What Does Revelation 1:1 Mean?
The unveiling of Jesus, the Anointed One, which God gave to him, to show his servants the things that must come to be swiftly, and he sent it and made it known by a sign through his messenger to his servant John.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:THE KEY
Revelation names a covering being removed until what was hidden becomes visible.
THE MEANING
This verse meets you as an unveiling: what is given becomes visible through signs and is carried to the servants. What must soon unfold is shown through a chain of giving, showing, and signifying. The hidden becomes perceptible.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that you must force hidden truth into view dissolves here: the unveiling is given, shown, and signified.
THE ROOT
ἀποκάλυψις
apokalypsis
GROWS FROM
καλυπ-
The stem kalyp- (καλυπ-) carries the sense of covering or concealing.
The word translated “Revelation” names an uncovering: what is hidden comes out from under its cover. The verse presents that unveiling as given and carried onward until it becomes visible to the servants.
ALSO GROWS
kalýptō: to cover, hide
καλύπτω
This is the covering at the heart of the word for unveiling: what is revealed was hidden beneath it.
apokalýptō: to uncover, reveal
ἀποκαλύπτω
This verb names the removal of the covering, the movement from hiddenness into view.
ἐσήμανεν
esēmanen
GROWS FROM
σημ-
The stem sēm- (σημ-) carries the sense of a sign or mark.
“made it known by a sign” in this verse is esēmanen. The message is signified, made known by signs, so the unveiling takes a perceptible form. This word family keeps sign and making-known together, a connection that “signified” can leave faint in English.
ALSO GROWS
sēma: a sign, mark
σῆμα
The sign is the seed of the verb: the message becomes known through what marks or indicates it.
sēmeion: a sign, token, indication
σημεῖον
This branch shows that what is signified comes through an indication that can be perceived.
Χριστοῦ
Christou
GROWS FROM
χρι-
The stem chri- (χρι-) means to anoint, to smear with oil.
“Christ” means the anointed one: it names a nature and role, not a surname. The unveiling is bound to Jesus as the anointed one himself.
ALSO GROWS
chriō: to anoint
χρίω
This verb gives the action behind the title: the anointed one is the one marked by anointing.
chrisma: anointing
χρῖσμα
This noun names the anointing itself, keeping the title connected to the act and its mark.
THE PATTERN
What is hidden becomes perceptible when God reveals it and gives it a form that can be received.
For the Lord GOD does nothing, unless he uncovers his secret to his servants the prophets.For nothing is hidden that will not be made visible, nor anything concealed that will not be known and come into the light.But God unveiled them to us through his breath, for the breath searches all things, even the depths of God.THE THREAD
And he said to me, These words are firm and true. And the Lord God of the breaths of the prophets sent his messenger to point out to his servants what must come to be swiftly.Revelation closes by repeating the opening’s chain: the Lord sends an angel to show his servants what must soon happen. That echo frames the whole book as an unveiling carried through a messenger.
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