It is on “the Lord’s Day” (i.e., Sunday) when John has an ecstatic experience that sweeps his spirit into the heavenly realm (1:10; cf. 2 Cor. 12:2). With imagery that anticipates the heavenly liturgy to come (Revelation 4–5), a great voice like a temple trumpet (see Lev. 23:24) resounds and commissions John to write what he sees on a scroll. A messenger will then take the scroll from Patmos to the mainland and travel a circular route from Ephesus to Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and finally Laodicea (1:11).

When John turns to see who is speaking to him (1:12), he is stunned by the blinding sight of Christ. He is the “one like the Son of Man” (NRSV; cf. Dan. 7:13) who stands among the seven golden lampstands of God’s heavenly temple (1:12–13). Lampstands, or menorahs,…