Revelation 1:9-20

International Children’s Bible

⁹ I am John, and I am your brother in Christ. We are together in Jesus, and we share in these things: in suffering, in the kingdom, and in patience. I was on the island of Patmos^[a] because I had preached God’s message and the truth about Jesus. ¹⁰ On the Lord’s day the Spirit took control of me. I heard a loud voice behind me that sounded like a trumpet. ¹¹ The voice said, “Write what you see and send that book to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”

¹² I turned to see who was talking to me. When I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands. ¹³ I saw someone among the lampstands who was “like a Son of Man.”^[b] He was dressed in a long robe. He had a gold band around his chest. ¹⁴ His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow. His eyes were like flames of fire. ¹⁵ His feet were like bronze that glows hot in a furnace. His voice was like the noise of flooding water. ¹⁶ He held seven stars in his right hand. A sharp two-edged sword came out of his mouth. He looked like the sun shining at its brightest time.

¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell down at his feet like a dead man. He put his right hand on me and said, “Do not be afraid! I am the First and the Last. ¹⁸ I am the One who lives. I was dead, but look: I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and where the dead are. ¹⁹ So write the things you see, what is now and what will happen later. ²⁰ Here is the hidden meaning of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands that you saw: The seven lampstands are the seven churches. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches.