Revelation 1.9-20.
1.9 I’m John, your fellow Christian, experiencing with you the trials, and the Kingdom, and the patient endurance of Jesus. I was put on the island called Patmos because of God’s word and my witness of Jesus. 10 In spirit, I saw the Day of the Lord. I heard a great voice behind me, like a war trumpet, 11 saying,
12 I turned around to see the voice speaking with me, and on doing so I saw seven gold lampstands; 13 in the middle of the lampstands, one like the Son of Man, clad in a full-length robe with a gold belt wrapped around His chest, 14 His head and hair white like snow, His eyes like sparks of fire, 15 His feet like bronze glowing in a furnace, His voice like the sound of roaring water, 16 seven stars in His right hand, a sharp two-edged scimitar coming out of His mouth, and His face shining like the power of the sun.
17 Once I saw Him, I fell to His feet like a dead man. He placed His right hand on me, saying,
Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel had visions of God. Here, John is experiencing the very same thing, but unlike the indescribable visions of the deity we see in the Old Testament, John includes a description of what the deity actually looks like. And God looks like Jesus.
Backing up a tad: John had been exiled to Patmos, a rocky volcanic island in the Aegean Sea, roughly 40 miles the west coast of Asia Minor, now called Turkey. Exile implies that John was a Roman citizen. A non-citizen, like Jesus or Peter, would have been crucified, but a citizen would have been given a citizen’s punishment, which was either to be killed with a sword (as Paul was) or exiled. You might recall that John’s brother James was also killed with a sword, (Ac 12.2) not crucified; possibly John’s whole family had citizenship. In any case exile was (except for rare circumstance) irrevocable: If you ever left your island you’d be executed. You weren’t leaving alive. But visitors were sometimes permitted—and sometimes carried letters. So exile was the way in which John was experiencing trial. (v9)
Verse 10 is frequently translated “I was in [the] Spirit on the Lord’s Day.” John’s student Ignatius of Antioch used κυριακός/kyriakós to refer to Sunday, the day Jesus was raised, and say it replaced the Sabbath. (Ignatius, Magnesians 9) Thus most people figure John saw these visions on a Sunday. But since “Day of the Lord” is a common Old Testament term for the End, I’m sorta interpreting it literally—John did, despite being limited to Patmos, see the Day of the Lord through the work of the Holy Spirit. (Admittedly though, it may have just been a Sunday.)
The End begins with a trumpet blast, or shofar blast (Mt 24.31, 1Co 15.52, 1Th 4.16) John compared Jesus’s voice to that of a trumpet (v10) because the trumpet, and Jesus, was a harbinger of the End. John was then told, “Write what you see” (v11) —for Jesus was about to show John some freaky things, and He wanted him to write what he saw, not what he thought the visions represented. That’s how apocalypses work.
This vision would then be sent “to the seven churches,” (v11) the main population centers of Asia Minor. Nowadays, with our many denominations and many churches, I wonder how well we’d do if Jesus had a message for every Christian in seven cities that He wanted us to pass along. Of course, not all our churches believe God still speaks; and maybe some of that is because we don’t interact with one another enough, and share testimonies. Ah well.
John turned around to see Jesus. Jesus didn’t look exactly like He did when He was poking around the earth—or even like He does when He appears to people nowadays. He looked more like He did when He was on the mount of transfiguration. (Mt 17.1-8, Mk 9.2-8) John, of course, was one of the students present at that experience. If you’re wondering why Jesus did that to them, I suspect part of the reason was so John wouldn’t be totally caught by surprise when Jesus once again revealed Himself that way.
Plus, bear in mind John’s reaction to seeing Jesus again. Had he seen Him looking normal, John would have assumed the same familiarity with Him that he had when Jesus was on earth. He probably would done as lots of Christians plan to do when they physically encounter Jesus: ask Him stuff. Lots of stuff. (One of my pet peeves is how people assume they can only ask Jesus questions after they die; they need to read Habakkuk sometime. But that’s a side rant.) In this case, Jesus didn’t appear for the sake of answering questions: He had stuff to reveal. Whenever Jesus makes a personal appearance to us, it’s His turn to do the talking. Appearing in glory preemptively shut John up. Heck, John seems to have passed out. (v17)
Jesus took His right hand—the one that had been grasping seven stars a moment ago (v16) —and used it to comfort John. (v17) Jesus interrupted His own apocalypse to comfort His faithful servant. His encouragement took precedence over His revelation. This is definitely something we should remember, particularly when we’re giving any sort of hard-to-hear message: We need to worry about the people more than we worry about our presentation.
