Hello everyone and welcome back to Deeper Waters. I wish to send my thanks first off to Jason for his kind compliments and his promotion of this blog on his site. I plan to soon be promoting his blog on this site as well in exchange. We’re continuing our Trinitarian Commentary going through the book of Revelation. Before that however, I ask for prayer as I continue the path to become a more Christlike man. There is much I’m having to learn and much I’m having to unlearn, but I want to do this right. I also ask for prayers for my financial situation. Finally, I ask for your prayers in another area in my life related to both of these that all will work out. For now, let’s go to the text. We’re looking at Revelation 1:4-5.
4John,
To the seven churches in the province of Asia:Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, 5and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
We’re focusing on verse 5 and wanting to see what it says about who Jesus is. First off, Jesus is referred to as the faithful witness. This is in contrast to all others who have failed in the past. Many did not reveal God, but Jesus revealed him as he is. He was faithful, as the writer of Hebrews says in Hebrews 3.
Jesus was the faithful witness because he himself has the nature of the one who he came to reveal. Jesus is the exact representation of deity. To see him is to see the Father. If you want to see what God is like, you are to look at Jesus.
He is also referred to as the firstborn from the dead. This would refer to his coming back from the dead as the firstfruits of the new resurrection. For the readers of Revelation, this would remind them that Jesus was the one who conquered death, which was always a threat to a Christian population back then who lived in terror from an evil Roman empire and today that lives in terror from other evil empires that seek to destroy the Christian faith.
Finally, he’s the ruler of the kings of the Earth. Now I’ve stated that I don’t intend to go into eschatology and I don’t. This is something that I think could apply to any time however. If you live in the Roman empire, it is a comfort to know that Caesar is not the one in charge. Jesus is.
Today, we can take comfort in knowing who is sovereign over the world. Who Jesus is is a message for all time regardless of what timeframe you think Revelation applies to. This also tells us about Jesus’s identity. In Psalm 2, the one enthroned sits and laughs and tells the rulers of the Earth to kiss the Son. Jesus is that Son. By being deity and the perfect witness of the Father as shown by his being the firstborn from the dead, he rightly rules the world.
We shall continue tomorrow.
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