The divine communication sequence: God → Jesus → Angel → John → Servants
The prologue of the Book of Revelation establishes a precise chain of communication that guarantees the authority and divine purpose of the message. This four-stage process transfers the prophetic truth from its ultimate divine source to the human recipients, ensuring the book is a legitimate disclosure of God’s plan.
The chain of revelation is structured as follows:
Ultimate Divine Source: God the Father
The revelation begins with God the Father, confirming His absolute sovereignty. The phrase, “which God gave Him [Jesus]”, establishes the Father as the original source and initiator of the message. This concept aligns with the Gospel, where God is the ultimate source, and Christ is the agent who transmits the message. In a marvelous sense, the book of Revelation is the Father’s gift to the Son, detailing the Son’s inheritance and the full disclosure of the glory that will be Christ’s reward for His faithful service.
Divine Mediator: Jesus Christ
The next link identifies the central theme and agent: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ”. While the revelation is certainly about Christ—especially His second coming in exaltation—the context confirms that it is also from Christ, making Him the revealer. Christ functions as the agent who receives the revelation from God and transmits it to others. As the glorified Lord, He is the only one worthy to open the scroll of destiny and disclose its contents. Christ’s primary purpose in communicating this revelation is “to show His bond-servants what must soon take place”. This message of future events is a matter of logical and moral necessity arising from the nature and purpose of God.
Supernatural Delivery: His Angel
Jesus Christ makes this revelation known “by sending His angel”. The purpose of this step, which involves “supernatural delivery,” is to communicate the vision by signs. The Greek verb esēmanen (made it known/signified) strongly suggests “communicate by symbols” or signs, which is particularly appropriate given the highly symbolic nature of the book. The angel acts merely as the messenger (angeloi) who communicates Christ’s revelation to John. Angels play a prominent role throughout the book, and this angel serves as the intermediary between Christ and John. Jesus personally affirms, “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches.”
Human Recipient and Witness: John
The angel communicates the message to “His bond-servant John”. The human author, John the apostle, wrote the book while exiled on Patmos. John humbly identifies himself as a “slave” (doulos) of Christ, aligning himself with the other believers who are the ultimate recipients of the message.
In turn, John faithfully bears witness to the message he received: “who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw”.
Authority and Purpose of the Message
This formal chain underscores two critical points:
Divine Authority:
The careful articulation of the chain—God → Jesus → Angel → John → Churches—establishes the divine authority behind the work. John is merely the instrument or scribe; the true authors are God, the risen Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. This legitimates the highly symbolic and sometimes controversial contents of the prophecy.
Purpose of Disclosure:
The purpose is explicitly laid out: “to show to His bond-servants the things which must soon take place”. The revelation is intended for the Christian communities, whom John calls “servants” or “bond-servants,” so they may be strengthened for a potential clash with anti-divine powers. The knowledge that the next great era of God’s redemptive history is near provides compelling urgency and motivates believers to live holy, obedient lives.
“Things which must soon take place” – interpreting “en tachei”
The Greek phrase ἐν τάχει (en tachei), meaning “soon” or “quickly,” appears prominently in Revelation (“…the things which must soon take place”) and is repeated in the book’s conclusion, establishing the compelling urgency of the entire prophetic message. This phrase carries significant theological weight, and interpreters present three primary, often overlapping, views on its meaning:
Temporal Nearness (Imminence or “Soon”)
The dominant interpretation understands en tachei to stress the imminence or nearness of the events described, implying that they are “about to happen” or “before long,” rather than referring solely to the rapid rate of their execution.
This emphasis on proximity is immediately reinforced by the parallel phrase in Revelation: “for the time is near” (ὁ γὰρ καιρὸς ἐγγύς, ho gar kairos engys). This kairos (time, era) refers not to clock time but to the next great era of God’s redemptive history. The imminence of the end is a constant theme in the New Testament and serves a crucial function in Revelation: to draw the reader into a sense of expectation and responsibility and motivate perseverance. Even accounting for the passage of centuries since John wrote, this temporal perspective holds true from God’s viewpoint, as “a day is like a thousand years”. In salvation history, the next eschatological event following Christ’s foundational work (death, resurrection, Pentecost) is the Second Coming, rendering it “near”.
