But what about the timing? If it is necessary that these things take place under the sovereign plan of God, how are we to understand the phrase “soon”? Mounce writes, “History is not a haphazard sequence of unrelated events, but a divinely decreed ordering of that which must come to pass. It is a logical necessity arising from the nature of God and the revelation of his purpose in creation and redemption.”33 In light of this, we may understand “soon” in a straightforward sense. From the perspective of the prophet, the end is always imminent. The church in every age has lived with the expectancy of the end of all things in its day. Imminence describes an event possible any day and impossible no day.34 Contrary to this perspective, Beale thinks that “soon” refers to the “definite, imminent time of fulfillment, which likely has already begun in the present.”35 He bases this on Daniel’s understanding of “soon” as not the rapid manner of the fulfillment of the prophesy but its temporal fulfillment. The activities of the revelation would begin in John’s generation and had already taken place. The beginning of the fulfillment, and not the final fulfillment, is the focus of Revelation. The events described have already begun to take place.36 There is a “now” and “not yet” aspect to the prophesies of Revelation, just as in the prophesies of the Old Testament, upon which Revelation heavily relies.
There is a defined order of dissemination in Revelation. We see it in chapter 1, and later we will see it in chapter 22. The revelation about Jesus is revealed by Jesus to an angel who then reveals it to John. Beale sees the chain even more completely from God to Jesus to an angel to John to Christian “servants.”37
John bears witness to the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, the subjective genitive mentioned earlier, the testimony that is witnessed to by Christ.38 John is shown these things. The word for “shown” is the Greek word ἐσήμανεν (esemanen). This word, which has a sense of symbolic or analogical communication, is nicely suited to this book and should warn us not to expect literal descriptions of what John sees, but a symbolic portrayal of the things to come.39
Blessing is promised to all who read, hear, and keep the words of the prophesy. Those who read and hear the word of this prophesy in the context of what will be described will be able to stand firm and be resolute in their faith, even in the midst of suffering, because the time is near. The suffering of the saints is limited. Revelation should not only be considered a handbook for future things, but a call to moral and ethical faithfulness. John puts his writing on par with the Old Testament prophets, expecting obedience from believers. We will see this again in Revelation 22.40 Osborne points out that the idea of hearing and obeying are common themes in John’s writing in his gospel (John 1:37, 40; 4:42; 5:25, 28–29; 8:38, 47; 10:3–4, 27; 12:47; 14:23–24) as well as in Revelation (1:2, 9; 6:9; 17:17; 19:9, 13; 20:4).41 We cannot be content with simply knowing what the book of Revelation says. Taking our cues from its warnings and encouragements, we must be faithful to deepen our understanding and commitment to Jesus Christ who is coming soon. Whatever it means specifically, the end is near, near enough that our obedience is required now. The death and resurrection of Christ inaugurated a new ethical code as well as the long-awaited kingdom of the end times, which the Old Testament (Daniel, for example) had predicted, a kingdom that will continue to exist through the church age.42
True to its form as a letter, John begins his address to the churches in Asia Minor with the common greeting of first-century letter writers, offering them grace and peace. We see Paul use the same formula in his letters. John is writing to seven specific churches in Asia Minor. These churches may be literal churches, or they may be representative churches of all the churches that were in Asia Minor at the end of the first century. In other words, the letter was sent to Ephesus first, but the congregation of Ephesus could have been a hub or representative congregation for others around it. Although there is a specific character to the warnings from Jesus to each congregation, setting the letter in a specific time period to a specific people, there is a universal character as well.43 John is giving these seven churches more than just a perfunctory greeting. He was earnestly praying that the grace of God be given to his readers. And this God John describes next.
The phrase “him who is and who was and who is to come” (Revelation 1:4) is important. If the letter of Revelation is given about the times that will soon take place, this phrase assures the reader that all is held in the hands of God—all past, present, and future. This threefold identity of God is probably a nod to Exodus 3:14, where God tells Moses, “I am who I am.” What appears to be incorrect grammar in John’s Greek rendering (there is no noun for God, but the pronoun is used), is actually kept in the nominative case on purpose to highlight the Exodus 3:14 connection. The phrase may have also been a common, well-known title for God in Judaism.44 Likewise, Aune notes that John is the first Christian author to use this pronoun as the divine name for God. (See Jeremiah 1:6; 4:10; 14:13; and 39:17 in the Septuagint.) Like Moses, John is authenticating the authority of his prophesy by appealing to the divine I am of Exodus 3:14.45
Part of a clear trinitarian formula appears with the next connecting phrase, “the seven spirits who are before his throne.” I see the Holy Spirit as the most obvious choice for the seven spirits. Beale does as well, denying that the seven spirits could be seven angels or archangels of Jewish writings (see 1 Enoch 20:1–8).46 Mounce disagrees. Although admitting it’s difficult to determine the meaning of the sevenfold spirits, he writes, “It would seem that they are perhaps part of a heavenly entourage that has a special ministry in connection with the Lamb.”47 I think it is safer and more consistent with John’s use of the number seven and the connection of the sevenfold spirit with the throne to see this as a reference to the fullness of the Holy Spirit and his perfection rather than as seven different spirits.
John identifies Jesus, the third member of the Trinity mentioned, with several significant titles: “faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth” (1:5) (see Philippians 2:5–11; Hebrews 12; Matthew 4:8–10—Jesus won the kingdoms of the earth through his death on the cross, not as a gift from the devil), “him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father” (1:5–6).
These titles become important themes throughout the book of Revelation. Jesus, as the faithful witness, gave his life as the first-fruits of the sacrifice presented to God. This is a witness and sacrifice that will be asked of his followers as well. Jesus was faithful to God’s