Greetings to the churches – seven of them, in Asia. I will use the word ekklesia instead of “church.” It just helps to level-set the difference between the local body of Christ in John’s time versus the idea of a local church today. The Greek word ekklesia means an assembly. The believers in a city got together on a regular basis and built each other up and celebrated their risen Lord. That doesn’t indicate that their way of “worshipping” was a superior model. Heck, a good portion of the New Testament dealt with really bad things going on in these ekklesias. Read 2 Peter and Jude if you don’t believe me.
I love John’s greeting in verses 4 and 5; “Grace and peace.” Grace, the unmerited favor of our God toward us. Peace – this is not what we think of as peace today – the absence of war. It is a recurring theme in the Scriptures. It is mentioned 429 times! Think “Shalom,” a common greeting in Hebrew. For a really good study, just assemble all the times the word “peace” is used in the Bible, and you will understand that it is something that God offers us in this world that is so broken by the results of the Fall.
So, grace and peace are two things that John sends his readers from the Trinity:
I love John’s greeting in verses 4 and 5; “Grace and peace.” Grace, the unmerited favor of our God toward us. Peace – this is not what we think of as peace today – the absence of war. It is a recurring theme in the Scriptures. It is mentioned 429 times! Think “Shalom,” a common greeting in Hebrew. For a really good study, just assemble all the times the word “peace” is used in the Bible, and you will understand that it is something that God offers us in this world that is so broken by the results of the Fall.
So, grace and peace are two things that John sends his readers from the Trinity:
- God the Father – “…him who is, and who was, and who is to come.” The great “I am.”
- God the Spirit – “…the seven spirits before his throne.” Seven can also be translated “seven-fold.” Seven is the perfect number symbolizing the completeness and perfection of God, the Holy Spirit.
- God the Son – “… Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, ruler of the kings of the earth.”