Sudden Occurrence (“Quickly” or “Suddenly”)
En tachei can also denote the speedy manner or suddenness with which the events will occur once they begin. The cognate adverb ταχύ (tachy, “quickly”) emphasizes this in specific contexts throughout the book, often describing judgment or visitation.
This meaning is powerfully illustrated by the destruction of “Babylon” (Rome), which occurs “in one hour” (mia hōra). This phrase acts as a figure of speech for an unexpectedly quick destruction or “in a moment”. Likewise, Christ’s final coming is compared to the coming of a thief in the night, emphasizing its suddenness and unexpectedness. Though generally interpreted as conveying imminence, the concept of “quickly” certainly fits when stressing the swiftness and decisiveness of God’s judgments once enacted.
Certainty of Fulfillment (Inaugurated Eschatology)
A third interpretive layer views the phrase, particularly alongside ha dei genesthai (“what must take place”), as underscoring the certainty of the prophecy’s fulfillment.
Furthermore, John’s usage is interpreted through the lens of inaugurated eschatology: the fulfillment of Daniel’s long-awaited prophecy has already begun in the death and resurrection of Christ and the establishment of the kingdom. This perspective suggests that the prophecy is not just coming soon, but that fulfillment has already begun or will begin in the immediate future. The revelation is necessary because history is not haphazard but a divinely decreed ordering of events that must take place.
Background
The choice of en tachei in Revelation is a direct and purposeful update of the Old Testament prophetic tradition, specifically alluding to the Greek Septuagint (LXX) translation of Daniel.
In Daniel, the phrase appears as ἃ δεῖ γενέσθαι ἐπ᾽ ἐσχάτων τῶν ἡμερῶν (a dei genesthai ep’ eschatōn tōn hēmerōn), meaning “what must take place in the latter days”. John intentionally substitutes en tachei for Daniel’s “in the latter days”.
This change is critical because John understands Daniel’s reference to a distant time to refer to his own era. The implication is that the fulfillment of the cosmic defeat of evil and the ushering in of the divine kingdom—what Daniel expected distantly—John now expects to begin “quickly,” asserting that the time for full disclosure (not sealing, as Daniel was commanded) has arrived.
“Signified” (esēmanen) – the symbolic nature of the vision
The Greek verb ἐσήμανεν (esēmanen), which appears in Revelation 1:1, is a crucial linguistic marker that immediately signals the foundational mode of communication employed throughout the book: symbolism. The full phrase states that Christ “sent his angel and made it known [ἐσήμανεν] to his servant John”. The selection of this specific verb, rather than a more general synonym for “make known,” establishes the prophetic and figurative nature of the ensuing revelation.
Signifying through Symbols
The standard definition of the verb sēmainō (from which esēmanen is derived) includes “make known,” “report,” or “communicate”. However, its core meaning often extends to “show by a sign,” “give signs [or signals],” or “signify”. John’s intentional choice of esēmanen over a more general verb, such as gnōrizō (“make known”), was designed to underscore the precise kind of communication being delivered: symbolic communication.
This conclusion is supported by the following points:
Cognate Connection:
Esēmanen is the verb cognate of the Johannine noun sēmeion (“sign”), which is frequently used in John’s Gospel to refer to Jesus’ miracles, understood as outward signs or symbols of His attributes and mission. In Revelation 1:1, the verb thus carries the idea of figurative representation.
Prophetic Context:
Sēmainein is specifically used in prophetic or oracular contexts where the meaning of the prophecy is not completely clear, suggesting that informed interpretation is required. This term expresses the difficulty in understanding the revelation that follows. For example, the Delphic oracle was famously described as one that “neither declares nor conceals but signifies” (Heraclitus), using ambiguous advice, images, and riddles that demanded interpretation.
