Having greeted the seven churches in what is now modern Turkey, John now unveils the vision he was given directly from Jesus, describing to the seven churches the major events that must soon take place:
“I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, ‘Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea’” (Rev 1:9-11).
John begins by declaring the perfect unity of his partnership with the churches in Asia in terms of the overall kingdom of God:
- Tribulation;
- Patient endurance;
- The Word of God; and
- The testimony of Jesus.
It was a Sunday and John was deep into worship of the Spirit of God, when he heard a loud voice commanding him to record everything he was about to see in a book that he could then send to the seven churches:
“Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp, two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength” (Rev 1:12-16).
This description of Jesus affirms that he is co-equal with God, as is the Spirit – making up the Trinity. This is the same Trinity that existed as recorded in Genesis 1, before the creation of the earth – the ultimate model of perfect unity among Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is what we seek among each other in response to Jesus’ prayer for us to be drawn to perfect unity with each other in the church of Jesus.
Can you imagine being the one to whom this vision was given? How would you react? No matter how self-confident we are, I guarantee that any of us would be filled with terror that we never imagined before!
But now claim this for all its worth:
“When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, ‘Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades’” (Rev 1:17-18).
The benevolent King of the universe lays his right hand on us to quell our terror. There can be nothing more powerful to demonstrate the importance of having perfect unity with Jesus. Why? “’I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world will know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me’” (John 17:23).
Jesus continues his commands to apostle John:
“Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven starts are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches” (Rev 1:19-20).
As described by John Macarthur, John’s responses to all of this were:
- Fear;
- Assurance by Jesus’ hand on him; and
- Duty – to follow through with Jesus’ commands to write and send to the seven churches.
Perfect unity with God includes fear (respect); assurance (of a father); and duty (spread the word)!