John, who saw the Revelation
He tells us himself where he was when it started, and he does not dress it up.
I John, your brother and partner with you in oppression, Kingdom, and perseverance in Christ Jesus, was on the isle that is called Patmos because of God's Word and the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Patmos is a small rocky island off the coast of what is now Turkey. He was there because of what he had been saying. He calls himself a brother and a partner in trouble, not a founder or an authority. That is how the book opens.
A voice like a trumpet
He hears a voice behind him. He is told to write what he sees and send it to seven assemblies, and he names all seven: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea (Revelation 1:10–11).
Each of the seven then receives a short letter, and the letters are not flattering. One is told it has left its first love (Revelation 2:4). One is told it is neither cold nor hot (Revelation 3:15–16). He writes down the rebukes along with the rest.
The throne
Then a door opens, and what he is shown for the next two chapters is not a battle or a map of the future. It is worship.
The four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within. They have no rest day and night, saying, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come!"
The elders fall down and say why He is worthy. The reason they give is creation itself: you created all things, and because of your desire they existed (Revelation 4:11). Chapter 5 widens it until every created thing in Heaven and on Earth and in the sea is heard at once (Revelation 5:13).
The Recitation says something very close. Whatever is in the Heavens and Earth is exalting Him (The Recitation 59:24). He is the Knower of the unseen and the witnessed, the Entirely Merciful (The Recitation 59:22).
Twice he gets it wrong, and twice he is stopped
This is the detail in the whole book most worth carrying away. Overwhelmed by what he is being shown, John twice falls down in front of the angel showing it to him. Both times he is told off.
I fell down before his feet to worship him. He said to me, "Look! Don't do it! I am a fellow bondservant with you and with your brothers who hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God
It happens again at the end of the book. He falls at the feet of the angel, and the angel says: see you don't do it, I am a fellow bondservant with you and with your brothers the prophets, worship God (Revelation 22:8–9).
An angel, in the middle of the most glorious thing a man has ever been shown, refuses to be worshipped and points elsewhere.
The Recitation says the same in its own words. There is no one in the Heavens and Earth but that he comes to the Most Merciful as a servant (The Recitation 19:93). No prophet could tell anyone to take angels or prophets as lords (The Recitation 3:80).
Prayer goes to the Lord God alone. The book of the Revelation says so twice, in the mouth of an angel, to the man writing it down.
What he was shown at the end
The last two chapters turn away from destruction and towards repair.
I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away, and the sea is no more.
Then comes the sentence read at more gravesides than almost any other. His dwelling is with people, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, nor mourning, nor crying, nor pain, for the first things have passed away (Revelation 21:3–4).
There is a river, and a tree whose leaves are for the healing of the nations (Revelation 22:1–2). And the book closes with an open invitation rather than a threat: whoever is thirsty, let him come, and take the water of life freely (Revelation 22:17).
The Gospel and letters that carry his name
The same name is on a Gospel and three short letters. The Gospel records the Messiah's last evening with his companions. In it he promises the Spirit of truth, who will not speak from himself but will say what he hears (John 16:13). It records the morning message to Mary: I am ascending to my “Father” and your “Father”, to my God and your God (John 20:17).
The letters are shorter and simpler, and they come back again and again to one test.
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves has been born of God, and knows God.
He writes that "no one has seen God at any time", and that if we love one another He remains in us (1 John 4:12). A man who had been shown more than almost anyone ends up saying that the way you know Him is by how you treat the person next to you. The Torah had already said it: act justly, love mercy, walk humbly with Him (Micah 6:8).
What the Lord God said through him
He told him to write what he saw and send it, rebukes included (Revelation 1:11). He showed him a throne where the reason given for worship is that He created all things (Revelation 4:11). He let an angel stop him twice and say "Worship God" (Revelation 19:10, 22:9).
And He showed him an ending in which the tears are wiped away and the water is free to whoever is thirsty (Revelation 21:4, 22:17).
None of us knows the hour of any of it, and we do not guess. Perhaps we will see it, if the Lord God Almighty is willing.
A prayer
Lord God Almighty, holy, who was and who is and who is to come. You created all things, and they exist because You wanted them to. Keep us from falling at the feet of anything that is not You, however bright it looks.
Teach us to love one another, since that is how You said we would know You. And in the end, if You will it, wipe the tears from our eyes.
Questions people might ask
Who was John of Patmos?
The one given the Revelation, on the island of Patmos (Revelation 1:9). Whether he is the same John as the Gospel's is discussed in the piece.
Why did the angel stop him worshipping?
Because worship is for the Lord God alone. The angel said: I am a fellow servant; worship God (Revelation 19:10, 22:9). It happened twice, so the point could not be missed.
What is the Revelation about?
A vision of the throne, of judgement, and of the end: a new Heaven and a new Earth where He wipes every tear away (Revelation 21:1-4).