Visual Confirmation:
The use of esēmanen is confirmed by its parallelism with the preceding verb δεῖξαι (deixai, “to show”) in Revelation 1:1. Deixai refers to a revelation through the medium of symbolic, heavenly visions communicated through an angel. This is consistent with John’s typical response throughout the book, which is that he “saw” these pictorial revelations (e.g., kai eidov, “and I saw”). The visual impact of this pictorial representation is what makes a greater impact than mere abstract communication.
Consequently, the introduction of Revelation instructs the reader that the majority of the material within the book is revelatory symbolism. This symbolism, utilizing images and metaphors that function like “words and sentences in a narrative composition,” appeals not only to the cognitive level but also to the emotive level.
Connection to Daniel 2:45 (LXX)
The selection of esēmanen is further clarified by John’s reliance on the Old Testament prophetic tradition, specifically the Greek Septuagint (LXX) translation of Daniel 2:28–30, 45.
Revelation 1:1 is patterned after Daniel 2, featuring the clauses concerning “revelation,” “God showed,” “what must come to pass,” and the verb to “make known” or sēmainō appearing together uniquely in Daniel 2 and Revelation 1:1.
In Daniel 2, the content of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and its interpretation are referred to as a “mystery” (raz) requiring interpretation. God made the content known by means of a symbolic vision and its interpretation.
Daniel 2:45 (LXX) states: “The great God has made known [ἐσήμανεν] to the king what must come to pass in the latter days”.
In this context, the LXX translator likely chose sēmainō to render the Aramaic verb “make known” in Daniel 2 in order to underscore that the communication was symbolic.
By employing the verb esēmanen in Revelation 1:1, John intentionally aligns his work with this context from Daniel 2. He asserts that the visions he received are, like Daniel’s dream, a symbolic communication concerning the hidden content and interpretation of God’s plan, especially concerning the establishment of the eternal kingdom predicted in Daniel 2. Thus, esēmanen serves as a key hermeneutical clue, instructing readers to approach the subsequent narrative as a symbolic discourse rather than a literal one.
John as witness: martyr and testimony
The Book of Revelation fundamentally links the act of bearing witness (martyria) with the experience of suffering and death (martyrdom), establishing this connection through the example of Jesus Christ and the role of the author, John.
John’s Commission as Faithful Witness
The author, John, identifies himself as Christ’s “bond-servant” and immediately confirms his function as a reliable purveyor of divine disclosure: “who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw”. John’s testimony is rooted in his status as an eyewitness to overwhelming visions concerning Christ’s second coming.
The central phrase, “the testimony of Jesus Christ” (tēn martyrian Iēsou Christou), is critical, appearing six times in Revelation. In the prologue, the phrase often carries the subjective meaning, referring to the prophecy being the “witness borne by Jesus” (i.e., the content revealed by Him). John’s task, therefore, is to faithfully bear witness to Jesus’s prophetic message.
The Connection Between Testimony and Martyrdom
The Greek noun for “witness,” martys (or its related forms martyria and martyreō), is used throughout Revelation in contexts that blur the line between verbal proclamation and sacrificial death. This book was a major factor in the subsequent shift in meaning of martys in the early church, leading to its eventual transliteration into the English word “martyr”. In Revelation, “witness” already carries the connotation of martyrdom.
The clearest example of this association is Antipas of Pergamum, whom Christ commends as “My witness, My faithful one, who was killed among you”. Antipas’s execution for his Christian faith explicitly links his death to his testimony. Likewise, the souls crying out beneath the altar were “slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained”.
