“John, to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood…” Revelation 1:4-5.
Revelation 1:4-5 was posted here on 4-1-22, the above has been added for context. We will cover verses 6-8 in this post.
Christ’s sacrifice on the cross not only brings forgiveness of sin but blessings and a new position in life.
“… [Jesus] has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” Revelation 1:6.
An alternate reading to this is, “has made us a kingdom and priests”, the first rendering, “kings and priests”, may refer to the promise that we will rule with Christ in the future.
“This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.” 2 Timothy 2:11-13.
The statement, “If we endure, we shall also reign with Him.” 2 Timothy 2:12a gives us the conditions for us to reign with Christ in the future. We must endure in our faithfulness to the Lord Jesus throughout our lives, because our works will be examined when we get to heaven.
“But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.” Romans 14:10.
“According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become manifest; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.” 1 Corinthians 3:10-15.
God is speaking to us; these words are for you and I period, not for some super Christian out there!
The alternate rendering, “a kingdom and priests”, would mean that we are a part of the Kingdom of God which exists right now and as citizens of this Kingdom we act as priests to our God.
I am convinced that both renderings apply to us.
Whatever the case, as priests the Christian has the responsibility of representing Christ knowledgably and with reverence before all men.
“Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 2:4-5.
“Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, and they also who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.” Revelation 1:7.
The first phrase above, “He is coming with clouds”, states that He is with clouds, not in them. The clouds referred to here are the great cloud of witnesses mentioned in Hebrews 12.
“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the Joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2.
Another reference to clouds is in the book of Daniel.
“I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed.” Daniel 7:13-14.
Though it does not mention a cloud Jude 14 speaks of Jesus being accompanied by His followers (billions of people clothed in white making up a great cloud) at His return at the end of the tribulation period.
“Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, ‘Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.’” Jude 14-15.
The next phrase, “and every eye will see Him” verse 7a, refers to what is called, “His glorious appearing”.
At the rapture before the tribulation period, only Christians will see Christ when they meet Him, “in the air”.
When He comes back to rule the world, “every eye will see Him”, a necessity since He will wage the battle of Armageddon at that time.
It is during this chaotic time at the end of the tribulation that:
“…every eye will see Him, and they also who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so. Amen.” Revelation 1:7b.
They who pierced Him, is a reference to the Jews rejection of their Messiah, Jesus Christ and their delivering Him up to be crucified.
“Pilate said to them, ‘What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?’ They all said to him, ‘Let Him be crucified!’” Matthew 27:22.
“And all the people answered and said, ‘His blood be on us and on our children.’” Matthew 27:25.
This is what Jesus meant when He said the following to Israel who had at that time already rejected Him as their Messiah.
“…for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’” Matthew 23:39.
There are those who say that God has rejected Israel and has replaced them with the church, there is no truth to this.
“For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that hardening in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: ‘The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; for this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.’ Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy. For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.” Romans 11:25-32.
Between this, the promises, blessings and the covenants of God in the Old Testament; there is no question that God will reinstate Israel to her former position of favor.
“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they have pierced; they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.” Zechariah 12:10.
It was the Jews who delivered Him up and insisted on crucifying the Lord Jesus even when Pilate tried to release Him, and they who cried out, “His blood be on us and on our children”, and they who reject Him even to this day.
“And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him.” Rightfully so since by this time there will be no doubt that they have paid for their evil deeds and their folly in having ignored seven years of warnings to repent.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” Revelation 1:8.
Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet just as A to Z encompasses our entire alphabet. God asserts His sovereignty here by telling us He is the beginning and the end of everything.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1.
“Then He who sat on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’ And He said to me, ‘Write, for these words are true and faithful.’” Revelation 21:5.
“Who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” Revelation 1:8b.
The triune, eternal, self-existing, all powerful God sends these words to comfort and prepare us for the future.
Revelation 1:6-8 taken from godisrevealed.com updated on 9-14-16, reposted on 4-4-22.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.