time, following a crucified Jew rather than the one who was rather obviously the ‘lord of the world’? Revelation is written to say ‘no’ to that question—and to say much more besides. At its centre is a fresh ‘revelation of Jesus the Messiah’ (verse 1). John, with his head and his heart full of Israel’s scriptures, discovered on one particular occasion, as he was praying, that the curtain was pulled back. He found himself face to face with Jesus himself. We will come to that in the next passage. But