Revelation 1:9-11 Outline

"I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, 'Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.'"

John's Commission

1. I, John,
1. Shock, not in gospel
1. Refers to himself as the "disciple whom Jesus [actually] loved"
2. Humble
2. Revelation multiple times
1. 1:9 - I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation ...
1. Hears: trumpet voice
2. Sees: Christ
3. Action: 1:12 - turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, 1:17 - when I saw him I fell at his feet as one dead
   
2. 22:8 - I, John, am the one who ...
1. Previously heard:
• 4:1 - voice like a trumpet again
• 5:11 - living creatures around the throne, the elder, and the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands
• 5:13 - every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea and all that is in them saying "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!"
• 6:1 - one of the four living creatures says with a voice like thunder, "Come!"
• 6:3 - the second living creature
• 6:5 - the third living creature
• 6:6 - voice in the midst of the four living creatures
• 6:7 - the fourth living creature
• 7:4 - the number of the sealed from Israel, 144,000
• 8:13 - an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew directly overhead
• 9:13 - a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God
• 9:16 - the number of mounted troops
• 10:4 - commands from a voice from heaven
• 12:10 - a loud voice in heaven
• 14:2 - voice like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder, like the sound of harpists playing on their harps
• 16:1 - a loud voice from the temple
• 16:5 - angel in charge of the waters speak
• 16:7 - the altar speaking
• 18:4 - another voice from heaven
• 19:6 - the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder
2. Previously saw:
• 5:1 - a scroll in the hand of Him who was seated on the throne
• 5:2 - a strong angel proclaiming
• 5:6 - the Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and seven eyes
• 6:9 - those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne
• 7:1 - four angels standing at the four corners of the earth
• 7:2 - another angel ascending from the rising of the sun
• 8:2 - seven angels who stand before God
• 9:1 - a star fallen from heaven to earth
• 9:17 - horses and those who rode on them
• 10:1 - another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head and his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire
• 13:1 - a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads
• 13:2 - a beast like a leopard, with feet like a bear's, and a mouth like a lion's
• 14:6 - another angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim
• 15:1 - another sign in heaven, great and amazing
• 15:2 - what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire
• 16:13 - three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon and the mouth of the beast and the mouth of the false prophet
• 17:6 - a woman drunk with the blood of the saints
• 18:1 - another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority
• 19:11 - heaven opened, a white horse, and the one sitting on it called Faithful and True
• 19:17 - an angel standing in the sun calling with a loud voice to all the birds that fly directly overhead
• 19:19 - the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse
• 20:1 - an angel coming down from heaven
• 20:4 - thrones, souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God
• 20:11 - a great white throne and him who was seated on it
• 20:12 - the dead, great and small, standing before the throne
• 21:1 - a new heaven and a new earth
• 21:2 - the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband
3. Action: 22:8 - I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had shown them to me
3. Identifies with Daniel - 7:28, 9:2, 10:2, only prophets to use such phrases "I, name," conveys the sense of flabbergastedness :)
2. Your brother and partner
1. Brother
1. Same status as the believers, they are all brothers together and of Christ
2. Sees himself by relation to the church rather than authority in it, elders
2. Partner - same condition as the believers...
1. In the tribulation that is in Jesus Christ
1. John, banished to Patmos, definitely knew first-hand the sufferings that accompanied true Christianity
2. The believers were evidently undergoing persecution of their own at the time
3. John does not disclose what his sufferings were, he did not count those as important, bragging, shock, application
4. Christians share many things, but this is one of the truest and strongest bonds, that of fellowship in suffering
2. In the kingdom that is in Jesus Christ
1. Just as in physical suffering, John and the believers also shared spiritual privileges
2. They had been called to be part of Christ's kingdom, an important factor in the visions to follow
3. In the patient endurance that is in Jesus Christ
1. Despite the suffering, they were alike enduring based on the strength which Christ provides
2. These three are only found in Christ
3. Even though he was an apostle, he identifies himself in every way with the struggling believers, furthering the impression of shock that he was the one to receive this vision.
4. Application
1. John 16:33 - I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.
2. Rom. 8:17 - and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
3. Phil 1:7 - I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.
4. Acts 5:41 - Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.
5. Suffering is a part of believing, so are spiritual privileges, we must
3. Was in the Spirit on the Lord's day
1. In the Spirit
1. Not his own
2. Not of inspiration, command to write came later
1. the Lord's day
1. The Gk. word for "the Lord's day" only shows up in 1 Cor. 11:20 (Lord's supper)
1. Means "pertaining to the Lord", not necessarily the Sabbath (another word in common usage), but John meant it was specifically set apart for Christ (Lord).
1. Barnes - Distinguished from all other days of the week and which would be sufficiently designated by the use of this term.
2. Had to have a common meaning among believers for the recipients to recognize what he was talking about
3. Possibly Sunday rather than Sabbath because that day was already being marked out by early church fathers soon after this epistle as referring to the day Christ rose.
2. Application
1. Even if we are forced to be absent from places of public worship on Sunday, we should still devote it to the Lord.
2. Our thoughts and affections on Sunday
4. I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying,
1. Not tone, but sound, volume, clarity
2. Trumpets were used to summon people together, calling John 
5. Write what you see in a book
1. Pen & paper not withheld, like John Bunyan in the Bedford Jail, Pilgrim's Progress