Once, by the divine providence of God, the revelation of Jesus Christ was given to him to foresee the things that were to unfold shortly. God, in his infinite wisdom and grace, chose to relay this revelation through His angel to His faithful servant, John.
John was a devout and humble servant of the Lord, one who stood as a witness to the word of God and bore the testimony of Jesus Christ. He saw and experienced the divine revelations firsthand. Blessed were those who read and listened to these divine prophecies and kept their faith unwavering in the face of trials, for the time of revelation was at hand.
From the heavenly realm, John reached out to the seven churches in Asia, extending his wishes of grace and peace. The blessings were from God, who was, and is, and is yet to come, and the seven Holy Spirits that watch over His throne. Amid these entities was Jesus Christ, the faithful, the firstborn from the dead. Exalting him that loved us, he who freed us from the shackles of our sins with his purifying blood, Jesus Christ, the ruler of the kings of earth, was hailed. He had transformed us into a holy realm, a kingdom of priests unto God. And for this, he deserved all glory and power, forever and eternally.
In the near future, all was to witness his glorious second coming. He would arrive with the clouds, and every eye would see him, even those who had inflicted pain upon him. This revelation urged all the tribes of earth to mourn for their sins. He announced himself as the Alpha and Omega, the Almighty Lord, who was, is, and will reign supreme in the times to come.
John, as a servant of God and believer in Jesus Christ, found himself isolated on the isle named Patmos. He was there not because of his deeds but for the divine word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. On the Lord’s day, he was in a spiritual state, when he heard a grand voice booming behind him, akin to the sound of a bugle.
He was commanded to pen down everything he saw and send it to the seven churches spread across Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. Intrigued, he turned to identify the source of the voice. On turning, he saw seven golden candlesticks and amidst these a figure resembling the human form.
This figure was adorned in a garment that touched his feet tied at the chest with a golden belt. His head and hair were as pure as white wool, as white as snow, while his eyes burned with a fervor resembling a blazing fire. His feet gleamed like polished brass, as if they had been refined over a furnace, and his voice thundered like that of roaring waters. His right hand held seven stars, and a sharp two-edged sword extended out from his mouth. His face glowed with the intensity and brilliance of the sun at its highest strength.
Afraid and overwhelmed at what he had witnessed, John fell at his feet as if lifeless. The figure, however, comforted him, placing his right hand on John and assured him not to be afraid. He revealed himself to be the first and the last, the eternal living one. He was the one who once was dead but now lives forever more, holding the keys to death and Hades.
John was obligated to note down what he saw, what there was, and what was yet to come. The divine figure revealed to him the mystery of seven stars he held and seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars were the angels of the seven churches, and the seven candlesticks denoted the seven churches themselves.