Revelation 1:1-20

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Revelation 1:4-6

In this passage three great titles are ascribed to Jesus Christ. (i) He is the witness on whom we can rely. It is a favourite idea of the Fourth Gospel that Jesus is a witness of the truth of God. Jesus said to Nicodemus: "Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen" ( John 3:11 ). Jesus said to Pilate: "For this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth" ( John 18:37 ). A witness is essentially a person who speaks from... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Revelation 1:4-6

Few passages set down with such splendour what Jesus did for men. (i) He loves us and he set us free from our sins at the cost of his own blood. The King James Version is in error here. It reads: "Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood." The words "to wash" and "to set free" are in Greek very alike. "To wash" is louein ( Greek #3068 ); "to set free" is luein ( Greek #3089 ); and they are pronounced exactly in the same way. But there is no doubt that the... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Revelation 1:7

1:7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye shall see him, and the people who pierced him will see him; and all the tribes of the earth shall lament over him. Yea! Amen! From now on in almost every passage, we shall have to note John's continuous use of the Old Testament. He was so soaked in the Old Testament that it was almost impossible for him to write a paragraph without quoting it. This is interesting and significant. John was living in a time when to be a Christian was an... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Revelation 1:8

1:8 I am alpha and omega, says the Lord God, he who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. Here is a tremendous description of the God in whom we trust and whom we adore. (i) He is alpha and omega. Alpha ( Greek #1 ) is the first letter and omega ( Greek #5598 ) the last of the Greek alphabet; and the phrase alpha ( Greek #1 ) to omega ( Greek #5598 ) indicates completeness. The first letter of the Hebrew alphabet is aleph and the last is tau; and the Jews used... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Revelation 1:9

1:9 I, John, your brother and partner in tribulation, in the kingdom, and in that steadfast endurance which life in Christ alone can give, was in the island which is called Patmos, for the sake of the word given by God and confirmed by Jesus Christ. John introduces himself, not by any official title but as your brother and partner in tribulation. His right to speak was that he had come through all that those to whom he was writing were going through. Ezekiel writes in his book: "Then I... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Revelation 1:9

John tells us that, when the visions of the Revelation came to him, he was in Patmos. It was the unanimous tradition of the early church that he was banished to Patmos in the reign of Domitian. Jerome says that John was banished in the fourteenth year after Nero and liberated on the death of Domitian (Concerning Illustrious Men, 9). This would mean that he was banished to Patmos about A.D. 94 and liberated about A.D. 96. Patmos, a barren rocky little island belonging to a group of islands... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Revelation 1:10-11

1:10-11 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and I heard behind me a great voice, like the sound of a trumpet, saying: "Write what you see in a book, and send it to the seven Churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna, and to Pergamos and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea." Historically this is an extremely interesting passage for it is the first reference in literature to the Lord's Day. We have often spoken of the Day of the Lord, that day of wrath and judgment... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Revelation 1:12-13

1:12-13 And I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me; and, when I had turned, I saw seven golden lampstands, and, in the midst of the lampstands, one like a son of man, clothed in a robe that reached to his feet, and girt about the breasts with a golden girdle. We now begin on the first of John's visions; and we shall see that his mind is so saturated with Scripture that element after element in the picture has an Old Testament background and counterpart. He says that he turned... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Revelation 1:14-18

1:14-18 His head and his hair were white, as white as wool, like snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; and his feet were like beaten brass, as if it had been refined in a furnace; and his voice was as the voice of many waters; he had seven stars in his right hand; and out of his mouth there was coming a sharp two-edged sword; and his face was as the sun shining in its strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. And he put his right hand on me and said: "Stop being... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Revelation 1:14-18

Let us look very briefly at each of the titles by which the Risen Lord is here called. His head and his hair were white, as white wool, like snow. This, taken from the description of the Ancient of Days in Daniel 7:9 , is symbolic of two things. (a) It stands for great age; and it speaks to us of the eternal existence of Jesus Christ. (b) It speaks to us of divine purity. The snow and the white wool are the emblems of stainless purity. "Though your sins are like scarlet," said Isaiah,... read more

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