“Revelation 1:9-11”

Saturday, November 25, 2017

“I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because 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 the sound of a trumpet, saying, “Write in a book what you see, 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.”

---End of Scripture verses---

John was “a fellow partaker in the tribulation” (verse 9). “He did not write from ivory palaces as one who was exempt from tribulation. This aged apostle was also suffering, therefore he could empathize with fellow Christians currently being persecuted. Rather complaining of his afflictions, he encouraged patient endurance.” (Harkrider, Truth commentary on Revelation, Gospel of Truth Foundation).

John was also a “fellow partaker in the…kingdom.” The Lord’s handpicked ambassador was one of the chosen, privileged few who spent time with Jesus for 40 days after His resurrection as He was “speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3). John and the rest of the Apostles obviously still had some misunderstandings about the spiritual nature of the kingdom before the Lord ascended back into heaven (Acts 1:6), but after he was empowered by the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8), and was guided into “all the truth” (John 16:13), he understood fully that the kingdom of God had fully come, and he and his fellow brethren in Christ were bona fide members of it.

John had been exiled to the prison “island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.” “Patmos was a barren, rocky island about eight miles long and five miles wide lying about sixty-five miles southwest of Ephesus. The Roman government used Patmos as a place of banishment for political prisoners. Eusebius wrote that tradition says that the apostle John was condemned to dwell on the island of Patmos in A.D. 95 by the Emperor Domitian (Ecclesiastical History 111.18.1).” (Harkrider)

John, like the Apostle Paul before him, and numerous other Christians both obscure and of renown, was arrested and incarcerated because of his unwavering faith in Jesus Christ. When John conveyed the words of Jesus to the brethren in the church in Smyrna, he knew the harshness of imprisonment and the “perseverance which” is “in Jesus” from personal experience. “Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10).

John “was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day” when this unveiling of truth in a series of visions was revealed to him. This is the only place that the term “the Lord’s day” appears in inspired Scripture, but there can be little doubt that He was talking about “the first day of the week”. This was the day the Lord arose from the grave (Luke 24:1-6), the day He twice met with a gathering of His disciples (John 20:19, 26), the day the Lord’s church was established (Acts 2:1-4), and the regular day of gathering and worship of the first century church when the came together to partake “the Lord’s Supper” (Acts 20:7), and give of their means (1 Corinthians 16:1-2).

That he was “in the Spirit” indicates that the Holy Spirit had induced a state of reverie in which He revealed the visions, images and prophecies to John. This is much like the case was with Peter, as we read in Acts 10:10-11: “But he became hungry and was desiring to eat; but while they were making preparations, he fell into a trance; and he saw the sky opened up, and an object like a great sheet coming down, lowered by four corners to the ground.” Both apostles were under the control of the Holy Spirit as He showed them truths that did not and could not possibly originate from the mind of mortal man.

In this state of “rapture,” John heard the voice of Jesus behind Him. The Lord spoke with power and authority “like the sound of a trumpet” (verse 11). Jesus told the apostle to, “Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches.” This is God’s chosen method of communication with mankind in the dispensation of Christ’s church as “He speaks to us in His Son” (Hebrews 1:1-2). God could have chosen to convey His will to us in any number of ways, but He has chosen the vehicle of inspired Scripture (1 Corinthians 2:11-13; 4:6; Ephesians 3:3-5; 1 Timothy 3:16-17; 1 Peter 1:23-25). “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it” (verse 3), and in all the pages of the Bible.

Please read Revelation 1:12-16 for tomorrow.

Blessings!

-Louie Taylor

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