Revelation 1:1-18

This is the unveiling of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to share with his loving servants what must occur swiftly. He signified it by sending his angel to his loving servant John. I, John, bore witness to the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. A joyous blessing rests upon the one who reads this message and upon those who hear and embrace the words of this prophecy, for the appointed time is in your hands. From John to the seven churches in western Turkey: May the kindness of God’s grace and peace overflow to you from him who is, and who was, and who is coming, and from the seven spirits who are in front of his throne, and from Jesus Christ the Faithful Witness, the Firstborn from among the dead and the ruling King, who rules over the kings of the earth! Now to the one who constantly loves us and has loosed us from our sins by his own blood, and to the one who has appointed us as a kingdom of priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and dominion throughout the eternity of eternities! Amen! Behold! He appears within the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him. And all the people of the earth will weep with sorrow because of him. And so it is to be! Amen. “I am the Aleph and the Tav, the beginning and the ending,” says the Lord God, “who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” I, John, am your brother and companion in tribulation, the kingdom, and the patience that are found in Jesus. I was exiled on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the spirit realm on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice sounding like a trumpet, saying to me: Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamum, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea. When I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, I saw seven golden lampstands. And walking among the lampstands, I saw someone like a son of man, wearing a full-length robe with a golden sash over his chest. His head and his hair were white like wool—white as glistening snow. And his eyes were like flames of fire! His feet were gleaming like bright metal, as though they were glowing in a fire, and his voice was like the roar of many rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. And his face was shining like the brightness of the blinding sun! When I saw him, I fell down at his feet as good as dead, but he laid his right hand on me and I heard his reassuring voice saying: Don’t yield to fear. I am the Beginning and I am the End, the Living One! I was dead, but now look—I am alive forever and ever. And I hold the keys that unlock death and the unseen world.