eye shall see him,
and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth
shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.

8. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the
Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the
Almighty.

The Apocalypse opens with the salutation of John to the seven churches
in Asia, unto whom it was particularly addressed, and for whom special
messages were prepared. There were other congregations of the church of
God in Asia, or Asia Minor, besides the seven to whom the Revelation was
sent, such as Colosse, Miletus, Troas, etc. Why only seven were
addressed, we do not know, unless it be that the number seven is used,
as elsewhere in the Sacred Volume, to denote fulness or completeness,
being, as has been said, "a kind of memorial of the great facts of the
first seven days of time which have divided all ages into cycles of
weeks." So when we read of Christ's walking in the midst of the seven
churches, we are to understand that he is in all the congregations of
his people; and the ministers of the seven churches who are upheld by
the Lord himself are representative, in one important sense at least, of
the entire Christian ministry; for Christ has promised to be with them
alway "even unto the end of the world." Mat. 28:20.

This salutation of John's is one of great beauty and splendor, setting
forth, as it does, the divine attributes of the great Jehovah in a
striking manner as he "which is, and which was, and which is to come,"
an expression embracing eternity and designating the eternal,
unchangeable God. The seven spirits before his throne describe the third
person in the Trinity, as will appear clearer hereafter, seven being
used as a sacred or perfect number designating his dignity and
excellence. Some have supposed that seven angelic spirits were here
described; but it is not consistent with the honor due the God-head to
suppose that created intelligences should be exalted to a plane of
equality with the supreme Deity. Moreover, they would probably have been
described as seven _angels_, and not as seven _spirits_.

Jesus Christ is mentioned next and more fully described, he being the
direct author of the Revelation. He is "the first begotten of the dead,
the prince of the kings of the earth," and the one "that loved us, and
washed us from our sins in his own blood." The statement that Christ is
the "first-begotten of the dead," is parallel