,, And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I [am] he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter; The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches. "
Rev. 1: 17-20
"And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as if dead ..." At this revelation of the Lord Jesus, John was "shocked, speechless," perhaps so frightened that he simply fell down as dead when he saw part of the Lord's astonishing glory. Jesus Christ. And this is not strange because a similar thing happened to the prophet Daniel, Ezekiel and the apostle Paul.
,, And I Daniel alone saw the vision: for the men that were with me saw not the vision; but a great quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves. Therefore I was left alone, and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me: for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength. Yet heard I the voice of his words: and when I heard the voice of his words, then was I in a deep sleep on my face, and my face toward the ground.”
Daniel 10: 7: 9
,, As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so [was] the appearance of the brightness round about. This [was] the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw [it], I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.”
Ezekiel 1:28
,, And [it was] according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, [even] according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city: and the visions [were] like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell upon my face.”
Ezek.43: 3
,, Then brought he me the way of the north gate before the house: and I looked, and, behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord: and I fell upon my face.”
Ezek.44: 4
,, At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me. And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? [it is] hard for thee to kick against the pricks.”
Acts 26: 13-14
We see the same or very similar reactions of God's people when they saw part of God's glory. Fear is the first thing these people experienced although they were in a very close relationship with God except the apostle Paul who persecuted him but after the revelation of this glory Paul became another man and he no longer persecuted Jesus, but preached and glorified him.
John and these other people of God fell down because they saw and became aware of their sinfulness, unworthiness, insignificance and that they were defiled by various filth that was revealed before God and that is why the prophet Isaiah wrote when he saw the glory of Jesus:
,, Then said I, Woe [is] me! for I am undone; because I [am] a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”
Is.6: 5
What these people of God saw about themselves could be compared to the illustration, "Man is in a closed dark room where there are various bugs, insects, rats and maybe snakes without that man being aware of it. And once someone turn on the light that man is terrified of all those creatures he was in that room with "
They became aware that they could not give anything good to God, they became aware that they deserved death, they became aware that they did not deserve to see a part of God's glory, but that God appeared to them in great grace and grace to convey the message they God wants to tell us and that is why they fell before a part of God's eternal glory, thus showing that they are not worthy to stand before a holy God and maybe they were afraid for their lives because they probably knew about the verses in which God said that no one can see God and stay alive.
,, And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.”
Exodus 33:20
But God appears to them and shows them a part of God's glory and not the fullness of God, and they receive revelations from God and transmit it so that we can know a part of God's intentions.
"And they put their right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last;
First the touch, the touch of security and comfort, "And they put their right hand on me"
This Hand is the Hand of God who in the beginning created heaven and earth and everything else, the Hand that healed the sick and gave sight to the blind, the Hand that raised the dead is the Hand that was pierced but glorified on the cross, it is the Hand from which no one can't kidnap.
,, And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any [man] pluck them out of my hand.”
John 10:28
And then Jesus says, "Do not be afraid," John, "I am" Jesus and here are the words of comfort
"Fear not, I am the First and the Last, and the Living: and I was dead, and behold, I am alive for ever and ever, amen. And I have the keys of hell and of death. "
In a similar way, Jesus has comforted and encouraged his own before, and we find the first mention of similar consolations in
1 Moses and then in the New Testament
,, After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I [am] thy shield, [and] thy exceeding great reward.”
Gen. 15: 1
,, And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid.”
Mt-17: 7
,, But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.”
Mt.14: 27
And now we see an amazing picture of a holy God who can burn everything in an instant, does not punish the dirty sinner, but encourages him and approaches John with a lot of love and tells him that He is the eternal God.
"I am the First and the Last" Jesus seems to be saying now, "you have absolutely no reason to be afraid, John, I am with you, and if I am with you, who will attack you, what force can harm you without me controlling it?" and that I do not know it. Such a thing cannot be because I am God the eternal God omniscient and I control everything ".
Confirmation on this subject was written by the apostle Paul:
,,… If God [be] for us, who [can be] against us?”
Rom.8: 31
Here we see that John had nothing to fear because God was with him, a God who died for him and for us on the cross and then rose again and now comforts him and confirms that he is alive.
"And He lives: and I was dead and here I am alive forever, amen." He also says that he was dead, that he died on the cross by human nature, but that he was resurrected and that he is alive, but that he will be alive forever.
He adds, "And I have the keys to hell and death." The keys are a symbol of authority and mean that Jesus has the authority to control hell and death and that no one can die accidentally due to various circumstances but exactly according to a certain plan and also means that no one he can go to hell by accident or by mistake because everything is controlled by the Lord Jesus Christ and He is the one who "opens and closes" because the keys are with Him.
And now that he has encouraged John, the Lord Jesus tells John what to do.
Now that the Lord Jesus has encouraged John, he tells him what to do, "So write down what you saw, and what it is, and what will happen next." So John needs to write a book and send it to the churches in Asia so that they can have the blessing. which the Lord Jesus sends them in the form of a description of future events,
,, Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send [it] unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea”
Revelation 1:11
We can further see that John was to write what he saw (past tense), what he is now, (present tense) and what will be after (future tense). In the past tense, John saw a vision of the Lord Jesus Christ described in the first chapter
"And I looked around to see the voice that spoke to me; and looking round I saw seven golden candlesticks,
,, And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; And in the midst of the seven candlesticks [one] like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and [his] hairs [were] white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes [were] as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance [was] as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I [am] he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.”
Rev. 1: 12-18
In the present, "and what is it" John was supposed to write about the church because the age of the church had already begun, so it can be said that John here had to describe a practically large period of time of about 2000 years that still lasts. he writes about a "mystery" that did not exist in the Old Testament and he did so in the second and third chapters. This mystery was also mentioned by the apostle Paul:
,, How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery;”
Eph.3: 3
And the third thing he had to write was the future, "and what will happen next" and he described it from the sixth chapter onwards when the great tribulations begin which will last for seven years and then the other events described in the other chapters relating to the final end of Satan, the millennial kingdom and eternity.
"The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest on my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks; the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches; and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches. "
We have processed this part and seen that it refers to the seven churches in Asia to which John was to send a book.
,, Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send [it] unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.”
Rev. 1:11
