Big Idea: John is commissioned to write to the seven churches a vision given to him by the risen and glorified Christ, the one who has conquered death and now rules over and cares for his church.

Understanding the Text

Following a majestic description of the Triune God in the prologue (1:1–8), we transition to John’s real-time situation on the island of Patmos on the Lord’s Day. There is no passage in all the New Testament that exalts Jesus more than John’s vision of the risen and glorified Christ presented here. This introductory vision (1:9–20) contains three sections. The first section (1:9–11) includes the worship setting of the vision and John’s commission to write. The vision proper comes in 1:12–16, using words drawn largely from Daniel, Ezekiel, and Isaiah to describe Jesus’s pow…