8 I am the Alpha and the Omega, saith the Lord God, who[72] is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.)
3 The Introductory Vision
The Trumpet Voice
9 I John, your brother and partaker with you in the tribulation and kingdom and patience[73] which are in Jesus, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the [pg 061] word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet 11 saying, What thou seest, write in a book and send it to the seven churches: unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamum, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.
The Glorious King-Priest
12 And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And having turned I saw seven golden candlesticks[74]; 13 and in the midst of the candlesticks[75] 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. 14 And his head and his hair were white as white wool, white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; 15 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. 16 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.
A Message of Reassurance
17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as one dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying, Fear not; I am the first and the last, 18 and the Living one; and I was[76] dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore[77], and I have the keys of death and of Hades. 19 Write therefore the things which thou sawest, and the things which are, and the things which shall come to pass hereafter; 20 the mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in[78] my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks[79]. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven candlesticks[80] are seven churches:—
4 The Seven Epistles
Chapter 2.