4 John to the seven churches that
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, 5 and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the
firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. (Revelation 1)
4 John to the seven churches
that are in Asia:
The
seven churches are the servants of Jesus Christ who are mentioned in the first
sentence of the Revelation. They are identified as the “churches that are in Asia” because those churches would have been
the first to receive this book of prophecy. They were designated with the
number “seven” because seven
indicates “fullness” or “completeness”. All the servants of Jesus Christ are
pictured in the seven churches, the fullness of the Church throughout the
fullness of time.
As
we journey through Revelation, we will see that “seven” is like a seal that marks something as belonging to God. It
has the sense of completeness in God’s will and purpose. In other words,
everything is to be viewed from God’s perspective. There is never going to be
one church, not even a tiny little home church, which is left out of God’s
plans and purposes, because his will is for his whole church.
4 …Grace to you
and peace…
Why
are grace and peace important to the unveiling of what is soon to take place? Because
the Church will never make it through any age or experience of history without
God’s grace and peace surrounding them and keeping them safe. Much of what we
are going to see in this book is about the war between the red dragon and Jesus[1]. The world will not give the Church peace[2]. When it does appear to give the Church peace, it is the devil
masquerading as an angel of light[3], covertly seeking to destroy the Church while its defenses are down.
When
the red dragon stirs up governments to persecute the Church[4], God will give his people his peace[5]. When the red dragon causes governments to be peaceful to the
Church in order to poison the living waters, God will give his church peace so they
are not lured into the red dragon’s deceptively deadly trap.
Whatever
God gives his church to get through troubled times will be of grace. Grace
enables God to operate through the merits of his Son to give his sons the
goodness of his favor that the Church does not deserve. We do not deserve to be
the Church. We do not deserve to be the people who triumph in tribulations, who
remain secure in all the disasters that come upon the world, who spiritually survive
torture and suffering and death itself, to be presented before God as the pure
and spotless bride of the Lord Jesus Christ[6]. We receive this by grace.
4 …from…
What
a hugely significant word! Whatever comes after the “from”, tells us how to feel about what comes before the “from”.
When someone looks at a present and they see that it is “To: (insert name
here)”, what they expect might be in the package is determined by the
“From” that follows.
Imagine
a favorite Aunt who remembers every birthday, and has consistently sent knit
slippers and a cheque for $20.00 for the past thirty years. If a package arrives in the mail addressed to us from that particular Aunt, it gives reason
to expect that our feet will be warm for the winter and we can treat ourselves
to a little bit less than whatever the $20.00 got us last year.
If,
on the other hand, we get a package from someone who has it in for us, who has
done significant harm to our reputation, and who consistently responds to us
with hatred and disdain, we have reason to be suspicious that we might be in
for trouble. In other words, we would not assume that the ticking sound was a
brand new alarm clock. Maybe call the bomb squad?
The
point is simple: where this greeting of grace and peace comes from tells us
what we can expect of this grace and peace. So, if the blessing of grace and
peace come from God, we have the opportunity to delight in this gift no matter
what things look like in our lives. The world, the flesh and the devil can
mount their fiercest attack on our souls, but we can trust that the grace and
peace of God will surround us as a fortress to keep us strong, firm and
steadfast[7] until the very end.
Here
is how John shows that the grace and peace are from God, and so totally secure
for the fullness of the Church throughout the fullness of time.
4 …from him who is and who was
and who is to come,
Very
simply put, this is God, and, specifically, God the Father. He is the “I Am”
who appeared to Moses[8], who delivered Israel out of Egyptian slavery[9]. He is the always-existing-one, infinite and eternal, without
beginning or end. The Church can face anything that must soon take place because
God their Father will be there granting them his grace and peace. He is before,
during, and after everything the whole Church will ever face in all the time
that remains.
4 …and from the seven spirits
who are before his throne,
The
“seven” means the fullness of something as God considers it to be full and
complete. This is the Holy Spirit. The seven draws our attention to his
fullness. It also associates the fullness of the Holy Spirit to the full
measure of the Church throughout the fullness of time. There is a seven in the
Holy Spirit to match the seven of the Church. Wherever there is a congregation
of God’s people, they have the same experience of the Holy Spirit as every
other congregation[10]. Wherever two or three people gather in Jesus’ name, Jesus is with
them in the person of his Holy Spirit[11]. The grace and peace are from God, and will be personally applied
to every church throughout the whole church age because the sevenfold fullness
of the Holy Spirit will be wherever God’s seven churches will be.
5 and from Jesus Christ the
faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.
Jesus
came into the world full of “grace and
truth” [12]. He was prophesied to be the “Prince
of Peace”[13]. He will express grace and peace to his people throughout all the
time we are waiting for his return.
To
encourage us in this hope, we are told that Jesus is the “faithful witness”. We can count on him being as faithful in giving
the Church grace and peace as he was faithful in overcoming the sorrow of his
impending suffering by declaring to his Father, “not my will, but yours be done”[14].
Jesus
is the “firstborn of the dead”,
reminding us that he has already conquered sin, death, hell and the grave, so
that we could experience God’s love, grace and mercy. The same Jesus will
surely now apply the grace and peace that he has already secured for us through
his death, burial and resurrection.
Jesus
is the “ruler of kings on earth”. His
grace and truth will triumph over all that the world, the flesh and the devil
conspire against the Church. No matter what the kings on earth are doing, Jesus
will rule over them, and secure for the Church a constant supply of grace and
peace.
What
is sent to us from God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is the absolute
security of grace and peace. The thing that must still be made certain is
whether our names are in the “To: (put your name here)” part of the
package. For anyone to be confident that we will receive God’s grace and peace
during whatever must take place in history, we must be certain that we have
responded to God’s grace and peace through the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
If
we have been saved by grace through faith[15], so that we now stand in that grace by the same faith[16], and have peace with God through Jesus Christ who is our own Lord
and Savior[17], then we are a member of the seven churches[18], and have God’s promise of grace and peace to get us through
whatever things must soon take place[19].
© 2012 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, Canada, V1K
1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
[1]
Revelation 12
[2]
John 16:33
[3]
II Corinthians 11:14
[4]
Luke 21:12
[5]
John 14:27
[6]
Jude 1:24-25
[7]
I Peter 5:10 (NIV84)
[8]
Exodus 3:14
[9]
Deuteronomy 9:29
[10]
Ephesians 2:22
[11]
Matthew 18:20
[12]
John 1:14,17
[13]
Isaiah 9:6
[14]
Luke 22:42
[15]
Ephesians 2:8-9
[16]
Romans 5:2
[17]
Romans 5:1
[18]
I Corinthians 12:27
[19]
Revelation 1:1
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