This String aligns Revelation 1:1 and Colossians 1:13-18. I found it striking because of its reference to light, or rather its opposite (delivered from the power of darkness). And, its words of an invisible God.

Kingdom of Light

God gives the revelation to Jesus to show to us. In Colossians 1, we are delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the Kingdom of the Son of his love.

It suggests the revelation given, is also a Kingdom given. We are the Kingdom. We are the ones whom Jesus illuminates.

God “translated” us into the Kingdom of the Son of his love. The word “translated” more literally means “removed.” Spiritually-speaking, Jesus takes us out of one world, Satan’s kingdom, and puts us in another: His.

These two verses describe a transfer, from a kingdom of darkness to a kingdom of revelation.

Invisible made Visible

I like this next part because it helps to reveal what (or rather, who) stands in the seemingly blank spot of the revelation passage on the left.

In Colossians, Jesus is the image of the invisible God. Someone who is unseen, yet who becomes possible to see through the book of Revelation and the bible’s design.

It says Jesus is firstborn of all creation. In Revelation 3:12, Jesus says he is the “Beginning” of the “creation” of God. This verse seems to build on the first. Jesus is the firstborn into the new kingdom, a kingdom of revelation, a kingdom of light.

Servants and Angels

By Jesus all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. This would include his angels, his messengers, whose words flow through his servants. Like John. Like us.

Thrones and Powers

The things created include thrones, dominions, principalities and powers. This is a place in the bible’s design which I believe represents Christ’s throne on earth.

Also serving him are “powers“, which I suspect means the power of prophesy and the power of God’s word. Like the word and testimony of Jesus Christ, which reigns on earth.

Hearing

At this point, the story begins to return back to the source. Blessed are those who hear these words, all those who have been created through him and for him.

These are those who fill themselves with the words of Christ, and become his messengers. Like the angels. That’s us.

Come Near

It continues, speaking to those who keep the things written, for the time is at hand. Other translations write this as “for the time is near.” As in, Christ’s kingdom drawing near. As in, Jesus himself drawing near.

The connection on the right is harder to see without looking at the original language. The original Greek word for “held together” means something more like, “to stand” or “to stand with” or to “stand near.”

As in, the Kingdom of Christ has come near. The time is at hand.

The Assembly

It ends with an unmistakable connection. John begins to write to the seven assemblies that are in Asia. In Colossians 1, Jesus is the head of the assembly, the church, the new creation of God. A kingdom of light.

Additional nuance is found in the word, “Asia.” Most simply, it means, “orient.” And, the word “orient” means “rising,” as in rising of the sun.

John is writing to the church of rising. The church of light. The Kingdom of the Son, who transferred us from the power of darkness into the Kingdom of the Light.

Dawning

Let’s compare another example, the resurrection scene in Matthew 28. Click the right arrow or the “Resurrection” link below.