Revelation 1:4-6

Jim ButlerRevelation 1:4–6

Revelation 1:4–6 introduces the book of Revelation not with mystery or doom but with a carefully structured doxological greeting that grounds suffering believers in the triune God as the source of all grace and peace. The sermon works through the threefold office of Christ — prophet (faithful witness), priest (firstborn from the dead), and king (ruler over the kings of the earth) — demonstrating from Psalm 89, Acts 2, and Colossians 1 that Christ's royal reign is a present reality, not a future hope. The atonement is shown to be the irreducible distinction of Christianity: unlike every competing religion, the gospel is rooted in blood redemption, not moral example. Believers are called to resist anxiety and despair by fixing their gaze on the enthroned Lamb, whose sovereignty over all earthly powers has not diminished by one degree.