INTRODUCTION AND HEAVENLY COMMISSION TO WRITE Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony about Jesus.
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1:9 The author refers to himself two more times in the Book (21:2 and 22:8), to clarify that it was written by an apostle from beginning to end. John identify with his fellow-believers who were being persecuted as well under Domitians reign before AD 96. Three areas of shared identity or “fellow partakers” with the readers in (1) “persecution” (thlipsis, “pressing together, distress, oppression”), (2) “kingdom,” that is, they were sharing in the membership of the spiritual kingdom of Christ before the manifestation of the physical kingdom at the Second Coming, and (3) “endurance” (hupomone, lit. “remain under,” Lexicon: “steadfastness, constancy, patience” or loyal to the faith regardless of the persuasion to apostatize). Reflection: Could you identify with John? How hard is it for you to give a testimony of your faith when you know you will be criticized or worse? John was persecuted because of his faithful proclamation of and faith in the Word of God (most of the NT had by now been written) and the testimony “of” or “about” Jesus. Apparently the laws had made public proclamation of the Bible and message about Jesus a crime. Reflection: Has what you have said about the Bible or Jesus ever caused you any conflicts with others? Write it down or share it in your own group.
COMMAND TO WRITE
1:10
I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day when I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, 1:10 John was “in the Spirit” which means, I believe, that he was enjoying a time of inward communion with God, not in a mystical ecstasy, but with his conscious mind and being. The expression is used twice of Jesus and 24 times of the apostles. It refers to the inner being of a person. Here is a sampling: “pressed in the spirit” (Acts 18:5); “Paul purposed in the spirit” (Acts 19:21); “He is a Jew, who is one inwardly…in the Spirit” (Rom 2:29); “Walk in the Spirit” (Gal 5:16); “Be renewed in the spirit of your mind” (Eph 4:23); and “live according to God in the spirit” (1 Pet 4:6). Thus internally Paul was involved fully with his mind in a vision the Spirit was giving to him. However, this text implies that the Spirit had unusual control of John’s conscious mind through which He would clearly reveal the details of the end of the age.