Revelation 1:1-9 NIV

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

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Revelation 1:1

The Revelation of Jesus Christ ,.... Either of which he is the author: for it was he that sent and showed it by his angel to John; it was he, the lion of the tribe of Judah, that took the book, and opened the seals of it, and which is a very considerable proof of his deity; since none but God could foreknow and foretell things to come, or declare the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet, as is done in this book: or of which he is the subject; for it... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Revelation 1:2

Who bore record of the word of God ,.... Of the essential and eternal Word of God, his only begotten Son; as John the apostle did in his Gospel, and in his epistles, and also in this book; and which is a clear evidence of his being the writer of it, And of the testimony of Jesus Christ ; that is, the Gospel, which testifies of the person of Christ, of the truth of his divinity, and reality of his human nature; of the union of the two natures, divine and human, his person: of his several... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Revelation 1:3

Blessed is he that readeth ,.... This book the Revelation, privately, in his closet or family, carefully and diligently, with a desire of understanding it; or publicly in the church of God, and endeavours open and explain it to others; and may allude to the reading of the law and the prophets in the synagogues, which were not barely read, but expounded; see Acts 13:15 ; and the rather this may be thought to be the sense of the words, since there is a change of number in the next clause, ... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Revelation 1:4

John to the seven churches which are in Asia ,.... In lesser Asia; their names are mentioned in Revelation 1:11 , grace be unto you, and peace ; which is the common salutation of the apostles in all their epistles, and includes all blessings of grace, and all prosperity, inward and outward: See Gill on Romans 1:7 . The persons from whom they are wished are very particularly described, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come ; which some understand of the whole... read more

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

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

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

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

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

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

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Revelation 1:1

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Revelation 1:2

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Revelation 1:3

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Revelation 1:4

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