Chapter s 1-3. The Son of Man and the Seven Churches.
Opening Words (Revelation 1:1-8).
‘The Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave him to show to his servants, even the things which must shortly happen.'
The book is the ‘revelation', the revealing, of Jesus Christ. It is not just a revelation from Christ, wonderful though that would be, but a revelation of Christ. He is its centre and revealed in all His splendour as both Saviour, slain Lamb, lion of Judah, Controller of history by the opening of the seals, Judge of all men and Central focus along with His Father of the New Heaven and the New Earth.
It is first described as preparation for the things that will ‘shortly happen' (Revelation 1:1), and we are told ‘the time is at hand' (Revelation 1:5). Another suggested translation ‘will quickly happen' in the sense of ‘ will quickly happen in the far off future once it starts' is not really tenable on its own in the light of the position of the phrase, which is introductory.
It is true that ‘en tachei' can mean ‘with speed' given the right context, but even then it must be noted that it always has ‘soon' in mind. But the context here means that any Greek speaker would naturally read it as ‘shortly'. It is only the requirements of theories that attempt another translation. ‘En tachei' occurs in Luke 18:8; Acts 25:4; Romans 16:20, and in some manuscripts in 1 Timothy 3:14, where it means ‘shortly, soon, speedily' as here, and in Acts 12:7; Acts 22:18 where it means ‘with speed' but both times with the idea of ‘as soon as possible, shortly' in mind.
This stress on the nearness of events parallels what Jesus said in His eschatological address in Matthew 24:34, that ‘this generation shall not pass away until all these things be accomplished'. But in Matthew it is important to notice Matthew 24:3 and that ‘these things' are distinguished from the Second Coming itself. (See also Mark 13:30 with Revelation 1:4 and Luke 21:32 with Revelation 1:7). In all cases ‘these things' refer to the detailed events described as necessarily preceding the Second Coming of Christ, including the destruction of the Temple. But it does not refer to the Return itself, and in all cases the events desscribed did happen within the lifetime of some standing there which tied in with Jesus' warnings. But the actual Second Coming of Christ is the summation of all things and its timing was specifically stated by Jesus to be unknown, even to Jesus Himself while on earth (Mark 13:32). It could not therefore be foretold.
In the same way the main events in Revelation will ‘shortly happen', and we must accept then that many did occur within a fairly short time span. Any interpretation of the book must take this into account. There is a deliberate stress on ‘immediacy' and the future facing those to whom John first wrote.
But the phrase is not necessarily indicating that everything described will shortly happen, only that the main theme of the book will, for it was a recognised fact, as mentioned above, that the time of the Second Coming, and the events closely related to it, were not known and that its timing could not therefore be determined. John is aware that momentous events are about to overtake the Christian church and he wants them to be prepared for those, but He is not predicting the timing of the final end, only its certainty.
However, what none of the records stated was whether the events would only occur once. That was beyond their purview. That they would happen soon did not necessarily mean that that they would only occur once. The writer did not say, or even have reason to know, that they would be repeated again and again through history, for he did not know how long the future would be. He prepared the way towards the Second Coming, the timing of which was specifically stated to be unknown, but he did not fix when it would be. This sense of immediacy, combined with the acknowledgement of uncertainty, pervades all references to the future in the New Testament. As Peter stresses, ‘one day is with the Lord as a thousand years', God does not see time as we see it (2 Peter 3:8). In God's eyes we, in the third millennium, are two days from the time of Christ!
‘And he sent and signified it by his angel to his servant John.'
The meaning is ‘signified, revealed through signs'. The book constantly uses symbolism to get over its message. We are left to interpret that symbolism carefully and thoughtfully recognising that it is a message from Christ Himself.
‘By his angel'. The message was considered so important that it was committed to a special angelic messenger. ‘His angel' means simply the messenger whom God chose.
‘To his servant John'. The early church accepted that this was John the Apostle which was why the book was accepted. He is described as Christ's ‘servant'. We can compare this with Paul's constant claim to be ‘the servant of Jesus Christ' (Romans 1:1; Philippians 1:1) and a ‘servant of God' (Titus 1:1). James says that he is ‘a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ' (James 1:1), as do Peter (2 Peter 1:1) and Jude (Jude 1:1). Revelation similarly uses this title of Christians as a title of honour.