The Vision on Patmos

Waves slap against the rocks of a small island. An old man is praying, alone, on the Lord's day. And suddenly, behind him, a voice rings out, loud as a trumpet.

The island is Patmos, a small, rocky place in the Aegean Sea, off the coast of what is now Turkey. The man is John. Long ago, he had been a young fisherman who followed Jesus. Now he is old, and he has been sent to Patmos because he would not stop telling people about Jesus. He calls himself your brother and companion in suffering, and in the kingdom, and in patient endurance. Christians across the region were facing hard times. John was sharing them. And on this day, John says, he was in the Spirit, on the Lord's day.

Behind me, John writes, I heard a great voice, as of a trumpet. It said, write what you see in a book, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea. Seven real cities, where real Christians were waiting for news. So John turns around to see whose voice it is. And the first thing he sees is seven golden lampstands, glowing.

And in the middle of the lampstands stands someone like a son of man. John tries to describe him, and you can feel him reaching for words. He was dressed in a long robe, with a golden sash around his chest. His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow. His eyes were like flames of fire. His feet were like fine bronze, glowing in a furnace. His voice was like the sound of many waters, like a mighty waterfall, or the sea pounding the shore. In his right hand he held seven stars. Out of his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword. And his face was like the sun shining in full strength. These are not meant to be drawn like a photograph. They are pictures of who he is: pure, all-seeing, strong, powerful in what he says, and shining with glory.

And when I saw him, John says, I fell at his feet as though I were dead. Years before, John had leaned against Jesus at supper. Now, seeing him in his glory, he cannot stand. But then something wonderful happens. He laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. Hell here is Hades, the world of the dead: Jesus holds its keys. The same hand. The same gentle Jesus. Then Jesus explains part of the vision. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches themselves. Jesus is standing among his churches, walking among them, holding them in his hand. Write, he tells John, the things you have seen, the things that are, and the things that will happen after this.

Early Christian writers remembered John's exile. Irenaeus, a bishop writing around the year one hundred and eighty, said the vision was seen near the end of the reign of the emperor Domitian. The church historian Eusebius later recorded that John was banished to the island of Patmos for his testimony about God, and returned to Ephesus afterwards. The Roman writer Pliny the Elder lists Patmos among the islands of the Aegean.

The vision on Patmos. You'll find it in Revelation chapter one, verses nine to twenty. A lonely exile turned around, and found the risen Jesus, who said, fear not, I am alive for evermore. So here is a question to carry with you. When you feel alone or afraid, what difference does it make to know that Jesus is alive and standing with his people?