1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
"The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to Him, and showed unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass, and signified it. Blessed are they who read and hear the words of this prophecy, and keep the things which are written." The beginning of the book promises blessing to him that reads and hears and keeps, that he who takes pains about the reading may thence learn to do works, and may keep the precepts.
John, the apostle whom Jesus most loved, the son of Zebedee and brother of James... In the fourteenth year then after Nero Domitian having raised a second persecution he was banished to the island of Patmos, and wrote the Apocalypse, on which Justin Martyr and Irenæus afterwards wrote commentaries. But Domitian having been put to death and his acts, on account of his excessive cruelty, having been annulled by the senate, he returned to Ephesus under Pertinax and continuing there until the time of the Emperor Trajan, founded and built churches throughout all Asia, and, worn out by old age, died in the sixty-eighth year after our Lord's passion and was buried near the same city.
We read in the Apocalypse of John (a book which, although rejected in these regions, we ought nevertheless to know, because it is accepted and held as canonical throughout the west, and in other Phoenician provinces, and in Egypt, for the ancient churchmen, including Irenaeus, Polycarp, Dionysius, and other Roman expounders of Sacred Scripture, among whom is holy Cyprian, accept and interpret it)...
which God gave unto him. But what is it, which the Son has heard from the Father? Has He heard the word of the Father? Yes, but He is the Word of the Father. When you conceive a word, wherewith to name a thing, the very, conception of that thing in the mind is a word. Just then as you have in your mind and with you your spoken word; even so God uttered the Word, i.e. begat the Son. Since then the Son is the Word of God, and the Son has spoken the Word of God to us, He has spoken to us the Father's word. What John said is therefore true.
But the writer of the Revelation puts himself forward at once in the very beginning, for he says: "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which He gave to him to show to His servants quickly; and He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, who bare record of the Word of God, and of his testimony, and of all things that he saw."
From this we learn that this [book] is called an Apocalypse, that is, “revelation,” which manifests those secrets which are hidden and unknown to the senses, and that unless [Christ] himself reveals them, he who perceives [the revelation] will not have the strength to understand what he sees.
Revelation is the revealing of hidden mysteries when the intellect is enlightened by either divine dreams or by visions from divine enlightenment while awake.
things which must shortly come to pass. this means that some of the prophecies about them are to happen then, and the things concerning the end are not to come until later on, because to God a thousand years is like a prior day, which is like having already happened. Ps. 89:4
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him, etc. The Church, founded by the apostles, by what course it was to be spread and by what end it was to be completed, had to be revealed to strengthen the preachers of the faith against the adversities of the world. John, as is his custom, referring the glory of the Son to the Father, testifies that Jesus Christ received the revelation of the mystery from God.
To his servant John. That through John, who, by the singular privilege of chastity, deserved to see these things before others, he might make the same known to all his servants.
John. This book was written not by another John but by the one who wrote the Gospel, he who at the marriage feast at Cana reclined on the breast of the Lord in which all treasures of wisdom and knowledge are concealed.
There exist others that say it was composed not by him but by another.
At the beginning of all his writings, it is a common practice of John to use words that express the divinity of our Savior Jesus Christ. In this work he instead uses words that express His humanity, unless we might come to know Him from His divine qualities and not from His human qualities too. For it is a sign of true theology to believe that God the Word has been begotten from God and the Father before all eternity and of time and space, being coeternal and consubstantial with the Father and the Spirit, and joint-ruler of the ages and of all conceivable and sensible creation, according to the words of the most wise Paul in the letter to the Colossians, that: "For in him were all things created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominations, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him and in him. And he is the head of the body, the Church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he may hold the primacy: (Col.1:16,18)"
But it is also a sign of true theology to believe that He has become Man for us and for our salvation in these last days, not lifting up His Deity, but by receiving human flesh, animated by mind. In this way the one who is Emmanuel is known to have been one from two natures, divinity and humanity, each being complete according to the dwelling Word and according to the distinct characteristics of each nature, neither misunderstood nor altered by their unity, neither kept separate after the unspeakable and hidden union. For Nestorius and Eutyches are both similarly abominable, opposing but indeed measurably evil.
