NOTES for Rev 1:1-8
Today's passage is a brief introduction to the Book of Revelation of John. Judging by all that we now know about this book, it was written in the late 80s or in the 90s of the first century, after the catastrophe that befell Judea and Jerusalem in AD 70, which caused a fairly serious crisis of ideas and spiritual life in the Church. The point is that Jesus Himself, during His earthly ministry, pointed to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple as events that would precede His return and the Kingdom's final triumph (Matt. 24:15–35). Yet the prophecy of the city's and Temple's destruction had been fulfilled, while He still had not returned, and the triumph of the Kingdom He had promised seemed to be postponed. Many were perplexed, and some sought an answer in various Gnostic movements on the fringes of the Church, where virtually nothing of Christianity remained but its outer shell.
In this situation, the revelation received by John answered the question of what Christians should expect and what the coming of the Kingdom would look like, of which Jesus had spoken to His disciples during their conversation on the way from the Temple. It is no accident that the book's introduction says that what was revealed to John concerns events that will happen “soon,” and that “the time is near” (vv. 1–3). This does not mean that the times and seasons, which Jesus said were unknown even to Him and known only to His heavenly Father (Matt. 24:36), had suddenly been revealed to John in some mysterious way. Rather, now, after the events of AD 70 foretold by the Savior, the old history, familiar to us and studied by historians, had ended. The history of the Kingdom entering the world had begun: the only history that could henceforth give meaning to any events taking place in the world. And the meaning of this new history is revealed to John, from beginning to end.
Pre-Christian apocalyptic thought saw the meaning of history in the replacement of the old order, the former “kingdoms,” by the messianic Kingdom. Christian apocalyptic thought sees its meaning in the unfolding of the Kingdom, which will culminate in its final triumph, completely transfiguring not only humanity but the entire world God created. It is no accident that the author of the Book of Revelation, who recorded the apostle's account, mentions in his introduction Christ's return in glory, “on the clouds of heaven” (v. 7). He thereby refers his readers to the Savior's account of the end of time, undoubtedly well known to them, in which Jesus uses these very words to describe His triumphant return (Matt. 24:29–31). Not because it necessarily had to happen any day, but because nothing now stood between those awaiting the Kingdom's triumph and that triumph itself. The process that was to culminate in it had already begun, and henceforth it depended only on the person whether they would take part in it or remain on the sidelines.