Revelation 1:19

Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter; A B C 'Aleph (') read, 'Write therefore' (since I, "the First and the Last," have the keys of death, and vouchsafe this vision for the comfort and warning of the Church). THINGS WHICH ARE. "The things which thou hast seen" are those in this chapter (cf. Revelation 1:11); "the things which are," the present state of the churches when John was writing (Revelation 2:1 and Revelation 3:1); "the things which shall be hereafter," the things symbolically represented concerning the future, ...

12-20 The churches receive their light from Christ and the gospel, and hold it forth to others. They are golden candlesticks; they should be precious and pure; not only the ministers, but the members of the churches; their light should so shine before men, as to engage others to give glory to God. And the apostle saw as though of the Lord Jesus Christ appeared in the midst of the golden candlesticks. He is with his churches always, to the end of the world, filling them with light, and life, and love. He was clothed with a robe down to the feet, perhaps representing his righteousness and priesthood, as Mediator. This vest was girt with a golden girdle, which may denote how precious are his love and affection for his people. His head and hairs white like wool and as snow, may signify his majesty, purity, and eternity. His eyes as a flame of fire, may represent his knowledge of the secrets...

Verse Revelation 1:19. _WRITE THE THINGS WHICH THOU HAST SEEN_] These visions and prophecies are for general instruction, and therefore every circumstance must be faithfully recorded. What he _had seen_ was to be written; what he _was about to see_, relative to the seven Churches, must be also written; and what he was _to see afterwards_, concerning other Churches and states, to be recorded likewise....

WRITE THE THINGS WHICH THOU HAST SEEN - An account of the vision which thou hast had, Revelation 1:10. AND THE THINGS WHICH ARE - Give an account of those things which thou hast seen as designed to represent the condition of the seven churches. He had seen not only the Saviour, but he had seen seven lampstands, and seven stars in the hand of the Saviour, and he is now commanded to record the meaning of these symbols as referring to things then actually existing in the seven churches. This interpretation is demanded by Revelation 1:20. AND THE THINGS WHICH SHALL BE HEREAFTER - The Greek phrase rendered “hereafter” - μετὰ ταῦτα

EXPOSITION THE TITLE. The simplest form of this, as of other books of the New Testament, is the oldest: 'The Revelation of John' (Αποκάλυψις Ιωάννου). Other forms worth noting are: 'The Revelation of John the Apostle and Evangelist;' 'The Revelation of the holy and most glorious Apostle and Evangelist, the virgin, the beloved, that leaned on the breast, John the Divine.' 'The divine' as a title for St. John, which is retained here in both the Authorized Version and the Revised Version, is certainly as old as Eusebius ('Praep. Evan.,' 11.18). Recent discoveries at Ephesus have shown that "divines" (θεολόγοι) was a title of the chief priests in the temple of Artemis at Ephesus. It is possible, but hardly probable, that this suggested the title for St. John. It probably points to his witness to the Divinity of the Logos or Word. Eusebius ('Hist. Eccl.,' III. 24.13) remarks that John omit...

WRITE THE THINGS WHICH THOU HAST SEEN,.... The Alexandrian copy and some others, and the Complutensian edition, read, "write therefore the things", c. meaning what he had now seen, the vision of one like to the son of man, amidst the golden candlesticks, with seven stars in his right hand, and as above described this was what he had seen Revelation 1:12; for it does not refer to what he had seen of Christ in the days of his flesh, but to what he had now seen in this representation of him: AND THE THINGS WHICH ARE; the state of the churches of Christ in the apostolic age, and at that time signified by the Ephesian church, and that part of the Smyrnean which John lived to see: AND THE THINGS WHICH SHALL BE HEREAFTER; from hence unto the end of the world, in successive generations, signified by the rest of the churches, and in the visions of the seal

Revelation 1:1. _The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw._ John was one who was of the same spirit as his Master. He lived in very intimate communion with his Lord, and, therefore, to him the choicest revelations were made. The Lord does not reveal his secret to uncongenial minds. He that will do his will shall know of the doctrine, and he shall know all secret things. Oh! if we lived nearer to God, if we walked more in the love of Christ, how much more we might know and see; or, if we saw not visions, yet there are inward perceptions to the heart which God would grant us if we lived more in the light of his countenance....

HEREAFTER Things that are to be after these, that is, after the churches....

ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS I. THE PATMOS VISION OF THE GLORIFIED SON OF MAN CHAPTER 1 _ 1. The introduction (Revelation 1:1)_ 2. Greeting and benediction (Revelation 1:4) 3. The praise (Revelation 1:6) 4. The testimony of the Almighty (Revelation 1:8) 5. John in Patmos (Revelation 1:9) 6. The vision of Christ in glory (Revelation 1:12) 7. The commission ...

THE PROLOGUE gives an account of the vision of the Son of Man, and the manner in which the messages to the seven churches came to the seer. Revelation 1:9. John your brother: the term brother in the NT is used to signify fellow-Christian, the members of the same Christian community (_cf._ the phrase our brother Paul, 2 Peter 3:15; see Harnack, _Mission and Expansion of Christianity_ 2_,_ i. 405 f.). TRIBULATION refers to the persecutions. The order of the words is significant, kingdom coming after tribulation and before patience, and reminds us of the words, Through much tribulation we must enter the kingdom (Acts 14:22). PATIENCE: _i.e._ patient endurance. We must not only enter