Therefore, in this manner he uses human words and thoughts and gives an accurate and polished doctrine of our Savior, after dwelling on the divinity of our Lord in other writings. Besides, neither before did he give an account of what is divine from what is human, nor in that case what is human from what is divine. But rather a greater or lesser attention to his writings. This is why he says, The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, as if he was saying, : "Although this revelation has been given by the Father to the Son, it has now been given by the Son to us his slaves," By calling the saints slaves of Christ, he has defended his divine nature. For to whom would man belong, other than to the Creator and Maker of mankind? And who is the Maker of mankind and of all the creation? No one other than the one and only Word and Son of God. For "all things were made by Him," says John in his Gospel (1:3)
But what is meant by adding the things which must shortly come to pass, since those things that were going to happen have yet to be fulfilled, even though a long time, more than 500 years has gone by since John said this? The reason is because that all time in the eyes of the infinite eternal God are as nothing. For the prophet says, "For a thousand years in your sight are as the yesterday which is past, and as a watch in the night.(Ps. 90:4 LXX)" Therefore, he added shortly, not looking at actual time of the fulfillment of the future, but to the power and eternity of God. In this way, all temporary prolongings, even though it may seem long and extended as possible, is short when compared to eternity. Therefore, he says that Jesus Christ made known to me what must come to pass, not as appearing and speaking Himself, but through an angel he initiated me into his mysteries. You see the truthfulness of John in confessing that it was though an angel that the revelation came to him, and that he did not hear it from the mouth of the Lord. John says the angel hath given testimony to the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ, what things soever he hath seen. He has used the same style in the Gospel too, as to preserve the truthfulness of his teaching. He said there, "This is that disciple who gives testimony of these things, and hath written these things; and we know that his testimony is true.(Jn. 21:24)" And now he says, he is the witness of the divine word which was seen by him concerning this Revelation and the testimony given by Christ, that is, "Through the testimony of the witness, I am the author."
As for this divine Revelation, some say, wagging their tongues brashly and ignorantly, that it was not composed by the divine John the evangelist and theologian. They listen to this tradition as though they have secretly received it.
But I think they say this not from ignorance nor from any secret revelation, but only from simplicity and, if one may dare to say it, from cowardice and a passionate love for earthly things, showing by their denials their fear of what is absolutely incontrovertible. For in the face of the explicit testimony of the blessed and holy fathers, who is able to contradict their testimony or somehow to reach the conclusion that this is certainly not the case?
For the great Basil in his writings against Eunomius refutes his godless blasphemies and nonsense. The divine theologian referred to these in his fourth book, “in which he mentions on the authority of the divinely inspired Scriptures both the problems and solutions to the controversies about the Son” by means of the Old and New Testaments. He starts by saying, “If the Son is God by nature, and the Father is also God by nature, the Son is not one God and the Father another, but they are the same.” And later on, “Moses said about the Son, ‘I am has sent me,’ and John the evangelist said, ‘In the beginning was the Word,’ and he said ‘was’ not once only, but four times, and again elsewhere he said, ‘he who is from God’ and ‘he who is in the bosom of the Father,’ and elsewhere, ‘he who is in heaven,’ and in the Revelation, ‘he who is and who was and is to come.’” He made no distinction between authors, but he followed the testimony of Paul and repeated it.
If then this Revelation was composed by some other John, as the nonsense of the majority has it, the great Basil also would have written his books on the Revelation with the name of its author. But after first listing the books of Moses, and then those of the apostle and theologian, as those, too, of the apostle Paul, he had no need to refer to anyone else in addition to these. These then are the incontrovertible words of the great and holy Basil.
The great Gregory, surnamed “the Theologian,” whom they call “the Organizer,” when he was making his defense in the presence of the hundred and fifty bishops, clearly and truly wrote, “When will you inherit my holy mountain?” and he went on to say, “I am convinced that others preside over other churches, as John teaches me in Revelation.”
And Eusebius Pamphyli, in the third book of his Ecclesiastical History, says somewhere, “This, then, was the situation of the Jews at that time,” and goes on to say, “It is recorded that at that time John the apostle and evangelist was still alive, and was sentenced by Domitian the son of Vespasian to live on the island of Patmos on account of his witness to the divine word. Indeed, Irenaeus, when writing about the number of the name of the Antichrist as given in the book of John called Revelation, uses these very words in the fifth book of his Against the Heresies, saying about John: ‘If it seems right at the present time for this name to be openly announced, it would have been mentioned by the one who actually saw the Revelation.’”
By Christ, he says, and not simply by God. But if through Jesus Christ God had this knowledge revealed, it is clear that it was through the Spirit, that is, because through Christ the grace of the activity of the Spirit descends to us.
which must shortly come to pass That is, the trials of the Church which must come to pass quickly, because this proceeds from the divine command which is not able to be altered. This is for the testing of the faithful and to expand of their glory. sending by His angel Jesus appearing in this way.
[AD 165] Justin Martyr on Revelation 1:1