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The Book of Revelation · The Prologue

I amthe Living One.

Revelation does not open in the future. It opens on a hill outside Jerusalem, a sealed tomb, and a door with light coming out of it — because everything the book goes on to say depends on that having happened first. Every scene below is a real frame from our animated film.

Real film frames Revelation 1 Scroll to begin
Scroll to begin
A walled city under a low, heavy sky Three crosses on the hill above the wall The same hill from further out, the city behind it The cloud turning slowly into a spiral The spiral, directly overhead A shaft of white light comes down onto the crosses The light holds Three crosses, one beam, and a whole city not looking
Scene IA Hill Outside the City

Revelation does not begin in the future. It begins on a Friday afternoon outside Jerusalem, because everything the book goes on to say depends on this having happened first: Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us, and washed us from our sins by his blood… Revelation 1 : 5

The faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead.

Jerusalem's rooftops in the dark Lamps burning in a few windows A street with nobody in it Inside the temple — a great embroidered curtain Close on the weaving: gold thread on deep blue A seam of white fire opens down the middle of it The hall beyond, lit by lamps, and the way now open Rows of lights down an empty sanctuary
Scene IIThe Curtain

At the moment he died the curtain of the temple tore in two from the top to the bottom — the one barrier in the building, the fabric that said this far and no further, opened from the wrong end. It comes as light through a seam. Nobody in the room does it. It just goes. Matthew 27 : 51

A round stone rolled across a rock-cut tomb A rope drawn taut across the face of it Red wax, stamped with an eagle The seal, close — the empire's signature on a grave A helmeted sentry against the night sky The face is in shadow under the helmet The tomb under a full moon, olive trees around it Everything quiet, and everything in order
Scene IIISealed, and Guarded

They had done this properly. A stone across the door, a cord across the stone, wax with the seal of Rome pressed into it, and a watch set. Every precaution anyone could think of, taken by people who were absolutely certain what they were dealing with — a body. Matthew 27 : 62–66

The tomb before dawn, one small fire outside it Stars over the rock, nothing moving The last of the night Something changes inside the rock Gold light pouring out through the doorway The whole mouth of the tomb, alight It floods out across the grass The doorway, open, and full of light The garden, lit from one point
Scene IVThe Light Came Out

“I am the first and the last, and the Living One. I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever and ever. I have the keys of Death and of Hades.” That is the sentence the whole book is written from, and this is the night it became true. There is no figure at all — only a door, and light coming out of it. Revelation 1 : 17–18

I was dead — and behold, I am alive.

The light from the tomb throws long shadows Armoured men flat on their backs in the grass Helmets and spears scattered in the flowers Not one of them is getting up Daisies, armour, and an open door
Scene VThey Became Like Dead Men

For fear of him, the guards shook, and became like dead men. The soldiers set to keep a dead man in are the ones on the ground, and it plays exactly that way round — the professionals horizontal in the daisies, and the grave standing open behind them. Matthew 28 : 4

Three women on the path at first light, carrying jars A jar dropped in the grass A hand on the doorway of an open tomb Inside — an empty stone shelf Grave cloths, folded, where a body should be The linen, close, with morning light on it A woman's face, trying to understand The empty chamber, quiet
Scene VIThe Linen, Folded

They had come to finish the burial. What they found was a room with the work already done and undone — the cloths lying folded on the shelf, in order, unhurried. Whatever had happened in here had not been a struggle and had not been a theft. John 20 : 6–7

A wooden door in a garden wall She comes through it at a run Running between olive trees, laughing Close — she cannot get the words out yet She takes the corner without slowing A small figure running up a long track The valley below, and the city in the sun Morning over the whole country
Scene VIIShe Ran

The first person to know was a woman, and the first thing the news did was make somebody run. She gets most of a minute of it — through the garden door, down through the olives, up the track toward the city, out of breath and laughing and entirely unable to explain. John 20 : 18

A hillside crowded with people, seen from behind one figure He stands in front of all of them Arms opening, from behind An old man in the crowd with his hands at his mouth A woman's face, crying and grinning at once A small girl steps out of the crowd Her hand in his A scar through the wrist, and a child's fingers on it She looks up at him
Scene VIIIHe Showed Them His Hands

Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, including those who pierced him. His face is never shown — not once, in the whole book. What it shows instead is what everyone in the room looked at: his hands. The wounds do not go away when he is raised. They are still there in chapter five, on the throne, on a Lamb standing as though it had been slain. Revelation 1 : 7

Pierced — and standing there.

