Revelation 1:10

Ecstasy or spiritual rapture, the supreme characteristic of prophets in Did. xi. 7 (where the unpardonable sin is to criticise a prophet λαλοῦντα ἐν πνεύματι), was not an uncommon experience in early Christianity, which was profoundly conscious of living in the long-looked for messianic age (Acts 2:17 f., cf. Ephesians 3:5), when such phenomena were to be a matter of course. Throughout the Apocalypse (Revelation 21:5, etc.) John first sees, then writes; the two are not simultaneous. While the Apocaiypse is thus the record of a vision (ὅρασις, Revelation 9:17), the usual accompaniments of a vision i.e., prayer and fasting are significantly absent from the description of this inaugural scene, which is reticent and simple as compared, e.g., with a passage like Asc. Isa. iv. 10 16. It is possible, however, that the prophet was engaged in prayer when the trance or vision overtook him (like Peter, Acts 10:9-11, cf. Ign. ad Polyc. ii. 2, τὰ δὲ ἀόρατα αἴτει, ἵνα σοι φανερωθῇ), since the day of weekly Christian worship is specially mentioned on which, though separated from the churches (was there one at Patmos?), he probably was wrapt in meditations (on the resurrection of Christ) appropriate to the hour. The Imperial or Lord's day, first mentioned here in early Christian literature (so Did. xiv., Gosp. Peter 11, etc.) contains an implicit allusion to the ethnic custom, prevalent in Asia Minor, of designating the first day of the month (or week?) as Σεβαστή in honour of the emperor's birthday (see Thieme's Inschr. Maeander, 1906, 15, and Deissmann in E.Bi. 2813 f.). Christians, too, have their imperial day (cf. Introd. § 2), to celebrate the birthday of their heavenly king. With his mind absorbed in the thought of the exalted Jesus and stored with O.T. messianic conceptions from Daniel and Ezekiel, the prophet had the following ecstasy in which the thoughts of Jesus and of the church already present to his mind are fused into one vision. He recalls in spirit the usual church-service with its praises, prayers, sudden voices, and silences. (Compare Ign. Magn. ix. εἰ οὖν οἱ ἐν παλαιοῖς πράγμασιν ἀναστραφέντες εἰς καινότητα ἐλπίδος ἦλθον, μηκέτι σαββατίζοντες ἀλλὰ κατὰ κυριακὴν ζῶντες, ἐν ᾗ καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ἡμῶν ἀνέτειλεν διʼ αὐτοῦ καὶ τοῦ θανάτου αὐτοῦ … καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ὑπομένομεν.) John's service of God (Revelation 1:2) involved suffering, instead of exempting him from the trials of ordinary Christians; the subsequent visions and utterances prove not merely that in his exile he had fallen back upon the O.T. prophets for consolation but that (cf. 2 Corinthians 11:28-29) he was anxiously brooding over the condition of his churches on the mainland. Cf. Dio Chrys. Orat. xiii. 422, where the philosopher dates the consciousness of his vocation from the period of his exile. Upon the other hand, the main criterion of a false prophet (Eus. H. E. Revelation 1:17; Revelation 1:2), apart from covetousness, was speech ἐν παρεκστάσει, i.e., the arrogant, ignorant, frenzied rapture affected by pagan Cagliostros, who were destitute of any unselfish religious concern for other people. ὀπίσω μου, the regular method of spiritualistic voices and appearances: σάλπιγγος, loud and clear, not an unusual expression for voices heard in a trance (cf. Martyr. Polyc. xxii. 2, Moscow MS). The following Christophany falls into rhythmical expression. As a revelation of the Lord (Revelation 1:1, cf. 2 Corinthians 12:1), with which we may contrast Emerson's saying (“I conceive a man as always spoken to from behind and unable to turn his head and see the speaker”), it exhibits several of the leading functions discharged by Jesus in the Apocalypse, where he appears as (a) the revealer of secrets (Revelation 1:1 f., Revelation 5:5), (b) the guardian and champion of the saints (Revelation 1:2-3, etc.), (c) the medium, through sacrifice, of their relationship to God, (d) associated with God in rewarding them, and (e) in the preliminary overthrow of evil which accompanies the triumph of righteousness. Compare the main elements of the divine nature as conceived by the popular religion of contemporary Phrygia, viz., (a) prophetic power, (b) healing and purifying power, and (c) divine authority (symbolised by the axe): C. B. P., ii. 357.