Revelation 1:1

And further, there was a certain man with us, whose name was John, one of the apostles of Christ, who prophesied, by a revelation that was made to him, that those who believed in our Christ would dwell a thousand years in Jerusalem; and that thereafter the general, and, in short, the eternal resurrection and judgment of all men would likewise take place.

What John this is, however, is uncertain. John the Apostle, But whether this is the one who wrote the Revelation, I could not say.

John, moreover, nowhere gives us the name, whether as of himself directly (in the first person), or as of another (in the third person). 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." And then he writes also an epistle, in which he says: "John to the seven churches which are in Asia, grace be unto you, and peace." The evangelist, on the other hand, has not prefixed his name even to the catholic epistle; but without any circumlocution, he has commenced at once with the mystery of the divine revelation itself in these terms: "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes."

"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.

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)...

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.

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.

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

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.

Sending by his angel. For the angel used the figure of Christ to John, as will be more clearly apparent in the following.

Which must shortly come to pass. That is, what is about to happen to the Church in the present time.

And he signified it. He intertwined the same Apocalypse with mystical words, lest it be despised by being manifest to all.

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.

QUESTION: What does it mean that he says, The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, since the Son is equal to the Father? ANSWER: It needed to be revealed by what development the Church founded by the apostles would be enlarged and how it would be made perfect in the end, so as to strengthen the preachers of the faith against the adversity of the world. John attributes the glory of the Son to the Father in the manner usual to him, and thus declares that Jesus Christ received the revelation of this mystery from God. QUESTION: What is meant by the things which must shortly come to pass? ANSWER: It means the things that will happen to the Church in the present time. QUESTION: What is meant by and signified or, as some books have it, “sealed?” ANSWER: He interwove this same Apocalypse with mystical words so that it should not lose its worth if it was obvious to everyone.

The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ. First, it is to be noted that the meaning would be expressed more fully if he said “this is the Apocalypse;” but it is a habit of the Scriptures to leave those little words implied for brevity's sake. This is why Solomon did not say “these are the parables of Solomon” [Cf. Prov. 1:1] or “these are the words of Ecclesiastes.” [Cf. Eccles. 1:1] Apocalypse, as already said, comes from the Greek for “revelation.” Jesus in Hebrew translates to soter in Greek and salutaris in Latin. Christ comes from the Greek for “anointed”; for chrisma means “unction”. It is told in the book of Exodus [Ex. 30:22-25] that Moses was the first to prepare chrisma at the Lord's bidding, with which kings and priests used to be anointed, prefiguring Christ invisibly anointed by the Father. Which God gave unto him, to make known to his servants the things which must shortly come to pass. Here also it is to be noted that “‘by’ which God gave unto him” would be a more usual way of saying it; but it is a habit of the sacred Scripture frequently to put the accusative instead of the ablative without preposition. Whence this in a psalm: Hear, O Lord, my voice, which I have cried to thee, [Variant of Psalm 26:7] and Paul: I have fought a good fight [2 Tim. 4:7]. Indeed what is shown by these words is that this revelation is that of Jesus Christ, and that he received from God the task to make known to his servants by his revelation the things which must shortly come to pass. This is why it is necessary to mark it thus: the Apocalypse of Jesus Christ, and then to introduce, which God gave unto him, to make known to his servants, etc., the former referring to his divinity, according to which he reveals all the mysteries with the Father; the latter referring to his humanity, according to which he received not only from the Father and the Holy Spirit, but also from himself, the task to manifest to his servants by his revelation the things which must shortly come to pass. Whence it is not said, “which God ‘the Father’ gave unto him,” but, indeterminately, which God, that is the Trinity, gave unto him. Note also that in saying to his servants, he also shows the Son in the form of a servant, but not a servant, as his humanity is proclaimed master of the servants. He says his, which means “subject to divine grace”, according to this: I confess to thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to little ones. [Lk. 10:21] In what is said afterwards, the things which must shortly come to pass, although one could understand countless things by it, his particular intention was nonetheless to speak of the Church's temporal afflictions and everlasting joys to come, and of the wicked's present happiness and future eternal torments. These things all come to pass shortly, because this present time is forced to fly by until the end without a moment's interruption; whence the same John says elsewhere, little children, it is the last hour. [1 John 2:18] And signified, sending by his angel to his servant John. Signified. That is “sealed.” For signum means “seal,” whence it is also said to Daniel, clausi sunt signatique sermones, [Dan. 12:9] and to Isaiah, signavi visionem in discipulis meis. [Apparently a variant of Is. 8:16] But what does it mean that this vision is said to be sealed, while it is said later, seal not the words of the prophecy of this book, [Rev. 22:10] if not that these words are opened for the good, and closed with a seal for the wicked? For it is not because of faithful servants, but because of thieves that riches are sealed. Whence it is said to Daniel, the wicked shall deal wickedly, but the learned understand. [Slight variant of Dan. 12:10] Moreover, by saying signified, he showed that it should not be taken literally, but by the word signification he made us intent on examining the mysteries more deeply. So this vision was sent through an angel; but the unbounded Spirit that sent it was there both in the one through whom he sent it and in the one to whom he sent it. The same angel who appeared wore the figure of the Word incarnate alone and of his body, which is the Church. John himself as well, whom he appeared to, presented the symbol of the Church. However, one should not believe that the angel and John prefigured two churches; but when the angel possesses the symbol of the Head, John possesses that of the preachers, and when the angel possesses that of the preachers, John possesses that of the listeners; and when by the angel are represented the members that lead the way, by John are represented those that follow; or in the angel we understand the Church glorified after the resurrection, and in John the present Church needing to be instructed by Christ. Furthermore, one should know that the Lord appears after his Ascension in the same way as he appeared to the fathers before his Incarnation, namely through an angelic creature. By this fact he clearly shows that he must not now be sought physically for teaching, as he is present everywhere in majesty; for we should not think that his humanity taken from the Virgin was present in the angel, but that the angel expressed its figure. It is not at all surprising either that he is called like to the Son of man, [Rev. 1:13] when the prophet Daniel is said to have called the angel Gabriel a man. [Dan. 9:21] Moreover, it is said by this angel, I am the First and the Last, [Rev. 1:17] etc., just as, before the Incarnation, God said in the person of an angel he had assumed, I am the God of Abraham, [Ex. 3:6] etc. Indeed, just as Moses calls the one who appeared to him in the bush sometimes “angel,” sometimes “God,” so does John say that this revelation was sent to him through an angel, and affirm that it was the Lord Jesus Christ himself in the mystery and figure. Therefore it was also through an angel that the Lord appeared to Paul on the road, [Acts 9:1-19] because if he had been to appear in the substance of his own flesh, he would appear thus to John, whom he particularly loved. It is also to be noted that John speaks of himself as if of someone else, as others do. Indeed Moses says, Moses was a man exceeding meek, [Num. 12:3] and Job, there was a man in the land of Hus, whose name was Job [Job 1:1] etc.; for they were not speaking by themselves, but it was the Holy Spirit speaking through them.

