John's Vision of Christ

John, the beloved disciple, had grown old. Banished to the rocky island of Patmos for preaching the Word of God and testifying about Jesus, he found himself alone on the Lord's Day when suddenly he heard a voice like a trumpet behind him: 'Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches.'

John turned to see who spoke. What he saw made him fall at the speaker's feet as though dead. There, among seven golden lampstands, stood one like a son of man, clothed in a long robe with a golden sash across His chest. His head and hair were white as snow, pure as wool. His eyes blazed like flames of fire, seeing all, piercing through every pretense. His feet gleamed like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and His voice thundered like rushing waters.

In His right hand He held seven stars, and from His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword. His face shone like the sun in full strength—unbearable, unapproachable glory. This was no gentle carpenter from Nazareth, no suffering servant on a cross. This was the risen, glorified, conquering Christ, the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last.

Yet when He placed His right hand on trembling John, His voice carried familiar gentleness: '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.'

Jesus explained the vision: the seven lampstands were the seven churches, and the seven stars were their angels or messengers. Christ walked among His churches, knowing their deeds, their struggles, their faithfulness and failures. Though John was exiled and the churches faced persecution, Jesus remained sovereign, present, powerful.

This vision set the tone for all that would follow. Whatever tribulations, judgments, and cosmic battles John would witness, one truth anchored everything: Jesus Christ reigns victorious over death itself.