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[Note:\u00a0 <\/strong>This MS is available in larger font on our Manuscripts<\/strong>\u00a0 page.]<\/span><\/p>\n Introduction<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Perhaps the most important chapter of the Revelation for the reader to understand is the first chapter. It gives us many things that are helpful\u2014and some I deem necessary\u2014to approach the remainder of the book intelligently. It tells us that John wrote it in \u201csign language\u201d or symbols. It identifies its human author, where he was when he wrote it, and why he was in that location. It informs readers to whom it was primarily addressed and what their circumstances were. The writer identifies it is an \u201capocalypse\u201d (from which word the book is named) and that it is prophetic in at least some measure. It even provides the meaning of the earliest signs or symbols of the book. It introduces us to the numerical emphasis of the book by the use of the number seven<\/em>. The entire chapter naturally divides into seven sections.<\/span><\/p>\n Title and Source of the Revelation <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Verses 1\u20133<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show unto his servants, <\/strong>even<\/em><\/strong> the things which must shortly come to pass: and he sent and signified <\/strong>it<\/em><\/strong> by his angel unto his servant John;<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n who bare witness of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, <\/strong>even<\/em><\/strong> of all things that he saw.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things that are written therein: for the time is at hand.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The first word of the first verse gives the book its name. Revelation <\/em>is the English transliteration of apokalupsis <\/em>(i.e., \u201capocalypse\u201d) meaning \u201can uncovering; a laying bare, making naked.\u201d1<\/sup> John manifestly used the term metaphorically to speak of the undisclosed secrets, both of present and future events, that the Lord uncovered or laid bare to him. These were truths, like those of the Gospel in its entirety, which men cannot perceive through their innate wisdom or physical senses (1 Cor. 2:7\u201310). As Herman Hoeksema well stated: \u201cThe word revelation<\/em>, then denotes that act of God whereby He discloses to us that other world….\u201d2<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n This book is the \u201crevelation of Jesus Christ.\u201d3<\/sup> Scholars disagree somewhat on whether this phrase is an objective genitive (i.e., a revelation concerning <\/strong>Jesus) or a subjective genitive (i.e., a revelation given by <\/strong>Jesus). While this book is indeed \u201c…a revelation of Jesus Christ in His present glory, rule, and executor of judgment,\u201d4<\/sup> the indication of this opening statement concerning Christ is to show the source <\/strong>of the revelation. The context immediately says plainly, \u201c…God gave him [Christ, DM]\u201d the Revelation that He (i.e., Christ) might \u201cshow it unto His servant\u201d (v. 1).<\/span><\/p>\n What does the statement mean that the things to be revealed \u201c…must shortly come to pass\u201d? Commentators have offered two extremes of thought relative to this phrase. First, there are those who believe that John (along with Paul and Peter) was convinced that Jesus would return very soon, precipitating the final Judgment. To those who hold this view, John\u2019s statement here is but one more indication of his expectation of the imminent coming of Christ. However, that the apostles would dare so teach\u2014or would have had the knowledge thus to teach\u2014cannot be harmonized with Jesus\u2019 declaration that no man, neither the angels nor even He knew the hour of His coming (Mat. 24:36). Nor can such a mistaken view of the soon-coming of Christ relative to The Revelation be harmonized with Jesus\u2019 promise that the apostles would be guided into all the Truth and shown the things to come by the Holy Spirit (John 16:13). Jim McGuiggan has well stated:<\/span><\/p>\n The claim is made that the early church believed that the second coming was near in time; but this is just not true. They may have lived aware of the possibility of His coming soon, but that they believed he was coming soon is not at all established by the New Testament.5<\/sup><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n A second extreme position is that everything <\/strong>in The Revelation was to be (and indeed was) fulfilled in a very short period after the Revelation was given. Some notable men have taken this view, including the highly respected Foy E. Wallace, Jr.6<\/sup> This view would certainly (even if unintentionally) give consolation to advocates of the view that the Second Coming of Christ and all final events were consummated in the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 (including Max King\u2019s \u201crealized eschatology\u201d and other preterists in general). However, to hold that all of the Revelation is already in the past is to ignore the prophetic elements of the book that point to the appearance of Christ when He will raise from the dead and judge all men, bringing us to the end of time itself. These things have obviously not occurred. As Frank Pack wrote, \u201cTo put it entirely in the past seems to fly in the face of the materials in the book itself.