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.

In the opening words, it is fitting to point out that in all his writings, the divine John, having dwelt upon the God-inspired words of our Savior Jesus Christ, in the present work dwells rather on his human aspects, so that he might not only be recognized from the more divine qualities, but also from the human ones.

For it is a sample of pure theology, just as to believe that the divine Word is from God and the Father, begotten before all ages and times, uncreated and consubstantial with the Father and the Spirit, and coexistent with the ages, and of all creation both spiritual and perceptible, according to what is said by the wisest Paul in the Epistle to the Colossians, that "in Him all things in heaven and on earth were created, the invisible and the visible, whether thrones, dominions, principalities, or authorities; all things were created through Him and for Him, and He is the head of the body and the church." (Co. 1:18) "Who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He might be first in all things," (Co. 1:16,18) therefore we must believe in Him for the last things and for our salvation.

And having become man, not by a change of divinity, but by the assumption of human flesh, endowed with a rational soul, so that Emmanuel is understood as united from two natures, both divinity and humanity, each fully possessing according to its own nature and proper quality and distinction, neither confused in the union into one, nor divided after the indescribable and invisible union. For both Nestorius and Eutyches are equally detestable; their positions are opposed and totally evil.

Therefore, in order that the teaching of our Savior might be precise and true to Him, having engaged in the other divine matters, as the Lord has said, here John employed words and thoughts suited to human beings; yet neither in those divine matters did he separate the divine from the human, nor here did he separate the human from the divine. Moreover, he used the writings to a greater or lesser extent.

From this point on, the revelation is given to him to speak; it is given from the Father to the Son, and it is given from the Son to us, his servants. Calling the saints the servants of Christ, He preserved for Him what is fitting for God. For whose servants would humans be, except for the Maker and Creator of humans? And who is the Creator of humans and all creation? No one except the only-begotten Word and Son of God. For he who is present as the author says in the Gospels, "all things were made through him." (Jn. 1:3)

What, then, does John wish to add what must soon take place? And yet, of the things that are to come, not yet accomplished, already a considerable amount of time has already passed since these things were spoken, more than five hundred years. That all ages are regarded as nothing in the eyes of the eternal and everlasting God; "for a thousand years," the prophet says, "are in Your sight, O Lord, as the day that has just passed, or as a watch in the night." (Ps. 89:4) Therefore, the swift passage of time is not measured by the completion of the years that have come to be, but rather by the power and eternity of God. For in truth, every extension of time, even if it is the greatest and longest, is considered small compared to the infinite.

Jesus Christ therefore made it known to me what must take place. Jesus did not appear Himself and speak, but through His angel He initiated me into the mysteries. You see the reverent love of this divine one, who confessed that it was revealed to him through an angel and that he did not hear it from the Lord's own mouth.

John says that he testifies to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. In this form, he also used it in the Gospels, preserving for himself the credibility of his teaching. He said, "This is the one who testifies about these things," (Jn. 21:24) and having written these things; and we know that his testimony is true. And now he says he is a witness of the divine Word that was revealed to him. John speaks of the present Revelation and the testimony given by Christ; that is, through testimony, I am both a witness and an author.

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.