and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us, and has washed us from our sins in his blood,
The greeting comes from God, from the Spirit, and last of all from Jesus Christ, named under three titles. They run from His earthly life to His rule over kings, and that name alone sets John singing of a present love and a finished washing.
Commentators read the titles as a sequence: what Christ was, what He is, and what He will be.
The Lord Jesus is seen as "the faithful witness," proved in the past by His perfect life on earth. He holds the first place as risen from the dead, seen in His present position, crowned with glory and honour. And He is the Prince over all the kings of the earth, to be shown as such in the near future.
Every title answers a failure. This one answers the failure of everyone else meant to speak for God — including His own people.
God's people stand as witnesses, as we see in John here. But how weak their witness is! And take the Church as a whole — how unfaithful its witness has often been! Here, though, is the one faithful Witness, and He remains so whatever the failure of His people... And He has borne witness to what we are by nature, to the sin He came to deliver us from.
Because He is that witness, He is also where we learn what God is like, instead of guessing from the world around us.
He alone declares God, being the only Son, who is "at the Father's side" (John 1:18)... So in Him we know God as He is. We need to keep reminding ourselves of this, because people in the world always tend to judge God by what they find in the world.
Being a faithful witness cost Him His life. The second title is what came out the other side of that.
He was put to death, but that was the defeat of this world's prince, not of Christ. So in resurrection He stands as "the firstborn of the dead." He was the first to enter resurrection-life in this wonderful way that no decay could touch... But much more than that is meant. He is the heir and chief of the new estate of man beyond death and the grave, according to God's righteousness and purposes.
"Firstborn" here is not about birth order. It marks rank. One reference work explains the word as "marking His supremacy above all," used of Him as "the firstborn from among the dead" (Morrish Bible Dictionary).
The ESV reads "the ruler of kings on earth"; older versions read "the Prince of the kings of the earth." The order of the greeting is itself part of the point.
Christ is the last of the three to be mentioned, showing how completely He is brought out here in connection with the government of the earth... "The Prince of the kings of the earth" — His place in power over all rule here below, a place He has not yet taken actual possession of. He is not called here "the Son of the Father." He is not spoken of as the Head of the body, the church, nor as the Lamb at the centre of the throne. He is the Prince of the kings of the earth, which shows that only His connection with the earth is in view here.
Older English versions read "loved us." The better text has the present tense, and commentators say that difference matters.
"To Him who loves us," not "loved us," as the older version reads. It is a present reality, and the only right way to measure it is by a past work — "and has washed us from our sins in His own blood." Let us always measure it that way! Not by our own changing feelings or experiences, as we so easily do, but by the glorious display of that love itself.
The two verbs differ. The love continues; the washing does not need repeating. The ESV reads "freed us from our sins by his blood"; the older text these writers follow reads "washed."
It is not that He is always washing us from our sins. He washed us with His own blood once for all, and does not need to wash us again like that. There is a practical cleansing day by day — the washing of water by the word. But that is not what is spoken of here. Here it is His blood, a finished work, and one that lasts all the way through, to His praise.
That is why the greeting turns into song before the book announces a single judgment.
He has won our hearts by His changeless love, and cleared our consciences by His precious blood... How refreshing to know this before the coming judgments are announced! The whole redeemed company on earth can sing in triumph of Christ's present and changeless love, and of His precious blood, which has forever freed them from their sins.
- Witness (past) — Every other witness broke down; He alone showed God on earth. In Him we know God as He is, not as the world makes Him look.
- Firstborn (present) — Death did not defeat Him. He rose first, chief and heir of a new order of man beyond the grave.
- Prince (future) — He is Ruler of the world's rulers by right, but has yet to take the place in fact. That is why this book is about earth and government, not the church.
- Loves (continuing) — The verb is present, not past. Measure His love by the cross, never by your changing feelings.
- Washed (once) — His blood cleansed us once for all, never to be repeated. So we can open a book of judgment and sing instead of tremble.
and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father to him [be] the glory and the might to the ages of ages. Amen.
Praise breaks out here for what Christ has done: He loves us, He washed us in His own blood, and He has made us a kingdom of priests. But what does that title mean, is it ours now or only later, and why does the praise go to Christ Himself?
The order of the two acts matters. One writer puts the two acts in order. He also notes which name of God appears once Christian blessing comes into view:
He loves us, and He has declared that lasting fact in two ways. First came a work of purification: He washed us from our sins in His own blood. Then came a work of exaltation: He made us kings and priests to His God and Father. Only as washed from our sins could we be brought into such a place. And notice this: as soon as Christian blessings come up, we meet God in the light in which we know Him — the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ — not as the eternal I AM, as in verse 4.
Older translations read "kings and priests." The phrase looks back to an offer God once made at Sinai:
This clearly points back to Exodus 19. In the true reading it follows the Hebrew way of speaking — not exactly kings and priests here, but "a kingdom, priests." There is of course one essential difference. There it was only an offer, conditional on Israel's obedience to the law; here grace has given us the position.
The word "kingdom" can sound like life under someone else's rule. One writer says the opposite, and draws out what our rank should do to how we live:
You might gather from the words "made us a kingdom" that we are to be governed as subjects. But that is not the thought. The heavenly saints receive sovereignty... What is meant is the union of kingly dignity and priestly grace. Zechariah 6:13 states the position exactly: "He shall be a Priest upon His throne."... Let us never forget, nor in practice sink below, our exalted rank. Keeping it always in mind will give dignity to our character. It will guard us from the money-loving spirit of the age.
Many say that Christ is the only priest, so no one on earth is a priest for others. One writer presses further. The verse, he says, gives every believer that title now:
Do not settle for saying that among Christians there are no priests for others on earth, since Christ is the only Great Priest before God. There is far more than this in what is now revealed... Why not tell the saints on earth that they are all and equally priests? It is not only that they will be priests in heaven... But have we not the very same title from God now? Why not believe it?
The title comes with work to do. Handing that work to a special class has a cost:
"Praise and thanksgiving" are spiritual "sacrifices": they are part of our offering as priests. Put a special class into a place where they act this way for the rest, as a regular and official duty. At once they stand in the rank of an intermediate priesthood — mediators with God for those who are not so near.
Why should Christ give us the two things He Himself is? One writer answers from the nature of love:
Love wants the loved one to enjoy the same blessing of glory as the one who loves. Christ is from God King and Priest. As King and Priest He is nearest to God, in power and in approach to Him. Because He loves us, He will have us in the same place of blessing as Himself. By faith we are already there. Something would have been lacking in His love if He had not done it.
The same two titles reappear at the reign of a thousand years. That is no new gift, but the same one brought into the open:
They do not enter things entirely new in character. Even now Christ has "made us kings and priests to God and His Father"... Here, however, what the saints have been made, and what faith knows now, comes into full display in the millennial age.
The last line is not a wish. One writer explains what the redeemed long for here, and what the "Amen" adds:
John shows what the redeemed desire. Prophets foretold a visible glory and a far-reaching dominion, and the seer saw it. They want it to belong to Him who alone is worthy — and not only during the thousand-year reign, but through the ages on into eternity. The "Amen" here is not a prayer that it may be so. It is added as a solemn declaration of the truth stated.
- Loved — The praise starts with His love for us, and everything else in the verse flows from it.
- Washed — The blood comes first. Only cleansed people could enter such a place.
- Made — What Israel was offered on condition of obedience, grace has given us outright.
- Placed — King and Priest are Christ's own titles, and His love would not rest until we shared them.
- Displayed — Faith holds the title today with real access to God; the coming age only makes it visible.