\u201d7<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n I believe Dusterdieck was correct in saying that \u201c…the prophet himself distinguishes the beginning of the future things, as the beginning of the ultimate completion, from that distant completion itself.\u201d8<\/sup> In other words, John is saying that the beginning <\/strong>of the things revealed to him will \u201cshortly come to pass\u201d and are \u201cat hand\u201d (v. 3). The comment of Burton Coffman on shortly come to pass <\/em>says it well: \u201cThe meaning of it is the same as when Jesus said, \u2018The kingdom of God is at hand,\u2019 meaning that the beginning of it <\/strong>was near at hand.\u201d9<\/sup> Please notice that John\u2019s declaration that these matters would \u201cshortly come to pass\u201d utterly contradicts those speculative futurists who view practically all of the Revelation as a description of final events yet future to us<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n Christ \u201csent and signified\u201d this message to John by His angel (v. 2). The identity of this angel (cf. Rev. 22:6) is not revealed and speculation concerning him is pointless. However, it was not unusual for God to use angels as media of revelation. He employed the angel Gabriel in the revelation to Daniel (Dan. 8:16; 9:21), and He used an unnamed angel in the revelation to Zechariah (Zec. 1:9, 14). The Mosaic Law was likewise \u201cspoken through angels\u201d (Heb. 2:2).<\/span><\/p>\n The Revelation was \u201csignified\u201d\u2014literally, \u201csign-i-fied\u201d\u2014communicated by means of signs, symbols, or figures of speech.10<\/sup> Signified <\/em>has long been recognized by sound expositors as a principal key to the book\u2019s interpretation. While some references to literal entities in the book exist (e.g., 1:9, 11, et al.), the book is overwhelmingly couched in figurative and symbolic terms. Futurists (whose view of the book requires a literal understanding of most of it) should heed the words of Edward McDowell:<\/span><\/p>\n The opening sentences contain another warning that modern interpreters would do well to heed. It is that the message of the book is clothed in symbols…. Attention to this fact should save us from crass literalism in interpreting the message of the book.11<\/sup><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n It is generally assumed that the symbolism of the book was intended to serve as sort of a \u201ccode\u201d language that the Lord\u2019s people would be able to comprehend, but which their enemies could not.<\/span><\/p>\n Verse 1 tells us the chain of communication through which the Revelation was delivered: From God to Christ, from Christ to His angel, from His angel to John, and from John to the servants of God. John then tells us that he faithfully testified of all of the things he saw (v. 2).<\/span><\/p>\n The Revelation contains seven beatitudes (pronouncements of blessings), the first of which we find in Verse 3. Since an entire chapter of this volume will be devoted to these, I will comment on this one only in passing. He that readeth <\/em>refers to a public reader of Scripture (note the singular pronoun). At best, each congregation would have only a single copy of any portion of God\u2019s Word in written form by the end of the first century, thus requiring great emphasis on the public reading of Scripture in the early church. They that hear <\/em>refers to those in the church who listen to the reader. Reader and hearer alike are blessed as they keep the \u201cwords of the prophecy.\u201d It will always be so: \u201cBut he that looketh into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and so continueth, being not a hearer that forgetteth but a doer that worketh, this man shall be blessed in his doing\u201d (Jam. 1:25).<\/span><\/p>\n Salutation and Doxology <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Verses 4\u20136<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from him who is and who was and who is to come; and from the seven Spirits that are before his throne;<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n and from Jesus Christ, <\/strong>who is<\/em><\/strong> the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loveth us, and loosed us from our sins by his blood;<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n and he made us <\/strong>to be<\/em><\/strong> a kingdom, <\/strong>to be<\/em><\/strong> priests unto his God and Father; to him <\/strong>be<\/em><\/strong> the glory and the dominion for ever and ever. Amen.