¹⁰I came under the Spirit’s power on the Lord’s day. I heard a loud voice behind me like a trumpet, ¹¹saying, “Write on a scroll what you see, and send it to the seven churches: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”

¹²I turned toward the voice which was talking to me, and when I turned, I saw seven gold lamp stands. ¹³There was someone like the Son of Man among the lamp stands. He was wearing a robe that reached his feet. He wore a gold belt around his waist. ¹⁴His head and his hair were white like wool—like snow. His eyes were like flames of fire. ¹⁵His feet were like glowing bronze refined in a furnace. His voice was like the sound of raging waters. ¹⁶In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp, two-edged sword. His face was like the sun when it shines in all its brightness.

¹⁷When I saw him, I fell down at his feet like a dead man. Then he laid his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid! I am the first and the last, ¹⁸the living one. I was dead, but now I am alive forever. I have the keys of death and hell. ¹⁹Therefore, write down what you have seen, what is, and what is going to happen after these things. ²⁰The hidden meaning of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and the seven gold lamp stands is this: The seven stars are the messengers of the seven churches, and the seven lamp stands are the seven churches.

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Revelation 1:17: When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last …”