Revelation 1: 4 - 8

4 John, to the seven churches which are in Asia:

Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth.

To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, 6 and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

7 Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.

8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

These churches were in an area not far from where John was exiled. The list of seven churches does not mean that was all there were in the territory because there were several in the province known as “Asia.” The Roman province of Asia was in the northwestern portion of what we now know as Turkey. This district was one of the areas Peter addressed his first letter. (1 Peter 1:1)

The number seven was regarded as a symbol of completeness. This was not unique to the Jews and the Bible, but Smith's Bible Dictionary says it was also regarded by the Persians, Greeks, Indians, and Romans alike.

The seven churches were representative of the general conditions facing the brotherhood of the New Testament world, so these letters to these seven churches would serve as important instruction to the congregations of the world and congregations of all times.

“Him who is and who was and who is to come” means God is eternal and will never change.

“The seven Spirits,” Paul notes there is but one Spirit (Ephesians 4:4), so we can see this is a figurative term meaning a sense of completeness by the number seven. The seven Spirits is before the throne because the Spirit is always a method of God and Christ for carrying out their divine plans, so it is appropriate that the spirit is represented as being stationed before the throne waiting near at hand to receive their commands.

Verse 5 gives a description of Christ. Jesus is a “faithful witness,” the first to be raised from the dead in an eternal sense (Lazarus and all the others who were raised from the dead in the scriptures died a second physical death.) Christ did not die a second earthly death after being resurrected. He also is the supreme ruler, over all of the kings of the earth, He is the “King of kings.”

Because of His love for us, He died for us, His blood was spilled on the cross for us and washed away all of our sins. He also made us both priests and kings. Under the old law one had to be of the tribe of Levi to be a priest, and of the tribe of Judah to be a king. Under the new law every faithful Christian is in position to sacrifice and rule. We are priests and kings serving under the authority of Christ. Christ is the Chief Priest. (Hebrews 7:26 – 28) He is also the King of kings. (1 Timothy 6:15)

“Glory” means grandeur, and “dominion” means what He rules over, he is of the grandest royal family and rules eternally over all.

He is coming back on the Day of Judgment, and all will see him and bow down to him, those who have refused to accept Him as their Savior will mourn His return because they will know it is too late to be redeemed by His blood.

Christ is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, He was from before the beginning and will be eternal. He was present for everything which God has accomplished. (John 1:1 – 3, Ephesians 3:9)

Since Christ is the Son of God and is part of the Godhead it is as appropriate for Him to be described as almighty as it is for God the Father to be “the Almighty.”