THE TITLES OF JESUS

Revelation 1:4—6 (contd)

IN this passage, three great titles are given to Jesus Christ.
(1) He is the witness on whom we can rely. It is a favourite idea of the Fourth Gospel that Jesus is a witness of the truth of God. Jesus said to Nicodemus: ‘Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen’ (John 3:11). Jesus said to Pilate: ‘For this I came into the world, to testify to the truth’ (John 18:37). A witness is essentially a person who speaks from first-hand knowledge. That is why Jesus is God’s witness. He is uniquely the person with first-hand knowledge about God.
(2) He is the first-born of the dead. The word for first-born is prōtotokos. It can have two meanings. (a) It can mean literally first-born. If it is used in this sense, the reference must be to the resurrection. Through his resurrection, Jesus gained a victory over death, which all who believe in him may share. (b) Since the first-born was the son who inherited his father’s honour and power, prōtotokos comes to mean one with power and honour, one who occupies the first place. When Paul speaks of Jesus as the first-born of all creation (Colossians 1:15), he means that the first place of honour and glory belongs to him. If we take the word in this sense–and probably we should–it means that Jesus is Lord of the dead as he is Lord of the living. There is no part of the universe, in this world or in the world to come, and nothing in life or in death of which Jesus Christ is not Lord.
(3) He is the ruler of kings on earth. There are two things to note here. (a) This is a reminiscence of Psalm 89:27: ‘I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.’ That was always taken by Jewish scholars to be a description of the coming Messiah; and, therefore, to say that Jesus is the ruler of kings on earth is to claim that he is the Messiah. (b) In The Apocalypse of St John, H. B. Swete very beautifully points out the connection between this title of Jesus and the temptation story. In that story, the devil took Jesus up into a high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the earth and their glory and said: ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me’ (Matthew 4:9; Luke 4:6—7). It was the devil’s claim that the kingdoms of the earth were delivered into his power (Luke 4:6); and it was his suggestion that, if Jesus would strike a bargain with him, he would give him a share in them. The amazing thing is that what the devil promised Jesus–and could never have given him–Jesus won for himself by the suffering of the cross and the power of the resurrection. Not compromise with evil but the unswerving loyalty and the unfailing love which accepted the cross brought Jesus his universal lordship.

Barclay, W. (2004). The Revelation of John (3rd ed. fully rev. and updated., Vol. 1, pp. 38—39). Louisville, KY; London: Westminster John Knox Press

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