The Lord impressed upon me that I forgot the last phrase of that 4th verse so I wanted to quickly go back and pick that up here this morning.

In his salutation, John uses pretty much the standard greeting of the epistles during that particular era, and in fact, as we have already pointed out, “GRACE” was the theme of the Gospel of Christ and the expressed abundance of God’s Mercy through Christ Jesus Our Lord.

But John throws a bit of a curve here, and it is one of those phrases because of the many spirits (angels) and beasts and all of the symbolism, that might cause one to wonder,” to whom is that referring?” “Who is the seven Spirits which are before His Throne?”

Well there is an explanation for that, and to better understand the meaning here, notice that “the seven spirits” spoken of here are a part of the expressed blessing of Grace that John is speaking of there in the 4th verse; but it’s kind of like an add-on: “and from the seven spirits which are before his throne”.

Many have thought that since John refers to these seven entities as “spirits” that he is speaking of angels. In fact, in the Apocrypha, in the book of Tobias (Tobit 12:15), we can see where there might be a reference to what the Angel Raphael mentions as the seven angels that stand before the throne. Here is the verse I am speaking of there…

"For I am the angel Raphael, one of the seven, who stand before the Lord"

For those who studied this verse in the Apocrypha you will know that only four are actually mentioned and they are said to be positioned around the Throne of Christ and they are Michael, Uriel, Gabriel, and Raphael.

According to the Jewish tradition, Michael stands at his right hand, Uriel at his left, Gabriel before him, and Raphael behind him. However, many scholars throughout the ages have taken exception with that notion since they feel that it is highly unlikely that these angels would be placed in such a position “between” the Divine Persons of the Father and the Son. What’s more, if we stop and think about it, for John to wish for grace or blessing from these angels, as was wished for from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ there in verse 4 of Revelation chapter 1; would put them in the same standing and context with the Father. Add to the fact that the Bible directs us to not worship angels, and is in fact forbidden (Col.2:18). The writer of Hebrews makes it clear that we are to worship God the Father and God The Son only. (ref., Hebrews 1:3-8)

So we can see here that the “seven angels” as referred to by Tobit 12:15 are not the seven spirits that John is referring to here.

The only possible explanation that could be applied here would be that of the Holy Spirit who is part of the Godhead; who is one in His person, but His gifts and His Graces are various and could be considered then by the number seven because of the fullness and perfection of them. We could then add to that the seven churches to whom John is writing this book over whom The Holy Spirit presided, influenced, sanctified, filled, and enriched with his gifts and graces.

This understanding of the seven spirits before the throne compliment the connection of God to man, and the constant abounding grace, filled with all the fullness of God.

Revelation 1: 5

“And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

Verse 5 gives us a bird's eye view into John's Worship experience. It is no wonder to me that God would have chosen such a one as John to bear witness of His Son, knowing His thoughts and his heart through His Worship.

Verse 5 is the Glorious Witness of a man who intimately and passionately knew the Christ of the Human road and takes this opportunity to share with the world (the seven churches of Asia Minor were indeed his world), the glory and majesty and purpose of the Life of Christ.

We begin with “And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness,”

Throughout the NT Jesus witnessed not of Himself, but of His Father. From the very beginning of His ministry, His words were "For God so loved the world...".

We read in the book of John 1:1

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

If we read on we see that not anything was made that He did not ordain. It tells us that He was the light of men - which testifies to His office of being the witness oft His Father; of his mind, of His will, of His truth and faithfulness in respect to His promises; and of His love, and grace, and mercy to his chosen ones.

He was a faithful witness in showing Himself to be the Son of God, co-equal in power and glory with the Father. He was a faithful witness of His Messiahship, in that through his obedience, through sufferings and death, He provided Salvation for all mankind. He was a faithful witness of all truth to which He has born a faithful testimony in his ministry, his miracles, his death, and by the shedding of his blood to “seal it all” for eternity. Hallelujah!

Next “And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness,

"and the first begotten of the dead,"

This merely means that He was the first one to rise from the dead by his own power to an “immortal” life. We know that there were those that were raised before him, but they were not raised by themselves, nor did they live forever but died again. He is the only one who was raised in victory over death and the grave.

It is because of His resurrection that He becomes the firstfruits of the resurrection for all mankind who come to Him. Because He died for the sins of his people; and rose again on their behalf and for their justification; He opened the "way of eternal life" for all mankind – for that “whosever will" we have been speaking about.

This takes us to the description of His kingly office, “And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead,

and the prince of the kings of the earth.”

This is a two-fold description of Christ. It speaks figuratively of the saints, who have been given power over sin, Satan, and the world, through the "efficacious" or effective grace of Christ, and over whom He is Prince or King.

It also speaks of literally becoming the Prince of the Kings of this earth, over whom Christ is King and Lord. The Scriptures tell us in Philippians 2:10,11

"That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Why? "Unto him that loved us,"

Oh you may say that He doesn’t know you. You may say that you are one of millions and that God doesn’t need you nor can He truly "know" you. But He does. He sent His only Son Jesus to become the sacrificial Lamb - something that the Jews should have understood since they had been performing such sacrifices in the Temple for centuries. Yet they did not see Him as a Sacrifice but as a Heretic and a Blasphemer and decided that His death would be a death of punishment and example of who was “really in charge”. Ah, but just as this everlasting and unchangeable love which passes knowledge and understanding allowed Him to forgive those who crucified Him, taking their place, assuming their nature,

He "washed us from our sins in his own blood;"

Oh friend do you get the ramification of those words? It means that you and I were loved before we were washed! Hallelujah! We weren't first washed, and then loved, but He loved us first, and then He washed us. Why? Love! Love was the purpose for the washing. We were filthy and unclean through sin, and there was no way that we could cleanse ourselves, so such was the Love of Jesus that He washed us with His very own blood - a fountain opened; and for all who plunge within, they are cleansed to the uttermost.

And we’ll finish up with verse 6 today where it says:

“And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father;”

This has nothing to do with our nature nor our goodness - nor of the sanctification of our natures. This was the work of the Spirit, a justification by the blood of Christ, whereby we are without spot before Him.

Monday I will go into more depth on verse 7:

“Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.”

God bless you