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n While Verse 1 tells us the source of the Revelation, we do not have the actual greeting to its primary recipients until Verse 4\u2014\u201dthe seven churches that are in Asia,\u201d which are named in Verse 11. There were more than seven churches in the Roman province of Asia,12<\/sup> so why were only seven addressed? Some have suggested that perhaps only these seven needed special attention or perhaps that John had a peculiarly close relation to these seven. More likely, it seems to me, is the hypothesis that in the seven churches we have the first of the multitude of symbols or signs in the book. Counting the seven churches, there are no fewer than five sets of sevens mentioned in this first chapter.<\/span><\/p>\n Since seven is a number that has for centuries represented completeness or perfection, it is not unreasonable to apply this meaning to the number of churches addressed, thereby understanding it to be addressed to the church in its completeness and through all time. Indeed, this has been the understanding at least as far back as the Muratorian Canon of the late second century: \u201cFor John also, though he wrote in the Revelation to seven churches, nevertheless speaks to them all.\u201d13<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n The usual combined salutation of \u201cgrace\u201d and \u201cpeace\u201d is bestowed by John, first, from God the Father (\u201chim who is and who was and who is to come,\u201d v. 4). This is at once a declaration of the immutable and eternal nature of God. Henry B. Swete observed: \u201cSuch a title of the Eternal Father stands fitly among the first words of a book which reveals the present in the light both of the past and the future.\u201d14<\/sup> The greeting is also from the \u201cseven Spirits\u201d before the throne of God. There is only one Holy Spirit, but here the symbolic number is used to represent the perfection of His person, His attributes, and His work. Likely, the same symbolism is seen in Zechariah\u2019s reference to the seven \u201c…eyes of Jehovah, which run to and fro through the whole earth\u201d (Zec. 4:10).<\/span><\/p>\n After references to the Father and the Spirit, John mentions the remaining person of the Sacred Godhead, Jesus Christ, and bursts forth in a beautiful doxology concerning him (vv. 5\u2013 7). He is the \u201cfaithful witness.\u201d He came into the world to \u201cbear witness unto the truth\u201d (John 18:37) as God\u2019s final spokesman (Heb. 1:1\u20132). He accomplished the work which God gave Him to do (John 17:4), hence, He is the \u201cfaithful witness\u201d Who gave testimony of God and His Word. He is the \u201cfirst-born of the dead.\u201d Others had been raised from the dead, but none like Christ. He is the first to be brought forth: (1) \u201cthrough the glory of the Father\u201d (no human agent involved in His resurrection [Rom. 6:4]) and (2) never to die again: \u201cBut now hath Christ been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of them that slept\u201d (1 Cor. 15:20).<\/span><\/p>\n John emphasized the ultimate authority of Christ as he proclaims Him the ruler of earthly kings. Right now we accept the fact by faith that our Lord has \u201call authority in heaven and on earth\u201d (Mat. 28:18), but \u201c…in its own time he shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings; and Lord of lords\u201d (1 Tim. 6:15; cf. Rev. 19:16). It is significant that John, in the salutation, introduces this theme of the utter authority and final triumph of Christ (and his beleaguered people)\u2014which is fully developed and repeated under numerous symbols in The Revelation. From the opening words, the Revelation gives hope to God\u2019s persecuted people!<\/span><\/p>\n Christ is the one who \u201cloveth us\u201d (present tense\u2014His love continues ever). Moreover, because He loves us He \u201cloosed [\u201cwashed,\u201d KJV] us from our sins\u201d (aorist tense\u2014an act accomplished in the past).15<\/sup> The means by which Christ \u201cloosed\u201d (released) us from our sins is \u201cby his blood.\u201d \u201cHis love, demonstrated in his sacrificial death, procured our redemption,\u201d as Homer Hailey aptly commented.16<\/sup> To speak of being loosed or released from sin projects the figure of ransom or redemption from slavery. Both Paul and Peter used this same figure (1 Tim. 2:6; 1 Pet. 1:18\u201319), even as the Lord himself did (Mat. 20:18). Paul says that the whole church was thus ransomed (Acts 20:28). This ransom and its resulting freedom from sin occurs when one obeys \u201cfrom the heart\u201d the Gospel plan of salvation (Rom 6:17\u201318; cf. vv. 3\u20134).