Greeting the Seven Churches

VERSE 4 “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…”

JOHN

“With simplicity John addresses himself to his task. He does not refer to his apostolic office or identify himself with a title. Such native humility is similar to and reminiscent of that displayed by John the Baptist. Common to all the apostles, this simplicity commends them as men of humble minds—the very kind the Lord would use as special servants and messengers to His people. This characteristic marks them as being in the ministry not for the gratification of vanity or the seeking of earthly rewards of any kind, but simply as the servants of God, who delight to do His will and to tell the good tidings, mentioning themselves and their affairs only when such mention is necessary and helpful to the Church.

All the Lord’s followers should note this characteristic of the Master and of those specially chosen to be his followers and the Church’s exemplars. This simplicity contrasts strikingly with the pomposity of the majority of those who claim to be pupils and fellow servants of the apostles and who delight in such titles as The Reverend such and such, Right Reverend, His Holiness, Doctor of Divinity, and so forth. In proportion to the quenching of the spirit of the world by the spirit of Christ, and in proportion to the zeal of the Lord’s people in seeking and finding “the old paths,” these human titles, which seem so important to the world, appear vain, inappropriate, and deceitful (Jer. 6:16).”

TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES

“Although the messages given to the seven churches of Asia Minor were applicable to them, these messages (enumerated in Chapters 2 and 3) have a still wider application to the whole Church of Christ for several reasons. Considering on one hand the importance of this writing, which is designed to enlighten the alert and faithful of the past and present, and on the other hand the relative insignificance of some of these seven contemporary churches, it seems unlikely that the Lord’s interest was specially centered in these congregations of Asia Minor. To think otherwise attaches more importance to the seven comparatively small churches than they deserve and implies an ignoring of other churches more numerous and more influential, such as the churches at Jerusalem, Antioch, Corinth, Colosse, Philippi, and Thessalonica. However, if these sites are viewed from the standpoint that the Holy Spirit selected these seven churches because of their etymological meaning and their historical background, which would shed light in a symbolical sense upon the experiences of the nominal Church of God all during its seven stages of development, all then would comport well with the exalted theme of the opening lines of Revelation, viz.

“To show his servants things shortly to come to past”, ALL his servants not only those residing in these seven literal churches at the time, but ALL his servants throughout the age.

A further indication of the wider application to the Church of God is the use of the number seven to symbolically represent completeness as, for example, in the seven golden candlesticks and the seven stars of Verses 12 and 16.”

WHICH ARE IN ASIA

“Places in the Bible represent conditions. Asia means “muddy.” If it were a noun, it would clearly refer to the Churches “in the mud” —walking through this life somewhat bogged down by the flesh’s relationship to the earth (the common thought). But the etymology is an adjective: muddy. This could suggest that the church’s experience will be that its pure doctrine (water) will be constantly muddied by Satan and his servants. Both applications have been corroborated by history. Even though the etymology is an adjective, Asia is a noun, and it is a place. This gives the weight to the first symbology as being the best.”

GRACE TO YOU AND PEACE

“John’s heart, so full of love for fellow disciples of the Master, goes out in faith and sympathy to greet all those of the future, yet unborn, who will respond to the heavenly call of the Gospel Age. John gives assurance that favor and peace of the ever-living God will be continuously exercised toward His Church throughout this entire period of time. The Lord’s people can place complete confidence and trust in Him who ever lives to preserve the interests of His universe and the welfare of His subjects. Thus His saints are assured that both during this present life and after their death, their interests are safely entrusted to the care of the Keeper of Israel, who neither slumbers nor sleeps (Psa. 121:3, 4).

The context however appears to imply that this greeting comes from the Father and Son rather than John, but as John is the Lord’s messenger we will not quibble upon which is the correct thought.

GRACE (or favor) is help from a superior. How much the Church will need this help and appreciate it during the age is without question. PEACE is that which results from a knowledge of that help.

FROM HIM WHO IS AND WHO WAS AND WHO IS TO COME

“Wherever it is found, the appellative clause “which is [in the present]…which was [in the past]…which is to come [will ever be in the future]” exclusively designates the Supreme Deity, the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY. God is the Eternal One, who always was and ever will be, “He that inhabits eternity,” “from everlasting to everlasting,” without beginning or ending of days (Psa. 90:2; 106:48; Isa. 57:15).

Essential being is stated first (“him which is”), then time past, followed by time to come. This emphasis harmonizes with Jehovah’s declaration to Moses in respect to His being the “I AM” (Exod. 3:14).”

“This is Yahweh and is consistently used throughout the book as a description of Him. NOTE that the three verbs are NOT in chronological order. The first one is IS. This is the equivalent of the great “I AM“. It is no accident that this verb is mentioned first.

If the phrase said “from Him Who WAS, IS, AND IS TO COME”, it would misconstrue the existence of the Father.

WAS is past; but even though the Father is from everlasting, there is nothing PAST about Him. He simply IS.

The next two parts of the description (in its correct order), then, are not to tell us about His past and future, but rather about what He has done IN THE PAST and WILL DO IN THE FUTURE for us, the seven Churches. To elaborate on the meaning of the phrase, we could say, “from Him who is the “I AM,” Who prepared for us before we were here, and who will direct the future events for us also.”

The phrase “who is to come” refers not to the Second Advent of Christ but to the abiding nature of God.

The Master admits this title does not apply in his own case, for there existed a time when he was not.

“I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.” (Rev 1:18)

He says that he is NOW the “living one” —one who has gained immortality; but he WAS DEAD; but this death was forever overcome.)

In short, Yahweh IS; but to add to our confidence, He tells us that He has been in control BEFORE we were here, and WILL BE in control while we sleep in death and after we awaken.

AND FROM THE SEVEN SPIRITS

Comfort and consolation of the Holy Spirit emanate or “proceeds from the Father” to those destined to be His children (John 15:26). This gift of the Father is in harmony with Jesus’ promise to his disciples prior to his departure and ascension to heaven at his First Advent (John 16:13). Although there is only one Holy Spirit, there are diversities in its operation (1 Cor. 12:4, 8–13). In this text of Revelation, the Holy Spirit is spoken of as “seven Spirits.”

This loving provision for SEVEN outpourings of the Holy Spirit is further evidence of God’s tender care for His Church. The seven Spirits are figuratively portrayed as sentinels “before his throne,” that is, as emissaries of Jehovah sent to aid and enlighten the Church (John 14:16, 17; 15:26). Stated another way, God’s intention is to distribute SEVEN dispensations of the Holy Spirit upon the Church during the Gospel Age. SEVEN separate, successive, timely messages would be sent from heaven, largely dispensational in character, to guide the Church during the seven stages of its chronological development.

How carefully and wisely the Heavenly Father foresaw and considered the interests of all His people! He knew what suffering, ignominy, shame, and sorrow would be inflicted on His beloved children all through the Gospel Age. His omniscient eye foresaw the fagot, the torch, the rack, and the thousand refinements of cruelty with which satanic ingenuity would fight the Church on her journey through this wilderness to the Promised Land. These glimpses of Jehovah’s character show how true were the Master’s words to his disciples: “The Father himself loves you” (John 16:27).”

WHO ARE BEFORE HIS THRONE

A position of service is what this phrase symbolizes. The Holy Spirit is the immediate and unquestioning respondent to the will of God.

We will continue on to Verse 5 in our next post.