act as carried on through an agent, e.g. Mt. 2¹⁶, Mk. 6¹⁷, Ac. 7¹⁴;“

¹⁶I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you of these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” (Revelation 22:16; NASB)

Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent men and killed all the boys who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity who were two years old or under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi. (Matthew 2:16; NASB)

For Herod himself had sent men and had John arrested and bound in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, because he had married her. (Mark 6:17; NASB)

Then Joseph sent word and invited his father Jacob and all his relatives to come to him, seventy-five people in all. (Acts 7:14; NASB)

Google translates esimanen as “meant,” and aposteilas as “you send.”

“here the intermediary is given in dia tou angelou, which, as indicated by the position of the words and by the parallel construction in 22^6,16, is best joined with aposteilas, not with esimanen, though the meaning is the same in either connection.”

⁶And he said to me, “These words are faithful and true”; and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show His bond-servants the things which must soon take place…^16”I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you of these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” (Revelation 22:6,16; NASB)

Google translates dia tou aggelou as “through the angel,” which fits very nicely.

“Elsewhere in the N.T. the agent, if expressed with apostello, is in the acc., but the construction here used is supported by the similar expression pempsas dia ton mathiton, Mt. 11².”

Now while in prison, John heard about the works of Christ, and he sent word by his disciples (Matthew 11:2; NASB)

Pempsas dia ton mathiton is translated by Google as “five times for the students.” This time Google doesn’t work. Pemptos means “fifth,” but pempo means “to send.” Clearly Google got the wrong word. Dia means “through”, and ton means “the”; mathetes means “disciple” or “student.”

“— doulo, servant: here said of the special service of the prophet… —‘Ioanni, John: though using the first person in the body of the work, the writer here speaks of himself objectively in the third person, a usage common in superscriptions and titles; so Jer. 1^1-3,4, En. 11,2, the Introductions to Herodotus and Thucydides; c.f. Zahn Ein. 11. 607. The third person furnishes no evidence the superscription here is written by another hand…”

The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anthoth in the land of Benjamin (Jeremiah 1:1; NASB)

I agree that the change from first person to third means nothing about who wrote it. Remember that the book of Daniel also does this.

“2. emartyrisen, has borne witness: i.e. in this present book, the Revelation; cf. 22²⁰.”

He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. (Revelation 22:20; NASB)

Google translates emartyrisen as “they testified.” I don’t really trust Google’s identification of person; third person plural is a bit odd in this context.

“— ton logon ktl. the word of God: in its most general sense the word of God denotes any declaration, revelation, or truth coming from God. The particular reference is to be determined by the context; here it refers to the revelations of this book, as is shown by the following words, 'the testimony ... he saw.' — tin martyrian ktl., the testimony of, i.e. borne by Jesus Christ: in the N.T. the gen. with martyria is probably always subj.; that is its use in Rev. 1⁹, 11⁷,12^11,17, 19¹⁰, 20⁴ …”

I, John, your brother and fellow participant in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. (Revelation 1:9; NASB)

When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them. (Revelation 11:7; NASB)

¹¹And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death…¹⁷So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. (Revelation 12:11,17; NASB)

Then I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brothers and sisters who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” (Revelation 19:10; NASB)

Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshipped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their foreheads and on their hands; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. (Revelation 20:4; NASB)

So, Google says that ton logon ktl. translates as “the reason etc., the word, etc.”; tin martyrian ktl. translates as “the testimony etc.,” and martyria is “testimony.”

“That to which the testimony relates is generally shown by the context. When martyrian ‘Iisou refers to the gospel the meaning is the truth to which Jesus bore testimony, cf. Jno. 3^32ff, 8¹⁴.”

What He has seen and heard, of this He testifies; and no one accepts His testimony. (John 3:32; NASB)

Jesus answered and said to them, “Even if I am testifying about Myself, My testimony is true, because I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. (John 8:14; NASB)

Martyrian ‘Iisou is translated by Google as “testimony of Jesus.”

“The writer, here following a usage common with him, introduces first the general expression, the word of God, and then makes this more specific by the added words, the testimony of Jesus Christ. In such cases kai, not and, but namely, that is, is epexegetical [additional explanation or explanatory material], a use very frequent in the Apoc.; — osa eidin, namely of all that he saw: the clause is in apposition with the foregoing words and shows that reference is made there to the revelations which form the subject of this book and not to the Fourth Gospel and the Epistles, as some earlier scholars have taken it, and interpretation now generally rejected. The Apocalyptist in prefixing the Superscription to his book already completed defines in this verse his own part; he has borne witness of a revelation which he describes in language repeating v. 1; it is a revelation from God mediated by the testimony of Jesus Christ, and made known to himself in visions.” [from THE APOCALYPSE OF JOHN, by Isbon T. Beckwith, 1919]

Let’s look at kai first; biblestudytools.com lists 42 meanings for this conjunction, based on the New American Standard New Testament Greek Lexicon. This suggests that the translators have pretty much a free choice here, but ‘and’ or ‘namely’ or ‘that is’ weren’t on the list. The choices included words like: actually, again, certainly, even, forty-six (!), if, indeed, moving about freely (!), then, until, while, and yet. There were only a few in the whole list that even hinted at being a conjunction: accompanied, also, both, including, likewise, together, too. Apparently, context is more important than any definitive meaning of the word…which doesn’t seem correct.

For osa eiden, Google translates it “what they saw,” again with the switch to third person plural.

I don’t have big disagreements with Beckwith, it’s just that I’m left with a feeling of incompleteness.

That’s enough for today; we’ll continue on in the 20th century next time.