Revelation 1:4-8 (New International Version)

Greetings and doxology
4John, to the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits[a] before his throne, 5and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen. 7Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen. 8"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."
Revelation is a letter written to the 7 churches which were in Asia. Barclay gives us excellent background to this wonderful book. He says that in the New Testament Asia is never used to refer to the continent but always the Roman Province. Once it had been the kingdom of Attalus the Third, then he willed it to the Romans at his death. It was what we now call Turkey and there were by no means only 7 churches there at the time John was writing. Why then did John only single out 7?

Possibly these churches were regarded as the centres of seven postal districts, being all on a kind of ring road which circled the interior of the province. Letters delivered to these 7 cities would be easily circulated to the surrounding area. And since every letter had to be hand-written, it was important to reach as many people as possible with each letter.

Another possible reason was John's preference for the number 7. It occurs 54 times! There are 7 candlesticks, 7 stars, 7 lamps, 7 seals, 7 horns, 7 eyes, 7 thunders etc etc. The ancient people regarded 7 as the perfect number, and it ran all through Revelation. It is widely held that 7 is the perfect number because it stands for completeness. So, when John wrote to the 7 churches, could he have been writing to the “whole” church? After all, John keeps on saying, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches.

John begins by sending them the blessing of God. He sends them grace, and this means all the undeserved gifts of the love of God. He sends them peace, which R.H. Charles described as "The harmony restored between God and man through Christ." But there are two amazing things in this blessing which Barclay points out.

i) John sends blessings from "him who is, and who was, and who is to come". That is a common title for God. This is what in Hebrews so beautifully became "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8). But to get the full meaning of this we must look at it in the Greek because John bursts the bonds of grammar to show his reverence for God. Barclay points out that we translate the phrase "from him who is"; but that is not what the Greek says. The Greek says " from "he who is". It is as if John refuses to change the grammar out of reverence for God - even though the rules of grammar demand it!

 John is not finished with his amazing use of language. The second phrase is "and who was ". "Who was" would have been a Greek participle which means not only "to be" but "to become". But John utterly refuses to apply any word to God that will imply an change; and so he uses the Greek phrase that is grammatically impossible and that no-one ever used before. In the terrible days of persecution in which John was writing he maintained in his mind and his writing the changelessness of God and used defiance of grammar to underline his faith.

Revelation 1:4-8 (New International Version) Greetings and doxology

From now on in the book of Revelation, in almost every passage we note the John continues to use the Old Testament. He personally was soaked in the Old Testament and it was almost impossible for him to write a passage without quoting it. John was living in a time when to be a Christian was an agonizing thing. He himself knew banishment and imprisonment and hard labour. And there were many who knew death in it's most cruel forms. The best way to maintain courage and hope in such a situation was to remember that God had never failed in the past.

  

In this passage, says Barclay, John sets out the motto and the text for his whole book and his confidence in the triumphant return of Christ, which would rescue Christians in distress from the cruelty of their enemies. To Christians the return of Christ is a promise on which to feed the soul. To the enemies of Christ the return of Christ is a threat. To make the point John again quotes the Old Testament from Zechariah 12:10 which contains the words, "When they look on him whom they have pierced , they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weeps bitterly over him as one, as one weeps over a first-born."

 The story behind this saying is that God gave his people a good shepherd; but the people in their disobedience killed him and took to themselves evil and self-seeking shepherds. But the day will come when in the grace of God they will bitterly repent and in that day they will look on the good shepherd whom they have pierced and will sorrowfully lament for him and for what they have done. John takes that picture and applies it to Jesus. We crucified him but there will come a day when we will look on him again; and this time, he will not be a broken figure on a cross, but a regal figure to whom universal power has been given.