Revelation Is Not Scary! Reflections on Revelation 1:4-8, Easter 2, Year C

by John C. Holbert on Monday, March 17, 2025

          From today until the day of Pentecost (June 8), I propose to examine six passages from the “Revelation of St. John the Divine,” to give the book its full liturgical title. These six “second readings” accompany the first readings from the Acts of the Apostles, which in the lectionary collection always displace the usual readings from the Hebrew Bible. My goal is two-fold: first, I wish to make it plain that Revelation is by no means a book designed to inspire fear in its readers; quite the opposite is, in fact, true; it is a book written to offer hope to those Christians about to undergo a “crisis,” a kairos (Rev.1:3), an ending, a time of deliverance and judgment. My second goal is to provide a reading of the book that will make the first goal obvious so that the book may regain a serious place in the study and preaching of modern Christians. That second goal has another related purpose: to snatch the book from the hands of those mountebanks who have for too long misused the writing for their own absurd and dangerous designs, primarily to terrify their hearers and to line their pockets with money extorted from the piously eager but gullible persons who have been offered no alternative ways to hear the book. In short, let me make it clear: Revelation is not to be heard in a “futurist” way, where its symbolic apocalyptic language is made to “predict” modern political and theological realities. To understand Revelation properly, in the same way that one must understand all biblical writings, it is necessary to begin first with the communities to which the book was written.

         The scholarly consensus is that those communities existed in Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey, late in the first century CE, perhaps during the time of the Roman emperor Domitian (81-96CE). It has been common in studies of the book and its context to paint the rule of Domitian in the most lurid of colors, a megalomaniacal monarch intent on portraying himself as a god and demanding that all persons of the empire worship him or face persecution and death. We can now judge this picture as a false caricature of the man. Those portraits come from later authors who wished to contrast Domitian with his successor emperor, Trajan (98-117CE). Trajan represented the first of the Antonine emperors, eclipsing the Flavians, the last of whom was Domitian. It was valuable for those who revered Trajan to denigrate Domitian, thus making their favorite a wonderful alternative to the supposedly cruel and despotic Domitian. Those who spoke of Domitian during the time of his rule do not see him so negatively; it can be said that there is no final proof that Domitian was inimical to Christianity in any special way.

         Nevertheless, Roman power was seen as absolute, and there is no doubt that Rome demanded full honor and regular tribute from its far-flung citizens. And here we find the reasons for John’s sharp words to his fellow Christians that following the dictates of Rome can lead to a loss of the essence of what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. That is the immediate context of our text for today. 

         “John, to the seven churches of Asia: grace to you and peace, from him who is, who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first-born of the dead, and ruler of kings on earth” (Rev.1:4-5). John throws the gauntlet down in the face of Roman power, borrowing first the common greeting of the apostle Paul, then addressing the symbolic “seven churches,” meaning all the churches, employing the number seven to include all, and noting the “seven spirits” around the throne of God, again including all spirits who serve that God. John then delineates just who Jesus Christ is for those churches. He is “faithful witness,” standing even until death in the face of Roman authority; he is “firstborn of the dead,” his resurrection the “first fruits” for those who are challenged to bear witness even until death; and lastly, Jesus is “ruler of kings on earth.” Ceasar, whether Domitian or Trajan, is not the world’s real ruler; only Jesus is that ruler. (Note the use of three definitions of Jesus; John will regularly use the number three for completeness, just as he uses the number seven.)

         “To him who loves us and has loosed us from our sins with his blood, and has made us a royal house of priests to his God and Father—to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen” (Rev.1:5-6). John carefully uses Greek verb tenses to make his claims: “loosed” is aorist past, while Jesus “loves” us now in the present. Many manuscripts read the verb as “washed” (Greek lousanti), but better manuscripts have “loosed/freed” (Greek lysanti). Jesus, by making us “a royal house of priests” fulfills the ancient promise of Exodus 19:6 where God promises Israel to be “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” We will see again and again how John is a master of the Hebrew Bible, lacing his language with many references to it, both direct and indirect.

         John ends this brief lection with the famous words ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty” (Rev.1:8). Once again three elements are used to describe the essence of God, who only here and in Rev.21:5-8 present God as speaker. This description is a play on the famous revelation of YHWH at the burning bush who announces to Moses, “I am who I am,” or “I will be who I will be,” among other possible translations of the line (Ex.3:15). God is eternal, is, was, and coming still. And is Almighty, Pantokrator in Greek, John’s favorite title for God, and the title later borrowed by the Eastern Christian church to delineate God. God, like Jesus, is said to be the genuine ruler over any earthly rulers. 

         Thus, John announces who Jesus is, and who God is, both existing over and against the Roman power whose pretentious claims to authority have finally no merit whatsoever. So Revelation joins the struggle against Rome and promises those who witness to God and Jesus correctly that they will “win the crown of life,” as John later will say. Subsequent essays will fill out this central view of John who offers great hope for those of any age about to undergo tribulation and struggle.