Aj – Write, Therefore, What You Have Seen 1: 9-20

Write, Therefore, What You Have Seen
1: 9-20

By the close of the first century, those following Christ had become hated and despised throughout the Roman Empire. At that time the Roman Emperor, Domitian, started an official persecution of the Church. All the details are not known, but it extended to the province of Asia Minor. Things seemed hopeless. The apostle John had been banished to the Island of Patmos, and at least one person, a pastor, had already been martyred (2:13). The persecuted and discouraged Church, made up of both Jewish and Gentile believers (Ephesians 2:11-22) needed some encouragement. It had been almost a hundred years since Jesus had ascended up to heaven. Jerusalem had been destroyed and Isra’el savaged. The Church was losing its first love, compromising, tolerating sin, becoming powerless and distasteful to ADONAI Himself. All the other apostles were dead and John had been exiled. The picture looked very bleak. The Church needed to hear from Jesus Christ.

John’s readers took comfort in the knowledge that Yeshua Messiah would one day return and defeat His enemies. Christ had not abandoned His Church or His promises. The powerful vision of Jesus and His ministry must have given great hope to the seven churches to which John wrote. This section presents the introduction to the vision, the vision of the risen Lord Himself, and the interpretation to the vision.¹³