Witnessing as Participation in Christ’s Suffering
Bearing witness is inseparable from suffering because Jesus Christ is the ultimate model of the “faithful witness”. Christ is the archetype of one who proclaimed divine truth in the face of immense opposition. His title as “faithful witness” refers to the purpose of His life—bearing witness to truth even unto death—and thus serves as the model for how believers should stand firm and never compromise. Jesus, the exalted Lord, is also described as the “slain Lamb,” symbolizing the victory achieved through sacrifice.
John immediately aligns himself with this reality by stating he is a “fellow partaker” with the churches in the “tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus”. John’s presence on the barren island of Patmos was a direct result of suffering, as he was exiled “because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus”. This exile, which was likely a form of Roman capital repression, underscored that his faithful and uncompromising preaching led directly to persecution.
Victory through Death
For the saints in Revelation, faithful witness demands “endurance and faithfulness”. They are called to “be faithful, even to the point of death”. This is an imitation of Christ (imitatio Christi), reflecting Jesus’s command to be willing to “take up their cross”.
Paradoxically, this suffering is not defeat but triumph. Martyrs “overcome” the devil because they “did not love their lives to the point of death”. By accepting death rather than compromising their loyalty to Christ, their martyrdom becomes their great victory over Satan. Their willingness to suffer for Christ is considered a privilege. Those who die “in the Lord” are blessed, finding rest from their labors and ensuring their faithful deeds follow them as eternal rewards.
The Word of God and testimony of Jesus
The recurring phrase “the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ” is fundamental to the Book of Revelation, serving dual roles as both the cause of the author’s suffering and the authoritative content of the entire prophetic vision. These themes permeate the book, establishing the central conflict and the nature of faithful Christian witness.
The Cause of John’s Exile and Suffering
John was exiled to the barren island of Patmos “because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus”. This phrase functions in the context of John’s persecution as a statement of cause or grounds, meaning he suffered Roman repression on account of his prophetic activity.
Prophetic Proclamation:
John suffered exile for his “faithful, unequivocal, uncompromising preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ”. The two phrases are often used synonymously, describing the content of John’s preaching.
Roman Repression:
Roman authorities likely viewed John’s preaching as “seditious” and removed him from the mainland to inhibit the growth of the early church. The severe persecution John endured, having been exiled as a common criminal, demonstrates his identification with the “tribulation” of his readers. Exile was one consequence for his faithfulness in proclaiming the word of God.
The Content and Authority of John’s Vision
John confirms that he faithfully bore witness to this same “word of God and… testimony of Jesus Christ,” which encompassed “all that he saw”.
Divine Revelation:
This phrase acts as a semitechnical formula for gospel truth and describes the content of the vision itself. The “word of God” refers to the divine message, specifically prophetic utterances and the apostolic message. The “testimony of Jesus Christ” refers to the “witness borne by Jesus”—the divine truth revealed by Christ, who functions as the revealer. The entire book, therefore, is the testimony about the coming glory of Christ.
Prophetic Legitimacy:
John’s claim to have received and faithfully recorded these two aspects validates the entire book as divine revelation. This message is as “faithful and true” as the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
Permeation Throughout Revelation
These two phrases, appearing together four times and frequently alluded to, define the central conflict and commitment of the Christian life in Revelation.
Christ as the Archetypal Witness:
The Lord Jesus Christ is Himself the “faithful witness” and the “faithful and true witness”, serving as the model for perseverance and proclamation in the face of immense opposition. Bearing witness (martyria) involves suffering, as Jesus bore witness to the truth even unto death.
The Martyrs’ Vocation:
The most profound way this theme permeates the book is through the experience of the saints. They are martyred “because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained”. Martyrdom is the ultimate act of faithful perseverance. By holding to this truth, the martyrs overcome Satan.
The Spirit of Prophecy:
The thematic connection culminates in the declaration that “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy”. This means that the church’s witness to Jesus is the heart of Spirit-inspired prophecy. All prophecy, in its true spirit, points to Jesus Christ and His saving gospel message. Those who hold the testimony of Jesus are therefore identified as Christ’s “fellow servants” alongside the angels and prophets.