Okay, so Jesus’s appearance and what it meant: The “seven gold lampstands” (or menorahs, v12) represent the churches, (v20) either by their light to the world (Mt 5.14) or by the Spirit’s illumination of them, since Jesus later threatens to remove one. (2.5) In the middle of them is “one like the Son of Man” (v13) —Jesus’s favorite title, and a reference to Daniel 7.13. Jesus is wearing a long robe and gold belt around his chest, just like a priest, (Ex 28) because that is His function in heaven. (He 4.14) His head and hair are white like His transfiguration (Mt 17.2) or like Daniel’s vision of the Ancient of Days (Dn 7.9) —except now the Ancient of Days and the Son of Man seem to be blended together. The “seven stars in His right hand” (v16) are angels over the seven churches, (v20) which leads to the obvious question: Does every church get its own angel? Possibly; I like the idea, but all I can say for certain is that each church here had its own angel. The “sharp two-edged scimitar” (or machete, usually “sword”) from His mouth, which He’ll use to conquer the nations (19.15) is possibly the Word of God, which is regularly compared with a sword. (Is 49.2, Ep 6.12, He 4.12) His face shining like the sun also refers to the transfiguration (Mt 17.2) but can also refer to anyone who was in the presence of God and spoke to Him, like Moses. (Ex 34.29)
I included Jesus’s interpretation with the description, but I should point this out: This is the first of many mysteries to be shown to John. Not every one will get interpreted, but this one did, mainly so that we understand that every mystery actually does have an interpretation. The seven stars are angels. However: Does this mean that every image of a star in Revelation is automatically an angel? No. Revelation is not a code. Sometimes stars represent angels. Sometimes other things. We’ll deal with them as they come. The lampstands, as well, represent seven churches, and Jesus stands in the middle of them. The angels are in His hand, but the churches… well, the lampstands are removable, (2.5) which implies we need to be consistent in our obedience.
“The First and the Last” (v17) is what Jesus calls Himself to indicate He alone is God. (Is 44.6, 48.12) “The Living” is similar to what Jesus calls Himself in John 14.6, but is more likely a reference to one of God’s names in the Old Testament, El-Khai (Js 3.10, 1Sa 17.26, Ps 42.3) For some reason El-Khai doesn’t get included in the popular lists of the names of God, ’cause we take it for granted that He’s alive. Of course God is alive. But never forget—as God certainly doesn’t—that at one point in His existence, El-Khai “became a dead man.” (v18) He will live forever and ever; but the source of all life died, you know.
Having conquered death, Jesus now holds “the keys to Death and the Afterlife.” (v18) The afterlife, Greek ᾅδης/ádis, is usually rendered “Hades” and confused with hell. It’s not hell. It translates the Hebrew word
So, because Jesus is First, Last, Life, dead-yet-lives-forever, and keyholder, John needs to “write what you saw.” (v19) “What exists” means some of the upcoming visions were about things that were happening at that time in history. Not the future: then. “What’s about to exist after these things” means the other visions were about the future. The best interpretation of Revelation is one that recognizes not all of it is future. (The technical term for this is “partial preterist.”) Some of it has happened already. Some of it is coming.
1.9: Ἐγὼ Ἰωάννης, ὁ ἀδελφὸς ὑμῶν καὶ συγκοινωνὸς ἐν τῇ θλίψει καὶ βασιλείᾳ καὶ ὑπομονῇ ἐν Ἰησοῦ, I John, the brother of you all co-fellowshiper in the pressure and kingdom and endurance in Jesus, ἐγενόμην ἐν τῇ νήσῳ τῇ καλουμένῃ Πάτμῳ διὰ τὸν λόγον τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τὴν μαρτυρίαν Ἰησοῦ. I became in the island, the [one] called Pátmos, by the word of the God and the witness of Jesus. 1.10: ἐγενόμην ἐν πνεύματι ἐν τῇ κυριακῇ ἡμέρᾳ καὶ ἤκουσα ὀπίσω μου φωνὴν μεγάλην ὡς σάλπιγγος I became in spirit in the Lord’s day and I heard in back of me [a] voice great like war-trumpet, 1.11: λεγούσης· ὃ βλέπεις γράψον εἰς βιβλίον καὶ πέμψον ταῖς ἑπτὰ ἐκκλησίαις, [one] saying: what you see, you [continually] write! in book and you send! to the seven churches, εἰς Ἔφεσον καὶ εἰς Σμύρναν καὶ εἰς Πέργαμον καὶ εἰς Θυάτειρα καὶ εἰς Σάρδεις καὶ εἰς Φιλαδέλφειαν καὶ εἰς Λαοδίκειαν. to Éfesus and to Smýrna and to Pérgamon and to Thyátira and to Sárdis and to Filadélfia and to La’odíkia.
