Structure in Revelation 1

Revelation 1:4-8, the opening to John’s “apocalyptic” letter, is chiastically organized:

A. From One who is, was, shall be

B. From seven Spirits

C. From Jesus Christ

D. To Him who loved us and released by blood

E. And made us kings and priests

D’. To Him be glory and dominion

C’. Coming on clouds

B’. Look on the one pierced and will mourn

A’. Alpha/Omega, is, was shall be

Several things stand out in this structure:

First, the greeting is organized by a double Trinitarian sequence: Father, Spirit Son – then Son (coming on clouds), Spirit (mourning), and Father (Alpha and Omega). Second, within this Trinitarian structure, the central act of the Triune God is to make us a kingdom and priests to God. Jesus delivered us by His blood, but this deliverance is a means to confer on us the status and ministry of glorified Adams.

Third, the C sections interact in an interesting way. C itself describes Jesus with four terms or phrases: the witness, the faithful, firstborn of the dead, ruler of kings. The numerical structure here underscores the point: Jesus the fourfold king rules to the four corners of the earth. The phrase in C’ is drawn from Daniel 7, where one like the son of man ascends to receive the authority and dominion that once belonged to the four beasts from the sea. Both C and C’ speak of the Son and His authority, and the numerology of C hints subtly at the setting of the original of C’ – the fourfold Christ takes the power of the four beasts as He ascends on clouds.

Finally, the B sections also employ Old Testament allusions in a highly subtle way. B’s reference to the “seven Spirits” is an overt reference to the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of completeness, the Spirit who hovered over the waters for seven days to form the creation. B’ doesn’t have any overt reference to the Spirit, but refers only to the mourning of “those who pierced” Jesus when they see Him. The structural connection depends on knowledge of the context of the OT passage quoted in verse 7a. John quotes from Zechariah 12, which begins with a promise that Yahweh will “pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication,” which will lead them to look on “Me whom they have pierced” and mourn (vv. 10-14). The sevenfold Spirit is the Spirit of new creation, but this new creation comes through the repentance of the house of David and of Jerusalem.

In both the B and C sections, John’s structure depends for its full meaning on suppressed details of quotations from the OT. John quotes the “coming on clouds” part of Daniel 7, but says nothing about the four beasts, but the fourfold bestial empire of Daniel 7 is replaced by the dominion of the fourfold Christ. John mentions the mourning from Zechariah 12, but doesn’t overtly connect it to the coming of the Spirit – but the original quotation does, and that dimension of the original quotation is brought to the open by the chiastic relation of B and B’.