“John to the seven churches which are in Asia. Grace be unto you and peace from him that is, and that was, and that is to come, and from the seven spirits which are before his throne. And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth, who hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us a kingdom, and priests to God and his Father, to him be glory and empire for ever and ever. Amen.”
There is a universality to the number seven, which shows the ages of the world, the days of the week, and the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit: “And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: the spirit of wisdom, and of understanding, the spirit of counsel, and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge, and of godliness. And he shall be filled with the spirit of the fear of the Lord” (Isaias 11:2-3), showing that St. John here is writing to the entirety of the Church, that each of her members may glean from this book. He wishes grace and peace, both of which are products of God’s love, for grace is the light of the soul given by God, and peace of heart arises from His love: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you” (John 14:27). These gifts are given by God, who is: “I AM WHO AM” (Exodus 3:14), being unchanging, ever-present, His love never wavering and upholding all things: “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof” (Psalm 24:1). He is also who was, being present at the beginning of all: “In the beginning God created heaven, and earth” (Genesis 1:1). He will also come, not wishing His people to think they are abandoned, but that He is coming to save His people: “I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you” (John 14:18). Or, this can refer to the individual members of the Trinity, for the Father is, being He from whom all things proceed: “Yet to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we unto him” (1 Corinthians 8:6), the Son “was,” though being ever-present with the Father, was the wisdom of God, through whom all things were created: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him: and without him was made nothing that was made” (John 1:1-3). “He who is to come” is the Holy Spirit, because though He has come and is present, the love and shaping that is His work can always given in greater measure: “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father from heaven give the good Spirit to them that ask him?” (Luke 11:13). The seven spirits are then seven angels that minister in a particular way before the throne of God: “I am the angel Raphael, one of the seven, who stand before the Lord” (Tobias 12:15), or can refer to the aforementioned seven-fold Spirit that fills the earth with love. All of these are oriented to giving spiritual riches to the beloved children of God, that they may love and be loved, being part of God’s family: “Dearly beloved, we are now the sons of God” (1 John 3:2). St. John had described the Word as He Who Was, but then moves into the reality of the Incarnation in referring to Jesus, who is the perfect expression of God’s love become man, that you may know through His humanity the love of God: “Philip, he that seeth me seeth the Father also” (John 14:9). He is the “faithful witness,” for “The words that I have spoken to you, are spirit and life” (John 6:64), and no words express the love God has for you such as those of Jesus. His life and words are the sign of God’s love, and Jesus was always faithful to this love, and is faithful in love to you: “If we believe not, he continueth faithful, he can not deny himself” (2 Timothy 2:13). He is also the “first begotten of the dead,” for He is the first to rise to immortal life. Though He raised others, such as Lazarus: “’Lazarus, come forth.’ And presently he that had been dead came forth” (John 11:43-44), these passed away again, not having risen with a glorified body: “It is sown in dishonour, it shall rise in glory… It is sown a natural body, it shall rise a spiritual body” (1 Corinthians 15:43-44). The pertinence of this for your personal love story, Theophila, is that the love of God overpowers death, and your Beloved has conquered sin and death that you may not be afraid of anything: “For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor might, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39), and can be free to love Him in all things, knowing that death is your passage to eternal life: “But the grace of God, life everlasting, in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23), and by grace sin will not overcome you: “He hath given his angels charge over thee; to keep thee in all thy ways. In their hands they shall bear thee up: lest thou dash thy foot against a stone” (Psalm 90:10-11), for you follow Him in life, death, and life everlasting. This wondrous Jesus, the “King of Kings and Lord of Lords” (Apocalypse 19:16), is the prince of the kings of the earth, for they receive their authority from Him, even if they don’t recognize it: “He knew that the most High ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he will set over it whomsoever it shall please him” (Daniel 5:21); “For power is given you by the Lord, and strength by the most High, who will examine your works, and search out your thoughts” (Wisdom 6:4). Or, this can mean that while earthly rulers seek a crown that fades, the crown of a life filled with love is the true crown of man: “And when the prince of pastors shall appear, you shall receive a never fading crown of glory” (1 Peter 5:4), the greatest of which belongs to Jesus: “But I am appointed king by him over Sion his holy mountain, preaching his commandment” (Psalm 2:6) to love one another. It is a great wonder, Theophila, that Jesus, who bears all these titles, loves us, “As the Father hath loved me, I also have loved you. Abide in my love” (John 15:9), with the term used in the present, for He loves you now as ever before and He ever shall, and nothing can alter this incredible, steadfast love. This love is expressed in His passion, to show the depths to which He will descend out of love for you, and by this seemingly desperate love He washes you of sin as a parent wipes away blood and dirt from a child that fell: “And I washed thee with water, and cleansed away thy blood from thee” (Ezechiel 16:9), by giving His own blood instead. This love must be held through the reading of the rest of this book, for it is the conclusion of God’s love letter to you in the Scriptures, and so is the central theme wrapped around the central figure, who is Jesus, in what is being expressed to you. He has opened up a kingdom of love in which you reign over the flesh and things of this world, but of great note is the figure of priesthood: “You are a chosen generation, a kingly priesthood” (1 Peter 2:9). The Levitical priesthood did not participate in the rewards of the rest of Israel, but had one reward: “The priests and Levites, and all that are of the same tribe, shall have no part nor inheritance with the rest of Israel, because they shall eat the sacrifice of the Lord, and his oblations. And they shall receive nothing else of the possession of their brethren: for the Lord himself is their inheritance” (Deuteronomy 18:1-2). Your inheritance in this royal priesthood, then, is the love of God, your sacrifice being a life of love: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercy of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing unto God, your reasonable service” (Romans 12:1). Your priestly food is the living bread, the consummation of love, of the Eucharist: “And [the loaves of the bread of proposition] shall be Aaron’s and his sons’, that they may eat them in the holy place: because it is most holy of the sacrifices of the Lord by a perpetual right” (Leviticus 24:9); “I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give, is my flesh, for the life of the world” (John 6:51-52). Such a magnificent dignity has been placed upon you by your Beloved, to whom be glory forever, with His loving hand reigning over all things universally and in your life.