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The preface being ended in the foregoing verses, here begins the body or visionary part of this book; the first vision is here before us, concerning the seven Asian churches.
In which vision we have observable, 1. The person that received it, he is described by his name, John, I John; by his spiritual relation, I John your brother; by his then present condition, your companion in tribulation, undergoing like sufferings with you; your companion in the kingdom of Christ, that is, in expecting of, and hoping for, the same kingdom of heaven and glory which ye expect; and I am also your companion in patience, called the patience of Jesus Christ, because in his word he requires it, because by his Spirit he produces it, because in his own example he gave us a pattern of it: and perhaps principally because the present state of the kingdom of Christ in this world calls for it.
Observe, 2. The place where St. John received this vision; in the isle of Patmos, not far from the Asian churches, into which the emperor Domitian banished him, having, as is said, cast him first into a caldron of burning oil, out of which he miraculously escaped. Ecclesiastical history says, St. John was very near an hundred years old, when he was by that bloody emperor banished into Patmos, for preaching the word of God, and for bearing testimony for this truth, that Jesus Christ was the Saviour of the world.
Learn, That the greatest honour which an apostle, an aged apostle, a beloved apostle, can be admitted to the participation of, is to suffer banishment and death for bearing a faithful testimony of Jesus Christ.
Observe, 3. The time when St. John had this glorious vision of Christ, communion with him, and communications from him: it was upon the Lord's day; I was in the Spirit, that is, in spiritual meditation, in spiritual ecstasy, in a transporting rapture by the Spirit, under his more immediate illumination and powerful influences; on the Lord's day, namely, the first day of the week, so called, because Christ at his resurrection took possession of it for his own, and because applied to his special worship and service, and as such religiously observed by the apostles, Act_20:7 and by the universal church, ever since the apostle's days.
In that St. John, in a solitary island, kept the Christian Sabbath, we learn, that the religious observation of the Lord's is a duty incumbent upon all persons and in all places.
Learn, 2. How Christ owned his own day, and encouraged St. John in his religious and strict observation of it, by the influence of his Holy Spirit upon him, and by communicating extraordinary revelations to him; I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice.
Observe, 4. The vision and revelation itself, which began with his hearing a loud voice like a trumpet; that is, the voice of like a trumpet; that is, the voice of Christ, full of majesty and power, spake unto him, saying, What thou seest, that is what thou shalt see and hear, write in a book, and send it to the seven churches.
Here note, 1. That the book of the Revelation was written by Christ's own direction, therefore warranted to be of divine authority.
Note, 2. That what Christ commanded St. John carefully to write, it becomes us heedfully to read; for though what St. John wrote and sent concerned the seven Asian churches at that time, and had a particular respect to their present state; yet all scripture is written for our learning, and we are to beg spiritual wisdom from God to make a right use and holy improvement of what is written.