The time is at hand (Revelation 1)

Episode 300: The time is at hand!

Revelation 1

The end is near

¹ This is the revelation that God gave to Jesus Christ, about things that will soon happen, as delivered by an angel to John.

³ Blessed are those who read the words of this prophecy because the end is near.

From John, Jesus, and the seven spirits to the seven churches in Asia

^4-5 From John and the seven spirits to the seven churches in Asia, and from Jesus Christ, who washed us in his own blood.

Jesus is coming and everyone will see him

⁷ Jesus is coming with clouds and everyone will see him, including those who killed him. Everyone on earth will wail because of him.

He has white hair, eyes of fire, feet of brass (and the keys to hell and death)

⁹ I'm John, writing to you from the island of Patmos.

The island of Patmos and the seven churches of Asia

¹⁰ I was in the spirit on the Lord's day, when I heard a loud voice like a trumpet, saying

¹¹ I'm the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end.

Write what you see in a book, and send it to the seven churches in Asia: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.

¹² I turned to see the voice and saw seven golden candlesticks.

¹³ Among the candlesticks was someone who looked like the Son of man, with a long robe with a gold girdle across his chest.

¹⁴ His head and hair were as white as snow, and his eyes were like flames of fire.

¹⁵ His feet were like brass, and his voice had the sound of many waters.

¹⁶ He had seven stars in his right hand, and a two-edged sword came out of his mouth.

By Matthias Gerung - Ottheinrich-Bibel, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek

¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell down like I was dead. And he said,

¹⁸ Don't be afraid. I'm the first and the last.

I was dead; now I'm alive forever. Amen.

I have the keys to hell and death.

¹⁹ Write what you've seen, the things that are and the things that will be later.

²⁰ The seven stars and seven candlesticks are the seven churches.

A few more words about this episode

Things that will soon happen (1:1): Anyone who thinks that the Book of Revelation (or the Apocalypse of John) is a prophecy about things that are going to happen in the 21st century, hasn't read the first verse of the book (or any of these verses: Rev 1:3; 3:11, 22:6, 22:7, 12, 20)
I'm John, writing to you from the island of Patmos. (1:9): Christians have traditionally identified John of Patmos as John the Apostle, whom they also thought was the author of the Gospel of John and the letters of John. However, the author of those writings didn't claim to be the apostle John, and modern scholars agree that he wrote none of them. Nothing much is known about the actual author of Revelation beyond what this verse says: it was written by a man named John who lived on the eastern Mediterranean island of Patmos.
I was in the spirit on the Lord's day (1:10): This is the only occurrence of "the Lord's day" in the Bible. It probably refers to Sunday, which by this time (70-100 BCE) had begun to replace the Sabbath as the main weekly day of worship.
From John, Jesus, and the seven spirits to the seven churches in Asia (1:4): Seven is John's favorite number. The number is mentioned 48 times in the book of Revelation - including seven churches, spirits of God, candlesticks, stars, lamps, seals, horns, eyes, angels, trumpets, thunders, heads, crowns, plagues, vials, mountains, and kings.