On a hilltop above the city, arms raised, from behind A line of people watching him Sandalled feet in the grass He begins to rise Above the olive trees now Small against an enormous bank of cloud Cloud closing under him Light, and then nothing to see
Scene IXAnd He Was Taken Up

When he had said these things, as they were looking, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. It goes wide and stays wide. He gets smaller, the cloud gets bigger, and the shot holds for a long time after there is anything left to look at. Acts 1 : 9

A crowd of backs, every face turned up Hands shading eyes against the light The cloud, and nobody moving One man on the rock, still looking Two figures in white, close, with wings They are almost amused The whole group, and the two of them The hilltop at sunset
Scene XWhy Do You Stand Looking?

“You men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who was received up from you into the sky, will come back in the same way as you saw him going.” It is the only joke in the chapter and it is at their expense: stop staring at the sky, there is work to do — and he is coming back the same way. Acts 1 : 11

Night, high above a dark coastline One village, lit, in a fold of the hills Another further along the shore A harbour town, burning gold in the dark Lights strung out along the water Ships in a lit harbour The lights multiplying down the coast Whole islands alight now A map of the world drawn in small fires
Scene XIThe Lights Along the Coast
Years 1

And then sixty years between the ascension and the vision go by without a single word of narration: a night flight along a dark coastline, and the lights coming on. One town, then another, then a harbour, then a whole sea's worth — until the shot is a map of the Roman world drawn in small fires. Seven of them are about to get a letter. Revelation 1 : 4

To the seven churches that are in Asia.

After the story

His face is never shown. Not once.

You will notice it through the whole series: he is shown from behind, or as light, or as a pair of hands. That is a deliberate decision and it is the right one — Revelation itself refuses a portrait. What it gives you instead is a description made entirely of things that cannot be a face at the same time: white wool, fire, bronze, a voice like many waters, a sword. And it gives you the one physical detail nobody expected to survive the resurrection — the wounds are still there. They are still there in chapter five, on the throne.

A dark coastline at night with towns lit like small fires along it One harbour town burning gold in the dark
Sixty years, told without a word of narration — the lights simply come on along the coast.

Voices of the empty tomb · hover or tap to turn

A child's fingers on the scarred wrist of the Living One The Living One

"I am the first and the last, and the Living one. I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever and ever."

— Revelation 1:17–18
The disciples looking up into the light The Disciples

"Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him."

— Revelation 1:7
A harbour town lit gold in the dark The Lights

"The seven lamp stands are seven assemblies."

— Revelation 1:20

The Book of Revelation

How closely were you watching?

1. How does Revelation identify its subject in chapter 1?

2. What precautions were taken at the tomb?

3. What did the women find inside?

4. What do the two men in white tell the disciples?

What this story teaches

Revelation is not primarily about the future.

It opens by identifying its subject — the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead — and everything that follows is addressed to seven real congregations having a hard time in the first century.

"Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth." Revelation 1:5

The wounds did not go away.

He is raised, ascended and enthroned, and he still has the scars. The book's central image is a Lamb standing as though it had been slain — power that still carries the marks of what it cost.

"I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever and ever." Revelation 1:18

Every precaution was taken.

A stone, a cord, an imperial seal and a watch. The people who arranged it were competent and entirely serious, which is exactly why the empty tomb is worth taking seriously.

"I have the keys of Death and of Hades." Revelation 1:18
Read the scripture itself. Revelation 1 · World English Bible

Revelation 1

1This is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things which must happen soon, which he sent and made known by his angel to his servant, John,

2who testified to God’s word, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, about everything that he saw.

3Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things that are written in it, for the time is at hand.

4John, to the seven assemblies that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from God, who is and who was and who is to come; and from the seven Spirits who are before his throne;

5and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us, and washed us from our sins by his blood;

6and he made us to be a Kingdom, priests to his God and Father; to him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

7Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, including those who pierced him. All the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. Even so, Amen.

8“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

9I John, your brother and partner with you in the oppression, Kingdom, and perseverance in Christ Jesus, was on the isle that is called Patmos because of God’s Word and the testimony of Jesus Christ.

10I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, like a trumpet

11saying, “What you see, write in a book and send to the seven assemblies: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”

12I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. Having turned, I saw seven golden lamp stands.

13And among the lamp stands was one like a son of man, clothed with a robe reaching down to his feet, and with a golden sash around his chest.

14His head and his hair were white as white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire.

15His feet were like burnished brass, as if it had been refined in a furnace. His voice was like the voice of many waters.

16He had seven stars in his right hand. Out of his mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining at its brightest.

17When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He laid his right hand on me, saying, “Don’t be afraid. I am the first and the last,

18and the Living one. I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever and ever. Amen. I have the keys of Death and of Hades.

19Write therefore the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will happen hereafter;

20the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lamp stands. The seven stars are the angels of the seven assemblies. The seven lamp stands are seven assemblies.

World English Bible (WEB) — a public-domain modern English translation. Read it freely, share it freely.

NEXT IN REVELATION

In the Spirit on the Lord’s day.

The lamps go out one at a time, and the last living apostle is put ashore on a rock in the Aegean where nobody can hear him.

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