Revelation 1: 9,10 & 11

This verse starts off with John telling us where he is, Patmos, and that he was exiled there.  This was his punishment for preaching Christ and Christ risen.  (Oh how easy we have it today to speak and yet, so many of us are afraid of what others may think of us.)  Here John is shut away from all fellow Christians and yet, God continued to use him for His glory and WOW how God utilized him. 

John speaks to us as a brother and companion in tribulation.   Not of the tribulation to come that will last seven years but, of the tribulation he is experiencing now as a disciple.  Being a believer does not exempt us from trouble, it does exempt us from the sever years of tribulation yet to come, as it is for Israel and the unbelieving Gentiles (see Rom 5:9: 1 Thess. 1:10; 5:9; Rev. 3:10).

John is "in the Spirit on the Lord's day".  This is the first use of "the Lord's day" in the new  testament.  Interesting passage here, The Sabbath is to be observant of God for creation of the world.  The Lord's Day is for commemorates the raising of Jesus from the Dead.

John was "in the Spirit", he was allowing the Holy Spirit to consume him, to take him to a place of peace, a place of clarity, a place of connection to listen to our Father.  All of us should be able to go to our special inner Spirit to be "in the Spirit" with our Father to talk and listen to what He has to say to us and for us to just "be" with Him.  Patmos was not a place of calmness or quiet, there was no Christian fellowship or meeting hall for John, but it didn't matter, he took the Bible with him and was with the Father frequently, as should we-always, not just on Sunday.

John says, "I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet,"  The comparison of the voice to a loud trumpet gives us a clear vision of the Lords voice to a clear, crisp booming sound of a trumpet call.  The identification came, of the "...Alpha (Greek letter, first in the alphabet) and the Omega (Greek letter, last in the alphabet), signifies the beginning and the end.  This followed by the instructions to see, wright and then to send to the seven churches.

What an amazing command from our Father.

Blessings to all,
Calabash