<\/span><\/p>\n Further, this greeting is from Him Who has made us \u201ca kingdom\u201d and \u201cpriests\u201d unto God (v. 6). This description of the church is a reference to a similar statement God made to Israel in Exodus 19:6: \u201cYe shall be unto me a kingdom of priests.\u201d Peter used the same identity in calling Christians \u201ca royal priesthood\u201d (1 Pet. 2:9). Coffman\u2019s comment on Revelation 1:6 is well taken: \u201cThe first step in understanding this passage is to get rid of the two verbs in the future tense that have been added by the translators. There is a world of difference in the statements, God made us a kingdom <\/em>and God made us to be a kingdom<\/em>.17<\/sup> John was not speaking of what Christ will do in some remote time in the future, but of what He has done <\/strong>for all who have been redeemed from sin by His blood.<\/span><\/p>\n As the Colossians had been translated into the kingdom of Christ (Col. 1:13) and the Hebrew saints had received an unshakeable kingdom (Heb. 12:23, 28), so the redeemed were at that time <\/strong>a kingdom and a priesthood, and John was in that kingdom with them (Rev. 1:9). To insist that the kingdom of Christ is yet to come and to attempt particularly to justify that expectation from the book of Revelation requires an abysmal level of ignorance and\/or a willful rejection of the doctrine found in its opening verses. As a kingdom we are subject to law, and we are to serve our King (John 12:48; Heb. 5:9, et al.). As priests we are to offer appropriate sacrifices unto our God (Rom. 12:1\u20132; Heb. 13:15, et al.).<\/span><\/p>\n Upon listing these remarkable and glorious attributes and accomplishments of our Lord, John could no longer contain himself. He bursts forth in a stanza of honor and praise: \u201cto him be the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The Coming of Christ <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Verse 7<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Behold, he cometh with the clouds<\/em><\/strong>; and every eye shall see him, and they that pierced him; and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn over him. Even so, Amen. <\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Not only has the Christ wrought wonderful blessings presently upon His people by His past accomplishments, He yet has some future work to do. John introduces what he is about to say with the arresting term, Behold<\/em>. The works of Christ yet to be done include His coming, the raising of all the dead (including evil and good), and executing The Final Judgment\u2014all of which are either stated or implied in this verse. While some see in this statement a reference to the Lord\u2019s more immediate judgments against Rome,18<\/sup> I cannot agree. The language is too specifically descriptive of the actual <\/strong>return of the Lord at the end of time, rather than to a figurative return. The angels who stood by as Jesus disappeared into the cloud on his way to Heaven promised that he \u201c…shall so come in like manner as ye beheld him going into heaven\u201d (Acts 1:10\u201311), that is, coming \u201cwith the clouds.\u201d This coming of the Lord will be one \u201cevery eye shall see,\u201d even \u201cthey that pierced him.\u201d This requires that all men be raised from the dead, which will occur only at the actual coming of Christ (John 5:28\u201329; 1 Cor. 15:22\u201323; 1 The. 4:15\u201316). This coming of Christ will be accompanied by The Judgment, causing men from \u201call tribes of the earth\u201d to mourn in utter hopelessness at the sentences about to be rendered.<\/span><\/p>\n This declaration is at once a promise bringing joyous expectation for the faithful redeemed, but that should bring the most awful dread and foreboding for all others. They that pierced him <\/em>includes not only the actual Gentile executioners, but the Christ-denying Jews who demanded his crucifixion. By extension, it also includes all who have rejected the Lord by rejecting His Word, whether through outright repudiation or neglect. John recorded Jesus\u2019 words to this effect in His Gospel account: \u201cHe that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my sayings hath one that judgeth him: the word that I spake, the same shall judge him in the last day\u201d (12:48). Those who \u201cknow not God\u201d and \u201cobey not the gospel\u201d will see only too late how tragically wrong they have been as they anticipate their sentence of everlasting punishment (2 The. 1:8\u20139).