*1:1 The God-given disclosures contained in this book relate to both Christ and future events.
†1:3 This is the first of the seven promised blessings (beatitudes) of the Revelation. See also 14:13; 16:15; 19:9; 20:6; 22:7, 14.
‡1:4 John and his brother James were among the first apostles chosen by Jesus, and were the sons of Zebedee and Salome. In addition to the Revelation, John wrote the Gospel and the three letters that bear his name.
§1:4 The Roman province of Asia (now western Turkey) was formed in 129 ʙ.c.
*1:4 Like Paul, the apostle John takes the standard Jewish greeting of “Peace [Heb shalom] to you” and modifies it by adding grace, without which no one could obtain peace with God.
†1:4 A literal translation, perhaps referring to the perfect fullness of the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
‡1:5 Lit the witness, the faithful.
§1:5 Jesus was not the first person to be brought back to life, since He raised others from the dead (the most notable being Lazarus, John 11), but they had to experience death again. Jesus is the first to be restored to life with a glorified (immortal, everlasting) body, never again to die. The word Firstborn may point not only to Jesus’ own resurrection but also to His divine power to resurrect others. The Firstborn (preeminent) is given power over all things.
*1:5 Some manuscripts use “freed” (lusanti) while others use “washed” (lousanti). Either reading conveys a similar theological conclusion: Jesus has taken away our sins by His blood.
†1:6 All Christians become priests to God in order to offer spiritual sacrifices (1 Pet 2:5) and proclaim His praises (1 Pet 2:9), and they will reign with Christ in the Millennium (20:6).
‡1:7 Lit Yes, amen.
§1:8 An expression of God’s absolute supremacy over all things.
*1:9 I.e. persecution because of one’s faith.
†1:10 Or spirit. The Greek wording is not decisive, so John could be referring either to being in special communion with the Holy Spirit, or to being in a trance-like state in his own spirit like that experienced by Peter at Joppa (cf Acts 10:10, 11).
‡1:10 The early church used this term to refer to Sunday, the day of Jesus’ resurrection. The term Kyriake is also the regular word for Sunday in modern Greek.
§1:11 These were actual churches in Asia Minor (now western Turkey), and in John’s time there would have been only one church body in each of the cities. They are mentioned in the order in which they would be visited by a messenger traveling northward on the imperial road from Ephesus to Laodicea.
*1:13 Or like a son of man. The phrase is a translation of a Hebrew idiom which refers to a man, and John could simply be describing his first impression. But since this proves to be a vision of Christ (v 18), John probably is referring to Him by the title that Jesus so often applied to Himself, a title originating in the Messianic prophecy of Daniel.
†1:16 The visible, divine Presence.
‡1:19 I.e. the vision of ch 1.
§1:19 I.e. the events of the present moment (chs 2; 3).
*1:19 I.e. the events to come in chs 4-22, after the messages to the churches in chs 2; 3.
†1:20 The Greek word for “messenger” is aggelos. When the word is referring to a heavenly being, it is usually not translated, but rather transliterated as “angel”; that is, the Greek letters are converted to their English equivalents, based on the sound of the Greek word. When the word is referring to a human, it is instead translated as “messenger” or the equivalent. So whether “angel” or “messenger” is used depends on the context.