¹²I turned around to see who was speaking to me. When I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands. ¹³In the middle of them was someone who looked “like a son of man.”

He was dressed in a long robe with a gold strip of cloth around his chest. ¹⁴The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow. His eyes were like a blazing fire. ¹⁵His feet were like bronze metal glowing in a furnace. His voice sounded like rushing waters. ¹⁶He held seven stars in his right hand. Out of his mouth came a sharp sword that had two edges. His face was like the sun shining in all of its brightness.

¹⁷When I saw him, I fell at his feet as if I were dead.

Then he put his right hand on me and said, “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. ¹⁸I am the Living One. I was dead. But look! I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys to Death and Hell.

¹⁹“So write down what you have seen. Write about what is happening now and what will happen later. ²⁰Here is what the mystery of the seven stars you saw in my right hand means. They are the angels of the seven churches. And the seven golden lampstands you saw stand for the seven churches.

Read in Logos

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 …”