<\/span><\/p>\n Those who contend that there will be distinct resurrections for the righteous and the unrighteous, separated by 1007 years (the fanciful \u201crapture\u201d plus the \u201cmillennium\u201d), are in open conflict with Revelation 1:7. When the Lord comes, \u201cevery eye shall see him,\u201d including His executioners. Therefore, good and evil alike shall be raised together in the same hour (John 5:28\u201329). Likewise, those who ridiculously contend that Christ has already come secretly (e.g., the \u201cJehovah\u2019s Witnesses\u201d) fly in the face of the proclamation that \u201cevery eye shall see him\u201d when He returns. Further, this description of the Lord\u2019s return utterly exposes the preterist\u2019s folly, contending that the coming of the Lord was fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. The surety of the Lord\u2019s He then visible return is sealed with a strong, \u201cEven so, Amen.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The Seal and the Signature of Christ <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Verse 8<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n I am the Alpha and the Omega, saith the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. <\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The titles used in this verse admittedly tempt the reader at first glance to apply them to the Father, as several commentators indeed do. However, I believe a strong case exists for taking them as the words of Christ, attesting that He is the source of the Revelation to John. Notice that these words appear in connection with John\u2019s description of Christ\u2019s past, present, and future work (vv. 5\u20137). He then refers to Jesus twice in Verse 9. The remainder of the chapter is centered on the arresting voice and appearance of Christ. It is a contextual digression to understand the words of Verse 8 to be spoken by the Father when one considers that, beginning with Verse 5, the subject of the chapter (and of the remainder of the book, for the most part), is clearly the Christ. Some object that the titles claimed by the speaker of Verse 8 belong to the Father, but are they any less appropriate for his Son? The Alpha and the Omega <\/em>equals the clear claim of Christ, \u201cI am the first and the last…\u201d (1:17). He later identifies Himself as follows: \u201cI am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end\u201d (22:13). It is surely not inappropriate to refer to Christ as \u201cthe Lord God.\u201d Did not this same John give us the record of Thomas\u2019 post-resurrection confession of Christ: \u201cMy Lord and my God\u201d (John 20:28)? While the phrase, Who is and who was and who is to come<\/em>, manifestly refers to the Father in Verse 4, it is no less true of the Son: \u201cJesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yea and forever\u201d (Heb. 13:8). There should be no problem in addressing our Lord as \u201cthe Almighty\u201d; Isaiah prophetically called the Christ \u201cMighty God\u201d and \u201cEverlasting Father\u201d (Isa. 9:6).<\/span><\/p>\n Those ancients who lived much nearer the writing of the Revelation than we do almost universally attributed the words of Verse 8 to Christ. William Lee wrote: \u201cEarly Christian art and Early Christian Hymnology alike apply the symbolic language of such passages to Christ.\u201d19<\/sup> Coffman referred to J.B. Smith\u2019s \u201c…extensive quotations to show that all of the ancients attributed these words to Jesus Christ.\u201d20<\/sup> Even those expositors who believe God the Father is here speaking admit that Christ could be the speaker. After saying that he believes the evidence favors the Father as speaker, Hailey still comments: \u201cHowever, the speaker might well be the Son, for he is the fullness of Godhood or deity (Col. 2:9).\u201d21<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n While granting that the identity of the speaker in Verse 8 is not crucial to our salvation or worthy of severing fellowship, identifying Him as the Christ maintains the continuity of the thought and subject of the context begun in Verse 5. Thus concluded, Verse 8 stands as one of the boldest and plainest statements of the Deity of our Lord in all of Holy Writ. As the words of Christ, they stand as His personal signature and seal that the Revelation is indeed from Him.<\/span><\/p>\n John\u2019s Commission <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Verses 9\u201311<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Rev 1:9<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0I John, your brother and partaker with you in the tribulation and kingdom and patience which are<\/em> in Jesus, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Rev 1:10<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Rev 1:11<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0saying, What thou seest, write in a book and send it<\/em> to the seven churches: unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamum, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n This section opens with John\u2019s explanation of his personal circumstances when he received the Revelation. He identifies himself as a \u201cbrother\u201d to his addressees, a simple reference to his spiritual kinship to them in the family of God. He is not only their brother, but he is a partaker with them in the tribulation and persecution they are suffering for Christ\u2019s sake. John was no self-exalted, ermine-robed ecclesiastic sitting in an ivory tower, looking down on his suffering brethren from a safe distance! He tells us in Verse 9 that he was on the barren isle of Patmos \u201cfor the word of God,\u201d undoubtedly meaning because <\/strong>of his preaching of the Word of God.