1.12: Καὶ ἐπέστρεψα βλέπειν τὴν φωνὴν ἥτις ἐλάλει μετ᾿ ἐμοῦ, and I turned back to see the voice who was speaking with me, καὶ ἐπιστρέψας εἶδον ἑπτὰ λυχνίας χρυσᾶς and having turned back I saw seven lampstands golden, 1.13: καὶ ἐν μέσῳ τῶν λυχνιῶν ὅμοιον υἱὸν ἀνθρώπου ἐνδεδυμένον ποδήρη καὶ περιεζωσμένον πρὸς τοῖς μαστοῖς ζώνην χρυσᾶν. and in middle of the lampstands like son of human, [one] had put on [for himself] [robe] reaching-to-ankles and had wrapped around the breasts [a] belt golden, 1.14: ἡ δὲ κεφαλὴ αὐτοῦ καὶ αἱ τρίχες λευκαὶ ὡς ἔριον λευκόν ὡς χιὼν καὶ οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ αὐτοῦ ὡς φλὸξ πυρὸς & the head of him and the hairs whites like snow and the eyes of him like spark of fire, 1.15: καὶ οἱ πόδες αὐτοῦ ὅμοιοι χαλκολιβάνῳ ὡς ἐν καμίνῳ πεπυρωμένης and the feet of him similar to bronze [or, electrum] like in furnace had been burning, καὶ ἡ φωνὴ αὐτοῦ ὡς φωνὴ ὑδάτων πολλῶν, and the voice of him like voice of waters many, 1.16: καὶ ἔχων ἐν τῇ δεξιᾷ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ ἀστέρας ἑπτὰ καὶ ἐκ τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ ῥομφαία δίστομος ὀξεῖα ἐκπορευομένη and having in the right hand of him stars seven and out of the mouth of him [a] scimitar, two-edged, sharp, coming out καὶ ἡ ὄψις αὐτοῦ ὡς ὁ ἥλιος φαίνει ἐν τῇ δυνάμει αὐτοῦ. and the face of him like the sun shining [or, to appear] in the power of it.
1.17: Καὶ ὅτε εἶδον αὐτόν, ἔπεσα πρὸς τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ ὡς νεκρός, and at that I saw him, I fell to the feet of him like [a] dead [man] καὶ ἔθηκεν τὴν δεξιὰν αὐτοῦ ἐπ᾿ ἐμὲ λέγων· μὴ φοβοῦ· ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ πρῶτος καὶ ὁ ἔσχατος and he placed the right of him on me saying, not you fear! I am the first and the final, 1.18: καὶ ὁ ζῶν, καὶ ἐγενόμην νεκρὸς καὶ ἰδοὺ ζῶν εἰμι εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων and the [one] living, and I became [a] dead [man] and look! [one] living I am to the eons of the eons, καὶ ἔχω τὰς κλεῖς τοῦ θανάτου καὶ τοῦ ᾅδου. and I have the keys of the death and the hades. 1.19: γράψον οὖν ἃ εἶδες καὶ ἃ εἰσὶν καὶ ἃ μέλλει γενέσθαι μετὰ ταῦτα. you write! therefore what you saw and what is and what is about to become after these [things]. 1.20: τὸ μυστήριον τῶν ἑπτὰ ἀστέρων οὓς εἶδες ἐπὶ τῆς δεξιᾶς μου καὶ τὰς ἑπτὰ λυχνίας τὰς χρυσᾶς· the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in the right of me and the seven lampstands, the golden, οἱ ἑπτὰ ἀστέρες ἄγγελοι τῶν ἑπτὰ ἐκκλησιῶν εἰσιν καὶ αἱ λυχνίαι αἱ ἑπτὰ ἑπτὰ ἐκκλησίαι εἰσίν. the seven stars, angels of the seven churches they are, and the lampstands, the seven, seven churches they are.
