Revelation 1:1

Title and description of the Revelation. Chap. Revelation 1:1-3

1. The Revelation Rightly so rendered in English idiom, though the definite article is not expressed in the Greek. The word, according to Jerome on Galatians 1:11-12, is peculiar to the Scriptures, and is not used by Greek classical writers.

of Jesus Christ i.e. which He makes; as is explained by the words which follow: "which God gave to Him, … and He sent and signified it, &c."

which God gave unto him For as the Son is of the Father as regards His essential being, so He receives from the Father all that He has or knows. Compare in St John's Gospel Revelation 7:16; Revelation 14:10; Revelation 17:7-8; especially the last passage. Doubtless when the Son made this revelation, He had received from the Father the knowledge which in the time of His humiliation He had not (St Mark 13:32), or rather had abdicated (Philippians 2:7).

his servants Probably "God's" rather than "Jesus Christ's:" see Revelation 22:6.

things which must The R. V. takes this as a further description of the "Revelation which God gave," and renders "eventhe things which must shortly come to pass," putting the A. V. in the margin.

must as part of a Divine purpose, cf. Matthew 17:10; Matthew 26:54; Luke 24:26, &c.

shortly So Revelation 1:3 fin., Revelation 22:6-7. Compare on the one hand Matthew 24:29; Matthew 24:34, and on the other Habakkuk 2:3; Luke 18:8; 2 Peter 3:8-9. These last passages suggest, that the object of these words is to assure us of God's practical readiness to fulfil His promises, rather than to define any limit of time for their actual fulfilment. Slackness in fulfilling a promise is a moral fault (Proverbs 3:28), not to be ascribed to God: forbearance in executing a threat is not so. But we are not to press what St Peter says about the nothingness of time before God, so as to argue that these words mean nothing at all to human apprehensions: our Lord's words in St Matthew l. c. are so strong and definite as almost to necessitate the view that afulfilment (if not necessarily the final and complete one) was really to come immediately.

he sent "He" may be either "God" as in Revelation 22:6, or "Jesus Christ," as ibid. 16. It seems best to take it of the latter: the sense will be, "He, having received the Revelation from the Father, sent by His angel, and indicated it to His servant John." The angel is the same who is mentioned in Revelation 17:1, &c., Revelation 19:9; Revelation 21:9; Revelation 22:6; Revelation 22:8; Revelation 22:16.