<\/span><\/p>\n John was not only a partaker in the tribulation with his brethren, but also in the \u201ckingdom and patience which are in Jesus.\u201d Since Christ has \u201cmade us to be a kingdom\u201d (v. 6) we are in His kingdom<\/strong>. Again, John and the brethren in the first century were not yearning for a kingdom yet to come; they understood fully that by being Christians, by being in the church, they were in the kingdom. How blatantly the future-kingdom theorists repudiate such unmistakable passages. John was also partaking in their \u201cpatience\u201d as well as in their tribulation. Patience <\/em>consistently has the meaning of \u201csteadfastness\u201d in the older versions and is so footnoted in the ASV. This tells us that John and many other brethren were bearing up under the great pressures pagan Rome was putting upon them. Indeed, to Pergamum the Lord wrote: \u201cthou holdest fast my name and didst not deny my faith…\u201d (Rev. 2:13). Undoubtedly, the faithfulness of the aged and beloved apostle gave others courage to hold on. John was \u201cin the Spirit.\u201d Plummer said this means: \u201cI came to be in a state of ecstasy capable of receiving revelations.\u201d22<\/sup> Hailey explained that this \u201c…does not mean that John was in a spirit of worship or meditation or under a spell of self-imposed ecstasy, but that he was under the power or control of the divine Spirit.\u201d23<\/sup> Pack agreed: \u201cJohn is under the Holy Spirit\u2019s influence when he hears this trumpet-like voice.\u201d24<\/sup> Whether John\u2019s state implies ecstasy is perhaps moot, but his intention is surely to tell his readers that he was receptive to the inspired visions he was about to receive. These visions transpired (at least began) \u201con the Lord\u2019s day,\u201d a term that is inexplicable apart from the first day of the week, our Sunday. Plummer stated: \u201cBut from Ignatius [second century, DM] onwards, we have a complete chain of evidence that he kuriake <\/em>became the regular Christian name for the first day of the week.\u201d25<\/sup> John heard a voice so great and arresting behind him that he compares it to the blast of a trumpet. This description implies the strength and clarity of the voice. However, it is not merely an indistinguishable musical tone, but a voice with a clear command to write in a book (actually a scroll) the things he is about to see. These revelations are then to be sent to the seven churches of Asia, which have already been mentioned and addressed as a group (v. 5), but here they are named. \u201cThese are real churches with real problems in John\u2019s own day. It is grotesque interpretation to think of these churches as signifying periods of church history, as some futurists do.\u201d26<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n Christ in Power and Glory <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Verses 12\u201318<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And having turned I saw seven golden candlesticks;<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n and in the midst of the candlesticks one like unto a son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about at the breasts with a golden girdle.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n And his head and his hair were white as white wool, <\/strong>white<\/em><\/strong> as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n and his feet like unto burnished brass, as if it had been refined in a furnace; and his voice as the voice of many waters.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as one dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying, <\/strong>Fear not; I am the first and the last,<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n and the Living one; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n This section composes the first vision of the Revelation. It presents an awe-inspiring picture of the One who delivered the Revelation and commissioned John to record it and send it to the seven churches. It was so wondrous to John that he fell \u201cas one dead\u201d at the feet of this One he saw and heard (v. I7).<\/span><\/p>\n\n