Revelation 1:2Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

As Master, Christ revealed this through an angel to me, His servant, who bore witness to confession in Him.

He did this so that, through what I saw, I might also bear witness and preach for the conversion of those who hear.

I was to preach concerning what exists, yet is hidden from men, and concerning what is to come. For he prophetically saw both.

This is also clear from the words, "the things which are, and the things which must come to pass," which indicate the present and the future.

Saint John is speaking here about himself. He gave two testimonies concerning Jesus Christ. One concerned His teaching, revealing that He is the Word Himself. The other concerned His works.

We also can give a twofold testimony concerning Jesus: concerning His words, by believing them, confessing them, and obeying them; and concerning His works, by striving to imitate them in everything accessible to our imitation.

On the basis of this superscription, what must we say about the character and purpose of the Apocalypse? First, it is preeminently a prophetic book. Its chief subject is not the disclosure of new truths of Christian doctrine or morals, but the setting forth of what must take place. This substantially distinguishes this book from all the other New Testament writings, though they too contain many prophetic passages. The Apocalypse itself is also not without moral and doctrinal aims. Second, one must note that the only occasion for writing the Apocalypse, and the direct source of its content, was the immediate command and revelation of the very Head of the Church, the Lord Jesus Christ.

In its superscription, the Apocalypse is defined in terms of its content as a revelation that Jesus Christ communicates to Christians, His servants, after receiving it in turn from God the Father. Here are revealed the events that, according to the divine decree, must shortly come to pass. Here έν τάχεί is used in the sense of έγγΰς, “near,” in verse 3. Yet Christ did not show, or make known by signs, His revelation to John by Himself, but through His Angel. Why, then, was John deemed worthy of this revelation? In answer, John himself points to his witness to the truth of the Word of God, or the Gospel. His witness was accompanied by sufferings for the truth. Or, as the Apostle says, it was the testimony, μαρτυρία, the confession, of Jesus Christ.