Revelation 1

This is the Revelation of ‘ISA1 AL-MASIH2, which God3 gave him to show to his servants the things which must happen soon, which he sent and made known by his angel to his servant, John, 2who testified to the Word of God, and of the testimony of ‘ISA AL-MASIH, about everything that he saw.

3Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things that are written in it, for the time is at hand.

4John, to the seven congregations that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from the One who is, and who was, and who is to come; and from the seven Spirits who are before his throne; 5and from ‘ISA AL-MASIH, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us, and washed us from our sins by his blood; 6and he made us to be a kingdom, priests to his God and Father; to him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

7Behold, he is coming with the clouds,4 and every eye will see him, including those who pierced him. All the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. 5

Even so, Amen.

8“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the LORD God All-Powerful,6 “the One who is and who was and who is to come.”

9I John, your brother and partner with you in the suffering, kingdom, and perseverance of AL-MASIH ‘ISA, was on the isle that is called Patmos because of the Word of God and the testimony of ‘ISA AL-MASIH. 10I was in the Spirit7 on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, like a trumpet 11saying, “What you see, write in a book and send to the seven congregations: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”

12I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. Having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands. 13And among the lampstands was one like the SON OF MAN8, clothed with a robe reaching down to his feet, and with a golden sash around his chest. 14His head and his hair were white as white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire. 15His feet were like burnished bronze, as if it had been refined in a furnace. His voice was like the voice of many waters. 16He had seven stars in his right hand. Out of his mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining at its brightest. 17When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man.

He laid his right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last, 18and the Living one. I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. I have the keys of Death and of the Grave9. 

19“Write therefore the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will happen hereafter; 20the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands. The seven stars are the angels of the seven congregations. The seven lampstands are the seven congregations.”

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  1. 1:1 ‘ISA – The names ‘ISA (Arabic), ISHO (Syriac) and JESUS (Greek, IESOUS) are all derived from the Hebrew name YEHOSHUA, which means “YAHWEH saves.” (YAHWEH is God’s personal name revealed to Prophet Musa in the Taurat, Exodus 3:15 – God said moreover to Musa, “You shall tell Bani-Israel this, ‘YAHWEH, the God of your fathers, the God of Ibrahim, the God of Ishaq, and the God of Yaqub, has sent me to you.’ This is my Name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered to all generations.”) ↩︎
  2. 1:1 AL-MASIH – an Arabic title equivalent to the Messiah (Hebrew) or Christ (Greek), all of which mean the Anointed One, that is, God’s Chosen One. In ancient times, divinely-appointed kings, priests and prophets were anointed with oil to signify their appointment to office. All of them point ahead to God’s ultimate Anointed One, the Messiah, AL-MASIH.  Al-Kitab unanimously points to ‘ISA Ibn Maryam as the only person worthy to bear the title AL-MASIH. He is the one whom God sent into this world to save people from sin, and to usher in God’s Kingdom at his Second Coming. ↩︎
  3. 1:1 God, English translation of theos. It is the Greek equivalent of elohim and eloah (Hebrew) which are related to allah (Arabic) and alaha (Syriac), all of which translate as “God,” and refer to the one true God. ↩︎
  4. 1:7 See the Taurat, Daniel 7:13 which says: “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like a SON OF MAN coming with the clouds of the sky, and he came even to the ANCIENT OF DAYS, and they brought him near before him.” ↩︎
  5. 1:7 Citing the words of ‘ISA AL-MASIH in the Injil, Matthew 24:30 which says: “and then the sign of the SON OF MAN will appear in the sky. Then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the ‘SON OF MAN coming on the clouds of the sky’ with power and great glory.”
    Also citing the Taurat, Zakariyya 12:10 which says: I will pour on the house of Dawud, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they will look on me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and will grieve bitterly for him, as one grieves for his firstborn. ↩︎
  6. 1:8 LORD God All-Powerful, this combination mirrors the Septuagint’s* way of translating the Hebrew word combination, YAHWEH elohim sabaoth, into Greek. LORD in all caps represents God’s personal name YAHWEH in the Hebrew scriptures. An example of this combination is Hosea 12:5, which says: “Even YAHWEH God All-Powerful; YAHWEH is the Name by which he is to be remembered!”
    *Septuagint is the name of an ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures used by early Christians. ↩︎
  7. 1:10 Spirit, or Holy Spirit, or Spirit of God; not an angel, created being, nor an impersonal force, but the uncreated, eternal Spirit of God himself. The Spirit was present and active at the creation of heaven and earth (see Genesis 1:2), and today lives inside of every follower of ‘ISA AL-MASIH, empowering them to live in a way pleasing to God. ↩︎
  8. 1:13 SON OF MAN, a title for the Messiah, ‘ISA AL-MASIH, derived from the prophecy of Daniel 7:13-14, “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like a SON OF MAN coming with the clouds of the sky, and he came to the ANCIENT OF DAYS, and they brought him near before him. There was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.” The title SON OF MAN was Prophet ‘ISA Ibn Maryam’s most common way of referring to himself. ↩︎
  9. 1:18 The Grave refers to the Intermediate State in which the dead await judgment day. This verse teaches that ‘ISA AL-MASIH has power over death and the world of the dead. He is the one who can save from the fear of death and the grave. ↩︎