The Unveiling of Jesus
The unveiling of Jesus Christ and the end of the story—judgment, the fall of evil, and the new heaven and new earth where our Father dwells with His children forever.
1 1The revelation of Jesus Christ, which our Father gave him to show his servants what must soon happen. Jesus made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2who testified to our Father's word and to the testimony of Jesus Christ — all he saw.
3Blessed is the one who reads this prophecy aloud, and blessed those who hear and keep what's written in it—the time is near.
Grace to the Seven Churches
4John, to the seven churches in Asia: grace and peace to you from the One who is, who was, and who is coming, and from the seven spirits before his throne, a a v4 The "seven spirits" before the throne are not seven beings but the one Holy Spirit in his sevenfold fullness, completing the greeting from our Father, the Spirit, and Jesus. 5and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, firstborn from the dead, ruler of earth's kings. To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, 6and made us a kingdom, priests to his Father — to him glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
7Look, he is coming with the clouds — every eye will see him, even those who pierced him — and all earth's tribes will mourn over him. Yes, amen.
8"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Sovereign God, "who is and who was and who is coming, the Almighty."
John on Patmos
9I, John, your brother and partner in the suffering, kingdom, and perseverance we have in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of our Father and the testimony of Jesus. 10I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day and heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet,
11saying, "Write what you see in a scroll and send it to the seven churches—Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea."
12Then I turned to see the voice speaking to me, and when I turned I saw seven gold lampstands, 13among the lampstands, one like a son of man — Jesus — dressed in a robe down to his feet, with a gold sash across his chest. b b v13 John sees Jesus carrying both Daniel 7 figures at once — the "one like a son of man" (Daniel 7:13) and the appearance of the Ancient of Days (Daniel 7:9, described in the next verse). The white hair, the throne setting, the authority over the nations — what Daniel saw belonging to two figures, John sees united in Jesus. 14The hair of his head was white, like wool, like snow; his eyes like fire's flame. 15His feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace; his voice like many waters roaring. 16He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp two-edged sword came from his mouth, and his face shone like the sun at full strength.
17When I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. He put his right hand on me, saying, "Don't be afraid. I am the first and the last, c c v17 "The first and the last" is the title our Father claims through Isaiah (Isaiah 44:6); Jesus claims it of himself here — the Son shares the Father's eternal identity. 18the living one. I was dead — look, I'm alive forever and ever! I hold the keys of Death and the grave. 19Write therefore what you have seen, what is now, and what will take place after this. 20This is the mystery of the seven stars you saw in my right hand, and the seven gold lampstands: the seven stars are the seven churches' angels, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches."
